Shaking Things Up

Wow, this is not what I originally had in mind.  I really wanted to play with my new Memory Box die so I pulled out some tree images.  My SU's "Lovely as a Tree" was too large for the window so I used this image from Mark's Finest Papers and stamped it twice; once in Always Artichoke and once in Old Olive.  I know, the second tree is hard to see in this photo.   I then made a shaker box with an acetate sheet, some microbeads and old bits of Ez Mount.  I always have a love-hate relationship with using Ez Mount for shaker cards.  On one hand it's very cheap since I use the bits that would have been otherwise too small to use. It's also quite thick so I can use chunky items in my shaker.  On the other hand, the EZ Mount is thick so my card is very thick; mailing it is  not an option.  It also doesn't look nice if someone was to look down the side.  I know, I know, I'm probably the only one that would look and critic the construction but still....

Not sure how I'm feeling about this card.  I think the men in my life would like it, nothing girly and it has something more than just looking at it going for it.  Shakers are always the most favourite in this house.  It's not exactly festive nor traditional for a Christmas card  though.  What do you think?

Challenges this Card Meets:
SpeedyTV Tutorial Time Challenge - Shaker Card
Christmas Card Challenge - Week 42
Creative Card Crew - Tree
GE-We Hobby Challenge - Christmas Card
Simon Says Stamp - Emboss It (Gold Sentiment)