Snowflake Cards

Strathmore Snowflake CardsI know! How cool is it that Strathmore Paper and TCW stencils have collaborated to create a great Winter Card Pack like this?!?
For years we’ve been using Strathmore Paper in our demo’s and samples – and to be fair, the Strathmore folks have been using our stencils too. So it was about time we made it easy for YOU to play with both of these products as well!
Below you’ll find step-by-step instructions on how to create these four Snowflake Cards. Don’t forget that you’re not limited to just cards! You can use these to make gift tags, ATC’s and elements for collages and scrapbook pages. Have fun!!

So before you begin, I like to position the stencil exactly where I want it on the card.  Use a piece of masking tape, removable tape or even regular tape (make it less sticky by sticking it first to your shirt or pants) and tape the stencil down gently.  We’ll start with the card at the top left corner and continue clockwise:

Chalk Pastels with Fine Point Pen:
Chalk Pastels and Pen

Notice there’s nothing perfect about the way I stenciled this. These are handmade cards meant to look like an actual human person created it.  NOT a machine! Smudges and uneven lines are part of what makes each card unique.  You can use any chalk pastel you like. I used PanPastels for these samples along with their sponge applicator. A sponge dauber would be good too.  With a circular motion, I blended the colors to give an ombré effect.  I found that using a piece of white paper under my hand prevented some of the smudging.  When finished, I took a fine point pen and outlined each snowflake.  I used violet/periwinkle colors.  But this would be nice in pinks/magentas or teals/aqua’s or even just straight BLUES! It’s your card, don’t feel like you need to copy mine exactly.

Colored Pencils:

CardPencils

First, make sure your pencils are nice and sharp. You’ll need your pencil sharpener by your side while you work, so get it ready. Allow the point of the pencil to trace around the edges of each snowflake and fill in the middle as well.  Try blending similar colors within the same snowflake, or even try a rainbow of colors. Most of all, just enjoy coloring!

Molding Paste with Watercolor:

CardWatercolorModelingPaste

Molding Paste is great fun.  We make a “Light and Fluffy” version as well as a more dense “Molding Paste”. For this project I used the dense “Molding Paste”. Start by scooping up some paste on the underside of an offset palette knife.  Transfer the paste onto the stencil by gently pressing the paste onto the stencil, through to the paper. Then spread the molding paste along the stencil using the long straight edge of the palette knife. Work fairly quickly because the molding paste will start to dry. Press and spread. Press and spread. Similar to frosting a cake.

When the entire surface has been covered (and before the paste dries!), peel the stencil off the paper, starting from one corner and rolling the stencil up and away from the paper. Immediately place the stencil in water or wash the stencil off completely.  Wash the palette knife as well and let your project dry. This is what it will look like before you add any additional color.  It’s nice like this. You could stop right here if you like!

CardModelingPaste

If you want to add a little watercolor, start by loading up your brush with a little paint and a lot of water.  Flick and tap the paintbrush to splatter color all around the card. Try this with different colors.  Then load the brush again with watercolor paint, and paint directly on top of each raised snowflake. Last, with a light wash (more water than paint), swoosh some color all around the background.

Gel Medium with color:

CardGelColor

I love how this technique makes the snowflakes look glass-like. I used our Gloss Gel Medium and watercolor (water-soluble) crayons for this project. With a scrap piece of paper under the stencil, scribble the watercolor crayon directly onto the stencil. Now take the scrap paper away, put your card underneath. Scoop some gel medium onto the bottom of your palette knife and start spreading.  While you spread, you’ll liquify the water-soluble crayon and spread color as well. Don’t over-play with this. The more you spread, the more the gel will seep under the stencil. Also try this with absolutely no color at all.  You’ll get a totally crystal clear effect.

So that’s a little inspiration from us. Enjoy these projects and feel free to post your creations on our Facebook page! We always like to see what you’ve done with our stencils!