Instructions 

A few weeks ago on the Ranger Instagram feed, I saw an amazing shaker card full of custom made Stickles confetti, and I couldn't wait to try the same technique with Liquid Pearls.

Step 1: Gather materials: Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Doodle Town Stamp Set; Frames and Bases Chippies; Perfect Cardstock A2 Cards and Panels; assorted shades of Archival Inks and Liquid Pearls.

Step 2: Print out the Stickles Confetti Template from the Ranger website (Stickles Confetti Template) and laminate it, or cover it with a sheet of clear plastic. Use the MAKE ART Stay-tion's extra strong magnets to hold it firmly in place as you work. Practice placing a dot of Liquid Pearls in each circle; it may take you a few tries to achieve a uniform size and shape, but once you get going it's easy. (Note that another advantage of working on the Stay-tion is that if your dots have a slightly pointy "Hershey Kiss" type of shape you can tap the station firmly on a table or hard surface to help them become more rounded.) Leave the template to sit on a flat surface overnight or until they are completely dry.

Step 3: Use the scraper from the Simon Hurley create Paste Tool Set to gently push the colorful dots off the template and set them aside.

Step 4: Stamp the three houses from the Doodle Town stamp set in Black Soot Distress Ink on a panel of Wendy Vecchi Perfect Cardstock. Mark off a three inch section on a separate piece of cardstock, and stamp the houses a second time; this time using sticky notes to mask the sides of the houses as your stamp, so that you wind up with a row of seamless houses.

Step 5: Color the houses using a Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tool and Domed Replacement Foams to apply your favorite shades of Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink. Sample uses Sunflower, Pink Peony, Prickly Pear, Cornflower, Peachy Keen, Goldenrod, Sky Blue and Rosey Posey; using sticky notes to mask the windows and doors. Use a letter it fine line or pen to add details, doodles, patterns to the roofs, windows and chimneys, to make each house look individual. Use scissors to neatly cut out the strip of houses, and also the three individual houses. Add some accents of Liquid Pearls, if desired, for extra color and texture.

Step 6: Trim a piece of Wendy Vecchi Perfect Cardstock to 3.35 x 4.5". Smoosh a Morning Glory Archival Ink Pad all over the Stay-tion's Craft Sheet and lightly mist the ink with Isopropyl Alcohol. Place the cardstock panel face down in the ink. Note that to get a slightly mottled effect, resembling a cloudy sky, you’ll want to use a generous amount of alcohol, and try to lift the panel straight up off the craft sheet.

Step 7: Using the same method as Step 6, tint a 4 x 5.25" panel of Perfect Cardinal with Sunflower Archival. To get more consistent coverage, use a higher ink-to-alcohol ratio. If there are any voids or light spots, use a mini Ink Blending Tool to apply additional ink to the damp panel.

Step 8: Mask the bottom half inch of the scalloped rectangle from Wendy Vecchi’s Bases and Frames Chippie set, and use the Ink Blending tool to apply Morning Glory Archival ink to the rest of the Chippie frame. Reverse the mask and apply Leaf Green to the bottom half inch of the frame.

Step 9: Stamp the sentiment, "A Million Thanks" from Wendy Vecchi‘s Stamp, Die and Stencil set of the same name in Black Archival on an offcut of the cloudy sky panel. Trim into a neat flag, and set aside. Stamp the sun from the Doodle Town set in black archival on top of a small circle of Sunflower ink. Stamp the cloud a number of times and leave them uncolored. Neatly cut out the sun and the clouds.

Step 10: Build the shaker: Trim a piece of clear plastic to 3 3/16 x 4 5/16". Use a very small amount of Wendy Vecchi Perfect Card Adhesive to affix the window plastic to the back of the Chippie frame. Carefully place thin strips of Letter It White Foam Roll Tape all the way around the frame, taking care not to leave any gaps from which the confetti can escape. Add the colorful Liquid Pearl confetti dots you've created into the shaker box, peel the release paper, and firmly affix the cloudy sky panel to the back of the shaker.

Step 11: Assembly: Add the strip of consecutive houses to the bottom edge of the shaker box, using Perfect Card Adhesive. Use small pieces of foam tape to adhere the single houses on top of the strip, so that the roofs and some of the details of the background houses are still visible. Affix the sentiment strip approximately an inch from the top of the frame using Perfect Card Adhesive. Add the sun above the sentiment strip with a small piece of foam tape. Adhere the clouds to the sky area between the houses and the sentiment strip. Affix the shaker to the panel of Sunflower-tinted cardstock and adhere the entire thing to a Perfect Cardstock A2 card.

Step 12: Mail your shaker card to a favorite friend in a slightly oversized envelope, taking care to pad the front with a piece of folded cardstock to protect the shaker window. The thickness of the shaker and its Chippie frame will likely require extra postage, so it's a good idea to have this card hand-cancelled at the Post Office.