Whimsy Wednesday ~ Snowman & Cardinal

Hey there lovely crafty pals. It's time to share another Whimsy Wednesday post with you and you may be thinking déjà vu! You will have already spotted this card, as part of my Christmas blog banner. I coloured three images from the same designer for this set and thought it would make a lovely Christmas banner. I wish I could claim all the creativity for this, but as it happens, it's my sister who is greatly responsible for this lovely Christmas banner. I've been helping her out these past few weeks and so we had a play with layout and photography for my cards while I was with her recently. She's had a lot of her work published in magazines and is a very successful photographer, so I was absolutely up for a little coaching! I really love what we worked on together. She's amazing!

Now to share my actual card details with you. I've used a gorgeous image from a very new line of stamps to Whimsy Stamps called Rustic Sugar. This range is now available as an instant digital download for quick and easy access. I love this about digital images. Instant availability and so brilliant for those last minute Christmas cards right now. This lovely image is called Snowman & Bird. I just love this sweet Cardinal and had great fun colouring him up. The snowman himself is so quick and easy to colour, a really fab image for quick last minute Christmas cards!

I coloured the image with my Copic Markers and had great fun doing the shading on the snow. I used denim blue colours for the scarf and sash on the hat, as I really wanted to use this lovely digital paper by Crissy Armstrong for this card. It's a lovely snowfall paper on a rich dark blue base. I didn't have the right blue to back my image but had some old 'paint chips' sitting on my desk, so I cut them to create the four corners of the backing mat. I love that they were all slightly different in shade. A fun slightly different feature on this card. I wanted to highlight that sweet Cardinal, so paired some red elements, the two ribbons, the wide grosgrain ribbon and softer organza ribbon, plus the heart border scrapbook pocket card. I added some glittery elements for a little bling too. I highly recommend taking a look at the Whimsy Store right now, there are some wonderful deals going on. My favourite snowflake, that I've used on just about every Christmas card I've made in recent weeks is on sale for only $5! Cut from some glitter cardstock, it makes a really simple and wonderful embellishment for Winter themed Christmas cards. I think it's my 'most used' bit of stash at the moment. 

There is a lovely advent freebie over in the Whimsy Facebook group, so if you haven't spotted that, head over and check it out. Also, we have some Advent fun coming up this Friday in the shape of an Instagram Hop, which I'll be a part of, so come and check back here Friday to join that fun with us. Whimsy Stamps is 10 years old this year and the Hop is in celebration of this, so there will be fabulous prizes on offer. I hope you'll come and join the fun with us. In the meantime, happy crafting and I'll catch you again very soon with my next crafty adventure. Hugs xoxo

Challenge Entries:

Crafty Cardmakers: #224 ~ Christmas

Love To Scrap: #116 ~ Season's Greetings

Card Mania Challenges: #111 ~ Christmas

A Gem of a Challenge: #233 ~ Anything Goes

Through The Purple Haze: #151 ~ 'Tis The Season

Crafty Creations Challenge: #380 ~ Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations Challenges: December ~ Feeling Festive