September is always one of my favorite times of the year because it’s filled with celebrations close to my heart. This card was made to celebrate two very special birthdays, my husband’s, who is my biggest supporter, favorite crafting enabler, and the one who always encourages every creative idea I come up with or crafting and art material I want to get, and of course, our sweet Lucky, who happily joined in the September 1 birthday celebrations too!
To make the celebration even more special, I wanted to share a little crafty happiness with all of you through a giveaway.
Giveaway Mechanics
One lucky crafter will receive a $15 Polkadoodles voucher!
To enter, participants simply had to:
- Like my giveaway post.
- Follow My Cat & Crafts on social media.
- Follow Polkadoodles.
- Comment “Happy Kinda Day!” after completing all the steps.
The giveaway officially closed at 11:59 PM on September 8, and as promised, I’ll be announcing the lucky winner at the end of this blog post. Though I actually already announced it on my Socials and the prize have been awarded too. But let me be just a little dramatic on this blog. hehe!
A Little Backstory
I actually made this birthday card the day before we flew to Indonesia, which was also the boys' birthdays.
With suitcases still open and last-minute preparations everywhere, I knew I didn’t have enough time to color a digi image myself or come up with a more elaborate design. But even though I was rushing, I still wanted the card to feel special.
Whenever I’m short on time but still want a card to have that extra wow factor, I almost always turn to one of my favorite card styles, a shaker card.
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They’re surprisingly quick to put together, yet they always feel interactive, fun, and a little more special than an ordinary bi-fold card. I paired the adorable Noodle Panda Birthday Surprise digi with bright polka dot balloons, colorful shaker bits, and lots of clean white space, and of course, it turned out really cute. Sometimes simple really is enough, especially when the colors do all the talking.
Déjà Vu… in the Best Way!
After our trip, things didn’t exactly go according to plan.
Because of the volcanic eruption in Indonesia, our flight home was delayed when the airport temporarily closed, which unfortunately set me back by a day on my deadlines.
One of those deadlines was creating a congratulatory card for my giveaway winner. It's not a must but you know me, I'm always a little bit extra!
With limited time once again, I went back to the same shaker card design, but gave it a fresh look by changing the digi image, shaker mix, embossing folder, and embellishments.
And once again, the rushing ended up with a cute card!
It reminded me that you don’t always need an elaborate design to create something memorable. A few thoughtful changes can make the same layout feel completely different while still looking polished and special.
Quick Tutorial
If you’d like to recreate something similar, here’s how I made both shaker cards!
Instructions
1. Prepare your card base by trimming a piece of white cardstock to 5.5” × 8.5”.
2. Score the card base at 4.25” on the long side and fold.
3. Using a frame die (I used Lawn Fawn’s Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Frames), die cut a piece of white cardstock using the largest frame that fits an A2 card.
4. Emboss another piece of white cardstock for the shaker background.
- We R Memory Keepers Revolution Embossing Folder by Shimelle for the Birthday Card.
- Spellbinders Kelly Bangs Bold Floral Embossing Folder for the Congratulations Card.
7. Apply foam tape all around the back of the frame, making sure none of it peeks through the opening.
8. Add your shaker bits onto the acetate.
- Kat Scrappiness Ring Toss Sprinkles for the Birthday Card.
- Kat Scrappiness Ladybug Sprinkles for the Congratulations Card.
10. Adhere the completed shaker panel to the card base.
11. Attach your digi stamps and sentiment directly onto the acetate using either foam tape or glue, depending on the amount of dimension you’d like.
For the Birthday Card, I finished it off with colorful balloons die cut from Recollections Primary Pin Dot Cardstock.
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Birthday Card Supplies
Digi Stamps
- Noodle Panda Birthday Surprise (colored)
- Rebel Messages with Attitude Sentiment Pack — It’s a Happy Kinda Day
Supplies
- White Cardstock
- Bearly Art Glue
- Sizzix Big Shot
- Foam Tape
- Kat Scrappiness Ring Toss Shaker Bits
- Recollections Primary Pin Dot Cardstock
- We R Memory Keepers Revolution Embossing Folder by Shimelle
- Lawn Fawn Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Frames
- Acetate
- Balloon Dies
Congratulations Card Supplies
Digi Stamps
- Lily Lady Bug Collecting Flowers (colored)
- Winnie Sugar Sprinkles Embellies Bundle — Rose Ephemera
- Spring Tons of Love Sentiment Pack — Congratulations
Supplies
- White Cardstock
- Bearly Art Glue
- Sizzix Big Shot
- Foam Tape
- Kat Scrappiness Ladybug Sprinkles Shaker Bits
- Spellbinders Kelly Bangs Bold Floral Embossing Folder
- Lawn Fawn Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Frames
- Acetate
And the Winner Is…
Now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for…
Congratulations to Rebecca Yahrling!
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You are the lucky winner of the $15 Polkadoodles voucher! Please get in touch with me so I can arrange your prize.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined the giveaway, celebrated this special birthday with us, and left such lovely comments. Your support for both my crafty adventures and the wonderful Polkadoodles community truly means the world to me.
I hope you enjoyed this little celebration as much as I did, and here’s to creating more handmade happiness together.
Until next time… happy crafting!
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