GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Night Skies Two Ways w/Antonia Florence

Hi everyone! This is Antonia Florence, and I was “over the moon” when WPlus 9 invited me to create this guest design post for their blog. I thought what better way to show my appreciation than to make these two moonscape background cards featuring WPlus9’s “Friends for All Seasons” Winter and Spring stamp sets?

Let’s get started and I’ll show you how to make a moonscape background two different ways – first, with Distress Oxide Inks and second, with Copic Sketch Markers.

Watch above or watch in HD at YouTube

Here is a quick overview of how I completed each card.

Distress Oxide Ink Version

I started by stamping and masking all of my images on Neenah solar white classic crest cardstock in 110lb weight cut down to A2 size. I used a 1.5 inch circle punch to make the moon. To make the evening sky, I blended distress oxide ink in Weathered Wood around the face of the moon, and then built out the evening sky using Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans, and Chipped Sapphire distress oxide inks. To create a strong light source emanating from the moon, I tried to keep the area under the moon bright by using my lightest inks and kept the edges of the scene very dark by using my darkest shades. I added detail to the face of the moon with C0, B60, and BG000 copic markers and then softened the colors using a colorless blender (or 0 marker). I shaded the ground with C1, C3, and C5 copic markers, again trying to use my lightest colors in the center of the scene where the moon rays shine the brightest.

After removing the masks, I colored the white areas of the panda using my 0, C00, C0, C1, C3, and C5 copic markers. I colored the balloons with YR12, R24, R27, R29, R39 and R89 copic markers, trying to keep the lightest shades where the moon rays appear the brightest.

To complete the scene, I added some highlights with a white gel pen and clear sakura stardust pen and stamped the sentiment using black Versafine ink.

Copic Marker Version

I stamped and masked all images on 110lb Neenah solar white classic crest cardstock. It is very important to use heavy cardstock to absorb the layers of ink required to create a smoothly blended evening sky using this coloring technique. I started shading the evening sky by coloring the area around the moon with a B000 copic marker, and built out the color darker and darker with B21, B24, B26, and B28, using a circular pattern while coloring until I reached the edges of the scene. To color the ground, I used YG11 (a special trick to make the ground “glow” beneath the moon), and then YG91, YG93, YG95, YG97, and YG99. To give the ground texture, I added blades of grass using my dark YG markers. I colored the panda the same way as I did in the first version and colored the balloons in rainbow colors. To add some “magic” to the scene, I used my white gel pen to create little flecks around the balloons. To complete the card, I stamped the sentiment with white embossing powder on black cardstock.

I hope you enjoyed this project and I would love it if you gave these two “moonscape background” cards a try. These cards make great encouragement or “thinking of you” cards, but the scenes would also make great Valentine’s cards for your friends and loved ones. My sincerest thanks to WPlus9 for having me on the blog today!

Thanks for joining me, and have a great day, everyone! ~ Antonia

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Friends For All Seasons: Spring Shop at: WP9

Friends For All Seasons: Winter Shop at: WP9