Snowflake Owl - 2 Cute Ink

I fell in love with the free digital stamp 2 Cute Ink was sharing this weekend -  Owl Doodle shared in Saturday's post.   I shared my card on the 2 Cute Ink Facebook Page, and Heidi the artist asked if I would use the same technique with some of her new digital stamps.  You know me...anything to be able to showcase my work!  

So Heidi sent me her latest digital stamp - Snowflake Owl - and as soon as I saw it, I saw cool, ice blue!

Here is my card - and step-by-step instructions below!  If you find yourself using this technique with digital stamps, please send me a link to your page in my comments....would love to see what you do!

Supplies Used

• Snowflake Owl - Digital Stamp (2 Cute Ink)
• White Cardstock - 1 sheet for cutting owl, 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" for card base
• Robin's Egg Blue Classic Glitter Cardstock (The Robin's Nest)
• Double-Sided Adhesive (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
• Glitter - Glitter Ritz (Elizabeth Craft Designs) 
• Real Teal
• Robin's Egg Blue
• Ice Blue
• Sky Blue
• Mystique
• Cool Highlights
• Warm Highlits
• Border Punch - Apron Lace (Fiskars)

Two-sided Adhesive - on white cardstock - on cutting mat

Instructions

I just purchased a Sizzix eClip to replace my Cricut machine.  For those of you with Cricuts and Sure Cuts a Lot, the steps are almost identical.  You will only need to play with your pressure and/or blade depth on the Cricut.

First I placed a 6" x 6" piece of double-sided adhesive on a piece of white cardstock - leaving the protective cover on the top.

On the electronic cutter, Trace the digital stamp image.  Break apart the image.  I moved the solid owl image to its own layer.  So my screen looked like this:   

To cut, I set the Pressure to 3.  This cuts through the protective covering of the adhesive....but not through the cardstock.

Carefully remove protective covering over outline only

Next, I "hid" the layer with the detailed image, and displayed the solid owl image.  I set the cutter to cut two times - with a Pressure of 6.  This will cut through both the adhesive and cardstock.  See completed cut image to the right (excuse the messy glitter-catcher cardstock beneath).  You can see the detail cuts on the image's protective covering.

Cover with glitter; brush off excess

Using tweezers, I peel off the protective covering for the areas I want to glitter in each color.  I like to begin with the outline.  The way 2 Cut Ink's images are designed, it provides a nice "outline" as such.  I begin with glittering the outline...which makes it easier to find all the detailed pieces.  

I complete those same steps for each different glitter color.  You can see, once the outline is glittered, the rest of the pieces are easy to see.  Use tweezers to remove the pieces you want for each color.  You can see by the pics, that I am generous when covering with glitter.  All excess goes back in the jar, so no need to be skimpy.  For each color, remove protective covering, cover with glitter, brush off excess.  Repeat.

Generously cover with glitter

Rub off excess glitter (rub hard to get a smooth look

Shake off excess glitter

The next time I use this image, I will probably make the owl's belly white - my snowflakes aren't showing well with the little variance in blue colors.  With a white belly, blue snowflakes would really stand out (live and learn).

For this particular card, I did not resize the image.  However, the snowflakes were too small to cut easily, so I did enlarge them...then used the same technique to glitter.

A 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" piece of Robin's Egg Blue Classic Glitter cardstock provides the card front.  I used a border punch on both sides of a strip of Robin's Egg Blue Classic Glitter cardstock, ran it through the Xyron (upside down), and covered it with a combination of Cool and Warm Highlight glitter to provide a blue on blue effect.

I popped up the owl....and glued on glittered snowflakes.

If this inspires you to use this technique, please leave me your link in the comments....I would enjoy seeing your creation.  Keep an eye on 2 Cute Ink - I'm looking forward to more creations (I see Sea Creatures in my future!)