A Monthly Make - 2011 - June

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!

Hey Baby .....

..... 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!

Mothers' Day Challenge .....

..... 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!

anything but .....

..... 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!

any day spent making .....

..... 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 .....

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!).

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 .....

I've been .....

.... 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!!