Whimsy Stamps ~ Kiwi Summer Christmas Vibes

Hey crafty friends, I've been racing through this month so fast, I've not had lots of time for posting my creations. But I had such a fun idea to create this card and really wanted to put it together and share it before the month was out, so here is my Kiwi Summer Christmas Card! I'll be honest, when we lived in the UK, Christmas made better sense as so much of our idea of Christmas is influenced by the UK Christmas and the fact it's a Winter one. But there's something so lovely about our Kiwi Summer Christmases and it was fun to put together this scene with that in mind. I hunted through my stamps to find some 'feet' to peek out of the bottom of the sun umbrella, which was my starting idea for this card. I happened upon this cute Santa and crab from Krista Heij-Barber's 'Tropical Christmas' Clear Stamps in my stash and set my plan in motion. 

I started this design by stencilling in the poolside details. I cut some masking tape on an angle and masked off the lower portion of the panel so I could add the giraffe stencil on the top half of the panel. I turned the stencil 3 times, 90 degrees each time, to get the watery effect for the pool. I lightly ink blended all over the stencilling to colour any white areas left, a soft blue. I used a Catherine Pooler Die Ink in 'It's A Boy' blue to get this effect. (I couldn't find where I had put my Tumbled Glass Distress Ink, which would have worked just as well). I masked off diagonals on the web die and ink blended the brolly in two blue Distress Inks. I then scored the diagonal and shaped the brolly to give it a more 'popped up' 3D look. I finished it off by gluing a little gem on the very top in place of the brolly ferrule.

I didn't have a poolside tile texture in my stencils, but thought the brick wall could work well as poolside tiles, so ink blended that next (after masking off the top half) using the Whimsy Stamps Brick Wall Stencil and Distress Inks in Antique Linen and Gathered Twigs. I used a strip of Washi Tape from my stash to depict the pool edge. This was from Simple Stories from their 'Into The Wild Collection'. It was a nice neutral tone and design that could work to create the delineation between the water and tiles. I shaped it carefully to get a more natural looking shaped pool edge rather than a straight line. 

Now as I was bringing this poolside scene idea together, it became apparent I would need some legs to stick out the bottom of the sun umbrella to really sell the scene. I'm pleased I found this perfect image when I hunted through my stamps. It took the creation in a really nice direction, though I'd not started with the intention of making a Santa card, I had intended to make a 'Kiwi Summer Christmas' card, so love this image for that! How cute does it look with his feet peeking out the bottom of the brolly?!

I drew a little towel and added orange stripes to tone with the other elements in the design. I felt Santa needed to be lying on something, not straight on the tiles. So glued that down, added Santa so his feet showed and then glued him down. I added the brolly at one end with a nice sticky glue dot. I find these really useful for adhering things like flowers, ribbon etc and it worked a treat for the lower end of the brolly. To get the 'lift' to the top end of the brolly, I added a little spring made from acetate and adhered one end beneath the towel to the base panel and then the top end to the brolly, again with the glue dots which are nice and strong for holding the spring in place. The brolly is easily pushed down to go flat into an envelope, but pops up when lifted out. A fun little 'unexpected' feature.

Once I'd found that cute stamp set, I knew I had to work in that wee crab and his pose could totally work to look as if he was floating on his back. I was restricted to images that could suggest this 'overhead' view and love how these worked out. Looking at my wee crab now, I realise I ought to have added some shading in the water under him, but that's a task for another day, as I've no time now. But, that definitely will sell the 'floating' on the water idea! Little details like this can make such a difference, so I will do it before giving it away. I mounted the design on a shimmery cardstock which is in my stash from my London days and trips to the Ally Pally Craft Fair. Then I mounted the whole design onto a top folding cardbase cut from Clementine cardstock from Concord & 9th.

Thanks for popping in to visit today. I am SUPER excited that we are about to enter our Halloween term at Whimsy and this means of course, welcoming back our seasonal team, The Halloweeners! I'm delighted to be designing with them again this year and we're kicking off the term with a spooktacular Instagram Hop. The detail are in the banner above and if you click through on that banner, it will take you straight to the Whimsy Instagram account, where the hop will begin on August 1st at 3pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Time). So excited for that! Hugs to you all and see you again soon with another crafty adventure, Wends xoxo

(I share thumbnails to the elements I design with in order to make your search for them easier, in case you like something I've used. I do use affiliate links where possible, which gives me a tiny commission but costs you no extra whatsoever. It helps the companies I design for to improve their marketing practice and track my contributions. I am deeply grateful if you use them for these reasons. I am proud to design for the companies I do and always feel happy to share where my inspiration and where my crafty stash comes from. I am occasionally gifted products to use, but I only design for companies whose products I absolutely love and buy for myself. My opinions are always my own.)

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