One I started earlier

And just as well I did! Why do people leave things to the last minute? This was wanted for Christmas eve!

Luckily I was experimenting a while ago with some free paper downloads and made the whole topper so all I had to do was attach it to the base card and add the sentiment. It saved me a fair bit of time this morning. I love these warm colours!

Jinxed card?

I think this card was jinxed!! I made this 8 x 8 card with a sheet of A3 card white linen. With the surplus I embossed the tree and decorated the left hand panel. I had just enough card over to print the sentiment on the right hand side. But my printer had other ideas................... It didn't feed into the printer right and came out scew piffle. So I printed it again on A4 white linen which turned out to be a different shade of white and looked awful!! So I took the tree apart and used the same A4 white linen to redo the tree......................Great, and because it was slightly heavier card, it embossed better..................except I hadn't noticed I'd spelt Christmas wrongly. So had to take the right hand side apart and start all over again. I put it down to this cold I have, I feel like pooh at the moment and shouldn't really have attempted it!!

The things you get asked to do!!

The first one, I was asked for a gypsy caravan with loads of animals around it...............Karen and Dodge live on the same estate as me, all beautiful bungalows!! The problem for them is they live next door to a gypsy who although now owns her own bungalow, still keeps loads of animals.....cats........dogs....chickens.......ducks.......geese.......in a domestic back garden. Poor Karen and Dodge have a lot to put up with, with the smells and rats!! It wouldn't have been my choice of card, but there you go. There's nothing like rubbing the salt into the wound, but I think they have a sense of humour!!

Number two card is for Sid, who apparently goes to the pub just on Saturdays armed with £5 notes that he must save all week!! Hense the fivers"!!

Twit Twit Twit!!

I was looking for a Christmas card yesterday I'd made for a good friend.................I can't find it anywhere.
Then I realised what I had probably done..............Yes, posted it with all the addressed ones!!!!
This particular one only had her name on the front as I would have given it to her by hand. What an idiot!!!
Then I realised it was not the only one missing! At the moment I can only think of two, and that was for close friends.
So......................back to Christmas card making this morning.

Makes me feel a bit more cheerful

We've put the tree and all the lights up outside today. Took all day mind you. But looks good. Red and gold theme.

So so annoyed

Ever made your mind up on something and someone kicks the legs from beneath you?..................

Dale posted a link into the lounge of the imag-e-nation forum this morning about a workstation from Debbie Moore designs. It's normally £1500 They have it half price at £849 But Dale said there was a further 50% off it.She had emailed them to make sure!
I had a chat to Tony and I think he liked the idea to get the spare room back to a little bit of normality.So I phoned Debbie Moore designs and asked. Well the girl there said it was only open to members. So I said I would register would that be enough? She said to sign up for the newsletters too.
Debbie was apparently out, but she would get her to ring me when she got in. I was just mailing Dale about it when the phone rang, Apparently the work box was not included in the offers and should have been taken off. Now do you see why I am so annoyed?? I'd made my mind up I wanted one - but I am not paying £849!!
I see they have added a note to the web page now saying it is not included in the Christmas offers!!
It's their loss.................and I still have my £400

Almost forgot Hubby

And that wouldn't do!!

One for a former farmer

My husband loves this one. Background image from GCF

Three more 8 x 8 cards

A friend called in yesterday to pick up a card she had ordered. She had never bought from me before and hadn't really seen any of my cards, so I got a few out for her to look at. She ended up ordering three more. I'll have to do that a bit more often! Two of them are going to Australia with her at Christmas (lucky thing!) She liked the lilac Christmas card made earlier and wanted one very similar. I used different backing paper.

Just a couple more Christmas cards

Birthday and a Christmas order

The birthday card was made with free downloaded papers from here. There are some good graphics on there too, look under mini kits. I haven't put a greeting on yet cos I'm unsure who it is for!

http://freedigitalscrapbooking.com/clubmembersonly.html

The Christmas card is an order............The only colour A3 card I had suitable for a Christmas card was lilac. I hope the customer likes it!

80th Birthday this time

Made for a neighbour of a friend. Made with GCF image, decoupaged three times. It's a shame it doesn't come out well in the photos cos they look much better in the flesh!! Butterfly is a metal embellishment.

A couple of Birthday Card Orders

The 8 x 8 is again similar to the last one, A customer saw the last one and wanted more or less the same. I've used Joanie's BP on this one and altered the colour slightly to go with the lilac card.

The A5 is for friend, it's the first card I have made for her.............I hope she likes it.

Tha image is from GCF printed out three times and decoupaged, then glittered. The butterfly is on acetate.

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Bev, thanks Bev.

With this tag I have to give 7 interesting facts about me. And pass the tag on to 7 more people, so here it goes:

1. Originally I was going to be called Jennifer, but my parents changed their minds when a cousin called her baby Jennifer. I think I prefer that to Valerie!

2. I have two grown up sons, with families of their own. I have 5 grandsons and 1 beautiful grandaughter aged 18 months.

3. I don't watch much television at all these days, but I do watch Neighbours (sad I know) and I love Medium.

4. I don't drive, But I do have a mobility scooter...........that is my lifeline.

5. My favourite colour is Jade, actually, I like all greens.

6. I hate ironing......I've got a fantastic hubby that irons all his own shirts.

7. I have just bought a laptop so now I can play even when he is hogging the main computer!

So now to nominate my 7 to be tagged

Louise Emma http://the-lou-natic-asylum.blogspot.com/

Linda http://sheikaspalaceawali.blogspot.com/

Karen J http://kjssummerwinekorner.blogspot.com/

Wellnifty http://wellniftycards.blogspot.com/

Cal http://calbri.blogspot.com/

Joolse http://joolsedesigns.blogspot.com/

Joanie http://joaniescorner-joanie.blogspot.com/

What a way to start a week!!!

Woweee!!!!!

I've got my first ever blog award!!!!! Thank you so much Louise Emma. She is a lovely lady with a heart of gold, and makes some brilliant cards too. Visit her blog here http://the-lou-natic-asylum.blogspot.com/
This award states that:This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY- nearness in space, time and relationships.These blogs are exceedingly charming.These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends,They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement.Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated,Please give more attention to these writers.

The award also states that I have to award it to 8 more blogs.

So here goes. I don't know whether these bloggers have had the award before, but I think you all deserve it.

http://thecazzbar.blogspot.com/ Cazz has had crisis after crisis of late, More than anyone's fair share.........But she has picked herself up and is getting on with her life again. Well done you! And she makes beautiful cards too.

http://sheikaspalaceawali.blogspot.com/ Linda is a Scot living in Bahrain, lucky thing! She somtimes posts on the imag-e-nation forum and makes some lovely cards.

http://gretas-garden.blogspot.com/ Greta also posts on the imag-e-nation forum and by the look of her recent blog she makes cards 24/7 lol

http://www.kjssummerwinekorner.blogspot.com/ Now Karen makes some stunning cards, although each card is individual, they all have that Karen stamp on them. Go have a look.........

http://sylvscorner.blogspot.com/ Known as Budge, she is also a member of the forum, and has been for some time.......... Makes good cards too

http://wellniftycards.blogspot.com/ Chris has some beauties on her blog and deserves an award, well done you.

http://www.calbri.blogspot.com/ Cal is a fellow hairdresser and is also a cardmaker. She has been very busy lately making all the invites for her nieces wedding. You deserve an award for that alone!

http://jackie-cardcorner.blogspot.com/ And last but not least Jackie.............I love reading her blog. She comes up with some great cards, but her sense of humour is next to none. I know for a fact you have already got one or even two award already but I could Not give you an award, Thanks for making me laugh!

There were plenty of people on the imag-e-nation forum who deserves awards but they don't have blogs!

Our Marjie..........Janeygrey.........Chorley Cake........Karen Jenkins.........to name but a few.

Then there are all the ones Louise Emma nominated..............I didn't want to nominate the same ones..........but they all deserve it, especially Lou.

Am I getting old and forgetful, or what?

It suddenly occurred to me last night, I had been asked to make a card for my friend's sister's birthday. And I had forgotten all about it!!!

I will have to carry a small notepad in my handbag, then hopefully I won't forget....................

Anyway, I remembered with about 2 hrs to spare so by the skin of my teeth made this.

I could have used the other 8" x 8" card I made a couple of weeks ago, but the words were all wrong.............Sandra has terminal cancer and I had to be very sensitive where the verse was concerned. This might well be her last birthday!

A few I forgot to post

Two for the children of the recipient of the Art Deco card and one for my daughter in law who has just been promoted at Tesco. She is very apprehensive having taken on the job of assistant manager!

Art Deco card

Funnily enough Janeygrey a member of the imag-e-nation forum made a card exactly the same time as me. And they were so similar it was spooky!! Both were Art Deco and both had the image printed as the background. Great minds think alike!!

Just a few..............

Here are just a few of the cards I have made for Christmas. The green and purple one, I'm not too sure about, but it is growing on me. The Noel one is another experiment with GCF. The two together are for my boys and their families. And the boxed bookatrix is a commission.

My first 8" x 8" card

Janeygrey from the imag-e-nation forum made a lovely 8 x 8 card which got me thinking. I have a fair few A3 sheets so thought I would have a go myself. A sort of gatefold card with a difference!

So I lied.................. more Christmas cards

Made on GCF made with textured lettering. Background image etc imported from the Crafter's companion Christmas cd

My effort on JaneyGrey's tutorial

I'm finding this easy in one respect because I use Greetings card factory alot, but I know it's not to it's full advantage. I found it easy enough to post everything from my files and I learnt how to group it all. As for breaking it all down for decoupage, I did it my way! Here's the result.

Ordered cards

Here are four card made yesterday for two orders. The two for Mum was a happy mistake I originally printed out the card to fit the Christmas tree, but printed it too close together, so the tree wouldn't fit. So had to make another. Now the customer has a choice of two. I wonder which one he'll choose?

Incidentally the tree was embossed with the bug onto vellum and stuck onto gold card at the corners with small pieces of DST. Gems were then placed over the top to hide the DST.

Anniversary Card

This image was scanned from one of the cards we had for our ruby wedding anniversary, it was a full A5 size so scanned well. I knew it would come in handy!

And a third.................

I had already made a card for Ruth, but was not pleased with it. As she is a budding flower arranger I thought this one would suit the bill.

On a roll now

The lady who ordered the graduation card was so pleased with it she asked me to do a 50th card for her daughter. I love the effect of the split image, so made another very similar. I think it is a classy finish!

Oops

Got a phone call just now asking if I'd remembered to make a card. uummm. No!.................... Well he did ask me after a couple or three gins, lol. No sweat anyway, it's not until Monday, but went ahead and made it in no time.

Here are a couple of Christmas cards I've been experimenting with. The first one obviously a door and the second one a pillar box.............I can't make up my mind whether this works or not.

Graduation Card and More

Two cards I've been asked to make, one is a graduation card for a friend's Grand daughter. This one I was at a loss, because I had no images whatever. However I looked on the imag - e - nation forum and found one Cal had made sometime last year. It was just the job - Something different. So I set about making a spring card (which I hadn't done for a long time)

The front of the card is a mortar board. Thanks Cal.

The second card was for a friend for another friend - if you get my drift! The topper was recycled from a bought card which I was given to take all the bits off.

The third was just a birthday card for my stock.

Tatty Teddies

I had two projects to do today.

The first one was for a daughter of a friend, The friend makes no bones about the fact her daughter is gay, which left me high and dry wondering what to do. But she likes wine, so I found an ideal tatty teddy image...............worse for wear on vino!

The second is for a 22 year old's sister, and he is not sure how old she is, 9 or 10 .........bless him!

Consequently I have left the age off until I know for sure, then I'll bug a number or two, and add them later.

A Variation on the Wallet Card

I'ts a male friends birthday coming up, and as I had had an enquiry on how to make the wallet card, I thought I would make a male one. I think it rather suits a mans card. What do you think?