Busy Shaker Bees

Do you remember shrinky dinks? Those plastic images that you could color and then shrink in your oven? They're just as much fun as a grown-up as they were when I was a kid! 

Stampin' Up! used to carry shrink plastic years and years ago. I still have a partial package in my drawer and the Honey Bee stamp set from the 2020 January-June mini catalog was just begging to be stamped and shrunk. While SU! doesn't carry it anymore, you can still find it in craft stores and online. 

I stamped the bees using Jet Black Stazon ink on white shrink plastic. Usually, you don't use Stampin' Blends with Stazon ink because the alcohol markers will make the Stazon ink run. So, normally, you should Memento ink with the Stampin' Blends. However, I found that the Memento ink just didn't give a nice impression on the shrink plastic. So, I used Stazon and very, very carefully colored the bees' bodies with Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blend. I was careful not to color over the stamped lines to avoid causing the Stazon ink to run.

The shrunken bees are the perfect size for the interior of a shaker card! So I made two shaker cards with the bees trapped inside. 

I adhered the patterned paper from the Golden Honey DSP to a piece of Basic Black cardstock. Then, I used the beehive die from the Detailed Bee dies to cut a hole through this card front. I used sticky strip to attach a piece clear plastic to the back of the card front. Years ago, I bought a package of overhead projector (remember those?!) sheets on clearance. I use these for shaker cards, but you can also purchase window sheets.

On a separate piece of Whisper white cardstock, I stamped the beehive in Daffodil Delight ink. When you purchase SU! cling stamps, they come still stuck in the full sheet of rubber and you have to punch them out. I have some of these saved and used some for the foam between the card front and the beehive. I simply peeled the red rubber off the foam cushion and used adhesive to attach it carefully around the edges of the beehive that I had stamped on Whisper White cardstock. I was very careful not to leave any holes, but I also tried to stay fairly close to the edge because I didn't want all my bling to wind up outside the frame where you couldn't see it.

I put the shrinky dink bees, some seed beads in clear and a golden brown, and a few sequins on top of the bee hive. Then I put more adhesive on the top of the foam and adhered the card front over the beehive so that the opening aligned with the stamped beehive. This created an enclosed compartment filled with bling that shakes. 

Finally, I added a piece of Daffodil Delight ribbon and adhered the card front to a Daffodil Delight card base. I stamped the greeting on Daffodil Delight cardstock and used two circle dies to cut it out before adhering it to my card front to finish the card.

​I created my second shaker card in much the same way. For this card, I used a sponge dauber and Daffodil Delight ink to rub yellow ink onto the patterned paper from the Golden Honey DSP. This made the paper yellow and black instead of black and white. 

My final card is not a shaker card. But, I had a few more shrinky dink bees and decided to use them as an accent on this card front. Plus, I wanted to use the beehive that I cut out for the window on the previous card. I adhered the bees using glue dots. I finished the front with a black on black effect. I added a square of Basic Black cut with the Stitched Shape dies as well as pieces of honey comb cut with the Detailed Bee dies. I added Metallic Baker's Twine and some colored pearls as accents. 

Supplies:
Cardstock:

• Basic Black
• Daffodil Delight
• Golden Honey (Sale-A-Bration freebie!)

Inks:

• Jet Black Stazon
• Daffodil Delight

Accessories:

• Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blend
• Metallic Baker's Twine and Sequins combo pack (Sale-A-Bration freebie!
• Detailed Bee dies
• Stitched Shapes dies
• Window sheets
• Foam
• Shrink plastic