Working well together

When I'm making cards I sometimes find that it's tricky to mix together products -- especially stamp images -- from different companies because each company has its own unique style. So I was pretty pleased when I finished this birthday shaker card last weekend using papercrafting products from eight different companies:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Happy Birthday Background (Inkadinkadoo), Geo-Graphic (Paper Smooches), Hello Sunshine (Lawn Fawn)
Paper: Thick Whisper White, Cucumber Crush, Soft Sky card stock; Sno Cone rectangular shaker overlay (The Papercut)
Ink: Cucumber Crush, Soft Sky, Bermuda Bay, Smoky Slate
Accessories: Bermuda Bay sequin trim, white iridescent sequins (unknown), Party Punch Pack, Hello Sunshine Lawn Cuts dies (Lawn Fawn), glitter (Creatology), large rectangle shaker pouch (Impression Obsession), Bermuda Bay taffeta ribbon, rhinestones, Embossing Buddy, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

Whew! For me, that's a lot of supplies on one card. But everything works well together.

For my color scheme, I started with the pre-cut shaker overlay, which was a light blue color close to Soft Sky. (Not-quite-matching colors is another challenge when combining products from various companies.) For the other colors -- Bermuda Bay and Cucumber Crush -- I was inspired by the March Paper Pumpkin kit.

I stamped a chevron background stamp on the shaker overlay using Soft Sky ink. The stamp only consists of about four or five of the chevron lines, so I had to stamp it repeatedly to cover the whole piece. (Thank goodness it was a clear photopolymer stamp, although I still didn't get the spacing perfect.) Then I set that aside to work on the card base.

Using a base of thick Whisper White card stock, I stamped the Happy Birthday background image in the middle of the card with Bermuda Bay ink. Then I stamped a few balloons over the text. (When stamping the heart balloons in Cucumber Crush I stamped on scratch paper first so the green was lighter and didn't overpower the words. The Soft Sky ink is light enough to stamp directly on the card.) I stamped the balloon strings with Smoky Slate.

Before I decided what to put inside the shaker I wanted to figure out exactly where the shaker would go. Without removing the backing from the self-adhesive pouch, I moved the plastic piece around on the card until I was happy with the placement. I also set the overlay on top of the shaker pouch to be sure I would have a fairly even white border around the overlay. Then I held the pouch in place, removed the overlay and lightly traced around the corners of the pouch with a pencil. (The pencil lines were covered by the overlay on the finished card.)

Then came the fun part of deciding what goodies to put inside the shaker. I made a little pile of Bermuda Bay sequins, some iridescent white sequins and glitter in the middle of the focal image. I decided to continue the balloon theme, so I punched out a few little Soft Sky and Cucumber Crush balloons and added them to the pile. When I was happy with the shaker goodies, I removed the backing from the pouch and adhered it to the card front using the traced lines as a guide. (Note: The plastic shaker pouches can be static-y, so I rubbed my pouch with my Embossing Buddy dust before adhering it. But then I had to wipe off the dust from the Embossing Buddy. Next time I might try using a dryer sheet.) Then I adhered the overlay on top

I finished off the card with a few stamped and die-cut balloons, rhinestones and a Bermuda Bay ribbon and bow around the bottom of the card. What a fun, festive birthday card! Thanks for stopping by!