Pumpkin Shaker Card 👻 HCC 2025

If you’re looking for a Halloween card project that brings a little movement and sparkle, this pumpkin shaker card is a great craft to try.

I love making pumpkin crafts for Halloween, even though it’s really more “Fall” inspired than something “scary”.

In this tutorial, we’re making a shaped card with multiple shaker sections — each ready to be filled with glitter, sequins, beads, or whatever embellishments you love to use.

The card is cut in the shape of a pumpkin, and instead of a single shaker window, it features several separate compartments. You can keep it simple by using the same filler in each one, or mix things up by adding a different element to each section.

It’s a great way to use up your leftover embellishments or experiment with new combinations.

To create the depth needed for the shaker elements to move freely, we’ll be using fun foam between the layers. It gives the right amount of lift without adding too much bulk and is easy to cut to match your pumpkin design.

If you don’t have the required blades to cut foam with a Cricut then don’t worry – I’ll show how to hand-cut the foam instead.

Halloween Shaker Cards Supply List

Here is a list of the materials needed to make this project.

Please note that some of the links included in this article are affiliate links, which means that if you click through and make a purchase I may receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). You can read my full disclosure at the bottom of the page.

• Cricut machine
• Light blue Cricut cutting mat
• Coloured Card (white, 2 shades of orange and 2 shades of green)
• Acetate
• Glue (I like Bearly Art Glue and Collall)
• Shaker filling – e.g. beads, glitter, cake decoration balls, sequins, etc
• Fun foam
• Deep Point Blade or Knife Blade (or you can hand-cut the foam)
• Scoring wheel or scoring stylus (optional)

This project is suitable for the following types of Cricut machines: Explore series, Maker series, Joy Xtra and Joy. You’ll need to make the card smaller to cut on the Joy.

Foundation learning

If you're new to making papercrafts with your cutting machine, check out these links to get you started.

They include videos on topics such as: which file to use with your type of cutting machine, how to load the files into your cutting machine's software, how to cut cardstock with your type of cutting machine, how to recolor and modify/customize the cut files and tips for displaying your projects.

• Help guides for Cricut machines
• Help guides for Silhouette machines
• Help guides for ScanNCut machines

The following tutorials are Cricut-specific, but many of the ideas will work similarly with a Silhouette or ScanNCut machine and any cut files that are shared in them are compatible with all types of cutting machine.

• How to score with a Cricut (even without scoring tools)
• Print then cut tutorial
• Design Space tools (Combine, Attach, Slice, Weld, Flatten, etc.)
• Pattern fill tutorial (for making backgrounds & cutting images to a specific shape/size)
• Free envelope SVGs that can be sized to fit any card
• Presentation boxes for handmade cards
• How to write inside cards with Cricut pens
• How to cut layered designs at a small size
• Design Space tips & tricks
• Cricut pens tutorial
• How to mount multiple designs in the same frame with magic guides

Shaker Cards Tutorial: Step by Step Video

Watch the video below to see how to make this project. Keep scrolling for a written tutorial.

Speciality Materials for Shaker Cards

Fun foam sheets

To give enough depth between the layers of the card to allow the shaker embellishments to move, we’re using craft foam sheets – also known as “fun foam” or “funky foam”.

It doesn’t really matter what colour you use, as it will only be visible on the edges.

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Deep point or knife blade

To cut fun foam on a Cricut, you’ll need a deep point blade or knife blade.

The deep point blade works with any of the “Explore” series of machines, or the “Maker” types of machine.

It is the blade that comes in black housing:

The knife blade is a stronger blade that looks like a craft knife/scalpel. It only works with the Maker, Maker 3 and Maker 4.

If you don’t have either of those blades, or if you are using a type of Cricut that is not compatible with them, then you can use a pen in your machine to draw the pumpkin shape onto your foam instead. Then, hand-cut it with scissors or a craft knife.

Acetate

Acetate is used to make the “window” on the front of the card. It holds all your shaker elements in place.

Any thickness of acetate is fine for this project.

Acetate can be cut with a regular Cricut blade – you don’t need a special blade for it.

Handmade Shaker Cards with a Pumpkin Design

Here’s how to make this fun pumpkin shaker card project using a Cricut machine.

Step 1) Download the cutting file & upload to Design Space

Get the files using the box below.

Before you upload the SVGs to Design Space, you need to unzip the download folder that they come in.

• How to unzip a folder on Windows computer
• How to unzip a folder on a Mac
• How to unzip a folder on an iPad/iPhone
• How to unzip a folder on an Android device

After unzipping, upload the SVG file(s) into your cutting machine software.

Not sure how to use cut files with your type of machine? The following links lead to videos on how to open cut files in:

• Cricut Design Space
• Silhouette Studio
• CanvasWorkspace (for ScanNCut machines)

The download folder also contains printable PDF versions of the templates for hand cutting.

If you are using Cricut Design Space, start a new project and then click the “Upload” button on the left of the screen.

You can then either click “Browse” to find the file on your computer, or drag-and-drop it.

Upload the file in the “01 Cricut Version” subfolder called svg-01-pumpkin-shaker-card-craftwithsarah.svg

This is how it should look after you have selected the file:

Don’t worry if the image preview appears blurry – it will show in full quality once it’s inserted onto your project.

Press “Upload” on the next screen.

After uploading, the design should be automatically inserted onto your Canvas.

Cricut have recently (as of June 2025) introduced a feature where you get a “pop out” bar of similar images when you Upload a design. To hide this bar (to give you more space for designing!), click the arrow that’s about half way down the page.

If the design doesn’t get inserted onto your Canvas, it will show under “Uploads” in your “Recently Uploaded Images”. Click on it and then press “Add to Canvas” to put it onto your Project.

Make sure the design loads in at 10.834 inches wide and 5.75 inches tall. It will make a 5.75 inch square card when it’s finished, which will fit nicely into a 6×6 envelope.

Or, as the card will end up being quite thick, you may prefer to put it in a presentation box.

Step 2) Add a score line (optional)

The pumpkin paper craft loads in ready to cut, but if you have a scoring wheel or scoring stylus for your Cricut then I recommend adding a score line to the base card to make it easier to fold.

To do this, first click on the card and “Ungroup” the layers.

Move the pieces apart until you see the white base card.

Click to “Shapes” and insert a Score Line.

Move the score line roughly over the middle of the card and drag it so that it covers the whole of the height of the middle of the card.

Select the score line and the base card layer and press “Align > Center” to put the score line in the middle of the card.

With both of those layers still selected, click the “Attach” button at the bottom of the layers panel. This tells the Cricut that we want it to do the scoring on the base card.

If Attaching the score line moves the base card to the top of the layers panel then you can click-and-drag it in the layers panel to move it back to the bottom, or press “Arrange > Send to Back”.

If you will be hand-cutting the foam then click both the pink layers and change them to “Draw” in the “Operation” dropdown menu.

Step 3) Cut out the pumpkin shaker card

When you’re happy with how the project is looking in Design Space, click “Make” and follow the instructions on-screen to cut out all the pieces.

The PINK pieces will be cut from craft foam. It’s ok if the edges of the foam pumpkins tear when cutting, as you can glue them back together again.

The BLUE piece will be cut from acetate.

The other pieces will be cut from coloured cardstock.

To change the paper size, go into the dropdowns over on the left side of the screen and choose the paper size that you want to use. You need to change it for every single colour.

To save space on your cardstock, you can move things around by clicking and dragging. Make sure when you’re moving things about that nothing overlaps because otherwise, it won’t cut out properly.

TIP: New to using cardstock with your cutting machine? Check out these machine help guides for Cricut, Silhouette and ScanNCut that go through every step of the process, including tips for getting the best quality cuts from your machine.

Step 4) Stick the Halloween card together

This card goes together using glue. My favourite glues to use on papercraft projects are Bearly Art Glue and Collall All Purpose Glue.

These are great because they don’t “warp” or bend the cardstock like some glues do. You can use as much of it as you want and the card stays perfect – and it dries perfectly clear too!

Bearly Art Glue comes with a tiny nozzle to make it easy to apply glue to small areas of card. The Collall glue doesn’t come with this, so it’s easiest to decant it into needle tip applicator bottles so that you have more control.

Fold the base card in half.

Glue the orange pumpkin shape on top, lining up the top and right-hand side. This will overlap the score line to complete the outline shape of the pumpkin.

Glue both of the foam pumpkins to the top. Make sure that your glue line remains unbroken.

If you have gaps, it gives an opportunity for your glitter to escape!

Step 5) Fill the shaker card

Fill the segments of the pumpkin with your chosen embellishments.

I am using sugar balls, originally intended for cake decorations.

Make sure that none of the embellishments come out taller than the top of the foam, otherwise the acetate won’t fit smoothly over the top.

Glue the acetate on top. Again, make sure you use an unbroken line of glue.

Step 6) Decorate the card front

Glue the light green stalk to the card, then the darker decorative stalk piece.

Glue the cardstock pumpkin shape to the front.

Your card is now finished… but don’t be tempted to shake it right away!

Wait for all of the glue to fully dry throughout the whole project.

If you shake the card or move it about with the glue wet then you risk your shaker elements getting stuck in the glue.

Quick & Easy Halloween Card Making Fun

And there you have it: a fun and interactive pumpkin shaker card that’s full of movement, texture, and seasonal color.

Whether you kept all the shaker sections uniform or mixed and matched your fillers, each card you make will be one of a kind.

The use of fun foam adds just the right amount of depth, allowing those sequins and beads to move freely for a satisfying shake-shake-shake every time.

I hope this project has inspired you to explore the fun of shaker cards or to try new pumpkin crafts this season.

It’s a quick and creative way to send a little handmade Halloween cheer, and it’s a great excuse to dig into your stash of embellishments.

Don’t forget to save this shaker cards tutorial for next year too — it’s one you’ll want to come back to! 🎃

Happy crafting,
Sarah x