Winter Cabin Snow Dome Project

Our last Christmas project kit for 2020 has finally arrived and this one is definitely a must have! This beautiful light up snow dome decoration will look stunning on a shelf or mantelpiece and the wintery cabin scene will make you feel warm and cosy inside. 

Rewind back to 2018 and you may remember a previous workshop project called Christmas House Glass Dome which featured a larger house and winter scene. This time we have kept it small and also made it a bit more simpler so you can complete it at home.

For this project we used a small LED glass dome that we bought from Hobbycraft. We decided to take out the LED light from the base so that we were able to layer up some wood slices before placing a house on top. We therefore needed our own set of LED thread lights that we could use inside the house and stuck the battery pack to the bottom of the base. 

We also added some wooden beaded feet to the bottom to allow for the battery pack to fit underneath.

The die cut house is from Tim Holt'z Paper Village die set (664741) which is the same die set we used for our Festive Copper Cabin Pot decoration. However we decided to use a slightly wider house design for this project. We used some corrugated card for the house to give it a log cabin look.

We cut a deer from the Tim Holtz Darling Deer die set (664968) and coloured using some Tim Holtz distress ink before adding it to the scene.

We used a snowy green bristle brush tree and cut off the base and stem to allow the tree to fit on the wooden slice.

To create a snowy effect we used some Tim Holtz Grit Paste on the roof of the house and on the wooden base pieces. As this was drying we also added some white glitter to make it sparkle. 

For extra snow we added some loose mica flakes to the inside of the dome before adhering it in place.

Finally we wrapped some twine around the base and added a Tim Holtz word charm and a candy cane charm before tying the twine in a bow.

We think this smaller snow dome makes the perfect accompaniment to 2018's glass dome project. Display them proudly on a shelf or mantelpiece and remember to switch on the lights for an extra magical touch!

Festive Copper Cabin Pot Project Kit

We have a new Christmas project kit ready to order and this one is simply stunning! This copper cabin pot decoration will look beautiful on a decorated shelf or mantelpiece and the added bonus of LED lights will bring extra charm and magic.

The decoration consists of a garden peat pot that we have painted with white paint using a stiff bristle brush and added a Christmas word to the front. We filled the pot with some polystyrene and brown shredded paper before building a beautiful Christmas scene on top.

We used a wooden circular base on top of the filling to make the scene level. The house we used in this decoration is from the Tim Holtz Paper Village die set (664741) and we die cut this from a woodgrain paper that we had pre-painted in a Copper tone paint. We also glittered the roof in a copper coloured glitter to add some extra sparkle and glitz.

To bring the scene to life we added some LED lights inside the house and added some foliage around the house, including pinecones and a copper sequin stem. We added a tree to the side of the house to give the scene a bit of height and decorated the tree with some tiny diamonds. We used alcohol ink in Rust to add some extra colour to the diamonds before placing them in the tree.

To finish off the scene we included a pinwheel decoration that we had cut out using an old Tim Holtz border strip die. We then added a stamped sentiment to the centre to complete it.

If we flash back to last year, you may remember a certain Reindeer Decor project that we did as part of a Craft and Coffee morning. If you were lucky enough to attend this workshop you will be delighted to hear that this copper cabin pot matches perfectly with the reindeer decoration and will look beautifully complimentary sat side by side.

The Festive Copper Cabin pot project kit is £15 per person. If you are interested in purchasing a kit please email vintagefollie@hotmail.com

Halloween Decorating and Afternoon Tea Party

We know Halloween has been and gone but we wanted to share with you a bit of decoration inspiration and also give you a glimpse into our Halloween Afternoon Tea party, courtesy of my sister.

So let's start with a couple of decoration inspiration using our accumulation of pumpkins that we bought when we went pumpkin picking.

First up is my tray display of pumpkins that I have on my dining table. I got the tray from Home Bargains and it was the perfect size to hold my miniature pumpkins in as well as a jar of sweets. I also added a small string of LED lights to make the display even more cosy.

The next display is from my sister's house and she used a glass cloche to cover some small pumpkins and of course added some lights inside as well.

Unfortunately as far as decorating inspiration around the home goes, that is as far as I got. I had planned to take a few more pictures of the outside porch, however if we cast our minds back to Halloween last week, you may remember a certain stormy day with lots of rain and therefore not quite the right conditions to take some inspirational photos. So let's move on to the tea party...

When it comes to tea parties, my sister can definitely put on a good spread and this one was perfectly themed for Halloween. A baker at heart, my sister had baked up a storm in the kitchen and had some superb cakes and bakes that we could delve into that afternoon.

As well as some amazing food, my sister also gave us each a little treat bag with a handmade decoration and chocolate inside.

I got a pumpkin felt decoration, similar to the one featured on the tree in the centre of the table.

All in all a great afternoon was had by all and we hope we have provided you with a little inspiration for Halloween decorating next year. Unfortunately the evening was slightly dampened by the announcement of a 2nd lockdown in the UK and also made us appreciate the chance we had to get together that afternoon. We hope to provide you with a bit more crafting inspiration during the next month to help make the time pass by more quickly.

We hope you are all staying safe and well and look forward to sharing some more craft projects soon.

Pumpkin Picking in Sompting

Halloween is fast approaching and that can only mean one thing - PUMPKINS!!....and candy (of course)!!

Instead of buying our pumpkins from the supermarkets, this year we decided to visit a pumpkin picking venue with my sister and niece. Joanne visited the Pumpkin Patch in Sompting last year and after seeing her fabulous finds last time I definitely wanted to tag along and find some to decorate my house with!

Sompting Pumpkin Patch is next to Worthing in East Sussex on the A27 and has two huge fields full to the brim with pumpkins. You can find them in all shapes, sizes and colours, so if you are looking to create a particular Pinterest inspired Autumnal home, you will find what you are looking for here. Unfortunately this post may have to act as a bookmark for next year as it seems the bad weather this week has caused the pumpkin patch to shut early. However make sure you still check out their website here and get in early for next year! We visited on their opening weekend a couple of weeks ago so make sure you check out their opening dates next year!

As you will see from our pumpkin haul above, we managed to pick up a selection of colours and sizes, perfect for decorating your home and carving into different designs. I'll share with you some of our displays next week (again, a little late for this year, but ideas to keep in mind for 2021). 

If you are picking to a budget then make sure you use their handy measurement pricing tool to see which category your pumpkins fit into. Prices start from as little as £1 for Tiny and £8 for Extra Large pumpkins.....and let me tell you now, it's easy to get carried away!!

If you are looking to make a whole morning or afternoon out of visiting then make sure you check out their refreshment stand as well as their craft tent. Adults and children can get involved in some Halloween craft projects and there are also some scarecrow characters walking around for photo ops.

If you are a scrapbooker like me then make sure you keep your camera to hand as this pumpkin patch provides the perfect backdrop for a family photo!

With only a few days left before Halloween, make sure you check out your local area for a Pumpkin patch and dig out your wellies for some Autumn fun.

Cornwall Shopping Haul

So now that we have returned from our trip to Cornwall, we wanted to share with you a few of the items we purchased and hopefully provide you with some links if you are interested in any of these products. As you saw in most of our blog posts, we were hitting the shops practically every day so we thought we better justify this by giving you an insight into what we were buying.

First up....homewares.

Placemats

This was one of the last things I bought at the end of the week when we popped into Ula Clothing & Lifestyle in St Ives. They had quite a big selection of these place mats with a range of nautical/ seaside designs on them. I decided to choose 2 of each design you see above as our dining room table at home seats up to 6 people. I love the neutral colour of the cork with the splash of white from the printed design and since my living room/dining room area has a beach theme, I think these will fit in perfectly. Ula Clothing & Lifetsyle only offer a limited range of designs on their website but if you want to see more, check out Liga's website here to see the full range of designs - you can even get Christmas placemats too! Prices start at £2.75 for coasters and £5.25 for placemats. 

Shell Bowl

I'm always on the look out for nautical inspired homewares and this little gem was found in a Cornwall Hospice Care charity shop in Wadebridge. At only £1.50 I couldn't resist and I think it will look great as a decorative bowl in the living room or perhaps to pop some snacks or food in when using the dining table.

St Ives Mug

Mum picked up this mug in The St Ives Co. shop. We are not usually drawn to many mugs that have place names written on them but this mug has a very modern and sophisticated design. Featuring a nautical blue stripe band around the mug and a white simplistic text of St Ives, we thought it would make the perfect mug for a morning brew. At £12 it's definitely not a cheap mug but it is made of fine china and is a classic look for those nautical fans.

Christmas Jute Bags

As you already know, one of our favourite shops in Cornwall is Whistlefish and before we had even arrived we were eying up these lovely Christmas jute bags. We found these when we were in Padstow as both St Ives shops didn't have these in stock. They are also currently sold out on the website but we recommend to keep checking back just in case they come back into stock. These are a decent sized jute bag and are great for carrying groceries and also transporting Christmas presents.

Moving on from homewares, our next collection of items will be under the Christmas decoration category - and you know we can't resist a decoration or two...

First up is this beautiful Seahorse decoration that I bought in the Tidings Christmas shop in Padstow. I love finding seaside decorations for the Christmas tree and the colours on this one are just stunning!

The next decoration I bought was from a gallery in St Ives called Gallery 38, which is situated on The Wharf. They have a lovely collection of artwork, from canvases and prints, to glass work and ceramic. We recommend checking out all the galleries whilst in St Ives as you never know what you might find and I always like to find something that has been made locally.

This next decoration was also bought in the Tidings Christmas shop in Padstow and is a beautiful ceramic house decoration with an LED light inside. It is a Gisela Graham decoration so if you fancy getting yourself one you may be able to pick one up in one of their stockists.

These next few bauble decorations are all from Whistlefish and feature a variety of wonderful designs. You can find all the different designs on their website by clicking here. They all say Limited Edition so we are not sure how long they will hang around for so you might want to be quick if there is a particular one you like. The St Ives design already says Sold Out online but if you are lucky enough to be be visiting St Ives in the next few weeks you may be able to still get one.

I'm sure it will be no surprise to hear that I picked up the Under the Sea themed bauble, featuring adorable seals and other sea life creatures. 

The St Ives bauble features a beautiful illustration of the harbour with tropical palm trees either side to represent it's often sub-tropical climate.

The Hare and the Robin design is a beautiful illustration for Christmas and will be a firm favourite for any animal lover.

The last one we got was The Coming Home for Christmas design, featuring a beautiful pink tone with tree illustrations around the bauble. A beautiful sentiment for the festive time of year.

The final Christmas decoration item we bought was this seaside Christmas advent calendar. It seems we can't get enough of advent calendars this year and we absolutely love anything that has a nautical/seaside design. We picked this one up in a stationer's shop in Wadebridge but if you fancy buying yourself one you can try searching for your nearest stockist here.

So that's our round up of everything we bought whilst we were away in St Ives. To be honest we probably could have bought a lot more but we had to restrain ourselves at some point. As I've been writing these posts and featuring the different shops we went in, it's nice to see that most of them have an online presence and therefore if we fancy buying from them again whilst at home we can still make our purchases from afar.

 

Day 4: Exploring St Ives

For our last full day in St Ives we wanted to take in the scenery and enjoy strolling around the streets and exploring the landscape.

After our breakfast at Porthmeor Beach Cafe on Tuesday, we couldn't help but book ourselves in for another breakfast this morning to take in the beautiful views on a another day of blue skies.

This time we both went for a lighter option of just a croissant with jam and sat back enjoying the food and the view.

Fuelled for the morning we went for a brief walk around the back streets of the town (if you do this prepare yourself for some steep slopes and steps).

After our walk it was time for another mooch around the shops, especially those that we hadn't explored on Tuesday. If you are a crafter and have a particular interest in knitting, crochet or haberdashery then you will want to check out The Craft Tree - they have lots of lovely kits to choose from - so if you fancy a small project while you are away then you will be able to pick one up here.

A couple of other shops that we enjoyed were Brocante, which sells beautiful homeware, gifts and fashion; Ula Clothing & Lifestyle - where I picked up some lovely beach themed placemats - I'll share these with you in our Cornwall shopping haul blog post and we also went in The St. Ives Co. which offers a chic selection of St. Ives homewares and gifts. It's lovely to browse these kind of shops as you never know what you might find!

After returning to the cottage with a few bags we decided to condense down and take some bits up to the car (to save on multiple trips when we set off tomorrow morning). On our return we picked up some delicious Beef and Vegetable Stews from the St Ives Bakery.

This place is the best bakery in town and we absolutely love their shop window which is always kept well stocked with wonderful cakes and breads.

After lunch we decided to go to one of our favourite spots to sit down and watch the world past by. 

This spot is on the back of Smeaton's Pier and we can often find ourselves a spot to sit on the wall, however today was a little more crowded than usual so we made do with a bench in the sunshine just above. Always keep your eye out for marine sea life such as seals as mum definitely thinks she saw one bobbing its head above the water briefly.

Feeling a bit more energetic we decided to walk around the headland just beyond Porthmeor Beach to take in a few more stunning views across St Ives. If you fancy going for a longer walk you will find a coastal footpath that will lead you round to Zennor.

We couldn't have asked for better weather this week (maybe a tad bit warmer!) as the sunshine really helps bring out the beautiful colour of the sea.

For our last evening in St Ives we decided to have dinner at the Lifeboat Inn on the Wharf and enjoyed a lovely Scampi and Chips meal looking out over the harbour. Taking in the last of the sea views at night we grabbed a hot drink and sat on a bench by the harbour and looked out on to what can be described as a smugglers cove, with tiny specks of light coming out from restaurants and houses outlining the shape of the cove. Almost takes you back in time and you feel like you could be in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie!

Feeling a bit cold, we decided to retreat back to the cottage to enjoy the last of our evening. 

This little break away to St Ives has been wonderful and I'm sure we will be back again in the near future.