I made a stencil (or mask)out of cardstock, then sponged inside of the cut out (rectangle cut out of cardstock) with smoky slate ink pad. Remove the stencil and stamped the tree several times, once in smoky slate, then black then stamped off with black again. I also used the chalk marker on the gray to make 'snowflakes' the star is embossed in silver (from come to Bethlehem set)