Soft Gel Snowflakes Christmas Card

November 19, 2014

Card Front

Designed by Mary Dimercurio Prasad for the Elizabeth Craft Designs DT.

I made my own stencil for this card. I used Soft Gel (Gloss) and Silk Microfine 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.

Template

2. To create your stencil, use other half of the white cardstock; lightly draw lines 1 3/4 inches apart across short part of sheet (3 or 4 rows should suffice). Cut with two smallest Snowflakes dies in an alternating pattern across sheet using lines as guides (keep the snowflakes). Spray back of sheet with Easy Tack or other removable adhesive as per manufacturer’s instructions. This helps the small edges to stick down when applying the gel medium.

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

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

5. Erase any pencil lines visible 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.

Card Closeup

6. Die cut 6 Merry Christmas words from black cardstock; line up and glue all 6 copies together to form a thick stack for each word. Run some temporary adhesive across a piece of scrap paper. Stick the stacked words onto the temporary adhesive, holding the words securely in place. Now tap an embossing ink pad over the words to completely cover them with ink. Add silver embossing powder and use a heat tool to melt and cure the embossing powder. Repeat for a thicker coat. Peel words off of the temporary adhesive. If any edges are sharp or jagged, hold the word with tweezers and re-heat to get embossing powder to dome nicely.

7. Die cut two white banners.

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

Background and Card

9. Adhere Merry Christmas, one word per banner (refer to the photo above). Temporarily place them on blue background as shown; mark edge with pencil and trim to fit. Adhere with foam taoe for added dimension.

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

Note: If you are gentle with the stencil you can use it again and again on other sheets of blue cardstock. If it gets damaged, make another one.

Supplies

Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

  • Cardstock in White, Blue, and Black
  • Easy Tack or other removable adhesive (spray recommended)
  • Soft Gel, Gloss (Golden)
  • Palette knife
  • Removable tape (Painter’s, Washi, or 3M Scotch Post-It tape)
  • Embossing powder in Silver
  • Embossing ink pad
  • Heat tool
  • Foam tape

 

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  • Mary Prasad December 18, 2014 at 1:04 pm

    Thanks for the comments! I’m on a “thick die cut” kick lately – stacking is so fun!

  • Els van de Burgt November 19, 2014 at 7:35 pm

    Beautiful Mary!

  • Raquel Mason November 19, 2014 at 3:33 pm

    Great idea to make your own stencil! I love the thickness of the snowflakes & the embossed sentiment.

  • Rita Edwards November 19, 2014 at 11:56 am

    Another beautiful design, Mary! Love the embossed words!

  • Candy Spiegel November 19, 2014 at 9:30 am

    This is beautiful!

  • Melanie Kuzik November 19, 2014 at 8:16 am

    very nice

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