#ccbloggers meet up - 11.02.14

I love a bit of crafting, as you'll no doubt have noticed from my recent Christmas projects, and over the past few weeks, I've been getting to know some other keen crafty types.

My skills are limited to making cards and scrapbooks mainly, although I like to give anything a go, particularly if it's making something for the home or a gift for a friend (my obsession with buttons and scrabble pieces has led to many decorated frames and box frame art pieces over the past year). I don't really have any 'learned' skills, I just pick things up and have a go, hoping for the best. For that reason, I've never given sewing a go, although I deeply admire anyone who can thread a needle or make a dress for themselves for that matter. I just don't think I'm patient enough to learn something like that but I'd like to give it a go one day.

The lovely duo of Sam and Kat arranged a special meet up in Nottingham for craft bloggers, supported by Homecrafts, and on Saturday afternoon, we met for coffee, cake and a god old chinwag about all things craft.

Source

We started off at The Wired Cafe - a lovely artisan coffee bar in the heart of the city's Creative Quarter that opened just a few months back - where we had the basement to ourselves. We sipped some very special tea, which came with accompanying egg timers to let you know when your brew would be ready to the strength of flavour you desire, and got to know a little more about each other, including what our current craft projects were.

Sam then handed out the goody bags which had been kindly donated by Homecrafts. What was extra special about these bags was how Homecrafts had selected some items especially for each person who had attended, based on their craft specialisms and interests. In mine, I received a template to make my own flower pot, although I'm thinking of using this to make a nice pen pot for my desk at work. I also received some pretty floral pattern fabric swatches, a big roll of Surestitch Salvage Yarn, a gluestick and some useful leaflets, including how to learn quilling.

We had also all brought a gift each for a lucky dip craft swap, which was a really lovely idea. I received a beautiful bundle containing a small leather notebook plus various decorative embellishments including buttons - perfect for a button collector such as me! It was a really thoughtful gift and I'm looking forward to putting all my goodies to use in the near future.

After a few hours, we went for a trip to the local Cath Kidston shop. This is a very dangerous place for me to be, as I have a slight addiction to beautiful prints and gorgeous homeware and stationary, so in a short space of time, I could spend a small fortune. I can't help but pick up almost everything I come across in Cath Kidston, amidst exclamations of 'oh, that's so cute!' and 'I love it, I have to have it!'. Sam and Kat had arranged for us to meet with the store's team and hear the inside track on the very latest looks and new prints to look out for. It was completely fascinating - so much so, I have two further posts planned this week to go into lots more detail on what we found out.

Suffice to say, this season's designs are to die for, with Cath taking her inspiration from so many sources during her travels. I hope you'll enjoy my forthcoming posts - if you're passionate about prints, in love with all things vintage or want some beautiful ideas for children's rooms, you won't want to miss these posts.

Before we left, I managed to pick up some little treats in the sale - a new purse, A4 document holder and small make up bag in the bright and bold red/coral Big Spot print, plus a glasses case in baby blue polka dot. It's a miracle I didn't leave with half the shop tucked under my arm!

Our final stop of the day was The Bead Shop, located just off the main square. Here you'll find every kind of bead you can imagine plus all the equipment you need to turn your passion for jewellery into a hobby. We were very fortunate to take part in a workshop upstairs, where we each got to make a pair of earrings to take home. Sadly I needed to leave before the end, but it was a really nice idea and it was great to actually do a little crafting after talking about nothing else all afternoon.

In just a few short hours, it felt like we had known each other for ages. That's the funny thing about blogging; you get to share in people's lives and interests but rarely meet face-to-face. It was really nice to put people's Twitter ID's and blog names to real faces and I'm looking forward to following everyone's projects in the near future.

Photo credit to Sam

A big thank you again to Sam and Kat for organising and for inviting me to be a part of #ccbloggers February 2014.

Here are the lovely ladies who attended the event:

Samantha Schofield
twitter: @createitsam
http://createitsamantha.blogspot.co.uk

Katherine Reekie
twitter: @aKraftyKat
akraftykat.blogspot.com