shaker card

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2 PUNNY VALENTINES PLUS A TUCK AND FOLD CARD

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This card started as a sketch, but as I temporarily laid everything out, I felt like it needed something “more”—something small, but a little different from what I do out of habit. Originally, I had planned to white emboss the sentiment onto a strip of black card stock and work it into the layout. That’s a great stand-by that works quite well for many of my designs.

But, the idea of deviating from my stand-by, just slightly, kept nagging at me. So, I mounted the solid pink heart to the base card and then moved that to my MISTI, and curved the sentiment slightly, along the edge of the heart, got it mounted to the lid, and then inked and stamped. The golden colored frame was then mounted a little cattywampus (intentionally) with a little bit of glue in just 3 spots—I like the dimension it gives when it curves slightly up from the card front.

Everything else was clear embossed with my favorite black ink (affil) onto watercolor paper (affil), watercolored and die cut before 3D mounting into place.

Immense satisfaction achieved! (fist pump!)

This little bubblegum machine shaker card turned out so cute! Initially, I couldn’t decide on a background/backdrop for the machine and it occurred to me to grab my 1” circle punch and just punched a bunch of “dots” from card stock in coordinating colors—I love it!

I used Staz-On Cotton White (affil) to stamp the sentiment on the Crystal Clear Plastic (affil); I probably should have heat embossed it (this acetate is heat resistant) for better visibility as it’s hard to capture it that well in a photo, but IRL, it shows more prominently. Those teeny, tiny rainbow confetti hearts (affil) were just beggin’ to be filler, so I had to do it!

Here’s a TIP:

If you don’t have any sheet size foam tape (affil) to die cut for the shaker walls, try cutting the shaker front piece 5x from 110# Neenah Solar White (EH / AMZ affil) and just layer/stack them all together with Bearly Art Glue (affil)

feat. BIG LOVE STAMPS (the hearts background) | XOXO DIE

This way fun “fun-fold” design is actually a tri-fold that tucks and folds! I haven’t done one of these in so long and it’s one of my favorites so I need to poke myself as a reminder to do this more often because it’s so easy and always feels “clever”.

Video Tutorial below:

If you give this fun fold a try, you’ll have to let me know what you think! I love that it’s soooooo simple but the explosion of colors just makes it so visually impressive!

I cannot believe we are mid-way through January already; CRAZY!!!

Stay crafty!

Disclosure: I include affiliate links to the products used in my projects and make a small commission when you purchase via those links, at no extra dimes to you. 🙂 Your support is appreciated more than I can say!

OTHER SUPPLIES

The color palette I used for these samples:

Tools:

Embellishments:

Miscellaneous:

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HOW TO STAMP ON ACETATE

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Stamping on acetate (I use Ellen Hutson's Crystal Clear Plastic) used to one of those things that caused me some anxiety and stress, even tho I loved the end result—you had to make sure you didn’t slide around on the slippery surface and ruin the impression. I would hover, double check that my pinkie fingers were anchored to steady my hands, hold my breath and hope that the impression would land specifically where I wanted it. Sometimes it did, sometimes no worky . . .

The MISTI changed all that. If you still do not have one of these, I highly recommend getting the original/standard platform. I think it’s the most versatile size but still compact enough to not overwhelm your work surface. I also own the Mini MISTI, which is so awesome for stamping a quick sentiment on a card front, but when I need to reposition the paper or the stamp, the size of the original makes it a whole lot easier.

TIP: The snow dome above, from CHRISTMAS MAGIC, was die cut out after the stamping had dried. I like to use washi tape to anchor the die down to the Crystal Clear Plastic, but I’m careful to avoid placing the tape anywhere where it might in advertently “lift” any of the ink off. I suppose I should test that theory to see whether or not it this ink does hold up to sticky stuff, but I figure why take the chance when you can avoid it anyway? (insert shoulder shrug)

In hindsight, after filming the video below, I realized you might have seen the stamping better if I had removed the protective tissue that is sandwiched between each sheet of Crystal Clear Plastic (It comes that way in the packaging and I always leave it on the sheet when I’m trimming it down to size to avoid scratches), but as I progress through this particular project, you’ll get some good looks at how the snow actually looks and the difference between the original card, and the duplicate I made to show the technique.

Skater image from SNOW MUCH FUN . Sentiments from HOLIDAY CHEER HOT FOIL STAMPS

Here, I used the smaller dome in the set to make a snowy acetate window for a traditional style shaker card. It’s a really fun way to dress up your shaker windows with very minimal effort!

MORE TIPS:

  • Use a MISTI; seriously, the magnet holds your acetate in place and really helps you get crisp, clean impressions, without sliding all over the place. Makes a HUGE difference in ease. Ask me how I know . . . !

  • Use an ink that is permanent on slick surfaces; I love Staz-On inks, and their Opaque Cotton White EH / AMZ has been a favorite of mine for years and years! Keep in mind that this ink is specifically formulated for things like acetate/non-porous surfaces and does not show up well on paper.

  • Staz-On Opaque Cotton White ink EH / AMZ comes with it’s own reinker bottle; you load the ink pad yourself. Shake the bottle well before loading the pad; I often use a plastic butter knife to spread the ink evenly across the surface and “work it” down into the pad foam. If you “over-ink” the pad, things can get really thick/gunky on the stamp, become super slippery and take a while to dry. I get best results when pad is inked enough to be slightly “tacky”, but not slippery.

  • You made a mistake or got an ugly impression; it’s gonna be OK — don’t mess yer dress!!! Use a rubbing alcohol prep pad (First Aid aisle at the grocery store/pharmacy, etc.) to clean the ink off and try again. Yup! You can totally do that! HUZZAH!!! (virtual high 5)

  • Use a heat-resistant acetate, like Ellen Hutson’s Crystal Clear Plastic ; you can heat emboss and hot foil stamp on it! BONUS!!!

  • Staz-On has a tendency to “stain” your stamps. If you find it bothersome, try using a cleaner like Ultra-Clean to remove.

Disclosure: I include affiliate links to the products used in my projects and make a small commission when you purchase via those links, at no extra dimes to you. 🙂 Thank you for buying all the things!

SUPPLIES MENTIONED:

HALLOWEEN STAMPING GOODNESS

Today I’m sharing three sweet and adorable Halloween Boo-quet projects here on the blog—also used this set on a Haunted House Treat Box Tutorial over on the Ellen Hutson YouTube Channel that turned out so STINKIN’ CUTE, it’s gonna kill me to wait until Halloween to gift them to the grand weebles! GAAAAH!!!

This was a super fast card, excellent for a last-minute Halloween greeting! So fun to string the balloon boo-quet to kitty’s tail! The matching die set has individual dies, in addition to one for the boo-quet as a whole, so you can pick and choose which of those to pop up, if you want! Options . . . always options, LOL! (wink!).

QUICK TIP: Stamp the balloon strings first, then position and stamp the ghost/bat balloons; so much easier to line them up accurately!

It’s hard to tell in the photo, but our sweet little witch has a pale pink watercolor wash on her dress. I foiled a quarter sheet of black card stock with the Tiny Stars Hot Foil Stamp and then die cut the clouds from that, popping them up, but upside down. Sometimes, I just like ‘em that way. My card, my prerogative. (hair flip)

After die cutting the black clouds in the previous project, I had some leftover, of course . . . So, I figured why not use it to make a background for my little witch to go trick-or-treating with her buddy and broom—and at that point I decided it would be fun to die cut a circle large enough to accommodate the sentiment and turn it into a quick little shaker element!

If you haven’t been bitten yet by the hot-foil stamping bug, I must say, it’s super satisfying—I just love the look of those shiny stars, debossed into the paper. I could just putz around and hot foil stamp the day away—which is actually a smart idea because then you could have a number of pieces ready to go when you need them. Truth.

What do you do more of? Halloween greetings or treat packaging? I’m a mixed bag because both are so much fun to make.

Hope your week is going splendid!

HOCUS POCUS CRYSTAL BALL SHAKER

OK, just one more round of Halloween inspiration and then I’ll (try to) move on. I can’t help it. I had too much fun making these not to share them!

I love black and white + orange for Halloween, but when you throw pink into this mix . . . I’m not sure if it’s my aversion to purple that makes it work for me—but I seriously, SERIOUSLY LOVE it!

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I actually designed the Twirling Flurries with Christmas in mind, but then it worked so well as a magical background for Halloween projects, just had to use it this way, too!!! •fist pump•

I love the detail image on the base of the Shaker Globe—so good white embossed on black!

And, I gotta’ say, if you haven’t tried THESE FOAM SHEETS for die cutting odd shaker shapes (by that, I just mean not square, cuz those are easy, right?), I’m tellin’ ya’ right now—they are DA’ BOMB!!!

The owl is so sweet and I love using her here for a non-Halloween design . . .

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I know, I know . . . don’t judge me—this was a prime opportunity for a pun. I saw it, and I took it. •hair flip•

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Look at all that spooky goodness!!! Just makes my eyes so happy!

Thanks for stopping by, and stay safe & healthy!

SUPPLIES:

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links; if you see something you like, want or need, and purchase via my links, I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, which I use to buy coffee, which fuels my creativity and provides energy to make more card ideas. And, pay the rent.

HARD CANDY CHRISTMAS

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Brandi’s Hard Candy Christmas set is so much fun for making shaker cards! •fist pump•

I stamped a ton of the candy in yellows, greens and pinks and then die cut them so I’d have lots at the ready to use as filler and embellishment both. They’re so cute mixed in with some sparkly sequins!

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I used double layers of foam tape so things could shake around freely and was careful not to “over-stuff” the fillers. Gosh, I actually think this is one of the prettiest—and sweetest, LOL!—holiday cards I’ve ever made!

The candies adorning the front of the card were garnished with Diamond Stickles. HAH! Don’t let the culinary terms fool ya’, tho—this is strictly EYE candy. •wink•