First I would like to thank you for your support of our Anniversary Celebration Sale. We really appreciate your purchases and the girls are working quickly to get your orders out to you promtply, in hopes of having your items to you before the long Thanksgiving weekend!!!
Good things will be continuing to happen and we will be celebrating here shortly. Sadly I can only accomplish one thing at a time - LOL! Thank you for your patience as we fly through this week and head in to the fun ahead.
I am trying to work in overdrive to get the new Martha punches up on the site, as well as the items that continue to arrive to restock items that disappeared so rapidly. Keep checking back on the site if you had your eye on something that disappeared - hopefully it will arrive before the end of the day Friday. I will do my best to get those items up so that you can use our special discount code.
When we first received the medium weight Crystal Clear plastic I went in to testing mode. I immediately found out that I could cut the plastic with the open style Nestabilities, but hadn't tried it on the more intricate designs. I thought that it would probably just stretch the plastic. Well, yesterday we received a phonecall from a customer regarding the material and so I quickly ran in to my studio and cranked a snowflake through my Big Shot. Yippie, skippie - it was fabulous!
Following is the sandwich I used:
Cutting Sandwich
1. Multipurpose Platform - Tab 2 (use the entire platform)
2. Clear Acrylic mat
3. Tissue or copy paper
4. Medium Weight Crystal Clear Plastic
5. Spellbinders die, blade side downPaper or cardstock
6. Clear Acrylic mat
7. Roll through Big Shot
You will need to cut six pieces for the ornament shown below.
Today I will share two different ideas that I quickly put together today to show you how you can utilize these plastic snowflakes. We are expecting more of the Snowflakes in tomorrow, so please hang tight and check back throughout the day if you are looking for the snowflake design I used today.
Trying to photograph sparkly, clear objects is a tad challenging. I hope that you can see the beauty in this picture.
Being by reinking you glue pad. I always apply a fresh layer of glue, utilizing my teflon bone folder to spread the glue. Then ink your stamp. I elected to use this gorgeous medallion from the ornamental beauty set, but backgrounders and Scrapblocks would work extremely well!
You can view a picture of the plastic inked with glue below in the glitter section. Yes, the stamped snowflake is in on top of the silver leaf above. It was absolutely impossible to get a good picture, so you have to just trust me. This particular bunch of silver leaf has been used previously and so it is finer scale than what comes in the package. I always save the leftovers and put them back in a ziplock bag when I am finished using it. I placed a layer of silver leaf in my tray and set my snowflake, glue side down, on top of this mix making certain that all areas had silver leaf cover the adhesive.
Allow your snowflake to sit in this mixture until the glue has dried. It doesn't take that long, perhaps 15 minutes. I must admit that I cover my snowflakes and then walk away to do some work, so I'm not certain how long it takes to dry.
Then using an old bristle style brush gently burnish the surface. This is the snowflake before burnishing and...
after. To score these beauties be certain to work on the reverse side and follow the directions below. To complete the ornament you need three silver-leaf snowflakes and three plain plastic snowflakes. If you put two leafed snowflakes together you will lose the beauty of the stamped design.
This photo is to show you the snowflake "undressed", as you can see there are little plastic fibers around the edges. I just pull these off with my fingers. You will also find that the littlest of pieces sometimes remain intact. I use a good old-fashioned round toothpick to push these out.
Then using my bone folder as a ruler I use the smallest point on my stylus to score the snowflake. Using my teflon bone folder I then fold it in half, pressing it to make a nice, clean fold.
Using Glossy Accents, glue a clear snowflake and a silver-leafed snowflake together. Allow to dry. Then glue these three pieces together leaving one side open.
Insert the silver cord as shown above, string the chandelier crystals and bring the cord back up to the top side. Allow the ornament to dry completely before handling it. Check it for the next 5-10 minutes making certain that it is properly aligned firmly adhered all the way to the center.
Use the silver cord to tie your ornament to your tree.
Simple, old-fashioned elegance - what more could a girl want?!?
Well... perhaps glitter is more your style. Cut out your snowflake in the same manner and ink with the glue pad as shown above.
This is a view of the freshly glued/inked snowflake. I love the Martha glitter containers with the little "sprinkler tops." These tops are easily removed and the spout on the tidy tray fits perfectly back into the tops of these bottles.
Sprinkle the glitter over the surface and gently press the surface the snowflake to push the glitter in to the glue. Allow to dry for a few minutes.
Remove from the tray and then using a very soft make-up brush remove the excess glitter. This is the photo immediately after removing it from the tray.
Yet another beauty to add to my color-coordinated tree :) If you haven't had the opportunity to visit my blog simple dreams and see how the Fantasy Butterfly Ornaments were created - here is the link. If you are thinking about adding a personal touch to your tree, gifting a friend with an ornament or adding a unique touch to a gift package I hope that you enjoy the possibilities that the medium-weight Crystal Clear plastic affords!
stamps: Rummage Bin Ornamental Beauty
ink: Tsukineko Essential Glue Pad
accessories: Medium Weight Crystal Clear Plastic, Silver Leaf Flakes, Chandelier Crystals, Martha Stewart Essential Glitter, Glossy Accents
