Shaker Happy Birthday

It seems that shaker cards have become all the rage again, and I say "again" because they were all the rage a few years back. Just goes to show you there are no new ideas; they just come around again for a new crew of stampers.

I have fits when I make shaker cards. Back in the old days I used small bits of paper from hole punches, or even microbeads. Those beads roll, you know. I have a standing desk with a tilt to it. Thankfully there is a small lip at the bottom to catch all the teeny tiny beads. What a mess.

ANYway,  shaker cards are back, and I still can't do them. The current "thing" is to put sequins in the box. I've found sequins to be fat enough to be problem children. They are also very static-y, which my pal and I found out this past weekend when we both set our minds to making shaker cards NO MATTER WHAT. This attitude came back to bite us both.

I'd recently seen someone make a shaker by repeatedly die-cutting a shape out of several layers of card stock, then stacking them up so it created a dimensional hole. I'd tried this the week before and failed miserably. Well, if you think about it, I am the crooked stamper, and I couldn't for the LIFE of me get things to line up. Plus, when I got close in the alignment department, I found I didn't have enough layers. This, people, is how pretty trash is generated. So when we set to work this past weekend, I mentioned it, and we sat and thunk for a while.

Finally, my pal opted to use a Polaroid die for the box (the die has a big hole), and she proceeded to stack them up and fill the box with sequins. That's when we discovered their pesky static-y characteristic. Also, it turned out we needed way more layers than we originally thought so there was enough room for the little buggers to move around.

By the time I got to my shaker card, I ended up using 7 layers of the Polaroid shape cut from 80 lb Neenah Solar white. Plus the paper layer on the bottom, plus the acetate layer.

Here's my card:

My pal had originally used Tombow adhesive to hold her layers together, and we think that was part of the problem. The sequins stuck to the sides in addition to the static that made them stick to her fingers. I used a wet glue between my layers and had no sticking issues, so after a lunch break she re-made her card and it was way better with the wet adhesive. Please learn from our pain.

I also put the first die-cut on the red bottom layer of paper, then stacked up the rest of the layers on top of that. Then all I had to do was get a fork lift to move the thing, then pour the sequins into the hole and apply the acetate layer. After that I could move it around all I wanted with no spillage. I added the top layer of patterned paper and stuck the whole thing down to my card front. Lastly I stamped the sentiment.

I like how this turned out! I'm not sure I'll ever make another one, though. Ugh, labor-intensive. And it's pretty darn(ed) thick, too.

I'm entering this in the current (current, I KNOW!) Friday Mash-up challenge to use sequins:

Actually, the double-challenge is sequins, or a Hello card, or both, and since I used a Happy Birthday sentiment, mine is just for the sequins part of the challenge.

In other news, the other day Bobra had A Moment. He usually sits on the ledge of the tub while I shower, and Monday he over-shot the tub and landed inside, where there was water. I've never seen him move so fast as he tried to climb the slick sides of the tub to escape. I helped him out, and it took him about an hour to dry off and settle down to sleep off the stress of the event. I'm still giggling.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stuff I used: miscellaneous sequins, and the following:

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