Blue Fern Archives - Kathy by Design

Mermaid’s Garden Shaker Card Tutorial with Reneabouquets & Blue Fern

Hello, Friends! I’m moving a bit slow after a very busy Memorial Day Weekend, but I wanted to pop in quickly to share this Mermaid Garden Shaker Card Tutorial with you. We had company last week from Thursday through Monday morning. Breakfast yesterday on the screen porch with our dear friends was beyond delightful. Once they hit the road for home, I got the house set back in order, started the laundry and popped into the studio to put this Tuesday Tutorial together.

Reneabouquets By the Sea Collection

I probably should have just taken the rest of the day off, but I was so excited to dig into the new Reneabouquets By the Sea Collection that I forged ahead. I’d received this lovely set in my last order from the shop, and had been itching to play with it. This 5 1/2″ x 7 1/2″ top fold card is the final result.

Copper and aqua is one of my favorite color combinations, so all the elements in this collection made me super happy! Here’s how the cover of this Mermaid’s Garden came together:

First, adhere a layer of Sea Shell Lace on the bottom 1/4″ of the prepared card base.
Then, heat emboss the square Seashell Beautiful Board Frame with WOW! Vintage Peacock Embossing Powder.
Next, adhere clear cardstock (acetate sheet) to the back side of the frame.
Now, adhere 3 rows of 1/8″ foam tape around the inside edges of the frame.
Fill the frame with By the Sea Beautiful Beads, Itty Bitty Starfish, and a sequin mix.
Then cut a 4 1/2″ square of designer paper from Blue Fern’s Seaside Cottage collection. Add ephemera to the center of the panel and use it as the backer for the shaker frame.
Next, place foam tape on the back of the By the Sea Mermaid and adhere in the lower right hand corner.

Embellish the frame with the Sea Glass Glass Wing Butterfly, By the Sea Mulberry Flowers and Leaves and more Beautiful Beads. Brush the flowers lightly with Stamperia’s Gold Dew Glamour Gel.

A Peek Inside

Do you spy these darling aqua seahorses? They are part of the By the Sea Collection, too!

The trinkets on this bookmark are also part of the By the Sea Collection. So perfect for summer/beach themed projects!

There’s even a sea horse hiding inside the flap page where you’ll find this gift card pocket.

Mermaid’s Garden Shaker Card Tutorial on YouTube

If you’d like to see me work on this beachy creation, please enjoy this short video tutorial.

I think I was more tired than I realized, because at one point, I just stopped talking entirely! So as a consolation prize, I added lots of Dale’s pretty music to entertain you. You will probably also notice that I changed some things up after I finished the video. I came in fresh and rested this morning, and added more Beautiful Beads to the bottom of the card, brushed the flowers with glimmer gel, and removed the trinkets from the floral cluster. All good choices, I think!

You’ll find a linked supply list below this post! Thanks for stopping by, my friends!

Cheerio,

kathy

SUPPLY LIST

Blue Fern Yuletide Old Fashioned Christmas Card with Reneabouquets Beautiful Board

Hello, Friends! I am loving the nostalgic vibe from this Blue Fern Yuletide Old Fashioned Christmas Card. Warm woolen plaids and old barn boards take me back in time, how about you? Now that Thanksgiving has passed, we are in full on Christmas mode here at Kathy by Design. The little love birds on this card make me feel very merry , indeed!

If you are looking for a way to add visual interest to your Christmas cards, why not try adding some circular elements? After I removed the white centers from this wreath die cut, I replaced them with small images from the 8×8 paper pad. Then I heat embossed Reneabouquets Small Santa Clock and added it to the mix. Now the card just needs to be embellished.

Evergreen Trees, Snowflakes and Christmas Roses

First I altered a small sisal tree with ivory paint and glitter. Then I clustered up some beautiful Reneabouquets Christmas flowers, mini pine cones and greenery around the base of the tree to ground it.

This wonderful Beautiful Board Clock adds some brightness to these darker, vintage paper patterns. Shell buttons add a bit of shine, and more flowers is always a good idea. Spatter the card with white paint to simulate falling snow for the perfect wintry feel.

These snowflake corners shimmer with glittery embossing powder in real life. I’ve dressed it up even more with some flat back pearls.

A Peek Inside

Nothing drives away winter’s chill like a cup of hot cocoa! So I created a box pocket inside the card to hold a packet. The pocket is actually embossed grey cardstock that I brushed with white paint and metallic glaze. For some reason, it photographed blue. The camera does strange things sometimes.

The pocket also holds a little postcard, peppermint stick, gift wrapped Biscoff cookies and a Ghiradelli Chocolate. Now it’s the perfect little Secret Santa or office exchange gift.

You can find a linked supply list below this post.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy