Valentine Charcuterie Platter

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! We have one last bit of Valentine inspiration to share with you today and that is for creating this very delicious charcuterie platter for your loved ones.

I had been inspired lately by some charcuterie board ideas I had seen on Pinterest and I thought what a great idea to extend your romantic evening meal by creating a platter of sweet treats that you can dig into whilst watching a film.

You can have some great fun with this idea and even get the kids involved and get them to put together a sharing board that you can all dig into together. Just grab some of your favourite snacks and treats and mix in some dipping sauces too and then get creative!

On my board I included the following:-

Mini Jammy Dodger Biscuits

Mini Oreo Biscuits

Salted Pretzels

Marshmallows

Crispy M&Ms

Lobster Sweets (M&S)

Seahorse Guylian Chocolates (Poundland)

Chocolate Viennese Thins (Tesco)

Salted Caramel Dessert Sauce (Tesco)

Chocolate Dessert Sauce

I got my heart shaped ramekins from Poundland which I used to put my M&Ms and chocolate dipping sauce in. I also used a cake stand to display my platter on but you could use a wooden chopping board or plate, whatever you have to hand.

If you are looking for that last minute gesture of love, quickly whip round your house and see what you can put together and share with your loved ones. Remember you could do this with lots of foods, doesn't necessarily have to be sweet! 

Enjoy!

Easter Extravaganza Project Kit

We are back with a project kit for some Spring crafting and this is the perfect kit to get your home kitted out for the next seasonal holiday, which is Easter!!

You may notice that these projects were seen on our blog last year after our Easter workshop had to be cancelled. Even though we shared these makes with you as inspiration we didn't offer the projects in a kit form. Since it looks like we won't be able to host this workshop again this year we thought we would put them together in a kit with some instructions and a video so that you can make them this year!

We called this project kit an Extravaganza as you will get to make a great selection of home decor pieces that you can use to decorate your house. 

So let's start by taking a closer look at the largest project in the kit which is the Decorative glass Jar, featuring LED lights and an Easter scene....

Next up is the Small Glass Vase, perfect for displaying a small arrangement of daffodils...

The next decorations you will be making are these wonderful hanging egg decorations...

And finally you will also be able to make this egg vase...

We are so excited that we are able to offer you these projects in kit form this year and we know you are going to have so much fun making them.

Kits are £30 each and if you are interested in purchasing a kit please email vintagefollie@hotmail.com.

These kits are on pre-order and will not be ready until the week commencing Monday 1st March.

Valentine Mini Treat Bags

These adorable mini treat bags are the perfect way to treat your loved ones to some sweet treats this Valentine's Day. Now when I say mini I do mean miniature size - these bags measure 6.5cm wide by 8.5cm tall and the gusset is just over 1.5cm. So when you are thinking of your sweet treat to include inside you may need to think small - but that's all part of the fun!

To make these bags, I used the Tim Holtz Treat Bag (663096) die set. This die set includes the die to make the treat bag as well as a full alphabet with numbers, a heart, a star and grammatical icons. In a similar way to how I made the Valentine's Photo Pocket Cards, I die cut some words using the alphabet to create some Valentine phrases on my bags. I then used some plain coloured card stock behind the words to make them pop!

On one of the bags I used a "Love" die cut circle from the Tim Holtz Christmas Circle Words (664205) die set and then used some plain coloured card stock behind the word to make it stand out.

On my final bag I decided to cut out a heart shape from the treat bag and then backed it using some acetate so that the recipient can see the treats through the bag.

The treats that I used ranged from chocolates to mini biscuits, such as the mini Jammy Dodgers - a perfect little treat for Valentine's. For these biscuits I put them in a small cellophane bag and sealed them in using a small piece of tape. I also used cellophane bags to put some chocolate buttons in and tied the top with some twine before putting it in the treat bag.

These bags would also make great favours for parties or weddings and are easy to decorate or die cut shapes from like I did. To seal some of the bags at the top I used a small hole punch and threaded through some coloured twine. 

Dear Valentine....

We have already made it into February and I literally don't know where the time goes! With only 10 days to go until Valentine's Day, I will be continuing to share with you some inspirational makes to get you crafting this Valentine's Day.

So today's post is about Valentine cards and I have three designs to share with you this year, all of which I will be using...

So starting with the largest of all the cards, and I'm sure you will guess who this is for! As you may have noticed throughout most of the blog, I love to incorporate photos in a lot of my makes and especially for special occasions. So I couldn't resist adding some photos to this card! I cut out some photo frames (Marianne Design Photo Frames Die Set COL1388) from coloured card stock and then arranged on the front of a square card. I added a little bit of Tim Holtz Distress ink around the edges, but nothing too bold. I then finished the card by adding some Valentine words using my Dymo Label Maker and also some little heart confetti.

This adorable little card was definitely fun to make and really quick and easy! For the background of the card I just simply added some paint splats using a metallic pink watercolour paint and flicked the brush a few times. 

I then used a circle die cut that came included in a Tim Holtz die set (Tiny Travel Globe 664182) to cut a circle from the front of the card. I then added one of the co-ordinating Sizzix Dimensional Domes 663599, filled with die cut hearts, and positioned this through the hole, layered onto some Valentine card stock. To finish I added a die cut phrase.

The final card I made is super quick. I created the background using the same technique as above. I then cut out a small faceted heart from Tim Holtz Faceted Heart 664156 die set using pink metallic card stock. Once I had stuck all the tabs together to create the heart shape I stuck it in the centre of the card and added a stamped phrase underneath.

Making cards for you loved ones needn't be a long and complicated process. Sometimes the simplest of designs can be the most effective!

Happy crafting!