Chilly Winter Snowflake Decor

My house looks so bare when I take down all of the Christmas decorations. It stays pretty bare until February, when I dig out the Valentine hearts.

I wanted to make something to display in my home that could be up during the entire winter season.

Enter the snowflake! You can’t get more “winter” than the snowflake.

With some thrifted picture frames, and a few inexpensive items, I made an impressive display in no time at all–one that Jack Frost himself would be jealous of.

Here are the supplies you will need to make your own Winter Snowflake craft display:

• Glitter Snowflakes 12 inch
• Glitter Snowflakes 6.5  inch
• Glitter Snowflakes 4 inch
• Core’dinations Tillie Dot Cardstock (blue)
• Core’dinations Glitter Silk Cardstock (silver)
• Foam Squares
• Hot Glue Gun
• Sand-it Gadget
• Clear Rhinestones
• Silver Glitter Spray
• Various Sized Photo Frames and Mats
• Silver Spray Paint

Gather your photo frames. I found mine around the house, and at a thrift store. The color doesn’t matter. You will want various sizes for visual interest. Remove the glass and backing, and spray paint both the frames and the accompanying photo mats (if the frames have mats).

I chose silver spray paint. You could use whatever you like. White would be pretty too! When the silver was dry, I hit the frames and mats with some silver glitter spray. I love glitter! And the frames and mats looked so pretty against the sparkly snowflakes.

Allow the frames and mats to dry completely. ( The paint I chose had a “hammered metal” finish, which would explain the choppy look to the photos.)

When the paint is dry, prepare the Core’dinations cardstock to be the backing for the frames.

If you have never used Core’dinations before, you will be amazed at this part.

The Tillie Dot cardstock comes pre-embossed, and has a lighter core than the paper surface. When you sand the cardstock, the lighter core comes up, and creates a wonderful texture.

See how magically the dots appear? They reminded me of falling snow.

Trim the cardstock to fit the desired frame.

Here is a tip. One of the frames I chose was larger than the sheet of cardstock. An easy fix for this is to cut the cardstock in half, and splice it in the center with another section of contrasting cardstock.

Here you can see the size of the photo mat compared to the cardstock.

I chose some Core’dinations Glitter silk. It is wonderfully sparkly!

I used a sewing machine to zig-zag stitch the sections of cardstock, to give it a finished look.

Here is the finished (pieced together) background in the frame:

When you remove the backing and glass, there may be some frames that need reinforcement. Use a hot glue gun to secure the background cardstock into the frame.

Now you can begin to add the snowflakes to your frame.

I added a ruler to the photo so you can see how large these snowflakes are! They come pre-glittered! They are made of plastic, and very sturdy.

Some of my snowflakes fit flush inside the frame. I simply used a hot glue gun to secure them to the cardstock backing.

I wanted some of the snowflakes to overhang the frames they were in.

I used some foam squares to lift them off of the cardstock background, and bring them level to the frame.

Some of the snowflakes needed two or three stacked foam squares.

You can see from this angle, how the foam squares lift and secure the snowflakes. I used the foam squares behind the snowflake center, and also behind some of the “spokes” of the flakes. Wherever you feel the snowflake needs the stability.

The larger snowflakes came with a slit in the center to allow them to be hung up on a wall with a nail. I didn’t like it. I am super picky like that.

See that slit?

On the largest snowflake, I layered a small snowflake over the top to cover the slit.

On the medium sized snowflake, I covered the slit with a rhinestone.

I liked the look of the rhinestone so much, that I added them to all of the snowflake centers!

Beautiful!

Arrange your finished snowflakes on a mantle, or tabletop and enjoy your chilly, sparkly, winter decor!