Shop Independent this Christmas

There are SO many benefits from shopping independently! Mainly you get a unique, lovingly made product and you support those amazing, creative, hard working people, directly. No chain store to take their 99%! If you choose a local independent store your money goes right back into your community. Which is pretty amazing! 

I've put together a must-visit list of some of my favourite independent shops to help you start your search for the perfect gift. I would really really love it if you dropped me a link of you favourites shops too!

Accid Wosh has some seriously beautiful tie-dye bits that your family and friends will seriously love. I'm a big fan of candles and these tie die candles are up there with the best. People seem to think that socks are crappy gifts, they're wrong! Socks are really really great gifts, especially those that are acid washed!

Mmmm... Guacamole. If you're looking for some awesome stocking fillers, check out Cous Cous Bang Bang. I'm a huge fan of a tote bag, and I absolutely love their Sex, Drugs & Guacamole design (even the colour!!). I'll be getting myself one of these real soooon. Also, Flat White?! So good!

Got a little person in your life? Then give Lemon and Magnolia a look. Her bloomers kill me, I've bought a pair for a little dude in my life already and they are the cutest. They're all stitched by one seriously talented lady who uses some of THE best fabric I've ever seen. The hardest thing is choosing.

For the writer in the family get over to Aubergine Fox. Their dipped twig pencils are amazing, I would love a set of those! And they have a super good selection of notebooks which pair together with the pencils beautifully. You can never have enough notebooks in my eyes.

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Gifts that Give.

This Christmas I have decided to give a few charitable gifts to my family and friends along side their main gifts. Charity is a tough thing to talk about around holidays. Money is tight. But when money is tight for us, its even worse for those who rely on charitable donations to keep their organisation afloat.

There are so many fun, interesting and meaningful gifts to choose from out there now. I think they're perfect for giving and that warm feeling you'll get is definitely worth it!

What about growing your own mango tree? Not only is it a great source of food, but something familys can sell at market or trade. Help families build up their livestock by buying a share in a farmyard. How about training up a pump attendant? £20 can give a villager 3 days training on maintenence to vital water pumps. And finally, adopting an animal is pretty standard, but what about adopting one of the last 800 mountain gorillas in Central Africa? Who could say no to that baby face!

You could always think a little closer to home. I'm going to be donating to the Whitehall Dog Shelter. I'll be giving enough for 8 doggy Christmas Dinners (thats 1 for each person I'm gifting to!). I'm going to make little cards to present them to my loved ones, and I hope they'll be super happy thinking about those little pups having a treat. I know I will be :)

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What about you, have you given a charitable gift before? What did you decide to give? And how to the receiver react?

DIY Cups

I'm going to my parents straight after work today for my Mums birthday (and to party!), I also haven't seen my Dad since Fathers day, so I'll be taking a few gifts along with me. I decided to make them their own cups as little extra prezzy, inspired by this A Beautiful Mess blog post (have a read for full directions). Its soooooooo easy.




All you need, is some cheap cups, a marker pen (or acrylic paint) and an oven! I sketched my design with pencil first before going over it in the marker, then sticking in the oven. I was SO scared that the cups were going to shatter and make a mess impossible to clean inside the oven, but it worked great.

I'm pretty impressed with how these turned out, and will definitely be making more, less rushed versions in the future. I don't think anything beats a home made gift, I don't do it enough