Silica Gel Bead Shaker Cards

One of my favorite ideas from my demo last week was to dye silica gel bead with reinker.  I'm talking about those little packets that come in shoe boxes, purses etc., that if you're like me, you usually pitch.  I put out the call on Facebook, and my friends were great at rounding them up for me.  Who knew?  There a big packets in electronics.  That will make a lot of shaker cards!

I found this idea on Pinterest from Carrie Rhodes.  It's so simple but does require a little planning ahead.  I liked to dye my beads and let them dry overnight.  

Open several packets into a container.  I used empty embellishment boxes.  I may not save my silica packets, but I have saved a ton of those because I knew they'd come in handy some day!  Squirt 3 or 4 drops of reinker into the container, put the lid on and shake. Open up and give then just one spritz of water and then spread them on a paper towel to dry.  Voila! Shaker beads of any color.  

I figured I'd would send some people home with a sample so I made this Sweet card for my swap.  

For this submarine card, I mixed a few colors of beads for a slightly different effect.

The fun thing about these beads is that they take up dye differently.  So you'll have a different look and size even with the same color.  I'm looking forward to doing more of these!

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A Whole Lot of Shaking Going On

Paper works great as a shaker too!  I snipped coordinating pieces of card stock with my fringe scissors for these easy little shakers.

The confetti punch has me really planning ahead for graduation!

I mixed a few paper hearts with sequins for this little one.  

Shaker Cards Anyone?

The fun of these shaker cards was thinking of all the different things I could fill them with.  For my demo, no two are the same material!

This one was a popular one.  Sand from a friend's vacation!

Pasta stars from the third grocery store I tried!  I was looking for alphabet noodles, but I think these worked great.

The Stampin' Up sequins make a great shaker too.

A Variety of Spinner Cards!

I wanted to demonstrate as many different ways to use my thinliit dies as I could.  So in addition to finished samples, I made these to show different options.  

The Peekaboo Peach sample was made using a pony bead -  you know those cheap little beads that come in all colors?  I didn't know that was what they were called but they make a lighter weight card if that concerns you.  Great idea Kathy Jo!   I did find the weight of the pennies made the spinner glide and spin better.  

For the Melon Mambo card, I hung the thinliit off the end of the Big Shot platform so it wouldn't cut.  And I stopped cranking before it was through so I could make a shorter track.  

These two were a fun way to vary the standard circle track.  On the Elmerald Envy card I didn't put the center circle back in and the penny still stayed on the track.  Thanks Cheryl for the idea!  And on one of my favorites, I added two strips to the underside to make space for two spinners.  

Then of course, you can use the thinlits as they were intended.  

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Vacation Stamping School

Today I am with about 70 other demonstrators who love Stampin' Up! as much as I do.  It's a fun-filled day with demonstrations, make-n-takes, swapping, speakers, prizes and fun.  As part of the day, we have a demonstration fair for people to walk through, take pictures, ask questions, and enjoy.  I am one of the demos setting up, and I'm doing Movers and Shakers.  It was so much fun thinking of the different ways to create slider and shaker card samples, and I searched high and low for tips and ideas to share with my fellow stampers.

Visit my Facebook page to see a short video of the the loot I brought home with me, and check back for more posts about our fun day!

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