Karen Burniston's April Designer Challenge

Good morning friends!

Today is the day that Karen Burniston's Designer Challenge team starts to post their April challenge projects ... this month the challenge is "Mamas and Babies".  It was our choice whether to do a project for Mothers or for Babies.

Since we are the proud Grandparents of a brand new baby boy, I decided to go with an Accordion baby card to welcome little Zachary into the world:

Here is a look at the card closed ...

 

I used Karen Burniston's Fancy Frame Accordion with the coordinating Fancy Frame Edges and cut three pages. I tend to make two-page Accordion cards, so it was fun adding that third page.  Because her entire Pop it Ups collection works together flawlessly ... I added dies from another set as well.

I seem to have accumulated a couple of baby boy 12 x 12" scrapbook kits and I used one of them for this card. I love scrapbook kits, as all the stickers and papers coordinate and easily store together.

On pages 1 and 3, I attached the frame pieces right to the card at each end, but put a piece of foam tape in the center. It's a subtle thing, but when you are handling the card the lifted frames catch the shadows and it's a nice effect. The center page had the frames glued right to the Accordion.

I added some details with a Tombow Marker (pen stitching and dots) and also used another favourite ... fun foam. I buy white sheets of adhesive backed fun foam at our local craft store and use it quite often when I'm wanting larger pieces popped up. This stuff cuts SO easily - even with the wafer thin dies.  I attached the train and letter stickers to the fun foam, then fussy cut them out. It's also nice and light, so even with all the popped up pieces the card isn't overly heavy.

I glued some of the patterned paper to the fun foam then die cut the front frame pieces. Way easier than trying to add bits of foam tape to keep the border uniformly popped up, and that front frame has lots of dimension.

I loved the banner sticker that reads "A Little Piece of Heaven Has Been Sent To Our Family".  I added a Bakers Twine bow to either end of that.  The patterned paper labels were cut with the decorator dies that come with the Fancy Label Accordion.

It's a little hard to see in the photos, but I trimmed a banner from a printed transparency and attached that on the third page. Also that adorable giraffe sticker. He was too cute not to use on Zachary's card. Wherever the stickers overhang the card, I brushed the back with baby powder. I did the same with the B A B Y blocks on the left edge of Page 1, as they were also stickers in the scrapbook kit.

I folded the 'Adorable' border sticker around the fold of Page 1 and 2, at the bottom edge.

Since I usually do two page Accordions, I am used to adding a little banner or something similar across the top right corner.  This time though, it interfered with the workings of Page 3 ... so I had to take it off and trim it down to fit right on the label. The banner die pieces are included with the Lots of Pops die set.

Here is the card from the back ... I left the one side blank to add our message and signature.

Finally, here is a view from the top ... 

Karen Burniston's Accordion dies are hugely popular - in addition to this Fancy Frame Accordion, there is also a Circle Accordion and an Oval Accordion which makes a taller card. You can make as many pages as you want, and the dies to decorate the layers are included. (The frame dies are an optional purchase, but with three different frames to a set - they are well worth it). These wafer thin dies ship world-wide, and are easy to store.

Be sure to check out my fellow Designer Challenge Teammates to see what they chose to create for the challenge, and Karen Burniston will be posting HERS on the Elizabeth Craft Design Blog on Wednesday April 16th.


Supplies used:
Fancy Label Accordion - Pop it Ups, Karen Burniston (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Fancy Frame Edges - Pop it Ups, Karen Burniston (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Lots of Pops (Banner) - Pop it Ups, Karen Burniston (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
Patterned paper & stickers - Echo Park, Bundle of Joy
Adhesive backed fun foam
Tombow markers
Printed Transparency - American Crafts 

Thanks for stopping by today.