SSS Anything Goes - Birthday Cards

Let's just skip right over the fact that I didn't post in August.  There will be an update about that eventually.

September is birthday month around here.  I have only just finished putting my craft room back together so when I needed a birthday card I was under pressure to make the card in time for the person's actual birthday.  The gift card holder that came with the gift card I got was already printed with a design so I decided to not re-invent the wheel (make a new card base) and used the gift card holder as the base for my card.  I layered two 3x4" Heidi Swapp acetate Project Life cards and made a shaker card.  I covered the shaker elements with a Heidi Swapp photo frame.  I topped it off with a balloon flair that I found during the craft room re-design process.

You know how Oprah talks about "Aha" moments? Well, I had the opposite of an 'Aha' moment when I was trying to create the shaker pocket.  I got a Fuse tool last year and haven't used it much.  I thought this would be the perfect chance to put it to use.  I ended up going through 2 self-cut acetate backers.  I just could not get them to fuse with the Heidi Swapp acetate.  The first one was a thinner acetate so when it didn't work I decided to try a thicker acetate. Again, it did not fuse. I tried going slowly.  I tried going over the lines more then once. Nothing worked.  After I abandoned the Fuse and went with good 'ole foam tape I suddenly realised that maybe I had the wrong tip in the Fuse! Yeah, I had the cutting tip on instead of the fusing tip. Duh! Yup, definitely a "Duh" moment. It was then that I remembered trying to see if I could foil with the Fuse, thus saving myself from having to buy the Wave. Of course I'd put the cutting tip on for the foiling test and hadn't thought to change it back after. Duh.

For this project I got to use the Fuse mat and holder I bought to use with the Fuse tool.  I have to say I found this rubber mat brilliant.  I've always found the little rest for the Fuse really didn't work effectively so it was nice to have the attached heat proof pocket to hold the Fuse when it was heating and in between [inept] use.  I have a plastic covering on my desk and the rubber mat stuck firmly to this.  I found that the acetate I was working with stuck to the rubber mat too and I wasn't worried about the bottom piece moving while I was trying to fuse the layers.  That's my two pennies worth on the Fuse mat.

I am entering this card for Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.  The details can be found here .

Materials:
Frame & Acetate Project Life Cards - Heidi Swapp
Other: Punches, Acetate (packaging), Foam Tape, Flair (unknown)