Tuesday 23 April 2013

April showers bring forth...

We have flowers in the garden already; a pink flowering redcurrant, yellow forsythia, daffodils, blue anemone blanda, the primroses are all over the lawn like little patches of lost sunshine, and as for our magnolia tree... it is simply stunning. It is so very white that at night the street light reflected off it actually lights up our dining room.

This time of year is delightful with the little birds flitting around, all busy and singing. We have at least two pairs of black-caps nesting in the hedge, and one pair of long-tailed tits, and umpteen blue-tits and great-tits, as well as robins, wrens, blackbirds, dunnocks, chaffinches, siskins, goldfinches, pigeons (of course) and the ever-present noisy pheasants. We have Mr and Mrs Pheasant, as well as two distinctive male pretenders; one very pale slender one that we call the juvenile, and one adult male with half his tail feathers missing, bless him. These make constant attempts on Mrs Pheasant's delicacy, and have to be chased off by hubby. He is very glamorous and proud, she has the grace of an agitated chicken, and always makes us laugh.

Here is Mr Pheasant. He just popped through the hedge one day last week and came face to face with Mrs Deer. They had a brief, slightly startled face-off, then each decided that the other was no threat, and he walked round her to hoover up the bird-seed under our feeder, and she went back to pruning our shrubbery. How lucky am I?


Anyway, on to today's crafty stuff. This is a card that I made from using up bits from my scraps file. Even the vase is a cut-down oval die, and the greeting is made from a label die but cut using the two opposite ends without the middle. If you see what I mean.


I'm entering it into these challenges:
Creative Card Crew: handmade flowers
Simon Says Stamp: April showers bring spring flowers
Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground: snippets (and the BEST prize this week, I would LOVE to win this!)

7 comments:

Tara Cardwell said...

Hi Squirrel

Thanks for your comments on my hot ladies card from the playground - glad you liked it! I got my stamps from http://www.oysterstamps.co.uk/acatalog/Art_Impressions_.html If you google Art Impressions though I believe there are quite widely available. I notice they have created decoupage sheets with some of their images now.
Hope that helps.
Tara
x

Di said...

Hi Squirrel! Super piccie of the garden there - isn't nature wonderful, and everything is springing into life here too right now.

Love your snippets card, clever idea using a labels die as a vase and so good to see someone else punching out teeny flowers :)

Gosh I do wish I had a whole handful of the Arboscello Tree die - but if you get a chance before Saturday lunchtime (noon) you can enter up to three snippets makes in total, which would increase your chances.

Mind you, the weather is so lovely right now it's great to be out and about.

Hugs, Di xx

Sue - said...

Pretty card and what a lovely garden. It must be nice having all those birds. I don't get nearly as many as I used to since I had a family of foxes last year and now my garden seems to be the local cats playground!

Angelique said...

Gorgeous flowers. Love the touch of glitter.
Thank you for joining us at Creative Card Crew

Huggsss,Angelique
EngelDesignsScrap

Juls said...

gorgeous!! Fab use of snippits! Hugs Juls

Sarn said...

Delightful vase of flowers card and a terrific use of small snippets. What a fab idea about the oval . . . might have to pinch that one!

How wonderful to have so many birds nesting in your garden and then to have a deer trespass. You are indeed very lucky to see such things.

Hugs
Sarn xxx

Denise @ kc242 said...

Wow what a cute card. Love your color choices! Thanks so much for playing along with us at the Creative Card Crew!
Denise