How to: Gumball “Shaker” Card

Years ago I used to teach a class called "Seasonal Shakers." We would make embellishments that had stuff inside that you could shake and move like a rattle. With the recent trend of gumball machines in party planning, I knew I had to bring shakers back to life with a gumball machine birthday card where buttons could move around inside.

Supplies:

• clear plastic or transparency
• buttons or big glitter
• red velvet paper
• scrap papers
• brads
• metallic paper in silver or gold
• gumball template (downloaded from the Internet)

Step 1

Using your template, cut out the shape of your gumball machine. This will be your base.

Step 2

Using your gumball template, cut out the remainder of the shapes from your scrap, velvet and/or metallic papers. You can also skip this part and just color in your template with markers if you're in a hurry.

Step 3 (optional)

Laying your gumball machine face down on a transparency, fold the transparency over as if you're wrapping a present. Tape down only the sides and leave the top and bottom open. Flip over and tape the bottom of the transparency down so it will be hidden behind the red velvet paper covering the bottom of the gumball machine. Now adhere all the rest of the elements.

Step 4

Sprinkle some glitter or buttons into the top of the gumball machine. Seal with the red top of the machine and reinforce with a brad. Cut out some bold striped paper and adhere to the front of the card.  Glue your gumball machine to the card front and you're done!

Tips:

• If you skip the transparency step, glue down your buttons in random places on the inside of your gumball machine.
• Keep in mind the size of your card when printing your template.

Shakers are fun, but they're a lot of work. My daughter laughed and said that the inside of my birthday card should say, "I hope you appreciate this card like I appreciate you. No, seriously, this card took me forever to make!" I think I'll do that, and give the card to that same daughter.