Celebrating 52 in Chinatown

This layout, about celebrating my 52nd birthday with a food tour in San Francisco's Chinatown, is a great example of why I love challenges so much. I chose practically every element because of the Mixed Manufacturer Layout Challenge from the National Scrapbook Day event at A Cherry on Top. In this challenge, we had to make a page with items from at least ten different manufacturers. And there's a twist - you also have to use one item you can't buy at a craft store. Can you spot that item?  

Celebrating 52 in Chinatown (affiliate link)

If you guessed the dark orange flower, you're right! I made it to coordinate with the two flower stickers. The rest of the items are: 

1. Bazzill - gold cardstock
2. Scenic Route - red patterned papers
3. Echo Park - birthday lion sticker
4. Jillibean Soup - present and 'One Year Older' die cuts
5. BasicGrey - large orange flower sticker
6. PhotoPlay - small yellow flower sticker
7. We R Memory Keepers - gold washi tape
8. Bella Blvd - 'adventure' sticker
9. Me and My Big Ideas - tiny 'love' sticker, 'birthday' sticker, cake sticker, 'Now' sticker
10. American Crafts - numbers

Technically, I also used four more manufacturers. I cut the papers and homemade flower with my Fiskars trimmer and scissors. I colored the homemade flower with Ohuhu markers and I adhered everything with a Tombow tape runner. For the journaling, I used a Zig pen. 

I'm really happy with how this page came out. It has a lot of elements on it, but ultimately it is still my clean and simple style. What a fun challenge!

Perfectly Imperfect Lionhead

My favorite day of the year, National Scrapbook Day, was on Saturday. As always, I spent the whole day scrapbooking, completing challenges, playing games, and chatting with friends. It was so much fun!

I'd heard that A Cherry on Top puts on a great NSD crop, so that's what I did this year. Oh my gosh, it was incredible! There were so many different and creative challenges and games. If I counted correctly, they had SIXTY challenges. And dozens of games. It was almost overwhelming how much was going on. But what a fantastic problem to have! The challenges were the perfect difficulty level for me and I love what I created. And the prizes! ACOT will be awarding 100 prizes once the challenges close. (Most of them are open until May 19 if you want to join in.)

I'll be sharing the projects I made over the next few weeks. Today's is about Brayden and I made it for the Cinco de Mayo Pick Five Challenge. We had to pick five items from a list of 12 to include on our page. I chose: only one picture; white title; punch (the heart); decorative edge scissors (on the right); and grid design paper.

Perfectly Imperfect Lionhead (affiliate link)

Brayden is a lionhead rabbit, meaning he has a mane like a lion. When we first started fostering him, he was 10.5 months old and just had the mohawk (and whispy "skirt" fluffs on each flank). Right around his first birthday, the rest of Brayden's mane came in. It's super cute, especially when he tosses it like a woman in a shampoo commercial. 

This picture doesn't show the sides of his mane all that well, but it does show that Brayden is brachycephalic. Dog breeds like pugs or French bulldogs are prone to health issues because of the shortened skull; similarly, brachycephalic rabbits can face health issues, usually respiratory or dental. So far, thankfully, Brayden has been perfectly healthy. 

I am strongly opposed to selective breeding to create designer animals with these health risks. Worse, breeders' attempts to meet a breed standard means that any imperfect specimens are rejected. That can mean different things, ranging from bad (selling them as pets when there are already countless domestic rabbits without loving homes) to much, much worse. I don't know the circumstances behind Brayden's birth, but it's possible he's one of the thousands and thousands of lionheads who are intentionally bred and then rejected based on a single physical flaw. It's very upsetting. 

I titled this layout Perfectly Imperfect Lionhead. Brayden is perfectly imperfect. And we love him just the way he is. 

Fingerprint Heart Magnet for Mother's Day

On Friday, I shared an idea for a homemade Mother's Day heart magnet for one child to give to Mom. Today's idea, featuring fingerprint hearts, can be made by a group of siblings (for Mom) or cousins (for Grandma). Or, you can do like I did and include Mom and Dad to make a family heart. Affiliate links below. 

Fingerprint Heart Magnet for Mother's Day

Materials:

• wooden heart
• Folk Art paint
• ultra fine Sharpies
• magnet tape

Steps: 

Paint the background - a blue sky and green grass. 

When that is dry, add fingerprint roses floating above the grass. To make the rose, add one fingerprint at a 45° angle to the left, then add a second fingerprint at a 45° angle to the right. It is easiest to do with a pointer finger. Use a pinky finger if you need smaller hearts to fit in more people. 

When the fingerprints are dry, paint stems and leaves under each flower. Then use a Sharpie to write each person's name above their flower. I added a dashed border around the edges to finish my heart. 

The final step is adding magnet tape to the back. Display your art on the refrigerator for everyone to enjoy. 

Fingerprint Flower Magnet for Mother's Day

Every mom I know loves gifts that are handmade by their children. This heart-shaped refrigerator magnet features a child's fingerprints, turned into roses. Affiliate links below. 

Fingerprint Flower Magnet for Mother's Day

Materials:

• wooden heart
• Folk Art paint
• ultra fine Sharpies
• magnet tape

Steps: 

Paint the background of the heart with your desired colors. I made a blue wall and a white tabletop, but you can choose whatever colors you want. Then add a vase toward the right side of the heart. Mine is yellow.

When that is dry, add fingerprint flowers in the space above the vase. If a young child is doing this, they can use their pointer finger. If the child is older with fingers that are less petite, you might want to use the pinky finger. Then use a brush to paint a heart onto the vase.

When the fingerprints are dry, paint medium green leaf shapes in and around the flowers. Don't fill in all the spaces at first. Leave room to add dark green shapes. While I was waiting for the green paint to dry, I added a grey shadow and some texture to the tabletop. This is optional. 

When all the paint is dry, write "Happy Mother's Day!" on the left side using a Sharpie. I added a dashed border around the edges as a final touch. Then turn the heart over and add a strip of magnet tape.

This project is easily adapted for many other holidays and occasions. Birthdays, Valentine's Day, and even graduation come to mind. Just change out the message!

Rabbit Speed Dating (and Big News!)

We had been fostering Brayden for just under 7 months when we got a request to bring him to the next rabbit speed dating event with Contra Costa Rabbit Rescue. Hana, a 2-year old female rabbit, was looking for a companion. Maybe she and Brayden would hit it off and could be bonded. 

On April 27, I loaded Brayden into his carrier and took him to Pet Food Express in Walnut Creek. 

To be perfectly honest, I didn't want to bring him. Steve, Trevor, and I have grown very attached to Brayden and had talked a lot about adopting him ourselves. But we felt like we owed Brayden the chance to find a loving rabbit companion. By the time we got to Walnut Creek, I decided that this was it. If Brayden was meant to go to another home, so be it. But if he didn't hit it off with the bachelorette, we would adopt him. 

After securing Brayden in his enclosure, I met Hana and her family. I felt comfortable with them right away. It was clear they were loving bunny parents who could provide an excellent home for whatever bunny Hana selected. And Hana was just darling. 

Hana was a little nervous in this strange place and took about an hour to relax. In the meantime, Brayden had a pedicure and a photoshoot. 

I spent some time getting to know some of the other adoptable rabbits. This is Clover. He's really friendly and had been binkying all over the place just before he flopped and I took this photo. 

This picture shows most of the Butterscotch Teens. The last time Brayden went to an adoption event, they were babies and there just for socialization. Now they're grown up, neutered, and ready to find their forever homes. 

We call this "bunstruction." Rabbits love destroying cardboard boxes - even the ones they rest in. 

These are the Butter Babies. They are the slightly younger siblings of the Butterscotch Teens. 

Their pregnant mother was rescued from a bad situation, then soon gave birth to the litter now known as the Butterscotch Teens. A month later, she had another litter, the Butter Babies. It's unknown if they're full- or half-siblings, but we do know that Mom was pregnant with both sets when she was rescued. Rabbits have a double uterus and are induced ovulators. Combined, those characteristics lead to a lot of baby rabbits. In this case, a single rescued rabbit ended up requiring vaccinations, neuter surgeries, and attempts to find homes for 16 rabbits instead of just the one. And this is not an unusual situation. Thank goodness for rabbit rescues who care for all these rabbits and do their best to find them good homes. 

Peach is a really sweet bun. His foster mom thought he was a girl, but when she took him for a spay, the vet got a surprise. Peach is intersex, with internal anatomy that is (well, was) 80% male. So Peach uses he/him pronouns. 

Scarlet and Violet are a bonded pair. Bonded rabbits cannot be adopted separately. If someone is looking to bond a single rabbit with an existing pair, the pair is treated as one entity. With luck, they become a bonded trio. There are special ways to bond two pairs into a quad. 

After plenty of time to get comfortable, Hana was relaxed and ready to start dating. Julie (Bunny Bonder Extraordinaire) is in the cage with the buns while Hana's parents look on. So far, so good!

One by one, Hana met potential friends. Most of the dates went fine, with the rabbits coexisting comfortably in the same space. 

Brayden was the seventh rabbit that Hana met. At first, Brayden was interacting with Julie and seemingly oblivious to Hana. 

He wanted to sniff every inch of the cage. 

Finally, some interaction! 

And then Brayden went back to sniffing the cage. Sigh. 

He wasn't the only one who mostly ignored his date. 

Hana and Samuel seemed to hit it off. 

When an initial date goes well, there is usually a second date, and then the real work begins. Good luck, Hana!

When the event ended, I brought Brayden home. When Steve and Trevor got home from their Scout trip, we discussed it and decided to make it official. Introducing Brayden deRosier!

Brayden will continue to be an only bun for awhile, but we hope to start taking him on speed dates of his own in the fall. I'm excited for the possibility of helping to rescue another deserving rabbit.