Vintage Textile Market in Othery

Good Morning bloggers! We finally arrived back home from our trip to Cornwall yesterday afternoon. We've barely been home 24 hours and we are already making our conservatory into a seaside haven! Absolutely loving the nautical theme!

Anyway I wanted to summarise our purchases from the Vintage Textile Market in Othery, Somerset. This little village hall housed a range of tables with people selling their vintage fabrics, lace and trims all at very good prices. Though I have to say the main feature was of course The Washerwoman's Table. There were tables full of vintage materials, baskets of lace, old patterns and even old woodblock stamps. Many baskets were labelled with 50p per item or £1 an item so we did stock up a little bit. Take a look at our treasures below...

As you can see an abundance of lace and trims. Below summarises a few other purchases of lace from other stallholders...

You'll probably wondering what we might make with all these gorgeous trims and we could probably say the same. Hopefully we will gather some ideas soon and then we just have to find the time to make them. But that is something I really want to try hard at for the rest of this year. I've had such a great time writing the blog this week and I really want to continue with it so I know all I need to do is make the time to write and also to craft as that might help me find something to write about.

These little textile markets are well worth the trip to go to them as you really do find some bargains compared to bigger events such as Ardingly or other big vintage fairs. The best place to keep informed of all textile fairs is The Washerwoman's blog, so keep an eye out.

Sunshine on a rainy day

Evening bloggers! Today was our last day of our Cornwall getaway and I have to say I was a bit surprised at the weather. Many predicted rain and drizzle all day however it turned out to just be overcast with hints of blue sky and sunshine every so often. Perfect for last minute shopping around Wadebridge and Padstow.

Wadebridge is a lovely little town next to Padstow offering little bustling streets full of non high street shops that are full of character and unique products. 

Our first stop was a local charity shop whereby we picked up a few linens and also a fantastic tea set for £17 which was quite a good bargain since we didn't manage to get to any boot sales this time. We then popped into a shop called Artsy Crafts which had a range of art and crafts materials including some bits and pieces of vintage lace and material and all at fairly low prices. I bought a couple of pieces that I could use in a fabric book I'm currently piecing together.

For lunch we headed to a place called Tim's Place which offers some lovely menu options. I went for the fish finger sandwich which was gorgeous! A walk along the bridge finished our trip to Wadebridge to move onto Padstow.

Compared to Wadebridge, Padstow (picture at beginning of post) is a little more upmarket with your typical harbour side shops including some art galleries, trendy surf shops and restaurants - including Rick Stein - if thats your cup of tea. In our view, he's taken over the town some what, with at least three restaurants, a B&B and a gift shop!! 

On visiting the Whistlefish Gallery we finally settled on a painting we were procrastinating about all week by Hannah Cole and we know its going to look great in our conservatory back home.

All in all this week has been a well deserved break from reality and we have one final stop tomorrow before we arrive home which is a little vintage textile market in Othery, Somerset. A perfect chance to stock up on more lace and linens!

Rainy Day Blues

So today didn't bring us sunshine or much inspiration and the weather was so bleak that I didn't feel like taking any photos so you're probably thinking why am I even writing a post. Well today wasn't a complete waste of blogging space as we did have quite a nice walk around Penzance, despite the drizzle and the rain.

We had a stroll around the local charity shops, where mum did pick up another brooch to add to her collection and also a set of sherry glasses that would make great little vases to pop around the house during Spring/Summer. Sorry I don't have a picture to share - not that prepared tonight. We also found some great antique shops along Chapel Street, one in particular, called Steckfenster's has an amazing collection of vintage suitcases, boxes, comic books, clothing and so on. Worth a look round and the prices are really fair. We almost fell in love with a vintage toy truck that we've been on the hunt for but it wasn't quite right for what we wanted.

Whilst researching a bit of info about Penzance for this blog post I came across this video which I am including as a substitute for my missing photos from the day. This is what we may have experienced on a nice sunny day but you can get the feel of the town and what you can find if you visit.

At the moment tomorrow is forecasted for more rain so we're not sure where the day will take us....

Inspire..Create.. at Scrapbook Magic

Today has been another fabulous day with lots of creativity and inspiration! The main activity of the day was a craft class with Margaret at Scrapbook Magic in Mullion, which was the perfect opportunity for us to sit back and craft whilst someone else took the reins to teach the class. The class was to make a Zig Zag album that had previously been taught at Scrapbook Magic by Clare Charvill from Graphic 45. Margaret let us choose from a selection of papers she sold at the shop which included many Graphic 45 collections, Tim Holtz Core'dinations, Marion Smith and more!

I went for a vintage floral theme with my album using a range of Marion Smith and Graphic 45 papers. Once the album was created we then had to make our own tags to fit into each pocket, all different sizes and shapes. This would make an excellent gift for a family member or loved ones, especially if you add your own photos to the tags!

Mum chose a darker selection of papers, mixing in some haberdashery elements to the tags. Once again a selection of Graphic 45 papers were used on this album.

Of course we couldn't leave Scrapbook Magic without having a little nose around at the fabulous examples around the shop and also the selection of products on offer. Even though Scrapbook Magic is a smaller craft shop, the selection of products suits our taste completely, with Tim Holtz Idea-ology, Sizzix, Graphic 45 - its our perfect one stop shop!

It was so sad having to say goodbye to Margaret and everyone at the class today, we had an excellent time and we would definitely recommend visiting Margaret at Scrapbook Magic and signing up to a class or two. 

I've included a couple of examples from the shop but I do ask that if you re-post these pictures or use them in anyway to please reference back to Scrapbook Magic.

The above example is a fabulous display for hanging tags you've created using different techniques. In a similar way to Tim Holtz, you can create a tag using a range of products and techniques and simply write what you've used and how you did it on the back of the tag and keep them all safe together in this beautiful storage wardrobe for tags. Fantastic!

If you fancy popping in to see Margaret at Scrapbbok Magic or signing up for a class then check out the website here.

We finished off the afternoon by re-visiting another of our favourite spots, Praa Sands. 

Another beautiful stretch of coastline and we are always intrigued by an old hotel, called Praa Sands Hotel. This building has been sitting here for quite some time but it is now derelict and we wish someone would bring it back to its former glory. Taking a peek inside you can still see old picture frames and lampshades in the building and can almost imagine what it looked like all those years ago. Seriously, if we won the lottery we would definitely renovate it and make it into a retro hotel.

The week so far has been pretty good, so lets hope tomorrow brings more sunshine and inspiration!

Treasure and the Lost Woodland

Today has been a fabulous day. In the morning we found a few vintage treasures before getting lost in  the most tropical and beautiful gardens I've ever seen. So let's start at the beginning.....

Today was another day of sunshine and showers and when we first set off we really didn't think there was going to be much hope of sunshine, but with a quick brisk of wind the showers seemed to clear up in no time.

We started off in Truro today for another morning of meandering around the shops and taking in the sites. We were keen to start at the Pannier Market to hunt down our favourite little haberdashery stall called 'Stitches'. Here you will find an abundance of lace, threads, ribbons, wool etc at really low prices. We bought up some lace to use at future workshops with some pieces only costing 10p per metre, brilliant. We also found a beautiful piece with diamantes stitched into it.

We wondered up an alleyway that we hadn't discovered before and came across a lovely little vintage boutique called Tootsie & Tiger. Now this place is jammed pack full of vintage clothing, hats, shoes and accessories. If you need a vintage outfit then this is the place to go!

To our surprise, Truro's vintage flea market was running today (we usually manage to miss it every time) so we had a little nose around and snapped up a few brooch bargains. There are a mixture of stalls, mainly consisting of jewellery and bric a brac, but worth a look on the off chance you might find some treasure.

Finally we headed to our favourite charity shop which usually has a few good bits and bobs in. Mum found a bit of lacey material and an old piece of trim which I'm sure will come in handy in some upcoming projects.

Heading back to the car park the sun started to breakthrough the clouds and we were hopeful that it would be a sunny afternoon for what we had planned. We decided to visit The Lost Gardens of Heligan near Mevagissey which is something we haven't done before. We've always wanted to visit some of the lovely gardens down here but we've either made other plans or haven't had the weather for it so this afternoon we just went for it come rain or shine!

These gardens are amazing! There are four different gardens but to be honest we only managed two of them before our legs started to cave in a bit. The Lost Valley features the Mud Maid (above) and The Giant's Head (top of the page) which are incredible to see. They merge into the surroundings perfectly and make for an interesting find along the wooded paths.

We followed the Georgian Ride pathway lined with gorgeous flowers which led us to the Jungle Garden. Now this truly is spectacular, so many exotic plants surround you and it really does feel like your walking through a tropical jungle. The best bit has to be the rope bridge, for a moment I felt like I was walking across the bridge in I'm A Celebrity - definitely a photo op moment!

The landscape and views are just simply stunning so if you're thinking of visiting one of the gardens during a stay in Cornwall then I highly recommend these gardens. You could probably spend most of your day here if you had the time, although you will be a lot fitter then us if you do or would at least have plenty of rest stops along the way as there is some serious ground to cover.

The sun is still shining here in Porth so let the creativity buzz continue and its set to keep continuing into tomorrow with our workshop at Scrapbook Magic....

Sailing into Falmouth

Ok, so we didn't actually sail into Falmouth as the title suggests but if you wanted to go sailing you could and you can even have lessons to learn how to sail but we didn't do any of that I'm afraid, just a bit of leisurely shopping and photo taking.

This beautiful seaside resort is full of chic little shops and boutiques, each with its own unique style and taste. You will also find your average High Street stores as well for buying your everyday essentials. Always worth checking out the local charity shops to see if you can find any hidden treasures, however this time we were not in much luck of finding much treasure.

Although if you're looking for a treasure trove of cake then Annie's Kitchen is the place to go! You name the type of cake you want you can guarantee they are more than likely to have it. Ringing off about 20 different varieties of cake made fresh that day, the waitress definitely knew her cake! I settled for a delicious brownie whilst mum had a huge slab of Coffee and Walnut cake, not by choice, that was the portion size, very generous indeed!

The hazy sunshine continued into the afternoon and to make the most of the unexpected dry day we were experiencing we took the opportunity to visit St Michael's Mount in Marazion.

Depending on your preferred method of transport you may want to check tide times before you visit the mount. Since I'm not favourable of a boat ride we made sure to arrive in good time while the concourse was open to walk across to the island. Over the cobbled pathway you will need to pay very close attention to where you put your footing as it does make for a very uneven service. Once across to the island we took a while to gaze back across to land whilst sitting on a bench and then continued to visit the gift shop, full of little souvenirs from the Mount.

If you have extra time then take a little wander around the streets of Marazion to explore some of the little shops and cafes. Sometimes its nice to escape the hustle and bustle of the big towns and every now and then you pass a tiny lane looking out towards St Michael's Mount, beautiful!

Where will tomorrow take us, well that all depends on the weather......

St Ives Bliss

Today we had to make the most of the sunshine as we are not entirely sure how like this is going to last with weather forecasts predicting rain for the next few days.

Full of inspiration, this beautiful bay is full of little nooks and crannies for you to walk around and enjoy. If you've read any of our other posts from previous trips down to St Ives you would have probably read this all before but I can honestly say I don't know anywhere else that has this much beauty. Its like looking at a postcard all day.

For a spot of lunch we headed to The Lifeboat Inn, which we highly recommend. If you visit on a Sunday then definitely try their Sunday Carvery as it is amazing! Such friendly service and if you arrive early enough you may be lucky to nab yourself a table looking right out onto the harbour.

You can easily lose yourself around the cobbled streets but nothing beats meandering around this beautiful town.  We'll leave you with a few pics from our trip and lets hope tomorrow won't be as wet as they say.......

Sarah overlooking St Ives harbour

Sue overlooking St Ives harbour

Beautiful little streets decorated with bunting

Walking the cobbled streets of St Ives

Our Home away from Home

It seems like the only time I get to post these days is when we have a workshop coming up or when we come back to our home away from home...... Porth in Cornwall.

We are on our annual trip to Cornwall and it feels so good to finally feel a bit relaxed (at least more so than usual) and take some time out for ourselves. Obviously our creative buzz never dies and I have packed a bag full of different projects I would like to attempt whilst on this break but all I'm going to say is...we'll see! I'm also feeling a digital buzz at the moment and want to try a bit of designing and maybe some digital scrapbooking.

At least we can be sure that we will be creative for a full 3 hours this week as we are visiting our favourite craft shop down here in Mullion, called Scrapbook Magic. We've booked a workshop with Margaret and will definitely be showing you our creations from the day.

For now though I am going to say goodnight as its been a long day of travelling and after seeing my beautiful sunset over Porth Cove, I can now rest my eyes and wait to see what tomorrow brings....

Believe in Imagination Burlap Panel Workshop

A new workshop has finally arrived and it is overflowing with vintage ephemera and embellishments! If your a fan of Tim Holtz then this workshop is definitely for you as we will be using Tim's burlap panel as our base and embellishing on top with lots of Idea-ology goodies.

Have a closer look at the panel below...

All the details can be found on our workshop page, so check them out and book your space today.