Blast from the Past - Snowflakes Tutorial

Since I'm living in a construction zone right now due to an unfortunate plumbing issue which led to the dishwasher flooding our kitchen and hallway, getting underneath our wood laminate flooring and into our walls... I decided it would be a good idea to post a Blast from the Past post using one of my favorite cards from last year.  What's great is that the Paper Temptress's Christmas paper package is on sale again right now!!!  I love this paper so much that I've ordered more of it throughout the year.  It's gorgeous!  Now onto the post:

I have a special treat for you today!  This is one of the cards I made using the Paper Temptress's Christmas paper package which is on SALE!!  You can really get a lot of cards out of the package!   I tried a new technique for this card which is called Die Cut Inlay.  The paper I used are: Black Onyz Mica/Metallic, Russo Incandescent and Candido Incandescent for the snowflakes.

 

 I found a video by Jennifer McGuire here: Die Inlay It's a fun technique and I think I did pretty well considering this was my first try at it.  I had to work with a LOT of small pieces because I chose snowflakes... which have a lot of small pieces.  hehe!

First, you need to choose your background paper and the inlay paper.  You need to decide where you want the inlay pieces (snowflakes) to be on the background paper.   I placed the snowflake dies on top of the black Onyz background, taped them into place and ran it through my die cutting machine. (pictured below - you can see the black snowflakes top left of the image and the black background cut out just below.)  You then need to cut the same pieces (in my case - the snowflakes) out of the contrasting (inlay) paper also shown below:

 

Be sure to save all the little pieces - you'll need them!  Next you will adhere your background paper to the card and then start filling in the white spaces.  It's just like a puzzle.  You need to be sure to fit the snowflakes and the tiny pieces in where they fit.  You'll need to dot liquid glue to the backs of the pieces.  My favorite glue is Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue found in most craft stores.  The smaller bottle has a fine tip so you can easily manage how much glue comes out.  Try not to get glue on the background paper or on the top of the snowflakes.  I use tweezers to pick up the pieces and place them onto the card.

You can see that parts of a couple of snowflakes hang over the edge.  Carefully cut off the excess for a professional look.  You can see in the photo below how the card is one layer.  I added 1/2 pearls to the snowflakes to give them an elegant look.

I added a sentiment for the finishing touch.  I just LOVE how the Black Onyz shines in the light.

Thank you for stopping by!  This was a fun card to make even if it was kind of time-consuming.  But once I started putting the "puzzle" together, it was fun and went quickly!  If you try this technique of Die Cut Inlay, please let me know!  I'd love to see it!  

The Good Stuff:

Snowflake dies: Lifestyle Crafts - Snowflakes / Spellbinders - Create A Flake One / Sentiment stamp - Stampin Up - Angelic Joy (no longer available) / Spellbinders dies: Fancy Framed Tags Two & Labels Twenty