Hi I'm Janet and I live in London and am in my late 50's.

I have been card making for about 14 years which is a frightening thought. I started after being made redundant and having some time on my hands. I saw a handmade card in a shop which I bought for a  friend and then co-incidently stumbled upon a shop selling beautiful card blanks so I thought I’d have a go myself. At the same time ‘Change That’ was on the TV and that introduced me to a lot of other crafts like glass painting and mosaics.

It was quite difficult to get hold of products then as the web was in it’s infancy. I remember scouring the small adds in magazines, sending off for catalogues, and flogging all over London to find the vary scarce craft suppliers. Lovely websites like Joanna’s and shopping TV have made it so much easier and more enjoyable. However, I digress. That Christmas I made all  my own cards. I was writing  some of them on the tube (last minute as always) when the young woman next to me asked me where I had bought them. It is a big thing when someone talks to you on the tube so I knew she must have really liked them. I decided to have  a go at selling and for a while I sold cards on a stall on Spitalfiields market. It was absolutely freezing cold and I didn’t make a great deal of money but enough to cover my costs and the feedback from customers was invaluable.

I had been retraining and after that work took over so I had less time for craft ( I’m ashamed to say I still have some unfinished projects from that time smiley: embarassed ) but I carried on card making , which is my first love, and still sell cards but mainly by request from friends and contacts. I also do scrapbooks which I was introduced to through shopping tv and I really love this too. I’m very keen on CD crafting and have a number of Joannna’s CD’s which I use all the time.

 

I have had one or two health problems over the past few years which have made me take stock so I have decided to take my pension early. I will probably still do some work but I’m looking forward to a less pressured life and more time to craft. First job on my list is to sort out my craft room which after years of making things in a hurry and buying too much stuff ( no, really too much stuff! ) is in complete chaos. My profile picture is a cartoon of a typical attempt by me to craft. It is a mixture of my drawings and a variety digital images which I put together in My Craft Studio.

I look forward to getting to know everyone on this forum.


Last Edited By: JR77 Aug 2 11 4:39 AM. Edited 9 times.