Pretty Snowflakes

I have been creating over the weekend so I wanted to share with everyone. This card is really simple but the actual snowflake embellishment took a while to make. It's white cardstock glued to patterned vellum and then glittered around the edges.

I found the instructions for this really pretty (and very clever) snowflake by Donna Moore over at Split Coast Stampers. You can check out her instructions here http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7328202#post7328202 and there's a link to view her card using the snowflake too. I didn't have the 2 sizes of tag punch so I pain-stakingly cut tags and then used a craft knife and mat to cut a smaller tag out of the inside of them. It worked just as well but it took longer.

I used mine to decorate a money envelope for one of the girls for Christmas. I didn't have glittered cardstock so I took a tip from my crafty daughter Jessica. Last year she squeezed a small amount of clear glitter glue into a dish and painted her cardstock so that when it dried it was just like glittered cardstock.

I think I have mentioned before, the value of having an inexpensive bottle of clear glitter glue. This stuff is so useful. I didn't know what to put in the middle of mine so I punched a couple of daisies in two different sizes, snipped the ends of each petal into a point (instead of a round), inked them with a small inkpad to colour them - blue & lilac - and yep you guessed it, painted them with clear glitter glue!

I used foam pads between the layers to give as much 3D effect as possible. The band slips off and the hook & loop dot opens to reveal a pocket inside for the money and a place to write a message too.

I have a few favourite craft items and the daisy punch is easily in my top 10. I have used it so many times in numerous ways to create completely different looks and embellishments. I could run several tutorials on it. Time allowing maybe I will when Dave's free to photograph me.

This was the paper I used and would you believe it - I got it from Tesco's. We took mom and Dave's sister to Scotland this year and went in a really big Tesco's. They actually had a craft section! I found this scrapbooking paper pack and bought it because I liked the colours. I forget the price but it was really reasonable and there were 2 sheets of each design. I like to buy this way if I can because I can repeat a nice design 3 or 4 times without having to change the colour/pattern too much.

This was just a quick card and not near as pretty as the others but it was stamping the background for this card that led me to thinking about the paper I had bought in the same kind of colours and patterns.

I know I can do better but sometimes the first thing I create doesn't have to be WOW!, it just has to start the creative juices flowing. This close up shot just shows the pearl paint used to add raised dots and you can just about make out the clear glitter glue in the centre of some of the snowflakes.

I could do so much more with these papers, stamps, glitters etc., but I am working on some really cute little bags and Christmas bows now so will post those next.