Sheena Rowlands – 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

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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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!

Is it too early to mention the C word?

Do you craft for Christmas or document your Christmas?

Have you already started getting organised?

Whilst out and about today I noticed that some Christmassy things are making their way into the shops in town! I know its September & its getting colder, but Christmas, really!!

You may not already know this but I made cards for years before turning to scrapbooking. So at this time of year, once the children were back at school I would set up shop on the kitchen table & make ALL our Christmas cards by hand. Usually making one design & reproducing it. Here are a few examples of Christmas cards I’ve made in the past. These days I only send a few to close family & friends.

More recently I’ve started making some of my Christmas gifts usually by quilting or crochet. A lot of time & love goes into them & people certainly like receiving handmade gifts. This was one of the first crochet gifts I made.

As a scrapbooker I like to record my christmases too. For many years I did my version of Journal my Christmas but since I started doing Project Life I didn’t feel the need to document our Christmases in 2 places. Here are a couple of pages from our Christmas last year. I particularly love how looking through PL brings back all the memories.

Do you make things for Christmas or document it each year? we would love to hear what you do x

Sheena x

Do you have these in your stash?

What is your most and least used tools?

When I first started out in scrapbooking I just armed myself with a pencil, scissors and glue and bought my 12 x 12″ paper from our local garden centre, the less said about that the better!!

But over the years I’ve amassed an array of fancy tools and gadgets designed for this hobby of ours and I have to be honest & say lots of them are now gathering dust.

Why has this happened?

Have the newer tools consigned the older ones to the scrap heap or is it more a case of out of sight, out of mind or new & shiny is the best…

If I had to list my top 5 used tools then my Silhouette Cameo would be one, two & three!! I do love the versitility of this machine and tend it use it to cut something for most of my scrapbook pages.

Also on my list would be my trusty old Big Shot. It seems to me that thin metal dies have made a come back even with so many electronic cutters on the market. I do like the crisp edges a metal die gives particularly to an intricate shape.

Also on my list would be my Guillotine for cutting 12 x 12″ paper as I like straight lines & after trying lots of trimmers, I prefer this sort of cutter.

So what do I own that I no longer use?

My fancy edged scissors have become an ornament, standing all bright & colourful in a pot! I could never get them to cut well, maybe its because I’m a left hander?

I have a gadget for binding mini books somewhere which I’m not totally sure why I bought it as I rarely make any sort of book!

When did I last set an eyelet? goodness knows & I’m not sure where I’d lay my hand on the setter tools either!

What tools do you use all the time or discarded along the way?

We’d love to hear from you x

Sheena x

This post is not sponsored by any product or manufacturer and all comments are the personal opinion of the author.

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See 1, Do 1, Teach 1…

In my nursing profession, ‘see one, do one, teach one’ was a well known phrase for how knowledge was passed on and new skills learnt. Over the years I have gained lots of new skills this way and passed them on to my fellow colleagues.

I believe this is where my love of teaching has sprung from. I love nothing more than sharing my scrapbooking pages for Birds of a Feather, with other like minded people and maybe teaching them new skills and techniques along the way.

At our recent Birds of a Feather retreat I got the chance to teach on both Saturday and Sunday to a lovely group of ladies and we had a laugh whilst they relaxed and created my classes.

One of my favourite layouts was using the Crate Paper, Heart Day range and a technique for making glue frames.

Another class I taught using American Crafts, Dear Lizzy – Lovely Day involved hand wrapped frames which certainly tested a few but gave us chance to chat and craft.

I’m looking forward to teaching again this November and the planning is well underway for the classes I’m designing.

Sheena xxx