sew much to make .....

..... sew little time!

I've had a very creative weekend (yeah, I know - same old, same old) ..... but today I am exceptionaly proud of myself.  I'm not a natural "sewer" but when the mood strikes I can rattle of a mean bit of bunting, which I did yesterday for a friend at work:

However, today I excelled myself which, given my limited sewing skills, isn't hard!  I wanted to make an apron and, after spending hours on the internet without finding an easy, free, downloadable pattern, I decided to draw my own.  So I did :-)  then I cut it out from my chosen material, sewed it up, undid a few bits a few times and eventually I made a rather sweet apron!  It's taken me a while and it's too dark to take photos today but I will share it with you soon if you promise not to laugh!

I also made these little beauties over the course of this weekend:

A book for a friend to give as a Christmas present.  I've totally fallen in love with Cuttlebugs embossing folders, especially the paisley one:

And, behind the drag curve, I've discovered Nestibilities ..... I think all my photo mats will be made this way in future!

I also made a word book which is a rather lovely mix of lilac and turquoise (not grey despite how it looks in the photo):

And, I was lucky enough to feature in my friend Joy's blog - she's taken loads of lovely photos of the baby book I made for her granddaughter.  I had so much fun making this and I'm thrilled that she likes it (and looking forward to making two more as soon as I get a moment!).

almost a .....

..... MISI meet up

At the Landsdowne Arms on the 13th November, raising money for Help for Heroes.  Lots of lovely stalls and several lovely MISI ladies ....

..... Jean and Janice - Talking Beads

 ..... Mo - Mornie G Jewellery (that's Mo, opening chocolates that she made us eat!)

..... Rachael - Rosy Tint

..... and me

It was a lovely day, and a great chance for us to chat!

And, look what I picked up for Otis .... 

A fab bandana that Rachael made .... isn't it cute?

it's beginning to look a lot like .....

..... craft fair time!

After saying I wasn't going to do any, somehow I've signed up for five craft fairs over the next month.  The first is on the 13th Nobember from 11-4 at the Landsdowne Arms and is raising money for Help For Heroes.  There are several MISI ladies attending with a fabulous range of handcrafted goodies including beaded items, jewellery and knitted items and it would be great to see you there! 

Want to see some of the things I've been making to sell?

Snowballs ... well, mint imperials actually.  I''m a blog junkie and I've fallen in love with the "rudolph spares" and "pumpkin poop" packaging for sweets that I've seen and thought I'd give it a go ... I wanted something Christmassy and couldn't find anything that would suit a red nosed reindeer so plumped for snowballs instead!

 

Word books .... cut with my craftrobo and then decorated with hand embossed paper.

And explosions boxes ... old favourites that I've rediscovered.  Made with stunning DCWV papers from the Mango Frost range ... lovely, even if I do say so myself!

And, you ask, what has that lovely puppy of yours been doing whilst you've been slaving away over a hot desk?

Relaxing of course!

I do hope that you can make it on the 13th - should be a great trip out with some lovely crafty finds!

a week of .....

..... craft loveliness :-)

well, you know what it's like, I've spent a fortune over the past few weeks on things that I really didn't need ..... but, of course, had to have.  I've been beavering away in my craft room making stuff to sell so that I can (begin to) justify the amount of money that I've spent. 

I'm particularly pleased with these:

I made the pattern for these"magazine files" so that they would hold 2 spiral bound notebooks.  I recovered the notebooks by unwinding the sprial using the original cover as a template to make new ones.

I used by craftrobo to cut the cupcakes which I bought a while ago from one of my favourite sites, MyScrapchick.  I've had several sets from here and have been really pleased with them, I should use my craftrobo more but we have an on off relationship .....

I'm in the middle of making some gift bags, rather lazy of me but I bought a set of Paper Purses from K&Company and have been pressing them out and making them up:

And I got carried away with making laminated bookmarks:

Lots of shopping on the interweb means lots of good post days .... have a look at these buttons, all ready to be sorted into colour order to join the jars on my windowsill:

I've got four craft fairs and a house party lined up for the next month .... so much to make, so little time ;-)

happy birthday dear .....

..... Otis, happy birthday to you!

one year old today!!

and the winner is .....

.....  mystic moonshadows jewellery!  if you contact me either through here or MISI and let me know your address I shall get your Halloween goodies in the post to you!

Please let me know what you think of them! 

A big thanks to everyone who entered - I've got some other giveaways coming up soon so keep your eyes open :-)

witchie witchie, screamie screamie .....

..... happy happy Halloweenie!

I love Halloween, I love the decorations, the parties, the dressing up, the revolting party games (especially "fluffy bunnies") .... scaring the trick or treaters ..... I love it all!  And I know it's only September but it's starting to feel a little like Autumn and the nights are getting a little darker so I've been busy making a few Halloween goodies to sell.

But, before I show you the latest goodies in my MISI shop, I've got a little bit of a giveaway for you ..... but I will need a little something in return!  I've been toying for the longest time with the idea of printed cake toppers and party bags so I've made a set that I'd like one of you to try out for me.   To win, just leave a comment at the end of this blog and I'll pull a name out of the hat on the 1st October.  In return for winning these, I'd like your honest feedback and to know whether these would be the sort of item you'd buy .... anyway, here's a picture of what you could win:

Neat eh?  Six double sided cake toppers and six cellophane party bags ..... all ready for that Halloween party! 

 

And now, a shameless advert for my MISI shop:

Some Halloween Kits - five cute halloween handcrafted toppers, buttons, bows and loads of other bits and pieces ..... ideal for scrapbooking or card making or for giving away as a little Halloween present!   

And a rather fabulous Halloween Paper Bag Album - perfect for keeping those special Halloween memories alive and kicking!  Now reduced to £11 plus postage and packaging. 

I'm off to make some more Halloween goodies - don't forget to enter my giveaway!!

show me your .....

..... craft space.

I've been really busy overhauling my craft room and, apart from a new desk, it's finally done.  I thought I'd share some photos with you and that it would be lovely to see where you do all  your craft too .... so, why not do a blog posting  or even just upload some photos and show us yours?  Just leave a comment, point us in the right direction and we can all go and have a look!!

Anyway ... here is mine:

Yeah, I know, far too much stuff but admit it, you're just as bad!  Let's just hope the weight of all that crafty loveliness doesn't pull the shelves off the wall!

Cubby hole shelves, full of useful goodies.  I lined the back with Rose Garden paper from Papermania and I'm rather pleased with how they turned out.  My rather poor collection of Copic pens is underneath (note to self  "buy more").

A nice new home for my punchies .....

..... and a whole printer's tray to fill .....

I've had these letters for ages .....

..... and these, can't think why I didn't think of putting them there before!

Neat eh?  And, I think, worth the three weeks that it has taken ..... it's been such hard work and pretty much everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.  But I'm looking forward to many crafty hours in here and my fingers are just itching to start.

Now, let's see yours!

and the winner is .....

..... hennie!!

with the delightful "memories are made of this" ... I love it!!  I think it sums up what I am all about and has inspired a couple of other projects I'd like to start working on "sew sweet" and "heartfelt" (I've used that in the past but only on a very small scale) ...

so, thank you hennie!  if you pm me your details (through misi) I'll get your prize in the post :-) and thank you everyone else for all the suggestions through here, facebook, misi and via email!

what's in .....

..... a name?

A little competition for you - I'm in need of a new name.  I'm bored of "magic making hands" and I'm after something a little bit different.  Now, I'm not fickle, I've been "magic making hands" for the longest time.  But I've got a hankering for something else .... fancy helping?  Yes?  Well, here goes ....

I make loads of different things including (but not limited to):

• scrapbooks, memory books and paper bag albums
• hair accessories
• brooches
• jewellery
• cards
• party and wedding favours
• decorated and filled jars and tins
• sock roses

and a load of other stuff too!  You can check out my flickr pages and my MISI shop to see some of the things I make.  I need a name that describes all of this and a whole lot more!  Something that I can use on my MISI shop, my labels, my packaging .....

Now, what do you get for helping me I hear you ask .... well, here is a sneak peak at the prize:

If I select your suggested name, then you will win this original, one of a kind, paper bag album.  Just leave a comment on my blog with your suggestion for my new name and I will pick a winner on the 1st August. If there isn't a suggestion I feel I can use, then I will randomly select a "winner" to receive a small handmade gift from me.

I can't wait to hear your suggestions ...

it's only words ......

..... and words are all I have .... well, actually it's a letter book but that was the best title I could think of!

One of my work friends asked me to make an autograph type book for her daughter to celebrate her Royal Navy passing out ceremony. I bought a set of cutting files for my craftrobo a while ago from CuddlyBuddly Crafts and I have used the over, and over, and over again ... they are just fab! Anyway, here is my latest creation, not too girly but pretty all the same:

I spend hours and hours looking at craft blogs and I found Little Bella Boo Designs the other day, and I have to say I'm hooked! She makes amazing digi kits - I bought the Sweet Baby set from her and used it to make this cute baby book for someone at work:

I also made some (more) bunting for the big brother .... my new sewing machine is fab and it's made sewing "sew" much more enjoyable!!

And finally, another design to share .... this time my new hall floor. We finally finished the work on our hall and I wanted a light cream floor however, the hall is fairly large so I was worried that it would be too stark (or like being inside an ice cube) so I asked the flooring company to make me a bar code effect using different shades of brown. I am thrilled with the result and am seriously tempted to have marmoleum EVERYWHERE!!

neat eh?

a little bit of .....

..... Las Vegas!!

It was my birthday this week and what better way to celebrate it than at Elvis night at our local Indian restaurant?

With my other half:

The lovely Mrs Shaw:

And the ever delightful Mr Shaw:

The man himself ...... ;-)

and, even a little bit of Bollywood ......

rubbish pictures (sorry) ..... but the best night out!