Inked Snow Scene Tutorial

 These cards have been much admired so I thought I would share the technique with you so that you too can make this card.
 Except it won't be this card as no two cards come out the same.
Which makes everyone unique.

The tools and materials used are very basic.

2 shades of blue ink 
2 sponges or daubers.
1 dark green ink pad and matching marker if possible (just incase)

Versamark clear ink pad

A pine tree stamp and a splatter stamp

I have used the pine tree from the Stampin Up  " Lovely as a Tree" stamp set.

and the splatter stamp from the stampin up "Gorgeous Grunge" set.

4x4  Whisper white card stock,   (it's so smooth and easier to sponge on.)

Scrap paper cut  a long curvy line across it. 

Lastly a glue pen and some Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

Let us begin....

 Ink up the splatter stamp with clear versamark ink  and randomly stamp the the top half of your white card and allow the ink to dry.  ( about 10 mins)

You won't see very much  on the card at this stage as the ink is clear.

 Cut a curvy line across a sheet of scrap paper. I am using a mask I have used before so you can see it.

This is going to be your mask for  creating the drifts of snow and I will refer to this scrap paper as your mask from now on.

Lay your mask across your 4x4 card stock
about an inch and a half down from the top and sponge the sky starting on the mask and work  upwards onto your cardstock.

Never start sponging directly onto the card stock as the ink is too intense and you'll end up with big circles of ink you can't disguise.  

Keep applying the lighter blue ink  (I used Stampin up's Marina Mist) until the whole area has been covered.
You will now notice the versamark ink starting to show through the blue ink. 
The Versamark  creates a  ghosting effect  giving the  impression it's snowing.

Apply more ink at the edges of the card and long the wavy line of your mask than in the centre.

Once you have covered the entire area take your darker blue  ink  (I used stampin up's Night of Navy) and sponge a little over the edge of your mask and around the edges of your cardstock,  this will give a little more depth to your snow drifts. Be careful not to over do the darker blue. 

Tip.... Try not to get hard lines of colour the key to success on this is softness ... BUT  if you do get the odd hard line  of  darker blue blend it out by adding more of the light blue over the area.

Work down the cardstock by applying the light blue  starting  on the mask paper  and working upwards onto the cardstock leave  a narrow white strip at the top of each drift.



Blend in until you reach the bottom.
Move your mask around to vary the direction and slant of the drifts.

Stamping the Trees. 
All the trees on this image have been created with the same stamp.

You will need your mask again for this.


Before I continue I will share a little tip.
Something I discovered many moons ago.

If you look to the picture on the right you will see the tree doesn't meet up with the snow drift and  looks  odd.
That is because I lined the mask up exactly with the snow drift before I stamped the tree.
Yes,  I did that on purpose to show you what not to do. 

If this happens to you, it can be rectified by drawing in the lower tree trunk and branches with a marker pen in the same colour ink. So it's not the end of the world.

My tip to avoid this happening in the first place is to position your mask about  1 or 2 millimetres lower than your sponged  snow drift.  (see photo on left)
With a little practise you'll become an expert at judging just how much space to leave.

Now you know how to position your mask for stamping the trees.

Line up your mask with your snow drift leaving the tiny gap and make sure your mask is large enough to cover the lower part of your work.

Ink up your tree stamp and  stamp your tree over the mask and onto your cardstock.   
As the mask is covering most of your work only the top of the tree will be stamped onto your card, creating what appears to be a small tree.
Move your mask down to the the next snowdrift  where you want your next tree to be and  repeat the process.  Make one tree in the foreground a complete or almost complete tree.




Ideally you want to have an odd number of trees. Odd numbers always look better.

When you have stamped all your trees  use a glue pen and add tiny dots of glue randomly over the trees and add  Dazzling Diamond glitter.

Finally ......
It has taken me three hours to do this tutorial, which is two hours and  forty five minutes longer than it took to make the card.
I have to say,   this all looks quite involved and time consuming  but it's not. I could have made a dozen of these in the time it's taken me to write this up. LOL