Sam – Birds of a Feather

Relaxed Retreat – 14th to 16th October 2022

Birds of a Feather is delighted to announce that our Autumn retreat in 2022 will be held in the exclusive Taylor Suite at the luxurious De Vere Staverton Estate, ideally located just a short drive from junction 18 of the M1.

Like our previous retreats, this event will be run as a ‘relaxed’ retreat, with no formal structure to the weekend. Class kits, complete with comprehensive instructions will be available to purchase.

With plenty of fun and laughter over the weekend and an abundance of ‘birds’ you’re guaranteed to have a fabulous time with many like minded, happy crafters!

And some might say better still, leave the weekend feeling renewed and revitalised…

After all, Birds of a Feather flock together…

The weekend package is available in both single and twin occupancy rooms and includes two nights full board accommodation.

Location: De Vere Staverton Estate, Staverton, Daventry, Northamptonshire. NN11 6JT.

Date: Friday 14th October to Sunday 16th October 2022 inclusive.

The price for this event is £365 for a single occupancy room and £320 for a twin room.

Please download a booking form below and return to bookings@birdsofafeather.uk.com along with your deposit or full payment to the bank details which can be found on the T&C’s.

Download Booking Form: Word doc. PDF editable doc.

Payment Structure / Terms and Conditions: Payment details

Relaxed Retreat – 25th to 27th March 2022

Birds of a Feather is delighted to announce that our Spring retreat in 2022 will be held in the exclusive Taylor Suite at the luxurious De Vere Staverton Estate, ideally located just a short drive from junction 18 of the M1.

With plenty of fun and laughter over the weekend and an abundance of ‘birds’ you’re guaranteed to have a fabulous time with many like minded, happy crafters!

And some might say better still, leave the weekend feeling renewed and revitalised…

After all, Birds of a Feather flock together…

The weekend package is available in both single and twin occupancy rooms and includes two nights full board accommodation.

Location: De Vere Staverton Estate, Staverton, Daventry, Northamptonshire. NN11 6JT.

Date: Friday 25th March to Sunday 27th March 2022 inclusive.

The price for this event is £365 for a single occupancy room and £320 for a twin room.

Please download a booking form below and return to bookings@birdsofafeather.uk.com along with your deposit or full payment to the bank details which can be found on the T&C’s.

Download Booking Form: Word doc. PDF editable doc.

Payment Structure / Terms and Conditions: Payment details

Black Friday – what have you bought?

So you would have had to be walking around with your eyes shut, not to notice that today is Black Friday!

Its origins started in America and always fell on the Friday following Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.

Turkey is the dish of the day, followed by Pumpkin Pie I believe?

And if you didn’t remember that our friends across the pond were celebrating, you’ve got Google to remind you!

I must admit, I’ve often thought why would you spend a day with your family ‘giving thanks’ only to go on a massive spending spree the next day!

But actually it’s no different to us on Boxing Day… so many people choose to give gifts on Christmas Day, only to raid the shops on Boxing Day and grab that bargain!

I can honestly say that I’m not a Boxing Day shopper, nor will I ever be. I think we should all boycott the shops on Boxing Day to give everyone who works in retail the chance to have two consecutive days off. After all, if we as consumers didn’t partake, then there would be no point in the shops opening!

Ok, like that’s ever going to happen!

And this Black Friday I have to be honest, admit that I too have sucummed and confess as to what I have purchased!

You can probably guess that most of it is scrapbooking related!

Temptation started last week, when Jackie mentioned that Curry’s had the Kitchen Aid at half price – an early Black Friday deal… She was having one and hoped that it would arrive in time for last weekend so she could christen it and mix her Christmas cake in it!

Guess who therefore also needed one?

Then our fabulous friends Sarah and Lianne at Hey Little Magpie launched their Black Friday sale yesterday afternoon…. So of course I indulged!

They were very fair and said that each item was limited to one per customer… a great idea. They didn’t want a repeat of some of the scenes from Asda a few years ago, where people were physically fighting over TV’s!

And then today, I happened to receive a Hobbycraft email promoting Black Friday! Since my birthday in May I have had an unspent gift voucher, so today have joined the Big Shot club!

Then lastly, I just happened upon the Black Friday sale on Sizzix site, as a Big Shot isn’t much good without some dies!

So, have you been as easily swayed as I have this Black Friday?

Leave a comment and let us know what you have bought… One lucky person will be randomly selected and a little Black Friday gift from Birds of a Feather will be sent via carrier pigeon to you!

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Vlogged memories of our Amy Tan workshop…

Whilst many of us can relate to the ‘curve balls’ that life throws us from time to time, equably many of us find that a craft is a welcome distraction!

And if you’re reading this, like us Birds of a Feather, you probably share a love of scrapbooking?

We have met some fabulous people whilst sharing the love of this hobby and I’m sure that there will be many more friendships to discover in the future.

Two such ladies who we met recently at our Amy Tan workshop were Claire and Georgia. These ladies ‘vlog’…. and if like me you’re not familiar with ‘vlogging’ the easiest way to describe it a video diary or a filmed blog!

Like scrapbooking, Claire and Georgia’s vlog styles are very different. I can’t categorically say why but they just are!

Having already watched Claires’ vlog, Georgia’s vlog is equally as great… It gives you an insight into so much more than simply the workshop, starting with a tube ride, then onto her hotel room for the night and dinner at Pizza Express, all before any filming of Amy Tan or indeed the workshop!

Why not watch it yourself and see if you agree with me?

Either way, it brings back some amazing memories…

From Amy demonstrating her wonderful talent and techniques to a reminder about just how packed full of lush stash the kit really was, not to mention the adorable Amy Tan herself… Her character is infectious, as is her laugh!

She chose to share some of her curve balls with us on that weekend, but her amazing and positively strong outlook on life gives others the feel good factor that Amy exudes so well!

Sadly for Georgia, today it is the funeral of her brother in law. He didn’t have enough ‘magic and sparkle’ in his life and felt there was no other way out…

Georgia has been crowd funding to raise money for his funeral. If you would like to make a donation, please visit his just giving page.

Think we would all benefit from a bit of Amy Tan ‘magic and sparkle’ in our lives… I know that I for one certainly felt blessed t have been in her company that weekend and can’t wait until our paths cross again!

The mad cow with the stats is back!

Hard to believe, but it is a fortnight since we greeted Amy Tan at Birmingham New Street station!

In our opinion, the weekend was a massive success, with umpteen positive comments and messages, along with so many happy faces… even just typing this, my mind is flooded with so many happy thoughts!

As always, we really value your feedback. All comments, ideas and thoughts are taken on board to better the experience for everyone on our next retreat, which by the way is only in a weeks’ time! Yikes!!!

Anyway, back to our Amy Tan workshop…

We ask everyone to rate a set number of criteria, 5 being excellent and 1 being unsatisfactory….

We were delighted that 82% of you gave the Chateau Impney 5 stars as a location, ideally situated just off junction 5 of the M5.

92% of you lovely ladies scored the food 4 stars or above. The ‘breakfast butties’ went down exceptionally well, a great energy boost to a very busy day, which even included a Travellers Notebook!

100% of you scored the crop room space as 4 stars or above, with over 90% of you giving the room a big thumbs up no. 5. We were delighted to be located in The Elizabethan suite – blimey that room was so big you could crop, party and have a disco all at the same time LOL!

Comfort of the crop room also scored top marks, with 100% of you scoring it at 4 stars or above…

The teaching space and the classes both equally scored 5 stars by 94% of you – the classes were totally down to Amy, so massive thanks there Miss Tan xoxo!

WOW is the word that best describes the Hustle & Heart kits… 98% of you scored it as 5 stars, with some of you adding a + sign! Rammed with lusciousness and products galore, I’d like to see the first lady that uses her kit up completely!

And I can tell you that it won’t be me, Jackie or Sheena as we all succumbed and raided the Hey Little Magpie on-site shop and purchased the 16 papers that weren’t included in Amy’s kit. Hard to believe I know, but the hustle & Heart collection has a massive 24 different 12 x 12″ papers!

So would you recommend us again? Indeed you would… In fact 98% of you lovely ladies rated the overall workshop as 4 stars or more!

Thank you to all who completed our questionnaire and we look forward to seeing you real soon – some of you in seven days!!!

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Memories of a wonderful weekend….

It seems very hard to believe that this time last week we had arrived at Chateau Impney, were busy setting up for our Amy Tan weekend workshop.

Driving up to the Chateau still makes my skin tingle – it really is such an amazing building set in the heart of Worcestershire…

Amy really didn’t have much time in the UK at all – she flew into Heathrow on the Thursday, spent the day with Shimelle last Friday and then returned to London on Sunday and back to LA last Monday. That’s some serious travelling in such a short space of time!

The Saturday ladies…

And the Sunday ladies…

Mind you, we had plenty of time to get to know Amy, when we met her at Birmingham New Street Station last Friday! What an epic journey that was! We were mightily excited to meet Amy and had left in plenty of time. However we didn’t account for the standstill we found ourselves in the middle of in central Birmingham!

It was so bad that Sheena and Jackie resorted to jumping our of my car and walking directly around the standstill to get to New Street – crossing over a couple of roundabouts… comical now looking back!

I had managed to finally crawl to New Street station and after observing other cars do a three point turn right outside the main John Lewis New Street entrance, I threw down the gauntlet and joined in! Unlike some of the larger vehicles, ‘Betty’ my little Fiat 500 did her three point turn with very little effort!

We finally delivered a jet lagged Amy back to the Chateau at around 21.30. Fun, laughter and cocktails ensued with the fabulous Sarah and Lianne from Hey Little Magpie. They had bought their delicious ‘pop-up’ shop to the Chateau and this did not fail to disappoint causing a dent in many delegates pockets!

Still what would be a scraping workshop without copious amounts of fabulous scrapping stash?

Amy’s Hustle & Heart kit was rammed with delicious stash too, over £90 worth of goodies, so even after making four fabulous layouts and being introduced to a Travellers Notebook, there was masses of the kit left!

A truly fabulous weekend – what a memory!

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It’s Friday the 13th!

Is today your worst fear? Unless you suffer with Paraskevidekatriaphobia, today will be no different than any other day! Today is Friday 13th…

And if you suffer with a fear of the month of October, then I guess you could refer to yourself as suffering from Paraskevidekatriaphobia Shiyuephobia! Perhaps this stems from Halloween too?

Gotta love these words and embrace them. It’s like the irony of the word Dyslexic – a feat for anyone to spell, let alone anyone who suffers with the condition!

Considered unlucky by a lot of the population, some people suffer with Paraskevidekatriaphobia so badly that they won’t leave their homes today! Sounds like a good excuse to get your scrap on to me…

This fear stems from Triskaidekaphobia, which is to be afraid of the number 13.

You may notice that many hotels do not entertain a 13th floor? Hospitals avoid having rooms numbered 13. Theatres tend to miss out row number 13 as do airlines. In fact, Brussels Airlines received superstitious complaints about their logo, which used to feature 13 red dots (to save you counting them, there are now 14!)

There are thousands of phobias listed once you start looking for them and a few of them made me chuckle!

Gingerphobia is mentioned, so it seemed apt to include it, in light of Sheena’s hair colour LOL xoxo.

There is even a fear of Donald Trump’s hair!

Yes you heard that right – Trumptrichophobia is the fear of that famous combover!

Anyone who suffers with Mnemophobia should maybe consider taking up scrapbooking, as this is sadly the fear of memories…

Sadly, I can’t see how you could ever scrapbook if you suffer with Papyrophobia – the fear of paper…

And if any scrappers have ever suffered with Psalidiphobia, then I guess they don’t class a kraft knife in the same category as scissors!

Likewise, I’m sure any scrappers that suffer with Molyviphobia can always use another implement in place of a pencil…

Lastly, and I can sort of relate to this one is Koumpiphobia – the fear of buttons!

I don’t have a fear of buttons, but feel uneasy if I have to empty a can of baked beans, so most of my cans get stored in the cupboard upside down so that the juice rises to the base of the tin. Hey presto, when you open the can, they come out easily and I don’t have to use a spoon to get the last few out!

Do you have any fears? Why not share you fear, or better still why not scrapbook your fear – you never know it might help to set you on the route to being cured!

Bring back the good old magazine…

What or who inspires you?

Where is your ‘go to’ source when the mojo is lacking? Is it the likes of Pinterest or do you still prefer a good old magazine?

I used to love nothing better that sitting on the sofa, having a mooch at some magazines, especially the home interest titles like Ideal Home, House Beautiful and Living etc. dreaming up ideas for the next room that I wanted to re-decorate in our home. I’d buy them off the shelf from time-to-time, often meandering to the magazine aisle when food shopping!

I was also an avid subscriber of those scrapbooking and paper crafting titles – who can remember the likes of Scrapbook Inspirations and Scrapbook Trends, and more recently, the inspirational title Scrap 365?

It was like subscribing to a kit, the anticipation of the postman delivering that monthly title through your letterbox, getting home from work hoping that it had been delivered, so you could grab a cuppa and chill! The disappointment when it hadn’t arrived, yet knowing that it would be here any day soon!

With so much free digital inspiration available, it’s no surprise that these scrapbooking titles simply didn’t survive in a niche market! The paper crafting titles still remain strong, Papercraft Essentials is on issue no. 150, Die-cutting Essentials has been going for about 2 1/2 years and Simply Cards & Papercraft has been going over 13 years!

My ‘go to’ source for inspiration has to be Pinterest, along with scrapbooking blog idols! However, being all digital, I do wonder whether that has had a detrimental effect on mojo. I often hear ladies saying that they have lost their mojo… This can’t be for lack of inspiration as we have more visual sources than ever before! Saying that, I’m starting to wonder if going paperless has had a detrimental effect on creativity?

If you enjoy Pinterest, then you’re bound to spend much of your time pinning image after image! But how many of us actually go back and study what we have pinned? All too often, I find that familiar notification telling me that I have already pinned that pin, which just goes to show how long I look at these images!

If like me, your mojo wains from time to time, why not dig out those scrapbook magazines from a few years ago and see if that helps?

In fact, why not join me in a campaign to ‘Bring back the good old magazine!’

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Girls just wanna have fun…

If I had to describe myself as a song title, one of the most apt would be ‘Girls just wanna have fun!’ by the iconic 80’s singer, Cyndi Lauper…

In fact, I’m sure that many of you could have this as your song title too?

I look back on my late teenage years and early twenties, when I was living it up in bars and clubs, having studied textile design at Nottingham Trent University. Apart from not managing to cope with the late nights like I used to and indeed the alcohol consumption, I want to have as much fun now as I did then!

I found this phrase on Pinterest recently and it certainly resonates with me! If you’re feeling happy, you glow…

Having recently discovered snapchat, I seem to be a bit addicted to it! Each morning, as well as checking in on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, I now have to check to see what’s new on snapchat…

Now I thought snapchat was just a means of sending free photos of yourself to others, little did I know that it was so, so much more!

From horsey faces to girls with pigtails, if you haven’t yet discovered it, you seriously need to!

Doesn’t every girl want big round eyes?

Or cartoon bow and ears!

Taking snapchat photos has become my guilty pleasure!

And it doesn’t have to be single selfies – many snapchat filters are for two people, perfect for friends or an agreeable husband!

We failed miserably at trying to get our doggy tongues to appear together… this was the best we could do, but oh did we laugh!

Serious bunnies?

A sleepy teddy?

These candid photos are brilliant for scrapbooking, especially if you struggle to use ‘random’ ephemera!

Equally fun photos can be impulsive rather than candid – what could be better than taking in the great British wet weather?

Or sitting on a plane with your besties, waiting to fly to Paris… What do you do? Sit there board, or take silly photos?

At the end of the day, we all ‘just wanna have fun!’

So if ‘Girls just wanna have fun!’ isn’t the song title which best describes you, what would be your song title?

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Amy Tan is coming to the UK!

OMG, goodness knows how we’ve done it, Amy Tan is coming to the UK to exclusively teach for Birds of a Feather…

Can you ‘Adam ‘n’ Eve’ it? (Amy, for your benefit, that’s cockney rhyming slang for ‘believe it’)

We can’t wait to see what Amy designs for all you lucky ladies… We certainly drool over her beautiful, hand painted phrases!

We simply can’t believe it’s happening!

Amy has a captivating style and such an engaging way! Having looked at some of her recent IG posts, it seemed apt to include this post – hope you don’t mind Amy?

As well as being able to bring the lovely Amy to the UK, we’ve managed to secure the most impressive of locations, ideally positioned just a short distance from junction 5 off the the M5… the Chateau Impney

Tempted to book?

All you need to know is on our workshops page…

In the meantime, check out the advert for more details.

But don’t delay – snooze you lose… and spaces are limited!

Looking forward to seeing you there…

Jackie, Sam and Sheena xxx