Catching Snowflakes card

So while I was prepping for the next 30 day coloring challenge, I had an idea for a Christmas card with one of the stamps I choose.  Well, I couldn't let the idea slip away so I got started.  Here's the finished card.  Keep reading to see how she came to life!

This is an older stamp set, now retired, by MFT called Warmest Wishes.  I was lucky enough to find someone selling it on eBay for a reasonable price.  The girl looks like she is trying to catch snowflakes so my thought was to make it a 'nighttime' scene.  I had two options for a nighttime scene: use Copic markers to color her on white paper with a distress ink background or stamp directly on colored paper to use Prismacolor pencils to color her.  I decided to use colored paper so I could work on my no-line coloring.  Pencils just seem to lend themselves better to no-line coloring than Copics do.  Perhaps it's just me that finds it easier.

I stamped the image on a pretty blue color of cardstock using versamark cloud white chalk ink to see the lines.  I find chalk ink easily disappears with the use of colored pencils.  Before I started coloring the image, I added some distress ink around the edges in chipped sapphire and faded jeans to create a focus on the stamped image, kind of like a fish eye lens.  I added the snowflakes next using the Snowfall stencil from MFT and versamark cloud white chalk ink.  I didn't apply the ink to the entire stencil as I wanted it to look like the snow had just started to fall.

Then I started coloring the main image.

I've always loved non-traditional color combos for Christmas cards, like blue and red or red and aquamarine.  I thought the girl should have a red coat with a light blue scarf so that's where I started.

As she evolved I kept thinking about my sister in law who passed away just this past February from a rare liver cancer called Cholangiocarcinoma.  She loved winter, snowmen, and snowflakes.  One of my favorite pictures of her is out at a Christmas tree farm just after it had begun to snow and she just stood there sticking out her tongue trying to catch snowflakes.

The girl became my sister in law with blond hair, bright blue eyes, and fair skin.  The blue hat is a little slouchy, just like she used to wear and matches the scarf.

Here are the Prismacolor colors I used:

• Coat: black (935), Tuscan red (937), crimson lake (925), crimson red (924), scarlet lake (923)
• Scarf: sky blue light (1086), non-photo blue (919), true blue (903), peacock blue (1027)
• Pom-poms on hat & scarf: white (938), cool grey 10% (1059), cool grey 20% (1060), cool grey 70% (1065)
• Hat: sky blue light (1086), non-photo blue (919), true blue (903), peacock blue (1027), black (935)
• Mitten: white (938), cool grey 10% (1059), cool grey 20% (1060), cool grey 70% (1065)
• Pants: indigo blue (901), Copenhagen blue (906), light cerulean blue (904), black (935)
• Boots: black (935), cool grey 90% (1067),  cool grey 70% (1065), white (938)
• Hair: cream (914), sand (940), jasmine (1012), yellow ochre (942), light umber (941)
• Face: light peach (927), peach (939), nectar (1092); Nose: rosy beige (1019), clay rose (1017)

Note: the colors used for the nose are in addition to the face colors.  I did this to add a rosy look to her nose, as if she had been out in the cold just long enough to turn it pink.

I did add a few more snowflakes using the stencil once she was completely colored in.  Lastly, I created a snowy hill for her to stand on using versamark cloud white chalk ink, a curved cutout, and a stamp mask for her boots.  Using some creative masking techniques, I took two of the sentiments in the set ('Warmest Wishes' and 'Sending a Flurry of Love') to stamp the sentiment at the bottom.

Once it was complete, I used the large stitched rectangle from MFT's Blueprints 13 to trim down the colored paper for matting on a white card base.  I really like how the white card base adds a nice white border around the blue cardstock scene.

Hopefully I can repeat the process and create a few more of this card to send to my in laws for Christmas as they all saw my sister in law in the design.  She would have loved this card and she was always supportive of my craft.  She will be missed, but never forgotten.