March 2025 Karen Burniston Designer Challenge

 

Hi Crafty Friends,

Welcome to our March Karen Burniston Designer Challenge.

Check out Karen Burniston's blog on Wednesday (US Time) when you will be able to see what all the designers created for the challenge this month, plus Karen will have an amazing video tutorial to share with us all.

Our challenge theme this month is ... "LAKE OR OCEAN" - Fish, Cruise, Sail or Row - where will you go?

As you can see by my card above, I decided to select the "Ocean" for my card this month. I was so excited last year when Karen release the Pirate Ship add-on die set to go with the Boat Pop-up die set ... I have quite a collection of pirate stamps and dies here. But because I was ill during that release I didn't get around to making anything with it. So I decided to pull it our for my card this time around.

For my card this month, I decided to create a Slimline Gatefold card. my card measures 4inches x 8 1/2 inches when closed. The pirate ship is just under 4 inches when it is folded in a card. so it just fits nicely. I made up the pirate ship before doing anything else, to make sure it fitted what i had in mind.

I didn't want to just have the pirate ship in the ocean, so I decided to have my slimline card as a gatefold card.  

Here is a better view of the pirate ship, I added three dolphins (one is behind the ship) to the card which are from the Set Sail Borders Die Set.

I added a birthday sentiment from the Pirates Sentiments Clear Stamp set to the Crosshatch Banner,  to the lower left side of my card. I added a pirate hat and sword to the banner both of which are from the Pirate Borders die set.

I also added an anchor to the ship which is also from the Set Sail Borders die set.

On the right hand side of the card, I added the beach scene, starting with the palm tree from the Palm Tree Pop-up die set. Fortunately, like the Pirate ship, the palm tree closes straight rather than at an angle so both work well in a slimline card. 

I added the pirates using the new Paper People die set as well as the Tiny Accessories die set for the bandana hat and eye path and the Pirate Borders for the swords and black pirate hat.

I also added the treasure chest and jewels which are all from the Pirate Borders die set.

I added another Crosshatch Banner to the top right hand side of my card, adding another sentiment from the sentiment stamp set and another of the hats and swords as I did on the previous banner.

I Ialso added another treasure chest to the bottom of the card. You can also see the boy pirate a little better in this photo above.

As the focus of this card is all on the inside, I kept the outside fairly simple. I added the water patterned paper to both flaps and added a belly band to keep the card closed.

I added two more sentiments to the Crosshatch Hexagon panels, along with another sword and pirate hat.

The front flap on the left side of my card is 5 inches and the front flap on the right is 3 3/4 inches, which gives a slight overlap .

And finally I added a panel on the back of the card, as a place to write a personal greeting for the recipient of the card. I added the skull & crossbone border along the bottom of the panel. This border is another from the Pirates Border die set.

Donut Centre Tower Gatefold

 

Hi Crafty Friends,

Thanks for dropping by my blog. Today I am sharing a new (to me) fun fold card. This card is called a Centre Tower Gatefold and it is inspired by a Facebook Live that Sam Calcott did recently. You can see her tutorial here.

To create my card, I used Donuts from the Baked Delights Stamp/Die set (the smaller ones with faces) and the Papercraft Society Box 50 (the large ones). 

I added the larger donuts onto an oval panel which opens up to reveal a message. 

Here is a look at my card, when the oval panel is opened, this reveals a stamped sentiment from an older Reverse Confetti stamp set. This also gives a place to write a personal greeting, as the back panels are adhered to acetate.

Here is a look at my card, when it is. folded ready to be placed in an envelope. The card folds into a gatefold card. I added a belly band to the front of the card, to help keep it closed.

And finally a close up look at the belly band.. I added three of the smaller donuts and a birthday sentiment.

Whale Hello There

 

Hi Crafty Friends,

Today I am sharing a whale themed Slide and Lock Box Card I created recently.

Sam Calcott recently shared a tutorial on this style of card. The oval panel on the front of the card is designed to slide onto the card to keep the card shut. You can see Sam's tutorial here.

I used one of the ovals from the Supersized Nestables Ric Rat die set for the oval which slides onto the front of the card. I splattered ink over the oval.

To decorate my card I used the whale from Text{ures} Layering Sea Creatures die set from the Deep Blue Collection. The sentiment is from the Sea and Sentiments stamp set.

This basically is a gatefold card, but I scored the centre of the back of the card so that the back folds which means the whale oval panel card be on the card when displayed. 

For the white panels on the centre of the card, I added the sea creatures which are also from the Sea and Sentiments stamp set. I added the "Whale-ly" birthday sentiment from Trinity Stamps, stamp part of the sentiment on each of the panels.

Here is a closer look at the oval panel. I cut two ovals, and added two score lines at the centre of one of the ovals and then adhered this to the front oval. The front of the gatefold card then slides in between the two ovals.

Here's To You

 

Hi Crafty Friends, 

Today I am sharing a male themed Gatefold Card that I created recently.

This card uses one of the Gatefold die sets from Creative Craft Products Perfect Gatefolds Collection. This one is the Star Gatefold card and measures 5 inches square. 

For this card I made use of some leftover beer themed paper that I had after making another card earlier in the year. I had just enough to make this card.

I created a belly band for my card, to help keep it closed. There is a die set available to make these with a fancy edge, but I didn't get that. I used the star dies included in the Star Gatefold Card die set to add to the belly band. I added the "Here's To You" sentiment using part of a sentiment included in MFT Stamps Here's To You Stamp set.

For the inside of my card, I used the reverse side of the patterned paper. I added another of the sentiments from the Here's To You stamp set, stamping it so it can be seen through the star aperture when the card is closed.

Have A Beautiful Day

 

Hi Crafty Friends,

Thanks for visiting my blog, today I am sharing an Offset Gatefold card I created recently using dies from Crafter's Companion.

I created a 5 x 7 inch Offset Gatefold card using Crafter's Companion's Vintage Ticket Layering Edge Gatefold die set. To create this I started with a 14 inches x 5 inches piece of white cardstock and then scored at 5 inches and 12 inches. 

To decorate my card I used My Creative Life's All Dressed Up die set along with the Beautiful Sentiments and Fabulous Sentiments stamp sets.

Here is a look at the inside of my card, The "Birthday Wishes" sentiment can be seen when the card is closed. The other sentiment is only revealed when the card is opened.

Fortune Cookies

 

Hi Crafty Friends,

Apparently yesterday (22nd January), was Chinese New Year so for my card today I decided to create a card which had a Chinese/Oriental theme.

For my card, I created a Double Gatefold Card using Creative Craft Products Double Gatefold Card die set which is available from Craft Stash. I love the look of the diamond shape that is formed when the card is closed and I thought it would work well with an Oriental theme. 

I used gold mirror cardstock for my matting layer and oriental themed papers for the background paper.

I added gold metallic pearls to the diamond section on the front of my card.

Here is a look at my card when it is partially open.

As there isn't any room on my card when it is closed, I added the fortune cookies to the inside of my card. I thought this sentiment would work for either a New Year for Chinese New Year or a birthday which is what I ended up making my card for as I didn't have a need for the former.

The fortune cookies and sentiment are both older sets from MFT Stamps.

I added a panel to the back of the card as the place to add a birthday sentiment and also a place to write a personal message to the recipient of the card.

Other Supplies:

Chinese Take Out Die-namics - MFT Stamps (retired)

Good Fortune Stamp Set - MFT Stamps (retired)

Happy Birthday To You

 
Hi Crafty Friends,

Apparently today (18th January) is National Winnie the Pooh Day, who didn't enjoy reading the adventures of this adorable bear written by AA Milne whose birthday is today.

As I have a number of Pooh stamps in my stash, I decided to pull some out to create my card today.

For my card today I decided to create a Gatefold Pop-Out card using a tutorial posted by Sam Calcott. You can find Sam's video tutorial here. 

Pooh loved honey and bees, so I found some older bee patterned paper in my stash which I used for the side panels of my gatefold card, both on the inside and front.

I used yellow glitter cardstock for the other panels.

For the centre panel, I used an old Pooh rubber stamp and also a piglet one both from Rubber Stampede.

The two sentiments on the side panels are from Made To Surprise by Sam Calcott's Showstopper Sentiments stamp set.

I created a belly band to help keep the card closed. I used circle dies from Creative Craft Products for the circle portion of the belly band. I added a birthday sentiment in the centre and. then to more Pooh themed. images on either side.

I added a panel to the back of the card, for a place to add an additional sentiment and somewhere to write a handwritten message.

Other Supplies:

• Big Pooh Rubber Stamp - Rubber Stampede (retired)
• Piglet Rubber Stamp - Rubber Stampede (retired)
• LJD Birthday Greetings Stamp Set - MFT Stamps (retired)
• Miscellaneous Small Pooh stamps