Monday 30 January 2012

Things are taking off...........



I'm not in the office today, poorly with IBS - I have noticed that a lot of crafters have health issues; guessing that when you are unwell, crafting provides respite and it does truly soothe the soul! I am having a quick break in between developing a training package that I am delivering in February. So the orders are now coming in for my cards, I am really loving the challenge of coming up with bespoke cards for each commission. Someone at work's daughter is 30 soon so she wanted a card for this. Her daughter is a petrol-head however so she did not want a "girlie-girl" card, rather something incorporating her love of cars (the whole family race cars) and also as they are all going to Florida to celebrate, she wanted Florida in the design somewhere. I am quite pleased with the result!! Another work colleague wanted a card for a friend who had had triplets. This was a challenge as there were two boys and one girl. A lot of baby themed papers are either pink or blue and of course, I had both genders to cater for! Also peel-offs and sentiments can be found for twins but I could not find triplets! I therefore improvised from my craft stash and also found a great paper from Forever Friends range that was not pink or blue. My brother was 50 this month so I made a card for him - he is a classical musician. Realised I am a bit short on male stamps other than football or DIY or cars so I need to have a look for some but in the interim, I had a card to send. I decided to go simple and include a picture of him instead. It turned out ok, but I would have preferred something more complex if I had had the materials available to me. The photos never upload in the order I select them for some reason but you should be able to work out which is which!!

Saturday 7 January 2012

Oh dear, I'm not very good at this!

There is clearly a reason why I am so late to blogging: something to do with my forgetting to update it suggests Luddite tendencies! So what's been happening since last time? Unbelievably I lost another cat - Seth had a brain lesion and starting having seizures. After one that did not stop in 2 hours, my vet advised me she needed to go. The devastation of losing 3 in such a short time is beyond words but is the sad reality of having cats aged 14/15/16. So what about cards - well the 60th female was well received and I also was asked to make a 60th male - the customer chose a La Pashe stamp for her husband. She insisted on paying me more than I asked for as well, which was a lovely vote of confidence. I've just been asked to do a Bookatrix for a wedding in July so am part way through that. Dawn Healds card swap group goes from strength to strength and I have just sent in my December and January swaps (Sweet treats and Cats/Dogs). I got some craft items for Christmas, I used my new Marianne Designables folder to make my Thank You cards. This morning my next auto-delivery from QVC of the Martha Stewart PATP/PAAP came so I have made a card with the PATP set.




Stencils galore

 I have been having great fun with stencils, experimenting with different techniques, mediums etc. Some are mylar but the majority are the...