Christmas Shopping at Buchanan Galleries, Glasgow

This evening after I had finished work, I popped along to Buchanan Galleries to do a spot of Christmas shopping. I was on the hunt for some 'stocking fillers' or small gifts for children and of course with the huge selection of shops at Buchanan Galleries I knew it wouldn't take me long to get everything I needed! I managed to get parked on the street near the shopping centre, and with it being after 6pm I didn't need to pay for parking - an added bonus! I had also expected the shops to be super busy, but it was quiet and I managed to whizz round in an hour without any hassle.

I must admit that I've done the majority of my Christmas shopping online, but there is something to be said about going in person and being able to see and touch everything.

I started off in Lakeland where I bought a few bits and pieces for my children who absolutely love to bake and make sweet treats!

I chose some rainbow cupcake cases (£5.97 for 144), a smiley face chocolate lollipop mould (£4.28) and some lollipop sticks (£1.98 for 50). I also couldn't resist the Doughnut Making Kit (£11.99)...which is perhaps a little large for a stocking but I'm sure it could be squeezed in! We are huge fans of movie nights with 'special hot chocolate' (basically hot chocolate with squirty cream and marshmallows) and so I picked up a pack of three hot chocolate spoons (£4.98)... one for each of us!

Doughnut Making Kit

Next stop was The Entertainer. One item that I repurchase each Christmas is crayons or colouring pencils, so I picked up some Crayola metallic markers (£4) and a packet of Crayola twistable pencils (£3). We have been enjoying playing board games and cards, so I thought that a pack of Uno (£8) would be a nice gift that we could all use. I loved Uno as a child! Lastly from The Entertainer I chose two packets of Shopkins (£2.50 each) - who can resist the cute little Shopkins faces!!

Metallic markers

My daughter is still loving Frozen, so I had to get something along those lines for her Christmas. I found a tin of Frozen characters in Boots... a mini Elsa, Anna and Olaf for £15 in a reusable tin. This is rather pricey for what it is, but with the Boots 3 for 2 offer I decided to make the purchase anyway. Also in Boots I chose a pack of 6 mini lip glosses (£6) and a My Little Pony Rainbow Dash toy (£5).

Mini Lip Glosses

My final stop was John Lewis. I love John Lewis - just putting that out there!!

I picked up two packs sparkly hair bobbles (£4.50 for 3 bobbles), some animal nail art stickers (£3.50), two felt Santa letters filled with chocolate balls (£5 each), a fries and burger rubber and sharpener set (£6), a pack of 24 gel mini pens (£12), a pack of socks each (£6 for girls, £7 for boys) and the most adorable pair of slippers (£12).

John Lewis Kitten Slippers

One of my favourite items from all of the shops is the Customisable Cookie Stamp from John Lewis (£10). You can make your own messages on a biscuit stamper. I think this is such a cute gift for a family or even a friend who loves to bake. My son's reading is improving loads, and I know that he'll be excited to see his name on the biscuits he makes with me!

Customisable Cookie Stamp

I received a Buchanan Galleries gift card in exchange for this post. As always, opinions are honest and are my own.

Gift Ideas - Mother's Day

I think that breakfast in bed and a hand made card would be utterly perfect on Mother's Day (especially if a long lie is thrown in the mix!), but if you do want to buy something, then here are some ideas for gifts.

Personalised travel mug from Snapdragon, £15

I was sent this fantastic travel mug from Snapdragon...

'until it's acceptable' travel mug from Snapdragon

This would make the most perfect Mother's Day gift, and I think it's great value for money for a truly unique gift. The mug can be personalised in three ways... the hot drink, the name and the alcoholic drink can all be chosen specifically to suit the recipient.

There are also loads of other ideas for Mother's Day gifts at Snapdragon, such as handbag mirrors with personalised embroidered pouches (from £8), Mother's Day quote mugs (£15) and personalised notebooks (£6.50). 

Bracelet by Lily Belle, £49

There are some absolutely gorgeous personalised jewellery items over at Not On the High Street, such as this nude leather and rose gold wrap bracelet from Lily Belle.

Nude Leather and Rose Gold Wrap Bracelet

Personalised Family Illustration by PrintableWallStory on etsy, from approx £40

I've seen a number of illustrated family prints on the internet and I think this would be such a thoughtful gift for Mother's Day. 

Custom illustration by PrintableWallStory on etsy

If you are looking for some more ideas, then there's also my Christmas Gift Guide for the ladies which has some suggestions that would also work for Mother's Day... perfume, make-up etc.

{#ShareAdvent - The joy is in the giving}

Today's #ShareAdvent prompt is 'the joy is in the giving'.

I absolutely love to give presents to people & take much delight in seeing (or hearing about) people's reactions when they open a gift, especially one that I've put a lot of thought into.

I also really enjoy the process of wrapping the gifts. This year I bought a Motex retro label maker from Amazon (using points I earned from credit card!) and I'm planning on creating some beautiful parcels with brown paper, gold ribbon & black retro labelling :-)

Here are some of my inspiration pics from Pinterest...

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{Fabulous Finds: Toys for Toddlers}

A lot of people are starting to seriously think about Christmas gifts, so I thought I'd start by sharing a few things I've come across in my search for gifts for my little ones.

You can have a peek here at other online retailers I love and some other previous gift ideas here.

I love traditional wooden toys and Born Gifted have a great selection. I've bought from this online store before and was impressed with the customer service and speedy delivery. They also offer free UK delivery on everything - ideal!

How adorable is this Busy Bead Tree by Skip Hop for little ones, £26.99!

I'm also a fan of toys that encourage role play, and we've had great fun with the wooden kitchen that I bought for my son's Christmas a few years back. This one from Janod is available on the Born Gifted website and I think it looks great. I don't really like the plastic designs, or the kitchens that are bright pink/red, but this one is neutral so would work in most rooms.

Janod Kitchen, £79.99

My daughter loves dolls, princesses, fairies... and I know she'd love this fabric fairy cottage. Isn't it so cute!!

Fairy Cottage by Oskar and Ellen, £29.99

I definitely recommend that you have a peek at the 20 (yes, twenty!) pages of toys on their website. There's some really beautiful gifts.

Another of my favourite shops is John Lewis . Love this store!! I could happily spend hours perusing their website and/or aisles.

Anyway, my littlest is also a fan of dogs, and how adorable is this Hansa Dachshund Pup!!

Awwww!! £26.99 at John Lewis 

We've had a lot of use out of our tea sets, and this baby pink one from John Lewis is super cute!

Wooden Tea Set, £20 at John Lewis 

I've already bought this Lego Batman clock which will be the perfect addition for my son's superhero themed bedroom. It's carefully tucked away in a box in the shed, hidden away until Christmas!

Lego Batman Clock, £24.99 at John Lewis 

More specifically, my son has asked for Superhero Lego from Santa and my littlest has asked for a prince & princess house.

If only money were no object, as I'd love to buy her this Playmobil Princess Fantasy Castle. How amazing is this!!

Playmobil Castle, £139.95 at John Lewis 

What are your 'go to shops' for gifts for kiddies?

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{January Joy - 22nd Jan}

Today's #JanuaryJoy prompt from Florence Finds is to 'make something crafty'.

I'm always pinning amazing craft ideas and have great intentions of actually making stuff, but life kinda gets in the way and I always have other things that take priority on my to-do-list.

My current project is Valentine's Day favours for my kids to give their nursery friends.

I'm copying this idea:

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I've designed a tag to seal the bags on my computer and have personalised it with a message from my kids. I purchased the cute milk & cookies clipart from Etsy and I also bought the most adorable paper heart straws from Pipii.

Tag, designed by me :-)

Red Heart Straw from Pipii

I was going to bake heart shaped cookies, but this is very much time dependant and I'm not sure I have any! So I might just buy little snack packs of Oreos or other similar cookie.

Does that count as crafting? I hope so! 

The favours look like I've gone to a lot of effort, when they're actually really simple. I shared my Snowman Kisses tag as a printable before Christmas and if I have time I will share this one also. Watch this space!

You can find other Valentine's Day ideas in my previous posts here and here.

{Homemade Christmas Wrapping Paper}

Sorry, it's another Christmas-related post! I just can't help myself - I love this time of year!

Last year I wrapped all my Christmas gifts in brown paper with bright ribbons and I shared a free printable for the gift tags. This year, I'm still using brown paper, but I decided to get the little ones to decorate it themselves. I have tonnes of ready mixed poster paint from Baker Ross and I bought some Christmas sponge painting shapes from HobbyCraft. The kids had great fun stamping the brown paper with green Christmas trees, yellow angels and red (toddlers choice, not mine!) snowmen! We also decorated a brown paper shopping bag (with white snowmen, just as they should be!).

Here are some other gift wrap ideas from a previous post of mine. How do you wrap your gifts?

{Fabulous Finds: Some Great Ideas}

I have a board on Pinterest dedicated to 'Ideas'. I currently have 221 pins on this board, so I thought I'd share a few of them with you here as a Fabulous Finds post. Some of the ideas truly are fabulous!

I get a lot of pieces of 'art' from the children's nursery and I have often wondered how to display it all. I do have a fab 3D frame in my kitchen that I can slot in a few of their creations, but I've been looking for ways to display more of it, when I came across this idea.... photograph or scan the artwork and then arrange in Photoshop or whatever, print and then frame. Isn't it fab! Would make a fab gift for a grandparent or family member...

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Or another idea would be to combine them all into a coffee table book...

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Whilst you have your camera out, why not try making a few of these containers. Decide what you need to store, take a photograph of it, print it onto peel-and-stick paper and then stick it onto the container. Would be great for making personalised gifts!

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Sticking (!!) with the gift theme, why not design your own wrapping. Punch scraps into different shapes (kids can help with this!) and then stitch them together to make garlands for wrapping presents.

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Last idea for just now is a way to personalise crockery with just a Sharpie marker and an oven!! How simple is that!! Again, would make a great gift :-)

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{Bamarang & Reader Offer}

The lovely people over at Bamarang.co.uk have recently been in contact with me regarding their website and have given me a special offer for the readers of my blog... yay!

Bamarang was established at the start of this year and it is a design site with a difference. The team of scouts, based in Shoreditch, London, scour the UK for new and inspiring items and bring exclusive discounts to their customers for limited time periods. You need to join the site, but it's free to become a member. They've got gadgets, accessories, homeware and they also have a special kids sale on at the moment. Anyway, I thought I would share the details as there were a few items that caught my eye...

I think my toddler would love the Rock n Roll red wooden guitar by Vilac...

And for me, I think the Tipsy Glasses by Loris & Livia, which are £55 for a set of six, are seriously cool.

I've also spotted that Flux Chairs will be joining the other sale items tomorrow. I spotted them in a local interior design shop a wee while ago and thought they looked very funky. It's one piece of polypropylene and it arrives flatpack, looking like an envelope, and it has notches in it so you fold it into a chair shape. Genius!

If you click here, then you will be taken to a special offer for £10 off your first purchase. Enjoy! Do let me know if you buy anything...

{35 at 35: Thoughtful for Friend, check!!}

One of my friends has been going through a really tough time lately. She doesn't live in Glasgow unfortunately, so I don't get to see her as often as I'd like to.

I sent her a box of brownies from Brownie Boo with a little message telling her to stick the kettle on, put her feet up and take a break for a little me-time.

It was these Smartie Glitter brownies that I picked - don't they look yum!

I got a message when they arrived to say 'thank you so much for the GORGEOUS brownies that you sent me, they are really yummy!'. I'm just pleased that they brought a smile to her face and I wanted her to know that even though I'm not there with her, I'm thinking of her. Hugs xx

This was part of my 35 at 35 list (number 3 to be precise!), but to be honest, it was an easy one to tick off my list as I am a really thoughtful person (*toot toot* - blowing my own trumpet!). I sent my sister sweets in the post last year from Send Happiness, and I sent my friend a cake when her baby daughter was born. (Not all my thoughtful gifts are food related, but I do have a very sweet tooth!!). I'm sure there will be many more thoughtful things to come in the next 5 years...

{Fabulous Finds: Not On The High Street}

I've previously mentioned my gift drawer, and it's now getting a little empty so I thought I would get a few bits and pieces in the sales.

I love notonthehighstreet.com and buy a lot of gifts and things for our home from this site. I also try to find cards and presents that are unique and this is typically one of my first stops. This perhaps isn't so much of a fabulous find, as I'm sure that lots of you are aware of notonthehighstreet.com, but hopefully this will flag up some of the sellers that you may have overlooked or some other ideas that you may like.

I normally design and print my own thank you cards for the kids at Christmas, but this year I've chosen some by Pear-Derbyshire and they are so cute... a design with two little reindeer! Hopefully they'll arrive soon and I can start the task of writing them all!

Reindeer thank you notecards

I've also bought this gorgeous necklace by Tales From The Earth for my daughter's first birthday in April this year. His arms and legs are jointed and he really is such a cute little bear. I think he'll make a perfect keepsake and was reduced from £50 to £25 in their sale... bonus!

Silver Teddy Necklace

I also stocked up on some notecard sets from notonthehighstreet.com for my gift drawer, including this stamper cards giftbox by lollipop designs. I think it will make a perfect gift, that's if I don't use them first! Again, these are reduced in the sale by 50% from £12.50 to £6.25. There are a few other designs too: dragonfly (for you Becky!!), owl, butterfly, daisy and pigeon.

Stamper cards giftbox: bird

Another set of notecards I purchased were these little cakes cards by Rosalind Howard Bespoke Stationery. They are 25% off taking them from £5.25 to £3.94 for a pack of 8 cards.

Little Cakes note cards

The last item in my order was a reward chart for my son, who is nearly 2 and a half years old. He loves stickers, so I thought this would be a good idea to encourage good behaviour. There is space for 4 tasks each week with a reward (I was thinking extra story at bedtime, or trip to the park). Watch this space and see how I get on... I'm not sure if he's may be a little too young for this but I will give it a go. I'm keen to praise the good behaviour and try to ignore the bad rather than start using naughty steps etc. But this may all change!!

Reward Chart by YoYo-Me (this is the girls version)

What websites do you use for gifts and have you found any bargains in the Christmas sales?

{Fabulous Finds: Baby & Toddler Gifts}

With Christmas just around the corner I thought I would share some of my fabulous finds for gifts for the little ones.

I was shopping the other day, in person rather than on the net, and it just reinforced my love of online shopping... I just couldn't be bothered with finding a parking space, not finding the item you were looking for, the queues at the tills...bleugh!

Here's my lowdown on some gifts that I've recently bought or I'm planning on buying... they're all under £15.00.

I'm thinking of getting my son a kite for his Christmas. He recognises the letter 'k' already and says 'kite' and makes a whooshing noise - very cute! He loves the outdoors so something like this will be perfect I think for running about at the local park (it's always windy here!!).

Spirit of Air Diamond Rainbow Kite from Kidz Outdoors

I've bought a couple of these stamps for Christmas gifts and I'm going to team it with some bright coloured ink pads, some pencils and a book for a few of my children's cousins.

"This book belongs to" stamp from Cox & Cox

I've bought a lunch bag and matching water bottle for my daughter who is currently being weaned. This will allow me to carry around her purees, spoons etc when out on day trips. I'm hoping to ditch the baby changing bag soon, so it's my plan to have a lunch bag of snacks and essentials that can be thrown into my own handbag. Here are the ones I chose:

Skip Hop Zoo Lunchie Insulated Lunch Bag in Ladybird from Funky Moose

Crocodile Creek Ladybugs Drinks Bottle from Funky Moose

(she's obviously too young for the drinks bottle at the moment but I wanted to get a matching one whilst it was available!)

A good friend of mine recommended the Orchard Toy games, and when I spotted these in a toy shop whilst away for the weekend I stocked up on a few! I bought the shape snap game for my son's Christmas - he loves shapes. I also bought the Quack Quack game. I've just been having a look online at the Orchard Toys webpage and the range of educational games is fantastic. They are also offering free UK delivery on orders over £15!

Orchard Toys Quack Quack Game

I've bought a few of these fab popcorn bowls from Cox & Cox as Christmas gifts for some of the older kids we know. I thought they were quite quirky! They're a bit smaller than I anticipated, but I should have paid more attention to the dimensions on the website!!

Retro-designed plastic popcorn bowl from Cox & Cox

Another fab gift I've bought is this finger printing art set. There are various themes, I chose the fairy tale theme. I think it makes a lovely gift and everything you need is packaged in a beautiful little tin.

I want to point out that I've just stumbled across the website The Pea's Knees and it's lovely...they also offer free UK postage!

Finger Printing Art Set from The Pea's Knees

My sister bought these magnetic letters and a magnetic easel for my son's birthday this year and he loves them. He already recognises a lot of the letters and we write messages on the easel for granny & grandpa or Auntie Ali when they visit!

John Crane Magnetic Letters

This Fairy Cupcake Recipe Book by Think Pink is super cute and I've bought one for a friend's daughter who loves to bake. I also managed to find some scented pens in strawberry flavour from a local gift shop (to match the strawberry page marker in the recipe book) and I think it will make a perfect gift.

Fairy Cupcake Recipe Book

Strawberry Scented Pen

Another gift that I've bought in the past is a mouse in a matchbox. They are adorable and I know my son would love one as he's currently obsessed with houses, boxes, little people/animals and role play. This one is from the online shop Hop Toy Shop and again it's a site I recently came across and bookmarked because I thought it was lovely.

Matchbox Boy Mouse

As always, do let me know what you think :-)