Let us love people...

Let us love people now they leave us so fast
And the ones who don't leave won't always return
And you never know while speaking of love
If the first one is last or the last one first.

[Jan Twardowski, translation found here]

Some of my relatives have a fantastic feel for family bonds. One that doesn't care about country borders, time zones or an hour in the day. When they want to talk to you, they will always find you then and there. Some time ago I was a bit upset about it, as the phone would ring randomly at 1 or 3 am, drastically waking me up (it was a loud, noisyring tone unable to be changed and the phone was just above my bed) but now I would actually love it if someone felt that they were so close to me that they'd need to speak to me then and there. I think one starts appreciating their family more as they get older...

 

 

This post is dedicated to my cousin's son. He's just turned 5 and eventhough I made the card in time, I wasn't able to post it until just after his birthday. At the time I didn't even realise that I was using my favourite combination of colours - pink, blue and vibrant green. We have Christmas decorations in these as well, I hope the card doesn't look too christmassy though! :)

 

Darjeeling mmmm

Ahh another 'made-to-order' card, yay!

I used golden ink on the Indian style embossing. I also got some new flowers and paper which I used several times now. An I am still in love with the rhinestones that my husband got me when he learned I was going to start making cards.

The joy of making this card was equaled only by my newly arrived Darjeeling tea. I *had to* try it then and there. Mmmm tea :) and a lovely chat with my other half.

I'm still debating getting a lot of card supplies, but it will need to wait, as I have just gotten myself a shiny motorbike. Well, we bought it, not just me. So the stretched finances are now.. well.. a bit more stretched...

New Baby arrival

When you see those little tootsies, and tiny hands all you want to do is to kiss them all the time. The eyes that can only see you when you are about 30 cm away and the little heart that beats just for you. You love the little being that you created, you are the proud parents. Overwhelmed with joy and love towards the most precious little creature in the whole wide world.

Or that’s how we felt when our daughter was born. I am pretty sure that no matter who people are, they still feel the same.

My cousin has just had a baby. I had a feeling that it may happen soon as I kept thinking of her and that I still needed her address – so I emailed my aunt yesterday morning; she replied, but I couldn’t access my personal email account from work; a few hours later my dad emailed me at work with the fabulous news. I think I got maybe a tad overexcited as I shared the news with my coleagues. That’s just who I am. I like others to experience the joy I take part in. More often than not, people here are reserved and just look at me as if I came from the Moon. I think they must be English ;)

So, provided that I can find the Post Office today, this is going to be sent out to the proud parents of Baby L.

Heart beats

One night to be confused... 
One night to speed up truth...

It was our 3rd wedding anniversary a few days ago. Our heartbeats became one such a long time ago that we sometimes forget that we still are us- not one family unit, but separate entities. This was a night to recall this amazing state of being in love and being free to talk and do whatever the two of us wanted. We also had a giggle as at around 9pm we felt a big hammer of tiredness coming over us and all we could think of was to get home to our little gorgeous daughter and to our comfy soft bed. Which we did to the surprise of our amazing neighbour who had agreed to babysit and was expecting us much later... 

The  card that my husband received that day is just here on the right. I sprayed it with golden spray paint - an afterthought that worked quite nicely; I think that the next time I will only spray some elements of the card rather than the whole thing.

Tea time!

Oooh, I have just ordered a batch of Darjeeling and Oolong teas. I hope to share some of it with my parents. I am not sure if I like Oolong yet, as I only had it twice so far. I had the same feeling with Darjeeling when I first tried it. It took me several times to get used to it; that tea is so fabulously tasty, but  what I found is that the main mistake people do is to add too little into a tea strainer or a teapot and then pour it straight in before it has a chance to brew properly. It purely has no time to work its magic. The best Darjeeling I bought was from Poland, from a small tea shop in my home town that I discovered at the age of 17. It's changed (it used to be tea rooms, where you could seat and have a nice cuppa and perhaps a cake - now it's just a shop) but the lady there is lovely. One can get lost in all the varieties they sell there, I got some fantastic black tea blend called Tsarina's samovar and also the first flush Darjeeling I mentioned before. I am going there back in December so I can't wait to bring something new home.

As I finished the last of the Darjeeling from home, I ordered some online from an ethical company that uses bio dynamic farming and fair trade. I had some tea from them before so I thought I'd give it a go again. I am looking forward to sitting with a cuppa and working on my cards!

Sea of coziness

I have always felt that I've been floating in this non decision state. No commitments, no risks and no rewards. It will probably never change unless I am pushed. This is my personal llife. I feel cosy and safe here and therefore I don't need to make big decisions.

There have been ocasions of course, when such a status quo was undeniably unacceptable, so I have ventured out of my 4 walls of coziness to change things - big decisions of the sort of moving o the UK and leaving the life I knew. Or fighting for the man I loved eventhough the fight seemed to be lost before I even picked up the glove - now we are married and have a wonderful daughter...

 

This one is not as big a decision as it may seem, but for me it's a little piece of puzzle I have started to complete a few months ago when I decided to start this blog. Should I order some card/card blanks in wholesale quantity? I could try and sell some of them. At the moment I wouldn't be able to sell them as a main income, I don't think i would ever decide on such a drastic step- it takes me about an hour to make a card from scratch if I need to design it in my head first. If it's something I have done before then it's much easier and faster - Easter cards took about 20 minutes each once I knew what I wanted them to look like. Also, one of the factors that acts against me is the space - you saw the havoc I generated in my lounge in the first post - it takes time toset up the shop and then time to tidy up.

So - At the moment it would still be just a hobby. But maybe one I could slowly make some money on... I started to gather costs of card blanks. I have already spent much more on this that I would ever want to and I haven't gone bancrupt is only thanks to my lovely salary from the previous life and my husband's current salary (my current one is barely covering the nursery costs and make up removing pads;)

Then the question would be of the card costs, mediums to sell it through - I'd need to make a business plan and stick to it probably. And not splash on unnecessary stuff. Like shoes. Or new baby wraps...

Little Darlings

August saw a wave of my antenatal group's babies' birthdays. As usual, I forgot to take the pictures of most of them and asked 2 mamas to please send me the picture - quite funny.

 

I love to give people the cards that represent them. Or with colours that I associate them with - it's so much easier to work this way as there are no clashes and the creative process is happier and faster. 

Once I finished Jacob's card though, I wasn't sure if, due to the usual gender stereotypes, his parents wouldn't find it weird or out of order. Hopefully they didn't, as I absolutely loved his card!

 Léon's card was the first one I used chalk pastels to colour the embossing with. It was such a joy to create something new - especially that the little boy was so special in my daughter's life. Her first boyfriend and everything ;)

Joshua's cards were very blue - he is a boyish boy, but so cheerful, it had to be blue and yellow!

Forgotten dreams

It has been a long time, full of forgotten photos and forgotten dreams...

I made a lot of cards that nobody took any pictures of, as the whole process was very reactive rather than proactive...

My supplies of card stock, papers and general card making gadgetry have doubled if not trippled during the last few months and I am still awaiting a few things. Oh, and even more are on my Amazon wish list, should anyone want to donate something *wink wink*

What I am the most proud of though are my lovely stickers with Ignis Fatuus hand made cards on them.

4 weeks ago I went back to work full time and now am I panicking that the Christmas supply of cards will not be finished in time. It's only August! You'll exclaim, however considering my and my husband's families, 3 months to create cards for all of them is not long at all.

I will try to show you a few little bits and bobs of what I did in the past few months. I have not forgotten. I have been otherwise preoccupied with the little porcupine waking up at night every 2 hours every night, so the priority has been getting at least some sleep.  Bu hopefully I adjusted now and will be able to post more regularly.

These two don't have the most appealing pictures, as I totally forgot to take them! I nearly put the cards in the envelopes when I realised I should have taken a snapshot.

They were for 2 special people:

One very warm and cuddly friend... 

...and one Father-in-Law:

I loved the simplicity of the two cards - again, the pictures are not the greatest.