First of all, I have been terrible with keeping up with this here blog. It's been quite a whirlwind lately, filled with lots of lovely things that have been keeping me rather busy. I had a lovely 2 weeks of winter sunshine in Tucson surrounded by cacti, filled with pumpkin pie and my first dash of eggnog. Those weeks were so relaxing but as soon as I touched down, (after a rather bumpy ride home in the storms!) things went up a gear as it is now so close to the holiday season and move to Delaware day.
All my gifts are bought and wrapped and cards are sent out, so in that way I have managed to keep organised. I have made some really nice American inspired gifts including my first attempts 'cookies in a jar,' pretzel rods, chocolate marshmallows (inspired by
these badboys), easy
fudge bites (which I have
NOT perfected, which
clearly I am not bothered about ARGHHHHHHHH), gift card holders - which made handy little envelopes for the recipe cards for my cookies in jars and I am going to make some mitten shaped sugar cookies and some exciting cupcakes. When I find a minute.
Though I did spend an inordinate amount of time in Target whilst in the States, I did enjoy buying gifts from independent sellers this year. I have to say, I have found some amazingly talented crafty folks through the ever growing medium; Instagram. It has introduced me to loads of great sellers and stores that I would like to share with you all. They are both UK based and American but they usually ship worldwide. I've had a couple of parcels from the US that have cost as little as $3.50 to reach my door! Bargain.
1.
Polkadots and Petticoats - The shop is shut for Christmas but I got a lovely Santa scarf and some cross stitch patterns for 50% off! Great sale, lovely parcel.
2.
Poppy and Fern - Hand embroidered jewellery, so
cute. I am waiting on a cactus necklace that I ordered on holiday whilst they had Black Friday sales on. Exciting!
3.
Oh, Sweet Joy! - She has a
lovely blog and a
lovely shop. If I suited headbands or if my head would fit in a headband, I might consider buying one. Alas. My head is stupid.
4.
Sarah's Cards Ltd. - This shop is a stockist of lots of nice American craft supplies, as well as UK ones and recently had an a-m-a-z-i-n-g sale.
5.
Lovely Tape UK - If you like washi tape or nice tapes as much as I do, check out this site. I recently won some Christmas tapes from them and can't WAIT to get mi mitts on them.
6.
Poppy England - I have never bought anything from this website but I frequently dream of owning one of their dresses.
7.
The Fabbadashery - This is really local to me, but I popped in there for the first time this week and
loved it. Such nice staff, gorgeous fabric and ribbons and so good to have a craft shop in town that runs fun workshops!
8.
Artsyville - This lady makes GORGEOUSNESS. So bright, fun and colourful - right up my street. I love everything she makes.
10.
Pink Paislee - I also won a prize from these guys! I'm getting pretty lucky. Or I just enter too many giveaways. They have allsorts of loveliness.
11.
The Heart Gallery - My favourite shop in the whole wide Universe and stars. I love LOVE
LOVE it loads.
12.
DeGrazia - I visited the DeGrazia gallery in Tucson this year and thought his works were beautiful and really enjoyed the gift shop, ha! I love museum gift shops.
There are lots of small businesses out there that are making a living doing what they love. It's so nice to be able to pay a small part in supporting those people in exchange for nice things!!! It's also good to get some unique gifts to share with friends and family at Christmas time!
I will aim to share my sugar cookies with you this week - virtually of course - along with some Christmassy pictures as this is my favourite time of the year by FAR. I am averaging about 5 cheesy holiday films a week at the moment but still haven't had a mince pie yet! Crazy.
Happy Shopping!
Much Love xxx
