I’ve decided it’s time for me to start cranking out some birthday cards to get a good jump on them this year. I always kick myself when I don’t have one on hand to send out when someone’s birthday creeps up on me. It’s all part of my resolution to be more organized in 2016.
I also picked up a W R Memory Keepers Fuse Tool in November and finally put it to use a week or so ago. It’s great for creating quick shaker cards that aren’t so bulky. I also plan to use it for some photo album projects in the future. Essentially, you fuse two layers of plastic together using the heat of the tool and one of the nibs. I used a plastic stamp pocket for this – I just cut it to size and fused three sides together using the ruler as a guide. I tucked in a piece of patterned paper and added some sequins to the front before sealing up the fourth side.
The patterned paper and the sequins used for this card came from a Simon Says Stamp monthly card kit. I also added a few seed beads to the shaker pocket. The “Hello” sentiment is the SSS Painted Hello die. I cut it out several times on black card stock and stacked them up on top of each other to give it a chipboard feel. The “Birthday Girl” sentiment comes from a Wplus9 stamp set called Hand Lettered Hello (which I use all the time…). I stamped that with Versafine onyx black ink on a piece of white cardstock and glued everything onto the shaker window with some glossy accents glue – because that stuff is strong!
I followed the same principles for the second card – sequins and patterned paper from a past SSS Monthly Card Kit, a few seed beads, SSS and Wplus9 sentiment combo. For this card, though, I mounted the window onto a piece of gray and white patterned paper before mounting it onto an A2-sized card base.
I’ll certainly be making more of these!