There are so many times when I plan to make a card for a particular occasion, or for someone special and I sit down with the best intentions but I just can’t think what to do. Sometimes I spend so much time looking through all of my stamp & die sets, hoping to get some inspiration but all I find is more frustration.

I don’t know about you but I don’t tend to work well under pressure, even if the only one pressuring me is myself. I always have to account for my health too; if I leave something to the last minute and then I’m too ill to do it I have nowhere to go from there. I’d like to say that I’ve learned from my experience and I never leave anything until last minute anymore, but that would be a big huge lie!! But, I do try to get things done with plenty of time to spare as often as I can.

That leads me back to my original point, sometimes I want to make something but I just don’t know where to start, but that is exactly it; you have to START.

I have super blank page anxiety so I grab whatever supplies I feel like using and just start getting something, anything, onto the page. This doesn’t always end up even being in the project that I’m working on, but it does relax me and that allows my creativity to flow.

I remembered a photo that I had seen on the Instagram story of Mindy Eggen Designs, I knew these were the colours that I wanted to start with. I just love this time of year when the trees begin to burn with vibrant reds, oranges & yellows. To me, nothing speaks of the beauty of nature more.

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I chose 3 Distress Oxide colours that I felt would bring that Autumnal vibrancy that I wanted to my project, (here in the UK we refer to Fall as Autumn.) Once I had a blend that I was happy with I looked through all my stamp & die sets that I haven’t managed to use yet. I recently bought a cover plate die that cuts various windows from a craft clear out on eBay and I remembered that I had wanted to use it to make a shaker card that had separate shaker windows; as soon as I did I knew that was the card I wanted to make today!

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I chose a cute little cupcake stamp as a focal image, and some similar colours from my Promarkers/Brushmarkers to colour it so as tie the background in with it. A warm, peachy Gold satin finish paper complimented my colours so I chose that for my front piece, and I used the panels that were cut out to get matching letters. I also cut the cover panel four times out of scrap card stock at the same time, I glued them on top of each other, taking care to make sure there was a good seal all over because this would form the depth of my shaker windows. I then sandwiched a thick piece of acetate between the gold and white panels.

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If I was doing a simpler shaker I would use double thickness foam tape to create the depth needed, but given all the individual sections I wanted it was so much easier to die cut a few pieces and glue each layer until I had built up a thickness that I liked. You will need to make sure that there is no tacky glue sitting on or around the walls of the shaker though, or you will end up with all your little bits & pieces sticking to that instead of freely moving around. Another great tip that I picked up is to use your anti static powder tool to dust around the inside of the shaker windows, including the acetate and that will eliminate any static cling which would hinder movement too.

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I chose various shaker elements and added different mixtures of these in each little section, before applying some glue and placing the background piece on.

The hardest part is resisting the temptation to pick it up and give it a shake too soon. You have got to wait for all of the glue to completely dry; I usually set my phone on top to hold the pieces together whilst it dries, (the time needed varies quite a bit from glue to glue, so you need to check what your type and brand of glue suggests drying time will be.)

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I wanted to make this card as special as the intended recipient, and something to mark this amazing milestone in her life. She certainly seemed to like it, so I hope I did a good job!

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Please be aware:

As part of my Design Team and Guest Design work I do often receive free products to use, but I only ever recommend products that I genuinely love.

Also, I know how incredibly lucky I am to have these opportunities, but you don’t always NEED the newest products or the ‘full set’.
So please don’t feel that you need everything.
I like to show a variety of brands and products; this way there will be something for everybody to enjoy.

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— SUPPLIES —

— My Basic Supplies That I Use On Every Project —

Affiliate links are used

MINI MISTI Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Alt | SBP | Trinity	MISTI – Original Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Alt | SBP	Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive Shop at: Scrapbookcom | SBP | Craftstash UK | Craftstash US	Neenah 80lb Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Alt | Craftstash UK
Neenah 110lb Shop at: Alt	Gemini Jr Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Craftstash UK	Tim Holtz Trimmer 8.5inch Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Craftstash UK | Trinity	Tim Holtz Scissors 7inch Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Craftstash UK | Craftstash US
Tim Holtz Mini Snips 5inch Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Craftstash UK | Craftstash US	Tidy Tray Shop at: Trinity	Pick Up Stick Shop at: Trinity	Reverse Action Tweezers Shop at: Scrapbookcom | SBP
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Bone Folder Shop at: Alt	Self Healing Mat Shop at: Alt | SBC

*Affiliate links are used, where available; this means that I may get a small commission if you purchase using one of these links, at no extra cost at all to yourself. A huge thank you goes to anyone who does purchase using my links, it is so highly appreciated.

T.

• Neenah Classic Crest card stock – Solar White
• Wilkos – Metallic Pearl card – Peach Gold
• Wilkos – White card
• Crafter’s Companion – Printable Vellum
• Every Craft’s a Pound – Thick Acetate
• Sizzix – Katelyn Lizardi, Framelits with stamp – Cupcake
• Avery Elle – Simple Sentiments stamp set
• Window Panel die (brand unsure)
• Unbranded Alphabet dies
• Waffle Flower – Water Media Mat
• My Favourite Things – Extreme Black Hybrid ink
• Distress Oxide ink pads
  • Fossilized Amber
  • Ripe Persimmon
  • Fired Brick
• Versamark – Watermark ink pad
• WOW! Embossing Powder – Warm Rich Gold
• Windsor & Newton Promarkers/Brushmarkers
  • R455 – Ruby
  • R735 – Firebrick
  • R576 – Lipstick Red
  • O567 – Amber
  • O55 – Gold
• Ranger Multi Medium Matte
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Various shaker elements
  • Hobbycraft – mini iridescent hearts
  • Hobbycraft – red hearts
  • Home Bargains – large copper confetti pieces
• Sizzix Big Shot Die cutting machine
• Tim Holtz – black handled scissors
• Amazon – make up blending brushes