.. is in our guest blog for the Darling Collective.   The Darling Collective is a one stop site listing their hand picked workshops in London, nothing corporate, nothing standard.  Click on the logo below to read our article. 

Hi there, and a belated Happy New Year.  We are almost through the gloomiest month of the year, and we're looking forward to a new season of creativity and crafts – kicking off with our Valentines Special for biscuit icing.  We don't know about you but we think when it comes to romantic gestures while roses and chocolates are nice albiet unimaginative, nothing beats a hand made gift – something that someone has put thought and effort into.  So surprise someone this February 14th with some hand decorated delicious treats!

Biscuit Icing – Valentine Special £42
Sunday 12 February 14.00 – 16.00
Learn the professional technique to icing biscuits using royal icing and make your own collection of hand decorated biscuits for a Valentine's gift from the heart!

Hope to see you there!

Well, that's all from us for this year, we've had a very crafty few months with lots of you, there's been handmade gifts including seasonally scented candles, beautiful vintage jewellery and heavenly scented bath products, we've been decking the halls with decorated baubles and hangings, making fresh rose wreaths, as well as creating all the wonderfully iced Christmas biscuits and cupcakes.  

Although we're having a bit of a breather now, you can still buy our gift vouchers if you're looking for a last minute pressie.  We can send out general gift vouchers or personalised ones for the workshop of your choice until the 19th December and if you leave it really, really late, up until the 24th we can email you an e-voucher ready for you to print out!

We've got more in store for 2012, some dates are up already on the web but we'll be sending out a newsletter in January with all the latest.

Hope you all have a very lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We are very excited to have our Christmas wreath making workshop back for a second year.  We use red or white roses and fresh foliage which we prefer to artificial materials, although as its fresh (except for optional sparkly embellishments) it can't be made too far in advance.  The classes this year are on Dec 10th and 11th so the wreaths will be gracing front doors in the 2 week run up to Christmas and because we use water soaked oasis they stay fresh all over the festive period until New Year.  The workshop is a lovely fun experience – and as well as making a spectacular wreath ready to take home and hang, there are useful floristry tips to pick up along the way that can be used in other aspects of flower arranging.   We have limited spaces so please book asap if you fancy doing it this year. (Currently only have 2 places left for Sat 10th so filling up fast)

Here are some of the pictures from last years workshop! 

Its now only 2 months to Christmas and the shops are gearing up with their Christmas displays (although Harrods had opened their Yuletide section in July!) – but very soon go into any high street shop and it’ll be Christmas hits played on a loop and wall to wall festive goods.  Well its time we offered our antidote to high street overload with some simple but chic Christmas decorations and gifts you can learn to make yourself.

Spend a relaxed couple of hours making and creating under the guidance of our talented teachers;

Make your own Christmas wreath for your front door this year using fresh foliage and beautiful roses, choose between a deep red or winter white with a large selection of embellishments for a stunning and personalised wreath.

Make a table centrepiece in the inspiring surroundings of Chiswick High Road’s flower boutique Pot Pourri.  There you’ll learn how to create an impressive fresh foliage arrangement with classic cream candles and your choice of embellishments.  Plus tips on how to keep it fresh and gorgeous for the big day. 

For a fun evening or afternoon come along and make your own Christmas decorations in our class, ‘Never Mind the Baubles’.  Make on-trend Nordic style festive buntings, hangings and personalised baubles.

Have a look at our workshops for some great gift ideas as well including candle making, vintage jewellery making and natural beauty product making.

All classes include festive nibbles and our favourite Christmas tunes (and we promise there won’t be any Shakin Stevens or Slade!)

We made a small part of West London smell amazing yesterday after a day of making scented tea cup candles in vintage tea cups followed by our very first 'Heavenly Scented' beauty products class where everyone learnt to make their own body scrub and bath soak!

We are pleased to launch a brand new class exclusively for the festive season; Moroccan Spice Candle workshop.  Choose a jewel coloured Moroccan bowl and pick from a selection of delicious, seasonal scents such as fig, nutmeg, cinnamon and orange, then learn how to make your own long burning, beautifully scented, stylish Christmas candle.  Perfect to give your room a warm and spicy aroma, or to give as a beautiful hand made gift. 

This (along with our vintage tea cup candle class) is taught by our talented teacher James Adams who has been making candles professionally for over 20 years, and with clients ranging from the Harry Potter film franchise to royalty, we can guarantee you'll be in good hands!

Moroccan Spice Candle Workshop £45 Sat 19 November 12.00 – 13.30 Sun 27 November 12.00 – 13.30

While we've been enjoying the unseasonal October heatwave here, by Saturday 8th the forecast is looking decidedly more Autumnal – which is just as well as we're holding our vintage tea cup candle making class and no-one wants to be melting wax when its 28 degrees outside!  

So while its cold (and probably wet) outside why not come along to our workshop and spend a couple of hours making gorgeous scented candles in stunning antique china tea cups.  Here are a just a few from our lovely collection – all hand picked by us, and waiting to be turned into gorgeous tea cup candles!

Vintage and vintage inspired fashion is big news right now and it seems everyone wants a piece of nostalgic glam including designers, stylists, and celebs. Wearing vintage is not only ethical it also prevents the chance of anyone else turning up in the same outfit!

It’s the same story with jewellery, and while vintage jewellery is a key look right now it also comes with a high price tag (think hundreds or even thousands for bespoke pieces made from vintage).  However our vintage jewellery making workshop (a bargain at £45) teaches you the basic skills using pliers and other tools to allow you to create a bespoke necklace or bracelet.  The best part is choosing from the wide range of vintage pearls, crystals, beads, brooches, charms, pendants, cameos and other gems! The two and half hour course teaches you all the techniques, includes all the materials and by the end you take home your unique piece of jewellery.