Bat Shaker Card Tummy Assembly Guide

Slightly menacing and a little goofy,

this unique Halloween greeting card

has a circle shaker tummy filled with

"sprinkle" shapes cut from colorful card stock.

Body layers enclose the shaker "bubble" window edges 

while fancy layered wings pivot behind.

A simple easel stand is included in the cut file

so that bat can be displayed.

Close the wings down and he fits into

a standard 5x7 envelope.

Fully-extended wings measure approx. 14.5" side

This tutorial offers steps for positioning

two-tone stripe paper (orange/white) on digi cutter

to cut realistic candy corn sprinkles.

ASSEMBLY: 1. Identify and cut the shapes: A head base back layer                                 B head base front layer with ear cutout liners C face (head front layer) with cheek accents D face: eye contrast, eye, fangs, mouth liner   

E shaker bubble 2" circle with paper back

F shaker sprinkles: 12 ea. candy corn, stars, moon, two sizes punch circles

G right wing and overlay

H left wing and overlay

2. Position and attach the fangs shape on the backside of the face/head front, with the fangs inserted through the mouth cut out.  

The bottom contour edge of the fanges margin should line up with the mouth opening top edge, as shown.

3. Position and attach the cheeks circles at the top ends of mouth cut out.

4. Attach the mouth liner shape on the backside of the face shape and behind the mouth cut out, with the opening centered within the liner shape.

Also layer the eye shape with the contrast liner shape (for pupils), and position, centered, above the mouth cutout and below the face/head top cut edge.

5. Prepare the shaker circle unit. Shown here is the package for the 2" shaker window circle used in this project.

NOTE: If you choose not to create a shaker card, you can simply attach the contrast circle "cover" behind the circle cut out on the body shape, then glue some shapes inside the circle "window". Or, line the circle cutout with a circle of see-thru acrylic or vinyl, with the sprinkles enclosed.

Cut out the "sprinkles" shapes (or use glitter or sequin shapes, button, etc.)

Shown here are the two-tone candy corn cut from orange/white stripe. If you are interested in learning one way to do this, find more information at the end of this post.

6. Place the sprinkles face forward in the bubble cup. Position and attach the circle cover to the flange of the shaker window.

(It may require a specialty adhesive to attach plastic to paper.)

Apply pressure to the flange and circle until secure.

NOTE: the difficulty here is to keep the sprinkles from attaching to glue at the inner edge of the flange.

7. Apply adhesive to the exposed shaker flange, then insert from behind into the circle cut out in the bat face/body.

Apply pressure to the edges until secure.

8. Position and attach the ear cut out liners behind the body top shape.

9. Attach each wing overlay onto the front of the appropriate wing base shape.

10. Position each wing face to face with the body back shape to line up the fastener punch holes

Insert brad fastener so that it's nail head shows on the backside of the wing, prongs through hole and bent on the inside of the body back, and rotated so they don't show beyond body edge.

11. Position the body front layer over the body back/wings assembly, align all body edges to enclose prongs of brad fastener, and glue in place.

12. Position the face front/shaker assembly, center, on the body front shape, and glue in place.

13. Prepare the stand by folding backsides together into easel form.

Position body onto easel stand  for display, or . . .











. . . rotate the wings down and inward so that it can fit into a 5x7 envelope to send.

Rotate wings outward to full 14.5" wingspan for fun holiday decor.

TWO-TONE CANDY CORN SPRINKLES CUTTING IDEA:

The triangle "sprinkles" shape can be cut to represent candy corn by cutting pairs of orange and white triangles, then trimming orange short and gluing.

OR, try to arrange striped print card stock on cutting mat, positioning cut lines onscreen to cut across the stripe and make the triangle shape two-tone.

Step 1. Position paper onto cutting mat and check where the stripe division line is on screen. For Silhouette Cameo, the cutting mat has one-inch grid lines which can be made visible by adjusting the "Reveal Screen" slider on the "Page Setup" screen view.

NOTE: The "stripe" paper I could find is actually chevron patterned, which complicated it a little. A piece was cut, then positioned and affixed for cutting with the target stripe parallel with the cross grid lines.

 Step 2. Make best guess at where to position the first shape TEST cut, based on where the paper stripe lines up on the grid, and how far you want the color division to be on the triangle cut out.

Shown here is my test shape position.

Step 3. Send the job to the digital cutter, to see if the cut is where you want.

WHEN THE CUT IS MADE, DO NOT REMOVE MAT FROM CUTTER.

IF THE SHAPE IS NOT WHERE YOU WANT THE STRIPE TO FALL, re-position the shape slightly on the screen next to the original test shape for reference.

DELETE the first shape. 
Then make another test cut.

 Repeat as needed to get the positioning of initial shape on the stripe.

Step 4. When a good cut is achieved, use "Duplicate Right" (or other appropriate means) to arrange multiples of the shape in the position to cut similar divided shapes.

(Just make sure to delete the test cut shape so that the blade doesn't cut again where there is no paper, which might damage the cutting mat.)