Happy 9th Birthday Vintage Follie

We can't believe it has been 9 years since we first started writing our Vintage Follie blog and we wish that we could have celebrated in Cornwall where it all began!

Unfortunately that can not be the case but we thought we would write a blog post instead which picks out our favourite posts from each of these 9 years (even including the years with minimal posts!).

This has proved to be a bit of a challenge as in some years there have been so many good posts, events and workshops that it has been so difficult to decide. We will provide a link to each post that we have chosen so that you can take a look back with us at some of our highlights over the past 9 years.

So let's start with the year it all began.... 2011!

King of Craft
In July 2011 we posted about a workshop that we attended with Tim Holtz earlier that year in February. To this date it is still probably one of the best days of my life and we had a fantastic experience creating with the one and only Tim Holtz! This workshop was a very important influence for us as we not only took away a great project but we also learnt so much from Tim about how to teach a workshop which inspired us to start teaching in the first place!

2012

Dress Up your Lampshade: A Story of Our Day
This workshop was definitely one of our favourites from 2012. It was such a beautiful day in July when we hosted this workshop and everyone who attended made some fantastic lampshades! This workshop has been a popular choice over the years as we have hosted 2 other lampshade workshops since this first one.

2013

Countdown to Christmas has begun!
This Christmas workshop from 2013 was fantastic fun and is still one of my all time favourite Christmas projects. It still comes out every year in the Countdown to Christmas and I love looking at all the little advent calendar pieces we created. We took our largest number of attendees at this workshop with a total of 14 taking part so it was a bit of a squeeze when getting round to help everybody!

2014

Inspire..Create..at Scrapbook Magic

In May 2014 we returned to Scrapbook Magic in Mullion, whilst we were on our trip to Cornwall, so that we could attend one of Margaret's workshops. We first discovered Margaret in 2013 when we came across her treasure trove of a craft shop and we knew we had to make time to go back and craft. We made a fantastic Zig Zag album inspired by the wonderful Clare Charvill of Graphic 45 who often taught some classes at Scrapbook Magic. Unfortunately Margaret has now closed her shop but at least we can look back on the fun we had back in 2014.

2015

Our Year in Review

By far 2015 has got to be our favourite year on the blog so far. We had so many fantastic experiences, workshops, events and more happen that year that the only way we could pick a favourite from 2015 was to cheat and pick 'Our Year in Review' post because it takes the best of everything that happened that year and summarises it in one lovely blog post. Enjoy!

2016

Distress A Little Different with Tim Holtz

In 2016 we had the opportunity to meet Tim Holtz for a second time and also craft alongside him at one of his workshops. This was yet again another incredible experience and we both enjoyed the project so much, it inspired us to recreate the project at a Craft Retreat later that year! The workshop took place at the Stitches Trade Show at the NEC and since me and mum were both working for Crafts U Love at the time we were able to have a look around and see some of the fantastic new products that were being released that year.

2017

organise me! workshop recap

So 2017 was not a good year for very interesting and exciting posts and even though we did a few other workshops that year that were fun we didn't actually blog about them much at the time! Since this is about our favourite blog posts of each year we decided to go for the 'organise me! workshop recap' which summarises our first workshop of 2017 and features some of our attendees notice boards that they made.

2018

Design your own Snap Card Game

This has got to be one of the best gifts I have ever made and I had so much fun creating it! In 2018 me and Conor had been together for 2 years and I wanted to use my design and craft skills to make a unique birthday present for him. Knowing that he likes games, I decided to create a pack of Snap cards which featured us at the centre of the game. Not only is it fun to play but it's also a great reminder of some of the memories we have made together. It still comes out from time to time so it must have been well received!

2019

REWIND SERIES: Ilfracombe Craft Retreat 2016

In 2019 I decided to focus more time on the blog again and launched a REWIND SERIES to recap on everything I had failed to blog about since 2016. This post is about our second Craft Retreat and these type of events are always my favourite. We both love spending time with our crafters and enjoy seeing everybody make something wonderful and have a good time making it! Our REWIND SERIES consists of 20 blog posts (so much I missed out on!) to read them all click here.

We can't believe it's been 9 years since we started writing about our Vintage Follie life and we really have enjoyed sharing the projects we make, the workshops we host, craft retreats, road trips and events we blog about. Between 2016 and 2018 we didn't know if we wanted to continue writing the blog and take the time to share our journey. However every time we sit down and look through our blog posts over the years, we can't help but get excited about what blog posts we will be writing about next! 

Trinket Tin Project Kit

Our first project kit finally became available to order this week and it's been a great hit already. Inspired by a blog post by Paula Cheney about her own Trinket Tin Book that she had made, we decided to come up with something similar that incorporated some of the same elements with a few changes of our own.

This project is such a pretty and vintage piece of home decor that would look great sitting on your shelves or in a display unit. 

I decided to scrapbook some photos of a trip to Rome I took in 2017 and therefore titled my tin with "Exploring Rome".

We painted inside the tin using Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Antique linen to give it a shabby chic look. We found that the more times you open and close the tin, parts of the paint rub off in places making it look vintage and distressed. Before we painted the inside of the tin with Antique Linen we gave it a coat of white gesso so that the paint had something to grip onto.

Inside the lid we added an ornate frame which we added some foiling detail to. Inside the main body of the tin is the concertina album.

We attached some of the pages together using some fabric strips which I hand stitched onto the pages to create a join. We then added some design tape on the back of the pages to join them altogether.

We embellished our pages with photos, some Chit Chat stickers and also die cut paper clip embellishments and banners.

We added some patterned papers on the back of the album as well to make it look neat and cover up some of the threads from where we had sewn on the fabric strips to the front of the album.

The last page of the album is stuck inside the tin to secure it in place.

We used some Tim Holtz design tape around the sides of the tin to make it look a bit more vintage and emphasise the travel element to this scrapbooking project.

All in all we think this is a fantastic project to launch our project kits. Unfortunately in this current situation we don't know when we will be able to go back to physical workshops but for now we will continue to bring you some fun and interesting projects that you can complete in your own time at home.

We have a few Trinket Tin project kits still available so if you are interested in purchasing one please email vintagefollie@hotmail.com

Spring Bunny Bucket Bag by Cross Patch

Our second fabric project for this week is this adorable fabric bucket bag by Cross Patch.

The kit to make this bag comes with everything you need including pre-cut fabrics, lining and two wooden buttons for the sides of the bag. Instructions are easy to follow and you have the option to add some bunny embroidery on the front if you want to include it.

The design of the bag features a small line of bunting going around the top which is a beautiful decorative feature. The colours of the fabrics are also perfect for Spring/Summer.

When we completed making this bag we found it was the perfect size for a certain little someone....

Always need a useful bag for putting all that shopping in!

Vintage Fabric Scrapbook Album

Today we are sharing a project that has been ongoing for quite a few years. This fabric scrapbook has become a casual project that I have enjoyed coming back to when I feel like adding to it. 

To make this album I used some pieces of calico as a base for my pages and cut them approx A4 size so that when they are folded as pages the album is approx. A5 size.

This album is a great way to use up old pieces of fabric and scrap bits of lace. As a non experienced sewer I mainly attach everything together in the album using either a little bit of fabric glue or using basic hand stitching to hold pieces in place.

I created some backgrounds on my pages using stencils and Tim Holtz Distress inks. I also used paints to create some texture and then added some extra design detail using rubber stamps.

The pockets were created using pieces of calico with added lace detailing.

As you can see from above, some pages are still a working progress even after this many years but I know when I feel like it I can come back to these pages and add some more detail or some photos.

To add photos to my album I decided to print them on some fabric paper first so that they could be stitched in place and fit seamlessly into the scrapbook.

I used a mixture of vintage style rubber stamps, including stamp sets from Oxford Impressions, Paper Artsy and Tim Holtz.

On some pages I've used lots of small pieces of lace and fabric scraps and joined them together.

The back of the book just shows the different layers of lace and fabric used on the scrapbook album cover.

The best part about creating these type of projects is that I don't ever feel like I can go wrong. Just keep adding as much detail as you want until you achieve the design you want. Have a rifle through your stamp stash and pull out any vintage imagery and words and just start stamping them onto pieces of calico. You can then simply cut around them and add them to your pages.

I've still got a few pages that I can add to....whenever I feel like it!

Mini Concertina Album - Inspired by Paige Evans

We have another fabulous scrapbooking project to share with you today that has been inspired by Paige Evans again! Following on from our previous posts of how to make a Mini Album Card; this project is quite a similar concept and it's all made from one piece of 12x12 cardstock!

To find out how to make this album please view Paige Evans video below:-

This is such an easy tutorial and once you've got the basic shape you can get to embellishing with your papers, photos, stickers and ephemera!

I decided to use some papers from the Simple Stories Say Cheese 4 collection and also got some puffy stickers to embellish my album. The photos I used were from a trip to Disneyland Paris back in 2017. I originally was going to make another mini album card but decided I needed a different album challenge so found this make on Paige Evans YouTube channel.

The album has a concertina style and can sit on a surface like a fan before you pull either end to stretch out the album.

The centre of the album is adhered together to make a pocket which you can include some journalling cards in.

I decided to type some journaling and print it onto the Simple Stories Say Cheese cardstock and included a list of 'favourites' from our trip. I finished the top of the journaling cards off with a small tab using the We R Memory Keepers 1-2-3 punch board.

I added some stamp detail using a small set of Altenew stamps that included 'arrival' and 'departure' designs. This is a great way to include your travel dates into your albums. I then used some puffy stickers from the Say Cheese collection to decorate around the sides.

I decided to cut all my papers and photos to 4.8cm x 4.8cm (approx. 1-7/8 inches) so that once they are adhered in place there is a small white border around each piece.

I added some printed cardstock to the front and back of the album and used a piece of yellow twine to tie the album together.

This is a fantastic album to make if you have a spare morning or afternoon and because it's only made using one piece of 12x12 cardstock the outlay is minimal. You could use up scraps of paper to decorate your album and find some pieces of ephemera and embellishments in your craft stash to decorate!