...and still more new designs!

Before my spring wildlife rehabilitation season gets under way I am busily building my greeting card collection for my Etsy shop.  I have spent the winter making a wide variety of flowers, some of which I am showcasing on my cards.  Of course I tend to run out quickly, so I just spent four nights making pansies.  There are seven pieces to assemble just one blossom, and each leaf needs to be shaped and the finished blossom hand shaded for the final touch.  A friend claims I must be OCD because I am able to stick with such repetitive work, but I don't agree with her.  I can do it because I see the finished piece, and it takes a lot of pansies to make a card shine. 

Anyway, here are the latest additions to my spring collection.  All are available for sale in my Etsy shop. 

Here I used a Cheery Lynn Easter basket and embellished it by hand stitching it with yarn for a more dimensional effect.  The background is a Memory Box fresh foliage die, the pansies are assembled from individual leaves in an assortment of colors, and yes, each one has been punched out by hand as well.  The daffodils are very dimensional and round out the freshness of these harbingers of spring. 

Here I used the Memory Box grapevine wreath and decorated it with hand shaped leaves and cherry blossoms.  The Blue jay fledgling was a little orphan who here sits quite contentedly after he has just been fed.  Look closely, he still has food stuck to the corners of his beak. 


Soon I will be inundated with baby squirrels and my freedom will be over until late fall.  I hope to have a few more weeks of quiet so my freshly operated hands can heal and the fresh scars won't be so sensitive to the babies' needle-like claws.  Craft pictures will make room for baby wildlife pictures, and I will try to keep up my blog as time permits. 

If you have trees on your property that have suffered damage during the winter and you are considering having it taken down, please choose a contractor who respects wildlife and is willing to wait until a mother squirrel has raised her babies.  All too many simply cut down a tree without even looking, still others toss entire nests with live babies into the chipper, a horrible massacre.  Thankfully I know a tree cutter who refuses to take down a tree if it has a nest, he will explain his position to the property owner and offer to come back later on when the babies are grown.  Most people understand and are only too willing to wait as long as the tree does not pose a danger. 

My hope is that we all learn to live in harmony with the wildlife that has had to learn to live all around us.  It is not the wildlife intruding on us, it is we who intrude on wildlife and rob them of their space and home ranges. 

If you need to remove a tree, please plant a new one that is native to your region.  Support your local wildlife by planting fruit bearing shrubs and trees that support wildlife.  That way you will add to a healthier environment for both wildlife and humans alike.  Thank you.

Happy almost spring, everybody!

Sigi