Tuesday, 16 December 2014

a very indie christmas: tigerlilly quinn

As well as giving handmade gifts, and searching out alternatives to the usual electricals-computers-makeup-clothes options, this year I'm championing a series of great independent businesses which sell everything from beautiful magazines and books to quirky homewares, ethically produced accessories and beautiful organic skincare, Over the next five days, I'm going to be profiling some great little shops which are great destinations if you're looking for gifts with a difference - first up is one of my absolute favourites, Tigerlilly Quinn.

Owned and curated by Fritha, who also runs the popular Tigerlilly Quinn blog, the shop of the same name has a massively impressive range of stock. Find a stocking filler for the little ones amongst the eclectic toys, hunt out a gift for a friend in the jewellery section or treat your home to a Christmas gift with a bright and cheerful wall print. The shop is jam packed with great designers, from the quirky I Am Acrylic to famous accessories names And Smile and Ladybird Likes (if you've never checked out those collar clips, you really should!)

As a special Christmas gift, Fritha has kindly offered a 10% discount to readers of this blog; simply enter the code OWL10 at the checkout to save your pennies.

diy fabric notebook covers

After my post on great DIY gifts, I received an email from the lovely folk at Hobbycraft asking whether I'd like to review one of their craft kits - obviously, I almost gnawed their arm off with enthusiasm, and a week or so later, the kit arrived through the post.

I chose the fabric notebook kit from the Kirstie Allsopp range; I've loved all of the Kirstie Allsopp programmes and find the crafters that appear on there really inspirational. The projects are usually pretty simple, and can be easily adapted to suit your style or home decor - and I was really pleased to see that she'd gone down the same route when designing her craft kits.

When I opened the box, the first thing that struck me was what great quality the contents were; the notebook itself is one of those lovely thick-papered varieties, complete with back pocket for documents and mementos, and the fabric is a really good polycotton. I loved the attention to detail as well; the matching typefaces on all the labels were a lovely touch, and made identifying everything really easy.

The fabric itself, as well as being excellent quality, is printed to the correct size already - so all you need to do is cut out the required pattern and you're away. I thought this was a great touch, because it takes all the guessing and measuring out of the project, and makes it basically foolproof - there's no chance of cutting the fabric too small and then struggling to make it fit, while getting into a sweaty, swearing mess. Not that I've ever done that. Ahem.

The instructions are really clear and easy to follow; a lot of times I've tried to follow a kit and have found myself spending half the time scratching my head and shouting, 'but what are you TALKING about?" while glueing things to my hands. The instructions in the fabric kit were really comprehensive, and for the stitched version there were even little pictures that meant you could work alongside, and check you were getting it right. I also loved the bit at the back which gave pointers on ways to jazz up your finished cover; I added some lengths of lace and a ribbon tie, but armed with a glue gun, you could stick on anything from pompoms and paper shapes to bows and beads,

The kit is really flexible; there are directions for a permanent glued cover, and also for a removeable stitched cover, which can be reused over and over again - this really appealed to the recycler in me, and seemed somehow much nicer to give as gift, because it would obviously last indefinitely. The other bonus is that because the contents of the box are all so nice, it would make a great gift for any crafty friends as a whole kit - I know I'd be pleased to find one of these under the tree!

The kind folk at Hobbycraft sent me the kit to review, but all words and thoughts are my own. I really can't recommend it enough - it's by far the best craft kit I've ever used!

latest thrifts and #MyCharityChallenge

In my last few posts I mentioned that we're planning on living a bit more simply and sustainably, starting with Christmas this year. I find it baffling that people spend hundreds and hundreds of pounds on credit cards, getting in to debt to buy things that will then be broken (planned obsolescence) or out of favour because it's been upgraded by a newer model (perceived obsolescence) in just a few months. We're giving handmade (mostly by, err, others!), vintage and thrifted gifts, decorating with last years ornaments and bringing nature inside with branches, leaves, berries and fir tree oddments, heading off to our local nature reserve for a festive nature trail, tractor ride and a visit to Santa, baking gingerbread and heading to our local Christmas market in Winchester. Simple, fun and memorable.

Sticking with the theme of thrifted and vintage gifts, the Salvation Army (one of my favourite charity shops!) is running the #MyCharityChallenge, which began by challenging fifteen bloggers to spend £15 in their local charity shop, and then share their findings. I was lucky enough to be involved, and found some great Christmas presents for friends and family, from brand new books to craft supplies for those handmade gifts (which, let's be honest, will probably be ready around New Year....). Long term readers will know from previous posts that I'm the biggest advocate of charity shopping, and every time I visit, I find myself wondering why people don't check there first when buying things - in their research, the Salvation Army found that a whopping TWO THIRDS of people will never buy clothes or gifts from a charity shop at Christmas time. Two thirds! I find it utterly unfathomable, but their loss is my gain....

I'd already cleared out quite a few clothes and toys that the kiddos either didn't use or couldn't fit into anymore; I tend to divide our unwanted things up into a few different piles - some for friends, some for charity shops, and the slightly tattier things (you know, those t-shirts with the permanent chocolate stain, the jeans with the torn knee) go to the textile recycling bin by our local park. I think it's really important to give to charity shops at this time of year, as well as buy from them; so many families can't afford to buy brand new toys or clothes for children, or even clothe themselves, so every little really does help.

I was incredibly pleased with my finds; Daisy is going to be the proud owner of this amazing red cord vintage Ladybird shirt (which I suspect is a boys shirt, but whatever!), and Ben will be introduced to the delights of The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me, which is beautifully illustrated by Quentin Blake (ahhhh, childhood!). Although both Mary Berry and Jamie Oliver both look pretty happy to be perched on my table, they're going to be wrapped up and given to my Mum, and the cross-stitch aida will be made into little embroidered hoops like the ones in this post. Quite symbolically, I also found a copy of The Beginners Guide to Changing the World; although I was determined not to buy for myself, this just seemed to leap into my arms by accident. I'm really looking forward to thumbing through it in the evenings, huddled on the sofa with some mulled wine and Christmas biscuits. Lovely!

If you want to join in this Christmas (and I really, really urge you to - you can save money AND make a difference; spending just £19 in a charity shop could provide a family in need with a Christmas box), head to the Tots100 page for more details, and get involved in the great charity shopping Twitter party tonight between 8 and 9pm - follow @tots100 and @sa_shops on Twitter, and check out the #MyCharityChallenge hashtag for tips, questions and answers and photos of lovely thrifts. See you there!

less is more

The other day, I was bumbling around on Pinterest, pinning DIY Christmas decorations and printables (more on that in another post), and somehow pictures of natural decorations made from branches and foliage led to images of outdoor adventures and camping, until I finally stumbled across the image on the top right; I clicked on the picture of a tiny cabin, and was taken through to an Apartment Therapy tour of a tiny DIY self-sustainable home. Build on 20,000 acres of land by Tim and Hannah's own fair hands, it features salvaged materials, a refrigerator made from a cooler and ice-packs, and a kitchen counter made from an RV table, and it really got me thinking about what we want in a house long-term.

One of my favourite sayings is that you should treasure experiences, and not things, and I constantly find myself fighting against the 'norm' of wanting more electricals, more cars, luxury holidays and massive houses. I've said so many times that my idea of heaven is living off-grid, growing our own food and being as self-sufficient as possible - our planet has a finite amount of resources, and I want us to be able to do as much as we can to limit our impact on it. For now, that's having a composter, growing a few veg and some flowers, recycling the shit out of everything and limiting our consumption as much as possible, but I'm really hoping that over the next couple of years we can start saving for something a bit more sustainable.

I'm really taken with the idea of the tiny house movement; cosy cabins and tiny cottages with clever storage space, attic skylights and VELUX windows that are perfect for stargazing, lots and lots of plants and beautiful wooden floors. We're really big fans of nature and the outdoors, and being surrounded by forest or coastline is the real dream; somewhere the kiddos can explore and adventure, make treehouses and dens, gather flowers and sticks, paddle, swim, run and climb. The whole 'less-is-more' thing seems to be gathering momentum, and there are some great resources online for sustainable living and the tiny house movement, the benefits of nature for children (I've just started reading Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, which talks about childrens relationships with nature, and how these relationships are becoming increasingly strained - I'm only a chapter or so in, but I'd recommend it for anyone interested in forest schools or the benefits of the outdoors), and there are loads of great seasonal posts around at the moment about reclaiming Christmas and celebrating the season and each other rather than piles of presents (the one over at Seeds and Stitches is REALLY good).

I'd love to hear from anyone else interested in sustainable living and the outdoors - do say hello if this is you!

Image Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

dorset: part two

In a little break from all the festive posts, I'm doing the second part of our holiday to Dorset today; it seems so long ago, and I'm itching to head off somewhere again, but we're a) pretty skint and b) slaves to term time, sigh. Nothing makes me want to homeschool the kiddos more than the ability to set our own rhythms and routines, but in all honesty, I think Ben really benefits from the structure and social aspect of school. It's just my slightly hippy nature that fights against it!

Our time away was ace; we didn't bother whether our clothes were overly clean or tidy, we rampaged across fields and up hills, spent hours on the beach searching for treasures and simply ate when we were hungry. We explored Corfe Castle, went for an evening adventure across the Studland coast and ate more cream teas than is probably humanly possible; the evenings were spent in front of the fire reading and watching films together on the laptop, before tumbling into bed with salt on our skin and tangles in our hair.

I love the outdoors, and the kiddos love the outdoors as well; in my ideal world, we'd live in a small eco-house with one of those amazing skylights, surrounded by open land and deep forests, and rely only on ourselves. We'd grow our food, keep some animals and be as far removed from modern society as possible. Except for WiFi. I'd still need that!

'tis the season to be jolly

Last year, Christmas almost killed me. I spent the run-up to the festive season upcycling a vintage wooden dolls cot, supervising the Husband giving a second-hand bike a makeover for Ben, trying desperately to make biscuits and cakes and treats because all my social media channels told me everybody else was, writing twelve different craft tutorials for the blog (there actually weren't twelve in the end - some of them were still languishing unfinished come Boxing Day) and trying to keep up with my usual workload, look after the kiddos and attend all the usual school and toddler-group activities. By the time Christmas Day rolled around, I was exhausted, the house was a tip and I had the right hump.

This year, we're taking a different approach. Adele over at Circus Queen did a great post on how she's simplifying Christmas this year, which I found really inspirational - I guess I was kind of looking for someone to tell me that it's OK not to make everything yourself, and cram the entire advent period with activities, events and trips. It's fine to relax, take stock of all the good things you have in your life, and just enjoy the season - so todays post is all about the things we will (and won't!) be doing to prepare for Christmas.

Bringing Nature Inside

One thing I really wanted to do last year was find and decorate some branches; I like the idea of mixing nature with brightly coloured craft materials, and had been hugely inspired by Hannah's fabulous branch in her kitchen (see the whole post here, it really is epic!); there's something really nice about spending the afternoon in the woods and then bringing some mementos home to decorate afterwards. I've got two so far, and they've been trimmed with beaded garlands, pompom trims, chunky wooden beads and DIY paper ornaments; it was really therapeutic, and I could probably have cheerfully carried on had it not been for the fact that one of them fell over due to the weight of the decorations.
I've also picked up some holly from a wooded area near our house, and I'm hoping to grab some beautiful leaves to do this with before they all turn to mush on the ground, but I definitely won't be panicking if I don't manage it - I'm more than happy with my cheery sticks!

Wrapping It Up

Last year, I decided that I was going to print my own wrapping paper - not only that, but was I happy with pre-made stamps? Of course not, because why make things easy when you can make them really stressful, right? I spent ages cutting out card templates, then transferring them to adhesive backed foam and making my own flaming stamps; admittedly, some of them looked really nice, but did the paper end up anywhere different to all the other wrapping paper? No, it did not. This year, I'm doing a mixture of brown paper (you can recycle this - ordinary wrapping paper isn't actually recyclable, grrr) and washi tape, felt bows (two rectangles, secured with wool in the middle and glued on with a glue gun) and good old bakers twine. Quick, effective and without the mess and fuss of ink pads and drying time. Boom.

Decorations

The one bonus of making so much last year was that everything was packed away once Christmas was over, so I can just pull it all out again. I had some great pom pom garlands and paper chains above the sofa, some cross-stitch bunting which I actually made about four years ago and then lots of little bits and pieces that we've picked up over the last few Christmases, so they'll all be making an appearance again. This year I've cobbled together some simple felt-and-lace scallop bunting, a bead garland (which basically involved threading some beads onto illuminous pink bungee cord) and err, way too many pompoms to be useful. I'm definitely, definitely not going to be staying up until the small hours making FIMO shapes and cross-stitching Christmas cards, weeping into my embroidery silks and hollering, 'humbug!" every five minutes.

The Best of the Rest

We've also got a few fun activities planned, most of which involve sitting on the sofa and eating a lot, but we will be leaving the house occasionally. We're going to be:

Reading some new Christmas books with the kiddos; we picked up a couple of bargains a few weeks back, and I'm really looking forward to cracking them open.
Heading over to Winchester Christmas market to pick up some little treats for friends and family.
Lighting plenty of tea lights and candles to make our lounge as cosy as possible in the evenings; I'm seriously in love with the great selection of recycled glassware tealight holders at Super A-Mart - beautiful colours AND they're recycled. Hurrah!
Making some gingerbread (and possibly buying a gingerbread house kit - Ben is pretty desperate to make one this year!).
Watching the school nativity.
Visiting some nearby little villages to see their Christmas lights.
Taking lots of pictures and making lots of memories.
Burning lots and lots of winter scented candles (I'm literally addicted!).

What have you got planned this year? Are you making anything nice, or going anywhere special? Whatever you do, relax and enjoy it!

This is a collaborative post.