Hello Gorgeous Shaker by Becca

This card was designed around the Hello Gorgeous dies, making the card 4 inches tall by 8 inches wide. I used the negative space of the die to create a shaker window, so you can see glitter shaking around within the letters.

To begin, I cut a piece of watercolor paper down to the size of the card and painted on horizontal stripes using a sky blue liquid watercolor and a half inch angled brush. I purposefully let the lines be a bit wonky for a lose watercolor look. Then I started on creating the flower embellishments. I repeatedly stamped both flower images from Chin Up Buttercup onto bristol smooth paper with a waterproof black ink. I colored them in with Arteza real brush pens in honey and lemon yellow, blending with water. I fussy cut each flower, then ran a black water based marker along the outside to finish off the edge and disguise any imperfections in my cutting.

To create the shaker window I die cut Hello Gorgeous out of the striped watercolor paper once it was completely dry. Over the hole that the die created I glued a piece of acetate. You can purchase acetate or used recycled packaging. I saved all of the insides of the letters, and adhered them back into place on top of the window acetate. Then I used craft foam to create walls to contain the shaker contents. You can use foam tape here as well, but I usually opt for craft foam as it is more economical.  It doesn’t matter how messy the foam looks, it will be hidden. I poured iridescent chunky glitter into the holes behind the letters and glued on a piece of black card stock to seal it up. I am a shaker card addict! Shaking the glitter around as soon as I seal it up never fails to make me smile.

I arranged the buttercup flowers clustered around the shaker window letters in three little groupings. For the flower centers I adhered flat back half gems in Laura Galaxy. This color perfectly brought out the iridescent sparkle of the chunky glitter as well as having a slight blue shine to coordinate with the background. It is difficult to capture on camera how gorgeous these gems are in real life! I also went in with Nuvo drops on the tip of a craft pick to add tiny white dots to highlight the flower stamens. 

With the card completed I wanted to add something special to the envelope flap. I used a yellow ink to stamp a pattern using both flower images from Chin Up Buttercup, then ink blended the same ink around the edges for definition.

I hope this has inspired you to create something today, maybe even a shaker card of your own!