A new year and exciting things to come

At dusk the other night after a sweltering 40 degrees celcius I glanced out my studio window to the most amazing red sunset. A storm had been forcast and the closeness of the air made it seem possible. We are in the middle of suburbia so there was no room to get a more open sky photo but the light reflecting of the rooftops seems rather magical to me. The storm didn't amount to much but the temperatures did drop down again the next day. Reading Nina's blog I am so full of envy of her cocooned in her snowbound hideaway, I just love the snow, but as an asthmatic I dont cope to well in very cold weather, so I am grateful that for 9 months of the year we have very mild warm weather, even if at times it is a little too warm, it is a lot better for me health wise. I look forward to 2008 with renewed enthusiasm, Joannne and I have lots of exciting things we want to incorporate into our business. Before Christmas I made some special cards for my three special sisters, Sharon, Phillipa and Paddy. These are only the sort of cards you make for special people who you know will appreciate the time and love put into each little card.

Sharon's card in shades of blue, pinks and apricots, colours that I think she would like. They remind me of the beautiful native flowers that she grows with so much love and care in her business Protea Magic in Queensland.

Phillipa's card is in soft apricot and creams, as Phil is a real Francophile I have put little fleur de lis charms and cut outs, touch of vintage lace her first love is vintage, have a look at her website shabby chateau you will see what I mean, and an image of a lovely shabby old door which is so her.

Paddy's card is all in creams, very dainty and feminine just like her. Paddy lives in Auckland, New Zealand, the last of our family still living in our homeland. These cards have been made with techniques I learnt when doing a class with Beryl Taylor, her work is truly beautiful. We will be making more of these cards to sell for only very special people. Joanne will be putting a vintage section in the online shop www.artisticjourney.com.au and we will be adding special peices that we make to sell. They will all be handmade originals so keep an eye out. We also will be putting a vintage items for sale as well. Well as I have spent the last 3 hours trying to reconcile the bank account on the computor, I am afraid we had paid someone to do the books for us, but he has had to find full time work, so I have decided to do it myself after 30 odd years of bookkeeping for other business's. I actually have enjoyed doing, especially as all the backlog had been caught up. But this blessed Bank rec had me baffled, I have never used this accounting program so that was a learning curve as well. But being of stubborn nature and not one to let something get the better of me I finally figured it out whewww! feels good