You will never guess what happened? A mad wind whirled in and brought ice cold weather, along with a chance for snow tomorrow. Can you believe it? From bikinis to parkas, nuts, simply nuts. But fun because, it now feels like December. Which means, hot chocolate sipping and paper cutting ensues....
I know I gave tips for making these a while back, when I made the paper flower chandelier. And, there are also the paper spider webs, which are a bit different cut. But, snowflakes are so calling me, and with a few cold and rainy days to come, I can't think of anything more fun to do. I so hope you agree?
Whether you know how to make these or not, let's delve into it a little shall we? It is so calming and lovely to just sit and cut paper, whilst listening to music. I choose Windham Hill's Carol of the Bells, a favorite version, for my paper cutting song. The steel drums do me in, I am just crazy about them.
Festive, easy, pretty and bonus, you probably have everything you need to make them.
All you really need are paper and scissors.
I use a little glitter and spray paint on mine, but they are pretty with or without.
Okay so, let's get started.
I am going to make two versions.
One using scrap book paper, and one using everyday printer paper.
I am starting with the scrapbook paper...
Which I cut into 4 squares.
After you cut your 4 squares, take one of the squares, and fold it in half to form a triangle.
Once you have folded it in half and are holding it as I am holding mine in the photo above, you will fold your right corner to the center...
The next step will be to fold the left corner towards the back.
(You are folding it just as you folded the right piece to the front, only, you are folding it to the back, and lining up the edges)
Like so...
Making sure you create a "V" shape.
Now, you will want to cut the tops off, as you see below...
Leaving you with a clean "V" shape, below...
The next cutting part is where you will determine what your snowflake designs will be like. I wing it and try all sorts of crazy cuts.
You can cut into the tops, the sides, and the way bottom. (as you will see below)
BUT, make sure you don't cut through the sides completely. I have marked arrows on the image below, showing you where you do not want to cut through. These are the areas that hold your snowflake together.
Once you have played with your cuts a bit, open up your snowflake and see what you have made. The best part is that you can try again and again...
By the way, I have a great snowflake cutting helper ;)
Next...
Let's try to make a snowflake with standard computer printer paper, since most everyone can scrounge up a piece of printer paper.
With your paper facing you "landscape" style, fold the right corner up to the top of the paper, forming a triangle.
Then, cut off any excess, as you see below...
You will now have a large triangle, that you will fold in half to create a smaller triangle.
You will now fold the right corner, up towards the center...
Next, fold the left side towards the back...
In order to create your "V" shape, as seen below...
Next, cut the tops off like so...
Perfect!
Now, it's time to cut into the top of your "V" shape.
The top cuts create what the outside of your snowflake will look like...
Then make cuts into the sides, as seen below. These are the cuts that create the inner designs of your snowflakes. I also like to make a tiny snip at the bottom point.
Make sure not to cut completely through the sides that hold your snowflake together. You can see those crucial points marked below with arrows.
Once you finish cutting, open up your snowflake to see what you created (the funnest part really).
Inspect your snowflakes well, sniffing them if you'd like, like below, tee hee ;)
After you have as many as you'd like to use as decorations, you can decide if you want to paint them or glitter them, or leave them as they are...
I like to spray paint mine, as it makes them sturdier. But, before the paint dries, I like to throw a few sparkles onto the wet paint, which acts as a glue. Easy as pie!
I have some glitter on hand, along with spray paint in white, clear, gold and silver...
If you are spray painting, make sure you do it outside, for ventilation.
I waited for the rain to let up a little and then ran out there to spray paint my snowflakes. It was cold, but fun!!
As I shared before, I like to sprinkle glitter when the spray paint is still wet. It acts as a glue...
Voila!
Sparkly snowflakes!!
I use the clear spray paint on the fancy scrapbook paper, then toss some iridescent glitter on them. On another snowflake I use silver spray paint, and try different shades of glitter.
Ooooo, aaaah ;)
I love this part...
So pretty, so easy!
I use silver ornament hooks to hang my snowflakes from a strand of lights.
I even hang some from each other, to create length, which allows me to display more.
Then, I sit back and enjoy ;)
And, in one cold evening, with a little paper and a little glitter, it officially feels like December.
Hooray!
Happy snowflake making!
I would love to giveaway one of my snowflakes. Any comments will automatically have their names put into a proverbial hat. I'll draw a name in the next post. The person drawn can choose whichever snowflake he or she wants, does that sound like a deal? Fun fun!
See you soon!
Love, V
ps: Have you seen The Christmas Bunny movie? All of a sudden, I want a barn full of bunnies, oh my!! And the house is decorated just charming! You can watch it instantly on Netflix. I loved it.
