Do you feel drawn in when the snow is sparkling and the trees have a layer of fresh snow? I love a good wintry scene with fresh powder. To recreate that feel, I made a wintry sky blended background. The new 2025-27 In-colors, Secret Sea and Cloud Cover, are the perfect colors for a winter sky. They are a blue with gray tone. Honestly, they are becoming my favorite go-to colors. I love the rich tones.
For my card today, I used blending brushes to blend a wintry night background and create some shadows for my snow piles. Grab the supplies here.
Measurements:
- Card base (Secret Sea cardstock) 4 1/4" x 11" scored at 5 1/2"
- Cardstock layer (Basic White cardstock) 5 1/4" x 4" (x2, one on front, one on inside)
Supplies:
- Secret Sea classic ink pad
- Cloud Cover stampin' spot
- Secret Sea Cardstock
- Basic White Cardstock
- Peaceful Evergreens stamp set by Stampin' Up!® (retired)
- Sophisticated Sled stamp set by Stampin' Up!® (retired)
- Large or Small blending brushes (1 for each ink color)
- White craft ink
- Wink of Stella
- scrap paper to make a mask to blend snow banks
Instructions:
- Cut Secret Sea cardstock base 4 1/4" x 11" and score at 5 1/2"
- Cut Basic White layers (2) 5 1/4" x 4"
- Tear or die cut scrap cardstock to create a mask. Make sure it's the length of your layer. Use a blending brush with the mask and blend on Cloud Cover just along the edge. Do this 2 or 3 times to create snow layers up the layer. * Tip: start on the mask and go onto cardstock in a circular motion to avoid getting harsh blobs.
- Use a blending brush to apply Cloud Cover ink in the sky area. Keep applying until you get the desired darkness. ** Tip: start off the cardstock in a circular motion to avoid getting harsh blobs.
- Use a blending brush to apply Secret Sea ink in the sky area starting from the top. Keep applying ink until you get the desired darkness.
- Stamp winter trees in Secret Sea ink. Vary the sizes and put smaller trees toward the back or layer trees to create your scene. You can make it look fuller by stamping once and then moving the stamp over slightly and stamping again. I used trees from Peaceful Evergreens.
- Stamp ground texture around the bottom of the trees in second generation Cloud Cover. *Second generation is inking and stamping off onto scrap and then onto your project.
- Stamp greeting in Secret Sea ink. I used "let it snow" from Sophisticated Sled.
- Stamp inside layer as desired. I stamped a tree and some ground texture.
- Put a little white craft ink on a clear block. Use a paint brush or water painter to add a few drops of water and mix, thinning it out. Splatter drops of white ink all over layer.
- Put a little Wink of Stella on a clear block. Pick it up with brush and splatter all over layer.
- Allow the layer to dry thoroughly or white ink and wink of stella will smear. You can use a heat tool to speed up the drying time.
- Adhere card front and inside layer onto base.
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The white ink and wink of stella splatters add a ton of texture and give it a wintry storm feel. You can see the snow bank layers in this close-up photo. You can make them really defined by brushing on more color. It is really personal preference how dark you make the Cloud Cover areas. I like to start off light. You can put your mask back in place and add more ink if you want it darker.
I love add this splatter to my winter cards. It's a neat texture. Have you tried this before?
I do recommend stamping your greeting before you do any splattering or you may need to add a greeting layer.
This scene is inviting you to go play in the snow or take a walk and enjoy the beautiful trees.
You can step it up by adding another layer or by adding designer series paper (patterned) and a die cut layer and embellishments. Sometimes I like to keep it simple when I add blended backgrounds and splattered ink and sometimes I like to layer it up.
For this card, I just added a layer. I layered the stamped trees by stamping once and moving my stamp over a little, then stamping again.
Supplies:
- Cloud Cover cardstock
- Secret Sea Two Tone cardstock
- Basic White cardstock
- Secret Sea ink pad
- Cloud Cover stampin' spot
- Peaceful Evergreens stamp set by Stampin' Up!® (retired)
- Divine Night stamp set by Stampin' Up!® (retired)
- Large or Small blending brushes (1 for each ink color)
- White craft ink
- Wink of Stella
- scrap paper to make a mask to blend snow banks
Measurements:
- Card base (Cloud Cover cardstock) 4 1/4" x 11" scored at 5 1/2"
- Mat layer (Secret Sea two tone cardstock, dark side) 5 1/4" x 4"
- Basic White layer (x2) 5" x 3 3/4" (1 for front, 1 for inside)
I did the snow banks and blending the same as I did on the first card. I stamped my trees a little differently. To make it look fuller, I stamped the tree once with Secret Sea ink and then moved the stamp over a little. Then I stamped again (second generation or stamping off). You can do this multiple times or just once or twice. It depends on how many trees you want in your scene. I stamped my greeting "joy & peace" from Divine Night in Secret Sea ink. Then I did the splatter technique just as I did on the first card. Remember to allow this to dry before adhering to your mat and card base.
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My background layer on this card was lighter than the first. The white and glitter splatters do show up but not as well as they did on the darker sky. You still get the texture and feel up close in person. It is hard to pick up for the photo.
I'm a layers girl and this last card is probably my favorite of the three. I used some new designer series paper (Peaceful Garden) and die cuts to create my card front.
I like to stamp the scene a little different each time. Have some fun with it and change it up each time. You can also set it up on your stamp positioner and make several of the exact same layout.
Supplies:
- Cloud Cover cardstock
- Basic White cardstock
- Peaceful Garden designer series paper
- Everyday Arches dies (3rd largest)
- Stylish Shapes dies (2nd smallest circle)
- Low profile Sparkle dots
- Peaceful Evergreens stamp set by Stampin' Up!® (retired)
- Itty Bitty Christmas stamp set by Stampin' Up!® (retired)
- Secret Sea ink pad
- Cloud Cover stampin' spot
- Large or Small blending brushes (1 for each ink color)
- White craft ink
- Wink of Stella
- scrap paper to make a mask to blend snow banks
Measurements:
- Card base (Cloud Cover cardstock) 4 1/4" x 11" scored at 5 1/2"
- Basic White layer 5 1/4" x 4" for inside
- Die cut 3rd largest arch from Basic White
- Die cut 2nd smallest circle from Basic White
- Peaceful Garden dsp 2" x 5 1/2"
I did the blending just as I did for my other cards. I also added a little Cloud Cover to the edge of my die cut circle after I stamped the greeting in Secret Sea. My winter scene is created on the arch layer following the steps from the first card. I made this sky darker and added less trees toward the front. After adding splatters to the arch layer, I set it aside to dry. Then adhered the dsp and inside layer to my card base. The arch is adhered with stampin' dimensionals as well as the greeting circle. To add a bit more sparkle, I sprinkled on some low profile sparkle dots in Secret Sea.
Watch the tutorial for the first card on my YouTube Channel
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed this card and are inspired to try making your own blended sky background. Use whatever tree or scene stamps you have in your stash.
You can find all the current products in my online store. There are loads of new goodies for holiday projects as well as fall and halloween.
Happy Creating!
~ Beth