Thursday 25 October 2012

DIY Glitter Snowflake Christmas Cards

I was sorting through a box last month and found some small paper snowflakes I'd made one past Christmas and I thought it was a shame to just throw them away, so I thought I'd use them for a couple of simple festive crafty projects instead: some Christmas cards and some bunting. I'll share the pics & instructions for making the bunting at the weekend, but first up: the cards.

 

These cards are lots of fun to make and they look really dramatic when finished. It's quite hard to photograph things that are covered in glitter but trust me, these are really sparkly!


They'd be a great project to work on one chilly winter weekend with friends or with your kids, folding and cutting paper snowflakes together while watching movies and then having a fun session with lots of glitter.

To make them you will need:  
- black sheets of card, cut to size and folded (or ready made card blanks)
- white paper 
- a compass or something circular, and a pencil
- scissors
- a glue stick
- PVA or other craft glue 
- white or silver glitter 
(or glitter glue)
- a silver gel pen or a white pencil

First, cut out some small circles from white paper. The size of the circles you need will vary depending on how large your finished cards will be, but for my A6 cards I used snowflakes that were approx 9cms (3 1/2 inches) in diameter. You could use a compass to draw your circles if you have one, or find a jar or vase or small dish that's about the right size and draw around it. If you want to make lots of snowflakes, you might find it easier to make a circular template from cardboard first. 

To make the snowflakes, fold each circle in half three times and snip out shapes from the edges so a pattern is formed when the paper is unfolded again. Remember that the more detailed you make your snowflakes the more fiddly it'll be to glue them in place and decorate them.  

Use a gluestick to stick one snowflake onto each card, making sure any pencil marks at the edges (from drawing the circle) are on the side you cover in glue! Place the snowflake face down on a piece of scrap paper and carefully cover it with glue. Then slowly peel it away from the paper (any excess glue will be left on the scrap paper), turn it over and lightly position it on the card leaving room underneath to write a message if you want to. Then smooth the snowflake down so it's stuck firmly in place.

I rather like how the plain white snowflakes look on the black card, so if you're not a glitter fan you could leave your cards like this. (Plain white snowflakes would look fab on square black cards!)

 
 
To add sparkle to the snowflakes, paint a layer of PVA or other craft glue onto the white snowflake shape, and sprinkle it with glitter. When you've removed the excess glitter you should be left with a very sparkly snowflake! Alternatively, you could use a glitter glue pen - the effect is more subtle than using proper glitter but it's also a lot less messy!


 I used white glitter for the middle snowflake, and silver glitter glue for the other two.

Finally, when the cards are completely dry, use a sharp white pencil or a silver gel pen to write "Happy Christmas" / "Happy Holidays" / "Season's Greetings" / etc under the snowflakes. You can then use the same pen or pencil to write your message inside the card. 


For more snowflake projects, try making felt snowflake coasters or ornaments, making a snowflake curtain, or decorating your gifts with paper snowflakes.  

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4 comments:

Studio Wien-art said...

Wow, very nice! I Will do make à few of them.
Greetings, Corine

Unknown said...

That is a fantastic fun idea to make cards, I have done cross stitch ones in the past for a few people but it takes a while, I will definately be doing this this year!

Gemma

yousewshould.blogspot.com

Bugs and Fishes said...

Thanks guys! I hope you'll have fun making them xx

Kay said...

I love this idea, I'll be sharing this with my class of year 5/6 children at school. x