A small apology, I haven’t posted very recently, but for a very good reason: my AC went out about 10 days ago – and we live in FLORIDA where there has been a record breaking heatwave – with temperatures in the 100’s, and a heat index of about 110° – I wasn’t in the mood to craft or bake anything! We get the new AC in 2 days, and as it is Sunday morning, and a “cool front” came in yesterday, it only got up to 92°, so the house is a bit more comfortable this morning.

This card is meant for a young ladies birthday, and features a digital image from Connie Fong, who is sponsoring the July 2022 challenge for “A Place to Start” – for which I am on the design team.

This card measures about 9” x 4”, and I selected papers from Ultimate Crafts Bohemian Bouquet, and created a shaker box to bring more attention to the featured image.

So I printed the image out on Bristol paper, and colored it using a mix of my Zig markers and my watercolors pencils. I am NOT a colorist, but I did give it a go; it’s nice to expand my skills into other crafty areas – it wasn’t all that long ago, that I had no idea of how to make a shaker box, and now I make them all the time and find them so fun!

I’m starting off backwards today – this is the inside – sentiments and my handwriting – well, let’s just say, this is better! Clear sheets picked up at Hobby Lobby with lots of sentiments! To be fair, I actually do start off with inside of my cards when creating them, as the front of the card is so dimensional that it can’t lie flat, first I choose my design, cut the card base, and then cut the decorative paper. I glue the inside in first, and place any sentiment or added ephemera to the inside, and if I’m going to stamp the back (you know: “Handmade Especially for You” or something like that!) I’ll do that, then I move onto the front.

Of course I already have in mind what my design is, so I’ll begin working on my flowers, and then any additional touches. This time, as it takes drying time for shaker boxes and flowers alike, I switched back and forth between the two. Then I lay down my ribbon, and painted the sides of my shaker box with white matte acrylic paint.

And here is the front of my card. as you can see, the “ribbon” isn’t actually a ribbon at all, but I love it, and just had to have it!! (Wal-mart find, lol) Sentiment and shaker box kit are both from Creative Expressions, flowers made from Heartfelt Creations dies. The sparkle inside the shaker box came from Buttons Galore.

A little bit more of a close up. Thank you so much for stopping by!