Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - August 2026 - Mealtime

 Hello Crafty Friends and welcome! It's Designer Challenge time (boy are these months flying by!) once again and our theme for August 2026 is Mealtime. This is a great challenge to show off the new Mealtime Elements die set that was released in July. For my card, I decided to pair an older die set with a newer die set by using the Bam Box along with the Mealtime Elements!

For detailed instructions on how to make this card, you can check out Karen Burniston's Assembly video by clicking here.

I started by making a card base using a piece of 12x12 cardstock. This is an old piece of cardstock I had from when I used to only use Bazzill Basics cardstock. It's a sage green colour, I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the paper. I cut it 12x5 and scored it 3" on either end. Then I added some red cardstock 1/8" smaller than the card base sections, 2 7/8 x 4 7/8 for the small sections and 4 7/8 x 5 7/8 for the centre section. On top of the red, I added a red gingham paper I found in my old patterned papers. This is like printer paper thin, so I tore in a few places. I was able to glue the pieces back on, which you can see in the video below, but I don't think I'd use such thin patterned paper again for a project like this. 

I die cut the Bam Box from the same cardstock as the card base. I used the soft, size 12 rubber bands, like Karen shows in the assembly video. You could also use the size 8 rubber bands, unfortunately mine had gone hard. I don't use them often enough. I then die cut the two Bam Box largest label dies from the same cardstock as the card base. Then I die cut two red labels using the next size die down. I also cut red rectangles to cover the Bam Box Pop-Ups. I glued these all together. 

I then die cut two plates and two spaghetti pieces using the new Mealtime Elements die set. I added sauce and meatballs to one and chicken and broccoli to the other. I coloured these all in with Copic markers. Then I glued them on to the Bam Box labels. I glued these on the front of each Bam Box Pop-Up. I set these aside. 

I die cut the windows from the two side panels of my card base. I added frames around the windows and I also added a thin magnet on the front panel of the card so I could add a magnetic closure. 

I used the Greeting Labels to add a place to sign the card and a sentiment, which covered where the magnet showed through the paper. 

I added some cutlery from the Mealtime Elements and added a Happy Birthday sentiment. 

For the front of the card, I added a sentiment on to black cardstock. I die cut this banner twice and added the other half the magnet sandwiched in between the two banners. I added some more cutlery to add some decorator pieces to my card. To watch how I made this card, check out my YouTube channel below.

This is fun surprise card! It was fun making it, even though I had some issues with the paper (and my glue bottle!). Thank you for stopping by today, below is a list of the supplies I used to make this card. Happy Crafting and be sure to check out the amazing cards the rest of the Design Team has made!

Supplies: For your shopping convenience, all products are linked below. Compensated affiliate links are used where possible with no extra cost to you. This helps me to continue to share all the projects I include on my blog. Please note I only use and share products I love. Thank you Crafty Friends!