Cycle Celebration - Sunny birthday card by Stampin Up and me
Hi dear Stampers.
I am glad I am able to pop in with my blog today. I am so excited about this card I created the other day. I was inspired by the Paper Smooches Picture Perfect Challenge of this week. And there is one amazing and sunny photo to get us going. Please hop over to their beautiful blog and leave them some 'love', they really have created some super sweet cards to inspire us.
As for my card, I did some punching and I tried to keep it clean and simple. Can you spot the 1-3/4 inch Scallop circle punch in my card? (#119854 - $22.95) The sentiment if from one of my favorite new Stampin Up stamp sets. 'Cycle Celebration'. (#130273 - $20.95)
Please CLICK HERE, if you would like to see this beautiful SU set for yourself.
The photo of that gorgeous sun, that the ladies of the Paper Smooches posted on their blog, also inspired me to share a little bit of my passion here. ( I hope you don't mind..)
2 weekends ago, we helped a dear friend harvest the honey from the beehive that she has in her back yard here in Calgary. We as a family were so excited to learn more about bees and how to be a bee keeper. If everything will go as planned, next year we will have our own bee hive. We learned that each year, with one single bee hive, you can harvest about 140 pounds of honey.. Oh my, what a huge treat.
Did you know, that, there are about 100 crop species that provide 90 percent of food globally and, of these, 71 are pollinated by bees.
Just weeks ago in Elmwood, Canada, local beekeeper Dave Schuit lost 600 hives, or a total of 37 million bees. Another Canadian farmer lost eight of his 10 hives.
The bees started dying in droves just after corn in the area was planted, an alarming red flag since corn seeds are often treated with neonicotinoid pesticides, which are known to kill insects by attacking their nervous systems.
In the US alone, a full one-third of the food supply depends on pollination from bees -- so if bee colonies continue to be devastated, major food shortages will inevitably result.
If you would like to learn more about the economic, political and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of the honeybee, check out the documentary film Vanishing of the Bees. If you’d like to get involved, here are four actions you can take to help preserve and protect our honeybees:
Support organic farmers and shop at local farmer's markets as often as possible. You can "vote with your fork" three times a day. (When you buy organic, you are making a statement by saying "no" to GMOs and toxic pesticides.)
Cut the use of toxic chemicals in your house and on your lawn, and use only organic, all-natural forms of pest control.
Better yet, get rid of your lawn altogether and plant a garden or other natural habitat. Lawns offer very little benefit for the environment. Both flower and vegetable gardens provide excellent natural honeybee habitats.
Become an amateur beekeeper. Having a hive in your garden requires only about an hour of your time per week, benefits your local ecosystem, and you can enjoy your own honey! Worldofbeekeeping.com and beekeeping.org are but two websites that can help you get started.
The Bee-Action Campaign: Help Stop the Use of Toxic Neonicotinoids
Neonicotinoid pesticides are widely used in large-scale agriculture, but that’s not the only place they’re found. They’re also widely sold in garden centers (including big-name stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s) and are even found in seeds and plants you may purchase from your local nurseries.
Friends of the Earth has launched the Bee-Action Campaign to tell stores to take bee-killing pesticides like noeonicotinoids off of their shelves, and you can help by signing their petition now.
Well, I hope I didn't offend anyone by sharing this piece of information. I just love bees. I think they are smart, beautiful and so hard working! Without them this place called earth, would look so different.
Anyhoo.. Thanks for hanging in there with me. I appreciate your time.
Have a beautiful rest of the day
Inky hugs, Pauline
Wow, amazing what I learned about bees! En het is nog goed voor mijn Engels ook :) ik vind het echt heerlijk om je blog te lezen, zelfs de stukjes die niet over de kaart gaan. Geweldig Pauline, ga zo door! Oh... je kaartje is trouwens ook super!!!!
ReplyDeleteLiefs Miriam
http://miriamcooijmans.blogspot.nl/
Love this card! Love the or the use of the scallop punch for the sun!! I'm checking out the petition as well, bees are a vital part of our ecosystem and we need to protect them.
ReplyDeleteTFS
Candy
Gorgeous card Pauline, I love how you used the dies and punches to make a sky scene. Great information about Bees too... they really have an important role in nature and food production... I hope your new bees thrive and make lots of honey for you :0)
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining in with us at the PS Sparks challenge this week :0)
Jenny x
SUPER fun card-- love the scene you've created!
ReplyDeleteTHANKS so much for playing along with us over at the Paper Smooches SPARKS Picture Perfect challenge <3 ps... super sorry about being late in leaving my comment! Hope you will join in the fun again soon!!!