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 .....

A little bit of ....

.... 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?