It’s true. Summer is almost over. The one I thought would never end is doing just that. But before it goes, I needed some bright and sunny designs to keep summer a little longer. Luckily, Doodles Paper Playground had some Sparkle Blends to do the trick.

This is what I call a “cheater shaker.” It’s the first time I used one of these pre-made shaker cards and I did not love it. The biggest reason being the shaker is way too deep if you plan on mailing the card. However, it would be great for some of the Sparkle Blends that have bigger elements. Secondly, the adhesive on the plastic shaker part is on the wrong side so I had to glue it. Doesn’t make sense. But I still had fun with this delicious card, especially making the background. I used Spiced Marmalade Distress Spray for the first time and it was so much fun! I will definitely be playing with sprays more in the near future. I filled in the sprayed background with Sauna ink from Catherine Pooler. I used the “Fresh Squeezed” stamp set from Kindred. The orange in the shaker was colored with Copics and the slices on the background were stamped in Orange Twist ink from Catherine Pooler. I also used Orange Twist to stamp a shadow for the sentiments before I stamped them in black. I added some highlights with a white pen. I filled the shaker with Citrus Tornado Sparkle Blends from Doodles Paper Playground.

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Something else that reminds me of summer is bees. And since I could not resist the adorable Bee Creative blend, I had to find a way to use them. I used a variety of yellow and orange color burst powders for this background, after I stamped the bee & flower images and embossed with white embossing powder on watercolor paper. I used Sauna ink from Catherine Pooler for the yellow sentiment. Stamps, dies and paper are from Stampin’ Up.

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So school starts soon and summer will be winding down. I can’t lie, my mind is already moving to Halloween so stay tuned to see what’s next! And don’t forget to Make stuff and be happy!