Trees

It was always the plan to upgrade Bunnyopolis so this weekend stage one started now that the threat of snow has subsided. With Spring finally in its way it is time to replace last years picnic table now that it has started to show serious signs of wear. Aaran, Jura and Iona love it, when I took it out of Bunnyopolis last night they followed me around the garden obviously worried that it wasn't coming back making me feel so guilty even though I'm building them a new one so I placed it back in until the replacement is ready. They really know how to play the guilt card.

Anyway, we did manage to alter a few other things and make it a bit more fun for them.

In went two apple trees surrounded by some Scottish cobbles and several bedded in larger cobbles. OK, it's not much but it's just a start and they soon settled into their new surroundings. Still to be added is a bench, for us not them although it will be at a bunny friendly height and a new bunny bridge I'm building which should replace their favourite picnic table, either that or there's going to be three sulky rabbits. A few more plants to brighten everything up and a small wooden flexible toy made from fruit wood. This is in addition to the original Bunnyopolis which if you didn't know looks like this...

Bunnyopolis - plenty of room to live, play and generally be bunny and on a day like this it looks even better.

To the left is the open run, secured with wire and removable Perspex screens ideal for keeping out all the nasty weather. It's filled with straw which they can dig and move around to their hearts content. They can often be found like minature diggers, both paws stretched out in front pushing piles of the stuff into corners to make a bed. Middle right you will see a small bunny flap in the wall, that leads...

Into the living quarters complete with artwork of course, vet bed, low level heating, triple carpets and more importantly to keep things nice and clean...

The hay bar and twin toilet trays, both of which they like to sit in and eat. Very clean, they never bother anywhere else and they just replicate their natural instinct.

Finally a storage area which houses all the hay, usually four large bales, newspapers and assorted other items required for looking after our three continental giant rabbits. Everything has to be upscaled, tomorrow they are going for their inoculations (don't tell them!) and for that we have to use a purpose built carry case along with reinforced handles, all together around four and a half stone of bunny to lift. To the right you can see Bunnycam and left of the clock is homemade dried apple, carrot and compressed grass rings, the only treats they get as their diet consists of hay, hay, more hay, free grass and quality pellets. Doing it this way and not using a prepared rabbit mix stops selective feeding and encourages the natural rabbit digestive process.

That's it, Bunnyopolis, twice the size of my studio, something not quite right with that!

And what do Aaran, Jura and Iona think?

Well, here's Jura enjoying a bit of morning sun on a small shelf I built wondering why the hell I'm photographing and not doing something useful like feeding her banana or dried apple.

And judging from this picture it looks like a thumbs up from Iona who bounced, binkied and generally skipped away to her hearts content through the latest additions.

Aaran however just loves to look gorgeous in his big ears, never mind Bunnyopolis look at me!

Bunnyopolis, built from the rabbit up.

 

www.petersmithcollective.co.uk Home Of Foreverbunny and the Impossimals

Weather Or Not

Last night we returned from Jayne's Foreverbunny event at the Derbyshire Eco Centre in good spirits. It had been a great day, plenty of things happening, lots to see and do all with fine food served throughout so we looked forward to Sunday, our second day only to be disappointed.

The weather sucked. Not only did it suck but Sky, BBC, Met Office, Accuweather and numerous other tomes of weather information all predicted the same thing more or less. A lashing of heavy rain and possible flooding overnight followed by a consistent stream up until 3-4pm on Sunday. A washout. We checked and checked the weather right up to 10pm last night and unfortunately we had to make the discision that standing out in the open with just a gazebo between us, the wooden and fabric Foreverbunnies and heavy rain was not a great idea.

We typed an email and cancelled it for today. The car was unpacked, the stock back in the system and went to bed.

So imagine our disbelief and frustration when we woke up this morning to glorious sunshine, no rain and a temperature rise of another eight degrees from yesterday and too late to do anything about it!

Really, how can they get it so wrong? I could understand if there was still a few showers and it was a little chilly but hey, it's full on sunshine! So, I'm sat writing this to glorious sunshine, a little wind and temperatures climbing to 25 degrees here in the conservatory thinking, damn, what a crock the met office is.

I know weather can be unpredictable but the must have been a hint that rain was going to turn into blue skies or am I missing something? According to a report in one of the newspapers earlier this year it suggested that most weather giving information should be taken as vague at the very least as predictions can be difficult. Not great news if you are wondering if you should take a brolly or sun tan cream with you when you go out.

Yesterday a gentlemen came to our Forevebunny marquee and we talked about the weather, it had started to drizzle and we voiced our concerns for the next day. Don't worry he said, it will be fine and sunny but windy, we however had our doubts, after all we had the latest technology to tell us. Today we are thinking how did he know? Well, he was a farmer and didn't rely on television, weather apps or as he put it professional storytelling instead he used his vast knowledge of the seasons and a barometer he had kept for over fifty years.

Experience it seems can predict more than technology.

 

www.petersmithcollective.co.uk Home Of Foreverbunny and the Impossimals

Personal Touch

Wooden Foreverbunnies have to start somewhere and that somewhere is with power tools. I use two types of saw to create the unique shapes, a powered heavy duty jig saw to cut shapes out of old palets and a scroll saw to cut out the bunny heads and flowers for decoration. It's one of the hardest part but not the most time consuming that comes next with the coats of paint and drying I have to do. The picture above shows the final unsanded result, sanding away reveals the three coats applied underneath and gives it the distinct Foreverbunny look.

Detail is created through the use of other materials such as buttons, fabric and in the case of the new Garden Foreverbunnies plated copper wire. Silver plated is used on the garden range with other colours being matched for future ranges.

Decorating is the fun part although again it uses power tools, this time a power drill and screwdriver to secure everything together and the drill to make holes for the springs. See, looking pretty already!

One of our latest additions is one I wanted to put on from the start, personalised items. The logistics though were not as easy to implement, so five months after the launch of Foreverbunny you can now personalise certain items before purchase. I'll be adding more personalised Foreverbunnies as we go through the year.

 

www.petersmithcollective.co.uk Home Of Foreverbunny and the Impossimals

A Gift

To thank you for all your support over the last five months that Foreverbunny has been in existence I thought I would give you all a gift this Easter...

Simply enter the code 'bunnylicious' at the checkout to activate a 5% discount absolutely free. One per customer, code works for single or multiple Foreverbunnies.

Everybody needs some bunny to love,

Jayne xx

Fabric Fun For Foreverbunnies

Saturday and a quest for new materials to add to the ever increasing foreverbunny fabric range. I found these beautiful fabrics tucked away from the main fabrics and they fitted in perfectly with this seasons foreverbunny colours, so on return to the studio I got to work creating a new cushion design.

Once I had decided on which of the new fabrics to use the sewing machine whirred into action loaded with my new find of a leather needle, ideal for tackling the quality cotton fabrics.

Everything is cut out, placed, tacked securely then all the hand embellishment and hand sewing can be done.

Nearly finished, just a neat little button, a bit of a fluff up and we are finished.

All the cushions are all slightly different and this will be joining the other in the online shop at www.foreverbunny.co.uk where we have included the option of feather or polyester fillings for allergy sufferers.

We also found the spring/summers colours for fabric Foreverbunnies, but that will have to remain a secret a little longer but I really can't wait to show you those!

 

www.foreverbunny.co.uk

A Scattering Of Cushions

The foreverbunny studio had a delivery of new feather cushions last week and they all looked very plain indeed, in need of some serious Foreverbunnying.

So with lots of bunny ideas and all the beautiful fabrics at the ready it was time to get my thinking cap on and start to turn those cushions into something more chic and Foreverbunny worthy.

I usually do two cushions at the same time so I can see how they are going to look together and to make sure they work with all the other foreverbunny products. Its at this point I choose the style of bunny, the full bunny body I use is based on Iona because she is a little plumper and the head design is based on Aaran my big bunny boy. Next comes the fabric combination for the hearts and the choosing of a nice scarf to compliment the whole look which finishes them off nicely.

So a couple of hours later with the sewing machine my new Foreverbunnies are finished. They are photographed and sealed ready for their new homes. If you want to see the Foreverbunny look in action we now have a mood and inspiration board at www.foreverbunny.co.uk, just click inspiration to view. Xxx

 

www.foreverbunny.co.uk

Finding Fabric For Foreverbunnies

Yesterday I went on the quest to stock up on existing fabrics and also a few new designs that will appear in the new fabric Foreverbunny range on the website. Incidentally the Foreverbunny shop is fully up and running complete with fourteen new Foreverbunnies to peruse - www.foreverbunnyshop.co.uk for a direct link, just one more thing, we have run out of the small straw Foreverbunny hearts temporarily but they will be back soon.

I have two lovely suppliers so I visited them both yesterday and enjoyed the beautiful winter scenery at the same time as stocking up on the fabulous fabrics. They look so pretty it seems a shame to have to cut them all up.

Theres a few new designs and shades to play with to give a slightly different feel to the Foreverbunnies this year. So, with my little box of tricks at the ready and the sewing machine on standby I got to work.

After a few hours of drawing, cutting, sewing, ironing and embellishing this was the first finished fabric Foreverbunny, yay!

My plan is to get them on the website as soon as possible and looking out of the window at all the snow I think that will be sooner rather than later!

 

www.foreverbunny.co.uk

Extra Features

The online store has only been active a few days but already we are updating things. As well as new Foreverbunnies, including up eared and tall bunnies we have added some extra features.

You can now register on the site to activate the new wish list option, sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date with all the latest additions by using the 'sign up to the newsletter' button the the shop site. We have also added a Facebook share button on each item as well as a share with friends button too, so you can now send any Foreverbunny to any bunny!

The shop can be found at www.foreverbunny.co.uk, just click on Shop and you will be whisked down the rabbit hole to our friendly online store.

It's Live!

After two days of frantic updates the Foreverbunny online shop has gone live! Yay! You can access it from the products on the main site or visit it direct at www.foreverbunnyshop.co.uk

There are already quite a few Foreverbunnies on there to look through, from plaques to wreaths, from couples to families the latest Foreverbunnies are just lining up to show off. Free delivery to UK mainland addresses too, we will be adding overseas shipping later but for now it's restricted only to the UK. Soft furnishings and cuddly Foreverbunny free standing fabrics are still to come as is the larger pieces and limited edition creations all hammered, sawn, sewn and put together by my own fair hand.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did making them!

Jayne Smith

 

www.petersmithcollective.co.uk Home Of Foreverbunny and the Impossimals

Fabrics Foreverbunnies are go

I have always wanted to bring textiles into the Foreverbunny family as soon as possible and on Tuesday I worked with a friend to develop the freestanding wood Foreverbunnies into a fabric version, it took us all day, several prototypes and lots of cups of coffee but towards the end of the day we had the just about cracked it.

The following day my new stuffed bunny was transformed foreverbunny style with his scarf, fabric layered hearts on his chest, buttons on his tummy, cheeky little eyes, mouth and a cute blush on his cheeks, but even after all this one thing was missing still missing. Bunny needed a small fluffy tail!

Soon sorted, a handmade pompom finished it off beautifully. Its been a week of fabric as we also developed the foreverbunny design onto this comfy feather cushion.

And very nice it is too!

Apologies if you are still waiting for the Foreverbunny website to go fully live, its had a makeover and work is progressing on a full online shop, but as with all these things theres never enough time in the day. I'll keep you updated regularly on the blog, it's going to be an exciting year :)

 

www.foreverbunny.co.uk