Alexa Rain Shaker Card

Today, I've created a rain shaker card featuring the gorgeous Alexa (by Sweet Escape Digis). As soon as I saw her, the Lady Gaga lyrics started running through my head, and I knew she needed some rain in her life. (If you scroll to the bottom of this post, you'll see a video of the rain shaker card in action!)

The interactive mechanism (rain shaker) is from My Favorite Things' Falling from the Clouds Frame Die-Namics set. (For a demo of how to use this die set, please check out MFT's Falling from the Clouds Frame Die-Namics product page.) For a rain shaker card, you string seed beads on invisible thread, so the beads slide whenever you tilt the card.

This card measures 5" x 7". I printed Alexa at about 5.5" x 4" on Copic XPress-It Blending Card. I colored her with Copic markers, then fussy cut her.

The next step was to build the mechanism for the sliding beads. I cut a 4.85" x 6.35" piece of white cardstock, then used Stormy Sky Distress Oxide Ink and the MFT Cloud Stencil to create the background. I added a strip of foam and adhered the die-cut strips used to string the beads. (The die-cut pieces were not quite long enough for a 5" card, so I used 3 strips total, 1.5 on each end.) I also placed Alexa over it, to ensure she'd fit the scene. (I ended up trimming off about 1" from the bottom of her.)

The next step was to string the beads. I grabbed my seed beads, beading needle, and bead mat. TIP: A bead mat is AWESOME, as it keeps the beads from rolling around and makes them super easy to pick up. If you can't find a bead mat, a piece of velvet (or even felt) may work. I strung 12 beads on each line, although I wish I'd added more. I wanted to make sure they'd be covered behind the top and bottom panels (clouds and brick wall) of the card.

Once I strung all of the beads, I attached the panel to my card base (with a black cardstock mat). I built up two more layers of foam over the top and bottom edges, which also permanently secured the strings. The next step was to create and cloud/sentiment panel and brick wall.

I printed my sentiment in MS Word, and I trimmed that panel to 4.85" x 1.75". I used the MFT Cloud Stencil, tracing the edges with a pencil, to cut the cloud shape. I lightly blended Stormy Sky Distress Oxide Ink on the panel, to match the background.

For the brick wall, I used a piece of gray cardstock (4.85" x 1.5"), MFT's Small Brick Wall Stencil, and Red Velvet Gina K Glitz Glitter Gel. I spread the gel over the stencil/cardstock with a palette knife, removed the stencil, and dried it with my embossing gun. OMG, that stuff is SO SPARKLY!!

When I started to attached the cloud and brick panels, I saw that my foam layers were slightly wider than my panels. DOH! To fix that, I cut two black cardstock panels (5" x 1.5") and attached those over the foam edges. I placed my cloud and brick panels over them. I also placed some foam (three layers high) down the middle of the card. I knew it would stop those beads from sliding, but I wanted to make sure my girl was supported well and couldn't bend or cave in when I mail it. The panel looked like this:

I added double-sided tape to the bottom and top of Alexa and attached her to the rest of the card. She's well supported, as she's stuck to the brick wall, line of foam down the middle, and bottom of the cloud panel. The final card works this way:

List of all stamps/dies/stencils used on this card:

• Alexa Digital Stamp (Sweet Escape Digis)
• Falling from the Clouds Frame Die-Namics (My Favorite Things)
• Cloud Stencil (My Favorite Things) 
• Small Brick Wall Stencil (My Favorite Things)

Other supplies:

• Copic XPress-It Blending Card
• Copic markers (various)
• Stormy Sky Distress Oxide Ink
• Invisible thread (any brand)
• Clear glass seed beads
• Red Velvet Gina K Glitz Glitter Gel
• Palette Knife

Have a beautiful day!