St. Ives Craft Retreat: Day 2

 

Hi bloggers, yesterday was another brilliant day here in sunny Cornwall. To make good use of the weather we decided to have a day of leisure and visit St. Michael's Mount in Marazion and looking at the photo you would never believe it's almost the beginning of October.

Before I indulge in the tales of yesterday I just want to share with you Monday's evening project called Resin Bezel which everyone absolutely loved!

 

It's a little bezel charm that can be used either as a necklace charm, key ring or even as a little charm to include in their configuration books (as you will see below). We filled them with a tiny picture of St. Ives and a shell or charm and then filled it with a resin and put to one side to set for 24 hours.

 

So back to yesterday.....

After a lovely stroll across the causeway we had a cosy cuppa in the Island Cafe before looking around the two beautiful shops they have on the Island - Island Shop and Courtyard Shop where you will find lots of unique handmade items including decorations, jewellery and locally made preserves and biscuits.

 

 

 

To anyone who has never been to St. Michael's Mount, I highly recommend it and there is something for everyone. If you like the culture of the island you can learn more by going on a guided tour or looking around the church and the gardens on the mount. Or if you just like a bit of shopping, there is lots to look around in both of the shops on the island.

Even the little town of Marazion has lots of lovely little shops and cafes and we took a little time out to have an ice cream and a mooch around the shops.

 

 

After a nice relaxing day we headed back to the house for an afternoon mini craft project. Tonight it was a flower brooch (similar to the buttonhole decorations from the wedding earlier in the year)

 

After a relaxing dinner we retreated to the living room for a game of Logo: Best of British which brought much laughter!

  

 

St Ives Craft Retreat: Day 1

 

Hi bloggers, so this is the week we have been waiting for for months and it has finally arrived, our St Ives Craft Retreat. I was hoping to blog as soon as we arrived but the sea air catches you out round here and it wasn't long before we were wrapped up in bed, catching up on essential sleep for the crafting days ahead of us.

Our first time craft retreat includes 4 guests plus our two selves staying in the most beautiful three storey house with magnificent views across Porthmeor beach. Here's a little taster of our accommodation for the next week.

Pictures below courtesy of Cornish Cottage Holidays.

 

 

Waking up to back to back blue skies definitely put us all in the crafting mood on Day 1 of our Craft Retreat, where at breakfast we revealed the first project - 'Beside the Seaside' Configuration Book. 

 As usual all the kits were prepped ready for our guests to help make the project much more relaxing. Each kit also included a mini distress ink pad with a mini applicator tool for them to keep and use across both of the projects this week.

Beside the Seaside configuration book encompasses everything 'seasidey', from shells and seaweed to lighthouses and boats. We even included a miniature light up lantern, giving a smugglers feel to the project, really bringing to life a life beside the sea.

Aprons at the ready our guests were ready to get stuck in!

 To start the project, everyone needed to paint a base coat over the whole box including the miniature boxes inside before covering with paper and ink and then filling with lots of die cuts and embellishments.

 

 

The best thing about this project is that we left some boxes empty for our guests to fill with treasures from their trip so a walk down to the beach to collect some shells and also local knick knack shops is a must!

The finished results......

 

 

 

 

Everyone's boxes turned out fab with everyone's own personality shining through with small differences in embellishment layout and placement. All that is left to do is to attach the battery back and light up the lantern!

After we had finished the project it was time to explore St Ives. with a gathering at Pizza Express come 5.30pm. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we were definitely ready for some warming food after a hard day's crafting! 

We decided to go for a quick walk to Smeeton's Pier before the wind picked up a bit and it was time to head back for this evening's project - Resin Bezel (to be revealed in our next post).

 

So the excitement builds for tomorrow's workshop - all to be revealed at breakfast!

 

Altered Hanging Book Workshop Review

 

Hi bloggers, today we want to review our workshop from Saturday and as always it was a brilliant day with some fab results. As always we give everyone the same starting materials and then it's up to them to use their own creativity to put the elements together - with a bit of guidance inbetween. 

 

Everyone provided us with photos before the day so that I could age them on the computer and print them to the correct size for their book.  

 

 

I think it's fair to say that cutting into the book was a bit more hard going  than I initially thought but there was a chance to relax a bit afterwards whilst sticking every page together. Once all the necessary tasks were over with it was down to the decorating of the book with a montage of embellishments.

So..... time for the finished results!

 

Jen's Book

 

 

Joanne's Book

 

 

 

Jane's Book

 

 

 

Heidi's Book

 

 

 

Pauline's Book

 

 

 

Mag's Book

 

 

 

Carol's Book

 

 

 

Chris's Book (unfinished)

 

I think you will definitely agree that everyone's book looked fantastic and I always love how everyone puts their own individual flair to the project. It was also lovely to see a travel inspired theme in Jane's book as she reminisced her trip to India. It just shows that you can use this project to scrapbook any event from weddings and holidays to old family memories.Seeing people's old family photos was also a highlight of our day and to learn about their family's history.

As always we put on a scrumptious lunch and plenty of tea and cake to keep everyone refreshed! We want to thank everyone for coming and if you're ever interested in attending one of our workshops just keep an eye out on our workshop page for the next project, we would love to meet you!

In the meantime, if you fancy scrapbooking old memories, look no further than an old book!