Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Karen Burniston's Visit!

Last night, The TOPICS! had our November Stampers' Night Out. We had a beer and pizza night at my house - and I LOVED IT! Karen Burniston was a guest speaker - and I think we were all blown away by her creativity and her amazing creations! Karen Burniston is the person who designed the O Christmas Tree Pop-Up die, the Pop-Up Three-Tier Cake die, and the 3D Pop-Up Ball die for Stampin' Up! Karen showed us how to put the pop-up Christmas tree together and then showed us tons of samples of different trees! She showed us lots of samples of the three-tier cake die, as well! I enjoyed her presentation so much and I am now inspired to make a Christmas tree garland to hang from my fireplace! Enjoy the samples below - they are over-the-top and awesome! I wish I had taken better pictures for you, but I was sort of in a WOW frenzy!!!!
The picture below is the three-tier cake die turned upside down to resemble a flower pot! I KNOW, right?
The picture below is a gift that Karen made for me! The Christmas tree is inside an explosion box. When you pull the lid off, the box falls open, and up goes the Christmas tree! CUTE! No, no, not cute.........MAGNIFICENT! Don't you love how she used the Medallion stamp for the tree skirt?
The picture below is the three-tier cake die with an added "Sweet" banner that pops up! I wish I could live in Karen's head! What a cute birthday cake!
The picture below is the three-tier cake die that has ribbons attached all around the three cake tiers so it ends up resembling a dress! Never would have thought of that!
This is what I was excited about! The picture below is a fall tree. It never would have occurred to me to use the Christmas tree die at any other time of year than Christmas! But Karen's right, why can't it be a fall tree or a winter tree or a Halloween tree? Then you can pull your die out all year long, not just at Christmas. I LIKE THAT!
Below, I love the bird on top from our bird punch! An adorable wedding cake or anniversary cake!
The cake below was one of my favorites. The colors are just gorgeous and it really looks good enough to eat!
You know Halloween is one of my favorite occasions, so I was all over the tree below! It has cute little black spiders hanging down from some of the limbs, which you can't see very well in this picture! So spooky and so cute - and I never would have thought of making a tree with our designer paper!
Wow! How in the world did she string that red garland through all those eyelets on the tree below? And when you close the card up, it all folds neatly right where it's supposed to! If I made this card, it would be very similar to stringing Christmas lights - there'd be some choice words thrown in there somewhere and a bad attitude, too, I'm sure!
I love the beaded garland and the tri-color tree below! Would have never thought of doing that!
The cake below is a birthday cake with photos of the birthday girl on the bottom. Truly magnificent - especially for an 11-year-old girl! That lucky duck to get a card like that!
I tried to abscond with the cake below and hide it somewhere so that Karen wouldn't notice it was missing, but then my better judgment took over and I placed it back on the table! GOSH, IT'S SO CUTE! A HALLOWEEN CAKE!
The tree below is covered in Valentine's Day hearts! Never in a million years would I have ever thought of that. Guess I'd better pull out my O Christmas Tree Pop-Up die and give it more consideration. There are so many things you can do with it than I had ever thought of!
My favorite tree is the one below. The picture doesn't do it justice. The tree is in Soft Suede and is embossed with the Finial Press embossing folder. Then Karen adhered buttons all over it. It is absolutely precious and I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO making one for my own pleasure and enjoyment.
I hope you've enjoyed these pictures! If you would like to order the O Christmas Tree Pop-Up Die (116822) or the Pop-Up Three Tier Cake Die (116760), you can visit my 24/7 online store at www.pennythomas.stampinup.net and click on "Shop Now" to get your Christmas tree factory going and all your cakes in the oven!

3 comments:

Lizette said...

I love them all!! What a bunch of eye candy!

France Martin said...

WOW that was something to talk about!!!!!

Anonymous said...

How lucky you were to have your special guest! Everything is sooooo nice! I sure would like to have a few of those patterns! Lynn Saeger