Hi, it’s Karen Burniston with the July Pop it Ups Designer Challenge. Each month I challenge my Designer Challenge team to use Pop it Ups dies for a specific theme. This month the challenge was Christmas in July (or other winter holiday) and I made a second optional challenge to design a second card as a simple reproducible design. You’re going to love what they came up with for both parts of the challenge!
For my project, I wanted to teach a fun hybrid card called a Pivot Accordion, where I cut the Evergreen Pivot Card into the pages of the Fancy Accordion Album. Watch the video to learn this technique, which would also work with the Katie Label Accordion and House Pivot Card.
Here are some photos and additional details about the project made in the video. One of the nice things about all the pieces in the Holiday House die is that they can be combined in different ways to make smaller houses, too. For the front of the card I used just the smaller house, roof, door-as-a-chimney and window.
When the card is opened you’ll see the full size Holiday House on Page 1, using all ten dies in the set. You can watch me assemble the Holiday House in this video:
Here is a top view of the Pivot Accordion plus a close-up of the trees. I didn’t mention this in the video but I used Copic markers to tint the glitter dots the same purple and blue colors as in the papers.
Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies:
- #771 Fancy Label Accordion Album
- #907 Fancy Seasons Frame Edges
- #912 Evergreen Pivot Card
- #914 Outdoor Edges
- #918 Holiday House
- #944 Merry Christmas
- #7018 Transparent/Silver Glitter Dots
- #503 Double-Sided Adhesive
- #641 Cool Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter
- #629 Soft Teal Silk Microfine Glitter
- #620 Lavender Silk Microfine Glitter
- #603 Silver Silk Microfine Glitter
- Die Snips
- Die File Set
Other Supplies: White cardstock, Echo Park “Winter Wishes” Patterned papers, gray ink
Let’s check in with the amazing Designer Challenge Team to see what they came up with for both simple and not-so-simple holiday cards. Each one of these creations is featured with more photos, information, supply lists and general instructions on the designers’ personal blogs. Click each name to see the blog posts for each card.
SIMPLE FLATS:
Did you know that there are currently 33 dies in the Pop it Ups Collection and of those, only 15 of them are interactive card dies? The other 18 dies are accessory dies that will work great with the pop-ups, but can also be used on their own for flat cards and layouts.
Fran Sabad chose the new Outdoor Edges for a classy white and silver card front featuring a greeting stamp that works perfectly with the evergreen tree edge die. She cut the same edge from silver foil cardstock and offset it slightly behind the white one to create a detail shadow. What a great tip!
Donna Wright has an absolutely brilliant idea for maximizing card yield by using both the positive and negative sides of two die cuts, the Outdoor Edges and Merry Christmas dies. These are cards that would be both efficient and inexpensive to produce in multiples.
Caz Counsell used the new Chilly the Penguin die for this fun card front, also featuring the Outdoor Edges, the leaf from the Spiral Circle Pull Card, and a label made with the Agatha Edges. So sweet!
HOLIDAY PIVOT CARDS:
The new Evergreen Pivot Card is the fifth Pivot Card in the Pop it Ups collection. These dies are popular for their ease of use and for the way that they decorate the exterior and interior of the card with the same pivoting item. Many of the team chose to use Pivot Cards this month. Let’s see what they made.
Summer Hills-Painter used the Katie Label Pivot Card for a simple design suitable for any holiday. Here she shows both Christmas and Hanukkah. The snowflakes came from two other Pop it Ups die sets – the All Seasons Tree (smallest snowflake) and the new Spiral Circle Pull Card (two larger snowflakes). I always like to remind people that the accessory dies in Pop it Ups die sets are meant to be shared! Mix and match!
Raquel Mason shows that with the Evergreen Pivot card’s included decorator dies, you don’t need anything else! She made this entire simple, yet dynamic Christmas card using just the Evergreen Pivot Card set, which comes with the pivot card, three decorator trees, a die to cut 9 small ornaments, a die to cut 4 stars, a present and ribbon.
Karen Aicken went a different route with the Evergreen Pivot card, focusing on an outdoor holiday scene with simple embossed green trees. She also used the snowflakes from the Spiral Circle Pull Card and the Outdoor Edges. These three die sets are used together on a lot of the challenge cards this month. In the same blog post, Karen made a second Evergreen Pivot Card using glitter lines in fun designs to decorate the trees.
Helen Cryer used the same three dies as Karen’s green card – Evergreen Pivot Card, Outdoor Edges and the snowflakes from the Spiral Circle Pull Card. But check out the difference, not only between Helen’s card and Karen’s card, but between Helen’s card and Helen’s second, same-design-but-different-papers card! Ah the beauty of die cutting, where the colors, theme, textures, patterns and (in the case of Pop it Ups) placement is all up to YOU!
Caz Counsell and Frances Byrne also used the same three dies – Evergreen Pivot Card, Outdoor Edges and the snowflakes from the Spiral Circle Pull Card. They even chose similar stamps and themes, yet their cards are so unique. Caz chose to decorate her trees with the built-in emboss features and a few glittered ornaments. . .
. . . whereas Frances chose patterned paper and brightly colored ornaments and stars. Both cards are knock outs!
I’m sure you’ve already decided that the Evergreen Pivot Card is a must-have, but to seal the deal, check out how well it works with the tripling technique in this card by Fran Sabad. Once again you’re seeing the Outdoor Edges and the snowflakes from the Spiral Circle Pull Card used perfectly with the Evergreen Pivot Card. I just love Fran’s choice of red stars atop the trees.
Shelly Hickox used the Evergreen Pivot Card’s decorator trees to make 3D trees that can still fold flat for mailing. You’ll definitely want to check out her blog post to see a video of this card being opened. The Outdoor Edges work perfectly to create the rolling hills.
Summer Hills-Painter created a very unique card using the doubling technique with the House Pivot Card die to create a double fence pivot card. Then she bent the outer portions of the fences back in line with the card so they are only revealed when the card is opened. Behind the fence she added the largest Evergreen Pivot Card decorator tree, cut from Honeypop paper to make an expanding 3D tree. The new Holiday House die set finishes off this masterpiece.
HOLIDAY GENERAL POP-UP CARDS:
The new Lorna Label pop-up die is the fourth die in the category of “general” pop-up, joining the Garden Bench, Lucy Label and Lots of Pops. General pop-ups are the traditional style where the pop-up is revealed only upon opening the card, like a magic trick.
Raquel Mason created a stunner with the new Lorna Label, using the two separate platforms to full advantage to animate the new Holiday House and decorator trees from the Evergreen Pivot Card set. This card has a beautiful front, too, so click over to give it a look.
Karen Aicken layered her way into a breathtaking Christmas scene using the Garden Bench die. She mixed in pieces from several more Pop it Ups – a practice I encourage! The Outdoor Edges die set makes a gorgeous backdrop combined with one All Seasons Tree with glittery branches. She used the Christmas lights from the Holiday House to adorn the bench and added Agatha Edging and the new ECD Holly Flourish die at the bottom. The greeting is a Katie Label. So beautiful!
Another stunner comes courtesy of Helen Cryer, who shows off several of the new releases from the ECD line (Els and Joset) like the Crystal Flowers, Holly border, Merry Christmas and Candle dies. She created her scene on the new Lorna Label pop-up die. I love that this card is made entirely with dies!
HOLIDAY ACCORDION CARDS:
There are two new Accordions in the Summer Release – the Ring Accordion and the Katie Label Accordion plus new Frame Edges to fit existing accordions, the Oval Clouds Frame Edges and the Fancy Seasons Frame Edges.
Kelly Booth shows off the new Fancy Seasons Frame Edges on this classy simple 2-page, 2-color Fancy Accordion card, which also features the Outdoor Edges and a decorator tree from the Evergreen Pivot Card die.
Helen Cryer‘s color scheme on this Ring Accordion card is simply beautiful. She added acetate panels to be able to “float” the new ECD Ornaments #3 die set, which works perfectly with the Ring Accordion. Once again the snowflakes from the Spiral Circle Pull Card work perfectly with other sets.
Raquel Mason created a super fun 3-page Ring Accordion with some very clever die combinations, like the holly leaves from the new ECD Candle die used as the hands for the new Clock & Gears die. She made a fun scene for Chilly the Penguin in the center panel with decorator trees from the Evergreen Pivot Card set and Chilly holds the strand of lights from the Holiday House.
HOLIDAY SPIRAL CIRCLE PULL CARDS:
The Summer Release includes a brand new type of die from me – the Spiral Circle Pull Card. This die combines the opening mechanism of a z-fold flip card with an optional interior spiral to create a pop-up. Two little tuck slots keep the card closed so you won’t get an accidental reveal. To open, simply pull.
Frances Byrne wanted to show two options with the Spiral Circle Pull Card. The first is a very simple flip card using a decorator tree from the Evergreen Pivot card. For her second version, she stepped up the design with a few additional elements, like the Holly Border die and the spiral, embellished with holly leaves and berries. Either card would be quick to make.
Kelly Booth made this adorable Spiral Circle Pull Card using a perfectly colored stamped image on the front, embellished tuck slots, and cute stamped envelopes flying on the spiral. With this die you’ll be able to choose your card size and placement along the fold.
Kelly Booth made another wonderful Spiral Circle Pull Card, this time with holly on the spiral that peeks out in the closed position. Then pull the card open and see the holly fly. (Check her blog for the “open” photos)
Donna Wright drops the mic with this AMAZING Spiral Circle Pull Card featuring a joyous snowman dancing on the spiral. The two larger snowflakes come included in the set and then Donna used the small snowflakes from the All Seasons Tree to fill the background with bejeweled snowflakes. What a fabulous card!
Hopefully we have inspired you to start planning your holiday cards and incorporating some Pop it Ups dies. The dies are shipping this week to independent stores worldwide, so check with your local store to see if they have ordered. For customers without local stores you will be able to order from the website here: Pop it Ups Dies
I’ll be back next month on August 20th with another Designer Challenge. In August the team will be showing off the Character dies (Hoppy, Poppy, Chilly and Props 1) with any type of project they can dream up.
Happy Crafting!
Karen, you never cease to amaze me with your creativity. Love the new dies. Especially the holiday house. Your videos are terrific. Thanks much for the inspiration!
Love,love the animal dies! a cute DOG would be fun!
So many beautiful cards! Absolutely love the accordion pivot card!!
As always, your dies amaze and inspire me! And the design team’s cards are wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
I’m sitting here in awe just totally in love with all the wonderful creations and your video was wonderful! Combining a pivot card and the accordion album? Just incredibly creative! Love it! Xxx
The projects are like fireworks on Fourth of July – brilliance and sparkle and then more brilliance and sparkle.
Lots of inspiration here!
Amazing cards from the Design Team, lots of holiday goodness there. Wow Karen, you knocked it out of the park this month with your card and video… love it!
Cards are absolutely stunning! And the videos are so cool! A pivot in an Accordion card…Wow!!
Love all the cards! Lots of inspiration to make some myself!
I enjoyed your video. It has so many steps to it that I will have to repeatedly stop and watch each step. It’s complex for someone that doesn’t do as many of them as you do. They are so unique and charming when all done. I have fallen in love with your dies. I like how pieces from one die are scaled to use on many dies. So we get more use out of the pieces.
Karen, you mentioned the fine tipped glue bottle, I don’t see it in your store, where can I get one? Also I saw the tree edge die and again I didn’t see it in the store, when will it be available?
Hi Dolores, we don’t sell the FineLine bottles – you’ll need to ask at your local store or do a Google search. I bought mine at a store called Kept Creations (add a dot com) if you want to call and see if they have any. The Tree Edge is available now: http://www.ecraftdesigns.com/collections/pop-it-ups/products/outdoor-edges-914
Both videos were amazing!! Everyones cards were absolutely stunning and beautiful!!
wow, I love the evergreen cut into the fancy! Awesome Karen!
Superb job to everyone! It’s wonderful to see all the projects together – such inspiration. Awesome video Karen, love the pivot accordion…working on one already.
It is always a HUGE TREAT to see all the Designer cards in one post like this. Wow. Karen B – your card is simply amazing. My jaw dropped when I first saw it.
Cheers
Karen A
AWESOME AWESOME Post and Video WOW!!!
Awesome
Wow so much great inspiration! Thank you everyone.
Its great to see the new dies available at last have ordered some already!