Here's a pic of my finished project:
Top view:
Without the tealight:
Isn't it gorgeous???? Can you guess what it's made from??? Would you believe it's cut from a piece of aluminum flashing? Yup, the same stuff that's used on your homes roof! I KNOW!!!
I've seen it around "blogland" recently and of course I had to jump on the bandwagon and give it a go!
I popped into one of our local hardware stores and picked up a roll of silver aluminum flashing. I picked up the narrowest roll I could find (6") but they all come in 50' lengths!!! Let's just say I've got LOOOOOTS left!
Using my Big Shot and my Snowflake #2 Bigz die, I cut out a snowflake.
Now, that may sound simple enough, but I will say it was a little tricky. Aluminum flashing is a little thicker than a soda can, so to make sure the blade would cut all the way through and not just "dent" it, I needed to use a few paper shims. Each Big Shot is a little different, but for me I needed a total of 4 additional layers. Fewer than that didn't cut the flashing all the way through and more than that and the sandwich just felt too thick and I didn't want to force it through.
Please Note: You can ONLY use the Bigz or Original dies to cut anything other than paper. If you attempt this with a sizzlet die, you'll ruin it. Bigz and Original dies are steel and so they're extremely strong. Sizzlets have a chemically etched blade which allows a much more detailed design, but are ONLY made to cut through a single layer of paper at a time.
Once cut out, I used my stylus to help push out the smaller pieces. I chose to wear gardening gloves while doing this. The cut snowflake wasn't sharp, but the outside piece was and I didn't want to take any changes of slicing open my fingers!
All punched out:
I cut out a 2nd snowflake and layered it on top of the first.
I then pushed the top snowflake "arms" down and pulled the bottom snowflake "arms" up.
Then, I added a few mini glue dots to the center between the two snowflakes and squished them together. I chose to add the glue dots after I'd woven the snowflake arms together just because I found the arms didn't want to cooperate if the center was already glued together.
The final step was to place a tealight in the center and pull the upper snowflake arms around it to cradle it in place. That's it!
It's not a difficult project, but it was time consuming.
Maybe you're interested in trying it out yourself but don't really think you want to commit to buying a 50' roll of aluminum! Because I highly doubt I'll be using the entire roll I purchased anytime soon, I would be happy to sell some at only $1/foot. Each snowflake used a 6" piece.
Are you interested in seeing how I added the snowflake image to the top of my tealight? Check back soon and I'll show how quick and simple it is.
Happy Stamping!
