Spirited snowmen/ Winter woods

When I posted a photo of these guys on the S.U Demonstrator Planning  Page Little did I know that they were going to be so popular.

I am reeling from the response these cards have had.  I have had to spend a lot of today answering questions and responding to all the lovely comment left.

Last time I looked  they had 1, 700 likes in less than 12 hours!!

 That is truly amazing.

A few of the comments asked how I did the background for these snow people.

So this post is to share how I created these cards.

and to answer all those questions.

The snow people are from the spirited snowmen stamp set by Stampin' up.  It is available now and can be found in this year's autumn winter catalogue.

I used the stamparatus positioning tool , Black  Mememto ink,  whisper white card stock and Copic markers.

 I began by stamping the snow couple in black on white card and again on a post it note, making sure I stamped on the adhesive edge of the post it.

 I cut out the post it  note image, (this is the mask.)  When cutting out the mask,  cut to inside the line rather than on or outside the line.  You need the mask to be slightly smaller to avoid getting a white halo around the snowmen when you over stamp.

I placed the mask over the snowmen.

Then I  positioned the trees stamp from  The Winter Woods stamp set to the left  of and over the  masked off snowmen. I picked up the stamp with the plate of the Stampartus, and then inked the stamp up with granite grey ink and stamped the image.

Then I moved the stamp to right and stamped the other side. 

This is actually quicker to do with the tree stamp  mounted on a block rather than the stamparatus plate.

That's all the stamping done.,,,, Now to colour.

I am a huge fan of Copic markers, I have been collecting them and the refills for many years. They are my preferred colouring medium.

To colour this image,  I used the lightest colour of my 3 markers, then I

 decided where my horizon was going to be  and completely covered the sky area ink. I drew some broad lines under the trees,  under the snowmen and anywhere else I felt needed a streak of colour.

The next marker is slightly darker than the first. 

I added the darker shade to the top corners and worked towards  the middle and down the sides. 

I also drew thinner/ shorter  lines over the pale lines and blended them in slightly using my first colour.

With the darkest marker I added a fine line of ink at the top of each streak of colour for more depth.  Going back to the first marker I blended in some of the harder lines. 

The image above I am trying out in three shades of grey with a little yellow in the sky.
The pine tree in the picture below is also in the Winter Woods set. I stamped this three times in handsome hunter ink and then added snow with a white gel pen.


I also used the white gel pen to draw in the falling snow.
I used a Japanese hole punch with a small tip to cut out these tiny glittery circles.
They were a bit fiddly to stick on the tree as they are so very small.

I hope this post has answered the questions asked and I hope it all makes sense.
 I would also like to say a big THANK YOU to you if you left a comment or a like on these cards on D/P FB page .
I'm rather tired and my bed is calling me and I have an early start tomorrow.