Have a Wild Birthday

Today I and the Culinary Consultant started the weekend with donating blood. We've been putting it off for too long since our last time, and finally got around to doing it. It only takes an hour, and the thought of being able to save someone's life makes it worth the effort. You also get a text message telling you which hospital your donated blood ended up in, which always feels great. Did you know that less than 4% of the eligible UK population donate blood and the majority of donors are over 40 years old, so new donors and particularly young donors are always needed. Have you ever considered donating blood? If not, maybe you would be willing to look into it? There is a lot of useful information on the NHS Blood and Transplant website as a starting point and there are donation sessions run all over the country, easy to search online or using the blood donation app, which also allows you to conveniently book an appointment when it suits you. Many of the blood donor centres across the country are also open on Saturdays and in the evenings during the week. I'm really proud that next time I donate will be donation number 10 here in the UK, in addition to the dozen or so donations back home before I moved to the UK.

Anyhow, before our bloody morning, I had a bit of time in the craft room and created a fun safari themed birthday card inspired by a bunch of challenges. First of all I was inspired by the Safari theme over at CASology and the Birthday theme over at CAS on Friday and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. I was also inspired by the Custom Sentiments challenge over at Lawn Fawnatics and last but not least I'm playing along with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is For A Child.

I started by creating a savannah backdrop in watercolour using Distress Inks and Oxides. Then I stamped the tree from Lawn Fawn Critters On The Savanna and coloured it in black. I also stamped the giraffe from the same stamp set on white card and coloured him in Copics and die cut using the matching dies. I then stamped the sentiment using partly a sentiment from Critters On The Savanna and partly using Milo's ABCs. I still felt the card needed a little festive touch to emphasise the birthday theme, so I added a fun little party-hat using the Party Animal stamp set. 

Card: 300 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour card, Neenah Solar white card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters On The Savanna, Part Animal and matching dies, Milo's ABCs

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Copics, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade, Distress Oxide Fossilized Amber and Fired Brick