Whimsical Wednesday Challenge: Just Because

Happy Whimsical Wednesday, sweet friends! :o)

The Whimsical Wednesday challenge this week is "Just Because." The requirements are to create a card or project to let someone know that you are thinking of them and that they're special. Blessing someone with a handmade creation "just because" as opposed to a specific occasion/celebration is one of my favorite things, so I was pretty excited about this challenge. :o)

The design team had the wonderful opportunity to select an image of our choice provided by this week's sponsor, Bugaboo Stamps. She and her store are positively delightful! The options seemed endless, but my heart gravitated to sweet little Ava, the Mistletoe Fairy:

"With Love"... (my first shaker card!)

At first glance this might seem like a Christmas or New Year's card, but it is a regular "thinking of you" card. I used the mistletoe fairy to incorporate a recognizable romantic spin for a sweetheart across the miles. The idea is to use her year-round with changing seasonal backdrops as a loving reminder that your honey is close in heart. In this case, she's fluttering along with snowflakes. Ava provides the lovey-dovey aspect all on her own with her glittery mistletoe. :o) I colored her with pinks and frosty blue since it's not for the holidays... she's somewhat undercover. ;)

Now for the story on this wintery love note. Not seen well unless you make it bigger is how super sparkly it is.... everywhere. That is Ava's doing. One touch of her ultra-glittery mistletoe has sparklified the card, beginning with the two sets of rhinestones on the heart frame of my shaker. Once her pure love is felt, the entire heart is filled with glittery joy. The small beads (used here as snow) are iridescent, so they are actually several hues despite looking clear in the pictures. I added a few glitter shapes, which are brightly glowing in love. They're circular like bubbles to reflect love bubbling up within our hearts. There are three because God is always with us. :o) So now the beautiful love grows and reaches out to others, evidenced by the sparklified flourishes whimsically bursting forth from the heart-shaped shaker.

I loved the pink and blue elements together, so I made the shimmery snowflakes two layers. I separated the pink and blue-edged flakes with a pop-dot, making them dimensional and letting both colors show up a little better. The white cardstock is pearlescent, making the snowflake-embossed center glisten like winter. I welded together two scallop borders on my Gypsy (flipping one of them) and coated the scallops in Stardust to resemble little mountains of fluffy snow. Lastly, I sprayed the card with Shimmer Spritz to seal the sparkling winter scene.

I had such a great time making this shaker card! It's a great interactive element, plus it amps up the fun and beauty. There are so many ways to fill it. I opted for beads instead of simply glitter so it would make a nice amount of noise when shaken. There are several wonderful tutorials available, including this one that I followed:

Splitcoast Stampers~ Shaker card tutorial

I hope you'll play along with us this week by linking up your projects at the Whimsical Wednesday Weekly Challenge post! I'm excited to see what you create. :o) Our sponsor for this challenge is Bugaboo Stamps, who is generously donating seven digital stamps to one random winner who enters our challenge. Thank you very much, Bugaboo! :o) To learn more about this wonderful company, please visit their Catch The Bug Challenge Blog. :o)

I'm thrilled that we have two guest designers from the Bugaboo Design Team joining us this week. Be sure to check them out on the Whimsical Wednesday blog. :o) Then flutter on over to the rest of the Design Team's blogs to see their fabulous projects. :o) Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a spectacular (and sparkly) day!

Key Recipe Components:

 * Cricut cartridges: Cindy Loo, Elegant Edges, Gypsy Wanderings

 * Cuttlebug embossing folder: Winter Wonderland

 * Paper: Core'dinations, K & Company Peppermint Twist, Papertrey Ink

 * Sentiment Stamp: Hampton Art

 * Image Stamp: Bugaboo Stamps~ Ava Christmas Mistletoe Fairy

 * Copics: E000, E00 (skin); E25, E31 (hair); RV10, RV13, RV14 (dress, holly berries); BG11 (mistletoe)

 * Miscellaneous: Dew Drop Brilliance ink, Glossy Accents (on berries), iRock, Marvy snowflake stamp, Recollections Glitter Shapes, Shimmer Spritz, Stickles, TOHO treasure beads