Card Eleven - Shaker Card, Fishies

I had purchased the Fuse, which allows a person to seal plastics together.  Because my favorite project is December Daily, (the only books I ever complete) I felt like the tool would come in handy to seal sequins and glittery stuff into those pages.  But to be honest, it doesn't work very well.   I'm not sure if it's operator error or poorly distributed heat, but I often either burn the plastic or it won't seal.

However, I thought I'd try again.  I've been dying to make a little shaker card.

So I took some blue cardstock, stamped some little fish and bubbles on it, and heat embossed with a WOW white opaque embossing powder.  I cut the design into a circle using my trusty old Creative Memories Circle Cutter that I bought back 17 years or so ago.  (You'd think I'd be better at this by now, wouldn't you?)  The system is now discontinued but you can find it on ebay.   I have also been using my old creative memories cutting mat until just the past week, when I realized the scarring from knife cuts was too bad.  I still intend to use it for gluing.  Products that last 20 years are okay in my book!  Even if the creative memories style is long gone, their basics are still good.

Back to the card:  I plugged in my fuse and took a sheet of regular old page protector.   I slipped the fish circle between the page protector sheets and cut around it, but not closely.  I then opened it and slipped in some sequins.  By then my fuse was heated up so I freehanded the sealing around the circle, leaving an area so I could secure it to the card.  Now I had a shaker pocket.

The fuse worked!

I took my creative memories cutting system and cut the same size circle from a base card, and again from the piece of paper I wanted to use.  Although it was a botanical print, it reminded me of underwater plant life, and I wanted colors contrasting the blue.

I taped the shaker to the back and covered it with a translucent piece of vellum.

I stamped the saying, "When Life Gives you Troubles, Blow Bubbles" on the bottom left in blue, and inked the edges of the card in yellow. I took a few blue sequins and put them on the top right for the heck of it. Final product:

For the next few days, I may not post a card, or I may post one I've already made. The 4th is coming and I may, or may not, have family coming. A friends birthday is the 6th and we are taking a limo to wine country, and the 9th is my parents internment. So I am going to concentrate on household chores rather than card-making. I also have a post half written on my real blog and I need to finish it. I'm struggling in cancerland and am having a hard time expressing it. If you enjoy this blog, let me know! We all need some feedback.