Karen Burniston's September 2017 Design Team Challenge

Good morning friends

Today is Karen Burniston's first Design Team Challenge with her new company in partnership with Tanya Kostynuk, KB Riley LLC. The challenge is: Theme: "SIGNATURE STYLE" - Introduce yourself with a card using your signature style, or techniques, or colors. Make a card of any theme.

I was stumped for the longest time. I don't know that I even have a signature style. I just make things I like. Sometimes the styles that appeal to me one month do not the next although my go-to colours are teal/blue & green. For this challenge I decided to just make something I like then go over the details with you.

I went with a Halloween theme, since Karen Burniston's newest release has such cool Halloween dies.

First - I like to make interactive cards, so that would definitely be part of my style.

Second  - I like to make cards that are a different size than the traditional A2. I've been making cards for a VERY long time and many of those years were spent making A2 sized cards. One of the things I like most about Karen Burniston's interactive dies is that I get to choose the size of card. This card is 5 x 6" and fits nicely in a 5 x 7" envelope.

Third -  I love patterned paper. Patterned paper with a bit of shimmer or shine is even better. Often my cards start with the patterned paper and proceed from there. The black pattern on this paper is embossed and shiny and feels really nice when you hold it.

Fourth - Shimmer & Shine. I love a bit of bling on my cards, whether it comes from the gloss of Nuvo Crystal Drops (my latest obsession), foil papers, glittered dot stickers, metallic gel pens etc - I love it. The glittered gold dots on this card were leftover from 2016 holiday tags. They were just too pretty to toss, which brings me to

Fifth - I have an on-going Odds & Sods pile that I like to root through to add details to my cards. It's a fun way to add unexpected bits to your card and makes them truly one of a kind.

Sixth - I LOVE using stickers and pre-made embellishments  and I used a number of different ones on this card. The skeleton stickers are many years old. I have a box full of stickers that I've collected over the years.

Seventh - I like easy. I don't want to fuss with math, measuring and templates. Karen Burniston's dies make it so easy to create amazing interactive cards and projects as all the work - including scoring - is done by the dies. This card uses the Snowman Twist Circle Pop-Up (minus the snowman) - with a lovely black & metallic 3-d pumpkin sticker front and centre. It's an easy Pop-Up card to make, but gets a real WOW when people open them. I have yet to see someone not open and close these Twist Circle cards several times when they receive it. Karen has how-to videos right on her website, as well as an informative YouTube channel for help if you need it.

I sprinkled some gold foil leaves across the top of the black inner layer - the leaves come with the Tree Pop-Up die set and cut 6 with a single pass through your die cutting machine.

Eighth - Mix and match. Not only do I like getting double duty from my dies, I also like to mix and match dies from different sets. Here I combined labels from the Gift Card Label and the Katherine Label Pop-Up.

Ninth - I rarely make a card just for the sake of a challenge. I like to make a card for someone specific, or to donate to Seniors Secret Service. I like to think I make cards that are easy for someone to duplicate with their own colour choices and embellishments.  Sometimes it's fun to pull out all the stops but generally my cards are simple to execute and can be completed in a single sitting.

I think the only thing this card is missing to represent my own style, is some handwriting. I like to add handwriting or basic hand lettering to my cards, but this one just didn't seem to need it.

Finally, I love to share ideas.  I have always enjoyed teaching classes and demoing at various stamp stores. One day I will have this RA fully under control and I will be able to get back to teaching but until then I can share almost daily inspiration here on my blog. I get so excited when I figure out a different way to use a die, and can't wait to share it with you all. 

Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team's Signature Styles - their blogs are linked on the right. Karen Burniston will have her blog post tomorrow (Wednesday September 6th).

Supplies:
Patterned paper - Making Memories
Black, cream card stock
1012 Snowman Twist Circle Pop-Up - Karen Burniston
Skeleton stickers - Mrs. Grossman
Gold foil card stock - Stampin' Up
Pumpkin stickers - Jolee's Boutique
1005 Tree Pop-Up (leaves) - Karen Burniston
1013 Halloween Elements - Karen Burniston
Gold gel pen - Sakura
1011 Katherine Label Pop-Up (label) - Karen Burniston
1019 Gift Card Labels - Karen Burniston

Card size - 5 x 6"

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