Wednesday 1 April 2020

An alternative birthday

EDIT 31.3.20 ; I would like to dedicate this post to a very special dog Bear. I had already written this post and have chosen not to change it. Bear lived life at full pace, always happy, always loving.

Good morning and happy April everyone. I am here to share the first of 2 design team posts, the first for Country View Crafts. However it's my birthday...yes seriously it's not an April fool. This year it is going to be a very different one, no treats out, no family or friends to see. Just Hb and me. We will certainly be doing a BIG celebration next year though as it is a biggy for me! Something to look forward to in these very dark times.

Our theme over at CVC for our April challenge is a most apt theme for me......animal magic!  Billy is our cat who lives here.  However Bear, my son's gorgeous dog had been staying with us following severe issues with his hips and spine to avoid stairs. Sadly after initial good progress things deteriorated rapidly and yesterday this gorgeous soul had to be put to sleep.......

I had already planned to use these photos today and despite the devastation that this gorgeous boy has gone to find the sunshine else where I wanted to still share them. . Here is dear Bear  relaxing in our garden last week before he was taken so poorly.
The most gentle giant you could ever meet.
Rest in peace darling boy.

*****BEAR 28 Feb 2012-31 March 2020*****

We would like to see all your animal creations for our April challenge and one lucky randomly selected entry will receive a £20 gift code to spent on the website. 
All the details can be found here;

For my first project I used the wonderful owl from Visible Image and before anyone says anything yes of course a bird is an animal, as is a fish, a butterfly, a horse, a snail, a snake, a spider, a whale...you get the picture...they are all classified as animals. You can even go for a unicorn or two if you like.

This is how I put my card together;

First I made a distress ink background using squeezed lemonade, salty ocean and mermaid lagoon, I added a sun using an acetate circle and mustard seed distress ink.
Then I stamped 2 sentiments from the Visible Image so much stronger set ( I see that Susan does not have this one on the website but could order it for you if you email her).
 I then stamped the awesome owl from the Night owl set onto inky mop up card and cut him out.

I added a little extra colour to him with distress markers and glossy accents to his eyes.
I also stamped the branches from the set around the edges.
Here is my finished card.
I would like to enter it into the following challenges; 

Through the dark room door 1/3 anything goes
Shopping our stash 1/3 under the sun, moon and stars
Try it on Tuesday 1/3 beauty of nature
Happy little stampers watercolour anything goes

I hope I may have inspired you to join in with our April "Animals" challenge. You can use any stamps/products, the choice is yours. 
You can enter our challenge as many times as you like and combine with other challenges. There is also a £20 crafting voucher up for grabs to the lucky randomly selected winner to spend over on the Country View Crafts on line store. Remember that UK postage and packing from CVC  is absolutely FREE! Once again all the details for the April challenge can be found here.

I am back on the 15th April with my 2nd "animal" project..this time it is another bird but a very different one to my owl.

So for my birthday treat today my Hb and I will be........
..................................................................................................
.....staying indoors and protecting our NHS. That is the most useful thing we and everyone can do for now;
there is always next year.

My Hb usually buys me this gorgeous personalized lemon sponge birthday cake each year from Konditor and Cook, not so this year of course. They are shut along with all the other businesses. I so hope they can survive and bounce back.  So here is a virtual slice for you and me from my birthday 3 years ago with a very young looking Daisy (who is now 6) and my personalized lemon birthday cake. Gosh how I miss her.
These times will pass.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Stay safe, stay indoors and stay creative.

Run free darling Bear dog xxx

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

23 comments:

  1. Happy birthday Jane and hope you enjoy your virtual cake! Such a shame about Bear, how very sad.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Jane,

    Happy Birthday!

    What a mixed feeling day, I am so very sorry for Bear, what a good boy he was.
    Love that picture of you and your sweet girlie, hope you can meet soon again.

    Stay safe&healthy my friend!

    Yours,
    Mia

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Birthday Jane , and so sorry for your loss of Bear.
    Beautiful creation with the owl, thanks for sharing xxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful card, Jane!!! The background and the colours are just magnificent!!! Happy birthday and happy April!!! xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Jane
    So sorry to hear about Bear. I hope the joy of being with him outweighs the sadness at losing him. He will always be with you all.
    Best wishes
    Ellie

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lovely owl card Jane..and so sorry about Bear...what a beautiful looking dog. xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy birthday dear Jane! I hope you´ll have a nice day in spite of all the sadness going on. So sorry for the loss of the beloved Bear. Sending you some hugs.

    Your card is beautiful this owl looks fab!

    Evelyn xxx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Run free beautiful boy!!

    Wishing you many happy returns my lovely friend,
    V xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Happy Birthday, dear Jane! I hope you have had a lovely, if somewhat different, day and wishing you every happiness for the year ahead!
    I love your owl card with it's wonderful inky background... I'm going to have to clear my crafty table so that I can have a play with my inks one of these days, but I have had lots of cards to do, so there's about a 4 inch square!
    Take care, love and hugs (albeit virtual!), your crafty friend, Lisa x

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love your card ! So sorry to hear about Bear .. and it is your birthday too.. Happy birthday, I hope you had a good day despite of everything that is happening !
    Corrie xxx

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a lovely post for Bear, Jane. In these photos, as the others you shared with us, he always looks relaxed and happy and that's down to you. Something to hang onto when sadness strikes.
    I love the background of your owl card, he's quite striking isn't he?!
    Have a great romantic night in! xx

    ReplyDelete
  12. So many mixed emotions for you today Jane. I love your card, owls are always wonderful aren't they. I'm so sorry to hear about Bear. I feel like I know him through your blog posts. I hope you enjoy your birthday, and I'm sure you'll celebrate in style when things eventually get back to normal. Take care and have a happy April, Sue xx

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh my goodness he is one handsome dog. Sorry for your loss. Gorgeous card, love that owl and your background is fabulous. Happy Birthday to you, mine was on the 29th and my son's on the 31st, he is in self quarentine (not copid19) as a precaution. Both of us live alone and it was certainly a different time. I dropped a card and some cookies in between the doors and of course stepped 6 feet back so I could say Hi. He texted me that he thought his card was the best yet. Thanks for playing along with us at Shopping Our Stash. Stay safe and stay healthy.

    ReplyDelete
  14. So sorry to hear about loosing your beautiful bear, our dogs are a big part of our family. Wonderful memories in your photographs XX
    Great card, love the watercolour background and that gorgeous owl :)
    Christine

    ReplyDelete
  15. First of all I would like to say that I am so very sorry for your loss. Beautiful Bear :) Oh we almost share the same birthday - mine is on the 30th. Happy happy birthday! Lovely card and the background you created is simply gorgeous!

    Thank you for sharing your work in our Happy Little Stampers watercolor challenge & we hope you will join us again in the next HLS Challenge!.
    Anna – Design Team member at Happy Little Stampers

    Visit my blog - Crafty Anna Studio.
    You can also find me on Instagram - CraftyAnna Studio
    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  16. So very sorry to hear of the loss of Bear, gorgeous boy and I just know he was well loved and now dearly missed by your family. Sending love and hugs your way xoxo
    Thanks so much for celebrating the sun, moon & stars with the crew from SHOPPING OUR STASH!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks so much for you fabulous submission to our challenge! I love the background inks and that owl is truly amazing! We are glad you decided to play along at Shopping Our Stash!
    Hugz,
    Chana

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm so sorry to read that you lost your sweet Bear, I know you have beautiful memories of him that surely will help you carry on.
    Your card is fantastic, the background is awesome and perfectly frames this gorgeous owl.
    Thank you for playing along with us at SHOPPING OUR STASH.
    XO
    Maria/DT
    PS. I'm checking out the Country View Challenge, I love animals so, I'll see you t here soon. Thank you for the link.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love your owl card. Happy birthday ! TTCRD Week of 31 Mar

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm so sorry to hear about Bear. And I am sure you had a great birthday. Love your owl card.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Lovely owl card. Thank you for joining us at Try it on Tuesday.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Bear looked like a wonderful companion, sending you heartfelt wishes! Your owl card is amazing, I love the background that you created - beautiful 😁. That's such a happy photo of you both celebrating your past birthday and wow, that cake looks yummy too - Happy birthday wishes! Thanks so much for joining in the fun at Try it on Tuesday! Hugs, Jo x

    ReplyDelete
  23. I am so sad to hear of your loss of your wonderful Bear! Dogs are such an important part of the family! Lovely to see your photos! Happy birthday! I love your wonderfully creative card with that amazing night sky! Great card! Thanks so much for joining us at HLS Watercolour Challenge! Stay safe! :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for leaving a comment; I really enjoy reading every single one of them.

To comply with the new Data Protection legislation (GDPR) May 2018 I wish to state that any comments left here are with your consent that your name & comment are visible to anyone who visits my blog and that you accept that your personal information is being used for that specific purpose.

Jane x