Pion Design - Christmas with Prancer

Hello Everyone!

Today I am sharing a holiday card featuring this year's Christmas collections from Pion Design, "Christmas Wishes" and "Long Ago in Bethlehem".  I just adore this image of Santa with his reindeer, so festive and fun!

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, the mistletoe sprig is from W Plus 9. The cinnamon stick is real and I just brushed on a little white paint, sure makes the whole card smells Christmassy!!!

I have tucked in a couple of bark snowflakes in the corners. I have a horrible habit of taking things out of the original package and now I can't figure out where to buy them. They're about 5cm wide. Does anyone know where I could purchase some more of these???

Pion products:

Christmas Wishes - Let- it Snow PD9807

Christmas Wishes - Santa's Friends PD9806

Long ago in Bethlehem - Mary and Joseph PD9401

Long ago in Bethlehem - Borders PD9411

Long ago in Bethlehem - Tags PD9412

Pion Design Palette - Golden Ocra II PD6136

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The leaves have pretty much all fallen off now and the world is turning grey. Thank goodness I still have some colourful autumn shots to share. This landscape was an early morning shot, the orange in the background is the sun reflecting off the lake.

And so begins the season of puffed up birds! What's not to love about a pom pom shaped Cardinal!

I was so excited to see this beautiful girl outside the other day! I decided to hang the suet feeder back up this week, and presto, within 12 hours this gorgeous Woodpecker shows up! To hell with the neighbours, the feeder stays!

"Hmmm, it smells fine. So if there's nothing wrong with it, why would that human just give it to me?" 

~trail friend~

"Wow, I really need to get a human to squirrel translator, because this woman never stops talking and I have no freaking idea what she's saying!" 

~Mistro~

"Omg Omg Omg! So I was walking along and I found a peanut just sitting there! I'm the Queen of the world!" 

~Princess Tabitha~

"Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I got me a peanut, I did I did I did! 

~Sweet Cheeks~

For my macro today, these teeny weeny mushrooms. They were so small, the bigger ones were about the size of a single pea!! I have no idea how I even managed to spot them!

That's it for today. Thank you for stopping in and for all the amazing comments. If anyone has a source for those bark snowflakes, please let me know in the comments.

Birthday Daydreams

Hello Everyone!

Taking a break from Christmas today because I was way too excited to play with my new Lemoncraft papers sent to me by the very talented Lisa of A Mermaid's Crafts. These papers are from the Daydream collection and you can purchase them at Lisa's Etsy shop here.

For my birthday, my Mom sent me a gift card and I got a whole bunch of new Venice laces and chiffon flowers! I'm so in love with how these items look all loaded up on a card!

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This week was my baking week. I find during the holidays that I really crave cookies and squares with my tea or hot chocolate, the types of sweets you can't buy at the grocery store. My favourites are coconut/pineapple squares, and peanut butter/butterscotch cookies!! I'm all stocked up now, and I even made a fun batch of pecan cookies for the squirrels that they are loving! 

For my birds today, this handsome Blackbird getting some take out...

a Chickadee...

and a ruggedly handsome male Cardinal putting on his best pose...

"Oh, it's you again. Didn't you just take a picture of me like 5 minutes ago!" 

~Mary Jane~

Oh Mr Chubb, what big eyes you have!

"I wish I may, I wish I might, find a butt load of peanuts tonight!" 

~a trail friend~

It's been pretty windy so my macro shots haven't been as great as I hoped, but I did snap this rain drop one on the beautiful red leaves.

So what kinds of goodies do you bake up for the holidays?

That's it for today. Thank you for stopping in and for all the amazing comments. If you have any questions or interesting tidbits about today's wildlife, please let me know.

Let it Snow

Hello Everyone!

Something a little different today, I'm going NEON! One thing I love about making Christmas cards is that I can whip out the bright colours and not feel like I've betrayed the shabby chic in me!

The papers are from Canvas Corp and My Mind's Eye, the snowflakes are Cheery Lynn, the Happy Holidays sticker is from Tim Holtz Seasonal Chit Chat book, the wood reindeer is DeSerres, the green plaid ribbon is May Arts, the pearls are from My Ducks Doodahs, and the soft white snow is Flower Soft. Everything else is from my stash. I really don't use pom pom trim enough, love it!

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Nothing new to report with the weather. It's still way too warm here to be getting any snow, but we sure have gotten a lot of rain. It's been very overcast and the trees are pretty much all naked now, but thankfully I still have some colourful autumn photos to share!

For my birds today, this elusive female Cardinal...

and a handsome Blue Jay...

"Holy crap my human, you are super tall when you stand up!" 

~Big Kate~

"Oh, hey there human. Do a gal a favour and toss another nut will ya. I lost mine in these dang leaves!" 

~Scarlet~

"I think she sees me, she's looking right at me! Why doesn't she throw me a peanut already!"

~Ginger~

"Oh, hey human. You're back again! You must really enjoy laying in the mud huh?" 

~One Eyed Willamina~

For my macro today, this very fun fungi growing on a fallen tree trunk.

That's it for today. Thank you to everyone who left a comment telling me about their bird feeders and the food they leave for the squirrels! It makes me so happy to know that some of the animals out there will have less of a struggle this winter, it's a hard season to survive when you're that small!

Pion Design - Christmas Notes

Hello Everyone!

Today I've put together this vintage Christmas card using all sorts of beautiful Pion Design collections. These papers are so versatile, any collection can be used for any occasion! I've used "To My Valentine", "The Witching Hour", "The Night Before Christmas", "Long Ago in Bethlehem", and "Christmas Wishes". It's like these papers were meant to be used together!

The striped ribbon is Canvas Corp Brands, the flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts, the wood leaf flourish is Southern Ridge Trading Company, and everything else is from my stash.

Pion products:

To My Valentine - Love Song PD6808

The Witching Hour - Beyond the Grave PD8003

The Night Before Christmas - Christmas Branches PD7804

The Night Before Christmas - Snowflake Magic PD7807

Long Ago in Bethlehem - Angels Singing PD9404

Long Ago in Bethlehem - Mary and Joseph PD9401

Christmas Wishes - Borders PD9811

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So my house is all decorated for Christmas! YAY!! We finally found a Christmas tree that fits our dining room space. We got 7 foot tall, slim, flocked tree and it is so beautiful! We've decorated in white, crystal and white gold. I couldn't get a shot of the whole tree, so I'm just going to share some close ups of a few of the decorations.

I couldn't possibly sleep tonight if I left this post wildlife-less, so here's a cutie patootie photo of my best bud Crazy Karen showing us that winning smile that I fell in love with!! OMG, how cute is she!

So as you can see, I decorate fairly early in the year. When do you put up your tree?

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I think I made some of you nervous with my wildlife food list last post. Just want to clarify about squirrels and peanuts. By all means, throw some peanuts out to the squirrels. They love them so much, and as long as they are getting proper food from other sources, then they'll be fine. Many people have backyard squirrels that rely on the food set out for them as as their main food source, this is when it becomes a health issue for them. Just like kids and a bag of chips or a chocolate bar, it's ok for them have a some now and again, as long as it's not the only thing they eat. If your worried, toss in a few mixed nuts the odd time, they love those too!

Thank you to everyone who takes the time and money to feed the animals, you make my heart soar!