I made this for Lydia's DTGD15UnderstandblueA challenge. I have made lots and lots of moonlight winter scenes over the years and never really tire of them. Today I did something a little different than I have ever done in the past. I used my dear friend Bev's Water Stamping Technique to apply a falling snow background. I used a seed stamp from a retired SU set called Petal Pushers and plain water for ink to create the snow. It really doesn't show up well in the photo but I think it shows a hint which works well for this smudgy kind of scene.
I masked off the ground and moon with removable tape and then applied the blue ink with an ink blending tool. I removed the tape and then stamped the tree line. Ugh! They didn't stamp very clearly the first time so I stamped then again and didn't quite get them lined up well enough and they were blurry. Double ugh! Do I start over or just keep going? LOL! Being stubborn I decided to try smudging the tree ink with my water brush and got them too wet and almost totally blurred out the lines. Triple Ugh! I decided to heat dry the wet ink and to try and stamp the tree line image one more time. This time I used my tiny brain (which I should have done in the first place) and lightly misted the ink of the stamp before placing over the trees and it worked out pretty well. I used my wet brush to lightly pull ink down from the bottom of the trees to create shadows in the snow. This was more work than anything I do with hundreds of pieces of die cut but I loved the creative process and problem solving and am happy I didn't give up. It has a slight appearance of a real watercolor. I will definitely be happy and proud to use this for one of my holiday cards.
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You can check out my step by step Winter Moonlight tutorial on my blog post at Kittie Kraft. It does not show the water brushing mentioned above but does show the masking and sponging steps.
Hint: I love creating masks with the removable labeling tape but have found it almost impossible to punch out a circle. I tried applying a small piece of tape to a piece of scrap cardstock and that gave enough thickness to allow the punch to go through the tape without tearing the edges. Then I just peeled the circle tape off the cardstock to use for my mask, Most of you may have figured out this secret long ago but I wanted to share just in case.
Date: Sunday, August 2, 2015 GMT Views: 1557
Favorited:12
Splitcoast Dirty Dozen Creative Crew SU Design Team Alumni
Registered: May 18, 2004 Location: Southwest Michigan Posts: 37081
Sun, Aug 02, 2015 @ 9:09 AM
This turned out beautifully, Kittie! I have that trees stamp and love the way it looks done in blue. Thanks for sharing your process on this card~it's great to know even the "masters" of this art go through these crazy steps sometimes to avoid scrapping a card and starting over!
------------------------------ Claudia Splitcoast Fan Club Member
SCS Community Manager Splitcoast Dirty Dozen Alumni
Registered: July 29, 2004 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 41785
Mon, Aug 03, 2015 @ 9:15 AM
This is GORGEOUS Kittie! I was laughing WITH you when I read your description - I can't believe I found something that challenged YOU! hee hee! I never would have known there was any ugh looking at this - it's beautiful!
Registered: June 4, 2009 Location: Deatsville, Alabama Posts: 83113
Fri, Aug 07, 2015 @ 3:09 AM
Kittie, this is soooo great! I love the scene you created and the journey you took to get it done! Fabulous!!! Hugz
------------------------------ Nancy Williams - Hope your day is Spirit-filled and ink-filled (in that order)!DRS Designs-DT, Punchkateerforever, Dirty Dozen Alumni
Registered: February 3, 2005 Location: Delray Beach, FL Posts: 34769
Sat, Aug 08, 2015 @ 1:06 PM
Oh, Kittie, this is gorgeous, and I LOVE the wintry sky you've created with the beautiful sponging. And your snow scene with the evergreens is gorgeous! (We don't see much of this, do we?) What an amazing technique, and thanks for sharing the tip! Stunning card! Hugs!
------------------------------ Cheryl
Proverbs 3:5-6 My blog