Whimsy Stamps ~ The Christmas Family Photo Line Up

Hey there crafty pals. It's the day after Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring... we are all so knackered! Hehehe. So a bit of blogging catch up and crafty play for me is just what I need. I really wanted to share all my cards before Christmas that I'd created for Christmas, but honestly, this month has just been horrendous. It's so nice to be the other side of the 'big day', having had a gorgeous celebration with family and enjoyed some delicious food and received some beautiful treats. I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas day whatever your circumstances were.

I just love this sweet image. The original image was super cute but Crissy added to this cute line up recently so that it worked even better on a slimline card and I think they are all just so adorable! Such fun to colour and I tried to give them all their own little colours, because as one of seven kids, lined up in a row like this, you can see our family resemblances, but we are all so different! We've had many family photos taken like this, all lined up in a row. So it totally made me think of my family, with our amazing mama. Since my daddy's passing 20 years ago, we are now eight with mum, so this sweet card absolutely made me think of our family. 

There are little extra details on this card, that are lost in the broader shots, the sparkle on the mama's nose, the sparkle on the berries and snow. Extra sparkly in reality. You get a hint of it below in the closer shot. Because I coloured the bunnies in different shades, I kept the accessories in a limited palette of colours, so it coordinated nicely. I stuck with the very Christmassy colours of green and red. I must say I really love how this came out.

I used two slimline die sets to create this card. When I received my slimline dies, I looked very closely to see if I wanted to cut them apart, or whether the way they were linked together actually created some fun 'off-cut' possibilities. The positive cut of the frame below, creates really lovely scallop frames, but actually, without cutting the two frames apart (because it's not necessary, as the frames are cut complete in this form) the negative that is cut between these two frames actually creates a really cool frame all its own and is a size between the two, which I thought was really fun! So, it's the 'off-cut' that I've actually used as the red frame on this card! I really love how it looks and against the base which I die cut from another gorgeous Whimsy slimline that has a stitched edge, it really finished this card so nicely! Very little else was necessary to finish this creation. Just the sparkle I mentioned earlier.

The shot above I took before going over the letters on the sign. I decided, having coloured the plaque with a woodgrain finish, that the writing needed to be darkened, so it stood out. Especially as I wasn't adding a separate sentiment. So I carefully wrote over the sentiment in black fine liner pen, to bring it to the fore a bit more. 

I have enjoyed a very mellow day today after all the excitement in the lead up to Christmas. I hope you all get to catch your breath a bit too. I send wishes for a wonderful relaxed holiday season and hopes for a much better 2021 than 2020 was! Hugs xoxo