A Shaker Birthday Card

Hello everyone! As regular readers know, Helene is my dear neighbor who lives right next door.  She has a little pup named Lola.  The previous owner of the house was very fond of the many animals Helene and her family had over the years and Lola would climb and then jump over the chain link fence separating our properties, a carry over from when she'd visit here before we moved in.  We ultimately decided to fold the fence back so it is easier for Lola {and all of us} to go between the two houses.  All you have to do now is go under {or over if you're brave!} the metal bar that is left in place.  This way, if the need arises, we can just fold the fence back and attach it to the bar.  Anyway, Helene had to fly out to a wedding on her birthday and I didn't see her before she left.  As I suspected, most people forgot it was her birthday {with the wedding and all} so I wanted to make a really special card for her.  I hope you like it as much as she did! 

What I Used to Make this Card:
White Card Base
DCWV Peri & Peach Stack, #PS-005-00589 {available on the internet}
Winnie & Walter In a Word: Happy and Birthday {company closed in 2019}
Tutti Stitched Nested Rectangle Die, #TUTTI-217
Acetate
Sequins from stash

I made this shaker much like I've made all my other shaker cards except I

After the cut and the pieces
are glued to the acetate

needed to use the pieces of letters to make the actual letters.  I cut out the Happy Birthday from white card, attached the acetate to the back of the Happy Birthday with red liner tape then placed the word bits back into the dies, using the dies as a template to ensure the bits were where they were supposed to be.  I put some glue onto the letter pieces and then lined them up with my cut out words.  I poked the back of the pieces with a poker and most of them stayed where they belonged.  I

The "well" or shaker walls

did have to chase a few around the acetate; thank goodness the glue cleans up easily!  In fact, the most complicated part of this card was trying to get the pieces of the die cut letters to stay on the acetate.  I knew if I roughed it up a bit that would give the tooth needed, but I didn't want to rough it up.  I am all out of E6000 {my go to when nothing else works} so I had to just keep gluing the letters to the acetate and when I gave her the card, they were all stuck in place.  Hopefully, they still are.

Once all that was done, I went through my dies and found a rectangle to cut the Dollar Store foam board and made my frame to hold the sparkly goodies.  Foam board isn't as "deep" as the other white foam I sometimes use, but I had a piece left from another project that was the perfect size for the rectangle, so I used it.  Plus, you get a huge bit of it for only a dollar so it's much cheaper to use than the actual foam.  Just for your information, these are the two types of foam I use for making Shaker Cards:

This is craft foam.  I purchase the 6mm size and I get it from a local big box craft store.  The sheets are about a dollar a piece.  The best thing about using this foam as opposed to the foam board is that it is available in lots of different colors and the color is through and through.  So if you are making something where the white of the foam board is an issue, this stuff is your best bet. 

This is the foam board from Dollar Tree.  You can get much better quality foam board from the large art supply stores, but for what I use foam board, this is fine.  It cuts in a die machine with no problem {occasionally the white paper used as "cover" for the actual foam will rip off, but that isn't an issue since it's hidden} and it's lighter than the actual foam above.  Plus, you get a HUGE sheet for, yup, one dollar - in Colorado, plus tax.  It also comes in colors, but the foam I use is always white.

Now that you have been schooled in my favorite foams, let us move on.  I filled the shaker well {constructed with the foam board frame that I cut with the

This picture shows the pretty colors!

rectangle die} with all sorts of sparkly little bits - mini gems, iridescent sequins, happy birthday sequins, and basically what ever I could find.  I used primarily pink and gold sequins to match the background paper I was going to use.  Now, I often leave my shaker well filled up and on the side while I work on the rest of the card.  This time I learned my lesson; I spilled the sequins all over the floor!  Since the cats live in my craft room with me, there are all sorts of things on the wooden floor.  I sweep daily, but. . . well, if you have ever had animal helpers, you know you can only clean so much.  Needless to say, I had to sweep up all those sparkly bits and toss them in the trash.  No problem, we are crafters and mistakes are in our DNA!  I left the shaker frame empty until I had finished the base of the card; I added the frame last, after I had filled it up again with goodies to shake.

She absolutely adored the card and I love seeing her face light up when I give her cards I make.  She is like my mom in that aspect; she loves everything I give her.  The wedding was beautiful and she had a marvelous time so it was a great week for both of us.  Thank you for stopping by and I appreciate all of your encouraging and sweet comments - I may not reply to them all but I do read them.  Hope to see you soon ~ Fondly, Christi