SUNSHINE AT LAST!!!!

Hello!!!! wow what a gorgeous weekend it has been. So lovely to have sunshine. The garden is looking amazing. My mate Steve came over and mowed the lawn and did loads of tidying up. I got out there and did some weeding (my body is sure telling me about now!!!). I just love it when the garden looks all nice and neat. I need to just go tidy up around hedgie villa's!!! fresh straw and have a clean out of their cabins as there is no one in there at the moment (mind you that can change on a daily basis). As we have had so much rain everything is soggy around there including the straw which really needs replacing. A job for this week I believe.

Ok, yesterday was a total disaster as we got to the Cats Protection and the open day was last Sunday!!! the ad that we saw a couple of weeks ago was wrong. I now have an up to date list of their future events and all is in my calendar now. Felt like a right plumb turning up on the wrong day!!!. We gave a good donation and took all of the gear I had sorted out for them, including the kittie toys, beds and rascal tunnel we collected. We went and visited the cats and kittens that are waiting to be rehomed and of course I just wanted to take them all home. I get so heartbroken seeing them and I am so baffled how people can abandon, abuse and neglect these beautiful and loyal creatures. I will never understand that for as long as I live. Thank heaven's for places like CP, RSPCA, Blue Cross, Battersea......etc.

Anyway on to one of my cards I have recently made. I got a crafty mag and they had some gorgeous Nit Wit paper's in there which I really love so have been using it on some of my cards.

I have used one of my favourite House Mouse stamps (coloured with Promarker's), Wild Orchid flower's, East of India ribbon & a pebble's rub on. 

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

CRAFTY CATZ - Happy Birthday

CES CHALLENGES - Anything Goes

Ok my lovelies will be back with another card tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!!!.

Big hugs Clare xxx

WAHOO ASHLEIGH & PUDSEY WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so wanted them to win and they got my vote!!!!!!!!!

Well done Pudsey!!!. Just goes to show how amazing our furry little friends are. Just saying xxx

WILDLIFE UPDATE!!!

Hello my lovelies, wow what a lovely sunny day it has been!!!!. My prayer's have been answered at last. I really want it to be nice for tomorrow as it is our local Cats Protection open day and they always seem to get a wet day for it. I hear the forecast is meant to be good over the weekend so finger's crossed. 

I have had a busy day today. Little Harry the hedgehog went off to the vets. He is not doing any better and he has finished the course of antibiotic's he was on. Poor little sausage sounds like an old man when he breath's and cough's. I am waiting for him to be dropped off back home and I hear he has been given a stronger antibiotic injection and has to go back to vet's again on Monday. He's a tough little bugger though and sure he will get better soon.

Like I said there is an open day at my local Cats Protection (Hailsham, East Sussex) and me, Dad and Martin always go whenever they have one on to support them. So today I have had a massive de-clutter and managed to muster up 3 bin bags full of clothes, bedding etc. I still have to go through Bert & Simone's toy boxes but have to wait until they are asleep to do so as I always find them to have a renewed interest in the said toys they have neglected for months!!!. I managed to clean my washing machine and defrost my fridge freezer today too so has been a very productive day. 

I went to the rescue centre on Sunday afternoon to help out. I absolutely love it there and as it is such a busy time of the year any little thing you can do helps. They have lots of sick birds in at the moment, pigeon's, doves, crows, a robin, a cheeky duck! and.....a baby owl!!! what an amazing experience that was. I have never seen an owl in real life before. Although we are not allowed to take pic's at the centre I have found a couple of photo's to show you what the little owl looked like and just how beautiful they are.

How gorgeous!!!. They look like balls of fluff!!!. I was surprised at how big they are for babies and you also have to be very careful of those claws. Poor little thing was found in a barn on his own. Obviously they had to wait to see if Mum turned up but this never happened. He is being well looked after though, as are all of the other patients in there being loved and cared for. 

Some good new's is this little fella Glenn came home on Sunday!!!.

Glenn was the little one I found in the wooden kennel in my shed which was made for the semi feral cat I look out for. Glenn had 40 ticks removed from him and was successfully treated for lung worm. He was released at dusk on Sunday and is now happily living back in hoggy land. I see him at the food station I have just outside my conservatory door some evening so good to see he is still around. There are another 3 regular's to my garden, Ernie, Amy and Fred. I have checked them out and all 3 of them have leg defects. Amy has a rear foot missing, Fred a rear leg amputated and Ernie has like a clubbed front leg which is curled up in a ball shape. It does not seem to hinder them though and they are all really healthy. Just had to remove 13 ticks off Fred  but doing regular checks on them will hopefully help make sure they are healthy. 

Sorry this is such a long post but I know many of you requested an update but there was plenty of news to tell!!!. Promise to keep you informed about Harry and any newbies that come my way.

Thank you so much for your continued interest in our beautiful wildlife friends. Hope it helps to understand how much help these little critter's need from time to time. Even a nightly bowl of cat/dog food or cat biscuits really does help them. If anyone would like more info or advice please feel free to comment or just email me privately at earlygirl1@hotmail.co.uk

Big hugs Clare xxx

CAROL'S LACE & RIBBON CCC CHALLENGE

Hi friends!!! don't know about you but I am getting so sick and tired of this bloody rain. I know we needed some but enough already!!!. Starting to get depressed with it now.

As usually I am starting to get traditionally late with the Christmas Card Club challenges (even though we have 2 weeks to complete them!!!). So sorry Carol but here is my card for your ribbon & lace theme.

INGREDIENTS

WHITE LINEN CARD

LOTV STAMP

RIBBON, LACE & RUB ON FROM STASH

RED, EUCALYPTUS & DIAMOND STICKLES

BARN DOOR DISTRESS IN PAD

I absolutely love this LOTV stamp it is so pretty. If anyone is interested in joining us at the Christmas Card Club just send one of us a message for the details. Why not pop over to the other girls blogs and see their beautiful cards (see the list on my side bar).

Well it has been a busy few days since my last post. Sometimes I do not feel like I can get on top of everything and feel like im constantly chasing my tail!!!. I have been creating but 3 cards I cannot show as they are for my bloggy friends so will have to wait till after they have received them. I am working on a couple at the moment so bear with me and I will put them up shortly. I will also do an update on the animal family as on Sunday I went and helped out at the rescue centre which was amazing!!!!. 

Thank you for all of your lovely comments, they really mean so much to me. I am getting around to everyone's blogs but bear with me if I have not visited your's yet, I will get there!!!.

Lots of love Clare xxx

HAPPY SATURDAY!!!!!

Hi everyone. Hope we are all having a happy Saturday!!!. Not sure if anyone else who has a Shabby Blog background has had problems but every time I went to go into my blog it kept coming up that the site has virus & not to go into it. Great!!!! so I took the background off and added another one and lost all of my sidebar stuff. A very grumpy Clare proceeded and after an hour of faffing around and managed to get it back but everything was out of order. I have managed to pretty much got everything back to how it was but after just checking the Shabby website all seems normal again, grrrrrrr!!!!!!!.

I sometime wonder if Blogger does things like this just to pee us all off!!!. Think I will stick with this background for a bit now.

Ok another Birthday card to share which I made for a friends Grandaughter who loves pink!!!!.

INGREDIENTS


8X8 BLANK CARD & ENVELOPE
PINK & WHITE LINEN CARD
LOTV IMAGE
DOVECRAFT SENTIMENT STAMPS
PINK GINGHAM CARD FROM HANDY HIPPO
KANBAN FLORAL CARD
WILD ORCHID FLOWERS
DOILY & RIBBON FROM STASH
PROMARKERS & FLEXMARKERS 

Will be back tomorrow with my Christmas Card Club challenge card.

Take care all

Hugs Clare xxxx

PUPPY LOVE

Hello friends, hope you are all well and looking forward to the bank holiday weekend. Lets hope this weather improves as it is so dull and cold. At least it stayed dry here today.

As promised I am posting another Birthday card today which I made this week.

INGREDIENTS

CRAFTWORK CARDS CARD & ENVELOPE

LOTV IMAGE

OLIVE GINGHAM CARD, LACE RIBBON, TWINE & GINGHAM BUTTONS FROM STASH

PEBBLES HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUB ON

WILD ORCHID FLOWERS

ANTIQUE LINEN DISTRESSED INK PAD

PROMARKERS (IVORY,TAN, KHAKI, WARM GREY 1 & 2 & PASTEL PINK)

CIRCLE NESTIES

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

LILI OF THE VALLEY - Anything goes

INCY WINCY DESIGNS - Mother's Day or girly design

PAPERTAKE WEEKLY - Anything goes

SIMONE SAYS - Birthday

DREAM VALLEY CHALLENGES - For a special lady

I will be back over the weekend to share more cards. Hope everyone has a happy Saturday.

Big hugs from me, Bert, Simone & Harry the hedgehog xxxx

BIRTHDAY CARD SHARE

Well I finally managed to get into the craft room and start creating again at the weekend. I was asked to make 3 Birthday cards for friends and knew they needed doing but it was good as I really ended up enjoying making them after a break. 

INGREDIENTS

WHITE LINEN CARD

BO BUNNY BACK TO BASICS "LOVE BANDIT" PATTERNED CARD

PENNY BLACK CAT IMAGE

LOTV SENTIMENT STAMP

WILD ORCHID FLOWERS

BUNNY ZOE RAFFIA LACE RIBBON

PROMARKERS (BERRY, TAN, WARM GREY 1 & 2)

SPELLBINDERS CIRCLES & SCALLOP CIRCLES

DISTRESSED INK PAD (PUMICE STONE)

DISTRESSING TOOL

I am going to enter my card into the following challenges;

LADYBUG CRAFTS - Birthday

PAPERTAKE WEEKLY - Anything goes

SIMON SAYS - Birthday

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES - Summer sunshine

PENNY BLACK SATURDAY CHALLENGE - May day, spring themed cards

I will be adding the other two cards (and hopefully more!) over the next couple of days. Thank you so much for your love and support. It means so much and I love reading your comments, they make my day!.

Love & hugs Clare xxx

THE WANDERER RETURNS..........

Ok apologies once again for the absence. Not going to harp on, just to say that my health hasn't been good again and not been up to too much craftiness. I have been picking up the past week and something that has helped is looking after this beautiful little fella;

This is Harry and he came to me on Saturday after he was attacked (not sure by what) luckily he only managed to escape with a laceration to his ear but when he was examined by the vet they picked up that he has possibly got lung worm and/or pneumonia. They also removed 50 ticks from him which is a sign of ill health. Funnily enough although he sounds like he smokes 50 a day he is such a lively little fella and is eating, drinking.......He needs to see the vet on Friday again as I have been able to put antibiotics and lung worm treatment in his food and water but he will be assessed and decided on the next step which will probably be to go to the rescue centre which will be good as he may need longer term treatment. He will come back to me though when he is better. I will keep you posted.

The hoggy that I found in my shed 4 weeks ago which also had 40 ticks removed is coming back home on Sunday!!! I am so happy as he too has been successfully treated for lung worm. I will update and post the pic's at the weekend. 

Hope all of my friends are happy and well in blog land. I managed to get my old Blogger interface back but understand that it will all be in new format at the end of the month, blurrgghh!!!. With a bit of luck they will over look it and keep the old style!!!.

Ok my lovelies I have managed to get 3 cards done so will post them shortly.

Big hugs and lots of love Clare xxx

MY CHRISTMAS CARD CLUB CHALLENGE

Back again!!!. It was my turn this fortnight to choose the challenge for the Christmas Card Club and I decided to go with something very different. It was to make anything but "A" card. You can make cards as in a pack or box but not "A" card. I also wanted to see different creations like gift tags/bags/boxes, a scrapbook page, Christmas decoration, absolutely anything as long as it is Christmas themed. I decided to make a decoration.

 THE DECORATION HAS THE SAME IMAGE ON EITHER SIDE

I was quite pleased with how it turned out and was so easy to make. Certainly need lots of foam pads for layering!!!. I used a Woodware punch for the snowflake and the little leaf's and I think the stamp is by Little Claire which I got from Ally Pally. Lots of Kaisercraft bling and the ribbon & eyelet was from my stash. Oh and Spellbinder's circles & scallop circles. 

If you would like to join our little Christmas Club just message me or any of the girls on my sidebar. We have a challenge once a fortnight and just play for fun and friendship. Hopefully have a few Christmas cards before December too!!!. Go check out the other girls lovely blogs and their creations for my challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and thank you so much for your lovely comments.

Love & hugs Clare xxx

IM BACK!!!

So sorry that I have not been around for a while, you probably thought I had not come back from Ally Pally!!!. I had a wonderful time although I do not think Saturday is a good day to go for me as it was so so busy and having difficulties getting around it was a real struggle. Luckily most of the crafting community are lovely but then you get what I call the "Next" sale category, the one's who are so selfish and knock you off your feet to get to everything, barge, push, don't apologise.........you get the picture. 

Anyway I managed to meet up with two gorgeous friends Sylvie (Gibmiss) & Sue (Scoopystuff), made friends with a few other's and a lovely lady called Nicki on the coach. Managed to buy lots of yummies, lots of stamps, card, embellishments, chipboard bits, lace, ribbon.......on and on. 

Since Ally Pally I have had one of my worst flare up's of my Rheumatoid Arthritis and had to spend a few days in bed last week. Today I had an appointment at the hospital and they have given me a steroid injection which will hopefully calm it down a bit. I must admit though I do feel heaps better than last week and can get around heaps better. Oh meant to say, the new drug I am on for the RA, Simponi, is doing good. No nasty side effects like I was getting with the other's and do not seem to be having as many flare up's. I have had 2 treatments now so so far so good. Will keep you posted.

Now that I am starting to feel better I have a lot of catching up to do so will come visit all of my friends as soon as I can. Must say I absolutely hate the new look Blogger. Why did they have to change it???. I have changed it back to the old style. Don't know how long it will stay as it does say it will eventually all go to the new version. I think it looks so boring and bland and find it hard to find everything. What does everyone else think?? maybe I'm just being grumpy and stoopid!!!.

Do hope that all of my friends are well and keeping warm from this horrible weather. Must admit that when I got home from the hospital I got into my PJ bottoms as I was so cold!!!.

Will be back in a bit with my Christmas Card Club creation.

Love and hugs Clare xxx

MARGARET'S BLACK & WHITE CHRISTMAS CARD CHALLENGE

At last I am finally getting around to blogging my Christmas card which was due for the Christmas Card Club on Sunday. It was the lovely MARGARET'S turn and she chose the theme of black & white for the challenge, a firm favourite of mine!!!. 

INGREDIENTS

WHITE & BLACK BAZZILL CARD

BLACK TARTAN CARD FROM HANDY HIPPO

RED GINGHAM DESIGNS CHRISTMAS HOUSE STAMP

RIBBON & SENTIMENT PEEL OFF FROM STASH

DIAMOND STICKLES

Really love this stamp and is the first time I have used it after bagging it from EBAY. 

If any of you are interested in joining our group of 20 Christmas Card Club member's just leave me or any of the girls on my sidebar a message. We are a totally chilled group of girls who make a Christmas card once a fortnight to a challenge set by one of us just to get ahead with our cards before December. 

I would also like to enter my card into CRAFTY HAZELNUTS CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE which theme this week is "White Christmas".

I am certainly feeling more relaxed this week and have had my lovely Niece Rebecca staying for the past couple of days so we have been in the craft room creating. I'm starting to feel better and although I am still snotty (sorry!) I am not feeling so fluey. 

Ok I want to know if many of my lovely friends are going to Ally Pally at the weekend???. I am going on the Saturday. I am so excited. I know three of my lovely friends are going and will be meeting up with them. If you are let me know ok and will arrange to get together.

Will be back again soon my lovelies!!!.

Big hugs Clare xxx

AN UPDATE ON MY MAD WEEK!!!

BEWARE THIS IS A VERY LONG POST SO MAY WANT TO GET A CUPPA!!!!!!!

Hello my lovelies. So sorry I did not post earlier this week but ive not been good having a stinking cold and bad throat. I'm still full of cold and have even had to put off my treatment which was due Thursday. Anyway enough of my woe's!!!.

I know you are all dying to know about the squirrels and I have at last got the video to show you which I did earlier in the week. 

Aren't they cute!!!!! love it when Sid started scratching at the camera lol. Thought it would be nice to see a video than picture's this week so a little treat for you all. 

Well yesterday the time came for Monica to take them to her place as she has the hard job of weaning them off the milk. She will also have to start handling them less and she has a massive cage for them to go into at her home. 

The past week has been quite tough, not feeling very well didn't help but the squirrels are getting really strong now and have found them a lot more harder to handle (my gammy hands don't help lol!). Monica was on holiday so knew I needed to tackle it head on. As I was still feeding them 3 times a day I had to put them in the carrier in between filling up their syringes as they would be clambering up my arms, flying off the table going mad for more milk!!!. They are so fast now and have found it hard to be quick enough to keep hold of them. This though is a big sign of their independence and that they are nearing being ready for release. Bless them they have even started burying their food. They have a selection of food in their cage and Sid was scrambling around at the bottom of the cage hiding food which is what squirrels do in the wild and go back for later.

So my darlin's the next time we will see Sid, Alice and Sindy should be in about 3 weeks (providing they are ready) as Monica and I will be taking them to the centre to the large outdoor avery to get them used to the outdoor's, the smells, the noises etc before they go out there in the big wide world. Don't worry as I will be equipt with camera and will be doing a special post about them.

So I have been looking after Monica's guinea piggies as well this week so thought some pic's were in order for Blossom, Petal, Piggy and Sassy;

 PIGGY

 SASSY THE BEAUTIFUL ALBINO PIGGY WITH PINK EYES

 THIS IS BLOSSOM WHO I RECKON MY SIMONE WOULD BE IF SHE WAS A GUINEA PIG WITH THE SAME CALICO COLOURS!!!

PETAL

My Bert absolutely loved the piggies and when they had gone yesterday afternoon he was walking around the conservatory like a lost soul!! he could not make out where they had all gone bless him. I'm sure I will be looking after them again the next time Monica is on holiday!!!.

I have made two rescues this week, the first one was on Friday when a pigeon fell down my chimney. Me and Martin had to remove a cover which blocks the fire place off. There are little holes in the cover and we could see the poor little soul through them with a torch. Luckily we managed to get him out quickly and I wrapped him up in a towel and checked him out and thankfully he was not injured, just in shock. We released him on to the lawn and he went rushing over to the water bowl I have on lawn and gulped loads down. I put food down for him and after a while he went flying off.

The second rescue was yesterday morning. I went into the shed to collect the food bowls from my semi-feral cat visitor and I always check the wooden kennel I have for him in there to see if all is well. When I peered in I saw the rear end of a hedgehog!!! he was tucked up in the blankets but I was alarmed to see a lot of ticks on his rump. I pulled the blanket out trying not to disturb the sleeping hoggie and the poor little mites face was absolutely smothered in ticks as well. I bundled him up in blanket and brought him in and popped him in a carrier with a heat pad. Thankfully it was before Monica came to pick up the squirrels and piggies so she rushed him off to the rescue centre once she left mine. Monica contacted me last night and they successfully removed 40 ticks!!! that is shocking as even 5 can be dangerous to a hedgehog. Last night he was tucked up and nice and warm in his temporary bed at the centre where he will stay for a little while to recover and receive antibiotics and come back to me when he is well enough. 

So the rescue season is definitely upon us and I feel so blessed to be a part of it. I think it will be a busy one and am all ready for it. 

I must admit that today has been so nice being able to relax and had my first lay in in ages!!!. I have soooooo missed creating in my craft room so with all of my housework done today I am going to be all set this week for some cardmaking. It will be good to get back to blogging too and visiting all of my beautiful and loyal friends. 

I really hope that you have enjoyed this post and is not too long!!! especially hope you like the video.

Will be back very soon with a card to show you all.

Big hugs from me, Bert & Simone xxx

GUEST DESIGN CARD FOR BUNNY ZOE APRIL CHALLENGE!!!

I am totally chuffed to have been selected as a guest designer for the very awesome BUNNY ZOE CRAFTS. It is for their next challenge which is to use ribbon or twine on your project that was selected by DORCAS which starts today 9th April. I also selected a gorgeous House Mouse stamp set from the BUNNY ZOE'S CRAFT SHOP kindly given by the lovely NIKKI to use on my project. Here is my card;

INGREDIENTS

CRAFTWORK CARDS WHITE CARD BLANK

WHITE & PINK BAZZILL CARD

HOUSE MOUSE STAMP SET FROM BUNNY ZOE CRAFTS
DOILY FROM THE DOILY DEALER (EBAY)

PINK BUTTONS, TWINE, PINK POLKA DOT CARD & PAPER PIECED COLOURED PAPERS FROM STASH


Hope everyone had an awesome Easter and managed to bag loads of chocolate. Shame about the weather but guess we can't have everything!.


I will be back soon with an update on the squirrels and what's been going on in life!!!.


Big hugs Clare xxx

MORE SQUIRREL PICS!!!

Hello my lovelies!! I promised to post some more pictures of the babies. I have even managed to do a little video of them but am having problems uploading it so please do bear with me and I will make sure it is up there soon for you to see, it is sooooo cute!!!.

Aren't they growing!!!. We reckon they are now about 8 weeks old and usually by around 14 weeks they are ready to go out and face that big wide world. We have to make sure that they are ready though and will not release them until that time. So we have them for atleast another 6 weeks so lots more photo ops!!!.

They are now down to 3 big feeds a day and I am trying to get them to eat solid foods. As you can see their cage has now been turned upside down so that they have plenty of climbing space. They are still pretty sleepy babies and still have plenty of growing to do.

Hope you enjoy the pics and I promise as soon as I can sort out the video I will get it posted.

I have been doing a little crafting, not a lot, but I cannot show the cards yet as one is for a guest DT spot and a couple of cards for a couple of friends who are likely to see my blog!. 

Hope all of my lovely friends are well. I will be back again real soon.

Lots of love xxxxxxxxx

FEEDING BABIES!!!

Although these pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago I wanted to share these photos that my MIL took of me feeding the littlies. It was so good as I cannot take pic's on my own with squirrel in one hand and syringe in the other so when she came over she was like David Bailey with her camera!!. 

LITTLE ALICE

SMALL SINDY

BABY SID

LOOKS LIKE A SNOBBY SQUIRREL!!

THIS IS A VERY TIRED SQUIRREL!!

I will be taking some more pictures tomorrow for you guys and I reckon that you will all be pretty shocked at how much they have grown.

Big hugs Clare xxx

MURDOCH THE GREAT & SOME CUTE PIC'S!!!!

I have some very happy news to share with my lovely followers today. I know that a lot of you will remember Murdoch the hedgehog who I looked after last year.

Poor Murdoch was one of my regular garden visitor's last year and I found him outside my conservatory door feeling sorry for himself. When I brought him in to check him over I was shocked to find one of his rear legs had been cut clean off and the poor thing had a very nasty infection in it. After weeks of going to and fro to the vets and nursing him the wound just was not healing and the vets were pretty much about to give up on him. I was so angry that they were so easily prepared to give up on him. Luckily my lovely friend Monica got involved and the vets finally put metal clips in the wound (which they should have done in the first place) and he has been at the rescue centre since being rehabilitated. 

This week my boy has come back to me!!!!!!. It was a very emotional reunion as Monica hadn't told me she was bringing him back home. Here he is looking amazing!!!.

Here is my gorgeous boy looking so healthy (and fat lol!) with my Dad. He has just come out of hibernation at the centre and ready to tackle life again. I have set up a log cabin in the garden (a supersize one just for Murdoch!) so that he can come and go as he pleases. He has regular food put out every evening and I have started stalking the conservatory door nightly hoping to catch a glimpse of him. I have not seen much of him since he has been back but I figure after months of being cooped up he is enjoying his freedom and who knows i'm sure he will be sowing his wild oats this Summer!!! making up for lost time lol. 

It was a tough year last year as I did lose a few poorly hoggies so it is so fantastic to have my lovely Murdoch be one of the big success stories. 

Thank you for stopping by.

Lots of love Clare xxx