Hi, crafty friends, it’s Chark here with today’s post. Christmas is on my mind, so I had Santa help me out today. He’s busy but he found the time for me. He’s that kind of guy.

I used my all-time favorite die, the Hero Arts Triangle Background die, and attempted a shaker card first. Now, this is not my first shaker card, and it won’t be my last, despite the fact that I cannot make them come out right. I’ve watched several people make shaker cards online (including the multi-talented Jennifer McGuire in this video) but I must have some sort of ailment that makes me unable to make a good and lovely shaker card.

The watercolor part went smoothly—I used three colors of blue gelatos and scribbled on the die cut, and then wiped with a baby wipe to smooth the color into an ombre look. I die cut the Blooming Flower die from white to mimic a snowflake. I also adhered some sequins to the card back to make sure some were visible at all times, but then the other sequins got hung up on them and they ended up clumping. sigh. Still, none of my sequins fell out this time, so maybe I’m improving. Slowly, but still! I know I’m the only person who cannot make these, but that’s ok, it’s a goal to strive for. Maybe I’ll make it my New Year’s Resolution—practice shaker cards until I am successful and happy with the card…it’s going to be a long year!

For this card, I watercolored the die with regular watercolor paints in blues and green and then inserted some colored triangles that I had kept from previous die cutting. I shaped it like a tree and added Diamond Stickles to some of the plain cardstock so it matched my glitter cardstock. I also watercolored a panel in pink with a gelato rubbed onto the watercolor paper and then smoothed with a baby wipe. It’s a fast and easy way to watercolor without dragging out all the paints and brushes and water cups.

Hope you have a great rest of your week! I also hope you’ll join in our December watercolor challenge with your Hero Arts products for a chance to win a gift certificate to the store!

Products I used:

Triangle Die

Watercolor paints

Blooming Flower Die

Watercolor Paper

White Cardstock

Diamond Stickles glitter glue

Snowflake sequins

Mixed sequins

Gelatos by Faber-Castell