Just had to do it again

Hi there
This card is for the Graphicus Guild April challenge. I had made one just the same before but it had some messy marks so I just had to do another without them. Outside is so beautiful at the moment I wish work didn't get in the way. Still it makes me happy just to look out on it!

Elephants never forget

I'm not sure whether I've spoken about the special thing that happened to me last summer...I have been researching my family tree for some years now, slowly but surely, and for most of that time I have been looking for two of my cousins, sons of my Uncle who is now 96. There was a fair chance that they were no longer with us but I had to know. I hade met the two older boys who seemed to me very boisterous as a small child when my grandmother visited their home in Stockton. That is the area I had been searching, to no availe. Last summer before a research trip to my home town in Northumberland, I quizzed my uncle about his wife's family, parents, brothers and sisters and put the information on my family tree on Genes Reuinited, just a week before my holiday. Within a day I had a link and very soon addresses for one of the boys and his daughter. Unfortunately, John, the older brother had died. Anyway, I met my cousin now 71, who had moved to Newcastle, along with his family. They were pleased and surprised to know that my uncle was still alive and wanted to meet him. Our holiday was cut short so we could return three weeks later to reunite father and son. A very happy meeting because they all got along well and the reason for their estrangement wasn't a hinderance. We have kept in touch regularly ever since. But Oh!! to my horror I forgot my cousin's birthday yesterday, the first chance I have ever had to send him a card!
Above is the card I made for him this morning.

Quickie Card

I went to visit a friend today and forgot that her birthday is on Sunday, even though it is in my diary.Thinking about setting up the guild exhibition in the library seems to be taking all my mental resources at the moment.
Hence, I came home and made this card using 'Peacock Summer Party', a CD which I've not used as much as I thought I would, up till now. The peacocks at the zoo are beginning to show their finery, so I suppose the card can be considered seasonal.
I printed the background straight onto the card and the picture on photo card. The border is from a pack of coloured peeloffs. I cut round the shape of the border and glittered onto a strip of doubled sided tape on the edge of the insert.
The card is actually more mauve (my friend's favourite colour) than it looks.

Keeping busy

I've not been unproductive for the last few days but I have found inspiration difficult to come by. The consequence being I've not been too satisfied with my 'art work'. It took me nearly all afternoon to create one valentines card. Roses seem to be a theme at the moment but it is Valentines day soon! Yesterday I made some cards, perhaps to sell, using clip art from the internet which I enhanced with glitter, embossing and decoupage - but is that cheating?
Today I have finished spinning some silk that I started some time ago. Sometimes there are weeks between me dying the fibre to spinning it into a yarn. I'm happy with the result and when more undyed yarn comes form my supplier I shall be combining them both in a weaving project.
If the pictures look flat it's because I scanned both the card and the yarn. The silver heart and the rose are layed with pads but the weight of the scanner top has flattened them.