Message in a Bottle Beach Watercolor Wash Background Handmade Shaker Card - My Favorite Things

Welcome to a new "Cards by Kendra" blog post!

Today, I'm excited to share this handmade shaker card I recently created for the March 2020 card swap in the Facebook group "Card Swaps for All Seasons".  The theme was "Husband Appreciation". 

I had a hard time with this theme at first. I didn't really know where to start.  I ordered some new products from My Favorite Things, including the Message in a Bottle die set, and I just couldn't wait to use it! So rather than going with a masculine theme, I decided to go with a beach theme so I could use my new die set.  I think this card would work for either gender (what do you think?). 

For the background, I used Stampin' Write markers on an acrylic block to create a watercolor wash look in beach colors. For the bottom part, I colored quite of a bit of the bottom of a Stampin' Up clear acrylic block "E" using the crumb cake marker and then a very small line of soft suede above it.  I added a line of soft sky, then bermuda bay and then pacific point at the very top.  I lightly sprayed this with water and laid 80# Neenah solar white cardstock on top.  This made a rectangle shaped watercolor background that I thought looked perfect to make this message in a bottle shaker card.

I used the rectangle stitched dies to cut around the watercolored area.  Next, I took the bottle die and cut it out of the background at an angle.  I glued the cut out piece to a smaller piece of cardstock so that I could adhere it to the back once the plastic shaker bottle was in place.  See the picture below.  

I had to trim this slightly once the plastic piece was in place.  I cut out 3 layers of cork paper using the bottle top die and glued them together.  I cut the top off of the plastic shaker bottle so that I could insert the cork die cuts so that it would actually look like it was in the bottle.  I made 3 cork layers so that it was thick enough to hold all of the shaker contents.  I made a slightly larger frame with the stitched dies with white cardstock.  

For the message inside the bottle, I used the "I Love Us" stamp from Simon Says Stamp's HANDWRITTEN LOVE stamp set. I stamped this on a scrap strip of white cardstock using Ranger Archival ink in Jet Black and then distressed the edges using Antique Linen Distress Oxide Ink.  Before inserting the bottle contents, I ran the EK Success Powder tool along the edges of the bottle so that it would remove any adhesive sticking out and the contents won't stick to the sides.  Then I placed the "message" inside the bottle along with the shaker bits, which were Stampin' Up's Tranquil Textures Sprinkles that are now retired. After placing all of the contents inside, I glued the back of the watercolored bottle piece on the back of the shaker piece and then glued this on top of the larger stitched rectangle cardstock.  I attached this to a top folding card base (4.25" x 11" scored at 5.5").  The inside of the card was stamped with the sentiment "Thank you for being amazing" (see picture below).       

To finish off the card, I added a turquoise starfish embellishment to the bottom left corner.  I honestly thought this was going to be a difficult card to make but it was actually quite easy!  I like the way it turned out!

The main supplies used to make this card are below:


I hope you like my message in a bottle shaker card!  Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!  I'd love to read your comments!  
Thanks! ~Kendra Morgan

(Compensated affiliated links used at no cost to you. Thank you for your support! Affiliate and product disclosure can be found here. All products were personally purchased. I was not paid to do this post nor am I on any design teams. I only use products I love!)

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