12 Days of Christmas Day 4: Christmas Craft Party

 

What better way to celebrate this festive time of year then throwing a Christmas Craft Party. For us this was the highlight of the year and definitely had to be included in our countdown to Christmas.

This year we decided to throw our crafter's a Christmas party, but not just any party, a craft party! The party was set to include scrumptious food and drink, party games, a Secret Santa Surprise and of course a mini Christmas craft project! We've managed to gather up some photos from everyone who came to give you a brief overview of the fun that was had by all.

The house was decorated from head to toe to make it feel all Christmassy, even the bathroom had some flowers and Christmas lights!

 

 

We had some gorgeous festive treats made by my talented baker of a sister, Joanne, with snowman macaroons, cookies, chocolate cupcakes, chocolate lollies and more. We even had some delicious donations made by our guests including a large victoria sponge cake, chocolate chip shortbread and some gingerbread.

The first of our party games was a bit of a creative challenge. Each person was given a paper plate and a pen and were told a list of instructions to draw a Christmas scene, however they had to draw the image onto the plate on top of their head. This created quite a few giggles and even more so when they saw the final result. However we did emerge with a winner - and the secret to winning is all in adding some decorations to your tree!

 

Throughout the night, our guests had the chance to make a beautiful hanging heart decoration. We placed bowls of lace, bows and pre-stamped images so that all they needed to do was decide how they wanted to decorate their heart and then stick it down. 

 

To thank everyone for their continuous support we wanted to give everyone a little something, so hidden inside each pack was a ticket with a number on that related to a present that we had presented in a suitcase as shown below....

 

To continue with the gift giving theme we asked everyone if they wanted to take part in our Secret Santa Surprise which involved them bringing a present that was either handmade or a craft related item to put in Santa's sack. Everyone then picked out a number from Santa's hat that corresponded to a present. This was a lovely way to bring everyone together and show off some of their skills they had learnt throughout the year.

Andrea and Aileen with their Secret Santa gifts.

To finish off the night we played a last game of pass the parcel with a circle as big as the length of the room!

Hidden away within the layers were a mixture of chocolate coins and also some scratch card tokens with money off their next workshop.

I have to say that this party was some of the most fun I have had in a long time and was such a pleasure to organise. We want to thank everyone who came as their support means so much to us as we wouldn't be able to do what we do without them.

I'll finish off with a few other pics from the night. If you have ever thought about throwing a Christmas party for your crafty group of friends then make sure you do as it's such a fun night and whip out those classic party games as we are all still young at heart!

12 Days of Christmas Day 3: Vintage Bauble

We have some vintage inspiration for Day 3 with this stunning bauble decoration. Transform those boring baubles by using silver and gold gilding flakes and buffing them onto the bauble. Simply add a vintage image and some sparkly glitter and your good to go! 

For a more personal touch why not add a photo of a loved one, which would also make a great gift idea!

12 Days of Christmas Day 2: Beaded Snowman

Hi bloggers, Day 2 brings you another tree decoration in the form of a Snowman. This is such a simple and effective decoration that won't break the bank and one that the kids can also get involved with. All you need is an assortment of beads, charms and some jewellery findings to put it altogether. You can also wear this on a necklace by using a necklace chain and attaching with a jump ring.

Why not have a go yourself or try making Santa or an Angel from some beads.

12 Days of Christmas 2015: Day 1 Castle Snowglobe

 

Hi bloggers, I can't believe it's that time of year again and this year we are back to our usual 12 days as last year was cut short to only 6. We have some fantastic ideas and inspiration lined up so make sure you tune into the blog every day for the next 12 days as we count down to Christmas.

So it's day 1 and today we want to share with you a new addition to our snowglobe collection, featuring a fairy tale castle scene. This design debuted at the Fairytale Fair in Worthing and was a great hit with many as we sold out in a few hours! Lined around the base with blue glitter, it caught the eye of many Disney Frozen fans and is a beautiful sparkly addition to any tree!

 

 

St. Ives Craft Retreat: Concluding Days

 

Hi bloggers, so yesterday morning we had to say goodbye to our lovely ladies after three amazing fun packed days. We made time to take a few pictures with the sea view in the background (a view we had been lucky to look out all week) before they departed. Just before they left they surprised us with a little thank you gift which we are very grateful for and really touched us how much they enjoyed the Craft Retreat.

  

Beautiful chocolate slate from 'I Should Coco' in St. Ives.

Angela's flight didn't depart until the early evening so we spent the morning perusing the shops once again around St. Ives. This time we found a lovely little cafe called The Courtyard Tea Room, up a little alleyway from the main street, serving amazing homemade cakes and lite bites with great friendly service and relaxing music in the background.  Definitely be going back there again!

 

 

 

In the afternoon we headed over to Wadebridge for a little meander around the town before heading over to Newquay Airport to drop Angela off for her flight home.

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Today was our last day in St. Ives so we got up early to make the most of it and headed to the Barbara Hepworth Gallery for a bit of culture.

It was back to back blue skies again today, making it even harder for us to have to head home tomorrow.

 

After we finished our mooch around the shops we quickly nipped over to St. Michael's Mount in Marazion again for a quick visit to the Island Gift Shop to pick up a few last minute pressies and then we headed over to Penzance for an Afternoon Tea we had pre-booked a month ago, making use of a voucher we had been given a while ago.

The voucher was to be used at 'Hotel Penzance', which is a beautiful contemporary hotel with lovely views across Penzance Bay.

 

 

We had a beautiful selection of cakes to choose from and everything was presented in such a beautiful way. Check out the view we had below...

 

This was a beautiful end to such an amazing and wonderful trip and we can't wait to do it again!

 

 

St. Ives Craft Retreat: Day 3

 

Hi bloggers, yesterday was another brilliant day, with the sun still shining brightly! To start the day off we encouraged everyone to go out and about around St. Ives to make the most of their time here and explore the shops, galleries and cafes before they settled in in the afternoon to the 2nd project of the craft retreat.

Nautical Travel Journal was the perfect project to finish the retreat with as they collected little bits of ephemera and took photos of their trip. Inside they had lots of little pockets, tags and 3x4 journaling cards to make notes and store photos about the retreat. The album itself is made from a thin chipboard (reinforced with thick chipboard around the cover) and then paper bags to form the pages inside the journal.

 

As usual we had included everything they needed in the kit, all cut to size and ready to assemble! So away they went inking and gluing all the pieces together to make their book.

 

 

 

We even included a tag on the front, pre-stamped with the details of their trip.

 

Everyone's books turned out fabulous as expected and they all added their own unique details to make their book their own. Take a look at the finished results....

Christine's Journal

 

 

Heidi's Journal

 

Pauline's Journal

 

 

Pauline added her resin bezel to her album, tying it on with a piece of twine. 

 

Angela's Journal

 

 

After everyone had finished their journals, they came back to their configuration books to finish filling in all the little boxes with shells and other sea life charms they had either found on the beach or in the quaint little shops of St. Ives. And all the finishing touches paid off because all the configuration books looked amazing! Everyone had done an awesome job, take a look for yourself.....

Chris's Configuration Book 

Heidi's Configuration Book

 

 

 

Pauline's Configuration Book

 

 

Angela's Configuration Book

 

 

 

And I even took a picture of them lit up at night........so cute!

 

 We are so proud of each and everyone of them, all of their projects have turned out amazing, even the small evening projects. They have accomplished so much in only a few days and we all couldn't believe that it was the last night of the craft retreat and that tomorrow we were going to say our goodbyes but not before another night of quiz games and laughter!