Tuesday, March 1, 2011

March 1st is National Pig Day

According to Wikipedia, National Pig Day is an event held annually on March 1 in the United States to celebrate the pig. The holiday celebration was started in 1972 by sisters Ellen Stanley, a teacher in Lubbock, Texas, and Mary Lynne Rave of Beaufort, North Carolina. According to Rave the purpose of National Pig Day is "to accord the pig its rightful, though generally unrecognized, place as one of man's most intellectual and domesticated animals." The holiday is most often celebrated in the Midwest.

A few years ago I stumbled across a blog where the lady had blogged about National Pig Day & how she had created some “Flying Pig” cards & mailed them out to some ladies who she called her “Pig Ladies”. The story behind it was that she sent cards out to ladies she knew who were survivors of serious disease or illness or who had overcome some stressful event. I really liked the idea of how she sent these cards off to encourage these women and have since adopted her tradition. (Due to health issues, I'm a bit late sending them out this year).

Currently I have 2 pig ladies that I send cards to. My sister who is a 3 times survivor of Breast Cancer and my niece’s MIL who is also a cancer survivor. Both are now cancer free.

This years Pig Card uses a digital image that I found online, colored with Copics. The verse is a digital stamp that I downloaded. I also used my EK Success Wave Flourish Paper Shaper punch, SU circle punch, SU Scallop Circle punch & a MS border punch. The DSP is from a paper pack I’ve had sitting around.

The sentiment inside the card reads:
A pig that has wings
Does impossible things!
Over clouds it can fly
In the wink of an eye!
She may tickle you pink
But she wants you to think
Of her message to each
"Nothing's out of your reach!"
I then found a new card style that I wanted to try called a Double Easel card. Again I used a digital pig image that I found online and colored with Copics. The verse is a digital stamp that I downloaded. I also used my EK Success Wave Flourish Paper Shaper punch, SU circle punch, SU Scallop Circle punch & a MS border punch. The DSP is from a paper pack I’ve had sitting around. My recommendation for this type of card is to use heavy cardstock as your base.
The next 2 pig cards that I created again use a digital image that I found online as well as a digital sentiment. I colored the pig with my Copics, used a MS border punch and some Cloud 9 paper.
Since I love pigs and was now on a roll with my piggy cards, I had to add another one. I found another cute digital pig that I just had to color with my Copics. I then found this adorable verse about the Easter Piggy and I just had to make a card. The bunny ears & basket are from the SU Sock Monkey Accessories stamp set. I didn't cut the ears off the pig, I just cut a slit over his ears & added the bunny ears. I wanted to keep his original ears intact. I also used my Stampin Up Eyelet Border punch as well as the DSP that I had stashed away.

Famous pigs: I didn’t know that there were so many famous pigs until I did a Google search. I had come up with 6 on this list without having to look them up. How many of these famous pigs do you remember.

Miss Piggy! Everybody knows the most famous of famous pigs - the feisty starlet girlfriend of Kermit the Frog from the Muppets!

Babe from “Charlotte’s Web” Who's heartstrings haven't been tugged by the courageous and honorable Babe, the sensitive-souled little pig who wanted to become a sheepdog!

Porky Pig The "Godfather" of famous pigs

Petunia Pig How could we forget Porky's girl Petunia, the first diva of famous pigs!

Piglet Winnie the Pooh's best friend

Toot and Puddle the delightful famous pigs duo from Woodcock Pocket whose lives are filled with everyday wonder, adventure and humor. These best-selling books by the famed illustrator Holly Hobbie are destined to become classics.

Pippo He is a cute little pig who's Hello Kitty's friend.

Pumbaa (Pumba) This distinguished icon of famous pigs is one of Disney's most beloved characters, admired for his comical antics and musical skills.

The Three Little Pigs Of all the world's famous pigs, these three must rank amongst the most reknown!

Wilbur How could you not fall in love with "Zuckerman's Famous Pig" after watching Charlotte's Web?

Hamm Hamm is a witty talking ceramic piggy bank with a "belly-ring" made of cork who keeps losing his change. He is one of the main characters in both Toy Story and Toy Story 2, and is friends with the famous Mr. Potato Head.

Arnold Ziffle Green Acres is definitely one of my favorite famous pigs. The show Green Acres ran from 1965 to 1971.

If you would like to see some more Famous Pigs, you can check out this site: http://www.colours-of-the-rainbow.com/famous-pigs.html

In searching online for info on National Pig Day I found this just for fun Pig Test on a blog and thought that I'd add it.

Here’s the pig test!

Get a piece of paper and draw a pig – Come back tomorrow & I'll post "how to analyze your pig drawing."

3 comments:

Bonnie Weiss said...

Guess it wouldn't be proper to eat PORK on National Pig Day??!! Your cards are terrific, Diane.

Jillian said...

Hi there! Thanks so much for stopping by the Spring Fever Blog Hop - I hope you enjoyed looking around! I am happy to be your newest follower!

Jillian
jillianbeancrafts.com

Rachel said...

I love this idea! And that's a wonderful inspiration. Thanks for following the hop today! Hope you enjoyed it! I'm your newest follower :]