TRIPLE WORD SHAKER BORDERS

by Rockester

Shake, Shake, SHAKE your B-----!!

Border that is... And a word border to boot! Here is a new way to add journaling features to your page. Add words not only to the body of the page, but also to the triple level shaker box alongside it. Words do evoke moods. Let's use them to further the mood of the page and the message we want to project about that photo memory. Making a shaker box that includes more than just confetti, punchies or beads is a new technique. Better yet, I can use the concept over and over again with many assorted themes. Here is how I SHOOK up my pages and uniquely added some fall theme words to my page. It really brought the journaling message to life. You can do it too with these step by step instructions. :)

Step One: Gather your Materials Instructions are given for a 12 inch tall border. If you work with 8.5x11 paper, cut down your heights accordingly in each step. The widths will remain the same for the border as the Page Flippers are all 3.5 wide. A Page Flipper sleeve by Paper Adventures (These cost about $1 each and are sold in packs of 6) a 3.5 x 12 strip of cardstock for the shaker border backing one 3.5x12 inch clear plastic piece- I used a page protector and just cut it up a 3.5 x 12 patterned or cardstock paper for the 'front' of the shaker border foam tape or foam core board fast drying adhesive or tape runner scissors paper trimmer ruler coordinating color seed beads, punchies, mini die cuts, and/or confetti another sheet of background paper for the regular page itself 4 quarter sheet mats in coordinating colors * white gel pen or other pen that shows on your choice of photo mats
	Step Two: Print Off Words You will need about 9 to 12 words that go with the mood and topic of your photos. In my example, my photo was a fall theme. I chose specific fall words and also a few generic feel good words like love, wonder, play, and fun. These generic words can go with any season. You can print them off onto cardstock from the computer in several text colors. Another option is to just freehand write them in a variety of styles with a pen.
Step Three: Slice the Word Strips Be careful to get good even cuts. I cut my words apart initially so that I would not get confused chalking different colors on different words. For simplicity, you can cut strips with your paper trimmer. You may also punch out the words into shapes if they fit inside a punched piece. Here you see multiples of the same words because I plan to use my extras in a swap.
	Step Four: Chalk the Wording I used different colors of chalk on my words so the white cardstock would not be so stark. I used colors that blended with my fall theme. My natural choices in this case were orange, brown, green, tan, rusty red, and gold. These will eventually tie in with my color choices in punchies and die cuts and beads in my shaker border. I found the words easier to chalk when still connected in a long strip.
	Step Five: Finish Trimming I kept my examples rectangular as I wanted them to stand out from the other items in the shaker box. They grab more attention this way against a backdrop of fall leaves. I wanted the words to be a focal point inside the shaker. Trim carefully but you don't have to be perfect. These will be inside the shaker border with other objects.
Step Six: Create the Shaker Border Background You will eventually be fitting this shaker border into a Page Flipper protector by Paper Adventures. In order to get the border's base cardstock the right size, we have to cut it 3.5 inches wide. Right now we are only dealing with the base piece of cardstock. Pick a color that coordinates with your theme and photos and the background of your whole page which it will be connected onto. in my case this was a gold paper.
Step Seven: Add the Foam Tape Edges You need to cut two strips of double sided foam tape to be the height of your page. These will go on the long sides of the shaker border. The width of these can vary from 1/8 to 1/4 inch depending on your brand of double stick foam tape. You can also use strips of foam core board but you will have to add the adhesive to it yourself. Cut next 4 pieces of double sided foam tape so that they sit horizontally inside the shaker box and create compartments as in figure 9. Adhere the foam tape to the background cardstock piece. If you have a thin brand of foam tape and you like an even deeper shaker depth, you can add another thickness of your foam tape all around the edges.
Step Eight: Fill with Punchies, Beads, and Small Die Cuts. Reserve back the words off to the side for a minute and work just with the punchies, beads, and small die cuts or confetti. Whatever we put in first will be at the back of our shaker so put larger items in first and smaller items last. Our words will be our focus, so save them to last. We will essentially be making 3 equally sized shaker compartments in one 3.5 x 12 box. (Or 3.5x 11 if you work with 8.5x11 pages) The three equal compartments will keep the words and items distributed all throughout this tall border. If we didn't have these separate compartments, ALL the items in the shaker would eventually fall to the lowest level due to gravity. We want words and objects in each compartment for visual interest. Don't leave too large of gaps between the horizontal foam tape and the side tape at this point. We do not want all the seed beads to fall to the bottom compartment! LOL
Step Nine: Now Add those Words! Remember to add the words last so they really show up in the window of the shaker. We will soon close up the top of this shaker box. Don't bump it now! LOL Extra words can be used on the regular sized page as journaling elements too. (See figure 2)
Step Ten: Attach the Plastic Window In our materials list above we indicated you needed a separate page protector or piece of 3.5x12 clear acid free type plastic. Peel off the protective paper from the top of the foam tape and carefully add your clear 3.5x12 plastic sheet. It should fit well and create a window effect.
Step Eleven: The Paper Window Frame To finish off the top of our triple shaker, we need to use our paper trimmer to trim out three equal windows in our patterned paper. Our patterned paper starts out as 3.5x12 and we don't alter the outside dimensions. But we do need to sketch on the backside where we want the windows to go. We will not want the foam tape to show when the skater is viewed from the front. We can use a ruler to draw the window frame on the backside of the paper. Cut the triple frame out with a trimmer of scissors. Turn the frame over, add adhesive to it, and attach it to the shaker box carefully. We should be viewing the pretty side of the paper and the contents of our shaker box but not seeing the white foam tape structure that underlies the window.
Step Twelve: Decorate the Front Now decorate the front with whatever leftover punched pieces, die cuts or elements you prefer. Don't add too much or you will take the focus off the shaker contents. But do tie in the theme with your page. Step Thirteen: Add Some Journaling on the Back The nice thing about a Page flipper is that at first you see the front and then when you turn it, you can see back detailing too. I used this space on my word shaker box to journal a little more completely about my photos and page theme. This completes the page.
Step Fourteen: Create the Rest of the Page Create the rest of the main page as desired. Use coordinating papers that go with your word shaker border. You can use the 4 mats in a color blocking formation if you like. One mat was torn to provide variety. Use the small extra word squares as part of your 'title' or sentiment for the page message. Extra punched pieces or die cuts provide a simple and fast accent. Poof !! You are done!

Shake, Shake, Shake your WORD BORDER SHAKER !!
Rockester