I'm very excited to share my new shaker card design with you, using my own watercolour gradient as the background. If you have seen my Christmas shaker card, you'd know that I love a fun handmade card that's filled with confetti, sequins, glitters or sparkly fillers. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to make these birthday shaker cards using my hand-lettered cut file and how to paint your own gradient background for these cards.

How to make a watercolour birthday shaker card

Supplies You'll Need:

• Watercolour paper (I use Canson brand 140 lb)
• Watercolours
• Painters tape/masking tape
• White cardstock
• Ornament fillers/sequins/confetti
• Acetate
• My handlettered SVG file (see link at the bottom of post)
• Foam mounting tape, glue/adhesive tape
• Cricut or other cutting machines
  
  

Instructions:

I like to make my cards in A2 size (4.25"x5.5"). Start by trimming the watercolour paper into 8.5x5.5" size. This is the size of the unfolded card. Draw a line in the middle with a pencil lightly. Tape along the folding line so your watercolour won't bleed through on the other side when you paint. Paint from the right top corner using the lightest yellow on the palette and continue to add sunshine yellow, orange, pink, magenta, and violet. Make sure to blend these colours well as they overlap one another so the colours look seamless. Let the paper try completely and lay a heavy item (such as a book) on top of the paper to straighten the paper. Once it's fully dried, you can score the middle line and fold the paper in half. The folding line should be on the left-hand side.

For the front panel, you'll need my SVG file, which you can upload to your cutting machine. Load the file to Design Space and click Make it! I used white cardstock for the front panel, but you can use any colour as well. Once the design is cut, attach a piece of acetate to the back of the front panel with adhesive tape or glue. You've now created a window for the shaker card!

With foam mounting tape, create a border along the edge of your gradient background. Fill the border with as much confetti, glitter, or sequins as you like. Be sure to leave some room for these fillers to move around. Peel off the mounting tape and attach the window you just created. Apply some pressure and shake your card to ensure nothing falls out. And you're done! 

I hope you like this DIY tutorial! If you give this a try, be sure to share your pictures with me on Instagram and tag @tingandthings_ or use hashtag #diywithting. I'd love to see your creation!

If you don't have time to make your own, you can also grab this card made for you in my shop as well! 

Until next time. Happy creating! 

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