Shaker – My Crafts are Like a Box of Chocolates

I’m pretty much addicted to shaker cards which is a good thing. Otherwise, I’d be drowning in all the sequins, confetti, crystals and gems I buy! The best way to feature them, IMHO, is to make shakers! This week at Crazy 4 Challenges, we were asked to feature a trick of some kind – maybe an interactive card or something with a twist.

c4c 19 trick coloured sequin shaker

So, a pretty boring card right? It’s not bad but certainly not very celebratory. But the trick comes when you turn it upside down and shake the daylights out of it! Then you get…

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c4c 19 trick coloured sequin shaker2

… a riot of coloured sequins and gems! So, how did I do it? The secret is a hidden reservoir of coloured sequins under the ‘Celebrate’ portion of the card! You have to pack the reservoir pretty full so none of the clear and silver stars fall into the bottom. It does takes some serious shaking to get them all out so if you make one, be sure to write a note for the recipient. If the card is light coloured and so is your foam, you can see when you hold it up to the light if you have more shaking to do! I highly recommend this be delivered by hand or only travels flat in a gift box or you could possibly place it upright into a gift bag. Definitely do not attempt to mail a card like this!

c4c 19 trick coloured sequin shaker3

So here is what the foam looks like under the front panel. Originally I added the two horizontal pieces sticking out into the middle to help stabilize the front. But in the end it helped divide the sections which kept the sequins in their correct compartments. I made the reservoir as large as I could while still allowing me to add 1/8″ Scor-Tape to the edges. Making it large mean lots of sequins which then, after shaking, kept the top compartment from looking too sparse. (Dies by PTI, shaker fillers by Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.)

Do you have a trick up your sleeve? Join us over at the C4C blog to get some inspiration and join in our challenge!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Cards

Welcome to a New Year!

January 5, 2019 beccreates1

And a new challenge at Crazy 4 Challenges! This week we were asked to make our favourite kind of card. My faves are always interactive, in particular shakers, and summertime themed. I combined both into this card.

This fun little shaker element uses dies from WPlus9, Making Waves. There is enough room for some foam under the top edge of the waves so I could make the shaker with two different colours of fillers. The top has plain white confetti and the bottom has a mix of sequins and beads from Lucy’s Little Things. I created a circle mask for the sun. If you do this, be sure to keep the negative portion of your mask too as you will need it. The circle part to keep the sun white while you ink the sky and the surrounding paper to keep the yellow for the sun from getting into the blue sky.

The little fishy is from an older Echo Park die set with a sailboat. The sentiment is from Hello Summer from Neat & Tangled, both the die and stamp. I make summer cards even in the winter, clearly, so I agree 100%.

I hope you will join us at C4C for this first challenge of the year. What challenge could be easier? Actually, I had to decide what was my favourite! I do have a lot. That’s why this blog is called what it is! I can never decide what my favourite is! I thought about making a shabby chic or vintage card. Or maybe one with watercolouring. Or how about some Copic colouring? ooh, or maybe some Prismacolour or Faber-Castell pencils? oh, I know, what about a mixed media masterpiece? See, hard for me to decide! I went with using a new-to-me stamp set and die.

Thanks for reading. Please pass my blog address on to anyone else you know who enjoys card making! I’ve got a HUGE bunch of cards I made this week to show you using the October Spellbinders Watercolour Card Kit. Can you believe I got 13 made with one kit and have a ton left? Never mind the stamps and dies which never run out! What a value! Stay tuned…

Enjoy, Rebecca

Cards

Fall/Winter 2018 Coffee Lover’s Bloghop

December 1, 2018December 1, 2018 beccreates1

I always feel like a bit of a fraud when I join the Coffee Lovers bloghop because I don’t drink coffee! Even when I get a mocha, I ask for 1 shot of espresso instead of 2! But I LOVE coffee themed images so I think that means I’m qualified to join!

Oh, don’t those mittens look warm!? I created a fun shaker card for my card, yep, I know, I’m addicted to shakers. They are so fun, why not? (At least that’s what I think when I’m making my 3rd in a week!!)

The sketch is from the Paper Players but sadly the deadline has passed for entering. I think I’ll save it though because it is perfect for using lots of gorgeous patterned paper. My shaker was made with a die set from MFT, snowflake window I think. Inside is a mix of huge mylar glitter flakes, fine white iridescent glitter and clear micro beads. It make a great noise when it shakes. The background was stenciled with Nuvo Mousse in Platinum with a snowfall stencil by Simon Says. The mug, snowflake and marshmallows dies as well as the sentiment are also by MFT. I used Copic markers to add colour to the die cuts. I especially love how the mug turned out. In case you were wondering, the marshmallows are coloured that way to mimic how marshmallows always fall into the cocoa but then pop back up with cocoa on them. You know what I mean right?

TIP: If you want to pop up an intricate die cut, too intricate for foam, but you also don’t want to layer it, here’s a tip. Turn your die cut upside down and apply tiny drops of glossy accents anywhere that is thick enough to support the drops. I don’t recommend other brands of dimensional adhesive unless they are very thick. Mine is even thicker than usual because it’s getting low. Allow the glossy accents to set up then apply more drops on top of the drying ones. Repeat until you have achieved the desired height letting it dry completely after the last layer. Then add only a tiny bit more glossy accents just to work as adhesive because you’ve allowed the others to dry so they aren’t sticky anymore. Now you have a popped up die cut that looks lacy and delicate!

The papers are all by Carta Bella Bundled Up paper from last year. For the cute little scallops at the bottom, I used dies by Sunny Studio. The sentiment tag is by Concord & 9th but I couldn’t decide what fiber, twine or ribbon to use in the hole so I left it plain. I added gems from Studio Katia which sparkle so beautifully and a bit of lace to dress up the card. I hope you join as there are a TON of fab prizes! I’m off to enter this card so I’ll see ya later!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Uncategorized

Mermaid’s Treasure

July 13, 2018 beccreates1

For the last few years, I’ve been obsessed with all things related to the ocean and blue-greens like teal, aqua and turquoise. I didn’t have any mermaid stamps until this year but I am so hooked!

This sweet little gal and her accompanying stamps are by Stamping Bella. This style of illustration is my favourite from this company. She was so much fun to colour with my Copics. The little dots on her tail look like scales right? The coins in the treasure chest are coloured with a coppery gold pen. Isn’t the ocean-themed frame stunnning? It’s by Hero Arts, cut from Bristol Smooth paper, sponged with Distress Oxide inks and flicked with water to create texture. The little tiny fishies I added as accents were cut from the area behind the mermaid; rather than wasting them, I trimmed the fish colouring them with warm colours to help them stand out. The background is hard to make out here but it’s stamped with the sea weed stamp that accompanies the mermaid.

Do you love the ocean? I could make nothing but beach and ocean themed cards and be very happy!

I’m hosting a giveaway! Read the details HERE!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Tag: Shaker

Well, that’s a Trick! A Special Shaker Card

Welcome to a New Year!

Fall/Winter 2018 Coffee Lover’s Bloghop

Mermaid’s Treasure