Karen Burniston February Designer Challenge Day 1

Hi everyone,

It's time for our February Karen Burniston Designer Challenge. This time round the theme for our challenge is "Artsy or Cutesy" - Which way will you go? Feel free to do both. Cards should lean very artsy fartsy, with inks and textures and quotes about the soul (or whatever) OR very cutesy, like puppies and kittens and rainbows and sprinkles.

It has been a long long time since I have created a card that i would call "Artsy" but I think I have achieved that for this challenge.

For my card I decided to use the Lorna Label Pop Up Card die set and as I was going for a Paris theme of course I had to use the Eiffel Tower for the Eiffel Tower Pop Stand die set. I embellished my card using various elements from the Parisian Edges die set. 

To create my card I started with a white card which I colored using Scattered Straw & Weathered Wood Distress Inks. I then decorated the card using various Paris themed stamps I have had in my stash for years. A few may no longer be available, however if you wanted to create something similar there are many other stamps available now which could be used. The main stamps used on this are still available.

After I had created my base I then die cut the Lorna Label Pop Up in the centre of the card. I also die cut the Lorna Label Pop Up again using black card, cut out just the pop up/label portion of the die and adhered this over the pop up/label of the card. 

The Eiffel Tower was die cut using Black Shimmer Sheet, after die cutting I highlighted it using Metallic Silver Lumiere Paint.

The top and bottom edges of the card were decorated using the Parisian Edges set.

For the front of my card, I repeated the how I created the base on the inside for my background. I then used the Paris in the Spring Stamp for the main image. I added the Parisian Edges die to the right hand edge of this image.

I die cut the fleur de lis 5 times using black card which had been back with Elizabeth Craft Designs Transparent Double Sided Adhesive Tape and layered them together and added this to the lower right hand corner of my card.

If you are looking to purchase Karen's Pop It Ups dies in Australia you can find them at Craft Giraffe (formerly Photo Continental).  A little birdie told me that all the new release products arrived last week!

Don't forget to check out the Elizabeth Craft Designs blog on Wednesday when you will be able to see what all the designers created for the challenge this month, plus an amazing card/video tutorial from Karen Burniston. 

Stamps: French Life; Mademoiselle; Vive La France; La Tour Eiffel; Paris -  Stamp It (Aust); Paris Tag - Inkadinkadoo; Straight from the Heart UM - Non Sequitar; X I X Border - Stampers Anonymous; All others - unknown

Paper: White; Black

Dies: Lorna Label Pop Up Card; Eiffel Tower Pop Stand Card;  Parisian Edges - designed by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other ECD Products: Black Shimmer Sheetz; Transparent Double Sided Adhesive Tape

Other: Black Ink; Scattered Straw Distress Ink; Weathered Wood Distress Ink; Silver Metallic Lumiere Paint; Black Hemp Cord; Silver Wink of Stella Pen; Foam Tape; Copics