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!

can you keep a secret?

..... it's my mum's birthday on the 14th of May, that's not the secret of course but the book I've made her is .... I took some of her favourite photos and turned them into this:

This is a picture of my mum when she was little, and apart from being slighty older, she hasn't changed a bit!

Her parents, Thomas and Gladys, alongside details from the record of marriages for 1930 which shows their names and the month they were married:

A picture of my mum's nan and Aunty Babs:


A picture of my grandad's bakery, decorated for the Coronation, alongisde a page from business directory dated 1910 which give details of the shop:

And finally, a more recent picture of my mum:


I'm really pleased with how this has turned out and I think she'll like it .....

absent without leave .....

..... it's been ages since I last blogged. Do I have an excuse? Most certainly ..... I've been sidetracked by Otis who is, quite simply, the most huggable, loveable time waster that I've ever met. I've been spending my afternoons curled up on the sofa with him, watching TV while he sleeps next to me ......

However, I've managed to get back into the creative swing of things and have been spending more time in my craft room (of course, now with a delightful furry puppy helper!). This week I was asked to make bunting to decorate the front of a craft stall:


I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed making bunting ..... but now that I've remembered, I shall be making a lot more. I'm planning on making some for some special birthdays that are coming up in the next month or so .....

I've also redescovered a love of notebooks ..... for as long as I can remember I've loved pencils, pens, notebooks ..... pretty much any kind of stationery. I think it's "girl thing" ..... and so, with girls in mind, I've made some pretty little notebooks which are on sale in my MISI shop:


I'm hoping to spend a majority of my Bank Holiday up here, catching up on crafting and blog reading. What more could I ask for?