Karen Burniston pop up dies

I have attempted this type of pop up card in the past, all done by measuring, scoring and cutting manually. I only had fair results until I saw these dies while looking for something else online. Oh boy, do I love using Karen Burniston's pop up dies! Visit her website (here) to see samples, watch the how-to videos and shop.

The first card is for my brother-in-law. The die set is Twisted Panel Pop Up Die set, #1009. The stamp set used is Birthday Laughs #1 by Catherine Scanlon Designs.

As you begin to open it, you see part of the mechanism that makes this work. A simple cut of the green layer is done with a die, and the folded green arms are another die cut that are folded and glued into place.

The card, fully open, is so cute and magical to those make cards themselves. I love that they think I worked so hard. In reality, I shopped and followed instructions!

The next two photos are my attempt at showing you the mechanism from different angles.  The four black panels holding the stamped images on white paper are part of the die set. It really is easy to assemble following the video tutorial.

I also bought the Flower Pot Pop Up Die set, #1010, but don't have a finished card from that set yet. I did use the floral dies and flower pots from that set in conjunction with the Twisted Panel Pop Up Die set to create this card.

The Happy Birthday greeting is a new die from Stampin' Up. The papers are various ones from my stash. I used some Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink on the flower pots to age them a bit.

The bee was cut once out of yellow paper and once out of black. The stripes and black head were done with a black marker. I sandwiched a length of wire from a twist tie between the two bee shaped pieces, the attached the opposite end to a piece of scrap paper and glued that to the backside of one of the pots.

I haven't added an inside message yet but I think I will make a plant stick (stake?) that will say "best wishes" and my name and add that to one of the pots on the right.

I think this die set is going to get a lot of use. I'm already looking at another one that is calling my name.