Magic Making Hands

taking a .....

2011-08-06T17:02:00.000+01:00

..... bloggy break

I'll be back soon :-)

a swap, a "ta daa" and a work in progress .....

2011-06-19T12:40:00.000+01:00

..... I took part in the Summer Swap that Becki organised and on Wednesday my parcel from Buttonz arrived:

you'll see that Otis is in the background, he likes a bloggy swap almost as much as me :-)

inside were lots of brown paper packages ..... which contained:

a window transfer ..... it's a camper van with "are we there yet" underneath .....

a beautiful heart (now hanging on the mirror in my downstairs toilet!) .....

a sundae glass and scoop .....

a packet of butterflies .....

some cupcake ribbon (the prefect reason to dig out the cupcake rubber stamps I haven't used yet!) .....

and a lovely "gone to the beach" sign which is now hanging in my craft room .....

how lucky am I? thank you Jodi for a lovely, lovely swap :-)

On Tuesday I got a call from the framers to tell me that my cross stitch was (finally) ready, it's now hanging in my hall .... so here is the "ta daa":

And, finally, this week after what seems like months of waiting my living room and dining room floor were finally finished .... here is a quick shot of the living room just after it was finished:

now, just need to get everything back in place! :-)

A Monthly Make - 2011 - June

2011-06-15T19:23:00.000+01:00

I'm really busy with commission orders at the moment, which is lovely .... but sometimes I like to just make something without a reason. And this book is one of those makes, a lovely, no reason, super girly bag book:

Please don't forget to have a look at the monthly makes on the Felt Fairy's flickr site - go on, feast your eyes on some crafty loveliness!

Saturday .....

2011-06-11T12:23:00.000+01:00

..... a day for:

fabulous, thrift shop finds - a lovely wicker tray and embroidered tray cloth .....

crafting with beautiful dotty papers and flowers .....

and charms .....

lots of ribbon .....

and vintage buttons .....

and, of course, this to read later .....

what could be better?

button up .....

2011-06-05T11:55:00.000+01:00

..... button swap goodies!

I took part in the Button Swap over at Lemonade Kitty's place and this week Vintage Vicki and I managed to get our swap goodies delivered on the same day ....

Otis helped me unwrap (I suspect this was down to the chocolate inside .....)

inside we found this beautiful box:

with lots of lovely parcels inside:

a hand embroidered linen button bag (*sigh*):

with green and pink buttons inside:

a green and pink corsage:

the cutest lavender bag:

carded buttons (another *sigh*):

a trinket box:

and chocolate buttons .... squirrelled quickly away before Otis helped with those too!

So, big THANKS to Vicki for my lovely parcel and a big THANKS to Lemonade Kitty for organising such a lovely swap .....

well, fancy that ....

2011-05-22T17:16:00.002+01:00

..... despite the fact that I've been positively rubbish at blogging over the past couple of weeks, I've been nominated for the kreativ blogger award by my friend Callie (you can find her over at MuMu and Squeak's Place and also just down the corridor from me at work!)

so, I have to tell you ten things about me .....

I find it incredibly difficult to listen to a music album all the way through without playing my favourite song(s) over and over and over again.
My favourite song of all time is Another Girl, Another Planet by The Only Ones, it never fails to make me smile.
I have a bit of an obsession when it comes to hanging the washing out. There has to be something of mine or Mr G's at each end of the line so that everything else is in between. In the event that I don't have something of ours then something like a towel or bed linen will do ..... it's not uncommon for me to rearrange the washing on the line if somebody else has hung it out.
I am really, really squeamish.
I love lunch with the girls and shopping trips etc but I am rubbish at planning them ..... that is what my lovely, organised friends are for (and for carrying my train ticket so I don't lose it!)
I don't do forms.
Meeting new people makes me very nervous.
My bra always matches my pants. Always.
I love to be organised, to the point that it annoys Mr G whos likes to live life as it comes.
I really, really don't like exercise classes.

and then nominate ten other kreativ bloggers. Now, I can see that many of those I'd like to nominate for this have already been nominated so I've really just got a couple to add:

Jodi at Art from the Hart
Rachael from Knitting Snippets

.... and just one more thing, for those that think I'm tidy, I thought I'd share these shots of my desk earlier today:

of course, it doesn't look like that now!

A Monthly Make - 2011 - May

2011-05-08T10:40:00.000+01:00

I've been busy making things to make my "practical" house less, well, practical .... and here they are:

Crochet cushions ... well one to be precise, but there is another on the way! I love this cushion and it was so quick to make! You can't see it very well in the photo, but it's lined with bright pink cotton so that is matches better with my stripey cushions.

And a lovely, little, buttony curtain for my downstairs toilet ..... nothing too "practical" in this photo eh? This curtain started off as a shower curtain, I loved the almost dandelion patterns on it ..... and the bargain price of £2.00 from a charity shop!

Please don't forget to have a look at the Flickr group and see what everyone else is up to this month!

Happy Anniversary .....

2011-05-02T08:47:00.000+01:00

..... Mr G!

19 wonderful (!) years .....

Hey Baby .....

2011-04-17T10:56:00.000+01:00

..... a book for Joy.

My friend Joy asked me to make a baby book for her (well, for her DIL, well not quite DIL but almost!) ..... so, here it is!

..... hope you like it!

A Monthly Make - 2011 - April

2011-04-10T15:06:00.000+01:00

I really am enjoying the Monthly Makes - not just the making but the looking at what everyone else is making too!

I've developed a bit of a "thing" for the circus fonts that are everywhere and so I decided to make a picture for my hallway using one of them.

I started off by printing the letter G (for my surname) as large as I could on A4 paper:

Then I used tracing paper to square it off to make a cross stitch pattern:

Then I did a bit of cross stitch:

And ended up with this:

I just need to get it mounted and framed ... I'm thinking a white mount and a white frame ... rather swish, no?

Anyway, time to upload to the April Album - why not go and have a look at what everyone else has made?

School Fayre .....

2011-04-03T10:32:00.001+01:00

..... and catching up.

I had a stall yesterday at Broad Chalke School's Spring Fayre. I haven't done any stalls since well before Christmas as I've been concentrating on personal projects and custom orders but one of my lovely friends was going to be selling Jamie At Home there along with her sister in law and they thought I'd like to have a stall too ... so I did!

Anyway, this turned into a lovely day out with the chance to catch up with some old friends and work colleagues and (fingers crossed that the interest in my books turns into orders!) a fairly successful event.

Now, no post about a craft fair would be complete without some pictures so here they are:

My stall - ignore all the clutter in the background .....

A couple of close ups:

Gill's stall - The Perfect Patch:

Gill makes the most wonderful cushions, bags and patchwork, oh and knitted teddies and puppets .....

And the two beautiful Jamie At Home ladies, Naomi and Mel:

Thanks ladies for a lovely time with lots of laughs .....

Mothers' Day Challenge .....

2011-03-27T12:08:00.000+01:00

..... over at Let's Craft and Create.

Here is my make to celebrate Mothers' Day ..... a baby board book:

Slighty too fat to close (just how I like them!):

Full of pockets and folders:

And jam packed with embellishments, stickers and photo mats:

Please pop over to Let's Create and Craft and see all the other makes ..... grab a bit of inspiration while you are there!

Spring .....

2011-03-26T18:07:00.000Z

..... makes me sing. Well, those of you who have heard me actually sing will be relieved to know that it doesn't really but that I entered the Spring Makes Me Sing swap.

My swap partner was Gill from Dosie Rosie and here are the lovely, lovely goodies that she sent me:

A chicken .... cute eh? now hanging next to the bird house by my craft room window.

Ribbon and trimming .... I've got just the project for the pink lace edging.

Fabrics .... love them. I think I shall be saving these for something special.

Buttons ..... I especially love the dog ones, I feel another Stanley coming on!

A tray cloth with appliqued bunting ..... too nice to use!

There was chocoate too ..... but you know how it is, it didn't hang around long enough for the photo shoot. And I'm sorry I can't show you how beautifully wrapped this was but I was having some work done upstairs and I couldn't get to my camera so given the choice of waiting and unwrapping, I choose unwrapping!

Thank you Gill :-) I really do love it all!!

a bit of crafting history .....

2011-03-19T17:39:00.000Z

..... so, on Monday my friend from work phoned me to see if I wanted any craft books. Silly question eh? He came round after work and my hall floor looked like this when he'd finished unloading his car:

..... seven bin bags full of craft books, leaftlets and cuttings and a box full of miscellaneous craft bits. Although I haven't gone through all of them yet I have found some fabulous stuff. The oldest leaflet I have discovered so far is dated 1923:

Some fab stuff from the 1970s ..... who could resist making these?

..... or sewing these shirts?

..... or knitting matching sweaters for the whole family?

..... or doing a bit of embroidery?

..... or whipping up the latest dolly outfit?

..... aren't they great? Since taking this batch of photos, I've found some other great books including "War Woollies for Women" and "Home Comforts for Sailers, Soldiers and Airmen". I've offered to knit something from one of these for Mr G but, to be honest, he didn't seem overly keen ;-)

green .....

2011-03-13T15:00:00.000Z

..... for the St Patrick's Day Challenge over at Lets Craft and Create.

I decided to decorate a small (and rather cute) jam jar and fill with some coordinating magnetic pegs and a mini post it note pad.

Rather cute eh? I'm thinking these will make lovely presents ..... so shall be making a few more in different colour ways.

A Monthly Make - 2011 - March

2011-03-12T09:16:00.000Z

Well, here is Stanley ... made for the Felt Fairy's 2011 Monthly Make ...

and, just to show you how very realistic he is, I took a photo of him next to Otis ...

There's loads of other great makes, including other Stanleys, over at the March Flickr Group

These are a few .....

2011-03-06T10:33:00.004Z

..... of my favourite things:

vintage fabric .... waiting for projects (and a quick run over with the iron!)

"accessory friday" at work ..... a new, weekly challenge to wear/bring/make an accessory .....home made corsages this week

Mo Manning digi art ..... printed out, ready to colour

buttons ..... sorted by colour, ready for the choosing!

things in rows, all lined up ..... is that a little odd?

stripes ..... and Otis (of course!)

and last, but not least, pink ..... and not just the colour ..... my favourite song just now ..... raise your glass

I finally gave in and .....

2011-02-27T14:58:00.000Z

..... got me some Cath. After having a good look through this book at work I finally decided to succumb and buy myself a copy:

I really want to start using up my stash of fabric and vintage lace and there is something a little odd (I think) in buying new books to show me how to do this ..... so normally I spend hours on the internet blog hopping to get ideas but nothing beats reading a "proper" book and this was only £7.50 from Amazon .....

I am feeling a little bit "thrifty" however after finally finishing off my crochet flowers and getting them sewn onto my cushions. These flowers were made from a whole pile of crochet thread that I was given recently and, check out these cushions! Made from a whole bolt of vintage fabric I "happened" upon a few years ago .....

And yes, I think they do need more flowers but I'd forgotten how very much crochet makes my hands hurt so they will have to wait a while longer .....

Last make of the weekend was a bit of colouring with my copics ..... I'm getting there, slowly ......

now ..... off to practising some more colouring in :-)

Stealing a neat idea .....

2011-02-24T16:20:00.002Z

..... and sharing an excellent giveaway!

I've just found (another) fab blog to follow - and saw this list (and thought I could steal the idea for a quick, mid week bloggy upate) so I here is my own version of it:

listening to - Lily Allen singing "straight to hell"
eating - nothing just now but looking forward to a lovely dinner cooked by Mr G
drinking - sparkling mineral water
wearing - jeans, dress and fluffy slipper boot things
feeling - inspired .... been blog hopping again!
weather - mild and sunny
wanting - to finish crochet flowers to adorn my cushions (long story, involving the word "practical" in a description of my house ... practical? neat, yes and ordered, yes but practical? it sounds so, well, practical. ...and who wants to live in a practical house?)

needing - more hours in the day
enjoying - time in my craft room :-)

And whilst I was on this lovely blog, I spied this very lovely giveaway and I do love a nice giveaway!

anything but .....

2011-02-20T09:51:00.000Z

..... a card

A few months ago (September to be precise), Eileen from Let's Craft and Create left me a comment inviting me to join in with the monthy challenge that they have. So it's only taken me till February but here it is, my first entry into their challenge, the theme of which this month is "anything but a card":

A cute little felt needlebook ..... now, I'm off to do the "linky" thing and see what everyone else has made!

A Monthly Make - 2011 - February

2011-02-13T11:30:00.000Z

well, so far so good ... but then it only the second month of the Felt Fairy's Monthly Make!

Here is my February Monthly Make ...

A board book for my neighbour, to celebrate the Christening of Elsbeth.

I've added these to the flickr group for our February makes - go over and have a look, there are some lovely things on there!

any day spent making .....

2011-02-06T10:04:00.000Z

..... is not a wasted day :-)

Yesterday I spent pretty much all day in my craft room making a Valentine Bag Book for one of the men I work with to give to his wife. He wanted it made with autumn colours and red .... I'm fairly certain his wife doesn't read my blog so here's a sneaky peek:

I hope he likes it! It's been a while since I made a proper, full on bag book and I'd forgotten how very much I enjoy making them ..... and how long they take!

I've started to gather a small collection of Nestibilites dies which, along with Marianne dies and a growing pile of embossing folders, have given my Sizzix has a new lease of life! My original Sizzix died from overuse a year or so ago and I replaced it with a BigShot and it is still the first thing I reach for when I'm making books and cards etc .... and talking of making books, today is set aside for a Christening book for my neighbour .... so, time to get busy .....

did I mention .....

2011-01-30T12:40:00.001Z

..... I'm a winner?

well, just in case you didn't know, this week I won a prize in a blog giveaway that the bagladee was running. I was thrilled to win and even more thrilled when the tissue wrapped prize arrived! Here it is, waiting for me to unwrap it (I impressed myself with the restraint it took for me to take a photo before I unwrapped it):

and what did this lovely parcel contain ... well, a lovely flamingo zip-up bag (with, note, diamante details - how fab is that?):

and a fantastic felt brooch:

Thank you so much bagladee! I'm so thrilled ..... I can't wait to start using them both!

A Monthly Make - 2011

2011-01-29T11:00:00.001Z

just sneaking in before the end of January ... my first monthly make!

One of my favourite blogs The Felt Fairy (I love this blog, partly because it turns out she lives on the site of the old mental asylum that my family has, er, close connections with) is running this - you can see some of the fab makes in the flickr group.

Here's mine:

a cute bouquet of sock roses .... now winging their way to a dear friend of mine .....

A quick change of plan .....

2011-01-09T16:38:00.002Z

..... and a long, long sort out!

Tuesday was my last, lazy, extra day off work and I planned to spend it doing very, very little apart from some crafty bits and pieces. Just before lunch one of my friends from work called to say he had some crafty supplies for me and could he drop them round?

So he did, and I was rather overwhelmed by the sheer amount of crafty lovliness that he piled up in my hall! I spent all afternoon sorting out bag after bag after bag .....

There are bags of embroidery thread, bags of cottons reels (from tiny tiny to mega large!), lace, trimmings, material, ribbons, patterens, wool, tapestry wool .... so much to find a home for .... how lucky can one girl be?

2011 .....

2011-01-04T12:04:00.001Z

..... a year to relax a little more and make sure that I:

spend more time in the places I love:

with the people I love:

wining and dining wtih good friends:

enjoying the finer things, like my beautiful Iced Gem Abigails:

and taking a little more time to smell the flowers:

happy 2011 .... here's wishing all of us the very best of everything!

sew much to make .....

2010-11-28T16:30:00.000Z

..... 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 .....

2010-11-14T09:46:00.002Z

..... 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 .....

2010-11-07T16:17:00.001Z

..... 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 .....

2010-10-23T16:28:00.002+01:00

..... 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 .....

2010-10-09T10:57:00.000+01:00

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

one year old today!!

and the winner is .....

2010-10-02T14:11:00.001+01:00

..... 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 .....

2010-09-19T17:03:00.000+01:00

..... 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 .....

2010-09-12T17:55:00.001+01:00

..... 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 .....

2010-08-01T12:50:00.001+01:00

..... 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 .....

2010-07-18T11:23:00.001+01:00

..... 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 ......

2010-05-30T16:03:00.016+01:00

..... 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 .....

2010-05-16T12:26:00.009+01:00

..... 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?

2010-05-09T14:13:00.011+01:00

..... 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 .....

2010-05-01T13:40:00.009+01:00

..... 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?

And they call it .....

2010-01-07T15:41:00.007Z

..... puppy love.

So, I've not blogged for, well, forever .... first of all, there were a million Christmas fairs and sales to get ready for and I was soooooo busy. Everyone at work decided they wanted personalised Christmas cards which were great to make, but there were so many of them!! Then there was the pre-Christmas fall down the stairs (on an icy day just to make sure that we got to wait for HOURS in casualty along with all the broken arms from icy falls). Then there was Christmas .... and you know how busy that is!

And, along the way, I got sidetracked by the latest addition to our family:

Otis, our lovely, lovely Havanese puppy. He is the dearest thing I have ever seen - like a real dog, only smaller :-)

Now, I have to tear myself away from him and get back into the swing of things. I'm back at work (just - I still can't walk very well) and back in my craft room which needs a great big clear out.

lollipop, lollipop ....

2009-10-10T12:14:00.009+01:00

..... oh, lolly, lollipop! I've seen some decorated lollipops recently and thought I would like to give them a go - so here is a little something I've come up with ..... these are for a High School Musical themed party. Take one lollipop (well, 25 in this case):

Add a card base:

Decorate the top:

Et voila!:

An army of yummy decorated lollipops! Neat eh?

you spin me right round .....

2009-10-08T10:23:00.009+01:00

..... baby, right round

I've been going round in crafty circles this week ..... making the following things:

Circular felt needlebooks - yes, the nights start to get dark and I turn to felt and blanket stitch for comfort.

Decorated teeny, tiny paint cans - featuring the wonderful Lime Ricky papers from Basic Grey.

Circular card toppers - made using Inkscape (thank you Inkscape for the wonderful "text on path" command!)

I've started working on my Christmas things - decorated menu holders, decorated lollipops, pegs and a whole other photo session full of things! Can't wait to share them!

I've been .....

2009-09-17T14:15:00.011+01:00

.... busy, busy, busy!

I've been exceptionally busy papercrafting recently .... and that is never a bad thing! I've had lots of custom orders and have had great fun working on them. Here's a sneaky peak at a few of them ....

A paper bag book to celebrate a day out at a farm:

Some cute "band aid" tins with little note books inside - these were to record all those very important first day at school details:

Some cute little tag albums:

Some jewellery and matching gift boxes:

Not too shabby, even if I say so myself!

The postman has (literally) just delivered some rather cute charm sets that I got off ebay from a seller called A Charm For All. I can't begin to tell you how lovely these are and how very long it took me to pick from the fabulous collection that she has! And, best of all, it only too around a week for delivery from the USA. I can't wait to start using them - I've got plans for a lovely fat Halloween bag book using the vintage Halloween charms and, of course, I need to use those before I can move on to the lovely silver Christmas charms!!

three of my favourite things .....

2009-09-01T16:10:00.007+01:00

..... buttons, beach huts and badges.

I found a wonderful shop called Just Delights on a recent visit to Cornwall, it made my heart ache with all the wonderful, wonderful things on sale - I have the perfect spot in my home for each and every item that this shop sells. The website doesn't yet reflect what they have on sale, but I'm visiting it every day to double check and when it's up to date then I shall be buying like there is no tomorrow! I especially fell in love with their ceramic buttons, I didn't have as much time to choose as I really needed but I managed to select these little beauties:

I don't know what I shall use them on just yet but I'm sure there will be that special something that calls out for one of them, in the meantime I shall just keep looking at them :-)

We spent last week in Preston, near Torquay and it really is one of my favourite places to stay. I love seaside towns .... sitting by the harbour eating fish and chips, crabbing, crazy golf .... what more could you ask for? My dream is to have my very own beach hut for those lovely beachy days ... one like this would do:

I've been making some more bits and pieces to sell in my MISI shop, I'm still very taken with sewing on felt - I think this is because it is such a change from my usual papercrafting .... I made one of these to match a bright pink top of mine and once I'd started sewing them I just couldn't stop!!

I've had a bit of a destash and have listed some crafty bits and pieces for sale .... I need to make space before my craft room explodes!! :-)

monkeying around .....

2009-07-22T19:35:00.014+01:00

..... in Monkey World

Ever the optimists, we had a family day out in Monkey World in the hope we could rehome the boys (after all, Monkey World is famous for rescuing primates). It didn't happen, but we did have a great day out. We took hundreds of pictures and it was hard trying to pick some to share - but here are a few of my favourites:

And the cheekiest monkey of all .... Jack Devin:

I've been distracted by all things domestic recently, but I have managed to fit in a small amount of crafting, mostly notebooks which are on sale in my MISI shop:

I need to knuckle down to some serious crafting .... so many things to make .... so little time! :-)

how lucky ....

2009-07-09T15:37:00.006+01:00

.... am I?

We had a stash swap on MISI .... the lovely Sprinks sent me some fab goodies and I am absolutely thrilled with them! I'm also very impressed that I had the strength of will to take a photo BEFORE I ripped open the pink tissue wrapping paper! (doesn't tissue paper make a parcel that extra bit special?)

So - Sprinks knows me very well indeed. My lovely goods included lots of jewellery findings:

Lots of lovely glass beads (check out that fantastic blue spotty pendant!):

And some great pink, blue and lilac spotty felt:

My fingers are itching to get making ..... I just need to decide where to start!!

I've been working on .....

2009-06-22T15:50:00.007+01:00

..... my garden. It all started when one of us (I think it was me!) had the genius idea to remove the large raised patio at the end of the garden ...... so we did. It took a week of rather hard labour (cunningly timed to coincide with half term so my boys did most of the work! And there it was gone, and left in its place was a largish flat patch that we were going to fill with a smaller patio.

And then one of us (I think it was me!) said "why don't we reshape the lawn into a circle or two, we could edge it in bricks and fill in around it with some slate chippings" ... so we did.

And then one of us (I think it was me) said "rather than have a second, smaller patio why don't we build a couple of raised beds so that we can grew vegetables?" ... so we did. I say we, Mr G built these and I can't begin to describe the trauma, even a shiny new drill didn't help very much. (If you look closely you can see where he had to "patch" one of them because the wood was so warped that the soil just fell out ....)

It's almost finished ... the lawns are almost edges (photos to follow) and the raised beds are built ... we're just waiting for the compost and the slate chippings and then, hopefully, nobody will come up with any other ideas!

The veggies that I've been growing in pots are all starting to come through .....

My second lot of chilli seedlings:

My strawberries:

My potatoes (in my old wheelie bin!):

And my all time favourites, peas:

I love my garden, hopefully I'll love it even more when we've finally finished it and I can spend more time crafting!

Time Out .....

2009-05-27T16:35:00.010+01:00

..... in Torquay.

What great Bank Holiday weather! And what better than to spend time with our family in Torquay; walking lots, eating lots and (shame on me) drinking too much!! We loved Dartmouth, especially the colourful houses:

We found some great cliff top and beach walks around Torquay:

Devin took time to perfect a classic "pointing into the distance" pose:

And Jack Devin worked on this "soulful and alone" number:

Jack discovered what good fun go-karting is (even though he got overtaken by a girl):

All in all, a not too shabby weekend!

A little bit of ....

2009-05-05T20:16:00.010+01:00

.... wonderful thriftiness.

I found this lovely pot holder at one of my local thrift shops this weekend. I'm not sure what I am going to do with it just yet, but I'm almost certain it won't involve plants. I love the old-fashionedness of it .... and I especially love the £1.20 price tag.

I also managed to snag some baby themed bargains at the Pound Shop for a project that I've been dreaming of for a while. I love the idea of making gift sets, a decorated container, a small book and some appropriate gifts .... perhaps completed by a matching card and gift tag.

I'm hoping make some more themed sets over the next week or so .... all of my recent "makes" have gone off to a friend who is having a craft sale and I have a craft fair in less than four weeks so I really, really do need to knuckle down and get making. My immediate "to do" list consists of:

pages for a swap for my favourite Yahoo group
the remaining 20 of 90 wedding invitations
a baby themed bag book to celebrate the birth of twins
a formal album for a work colleague
make stock, stock and more stock for the next craft fair and my MISI shop

I was lucky enough to take part in a wonderful MISI swap this month, the idea was to make items that reflected your swap partners name. I received Martin the Monster and some Handwarms (MMH for Magic Making Hands - clever eh?) from the very clever Sharnemainiaknits. Martin the Monster was immediately adopted by my 20 year old son .... what better compliment is there than that?

Time Out ....

2009-04-23T17:12:00.008+01:00

..... in Bath.

To celebrate being best friends forever (or BFF as my goddaughter would say), Catherine and I escaped from our families and spent a wonderful weekend in Bath. We managed to find a great place to stay, the Astor Guest House which was only few minutes walk from the city centre (or a long drive when the sat nav let us down!).

We had a great time, we did a bit of sightseeing (planned which house in Royal Crescent we will be moving in to!), a lot of shopping and far too much eating and drinking. I love Bath, it really is a beautiful city and I would dearly love to live there. But, for now, I'll have to settle for the occasional visit.

Back at home, we're trying to grow more this year. Our garden is rather small so we don't have room for a "proper vegetable plot so normally we just manage a couple of tomato plants or some peas .... but so far this year we've planted:

potatoes (in our old dustbin and also in five huge pots)
cucumbers
a mix of salad leaves
rocket
peas
chillis
tomatoes
spring onions
coriander
bay
sweet bay
lemon thyme
lemon grass
and loads more chillis

Fingers crossed that it all grows and that the birds don't pinch too much - they are my prime suspects in the case of the scotch bonnet thefts!

Almost a month ....

2009-04-10T17:55:00.009+01:00

is far too long between blogs. I keep meaning to blog, I really do, but there is always something else I could finish and write about, or another photograph that I could take .... I'm bad at blogging, too busy making and seeing and doing.

Anyway, since my last blog my first baby turned twenty .... how did that happen? The GCSEs were bad enough, starting college was awful and the first voting slip nearly killed me (I was sure it was a mistake and, at the time, felt I should wirte a letter of complaint!). Now, he would be mortified if I posted baby pictures and, tempting as that is, I won't. But here he is now all grown up ....

This past week I've shopped for England, splashing out on everything from new shoes to self cover buttons. I've also managed to visit each and every thrift shop in Salisbury (what a great morning that was!). I've been inspired by a book I found in one of these thrift shops - Vintage Fabric Style by Sylvie Simmons and Lucinda Ganderton. It's a wonderful book, full of great ideas and, best of all, it only cost me £1.50 ... it's my new favourite bedtime read!

I'm really trying this year not to buy ready made presents but to make my own and, if I can't, then to buy handcrafted from someone else. With this in mind, I invested in some more books which will go a long way to help me.

Really Jazzy Jars by Marie Browning has some great ideas for dressing up jars as gift containers, candle holders or memory keepers. It has some great patterns and recipes ....

The other one was Bags, Tags, Boxes and Cards by Karen Delquado ... again some excellent projects - my favourite being a build your own snowman kit. I must confess, that wanting to make this kit has left me a little disappointed that Christmas isn't a bit nearer, but bought some ear warmers today just to be ready!

So, too much reading and not really enough making - still, I'm sure I can make up for it over the long Bank Holiday weekend ....

I've been ....

2009-03-14T13:40:00.010Z

.... tagged! By Joanne at lej jewellery. The rules are as follows:

Link the person who tagged you.
Post these rules in your blog.
Write 5 random things about yourself.
Tag random people at the end of your blog and link to them.
Let each person know they've been tagged.

Now, random is very hard for me but here is my best attempt!

I am a perfectionist.
I can't bear it when people use apostrophes in the wrong place, that and bad grammar drive me to distraction!
I think I may be addicted to Facebook ....
I worry too much.
Apart from my boys, the love of my life is my best friend Catherine. She absolutely means the world to me - what's not to love?

And I'm going to tag:

Chloe - The Paper Fairy - come on, you need to blog more!
Jodi - Art From The Hart - if you haven't seen her creations, go take a look!
RJ - RJ's Bits And Pieces - the lady who started it all for me!
Dawn - Dawn's Stamping Spot - another great creative TSG lady :-)
Hennie - The Hen Coop - always good for a laugh! ;-)

Apologies if you've been tagged before ....

yucky ......

2009-03-08T17:03:00.011Z

check out these legs!! .... this is how Jack Devin looked when he came back from playing rugby today - he actually had tide marks where his socks ended,the weather was atrocious and he came home all cold and wet .... but I think he had a good time (surely nobody can get that muddy and not have had fun!)

On a much less muddy subject, I've had another great week full of making and shopping for shiny things! I made a bracelet for my dear ebay friend The Paper Fairy, she wanted it to match her engagement ring. I really did enjoy making it and was especially pleased that she is happy with it.

I've listed some new things in my MISI shop - I need to spend a little less time on there chatting in the forums and a little bit more time making things! Anyway, I managed to make some Easter bracelets using the last of the lovely coloured pearls I bought from Artymiss:

Sticking with the Easter theme, I also made a mini bag book. Small but perfectly formed, these measure just 9cm square but are absolutely packed with tags, and buttons and flowers - all the things that I love. This book is so jam packed with stuff that there is no chance of it ever closing properly!!

I also made a "Book of Me" which I think would make a great present for a special girl. Mini bag books re great to make as they are a lot quicker to make and I enjoy the challenge of fitting everything in.

I grew this .....

2009-03-02T17:37:00.009Z

I'm not great with plants, I forget to look after them. So I was really pleased with this amyrilis that I've grown. I say "grown" but all actually I did was water the bulb that was already planted in a pot .... but I did manage not to killl it so I guess I can take some pride in that!

I'm also rather proud of my latest set of felt badges - they have a real "1970s" feel to them. The colours remind me of some stretchy fabric seat covers that used to be in some of the offices where I work ....

I've also been making more zippers - these are great for putting on school fleeces (makes them easier to find in the after school scrum!) or on pencil cases ..... in fact they can go on anything that is crying out for that special dangly something!!

Cute eh? I think these may be my latest addiction now that I've got decorated pegs out of my system!!

Button it ....

2009-02-12T18:35:00.011Z

I've been playing with my buttons this week ... much as I love just looking at them now that they are all sorted into colours I decided that it was about time I used some of them. I've been making button badges and I am absolutely hooked .... so quick, so easy and so utterly fabulous!!

I'm planning to make loads more but I do need a little bit more practice using superglue first .... I'm not the neatest of people and still haven't quite worked out not to wipe up superglue dribbles with my finger ....

Decorated pegs - definitely the way forward!! They are so cute, and a great way of using up all the "must have" embellishments that it turns out I didn't really want after all. Of course, no creation would be complete without some lovely Prima flowers.!! I put magnets on the back so that they can be used as memo holders on fridges etc .... and, what a relief, you don't need superglue to make them!!

I'm looking forward to making a whole lot more!

art for ....

2009-02-07T17:14:00.008Z

.... art's sake.

I've been in a really arty mood today, I think it is something to do with the low winter sun. This time of year when I come down to breakfast I am greeted by the sun reflecting off my dining room light and it makes a beautiful patterned band round the room.

You can see my Ikea clock in the first picture, which I finally got round to decorating this week:

Jack Devin and I made some art this afternoon, based on the work of Jackson Pollock, one of my favourite artists. JD wanted some canvas blocks to go with his newly decorated room - these were such good fun to make and I think they look great (although I think they are going to take forever to dry!!):

I've spent the afternoon in my craft room watching Diagnosis Murder and making notebooks - it doesn't get too much better than that!!

snow days ....

2009-02-04T16:19:00.011Z

.... and birthdays. Yesterday was Jack Devin's 12th birthday. Now, I might be horrified that my baby is growing up but he of course is mightily pleased! More so because it snowed so much that he had the day off school, his dad had the day off work and his brother had the day off college ..... I only work a short walk away from home so I missed out on a day off! Still, my boys made a snowman while I was at work and sent me some pictures.

I tried not to mind too much that they used some of my buttons for Mr Snowman's eyes. Of course, it was easy for them to choose just the right colour buttons as I have been industriously sorting my buttons into glass jars. I love having them on my window sill all ripe for the picking!! I'm not terribly happy with having to use coffee jars, but it's nothing that a trip to Ikea won't put right.

I've finally got back into my "craft groove" and have made a new bag book. It's called "Purple Funky" and will be available to buy from my MISI shop here.

I've also been making some bracelets with beads I got from ArtyMiss. I love the coloured pearls, they have an almost Victorian feel to them and I can't wait to get some more!!

after Christmas ....

2008-12-29T15:46:00.009Z

.... and I've still got a whole week before I go back to work! It's been lovely having a long holiday with just "us" .... it's how I like it best! The boys have been spending their Christmas money and playing with whatever it is they bought with it, we've sharpened up at Guitar Hero and I'm sure any day now I shall be moving off beginner!

I made some new stuff (of course!) - the first thing I made is a Mermaid Bag Book with some graphics from pcCrafter.

I decoupaged the mermaids and added a tiny bit of glitter, I designed and paper pieced some shells, starfish and a couple of jelly fish .... I also used some lovely seashell rubber stamps that I'd forgotten I had ... they look lovely embossed with a verdigris powder.

I'm rather pleased with how it turned out and I can't believe I managed to make the whole book without the aid of Prima flowers!!

I've also made a heap more felt brooches - I've really enjoyed the hand sewing, especially doing blanket stitch (something I haven't done since leaving school!)

I think the cupcake ones are my favourite! They do take an age to sew though ..... still, gives me something to do whilst sitting in front of all that Christmas television!

I got felt ....

2008-12-21T11:11:00.000Z

.... so I made felt brooches! I've been wanting to play with felt for ages, here's what I've made so far:

I'm off to make more .... if only I'd realised sooner that my sizzix cut through felt!

I love .....

2008-12-20T08:12:00.000Z

..... my postman. He has brought me the most amazing things this week! I really look forward to coming home from work and seeing which of my packages is waiting for me (although I do dread seeing the "we couldn't post it so we've taken it to the sorting office" card). I've had a bit of a spending spree over the last week or so, mostly on felt, ribbons and buttons.

I found this wonderful ribbons on MISI, from Crafty Moments - she is selling it at £1 for 15m. I bought three lots and it arrived earlier this week - it is so lovely that I have ordered another four lots! I also bought these buttons from her:

I then went on to buy a whole lot more buttons from ebay ...... I got to spend Friday afternoon sorting them into colours - bliss! And, if that wasn't enough, my latest purschase from my friend Chloe (the Paper Fairy) came - 100 brown paper bags, which takes my bag stash to something in the region of 500. I think I should stop there ..... for a while at least.

I also got lots of beautiful handmade cards from my very talented friends - so I thought I'd show some of them off here:

Make it ....

2008-12-10T11:45:00.000Z

.... sell it. I've discovered a new uk based website for selling handcrafted items and supplies called MISI (Make It Sell It) and I've just listed my first item on there. It's a lovely site with all sorts of handcrafted goodies available .... I wish I found it before I started my Christmas shopping! I think next year I shall try to either make all of my presents or buy presents that other people have made.

Anyway, I'm not sure how many people are using MISI so keep your fingers crossed. that my book sells! Here is a link to my MISI shop and here is the front page of the album I have for sale.

I'm going to spend the rest of the day working on my Secret Santa for our office - we each have to make a present for the person who's name we drew out of the hat. I'm making a "movie night" bucket with movie tickets, home made popcorn, popcorn boxes and some chocolate wrappers .... I've also bought the "it's a very merry muppet christmas movie" dvd and replaced "muppet" with the surname of the person I am making for. As soon as it's all done I shall post photos. I think this is one of the best things we have thought of so far for our office - my favourite is still the complete office party we had last year when there was just the two of us sharing!

last minute makes .....

2008-11-26T17:52:00.000Z

..... next week is my "open house" week so am frantically trying to make sure I've got enough things to sell. I've been avidly reading this thread at Splitcoaststampers, it's a few years old but there are some great ideas on there!

I made bookmarks from giant paperclips:

And some photo holders from giant bulldog clips:
I also made these little beauties - zippers! When Jack was at primary school he was always (and I do mean always!) losing his fleece, I put an alligator charm onto the zipper to help him identify it and so the "zipper" was born!!

It was a great post week too, I got a parcel from Artymiss with another load of Papermania cards, a DCWV Valentine card stack and hundreds of foam pads. Artymiss is just the best website ever (but I really shouldn't visit there too often, it's not good for my bank balance!!)

a sneaky peak ....

2008-11-21T15:41:00.000Z

.... at my craft room

I found a blog this week that has the most wonderful picture of, well, the most wonderful craft rooms and I don't mind saying that each and every one of them made me rather jealous! Now, I know I am lucky to have a craft room .... but we've only been in the house a couple of years and getting my room "just so" hasn't been high on the list of priorities. Anyway, I have spent hours and hours tidying and reorganising and thought I'd post a picture of two:This is some of my ribbon storage, it was originally a towel rack that was in my en-suite but I decided that it would have a happier time holding my yummy ribbons! I hope you can see what a beautiful pink colour that wall is!! It's the only pink wall in the house .... but that's what you get for having boys I suppose.This is where I sit to work, the desk goes under the window which looks out onto the back garden. If you look carefully at the top of the photo you will see my beautiful sequinned slippers (never worn!) and the first pair of jelly shoes that each of my boys had ..... also at the top of those cube shelves is a wedding photo of me and Devin.

That rail thing on the right all of my tools that I use everyday are in the white pots (from Ikea of course) ..... there is a lot of Ikea stuff in here :-) The boxes on the desk hold mostly tags, there are also tags hanging on the smaller rail .... I do have a "thing" for tags!

Most of my papers are in these drawers, divided into colours. I keep my smaller sheets in these, and any paper that has been cut up .... smaller pieces that I can use for punchies are put in zip lock bags. That plastic box on the top has my current "favourite" sets of papers, the ones that I need to be able to get my hands on quickly! My 12x12 papers are awaiting a special storage area, at the moment they are in pizza boxes. These drawers are right next to my desk - so on top of them are the two things I use the most, my bind-it-all and my sizzix. Even though I have a craft robo, the sizzix is still my favourite cutting machine!

This is how I organise my embelishments .... there are two rows of these plastic boxes. The back row contains more of the bigger boxes, this front row is mostly smaller ones. They are sorted by "theme" - each big box has stickers, rub downs and larger embelishments .... each smaller box has brads or buttons or charms etc. On the right of these boxes are my four boxes of flowers.

So that's a quick tour of some of my stuff .... I'm hoping for some custom built shelving and a laminate floor in the not too distant future!

I thought I'd finish with a photo of my stall from one of the recent craft fairs .... I need to get some proper stands for some of my items ... but on the whole I was very pleased with how things looked.

today I am .....

2008-11-16T14:58:00.000Z

..... tagtastic! Not that such a word exists, but if it did then that's what I would be! I've spent a very, very happy morning making tags. I love using the original big red Super Scallop sizzix tag as it give lots of room to decorate.

Isn't this bear cute? My friend The Paper Fairy sent me some lovely bears to play with .... I love swapping things with her!! Here are some more tags I made using these cute bears:

Whilst I was rifling through my sizzix dies, I made some snowmen and some bitty people and then used them on some tags too:

Earlier this week, when I was walking to work, I had an idea for a "message in a bottle" using some bottles that used to contain Prima flowers. I was so excited, that it was all I could do not to turn round and walk back home to start making them. Anyway, they had to wait until I finished work but by the end of the night they were finished! I made a long, slim album held together with a ball chain loop and put lots of embelishments, ribbons and fibres in - and the message in a bottle is all ready to come out and be decorated!! I think they are fab (far better than they look in my pictures!) and am hoping they will sell!

and even busier .....

2008-11-10T17:23:00.000Z

.... my whole world has turned into making things for craft fairs, pamper parties and home sales ..... I love it!! This weekend, the boys were out pretty much the whole time, playing rugby or working and so I had the house pretty much all to myself. I didn't leave the house at all but, to check I wasn't going stir crazy, my friend Janet came round on Sunday afternoon. I roped her into helping me get my prices sorted, I am totally useless when it comes to deciding how much I should be selling for.

I did get 40 more Christmas cards made along with a load of zig-zag tag books. I've never made these before and I was very impressed by how quick they are to make. Here are some of the ones that I made:I really like the holiday themed one (the blue and orange one right in the middle) but I think my favourite is the pink girly one on the left.

I love this picture - it almost looks like it was a sunny day .... the truth is it was raining really heavily. Anyway, this is the inside of the girly zig-zag book.

My first sale is 12th November at a local bar, they are having a "ladies evening" and I'm having a stall along with my dear friend Vanessa. Vanessa is a very talented dressmaker specialising in bespoke wedding dresses - have a look at some of her creations here - but she also makes fabulous handbags and tooth fairy cushions amongst a whole host of other wonderful things.

I'm still hoping to make a lot more before Monday, including some more zig-zag books, perhaps another mini bag book or two and some earrings ..... if I'm lucky I may get to sleep somewhere along the way!

busy, busy, busy ....

2008-11-02T16:10:00.000Z

.... this week I've been very busy indeed. Early in the week I got a fab parcel full of things I'd bought from the Artymiss website. Some lovely Blossoms and Butterflies card and a box of chipboard shapes that I got as a "buy one get one free". I am absolutely in love with this range of card - some of it is glittered and some is foiled and all of it is bright and colourful!! This is the cover of the paper bag album that I made with some of it:

I also got a box of Papermania pre-printed cards to decorate and I spent a lovely afternoon with Laura, my God Daughter, doing just that. It was great to spend some time catching up with her but, I have to say, that I didn't realise anybody could talk that much - it took a day or so for my ears to recover! Anyway, we made 5 of each card and here they are:

I love this snowball picture - it's part of a clipart set from the pcCrafter website (I am a big fan of their downloads). I printed this out onto vellum and Laura used my sizzix to cut photo corners to hold it in place.

Another graphic from pcCrafter - I used my craftrobo to cut this out and Laura glued the buttons on.

Yet more graphics from pcCrafter!! I think this is my favourite out of all the cards that we made. We printed these and I cut them out, Laura used a corner rounder on them and we used foam pads to raise them slightly from the card.

This was the easiest card to make - Laura used my punchies to cut out the circles and the snowflakes. Then we glued them on, using foam pads to raise the snowflakes up a little bit.

All in all, a very productive afternoon!! Laura also made some cards to give to her friends. She told me it was the best afternoon she'd ever had .... I'm looking forward to doing it again, but not for a little while!!

The trouble with making jewellery ....

2008-10-26T17:20:00.000Z

.... is that it wrecks my nails. This is purely because, more often than not, I am too lazy to pick up both pairs of pliers when I need to. Normally I'm not too bothered about this, but I'm due to have a manicure this week and I was hoping to have a decent set of nails to take with me .... I wonder if she will notice that a couple are so short that they are almost not there? I've had to cancel twice already .....

Anyway, in a last ditch attempt to save the rest of my nails, I have returned to the gentler art of paper crafting. I spent most of this morning decorating band aid tins to sell at the upcoming Pamper Party and my yearly home sale - here are some of them.

I've made my own templates so that cutting the paper to the right shape for the top no longer takes forever (and far more patience than I possess). I managed to do seven before lunch - but I did get an extra hour crafting because the clocks went back!!

I can't decide whether to include some gift tags with these - I spent the longest while cutting tags this afternoon and have decorated a few (no photos yet) but I think they may just be too nice not to be out on show.

I love the button background in the photo above so much, I took another photo without the tin! I love my button collection - many of them are vintage, from my nan's collection and I save those for very special projects. I recently spent a whole afternoon sorting them from the large plastic box that stored them all into one of those storage units with the drawers in .... bliss!

To bead .....

2008-10-25T14:54:00.000+01:00

.... or not to bead, that is the question. Well, it's not really as this week I've spent ALL week playing with my beads. I've been asked to have a stall at a "pamper party" and thought that it would be nice to take a load of hand made jewellery as well as all my usual paper crafts. Of course, this has meant having to buy loads of new beads and charms from my favourite on line site - I can't wait for them to arrive! Anyway, I now have a huge notice board that is slowly filling up with my creations .....

This bracelet is one of my favourites - I love using buttons in my paper crafts and was really excited at being able to use them in jewellery too!

I love this bracelet too, it makes me think of summer sunshine. I often feel the need to make patterns, so that my creations tend to be very "regular". However, I'm learning (slowly) to love random!

Another one of my favourites - I am very partial to pearls and the long pearly beads I used here are particular favourites of mine. I was very lucky to find these on a stall at the Blandford Steam Fair a couple of years ago - these lovely beads made all the rain worthwhile!!

How many bags .....

2008-10-11T16:42:00.000+01:00

.... is too many bags?

I have just realised that, somehow, I have amassed over 400 brown paper bags. Is that bad? It does feel rather obsessive especially because I know that, given the chance, I would quite happily buy more! Admittedly, 300 of these were bought on my recent holiday to Orlando during my, all too brief, holiday romance with Walmart. Still, I've put six of them to good use this week - firstly by finishing off the Indian Summer album and secondly by making another album this morning (more of that later!).

I am really pleased with how this album turned out - it made the quadruple embossing on the photo mats worth while (even though it did take an absolute age to do it). I wanted to book to have an exotic, warm feel to it and I think I've managed to achieve that. I listed it on ebay this morning - fingers crossed that it will sell!

I had in mind another book that I wanted to make in yellows and greens and trotted off to my local craft shop to get the makings for it- but I fell in love with some girly themed paper from Dovecraft (along with an irresistible mix of Prima flowers) and "Sweet and Sassy" was born!! I had great fun making the paper piecings to match the papers - one for each double page spread. I found some great girly charms in my stash, along with some picture frame charms that I got off ebay ages ago. I used the fancy corner die cuts that RJ sent me to decorate some of the photo mats - they look great. Overall, I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Tell me why ....

2008-10-06T14:44:00.000+01:00

.... I don't like Mondays.

Actually, I know why I don't like Mondays .... and it's probably the same for most of us. Monday means going back to work. Much as I love my job, I don't love the start of the working week. No cup of tea brought up to me in bed (along with breakfast - I am spoilt, after all), no morning time TV (I love Diagnosis Murder!!), no lounging around in my pyjamas etc etc.

However, going to work means that you get to come home from work and coming home from work is always good and today was even better because I got SWAPS!! One of the yahoo groups I belong to is running a bag book page swap - 26 flower pages, one for each letter of the alphabet. Here is one of the pages I got today, from Robyn, D for Daisy. I love it, the colours are beautiful. (my photography really doesn't do it justice I'm afraid). I also got L for Lantana, a flower I'd never seen before and T for Tulip. I'm waiting for 3 more pages and then my book will be complete.

The second swap I got was from RJ for our die cut swap - ten cuts from three dies. I chose to have these sizzlit die cuts .... arent' they lovely? I am planning to use these on photo mats in my next bag book.

I started another bag book to sell on ebay yesterday, so far I have the first page done and I have all the photo mats cut ready. I wanted to do more of it today,but I have ordered some bright pink flowers from one of my favourite suppliers and I am waiting for those to come. This book will be called "Indian Summer" and will be orange and bright pink .with touches of gold and black... not that we are going to have an Indian Summer but there's no harm in hoping is there?

in the beginning ......

2008-10-05T10:01:00.000+01:00

... where to start? I have always loved creating thing but I can't pin down where my addiction to bag books actually started .... my first adventures with "paper crafts" begin when my online friend of many years, RJ, introduced me to rubber stamping. Over the years I have blamed (and thanked!) her for many things - including finally having to move to a bigger house so that I could have my own craft room as my obsession with paper craft, and all the things that go with it, has grown.

I made my first "book" as a present for a friend, in return she made me a paper bag book (pictured) and from the moment I saw it I was hooked, absolutely and totally. I loved not only the way it was made, but all the pockets and tags that she had filled it with ..... it was so gorgeous that it even had to carry a Government Health Warning!! I started to make bag books as presents, for weddings, births etc. My early bag books were none too great (I guess that many of us look back and shudder at our early creations!) but over time I have learnt better techniques and I am usually fairly pleased with what I create. For me, its all about the details, finding the right flower, charm, brad or button ..... I dread to think how much I've spent on the right flowers, charms, brads and buttons! Especially those saved for best, the ones I will never use but like to look at!!

So, here I am .... addicted to paper bag albums. I guess it could be a whole lot worse ......