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!

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?