Altenew Kinetic Class Cards That Move!

I recently took a class from Altenew to learn how to make kinetic cards that move in different ways. I also received a box of new products to play with and learn along with the instructors. My first card combines a great sketch from one of the classes with a hidden movement that swings a cable car through the mountains. 

The Mountain Peak was created with layering stencils from Altenew and I added some glitter paste to the last layer for some snow. The cable car is a new die from Altenew called Aerial Cable Car. I die cut a stitched cloud and added a new favorite stamped sentiment both from Karen Burniston.

I also received the Let's Scoot scooter made with Altenew's amazing Key Hole System so it was easy to figure out where each piece goes in what order. I created a Swinging Doors card with a die set from Hot off  the Press. I decorated the front and inside pieces with Concord & 9th Splash Stencil Pack. Here is another look at this card with the doors are swung open:

It is difficult to capture the movement in both of these cards in still pictures, so I created a reel showing that motion:

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

Tiered Pop Out Cards

I get so excited when I find a new fun fold to try and I learned how to make this Tiered Wiper or Pop Out card from a video by Sam Calcott here. It looks ok here with a fun embossed layered card front created with an embossing folder from Spellbinders and a super fun die and stamp set from Concord & 9th called Toast Time. But look at what happens when the right side is pulled: 

The hidden layers pop out with more toast and fruit! I tried Sam's version but decided to go with 3 layers instead of 4 and embossing without patterned paper layers. On both of the  cards shown I started with my favorite Star Dream Metallic Cardstock from CutCardStock.

Here is another tiered pop out card I made with a shell die and shells from Mudd Puddles and little fish from a Hero Arts confetti die. Here are a couple more views of this card:

The sea animals were made with a die set from Karen Burniston. But still pictures just don't do these cards justice as the pop out motion is amazing. So I made a short reel to show you:

If you are a subscriber and can't see the video, click on my Instagram or Facebook icon on the right and you can see it there.

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

What a Great Weekend of Classes!

Every spring and fall I participate in Scrapbook and Cards Today Crop and Create Delivered Cardmaking classes. We get a huge box of dies, stamps, embossing folders, paper, etc. and then get three full days of classes. It is worth every penny and if you are interested, the sign up for the fall event is going on right now- but don't wait as it does fill up with thousands participating every year. Here is a link to the info and where you can sign up.

I am sharing the many cards I made here today and tomorrow. My favorite class cards were taught by the GOAT herself - Jennifer McGuire for Pinkfresh Studio. Her cards were so unique as was the dies and stamps from Pinkfresh Studio. To close,  there was an awesome MIx It Up Video where she took products from all the companies and taught  us more techniques and fun folds. 

LDRS Creative shared my favorite new product of the weekend classes - Aquaink Transfer Sheets which transfer easily with water on watercolor paper. I also loved the Star Octagon Eclipse dies and the Elegant Edge dies and I used all of them on the card above with a stamped and die cut sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio. Below is another eclipse card I made with that unique die set, two cardfronts from Pink & Main and a sentiment from Gina K Designs (all of whom participated in this weekend of classes.) 

And here are several more cards I made with the gorgeous Brilliant Blooms Aquaink Transfers: 

Concord & 9th's products were among my favorite too- after I got over the fact the stencils were not supposed to line up perfectly with the whimsical flowers. I also loved the stitched accents but if you don't like to stitch you can leave them as texture or so faux stitching with a thin marker. Here are the other two cards we made in this  class:

We have access to the classes forever so we can finish cards later or make more after watching again anytime. I did finish mine and will share more tomorrow here on my blog. 

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

So Fry-tastic Collection from Concord & 9th

Flowers or fries for a special occasion? I would have to go with the fries I think- what about you? When I saw the new So Fry-tastic dies and stamps from Kristina Werner and Concord & 9th, I knew there was no resisting them. I never need another set of flower dies or stamps,  but show something unique and fun like these and I have to bring them home. There is a whole set of funny stamps that go with the dies and I picked stamps perfect for a funny Valentine or any day card for my grandsons or husband. I die cut the fries out of 3 colors of light yellow cardstock and added some shading to make them look fried and ready to eat. The fry dies are numbered in the order to put together so that part is so easy. I created the hearts background with two stencils from A Colorful Life Designs. 

My second card with these dies and stamps is an easel card held up with a fry I stamped. The die set includes several large word dies so I die cut "fries" instead of stamping it. The "love you" die is from Karen Burniston. Here is another view of this easel card from the front:

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

Crop and Create Cardmaking Delivered First Day and Favorite Cards

Every year since it first started, I have been participating in the 3 day on line event put on by Scrapbook and Cards Today called Crop and Create Cardmaking Delivered. I will not miss one because in my opinion it is the best on line event for card makers! They bring together 12 different companies with excellent instructors and send a box of exclusive dies, stencils, stamps, paper and embossing folders worth 3 times what we pay! Here are the cards I made in the first class on Friday from Tayored Expressions:

We also got supplies to make a calendar which I will share a peak of later. Next up was Scrapbook.com and we used rub ons which I loved:

I loved the embossing folder and vase from Spellbinders as well as the lessons on how to ink them:

My favorite class of the weekend was Concord & 9th because of the "map" background helping us place the gorgeous colored leaves and flowers on these two cards:

The background die also cut out the lovely shape. I need to add some sentiments but am waiting to see what occasion I will use them for. I also used these dies to make one month of my calendar from Taylored Expressions. I will share more when it is done.

If you have never participated in Crop and Create Delivered, open registration for the Spring 2026 event starts October 20th and fills up very quickly (to over 3000 participants!!) 

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

Fall Stencils, Dies and Embossing Folders

I love the colors of fall and wish they lasted longer than they do. I recently received the Leaves Master Creator Bundle from A Colorful Life Designs and new products from Altenew for the Heartfelt Moments Class and had a play before fall comes and goes. In the Altenew class bundle, we received the Cozy Sweater 3D Embossing Folder and the Majestic Maple die set shown below. I also grabbed the Chestnut Tree layered die set from them and combined those with the gorgeous Falling Leaves stencil to make this beautiful card.

The Dotted Leaves stencil from A Colorful Life Designs makes a perfect subtle background for the large Majestic Maple tree from Altenew. I remember struggling in the past to line up the layers on a die like this one, but Altenew has a brilliant Key Hole in all the die cuts that makes lining them up a breeze! Then you cover up the key holes with the last die cut. So easy to get perfect layered die cuts! 

I decided not to put sentiments on the first 3 cards I am sharing because I am not sure if I want them for birthdays, sympathy or thinking of you. I started this card by blending red, yellow and orange inks through the Geometric Leaves stencil from A Colorful Life Designs. Then I die cut Concord & 9th's Autumn Inlay Die and raised some of the leaves and inlaid others. 

For this pair of cards I simply blended a darker red ink through the Leafy Heart Frame stencil, then embossed with Altenew's Raised Thank You Sentiments Embossing Folders and then added a bit more ink to bring out the words. So easy and so lovely. 

The Leaves Master Creator Bundle of stencils from A Colorful Life Designs includes 5 stencils at a very reasonable price and of course we don't have to make only fall colored cards with them. I blended two colors of Lisa Horton's Metallic Inks through the Filigree Leaf stencil onto black cardstock and then embossed again with the Altenew Raised Sentiments 3D embossing folder. 

I am looking forward to the Heartfelt Moments class at Altenew this week for more fall and Altenew beauty.

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

Help Finding Great Color Combos for Layering Stencils

Do you love layering stencils but struggle deciding on what colors to use for each layer? In my newest video, I share many tips on how to find the perfect color combinations for layering stencils. Here is the card I made step by step in the video:

My favorite way to come up with great color combos is to browse through my Color Cube by Sarah Ranae Clark and the card I chose suggested  light and dark purple, dark blue and green as you can see in the photo above. I created the card with Waffle Flower's Spring Breeze stencil layering set and their Postage Collage die. 

Here is another card I created with those same products and a color combo I found on Pinterest:

Paper Hugs is an Overlapping Die and Stencil set also from Waffle Flower. I would not have thought to use teal, orange and green together but they do work as a pretty color combination. 

Company websites are another great source for color combination suggestions. I recently received a kit from Concord and 9th and included were their colors of Creamsicle, Honeysuckle, Pink Lemondate and Tidepool and I made these cards with those colors:

The Spring Breeze butterflies and flowers look lovely in those colors too. "Happy Birthday" is another Overlapping Die and Stencil set  from Waffle Flower. To see all these cards and how easy it is to create lovely spring cards with these Waffle Flower products, watch the new video here. 

Waffle Flower Sneak Peak Birthday Collage Cards

The beginning of every month brings a new Sneak Peak club package of goodies from Waffle Flower and this month we got the brand new Postage Collage Cupcake Stencils, a Postage Collage Birthday stamp set, Overlapping Happy Birthday Die-n-stencil and some birthday sentiment strips. All of those products will be released soon at Waffle Flower so if you see anything you want, you will be able to get them soon. I find this subscription club to be a real value and look forward to my Sneak Peak package every month.

My first card above I made with the suggested colors right on the stencils themselves. Then I made another card with colors from Concord and 9th:

Here's to 2025 and a New Business Venture

The new year brings a new adventure for our daughter-in-law in Chicago as she becomes the owner and managing partner of the business she has been a part of for many years. She is an event planner and now owns the business along with another managing partner. We are very excited and happy for Kristy and this great opportunity! We celebrated last weekend and she loved the card I made from all of us. I created the front of the 5 x 7 card with various die cut sentiments and Concord & 9th Confetti Dots Turnabout Stencil. But the real fun part is when the card is opened:

I used Karen Burniston's Photo Fan Pop Up die set to pop up all the pictures of the employees and owners of the business, the name and an encouragement message. It really is so much more impressive when you see the card actually being opened and popping up, so here is a quick mini video of that action:

(To my subscribers- I love that you subscribe, but I don't think Blogger puts videos in the emails you receive, so to see this video, click on the title and go to my actual blog.)

The Photo Fan Pop Up is my favorite Karen Burniston pop up die and that is saying something as I have been huge fan for years and have them all! It is so easy to work with and the pop surprise is amazing! 

Change Your Scraps into Squares, Triangles and Gorgeous Cards

I was inspired by some cards I found on Pinterest to turn my scraps into squares and triangles and then into beautiful cards which I share in my newest video here. I made this love bridge card step  by step after finding the 3 color heart pattern here. I created my stitched triangles with Concord & 9th's Pinwheel Quilt die set. the layered sentiment die is from Gina K Designs and the stitched heart cover die on the white strips is from Kat Scrappiness. 

I saw this heart pattern created also with triangles on a board of cards here and even without any instructions I was determined to figure out how to create it. The love sentiment die on this card is also from Gina K Designs. Here are two more cards I found inspiration for on Pinterest:

I love a classic sketch with positive and negative color use like on the first card and the rainbow of triangles created out of squares folded in half for dimension is such a fun idea which I found on this blogpost. I had leftover pieces from the Studio Katia Dotted Stitched Square Frame Die I used so I added a frame on the front and here is the inside of the card:

The squares left a tic-tac-do pattern so I added it to the inside of the card to challenge the recipient to a game and added some perfect sentiments from Karen Burniston. I had great fun using my scraps to make square, triangles and cards for this video and hope you will do the same soon.