About this design
The Fern Branch Snowflake takes its look from the feathery dendrite crystals you see in close-up snow photography. Each arm carries six pairs of branches set at the same angle, longest near the center and shortening steadily toward a small round tip, so the arms look like little fronds of fern.
Because the branches repeat at an even rhythm, the design has a calm, orderly feel despite its detail. It is the snowflake to choose when you want something that looks hand-cut and intricate rather than graphic and bold.
Project ideas
- Layered cardstock ornaments. Cut the base from navy shimmer cardstock and the top layer from white pearl, glue them with a thin line of adhesive, and add a ribbon loop.
- Card fronts. A single 4-inch flake centered on a kraft card with a little white gel-pen dotting around it looks hand-made and refined.
- Glass ornaments and jars. Adhesive vinyl at 3 inches wraps nicely around a mason jar or a flat glass ornament.
- Foil quill or pen drawing. The outline style gives a lovely line drawing for foil cards.
- Frosted glass decals. Etched-glass vinyl on a cabinet door makes a subtle winter detail.
Color ideas
Detailed designs look best with contrast, so pick a strong base and a lighter top. The default navy and ice blue is a safe start. Other ideas:
- Silver base with white top for a frosty, wedding-friendly look
- Forest green with pale mint for a woodland card
- Black with gold foil for a dramatic New Year’s party invitation
Size and cutting tips
The branches on this design are close together, so give it room: about 2.5 inches is the smallest size that keeps every branch at least a millimeter wide, and it looks best at 4 inches and up. For cardstock, use a fresh fine-point blade, a strong-grip mat and your machine’s intricate-cut setting if it has one.
When weeding vinyl, use the reverse-weeding trick: apply transfer tape to the top, flip it over, and peel the backing away first. The branches stay attached to the tape instead of lifting with the waste vinyl.
Step by step: a two-layer cardstock ornament
- Download the color SVG and upload it to your cutting software. Size it to 4 inches.
- Cut the navy base from 80 lb cardstock and the ice blue top from 65 lb cardstock, using the intricate-cut setting.
- Lift both pieces off the mat by peeling the mat away from the cardstock, not the cardstock from the mat.
- Run a fine glue pen along the spine of each top-layer arm and press it onto the base.
- Punch a small hole near one tip and add a loop of thin silver cord.
Pairs well with
Pair it with the equally detailed Feathered Snowflake for a matching set, or the bold Tiny Crystal Snowflake when you want contrast in a cluster.
