I got bored with blue and wanted to try another colour, so I chose my favourite shades of purple for this one. Apart from these colours being my favourites another reason I chose them is because I remembered many years ago all the photo's I took out and about in the snow always had a strong purple hue about them, so it seemed a natural choice.
I used SU's classic ink pads in Concord Crush and Almost Amethyst both of these colours have been retired unfortunately. Hopefully one day they will being them out of retirement so I can top up my cardstock and ink refills in these colours.
As you can see I added a moon to this card for some variation.
I also stamped the trees in black rather than green..
The black I ink I used is from SU again and it's the CRAFT ink not the classic.
The ink is a pigment based ink which is much slower to dry but the black is so much more intense than standard dye based ink pads.
The instructions for this card are exactly the same as in my previous tutorial apart from adding the moon.
So I will just add a few instructions for the moon
As in the tutorial below, stamp over the white card stock with Versamark clear ink and allow it dry off a little.
If you don't own a small splatter stamp, try using a versamark pen and drawing dots and small spots over the card stock before you begin inking.
Sponge over the sky area lightly with light coloured ink. It doesn't matter if your sponging is a little patchy it adds to the effect.
Punch out a circle from scrap card or heavy paper ( this will be your moon mask )
I strongly recommend you use a two way glue pen and apply a little glue to the moon mask and allow it to dry thoroughly. This will prevent your moon mask from moving as you work, so you should get a nice crisp outline on your finished moon.
Position your moon mask in the area of the sky where you want your moon to be.
Position your snow drift mask (see tutorial below this post) over the lower part of your moon mask and hold firmly in place.
Ink up your sponge in the same light colour as you used for the sky and begin applying the ink starting in the centre of your moon mask and working outwards and skywards, gently onto your cardstock around the moon mask and along the snow drift mask.This will create your horizon.
(DO NOT INK around the bottom of the moon mask if you want your moon to be partly hidden by the snow drifts.)
Keep applying ink in the same manner until the colour has built up enough around the edge of the masks to give you a well defined moon. and horizon.
Carefully remove the moon mask and start sponging your snow drifts.
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
