Make a Cute Autumn Shaker Card with a Thankful Squirrel Card Design

Autumn bursts with vibrant colours, making it the perfect season for crafting heartfelt cards. Have you ever thought about creating a shaker card to celebrate fall?

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to make a delightful autumn shaker card featuring the adorable “Bushy Tail” digital stamp from All Dressed Up Stamps, inspired by their monthly Autumn/Halloween challenge. This project is a wonderful way to connect with loved ones through thoughtful gestures. Gather your supplies, and let’s get started on this creative journey!

Before we craft our autumn shaker card, let’s gather all the materials and tools you’ll need for this project. Below is a comprehensive list, complete with descriptions and alternatives, ensuring you have everything to create a beautiful card that captures the essence of autumn.

These materials will help create a beautiful autumn shaker card for a warm and cosy thank you.

Crafting your autumn shaker card is a delightful way to embrace the season while expressing creativity. Follow these step-by-step instructions to bring your thankful squirrel design to life. Each step is designed to be easy to follow, ensuring you can create a stunning card.

In this step we bring our interactive Bushy Tail squirrel to life with vibrant colors! Follow these instructions to prepare your digital stamp for the fall shaker card.

To start, print and colour the Bushy Tail squirrel digital stamp. Import the image into Word and adjust the dimensions to your preference, ensuring the height is approximately 7.5 centimetres. For printing, use DCP paper, ideal for alcohol markers, as it helps achieve vibrant colours. If you plan to use a different colouring medium, consider using a suitable paper type for the best results

Once the image is printed, it’s time to add some colour. Use Twinmarkers from Decotimecraft and the following colour combinations:

• Squirrel: Terra Cotta (21), Terra (20), Burnt Sienna (95), Bronze (99)
• Acorn: Green Bice (143), Vivid Green (46), Dark Green (51)
• Acorn Cap: Sand (107), Clay (116)
• Red Flowers: Cardinal (244), English Red (249), Burgundy (247)
• Large Leaves: Bronze (99), Orange (23), Lemon Yellow (35)
• Small Leaves: Yellow Ochre (101), Matcha Tea (165)
• Hearts: Cardinal (244)
• Berries: Teal Blue (184), Cool Mint (181), Frost Blue (182)
• Purple and Yellow Flowers: Neon Violet (184), Pale Lilac (147), Orange (23), Pastel Lemon (39)

After colouring, carefully cut out the image, leaving a small white border around it for a neat finish. To add a touch of highlights, use a white gel pen to create dots on the flowers and streaks on the squirrel, enhancing its charm and dimension.

Now let’s create the base of our card! In this step, we are adding a beautiful woody texture that will perfectly match the fall theme of your shaker card. This will not only give your design depth, but it will also enhance the natural beauty of autumn.

Start using a background die on kraft paper to achieve a wood-like effect. The warm, earthy tones of kraft paper evoke the natural beauty of autumn, providing a perfect backdrop for your design.

After die-cutting the paper, add shadow and depth using Distress Ink. Apply Walnut Stain for the darkest shade at the edges and blend inward with Vintage Photo for a softer gradient using a blending brush. This technique enhances the wood-like appearance, adding both warmth and character to your card

You’ll create the shaker window by cutting a circle out of the panel. This circular opening will serve as the window for your shaker card, allowing the shaker elements to be visible and bringing a playful touch to your autumn creation.

A great card deserves an equally great message! In this step, we will create the sentiment positioned behind the window we crafted in the previous step. Make sure it is perfectly aligned for a nice and professional result. This way we craft a beautiful autumn thank you card.

Start by cutting a piece of white cardstock to the same size as the brown panel, measuring 10.5 centimetres by 14.8 centimetres. This ensures that your shaker will close properly and that the sentiment is displayed beautifully.

Next, position the brown panel over the white cardstock. This positioning helps you determine where to stamp the sentiment, ensuring it will be visible through the circular window.

Using an acrylic block, mount the “Thank You” stamp and ink it with Memento Tuxedo Black. Carefully stamp the sentiment onto the white cardstock, where it will perfectly align with the opening in the brown panel.

Now that your sentiment is ready, you can move on to assembling the shaker card and adding those delightful shaker elements!

“It’s time to build your shaker! In this step, we will add a playful element to our card. We close the window and add cheerful fillers that rattle and sparkle when the card is shaken. Let’s get started and make this cute handmade shaker card.

You’ll need some plastic to close the window. Typically, acetate is used, but if you don’t have any, you can repurpose a plastic sleeve that is used to protect cards. Simply cut it open to use.

Start by applying double-sided tape around the circular window on the back of your panel. Once this is in place, adhere the plastic over the window, securing it firmly. Your shaker window is now ready!

Next, apply foam tape around the edges of the circle on the back. This helps keep your shaker parts within a defined area. Foam tape strips work perfectly here, making it easy to create a neat border.

Next, add your shaker parts! Choose a variety of colours and shapes to evoke the autumn vibe. Place these delightful elements within the circle, ensuring they are well distributed.

Finally, remove the backing from the foam tape strips and carefully place the white cardstock with your “Thank You” sentiment on the back to seal the shaker.

With your shaker complete, let’s move on by decorating the card!

The last steps are always the most exciting! In this step, we give your card the perfect finishing touch by adding a charming leaf wreath around the window. This not only adds an extra dimension but also emphasizes the autumn theme beautifully.

Using the Squirrels clear stamp set from Marianne Design, which includes three different leaves, stamp the leaves onto a piece of white paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. This will ensure that the details stand out beautifully.

Next, colour the leaves using the following alcohol marker combinations:

• Burgundy (247), Cardinal (244), and Orange (23)
• Deep Green (51), Vivid Green (46), and Green Bice (163)
• Lemon Yellow (35), Orange (23), and Cardinal (244)
• Orange (23) and Lemon Yellow (35)

Arrange the coloured leaves around the circle to form a lovely autumn wreath. This adds an extra dimension to your card, making it even more inviting.

Once the leaves are in place, it’s time to position the squirrel. Place the squirrel so slightly overlaps the bottom of the window, creating a cohesive look.

And there you have it! Your card is now complete. With a sparkling shaker and a charming squirrel, it’s perfect for the autumn season.

What a wonderful journey we’ve taken to craft this charming autumn shaker card! From designing the textured background to adding that delightful leaf wreath, we’ve transformed simple materials into a heartwarming creation perfect for the season. Now that you’ve followed each step, “It’s time to unleash your creativity and make this card your own. I can’t wait to see what unique touches you’ll add!

I invite you to participate in the exciting All Dressed Up challenge! It’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase your creativity alongside fellow crafters. Click the button below to join in the fun and share your own creations!

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Are you looking for more inspiration, and do you have more autumn cards to make? Check out these related blog posts that are sure to spark your creativity:

Autumn slimline card | Polkadoodles

A slimline autumn card featuring a little squirrel

Autumn Gnome Card Tutorial: Crafting and Enchanting Fall Scene

Another handmade autumn card featuring a gnome with a squirrel.

Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one of these links and purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost. This helps me continue sharing creative tutorials and tips. Thank you for being so supportive!

Bushy Tail digital stamp from All Dressed Up Stamps

Shop at All Dressed Up Stamps

White gelly roll pen 08

Shop at Hobbyshoponline

Blending brush from Nellie Snellen

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Distress Ink Walnut Stain from Ranger

Shop at Amazon.com

Distress Ink Vintage Photo from Ranger

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Shop at Amazon.nl

Twinmarkers (alcohol markers) from Decotimecrafts

Shop at ActionNL

• Clear Stamp Set Squirrels from Marianne Design (no longer available)
• Clear Stamp Thank You from the Baby Clear stamp set from Inkadinkadoo (no longer available)
• Shaker pieces (brand unknown)
• Foam tape strips from Boekenvoordeel
• White card stock brand unknown
• brown card stock brand unknown
• The background die from Aveccreative (no longer available)

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