Pumpkin Shaker Card Tutorial

Halloween is my favorite holiday and I love pumpkins of all shapes and sizes, spooky or not! I decided to share with you today a pumpkin shaker card tutorial. The concepts I'll share today can really be applied to ANY type of shaker card, so if pumpkins aren't your jam, change out the design, but follow along for the assembly of a shaker card. 

Supplies: 

• (1) sheet Kraft Embossed Lattice by Recollections cardstock for card base
• (1) 4.5” x 4.5” piece of Spooky Candy Toss patterned paper for inside card to cover shaker 
• (1) 4.5” x 4.5” piece Gold Foil Stars acetate, vellum, or other see-through material for shaker window
• (1) 4.5” x 4.5” piece of Neenah Stardream Pearlescent Cardstock in Flame for pumpkin silhouette
• Assorted scraps for leaves, stem, sentiment
• Foam adhesive strips. If you can’t find strips, you can line up foam adhesive squares, placing them right nest to each other.
• Shaker bits (sequins, seed beads, confetti etc)
• Bearly Art Liquid Adhesive
• Pumpkin shaped SVG cut out or die cut shape. You can also purchase the cut files for this exact card here. 

1. Let's get started! The first step is to choose a pumpkin cut out that has an open center. You can find these in Cricut Design Store, Silhouette Studio, Etsy, or companies who carry metal dies. Again, does not have to be a pumpkin, this can apply to any shape.  Cut out your shape, making sure the completed cut out is smaller that about 4.25" wide and tall. 

2. Cut your card base 4.5" wide and 9" tall, folding in half at the middle.

3. Open the card front and lay it flat with the inside of the card face up. We are now going to trace your shape on the inside of the front flap of the card. Lay your diecut down and lightly trace the INSIDE of the shape. So for instance on this pumpkin, I'm tracing the inside of the thick line. This particular design is a bit trickier since there are middle lines in the window too, but generally you can just easily trace the inside of the die cut. Use scissors or an exacto knife to now cut out that traced shape so you have a window on the front of your card. 

4. Place a thin line of glue on the front of the card around the cut out window on the front of the card. Get it as close to the edge as possible. A fine tip liquid adhesive like Bearly Art works great for this. Attach your pumpkin die cut to the front of the card along this glue line, making sure to line up the windows. 

5. Open the card and lay it flat with the inside of the card facing up, Apply a thin line of glue around the edge of the window cut out. This is where you will adhere the acetate. Again, this is on the inside of the card front.

6. Adhere your piece of acetate to the inside of the card. The glue tends to smoosh out a bit when you press the acetate down, but don’t worry, most glue dries clear.

7. Peel one side of the paper backing on the foam adhesive strips off. Place the foam adhesive sticky side down around the pumpkin window cut out. It’s important to have the edges of the foam tape nice and tightly together where they join up, so your shaker bits can’t get out. Leave the paper protector on the top of the foam tape so that it is not yet sticky on the exposed edge.

8. Pour shaker contents into the box created by the foam tape.

9. CAREFULLY peel the exposed paper backing off the foam tape. Try not to jostle the card so that your shaker bits don’t escape or get knocked onto the foam tape adhesive.

10. Apply your 4.5” x 4.5” cardstock or patterned paper backing piece onto the foam tape, pressing down carefully to make sure every edge is sealed. This is important to keep your shaker intact. The patterned paper backing makes the inside look nice and clean as well.

Shake, Shake, Shake that shaker! 

I hope that helped you get a clear picture of how to make a shaker card. I like to add seed beads, sequins, glitter and anything else small and shiny! These cards pack a major punch, but are fairly flat for mailing! 

-Michelle