Yep! I'm certainly Hooked!!

Here are some more cards I've managed to do over the last few days.

This is a Henbury stamp which I've put on pink card and filled in with coloured pens watered down. The backing paper is from the Prima Pastiche collection called 'Butterfly wings' and I've added a butterfly and a little tag with a pink heart on and 'For You'.  I also butterfly stamped the edge of the card.

This is a card set I got from 'Mad About Cards' website.  I used the actual card to use instead as a backing paper and placed onto a white card, then I cut round the little dog pictures twice and decoupaged it on top of the picture and added a little green bow.  I added the little paws with stick ons and used the Best Wishes sticker it came with.

This card I used the butterfly punch on the edge of it and added a wavy cut out part of the Prima Pastiche collection called 'Butterfly wings' - which is the other side to the one I used before.  These sheets come in 12"x12" size so plenty still to use up!!  I put some little butterflies on and also a little metal heart and 2 birds embellishment on it.

This is a Thank You card I made for my Hubby Mike for supporting me in, (and paying for!) all my card making kit!  It has blue patterened paper and then I cut out the words individually from a sheet of them of the same set (sorry can't remember name of them!) I added some little blue flowers and a blue butterfly to match the stamped out butterfly at the top and bottom of card.

I made this card from 3 different lilac backing papers which I zig-zagged with scissors. I added a bluebell topper on top of a strip of silver and lilac ribbon. There are also 5 little butterflies that are the cut-offs from the butterfly punch (I don't throw anything away!) lol

This card is again used with lilac papers and the stripey one I punched with butterflies and the two larger butterflies were actually punched by an in-store demonstrator!  I do hope to get that punch though! I added some purple stones.  Also there are purple star stick on ribbon and a lilac butterfly one to separate the papers.  I used a punch on the bottom paper and added a little butterfly stick on. I also punched the edge of the card.

This is a range of different blue papers and I've punched the dotty one and the starry one top and bottom.  I added two toppers with cricket as it's theme and a little blue flower.

This is made from the backing of the same paper called 'Postcards from Paris' from Webster's Pages.  There's a cream/green lace one on one side that I used as a backing and the red roses on cream background on the other side that I ziz-zagged along one edge and laid it onto the right hand side.  I added a green ribbon on the top and decorated with 3 amber stones.

This is a lovely pink and mint green paper from the Watercolour Collection called 'Because'.  I managed to include the words Because and cut around the card with wavy edged scissors and I also corner punched it.  I added a topper from the Kanban range called 'Rosie' and again, cut around it with the wavy scissors in an oval shape. I placed a little pink rose and ribbon at the top and some little pink butterflies from the cutaways of the butterfly punch.




So there are my latest additions - hope you enjoyed looking at them!

Mike and Me doing the Tango!!

 Hi again,

Well here I go copying Emma again - she got me on to this site (JibJab) in the first place so I had to get one done - only I don't know how she managed to get it on her blog cos I've been trying all afternoon and only ended up with a link to it!  Anyway, go have a laugh on me and look at it!


http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/zyMNc1f5Ku1i76iCFih8


the funny thing is, that the man's body is exactly like Mike's and I only WISH my body looked like the lady's!!

My First Cards!!

These are my photos of my 1st batch of homemade cards!

This is my 1st ever card!  I didn't keep the outer wrapper so have no idea whose paper or embellishments I'm using, so hope you forgive me as I'm such a beginner!! lol

This is my 2nd attempt and I enhanced the lady's dress with glitter pen and added little corner lift offs and a little butterfly and a Congratulations peel off in multi colour.

.This one is from a ready made card pack that is made by Jaeger.  It had a silver star in the middle of handmade paper and I managed to buy 10 cards for the grand sum of 99p!

I layered up the petels and stuck a lilac rose on top and filled in the star with purple glitter pen. I punched the hearts in and added some purple star beading.

This is another of the Jaeger cards only I've covered over the star with some pretty pink paper and I used a punch in the corner of it. I also punched the corner of the card with a corner punch.  I added the topper onto sticky pads to raise it up. I then added some extra little flowers from a Henbury set round the edge of the other flowers.

This cream card has been border punched with hearts and an accent punch and the little pictures and poem were in the shape of a bookmark, so I cut around them with wavy scissors and sticky pad the faces on but the poem flat.  I then used a clear stencil block of flowers which I cut down into 3's and put on a ruby colour and then decorated with little seed pearls. I also coloured in the roses around the lady and man with red glitter pen.

This card was first embellished with a blue patterned backing paper that I believe I bought from 'Mad About Cards' on ebay. the lady is from a Kanban set.  I placed the lady topper on a mint green card that complimented the blue patterned paper.  I then put a 3D butterfly on and a best wishes tag.

This is a white embossed card that I decorated with some Henbury embellishments that I bought from Angel Crafts. I added a little pink butterfly after cutting round the door picture with zig-zag scissors and enhanced the flowers around the door with glitter gel pens.  I also added a tiny pink bow to the flowers in the pot.

This is one I made today that I got the idea from a demonstrator for DoCrafts.com who was at the Range Shop in Colchester.  I folded a mint green A4 size of card and glued some zig-zag cut Henbury pink paper inside. I corner punched the tops and bottoms of the card. I cut out two ovals, one with Henbury pink rosebuds and the other plain pink for the back and then embellished with a raised plastic flower. I added Henbury flowers on front and back page and a little pink butterfly and a tag saying 'Have A Perfect Day' - all in all, I'm quite pleased with what I've made, but especially this last one!

The Range Shop in Colchester has aisle upon aisle of every craft item you can imagine so I had a field day there and Hubby Mike's wallet is quite a bit lighter now!!

My New Hobby!

After thinking and thinking and walking round a great big craft shop and still getting no idea what I wanted to do as a hobby, I decided I'd do what my daughter Emma does, and do some card-making! (Hope she don't mind me copying her!)

So I visit some online craft places and order away to my hearts content... papers, embellishments, peel offs, Oooh theres so much to choose from!

I went to a craft shop and got me a craft knife, mat, glue, scissors, double sided sticky tape and some blank cards and envelopes.

So I was all set to go! Now, where do I start? I really didn't have much of a clue so mentioned it to my daughter and she suggested we have a 'craft day' round hers after a nice lunch! That went well and I managed my first card which I was rather pleased with!

We're hoping to do this on a regular basis and in fact last Friday, had one round my house where I managed to make two more cards! It's quite captivating this hobby!

Will have to find a way to put up photos of my cards!

We're off!!

Yes me and hubby Mike are getting away for a few days as it's our 4th Wedding anniversary on 23rd april - St. George's Day!! We are going to a swanky hotel in Southsea, near Portsmouth.

We actually got married in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Sandals organised every last detail for us, so no hassles!  We had a very romantic setting, overlooking the blue sea and just the two of us pledging our vows to each other. It was the best thing we ever did. We did have a party for friends and family when we got home but there were none of the pre-wedding nerves and hassles leading up to the wedding day!! lol

 So this is Mike and Me just after we got married on 23rd April 2005!

Really looking forward to winding down while away and it will give Mike the needed break too as apart from working full time, he has to look after me a lot when my back is really bad (which it has been lately!)

Take Care Everyone!

Sal xx

Susan Boyle

I expect most of you have heard of Susan Boyle now. When I sat and watched her on Britains Got Talent I was blown away! See it here if you haven't watched it yet:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

The woman had a beautiful voice and such a rare talent that's been in hiding all these years. I truly admire her for having the courage to go on the program with a dream and stand in front of all those people in the audience who were smirking and mocking because of the way she looked. Well, all I can say is 'you can't judge a book by the cover'!

She wowed them all - even the 'Great Simon Cowell' who was absolutely amazed by her voice. This humble, modest woman is going to be a big, big star!

Being a Poet myself, I often take notice of the words more than the actual tunes sometimes - and getting off the subject of Susan Boyle entirely here, I remembered a song the other night from the 80's.  It was a country song and I think it was called 'From Where I Stand' and I've no idea who sang it.

Well, there I was musing away as I sometimes do, when I remembered the words to this song and the actual touching story associated with it.  My late husband John, actually recorded himself singing this song alongside the tape we had, then presented it to me!!  I never even knew he could 'sing' and it put a huge lump in my throat when I listened to it. After he died, I often played it to listen to his voice again! 
From memory here are the words as sadly,  the tape snapped!

Look at me, tell me what you see,
Do you realise just what your love has done for me,
Honestly, you are still the one for me
and my heart is gonna be with you forever.

From where I stand you are the light of day,
you're the silver, studded starlight of the evening,
I could hardly feel my heart until you held it in your hand
and I hope you're never far from where I stand.

Lovely isn't it?  Hope you didn't mind me sharing it with you!

The End Of My Business Empire

Hi, Welcome to my first ever blog!! I know I know, - I'm a bit behind the times regarding getting started on blogging!

I started a blog first and foremost to promote my various online businesses that I had - but I've just given the majority of them up now!! Why?

Well, I wasn't making any money for a start off! A pretty good reason, don't you think?

I had been trying to make a go of online home businesses for nearly two years now and was surfing various sites to earn credits to promote my websites - it was taking up most of my day! I must admit it was getting a bit tedious and then fate stepped in.....

My Outlook Express email account where all my business was conducted crashed - leaving me unable to even look at an email, let alone click on the links! So in one mighty blow, I was left with no links to any of the 30 sites I surfed at!

I did try to follow some complicated procedure to get it back on track - without success so in a fit of pique, I decided there and then 'enough is enough'!!

I went into my paypal account and cancelled all my subscriptions - I couldn't believe how many I was paying out for!! No wonder I was always overdrawn in my bank account!

Where were all the promised $1000's of dollars I should be making?? Certainly not in MY bank account - more likely lining the pockets of the so-called 'guru's' who sold me their business in the first place with their tempting offers to 'work from home' and earn yourself thousands. Bulls**t!

I must admit, I did shed a tear, but at the same time I knew I was doing the right thing.

Then I got involved with a sure-fire money making idea...... it was clicking on sent emails and get paid for it.......Mmmm, will I never learn? After clicking away for days and months and accumulating 100's of thousands of pounds/dollars I apply to get paid. 'Ooh no, you have to be a'gold' member'. So I pay out £25 to become a gold member, still clicking away, then I apply yet again to be paid 'My' money that I've slavishly earned! The reply..... 'Ooh no, you have to pay a fee to us so we can tell the bank to give you the money'! What the..... that 'fee' amounted to £450!!! I emailed back with the bright idea that they can deduct the fee from the £450,000 they owe me. But no, they can't do that the cheating, robbing, con of all con men! so once again I was pressing my delete button which had my thousands and thousands of pounds owing to me - all that time wasted for nothing.

My dear understanding hubby said 'Just get yourself a hobby babe and stop trying to earn money online, cos it just don't pay out'! Yeah right, so thats what I'm going to do........... Watch this space or blog!