This leaf was a perfect heart shape. I first attached it to a walnut shell and set it sailing on a puddle voyage. Next, I hoisted it up on an oak leaf hull for a new voyage.

I used the images for Valentine’s Day cards.

This was both our holiday card and an announcement that we were expecting a second child. In many ways this card was one of our most elaborate productions ever. While out and about at the local park with my son, I collected local grasses and then went home and handmade this nest. Once finished, I carried a ladder to a local park to get a photo of the nest high up in a tree. We then took a small family group photo and another photo of an egg and then combined them all into the nest.

Looking back from Summer, 2026: Once our second child was born, we were overwhelmed for a year or two and then our oldest started school. As we poured all our creative energies into giving our sons the best childhoods we could, we had to make some tough choices. One of them was dropping these holiday card art projects from our life. Instead, similar energies went into Valentine’s cards, birthday cards, Halloween costumes, volunteering at school etc. So, this nest card represents the end and beginning of two chapters in our lives. As our oldest is about to fly off to college, it feels like a major new chapter is about to start as well.

Our house was full of all the materials needed to keep our two-year old entertained all day. We even have cinnamon rolls for a nice treat if friends come over.

During this year, Jennie’s father died. As a result of this, we didn’t want to do an overly humorous holiday card. However, it was also the first year of our child’s life, so we had to do something.

Jennie’s father was an avid stamp collector, so as a tribute to him, we put our images into three stamps modelled after a Swedish stamp similar to the ones Jennie’s father collected.

The really fun thing about this is that we printed the stamps on actual stamp sheets. We ordered blank stamp sheets, so our card consisted of three stamps glued onto a cardstock backing.

Jennie and me taking a break from holiday stress by taking a bath in cups of hot cocoa.

Production notes: This was one of our most successful jobs at matching color and lighting, because we took the photos of us at exactly the same time and place as the photos of the hot cocoa. Once we had the photos, this was one of the easier Photoshop images I worked on due to how perfectly the lighting matched.