Soft Gel Snowflakes Christmas Card

Created for the Elizabeth Craft Designs DT.

For this card, I made my own stencil so I could use Glossy Soft Gel and glitter for a background that’s both shiny and sparkly.

Making the Card

1. Cut an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of white cardstock in half to create two pieces 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches. Fold one in half for a card base. Cut a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of blue cardstock in quarters (i.e. four 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inch pieces). This will be your snowflake background base.

2. To create your stencil, use the other half of the white card stock; lightly draw lines 1 3/4 inches apart across the short part of the sheet (3 or 4 rows should suffice). Cut with the two smallest Snowflakes Dies in an alternating pattern across the sheet using the lines as guides (keep the snowflakes). Spray back of sheet with Easy Tack or other removable adhesive as per manufacturers instructions. This helps the small edges to stick down when applying the gel medium. (I also sprayed a Matte Finish coating on the front; not sure if this is necessary.)

3. Using removable tape, tape the very edges (1/8 inch max) of one of the blue pieces of cardstock to a craft sheet or large scarp paper. Line up the stencil over the blue cardstock as desired and gently press down all edges. Use a palette knife to apply gel medium evenly over the stenciled snowflakes.

4. While still wet, lightly sprinkle Silk Microfine Glitter over the snowflake areas. I used a combination of Silver and Cool Diamond  For a subtle look, use very little. Carefully peel off stencil. Let dry naturally.

5. Erase lines on white snowflake die cuts. Glue 4 or 5 matching layers together to form thick snowflakes (cut more if necessary); make two of each snowflake.

6. Die cut 6 Merry Christmas words from black cardstock; line up and glue 5 copies of each together to form thick stacks. On scrap paper, run some temporary adhesive across it and stick the last copy of words to it. Tap an embossing ink pad over the words to completely cover them. Add silver embossing powder and heat as usual. Repeat for a thicker coat. Peel the words off. If the edges are sharp or jagged, hold with tweezers and re-heat to get the embossing powder to dome nicely. Adhere to top of stacks.

7. Die cut two white banners (from 915 Lorna Label PopUp set by Karen Burniston).

8. Once the gel has dried completely on the blue cardstock snowflakes, cut 1/8 inch off each side (final size 4 x 5 1/4 inches).

9. Adhere Merry Christmas, one word per banner (see image for lining up near ends). Temporarily place them on blue background as shown; mark edge with pencil and trim to fit. Adhere with dimensional tape as shown.

10. Adhere snowflakes to background as shown, trimming excess. Use dimensional tape to adhere to white card base.

Once dry, I was able to use the stencil again on the other sheets of blue cardstock.

Supplies

Elizabeth Craft Designs

• 757 Snowflakes Dies
• 641 Cool Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter
• 603 Silver Silk Microfine Glitter
• 745 Merry Christmas Die
• 915 Lorna Label PopUp (Banner) Karen Burniston Dies

Other Supplies

• Cardstock: White, Blue, Black
• Easy Tack or Other Removable Adhesive (Spray Recommended)
• Golden Soft Gel (Gloss)
• Palette Knife
• Removable Tape (Painter’s Tape, Washi Tape, Post-It Tape)
• Silver Embossing Powder
• Embossing Ink Pad
• Heat Tool
• Dimensional Tape