Welp.  We have reached the end of the month my friends and that means that my fellow collage competitor and I will duel it out with our creations for this month's theme...and by duel it out I mean that we ooo and aaa over each other's creative genius and cyber five each other through the internet!

Just to recap - the theme for the month of April was to create a piece influenced by an "Animal Cause" that we felt very passionate about and wanted to bring awareness towards.  Bambi chose the oh so adorable Red Panda that is predominately found in the mountains of Nepal as well as central China.  These furry little angel babies are unfortunately on the endangered species list due to loss of habitat from deforestation by logging and spread for agriculture. They are relatives of the panda as well as the racoon and I think the result is just the cutest little critter that I want to cuddle with all day.  You can watch the YouTube video posted in the previous blog post if you find yourself curious.

I kind of went berserk and decided to do a series of endangered animals which then morphed into an amazing collaboration with Global Conservation Force.  They are a very special non-profit organization that dedicates themselves to saving wildlife from extinction through education, conservation and anti-poaching efforts.  Meaning, they put people on the front lines to protect these beautiful creatures.  So needless to say, their mission and my passion coincided and a beautiful collaboration came to fruition!  With them in mind, I decided to create images of the Giraffe, Rhino, Pangolin and the Lion.  Unfortunately, all of these animals are on the endangered species list and it is with hope that together we can spread awareness and put an end to the needless killing.

Because Bambi and I both feel so strongly for the animals we chose, we are going to give 100% of all proceeds received from the sale of each print to our respective organizations (hers being the Red Panda Network and mine being the Global Conservation Force.)

To purchase a print of Bambi's adorable red panda, you can visit her Etsy Shop @ https://www.etsy.com/people/mymedievalmind?

To purchase a print of one (or all!) of my animals, you can navigate to the Gallery tab on my website.  

Bambi had a few words she wanted to impart to you all about this challenge:

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For our 2nd Artful Challenge we agreed to concentrate on an Animal Cause we felt passionate about and I chose the adorable Red Panda of China & Nepal. 

This adorable little red panda is sadly being starved out of his habitat due to humans encroaching on his forests and mountains. The good news is that it seems the word is out about his predicament and all who see him falls head over heels in love! The lucky ones are in captivity and are thriving there, even picking up some vices along the way. In his natural habitat he would survive on bamboo exclusively, until he discovered humans have apples! 

I have chosen a 12" x 12" sheet of scrapbook paper with an Asian theme to keep him in his natural element. This was the first time I have ever attempted to collage an animal and I tried so very hard to capture his adorable face, but alas I have failed miserably even tweaking and redoing it several times! But, I managed to get it done just under the deadline! Even though I did struggle a bit with this challenge, I am so very happy that I found this little guy! Once again Shelby's collaged animals are just amazing!

If anyone would like to help support the Red Panda, I am offering all proceeds from any print sales of my Red Panda collage to go directly to The Red Panda Network. 

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So without further adieu, here are our adorable little animal friends portrayed through paper!

Hello Paper People!

Welcome to the second month in our "Artful Challenge" hosted by yours truly and my fellow collage collaborator Bambi Lyn of My Medieval Mind on Etsy.  Our first month's challenge was all about Land ESCAPES and capturing our special oasis that we find ourselves escaping to.  You can read all about it in the previous blog post!  

For this month's challenge our theme is Animal Causes and bringing awareness to their plight.  Unfortunately, there are so many concerns in today's society with endangered animals and animal rights so it was a little difficult to choose which to focus on.  We have both decided to pursue somewhat different avenues - Bambi is tackling the oh so adorable Red Panda and its devastating decline due to deforestation and humans. (sigh.)  I am actually taking on several animals found in the safari that are killed daily by poachers for various reasons.  These animals include Elephants, Lions, Giraffes, Rhinos and Pangolins (just to name a few.)  We have decided to donated ALL proceeds received from print sales to charitable causes that work at helping these precious creatures. 

Bambi had a few thoughts she wanted to include for the start of the challenge:
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For the Second Artful Challenge we were to choose an animal, but more specifically an animal with a cause, or in my case, I chose to concentrate on the list (it's over 5,000 species long! very sad) of Endangered Species and have fallen head over heels in LOVE with the Red Panda! 

Unlike his name sake he is not even related to the Giant Pandas, but he does live in the same regions of the mountains in central China and Nepal feeding exclusively on bamboo. He looks more like a raccoon than a panda, but with red fur. He is a Herbivore mammal, but they don't get really large, they are only about the size of the average house cat! They have long bushy ringed tails that they use to keep warm in the winter. 

I want to do a collage of the Red Panda in his natural habitat of the mountains, feeding on bamboo. The finished collage will be offered as a print, and I plan to donate all the proceeds of the print sales to the Wild Life Fund to help protect the Red Pandas. 

I am really excited about this challenge, more so than the first, truth be told! I really have fallen in love with this little guy!! Go to You Tube and do a search for the Red Panda. But beware, once you do you will fall madly in love as well! 
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She's even included a youtube video of this adorable little beast so you can watch it here:
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Hmm...ok this one is going to be tough to beat.  What an adorable little rascal!  

Because I have decided to do multiple animals, I'm going to create different pieces for each one.  The reason I've decided to do it this way, is because all of the proceeds I receive from each piece's print will go to the Global Conservation Force organization.  GCF works in multiple ways to protect rhino, elephant, pangolin & giraffe in the wild. From anti-poaching patrols to community conservation this donation will go towards the ground conservation efforts. Please feel free to "like" them on facebook to see field updates!  It's really quite incredible what they do on the front lines to combat poaching efforts - from foot soldiers to drones that seek out would-be poachers.  

So there you have it! We are giving ourselves a month to complete this challenge and will post updates along the way.  Feel free to send your comments and let us know what you think!

-Shelby & Bambi