Welcome to this wonderful Wednesday. I’m telling myself it’s wonderful even though our temps here in North Texas are currently in the teens and wind chills are below zero. 🥶 For some of you, this is a typical winter day, but we are simply not accustomed to brutally cold and windy days.

This week, our design theme explores pattern & texture with sentiments. And today’s design is totally inspired by a card by fellow demo over at Creative Stamping Designs. I don’t often make shaker cards, but when I saw this combination of Beautiful Butterflies and Bloom Impressions, I just had to give it a go!

We get started with a base of white cardstock. Since the base is only visible on the inside, I keep things simple. But you could easily choose a complimentary color if you wish. A quarter sheet of the rainbow Bloom Impressions paper covers the card front and serves as the base for our shaker elements. I chose a coordinating pink/orange/purple medley sheet from the Beautiful Bokeh paper pack and machine embossed it with the Beautiful Butterflies hybrid embossing folder to imprint the butterfly pattern and cut the center butterfly at the same time. I made a deep impression by passing the embossing folder through my machine twice, which allows the white center of the paper to show through for a distressed look. I used the butterfly cutout on the inside panel of my card (not shown).

Next, we construct our shaker cover by adhering a window sheet to the back of the Beautiful Bokeh panel using tear-n-tape for a strong hold. (Tip: I save the acetate sheets from new stamp sets to use a window sheets. Simply give them a good wipe with a damp cloth on both sides and you’re good to go!) Apply a square of foam tape around the butterfly (still on the back of the sheet), leaving plenty of room for your shaker pieces to move. Be sure your foam strips meet and overlap at each corner to prevent any shaker pieces from escaping! Apply dimensionals around the edges (or you could use foam strips) to adhere this panel to your card front over the Bloom Impressions paper. Remove all of the backings, fill the center with your chosen shaker elements (I used a stash of retired shaker pieces I had on hand), and then adhere your card front over the filled shaker panel as it stays flat on your craft table.

I used a scrap of the Beautiful Bokeh to stamp the sentiment from Friends for Life in Blackberry Bliss and cut the end on the diagonal with my paper snips. Adhere in the upper corner with dimensionals. I added a knot of iridescent striped trim on the straight end. The card front is embellished with purple sequins to help our eyes pass across the design over the major elements. Voila!

Tomorrow we’ll be tiptoeing through the toadstools. I hope you’ll come along!

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