NEWS!

Greetings all, sorry I have been quiet of late, but I have been busy designing new cards and organising some new *products*. Now you can buy a packet of 10 mixed cards for only $15.00 - that's a saving of $10.00. Packs available include - mixed occassions, birthday cards for guys, Birthday cards for girls etc... I will also be selling packs of Christmas cards as well - 15 for $30.00. Prices don't include postage, but, if you want to get some cards, be quick as they will sell out fast.

I have my Christmas stash out now and *card making central* is looking very festive! Don't forget, if you have any orders, place them NOW the closer it get's to Christmas the busier it will become for me.

Just sharing some trivia.....

Mickey Mouse has 4 fingers on each hand......

Card Sale!

I had a very nice meeting with a lady Friday, she has recently bought/set up a stall and was looking for new products to sell.... I took along 2 boxes of my cards, which she looked through and bought in bulk! I was very excited to make a large sale, and it's good to know my work will be available for sale in another outlet/way :-) Hopefully the cards will sell as well for her as they do for me and it will lead to her returning for more stock! She also gave me a few ideas and one is making up cards in a similar theme/range and selling as a packet - rather than individually, so I am busy sorting out sets - ie *Girls card* *Ocassion cards such as 21st, wedding, good luck etc* - I'm very excited and am already busy getting creative :-) These card packs will be availabe at a reduced rate also.

Trivia for the day

Did you know: The largest member of the cat family is the lion weighing 240kg!

Trivia Spot

Trivia spot:
Emus and Kangaroos cannot walk backward

Did You Know.....

Did you know **On average, Women dream more than men***

Trivia spot

BLYPE - is the name given to skin that peels off after sunburn.....

The largest pumpkin ever grown recorded a weight of 482kg!

(that's a LOT of pumpkin pie!)

Designs By Diane - Hand Made Cards on Facebook

Follow my Face Book Page :-)

Petrol trivia

Around four billion litres of petroleum is consumed throughout the world each day

Babushka Cards

Did you know - Vintage Port takes 40 years to reach maturity.

I sat down and had a good card afternoon yesterday, producing 8 more samples of Babushka Cards for the web-shop. I made 4 gift tags and 4 full size cards. I will be e-mailing out my samples and see what happens. Anyway I wanted to share some photos of them here.....


The 4 gift tags



2 of the large/normal size cards, both are lined inside, the yellow one I used a star punch and shimmery lemon ribbon, with the doll raised in the center. The black card I just went with a striking black and white them, raising the doll in the middle, but at an angle, opposite to the white.




The last 2, on the green card I added some red and gold ribbon, and highlighted the doll with some gold glitter. The other card features 4 flowers punched out with the inside layer showing through, some distressed black paper and the doll raised on top.

Fingers crossed my designs are liked!

snails and cards

An average snail moves at a rate of 58cm per hour

Started work on 8 more Babushka Card samples for the web-shop - if they like them, they are willing to place an order for 100 gift cards and 100 greeting cards - that will keep me BUSY, but, will be a nice boost for me - getting my name/designs out there.

Look for my fan page coming soon to Face Book as well!

Did you know

26 minutes of slow dancing will burn about 420 kilojules.

Crocodiles.....

A 55kg crocodile exerts a force of approximately 700kg between it's jaws.

I have some sample cards to make for a web-shop and if successful I am looking at a 200 card order! wish me luck :-)

Trivia:

A tiger's paw prints are called pug marks

Did you know

Did you know the starfish has 5 limbs and can re-grow 4 of them as long as it's central body is not harmed.

Did you know....

the first bike was called a hobbyhorse :-)

Babushka Cards

I was recently asked to make a few *Babushka* style cards, which was a challenge for the creative side. Basically it's another name for Russian Stacking Dolls. I was able to download a few images from the web and made my 5 sample cards. They are for sale at www.freewebs.com/minniesmessages. I also made a few gift cards for using on presents, and may consider looking into that further as another avenue/variety of cards and styles to add to my repertoire. As always any feedback and suggestions are appreciated.

have also been comissioned to make 15 *Thank You* cards, so my desk will be working hard come the weekend

Stay safe
~~D~~ xx


Here's a photo of the *Babushka Batch*

3 lines of trivia

It's been a while since I dropped by with some Triva - so here's a few for you xx

Cinophobia is a fear of beds.....

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear

The plastic things on the end of shoe laces are called aglets

:-)

Did you know

A Crocodile can not stick out it's tongue!

Did You Know.....

The more money a person makes, the less likely they are to buy lottery tickets......

Your Trivia For the Day

An anteater is nearly 6 feet long, yet it's mouth is only an inch wide!!

Trivia for you

Only fully grown male crickets can chirp!

Did you know.....

Chickens can travel up to 15KM per hour!

(Now we know why KFC is fast food)

Aussie Facts

Here's 2 Facts for you - a male kangaroo is called a Boomer and a female kangaroo is called a Flyer

I'm glad I wasn't *around* then.....

The first vacuum was so large it was brought to a house by horses!!!!

Trivia and Baby Cards

Did you know.... Strawberries are the only fruit whos seeds grown on the outside.

I had a very nice chat yesterday with a lady who contacted me via an ad I have running on Gumtree. To cut a long story short, she contacted me to say that she makes *baby baskets* from donated goods/items to give to mum's in hospital who've recently given birth. She wondered if I would be interested in donating some of my cards to put in her baskets and in return she'd place my business card inside - a little *free advertising*.

She rang me up and we had a nice chat about my cards, how I got started etc and how she got into volunteering these gift baskets. So, I will be mailing a few cards to her, and hopefully I may end up with some extra orders from it later! If anyone else is in a *situation* like this and I can help out with some cards in exchange for a little *free advertsing* I am happy to go ahead.

Looks like I'll be making some baby cards this week!

~~D~~ xxx

Cards, Cards and more cards

So excited! My *creative juices* so to speak have been working overtime, and I had another brilliant craft weekend. After selling so many cards on OZTION recently, well, I just *had* to replenish my stocks - hee3.


This group I used all pre-printed card that my mother-in-law gave me :-) I co-ordinated with some papers and embellishments and came up with these. The Winnie The Pooh, Tinkerbell and Butterfly are *blank* cards for any ocassion. Then there is a well Done, Special Day and Hello Card. I really love how the Tinkerbell Card came out (hope buyers will too) lol



This selection features - Birthday, Wedding, Love, and Thank You. I love layering crads as you can see and tried to work through some themes like the lilac and white Thank You card and the greens in the birthday card. I used my Xyron sticker maker for the wedding card, and overall was very pleased with the results



And the last of that run of cards - my 6 *blank* cards - with no wording inside or out so great for any ocassion, and, even great as a note card! The pink card at the back features a sticker of Hannah Montana, and the one at the front is a boys birthday card - featuring Spiderman. I recently purchased stickers and am having fun incorporating them into my range, enlarging the variety for kids/teens cards.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my work, and don't forget to check out my website

www.freewebs.com/minniesmessages

If you are looking to buy. I also have listings on Gumtree and Oztion and new cards are always being added

Have a great day

~D~ xxx

Did you know.....

Penguins have an organ above their eyes that changes sea water to fresh water.

Your Trivia

**The oldest known animal was a tortoise, which lived to be 152 years old**

Did you know.....

The palms of the hands and soles of the feet contain the most amount of sweat glands in the body

Trivia and more cards

Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise


Well, I have had a few more good card making days, made some more *blank* cards seeing they sold so well last time - I love the Tinkerbell one I did! As always there are some that seemed *so good* in my mind, but didn't transfer to card, but, I know that where I might see something that I'm not happy with, someone else might LOVE! I got some Hannah Montana stickers as well, so can add *her* to my range, even made a boys SPIDERMAN card :-)

I haven't had a chance to load the cards to www.freewebs.com/minniesmessages yet - or even get photos, but I will be sure to add some pics to my blog. I feel a card making afternoon coming on, so will wait to get some more done first.

Yah! To Mark Webber - 2nd in the Turkish Grand Prix - way to go Mark!!!

Oh, if you are looking to buy a bulk lot of cards from me, I have a set of 30 up for sale on E-bay at the moment, the auction finishes on JUNE 15TH so you'll need to be quick - look for Rowly2000

Cheers

~~Diane~~ :-)

Monkey trivia

Male Monkey's go bald in the same way men do.

Craft/Card Weekend

I had an amazing card making weekend! Made about 20 cards over the 2 days and was so pleased with what I accomplished :-) I had so much fun making new designs, and, as promised I made some Sympathy Cards to add to the range.



I tried to keep them elegant, in view of the ocassion, but tried to make them bright and cheerful as well, trying colours like baby blue and pink.

I also made just some random cards for various ocassions - Love, Birthday, Miss You, Thank You etc.

The red card pictured has already been sold!!! I used a stamp pad to ink around the green, red, purple and silver cards, just something different to try and to give a different look/effect.

And finally - also as promised I made some *blank* card, nothing inside and nothing on the outside to signify they are for anything in particular.



I really loved how the 2 in the front turned out - the brown/orange one and the one with the dragonfly. I am very happy to say all 7 of these cards sold, so it looks like next card making weekend, will be spent adding some more *blank* cards back to the range.

Love
~~Diane~~ :-)

Fact For The Day

Emus and Kangaroos cannot walk backward!

What is *Google*

Google is a number - 1 followed by 100 zeros!!!!

Did you know....

A cucumber is 96% water

Fact for the day

On average, a movie makes about 5 times more from it's video sales than ticket takings

Trivia for the day

The term COP came from England. It is short for Constable On Patrol :-)

Trivia

The cost of raising a medium sized dog to the age of 11 is $6,400.

Family Cards

I have really only been showing the cards I make for sale, so now I'd like to share some cards I have made for *myself* to use, those I give to family and friends.

Here is one I made for my Uncle Ray




This one I made for my friend *Dot's* Birthday, I used a shape cutter to cut out the letters and used the same paper for the background, I hope she doesn't think the *dotty* paper was a *dig* at her name - LOL - I didn't even THINK about that till the card was made!!!!




This next card is for my (step) Mother-in-law's birthday. I used the front off another card, layered that and added some rubbin's. I like to save cards now for pretty pictures and items I can *recycle*




For our brother-in-law


And lastly, I heard from a dear friend about the passing of her Grandmother, so wanted to send a simple, but elegant Sympathy Card (I will make some to add to my range) as much as we *hate* having to buy/make these types of cards, they are, sadly, a *fact of life*




I hope you've enjoyed seeing some more of my designs, all feedback is greatfully appreciated.

Welcome

Welcome to my new readers :-) I hope you will enjoy keeping up with my blog. I am Diane and I got into card making about 2 years ago. My Mother In law kept insisting I give it a go, and one day I thought I would. I just put it down to too many other interests, no time, no *talent* lol, but I bought a pack of blank cards and some stickers and I was HOOKED!

I hate to think of the money I have spent, but it is a passion now and there is nothing more fun and relaxing then sitting down with blank cards, papers, and embellishments and seeing what I can create. I love to try new techniques and, as I was making MORE cards than I could ever need, I decided to try selling cards.... *Minnie's Messages* was *born*. I named my card designs that in honour of my little Chihuahua *Minnie* I had lost 2 months earlier.

I love adding new paper, embellishment, stickers etc to my *stash* and have an embossing kit and Xyron machine amongst new storage items etc etc, it just keeps growing!

I do hope you'll continue to drop by, all the cards currently for sale can be viewed at www.freewebs.com/minniesmessages and at just $2.50 I have tried to keep them affordable!

xx

Get Well Soon

I was so pleased with this card! using a layered look, but with a touch of *Asian* influence, it came together as nice, but unusual/different way to say *Get Well*

Mixed Cards

I love how this one turned out!


As I mentioned in a previous post I recently got some new stickers - including Kung Fu Panda, so here is a card using those stickers!





And One using a Highschool Musical sticker (I know my niece will love that one!)

Thank You card!

I love this card! I think it turned out so well, using layers and gold, that matched in so well with the brown, it's just a very simple, yet elegant card

Baby cards

I have been having a go with some different styles and recently made 2 Baby Cards I am really quite pleased with, both have a 3D look and are colour themed - blue or pink - I was so pleased with how these ones turned out!

To *purchase* any of my cards - please drop by www.freewebs.com/minniesmessages

Theme Birthday Cards

I was so pleased to recently find some WWE and Highschool Musical stickers I could incorporate into my cards, here are two.

A blue boys card featuring the WWE/Wrestling and a girls card faturing Highschool Musical - I used the *distressed paper* look along with some gold glitter and happy Birthday Sticker to finish the girls card

More Birthday Cards

I was really pleased how this square card finished, with a wooden and metal embellishments and layers of yellow theme paper, it seems the perfect design for a pre-teen. Inside I placed a Happy Birthday Sticker to finish it off :-)

Birthday Cards

Here are some recent additions to my *catalogue* :-)

Metallic cream card, embossed, with matching ribbon and birthday sentiment (also embossed) on the front


Cream card with a green theme - 2 small wooden pegs hold the birthday message - *On Your Birthday Wishing You Life's Best*. Card has been left blank inside for your own message

Busy!

Hello again, it has been a while and I do appologise for that!!!! I have been hard at work creating new designs, recently adding embossing to my cards, for a wonderful effect. I have been fortunate enough to recieve 3 custom card orders this week, and, it's great to see things finally starting to take shape :-). It's been hard trying to get people to give me a go, and was excited to recently send out a sample envelope of cards for a potential buyer - fingers crossed. I will be updating a bunch of new cards to the site - www.freewebs.com/minniesmessages sometime this week



Here's a recent new addition!

Don't forget to sign up while you're there, would love to have you as a member xx

Hey there, all's well here, been a nice relaxing Sunday, spoke to a friend of mine in the US this morning, it was great to catch up. Hope everyone is well xxx

2009......

Well, it looks like 2009 I'll have to step things up. I really want to make a sucess of the Minnies messages cards. I will re-vamp the website and get some more listings out there on the classifieds sites. I guess it's very hard to compete with $1.00 cards in stores :-(
This year I'd like to expand the concept a little more, and as well as selling card to those on line who want to buy... but offering some extra services as well, hopefully fill a niche???
For people who want to send a card annymously - especially for valentines day, with pay pal I can send a card anywhere in the world on the buyers behalf. I mean how would you feel if you lived in Canada and got mail from Australia to open it and find a *secret admirer* and the true sender could be living right next door.
Another concept I thought of was of being like a card sending service, a person gives me a list of dates and names and addresses and I send card for them, on their behalf, and they don't have to shop or send cards (be a great service for guys right? lol).
The big hurdle will be getting the name out there, and getting people interested. I really do love making cards and I'd like to see it succeed.
If any of you have any ideas, I'd love to hear from you xxx