Making some cards!

I am finally managing to work out how to fit making cards in round being a Mummy AND having a part time job, it is difficult but I am looking forward to being able to get my creative juices flowing again.

I've just made a couple of cards just now, unfortunately (from a business point of view) they are for family/friends but it is still good to get making again.

Here are some photos from another commission I made a week or so back.  I like this design for baby cards, though I'm thinking of other ways to do a baby card too...

There was a time scale for getting these in the post, so the photos had to be taken in a hurry, unfortunately they are not so good as Naomi was adamant she would eat the cards and I had a battle on my hands to keep her away from them!

Trying to find some creativity

One of the reasons I have started Just Jay is that money has been a little bit tight since I stopped working to have my little girl.  Having done a budget it became clear to my husband and I that our situation was a little more immediate than setting up a "cottage industry" could deal with, so I recently started a very part time job to supplement our income.  This doesn't sit too well with me, I don't want to be working, mainly because I want to be at home with my beautiful baby girl but also because I was really starting to enjoy making cards and working in the evenings means that I don't have as much time and that my daytime is a bit busier too.

That said, I am still going and tonight I have been working on another commission, pictures to follow, I quite like it, it seems to have come out well.

As I type this I should be putting together some Christmas cards that have already been ordered and paid for! My creative juices are not flowing all that easily though, maybe I'm not in a Christmassy mood, but I am really struggling to come up with a terribly cohesive design.

Instead I have decided to do this, hopefully with a view to being able to promote Just Jay a little and once I am done here I will tidy up my resources as they have become a little jumbled up, I really need a wee "tool box"/some drawers!

Hopefully my Christmas creations will come together soon!

Still going!

I realise that there has been a bit of radio silence from me, Naomi, who is of course the reason I am running this little business from home, was ill which made making cards very difficult.


Then I got ill, making card-making really very difficult!

Then, I ended up getting a little job to help ease the financial burdens, so this is also making card-making a little more tricky.

I am working on an order of 20 Christmas cards just now, I have discovered I prefer to make one off cards rather than big orders, I am really having to push myself to keep going.

I am still going though, and still looking for more orders if you would like any cards!

It just feels wrong

Today I am making Christmas cards for an order I received a few days ago, the sun is shining outside and it is destined to be about 25-27 degrees by the end of the day.  Making Christmas cards in this weather just seems all wrong!

Here is a sneaky peak at what I am making

coming together

Loving this card

I was asked to make a new baby card and this one proved a bit of a challenge, I had an idea but was struggling to have it come together.  However, this evening I got it cracked and the following came into being, I am beyond made up with it, I LOVE this card!

Competition

How would you like to win a Just Jay card?  When I reach 50 'likes' on facebook I am going to give away one of the cards from my "Samples" album on my facebook page. 

All you need to do to enter is like my page, so press the button on the right hand page of this blog and then make sure you go and look at the photo album so you know which card you would like, I'll even personalise it for you, so think about any names etc you would like added.

The winner will be picked at random when I get to 50 likes!  Good Luck

Wordless Wednesday

My first order

Hooray! Tonight I received my first order!

Strange to think that anyone would be thinking about Christmas cards yet, and there it is! Twenty Christmas cards to keep me busy for a day or two!

So pleased.

On a happier note

As you can see in my previous post, sometimes things don't come out the way I would like, but sometimes, they come out exactly as I would like.  I love this card, I love how it looks and I love how it came together.

Hooray!

Other things that make me happy are the various ideas for cards going round my head, I have so many just now they are keeping me up at night!

It makes me sad

I am quite a perfectionist, that is not to say that everything that I do is perfect but that I like everything to be as close to that as I can possibly manage.

I am a bit sad, therefore, that a card I made has come out all "wrong".  The idea is still good but the execution is not so great, lots of glue showing and not so neat lines.

I have decided, uncharacteristically to share the picture but I am yet to decide if the card will even be included in my stock!

Some of my work

Here we are at the beginning...

For some time now I have been trying to think of a way to make a little money from home, so that I could still look after my little girl.  I love her and I love being around her.  Spending time with her was more important than having more money to spend in shops, but ideally I wanted both!  I toyed with the idea of making gluten and dairy free cakes (in line with the way I eat) but I couldn't turn my kitchen into the stringent gluten free zone that would be required.  I toyed with sewing stuff because I love doing that but I don't have a sewing machine, so that would at the very least be overly time consuming.

Last week though I realised that two good friends were having birthdays and I wanted to give them a card each.  I didn't really have enough money to buy something nice so I got down my card making/scrapbooking box and happily sat and made them cards, something I love to do!

It wasn't till I sat there on the floor making cards with a big smile on my face that I realised I could make and sell cards.  I am not sure quite how I came to "forget" that I did card making or even that I am quite good at it but somehow I did!

Since then I have been busy making cards, to sell to friends, family, acquaintances and over the Internet through this blog and my facebook page.  In time I hope to start going to craft fairs and the likes to sell my wares.

I am very excited about all that is going on and hope that this blog will be a combination of stories about how I am getting on and photos of what I am making, in case you might like to look and even to buy!

Let me know what you think, all feedback is appreciated.  I am also happy to make cards to order/personalise cards, so if you like what you see but can't find anything quite right, then please get in touch and I'll see what I can do!