No embellishments?

No problem! Charisma Cardz thinks it might be a good challenge for those sparkly, frilly, lacy types, but I'm Mrs. Clean'n'Simple, apart from my Stickles addiction, hehee. A Spoon full of Sugar is asking for red, orange and pink, which are the colours of the Basic Grey Indian Summer collection which I love so much.

So here's a birthday card for my cousin, and if you think it looks like the prize-winning ;-) elephant card I did last week, you're right. You'd almost think my 15-minute, pre-church, panic design got used for this sketch from Truly Scrumptious!

 

 

Pretty suitable for a blokey bloke, isn't it? Especially one who always FORGETS everybody else's birthdays..... although I think that might be a little too subtle for him. ;-)

In other news, we're having a scary day today with 3 bushfires burning out of control around us. Two are 15-ish miles away (north-east and south-east) but one is only 3 or 4 miles south-east of us, and the wind is blowing it fiercely in our direction.

The crazy thing was, we went out for lunch and as we waited at a junction on the way home, we spotted the smoke. I said "let's go and get a closer look at that" so off we drove. A couple of miles down the road we got to some high ground and saw that it was a long way away. At that moment I glanced in the rear view mirror and there was a huge plume of smoke behind us. We turned around and went to check that one out, because it was where we'd just come from, and it definitely hadn't been there when we left. It was coming from the local park and the smoke was billowing into the sky.

The place was swarming with fire trucks and people wanting a closer look, so we went home. We've had the TV on since then, and the two further fires have had some coverage with many homes being evacuated and at least 8 burned down, but nothing from the one closest to us. The wind is blowing it in our direction and the air is full of smoke.

Update 3 hours later: DH has just found a warning on the net for it. The roads closest have been closed, but it's only at "advice" level, not evacuation. We're staying alert.

Update 7am Monday (14 hours later): 40 homes have been destroyed and others still in danger from the two further fires. They're biggies. The small one nearest us (3 miles away) is still not being reported on local news, so we're guessing it poses no threat to lives or homes. Another 2 fires have also been reported, further north and south, fanned by strong winds. The wind is hoped to die down today, which will decrease the risks.