I was at Rhode Island for an afternoon craft party courtesy of Claire, the blogger behind the craft and lifestyle site Claireabellemakes and founder of Cambridge Craft Parties. More on that in a minute, but first let me give you the tour of the place!
A band were playing when we arrived. There is usually some kind of entertainment going on.
The other side has cosy padded seating booths in neutral tones and cushions scattered all over with quotes to get you thinking.
I was in geek chic heaven as I took in the DC Comic inspired décor. I took lots of pictures to show N when I got back home as I knew he’d love it too.
At the bar I was tempted by a selection of treats each with handwritten labels.
I should have been more healthy with my choices… but I couldn’t resist the call of the salted caramel milkshake.
It tasted like the glorious Ben & Jerry’s Caramel Chew Chew Ice Cream, but in liquid form. This is a rather dangerous combination when you’re armed with a straw and mine disappeared at an alarming rate.
Pippa and Lisa arrived and we had an excited little reunion. Last time we’d all been together was at the Ladbrokes Boat Party.
We made our way to Claire’s reserved table. Each person attending had an adorable place setting with a goody bag full of cute craft items and a handmade name badge.
Claire introduced herself and showed us her ‘here’s one that I made earlier’ flower crown, before talking us through how to make it.
Then we were let loose to have a go for ourselves.
My mum and sister are both quite creative and of the mindset ‘don’t pay for it, make it yourself!’. However I didn’t get the gene and am not very good with my hands. Since school I’ve done very little that you could consider artistic. I warned Claire of my ineptitude prior to the event but she assured me that no prior skill was necessary and that I’d have lots of fun…and I did!
The first step was to select our silk and paper flowers and Claire had brought along a huge selection to pick from, as well as other leafy decorations.
I decided upon a blue and white theme.
To make the crown we measured out a length of twine wire which fit twice around the circumference of our heads and bent this into a circle, securing the ends by wrapping floral tape all around.
Now I was ready to glue it all in place. After initially being quite nervous to use it, I soon decided that hot glue guns are the best invention ever! I kept adding more flowers as an excuse to carry on using it.
I did also glue my hand to the table temporarily but we’ll gloss over that!
Soon our creations were complete. We had all created completely different crowns showing off our personalities and style to a T. There were dainty flower chains, a leafy Grecian laurel, bright and cheery daisies and festival ready roses.
I have to say I was rather chuffed with mine!
Claire was a lovely host and I thoroughly recommend stopping by for one of her other Cambridge Craft Parties, details of which you can find here:
claireabellemakes.com/cambridgecraftparties
I paid £20 to attend the party which was great value for a relaxed afternoon of fun.
I must also say thanks to Rhode Island’s team who were gracious enough to take our food request for crispy courgette fries and burgers even though last orders for lunch had been called 10 minutes earlier.
Have you ever been to a craft party? Do you prefer to have a go yourself or just buy whatever you need?
