I started card making many years ago as a hobby while still going out to work and I thoroughly enjoyed the learning process. I made cards for family and friends and I even sold some ... but I gave even more away to charities.

I started to learn more and more about the techniques that I wanted to try and I scoured the blogs and websites of others. Then I had the bright idea to try and create my own website and I aimed it specifically at the new card maker. I wanted it to be full of information, tutorials and advice and I wanted to keep all the things I had learned in one place for others to access easily.

I had decided to go part time at work and I wanted ... no needed ... to keep my brain active and what better way than to send it on a very steep learning curve building a website. I knew absolutely nothing about what to do and I did lots of research. I worked hard and a full year later I had the beginning of my website Card Making Magic. It was born in 2009

My card making skills were getting better and better and know I was producing cards that I was proud of ... and my website was helping others to attain the same results in their own efforts... and they were taking the time to let me know how much they enjoyed my website.

I created many video tutorials on how to make the cards too and added them to my website pages and as I progressed I was advised by friends to think about blogging too, as a way of getting my handmade cards into the market place even more. And although I am a one man band I can still generate a lot of cards in the space of a week.

So what to do with them all ..... I either started to sell them or a I moved house as there isn't the room for both. I worked in an office full of men and of course they didn't buy cards and my daughter helped by taking cards to her work place. But sales were limited.

Retirement from going out to work was an option I considered and as the website grew and grew it was something that became more exciting. I gave up working part time outside the home ... and retired in to a full time job inside the home.

I created a Blog ... Flowers, Ribbons and Pearls ... which are all the things I love to add to my designs. Now I don't know how I ever found the time to go out to work and I have so much more fun doing what I now do.

Etsy was the next idea to sell some of the cards that I was making and although very new to this idea I have sold far more cards than I could have dreamed of. This is another steep learning curve for me but the opportunities that have come to me so much later in my life have been amazing.

Now I work harder than I ever did at work but my life is so much more enjoyable. Getting up and going to my craft room in the loft ... with coffee cup in hand ... is far more enjoyable than getting in to the car and joining the rat race.

I can now spend my time making the most beautiful cards with the best quality materials I can buy and turning my ideas into something I am proud to say ..."I made that ..."

So if this is retirement then it is the best job in the world