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The Perfect Home Made Christmas Gift

Look at the fun and games we got up to yesterday; with our creative juices flowing, this was such a lovely Sunday afternoon activity, blossoming with vintage beauty. It’s really quite addictive once you witness how simple these gorgeous tea cup candles are to make; homemade presents for everyone this Christmas then!!

To make your own teacup candle, you will need: 150g of blended paraffin wax, a wick, a metal tab for securing the wick, a pair of pliers, some weighing scales, a butter knife, some scissors, a small amount of bluetack, a pencil or wooden skewer, two saucepans – one smaller than the other one, and a vintage teacup and saucer.

This can all be purchased from www.makingyourowncandles.co.uk

 Six step guide to making your own vintage tea cup candle…

Step One: After you’ve dug out the vintage tea cup of your choice and given it a quick rinse, it’s time to measure the wax. Using a butter knife, slice the wax slab into smaller chunks and weigh out approximately 150g – this will be enough to fill an average sized teacup once it’s been melted down.

Step Two: Half fill the larger saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, put the wax chunks into the smaller saucepan and place this on top of the larger saucepan on the hob. With the hob on a medium heat, leave the wax to melt gently. If you are going to add scent, then do it at this stage. Note: As the wax is water soluble, it will wash out of the pan easily with some washing up liquid so don’t panic about not being able to clean your pan afterwards.

 Step Three: While the wax is melting gently, prepare the wick for your tea cup candle. To do this, cut a length of wick with scissors, and thread it through the hole in the metal tab. Using pliers, squeeze together the metal clasp surrounding the hole in the tab to secure the wick. Then, place two small pieces of blue tack on opposite sides of the tea cup rim and lay a pencil or skewer across the tea cup as shown below. With a final piece of blue tack stuck to the centre of the pencil, place the metal tab and wick in the base of the teacup, and attach the other end of the wick to this final piece of blue tack to hold the wick up vertically.

Step Four: Ensure that the teacup is completely dry, and that the wax is thoroughly melted, and pour approx 2cm of melted wax into the teacup, covering the metal tab – leave this wax to set for 15-20 minutes to ensure that the metal tab is anchored into place.

Step Five: Once the base wax in the teacup is set, and you have re-melted the remaining wax on the hob, continue to pour more wax into the teacup until there is approximately 1cm between the wax level and the rim of the teacup.

Talk about Glaming!! These retro restored caravans are fabulous!

We’re very excited to be packing our sleeping bags and tent pegs and driving over to the South of France for a camping holiday very soon but how I wish we were taking a Hazy Days caravan with us instead of our 4 man tent!!

 We can’t quite believe how gorgeously these vintage caravans have been restored… with the most fantastic shabby chic and retro inspired décor, fabulous upholstery and just the most perfect extra special little touches! We all love the idea of weekend getaways and a weekend break in a Hazy Day caravan is definitely on the wish list!!

 So much thought and detail put lovingly into this vintage glamping extravaganza – right up to the crockery and card games!! Wow. Very happy to see others sharing out passion for shabby chic vintage – and creating fabulous work with it! Let us know if you’ve been lucky enough to experience any vintage chic holidaying recently, we’d love to hear all about it!

Raising money for a great cause whilst having an absolute blast…

Such a fun weekend of sunshine, laughs, and plenty of bubbly! Our summer officially began on Saturday night with the Keeping Abreast charity garden party… so much enjoyment and all for a fantastic cause; supporting our chosen charity.

Keeping Abreast is a local charity established in 2007; offering advice and support to women who are interested in undergoing breast reconstruction surgery after breast cancer. The garden party raised over £1000 for Keeping Abreast – a great contribution thanks to the work of Maria Hewkin and her family who organised and hosted this brilliant event in their lovely country garden.

Maria at the ‘Big Jugs Bar’…

 With champagne flowing well into the night, karaoke aplenty and dancing galore – a great night was guaranteed for all! Here are a few family snaps from the night:

Clear blue skies, glowing sunshine, fresh breeze, and UK temperatures higher than in the South of France…

And my family well and truly made the most of the lush evening weather yesterday, dining al fresco at Relish Restaurant & Bar on the A140 in Newton Flotman, just outside of Norwich.

Their beautiful country chic beer garden was buzzing with mellow soul music sounds and the chitter chatter of satisfied families who had – like us – indulged in Relish’s DELICIOUS Sunday pizza menu! We shared ‘hot chick’ and lamb baa da pizzas (cooked outdoors on their homemade rustic pizza oven), with a glass of pimms in hand… the taste, the atmosphere, and the company was just first class!

We couldn’t recommend Relish enough!!

It’s just lovely to see our products being put to such beautiful use!! 

Happy customer Megan McDonald recently purchased our glamorous vintage inspired cake stand and matching tea cups and saucers to serve refreshments in chic nostalgic style at a baby shower for her friend. What a lovely occasion!!

Megan said (and we agree!!) “They looked beautiful with the vintage style tablecloth & flowers… the girls loved them! I can’t wait for an excuse to use them again!”

It’s wonderful to hear such positive feedback; and Megan, we wish your friend and her baby all the best! Send us a snapshot of your Vintage Style Gifts’ products in action along with a little message and you too may feature on our blog!