Paper Seedlings: A TRIO OF SNOWFLAKES

I know. I know. You all are probably getting tired of being bombarded with my snowflake cards. I did give you a little break though. My last blog post featured ornaments, not a snowflake in sight!

Here are three more cards with snowflakes on them. I decided to throw them all into a single post since I'm running out of posting days before Christmas. After today, only one more blog post to publish before the big day!

The snowflake dies on these three cards are not Stampin' Up! dies unfortunately. You would think I could be content with the wonderful snowflake dies I got this year in the So Many Snowflake Dies set on page 38 in the Mini Catalog, wouldn't you? I HAVE played with those dies on many occasions and love them to pieces.

However, these two particular dies produce large snowflakes, about 3 1/2" in diameter, that are incredibly detailed and fill up so much of a card front. They truly are the star of a card! Without a doubt.

The first card I show you has the snowflake mounted against some of the lovely Snowflake Splendor Designer Series Paper on page 37 of the Mini Catalog.

I admit I did use a retired Stampin' Up! cardstock, Island Indigo. I love how it contrasted with this particular piece of the DSP.

Two other retired products I utilized on the card were the exquisite greeting (I LOVE this!) embossed in the retired Pewter Embossing Powder. I sincerely wish that Stampin' Up! would bring ths classy embossing powder back into its product line. When I saw it was retiring, I bought an extra jar, so I still have quite a lot on hand.

A couple of Basic Rhinestones added to the center and to the arms of the snowflake provided the perfect, subtle, amount of bling.

My! I do so love a square card! This one measures 4 1/4" square, a perfect size in that it fits nicely inside an A2 envelope, negating the need for extra postage, which a square envelope requires. But, I just love the way a square card looks.

This card uses more current Stampin' Up! product. The exquisite snowflake, a different die from the first one, is cut from the glorious Balmy Blue Glimmer Paper on page 37 of the Mini Catalog. In fact, during Stampin' Up!'s year end sale, going on now, I bought an extra pack of this sparkly beauty for half price!

I wanted this glistening snowflake to look like it was the star of the blizzard snow by mounting it against a background of (retired) snowflakes (dots) embossed on Whisper White cardstock.

This was mounted onto a 4" square of Balmy Blue cardstock, then, finally to the base of Whisper White.

It certainly would have been overkill to add any kind of bling to this card! Don't you agree?

For my third snowflake card, we are back to a little bit of retired product. I chose Almost Amethyst cardstock (remember that color?!? Such a fabulous subtle light purple!) for both the die cutting and the card "mat".

I did a little experimenting with the embossed piece behind my snowflake. Originally I had planned on using Whisper White. But then I thought, being that snowflakes seem somewhat ethereal, I wondered how embossed VELLUM would look behind the snowflake. I first tried the same large dotted embossing folder I used on the previous card, but that didn't do anything for me.

Finally, the choice I went with was vellum cardstock embossed with the Subtle Embossing Folder (page 185 in the Annual Catalog). What a cool look!

Unfortunately, as everyone knows, vellum is a crazy uncooperative material to be working with where adhesive is involved. I ended up using a bit of liquid adhesive on each of the corners and under the snowflake. To disguise the glue at the corners, I added iridescent sequins. One in the center of the snowflake balanced the subtle bling the sequins added.