Last month I won the WOW! monthly challenge with my watercolour floral card, (I’m still in shock!!) The prize was a voucher to use on the WOW! online shop, so I ordered myself a new stamp set and a few new embossing powders, they arrived within a couple of days so I had the chance to use some of them for a special card before leaving for our holiday!
I wanted to make a special card for a friend who has recently had a baby, so I made this rainbow shaker card to celebrate the birth of a special rainbow baby boy.
I started by using watercolour paints to make the rainbow that forms the back of the shaker windows, then I set this aside to dry whilst I worked on the design of the main portion of the front of the card.
I wanted to have a go at making a turn-about stamp style pattern. Turn-about stamps are made by Concord & 9th, they are stamped 4 times using a stamping tool with the paper being turned 90° to the right each time. This creates a repeating background, and if you use a different colour ink each time you stamp you will get what a pattern that looks perfectly random.
This is how I made the pattern, feel free to skip to the green section if you want to!
I wanted to try to get the same effect using a few of my smaller image and sentiment stamps. I started with a 5 inch square piece of card stock, which I split into quarters and put into my stamping platform. I placed all of the stamps I wanted to use inside one of the quarters, making sure to have them facing different directions, then I picked them up onto the perspex lid.
Once I had decided on the layout in that first quarter I stamped it out another 3 times, rotating the paper clockwise each time. This then creates a master copy of the pattern that I can use to set up these same stamps whenever I want to make the same background again.
If you keep all of the stamps in this position and use different inks for each turn, you will get a background that has each quarter a different colour.
You can take this a step further by using the key you have created to put each of the stamps on their positions in different quarters. I have tried to illustrate what I mean, but basically you would end up with your stamps randomly dotted about over the 5 inch square, but because you have used the key you know that each time you rotate your paper your images will never clash.
This is how I created the background for this card, but rather than using different ink colours I used Versamark then embossed with a different powder. You just need to make sure you heat set the powders for every turn. It’s also important to remember which way you need to rotate, so I put a small number 1-4 in each corner to help me keep track.
Once I had my finished background I die cut Archie out of it, then stuck some acetate to the back of it to create the ‘windows’ for my shaker. I added some pretty heart confetti and used foam tape to create a barrier and attach the rainbow watercolour piece behind. I used some really strong double sided tape to attach this whole shaker element to the front of a 6 inch square kraft card blank. I wanted to add even more interest to the card so I swiped a Versamark pad against all of the edges and heat set some more White Pearl powder. I love the colour it creates when used on Kraft!
I really like the overall look of the shaker, the rainbow, the different embossing powders and that pearly border but I just don’t think it was quite extra enough for me so I decided to kick it up a gear!
I made it a tri-fold card by just gluing together 2 card blanks so that they created an extra ‘page’ that was unveiled once the shaker front was opened. I cut another 5 inch square piece of card stock in white and re-stamped my’ turnabout’ design, but this time I used my Distress Oxide pads to create a Rainbow effect using some tiny ink daubers to add 2 colours onto each stamp. I heat set the stamping and then ink blended more of the rainbow oxide ink across the whole piece.
I stamped out some animal characters from a Lawn Fawn set and watercoloured them. Once completely dry and cut out I used some Ranger Glossy Accents to cover them. I usually leave this to dry overnight, so I finished putting the card together the following day.
I’m honestly really happy with how it turned out! I was trying to decide whether to make a more mature card or go cute with fun critters, I didn’t know which to do so I went full on with both this time!!
What sort of designs do you think are better for a New Baby card? Do you go for something aimed at the new parents or a more childlike design?
This month’s WOW! challenge is Pearl & this works great for that, so I will be submitting this as my entry.
Once we are back from our holiday I will be trying out the other new things I bought with my winnings, including a gorgeous stamp set. I’ve never tried one of their stamps before so I’m looking forward to testing them out.
Hey Crafty People!
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.
— SUPPLIES —
— My Basic Supplies That I Use On Every Project —
 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 |
 We R Trim & Scoreboard Shop at: Scrapbookcom |
 Pressure Tool Shop at: Trinity |
 Mini Trimmer Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Craftstash UK | Craftstash US |
 9.5 inch Shears Shop at: Craftstash UK | Craftstash US |
 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 – Solar White
- Neenah Dessert Storm environmental card stock
- Tim Holtz Stamping Platform
- Avery Elle – Simple Sentiments
- Concord & 9th – Best Mail Ever
- Lawn Fawn – Year Four, Hippo Birdie to you
- Versamark ink pad
- WOW! Embossing Powders
- White Pearl
- Oyster Glintz
- Rose Glintz
- Opaque Bright White
- Strathmore Bristol Smooth
- Mozart Watercolour Paints
- Royal & Langnickel Zen watercolour brushes
- Distress Oxide Ink
- Candied Apple
- Carved Pumpkin
- Squeezed Lemon
- Twisted Citron
- Salty Ocean
- Wilted Violet
- Unbranded Foam Tape and double sided tape
- Ranger Glossy Accents
- Ranger Matte Multi Media