Watercolor Distress Torn Birthday Cake Scented Shaker Card made with Aroma Beads

Welcome to a new Cards By Kendra blog post!  

Today I wanted to share this card that I made for a card swap with a watercolor theme for the Facebook Group "Card Swaps for All Seasons".  I've been experimenting with a lot of different types of ink lately and for this card I used several different techniques using watercolor pencils, Distress Oxide Inks and Distress Spray.

The watercolor frame was made using three of my favorite colors of distress oxide inks on watercolor paper using a smooshing technique (I found a video for this on YouTube a while back).  I used the following Distress Oxide ink colors:  squeezed lemonade, twisted citron and mermaid lagoon.  After letting this dry overnight I used the largest die and then two sizes smaller to make the frame from the torn edge rectangle die set.  Next, I used a die that had small holes in it on a piece of clear acetate that was cut just slightly bigger than the smaller rectangle die.  I ran this through my die cutting machine several times to be sure it cut out all the holes (a shim would've probably been a great thing to use but I couldn't find mine).  Any type of die with small enough holes so that the aroma beads won't fall out will work.  I attached the piece of acetate to the back side of the frame using strong double sided adhesive.    The background was made using Delightfully detailed laser cut specialty DSP from Stampin' Up that was sprayed with Distress Ink Spray in Mermaid Lagoon. After drying, I rotated it so that it showed the biggest designs through the window frame and trimmed off the edges and glued this down to the middle of the 110# Neenah Solar White cardstock base using Tombow Adhesive, which was cut to 5.5” x 8.5” and scored at 4.25”.  

I added the birthday cake aroma beads on top of the DSP (in the center) and used 3D foam strips to attach the frame to the card (making sure to cover every part so that the beads didn't fall out).  Before removing the back of the foam tape and attaching it to the card, I ran the powder tool along the edges so that the aroma beads wouldn't stick to the sides.  The EK Success powder tool is one of my must have crafting items!  It removes stickiness from just about anything!  (It's great for those oops moments we all have when glueing!).

I applied a variety of colors in a rainbow pattern using watercolor pencils on a piece of shimmery white cardstock (SU brand) and then I took a watercolor aqua pen to spread the colors.  The entire sheet turned out really pretty. I cut a bunch of different sentiments out using word dies to use for cards in the future.  I used the blue/green area of the sheet to cut out "Happy" using one of my favorite "Happy" word dies because I thought it matched this card pretty good, even though the colors were slightly different.  I used one of the scraps from the detailed laser DSP that I cut out earlier (I literally dug it out of the trash because I thought the corner needed something a little extra) and glued this down.  I used the Thoughtful banners stamp set to stamp the outline and "birthday" using the same distress oxide ink colors I used on the frame.  After letting this dry for a bit, I punched this out using SU's classic label punch.  I attached it to the card using 3D foam squares.  I finished this off with an aqua rhinestone in the center.

I am working on a tutorial video for this card, so please save, pin or bookmark this post and check back again soon!  I'll be posting this on YouTube and on my website, so be sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel!!

A little more about aroma beads ~ they are tiny clear plastic beads that absorb fragrance oil that last a long time.  They can be colored and even coated with mica powder.  My friends at Scentimental Gifts, Etc. have a very wide variety of fragrances and colors to choose from.  You'll need about a half of an ounce of beads to get a good amount of fragrance for your card.  Be sure to store the card in a sealed plastic bag until you're ready to give it to the recipient so it doesn't lose it's scent.  I plan on making more shaker cards using these aroma beads, so please subscribe to my email newsletter if you'd like to get updates on my creations!

Please let me know what you think of this card!  I love reading your comments!  If you make this card (or one similar), post it on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest and tag me @cardsbykendra!

Thanks for visiting my blog! ~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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