2013 fresh new Spring and Easter card designs

Hi everybody!

The surgeon said I need time to recuperate from three surgeries in four weeks, both hands (carpal tunnel) and the right elbow (Ulnar nerve). But she wants me to use my fingers, so I have been crafting almost as soon as the anesthesia wore off.

Here are the cards I've been working on. There are not many to go around, simply because the designs are so involved.

Wildlife rehabilitation season will start soon, but right now a third snow and rain storm is about to bear down on us that will last about two days. February 2013 was a snowy month for us here in the Northeast with two major weekend storms and one that thankfully fizzled out before it could bury us with still more snow.

As much as I am sick and tired of seeing white and not being able to help with the shoveling, it also keeps people out of their back yards and away from thoughtlessly cutting down the trees where squirrel mommas are giving birth right about now. I hope my season won't start any time soon, I am not ready to take in tiny babies. My hands need more healing time.

But off to the cards. I hope you like what I've come up with. I welcome your feedback, please don't be shy!  All come with sturdy, handmade envelopes that have a small image of a squirrel stamped in the lower left corner. 

This is my first Easter card, a bright and cheery design.  I have only a small handful to go around since the eggs are inlay work and it takes hours to make six eggs for just one card.  The basket is a die cut with contrasting background, the daffodils are handmade by me.  A very dimensional card, it is much brighter in person than the camera can pick up.  I price this card at $10 since it takes about 4 hours to make just one card...

Here is another take on my Easter card, this time with cut-out images of two Cottontail bunnies that arrived as tiny little babies last year.  They are sitting in a hand woven basket.  This is the only card I made right now.  Price is only $9.50.

 



The above five cards, while essentially the same design, still differ from one another.  I have five pictures to choose from right now, a black duckling,  a baby skunk, a Blue Jay fledgling, a litter of gray squirrel babies, and a gray squirrel youngster.  These cards can be used for Easter or as a wonderful Spring greeting, and they all feature my own handmade flowers.  While also very high end cards, I am offering these on my blog right now for only $8.50 per card.  This special price will not last forever, the cards are worth a lot more than that.  Any wildlife I depict on my creations has been an animal that was in my care, and proceeds of sales go towards offsetting the ridiculously high cost of raising wildlife.  Last year I took in a record 97 animals, and the low average cost to raise just one animal is between $60-70, with a high donation average of $14 received.  That means that a few people left more, while many others left nothing or promised that they would send something and then didn't. 

So each time you buy one of my cards or shadow boxes you help me remain afloat to help wildlife for another year.  And you get a unique, high end item in return, something that would cost at least twice as much in the big cities.  Except that you can't get it there, you can get it only from me... 

And here is my final card, a baby red squirrel sleeping in a hand woven basket in a soft bed of grass.  The image is cut out, the background is embossed, and the card is very dimensional.  Right now I only made two of these.  Again, the price is only $8.50.

I hope for your feedback as to which cards you like the most!  I plan to reopen my Etsy shop soon, but you'll get a better price on my blog...

Cheers!
Sigi