Card Tricks: Baby, it's cold outside

Over the past week, winter didn’t so much as creep up on us here, but swooped in with a vengeance. Everything is now blanketed with snow, without any days in the near future that haven't had at least a few centimetres of snow forecasted.

Although I’m not a fan of the cold weather (I’m barely warm enough in the summer sometimes, let alone the rest of the year), I love the look of the snow from inside my house – the drifts glistening in the sun, the snow-covered branches and the pretty little snowflakes drifting to the ground.

And so, here is a pretty little card dedicated to those beautiful little flakes of frozen precipitation. With a peek-a-boo liner and glittery snowflake cutouts, this card is elegant and easy to make.

Materials (makes two cards):

· 8 1/2” x 11” sheet of blue cardstock, plus an extra scrap piece big enough to punch out at least two snowflake cutouts

· 8 1/2” x 11” sheet of silver text weight paper

Supplies:

· Paper trimmer

· Bone folder

· Snowflake punch (I used Martha Stewart's Alpine Snowflake Punch)

· Blue glitter glue

· Paintbrush

· Piece of wax paper, approximately 8” x 8”

· Double-sided tape or glue runner

· Glue stick

· Ruler

· Pencil

Directions:

1. Using the paper trimmer, cut the card stock in half so that you have two pieces, measuring 5 1/2” x 8 1/2”. Cut the silver paper so that you have two pieces, measuring 5” x 8”.

2. Fold each piece of card stock with the bone folder to make two cards, measuring 4 1/4” x 5”. Fold each piece of paper into two liners, measuring 4” x 5” (technique here).

3. On the inside top flap of each card, measure and mark the middle of the card vertically, about 3/4” from the edge.

4. Using the paper punch, cut out a snowflake on each card, using your marked measurement as a guide.

5. Punch out two additional snowflakes (or more, depending on how many you’d like on your finished card) from the scrap piece of blue card stock.

6. Lay the wax paper on your work surface. Place the four snowflake cutouts on top (make sure you flip over the two that came from the cards so that the pencil guide marks don’t show). Using the paintbrush, paint the glitter glue on to the four snowflake cut outs.

7. Nudge the glitter painted snowflakes to a clean spot on the wax paper with the end of your paintbrush. This will help prevent them from sticking. The wax paper will also help prevent sticking - I tried just using scrap paper before and found that, more often than not, the snowflakes would adhere to the paper, despite moving them to a clear area. Allow the snowflakes to dry completely before using them.

8. Line each card with the silver paper (technique here). Be careful not to put adhesive on the liner in the place where the snowflake cut out will land, otherwise it will show through and be sticky.