Black, White and Red all Over.

Its such a beautiful spring day today here in Melbourne!
 The sun is shining with some warmth and the spring flowers are starting to bloom....which brings out the bees and the butterflies.

So today's card is one I will be sending home to NZ to a special sister who loves butterflies - and shoes:-)

The design is based on a challenge, this time from the Paper Craft Crew  PCCCS #50 but I am not sure if it will be accepted as I changed the sketch a little....

 The Shoe is from the Fabulous You stamp set and is stamped in Encore Silver ink after the Greeting is Clear embossed first - so is stamped in Versamark ink and then the Real Red ink before applying the Clear embossing powder to Happy Birthday.

The butterflies are from Papillion Potpourri a set which has just come this week so this is  its first outing :-).  Many more to come I think! The black Monarchs are stamped in Black Stazon ink and then coloured with Markers and Blender pen in the case of the sliver and punched with the co-ordinating punches. How I love a stamp with its own punches or framelits for quick and easy cutting!

Card Stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, 

Designer Series Paper: Silver Glimmer Paper, Polka Dot Parade

Stamps: Fabulous You, Sassy Salutations, Papillon Potpourri

Inks: Real Red, Encore Silver, Black Stazon

Accessories: Big Shot, Oval Framelits, Elegant and Bitty Butterfly Punches,Basic Rhinestones, Red Polka Dot ribbon (retired)

Now for a happy Spring story!

Last week whilst at a local Park walking my dog Sally with a friend and her dogs we heard a sound like a stone dropping  - it was a little chick falling from its nest! As we saw it's Mum coming down to check on it we realised it was an Indian Miner bird which is considered a pest here so knew that no local Wildlife group would want to help it. So I decided to put it up in a nearby tree and its Mum did come over and alight on the branch so we hoped and prayed it might be ok - it didn't look that great. The next day we arrived and headed to the tree and yes! There was the chick looking bright eyed and healthy and a few more fluffs on its chest as no feathers yet. The next day I missed going to the Park and my friend sent me this lovely photo of "our chick" which looked so much bigger again!

The next day however, it was gone! We saw a feather at the base of the tree and were quite sad that it had done so well....yet the following day we saw it with its Mum! Hopping around the leaf litter looking for insects! So it was wonderful to see how with just a little help and prayer from us and a very diligent  and attentive mother it has grown and survived!

So on that happy note...

Happy Stamping until next time!

Jan