Step one: Created a drawing using a blue line pencil and scanned into computer

Step two: Once scanned into computer I brought into Photoshop and used brush tool to thicken lines and plan the dark/light areas.

Step three: In addition to the lines I also created the text. I then printed this design and transferred it to the scratchboard. To transfer I layered blue Saral transfer paper between the print out and the scratchboard and drew over the design with a pencil.

Step four: Scratch, scratch, scratch. This part took me several hours over several days as I worked to get comfortable with a new tool and way of marking for me.

Step five: Once I finished scratching, I again scanned and brought into Photoshop. At this point I did some editing. For example, I thought the text was too small so I removed some of the background trees and enlarged the text. I also took the opportunity to clean up some of the lines and darken areas like between the leaves where I had scratched too much and didn’t leave it dark enough for my taste.

Step six: Again using Photoshop I colored the image. I used the brush tool in ‘darken’ mode so that it colored behind the black lines rather than covering them. After coloring, I printed, mounted them on cardstock with PVA glue, cut them apart and mailed them out.

This was our Christmas card for the year 2009.