the craft table.

Creating a handmade card for a colleague who is preparing to welcome a new baby always feels a little extra special. Recently, one of my lovely colleagues prepared to begin maternity leave before the arrival of baby number three. Naturally, this called for something personalised and heartfelt, so I decided to create a baby-themed card featuring delicate little paper booties on the front. Projects like this are my favourite because they allow me to combine layered textures, d

There’s something quietly satisfying about finishing a project that carries meaning beyond the materials it’s made from. This one felt like that. When our trainer announced he was leaving the gym, it landed heavily. Over time, he had built more than just a set of classes—he’d built a community. A group of us who kept showing up, lifting heavier than we thought we could, and laughing (groaning?) our way through it. Somewhere along the way, we became ‘Scottie’s Hotties’—a name

Sometimes a project starts with a practical need. Other times, it starts with a slightly uncomfortable feeling that you owe someone something. This was the second kind. the situation As part of some changes in our clinic space, several of us had to move offices to make room for additional consultation rooms. A reasonable and necessary change. Less reasonable (or at least less comfortable) was the fact that one of my colleagues—who is only on campus one day a week—effecti

There seems to be a pattern emerging. If a room doesn’t have a clock, my response is not to buy one. It is to design and make one. This is now the second time this has happened. My new office at QUT has the same issue as my therapy room—no easy way to check the time when I’m meeting with students without making it obvious. So the goal was straightforward: readable at a glance not overly distracting and, this time, a little more personal making it mine (literally) For

Some projects start with a clear purpose. Others start with a vague idea and grow from there. These ones were somewhere in between. a clock (that isn’t meant to be noticed) The room I use for private client work had one small but persistent issue: no clock. Not a major problem, until you realise how often you want to check the time without making it obvious. Subtlety matters. So I made one. The brief was simple—something functional, readable, but not distracting. The ki

After successfully giving my mum a wooden creature with a drawer—questionable in the context of “decluttering”—I decided to attempt something more practical. A travel mug felt like a safer option. Functional. Contained. Harder to argue with. The plan was straightforward: take a standard stainless steel travel mug and personalise it using the laser. Simple. Except “simple” becomes relative quite quickly. For my husband’s mug, I went with something a bit more personal—orchi

There is a particular challenge in buying gifts for someone who is actively trying to own less. My mum is one of those people. Thoughtful, practical… and increasingly resistant to “things.” So naturally, I made her a thing. the brief (ignored) The goal was simple: something useful, not too large, and ideally not destined for a cupboard. What I ended up making is… a wooden creature with a drawer. In my defence, it did start with good intentions. The design is actuall

There’s always that moment before Christmas where you think “I could buy something… or I could make something.” This year, I chose chaos. the brief (self-imposed, obviously) My brother has a new couch. Which, in adult terms, means: no drinks on the armrest,no balancing mugs on questionable surfaces, and … coasters are now required. So instead of buying a perfectly reasonable set, I decided to design and laser-cut a custom coaster set. Because why make life easy. Each pi

There’s something deeply satisfying about taking a perfectly innocent piece of wood… and burning a hippo into it. Enter: my newest obsession—the xTool S1 laser cutter. I’d love to say I approached this new machine calmly and methodically, but the reality was closer to equal parts excitement, curiosity, and “what happens if I just try this?” energy. The good news is: the S1 is surprisingly forgiving. The better news is: it turns out I really like setting things on fire (in

Things might look a little different around here for a short while. I’m currently doing a bit of renovating behind the scenes on the site—tidying things up, reorganising some sections, and making space to showcase projects more clearly. As part of this refresh, I’ll also be updating the gallery with new project photos. Some recent makes haven’t made it onto the site yet, so over the coming weeks you’ll start to see new examples of laser cutting, engraving, 3D printing, and ot

My brand new Terribly Crafty website is live and ready for visitors! Welcome, curious crafter or accidental clicker — I’m glad you’re here. 😊 At this stage, it’s mostly a little corner of the internet for me to share what I’ve been up to in the craft room (read: making a mess and then ruthlessly tidying it). But eventually, I’d love for this to evolve into a small business — one that blends creativity, colour, and a mild obsession with perfect alignment. The Terribly Crafty

Hello there, fellow makers, mess-makers, and curious clickers! Welcome to terribly crafty — my happy little corner of the internet where glue sticks, vinyl scraps, and wayward weeding tools reign supreme. If you’re here for perfect projects and colour-coded craft rooms… you might be terribly lost. But if you’re here for real talk, real fun, and real craftiness (with a splash of imperfection), then you’ve absolutely found your people. This blog started the way many great craft