PEACEFUL SNOWFLAKES

I promise you: This is going to be an extremely FLAKY blog post. PROMISE!

Recently I indulged in a set of Tim Holtz snowflakes made by Sizzix. These five flakes are just the right sizes and detail to use on a variety of winter-inspired crafts. 

I had a blast making the snowflakes out of MANY of my retired scraps of Designer Series Paper. I went so nuts making snowflakes that all too soon I was surrounded by a BLIZZARD!

Alright, Linda. Enough is enough. Quit being so flaky and DO SOMETHING with the snowfall you produced!

Since the DSP was retired, so was most of the cardstock that matched. But -- SURPRISE!! -- I still have a nice stash of retired cardstock. Huh! So there! It was lots of fun matching up the two largest flakes to cardstock for use as Christmas cards.

Here is a photo of the cards I created. I tell you, I had a real SNOWBALL making these!

I will show you close-ups of several of my favorites, and mention little things about them as I go along.

I love the contrast of this card. Although the DSP (one-sided, so you know how old that is!) was -- I think -- basically Night of Navy, it coordinated so beautifully with Concord Crush cardstock.

The snowflake sequins I had been using in the centers of the snowflakes would have gotten LOST among the dots in this polka dot number. Not possessing a small enough snowflake punch to fit nicely in the center, I opted instead for a small white star.

Although it's not there anymore, I discovered the snowflake sequins on THE CLEARANCE RACK. (Keep an eye on that spot for wondrous deals!!)

I especially love the looks of this happy snowflake. Doesn't it just make you smile??

Now, this one was also way too busy for a snowflake sequin. Besides, the background of this DSP was Very Vanilla, so a white snowflake would have looked, um, just WRONG. So, I opted for the punched star in Very Vanilla, and did the rest of the card also in Very Vanilla. No Whisper White on this little flaky guy.

A very nontraditional color choice for a snowflake card. But I love how it works!

What could be more peaceful than a softly falling snow? With that in mind, I chose to use the word, "peace", from the Christmas Greetings Thinlits Dies on page 34 of the Holiday Catalog.

One important word of caution: If you are using the Fine-Tip Glue Pen (page 43 of the Holiday Catalog) to adhere these delicate words, use the glue SPARINGLY! It works great, but you have no opportunity to move the piece once it touches the paper. Unlike other glues, it stains the paper and even an adhesive remover won't take away the spot it makes. This frustrated me SO MUCH! It happened on a few of these cards, where I wanted to make a teeny weeny adjustment in placement. Nope. CAN NOT DO THAT. 

I haven't done it yet, but to alleviate this problem, I plan on using my White Gel Pen and make white dots in appropriate spots near affected letters and some of their companions. I HOPE HOPE HOPE that this works! Otherwise, I won't be using a few of these cards, as I cannot send them out with little darker spots near the letters.

One of my favorites in the bunch is this one:

And here is a close-up of the little darling. It is created with Almost Amethyst (remember that??!!?) cardstock, and I love the way it turned out!

Another nicely-contrasting card, this one in the ever-popular Brilliant Blue:

Now, I really really like the way this one turned out, but I am so sad about it. Why, you ask? BECAUSE this is the one where the "glue dots" are the most evident. 

Look on the left side of the lower portion of the "p". Grrrr. You can see that I only moved it a smidge.

I definitely love the Fine-Tip Glue Pen, and will continue to use it and buy it again once mine is gone, but I wanted to share my story with you so you can learn from my experience rather than your own. Use care!

After telling you what I plan to do about the spots with the White Gel Pen, do you have any other better solutions for me? I'd LOVE to hear from you!

Peaceful

Smiles.