Us British are starting to develop a trend of copying the Americans. However today we're copying something that I actually agree with, Small Business Saturday. It's a chance for small businesses to highlight themselves and encourage shoppers to consider alternatives to large supermarkets and branded stores.

Firstly just to remind everyone (since this is my blog) I have three shops on Etsy, The Bibliophile which sells vintage books, Creative Classics which sells ancient history themed badges and postcards, and Creative History which is more badges but with more medieval themes.

So, shameless self-promotion set aside, I thought I'd highlight some of the UK-based Etsy shops I've been buying from recently.

Pale Aqua Sea Glass Earrings by thestrandline

The first shop is thestrandline which sells the loveliest jewellery. Maureen Gilbertson lives in Northumberland and sources her sea glass from walks along the Northumberland coast. I recently purchased something from her and not only was it dispatched quickly but she also took great care to wrap it in bubblewrap and put it in a padded envelope. It came in a lovely blue giftbox secured with a silver ribbon, and I have no doubt that the person I bought it for will love it. If you're looking for something a little unusual but still pretty and tasteful then I cannot recommend this shop enough.

Washi Tape - Green Selection by JoandFlo

I must admit I think I'm becoming a bit of a washi tape addict at the moment. Maybe it's because it's so much prettier than normal sellotape. Or perhaps it's because JoeandFlo are so awesome to buy from. Don't let the fact that they have 14 listings fool you, each one gives you multiple tape choices. Most of the tapes are £1.60 each (except for some of the more elaborate ones) and the postage charges are very reasonable. You have a very wide variety of tapes to choose from, and at the moment they're also featuring Christmas tapes if you want to give a different style to your Christmas wrapping.

The two above are shops that I've bought things from recently, but there are plenty of other UK shops on Etsy that have some awesome products which would make great Christmas presents. GingerDuckSoap sells handmade soaps and candles, Pouch is a mixture of handsewn goodies and vintage accessories, BreadAndJam has printed mugs and tote bags and OfLifeAndLemons does prints and cards.

Have a lovely Small Business Saturday everyone!

Orchids

I'm probably the only person in London that occasionally has to move a large washing up bowl, stuffed with orchids in their pots, out of the shower and on to the bathroom floor so that I can have a wash XD

One of my housemates likes to grow orchids, and they do look lovely on the bathroom windowsill as he's got whites, purples and yellows so we have a nice mixture of colours. They don't need to be watered frequently but you do need to give them a nice long soak on occasion, so every so often they can be found in a big bowl in the shower tray.

Orchid Necklace by ElizabethSMurray

I stumbled on this shop while looking at orchids on Etsy and I loved it so much I had to feature it! Every piece is made with stamped silver and polymer clay inlays. The details are incredible, such as getting the right shade of blue on the kingfisher, or the little purple speckles on the petal of the orchid above.

Have a nice evening everyone!

Draft Excluder

When I was a little girl my grandparents had a draft excluder in the shape of a snake. It took me a while to work out what it was actually for, I assumed it was just a cuddly toy that stayed on the floor. Now that winter is coming I'm starting to think that getting a draft excluder for my room might be a good idea.

Sausage Dog Draught Excluder by TheSherbertPatch

This shop is full of gorgeous handsewn decorations for the home! There's draft excluders, doorstops and cushions, all in pretty patterned fabrics, so whether you like pale pastels or brighter shades you should be able to find something to your taste!

Have a nice evening!

Beatrix Potter

On this day in 1866, the English children's writer Beatrix Potter was born! Naturally this means I'm going to have to rewatch the film "Miss Potter" this afternoon.

Along with publishing children's books, Potter helped preserve the country landscape of the Peak District by using her money to buy up farms and their land, and when she died in 1943 she left most of it to the charity National Trust. The land is now part of the Lake District National Park, an area that I intend to visit at some point in my life.

Beatrix Potter Tales and Nursery Rhymes by VintageCuriosityShop

Most children grow up with some of Beatrix Potter's work on their bookshelves, if you search on Etsy there's quite a few vintage copies of her books (including the three above, which are from a shop located in the UK) as well as some lovely items made with fabric and prints of her artwork.

Have a nice day!

Royal Baby

Yes, it's in the news wherever you are, Great Britain has a new Prince!

Here in the UK we like a good old Royal celebration (just look at the Royal wedding), so now's the time to get ready for a party because no doubt we'll find a way to make an extra Bank Holiday out of this (and if we don't I'll be very disappointed).

Union Jack Distressed Style Bunting by AllTheTrimmingsUK

No British party would be complete without some Union Jack bunting!

Have a nice evening everyone!

Storms

I was woken up just before 6:30 this morning by a rumble of thunder overhead. This rumble was soon joined by another, and then another, until a bloody great crash went off above my head, and then got quieter again as it moved on.

It was also accompanied by a few minutes of heavy rain, which was lovely for the plants but doesn't appear to have done much, the grass is still looking very unhappy. Right now I'm watching a storm radar on Netweather to see if there's anything approaching my little corner of London.

Stormy Night Necklace by DesignsbyZoZo

Turns out there's quite a few "storm" items on Etsy but this one caught my eye because of the awesome silver cloud and crystal raindrops!

Have a nice evening everyone!

Etsy Purchase - askingfortrouble

In a recent effort to get a little bit more organised (and an excuse to get some new pretty notepads) I bought two new notebooks off Etsy. One is coming from Australia and will be reviewed when it arrives, but the other had a relatively short trip from Scotland and arrived this morning!

Busy Bee Organiser by askingfortrouble

Yes I bought this adorable notebook! I've had my eye on it for quite a while, partly because I like the tickboxes and partly because I love the smiling tulip in the bottom left corner. It arrived nicely packaged in a cellophane bag and a waterproof envelope and had a postcard advertising some other cute products. It's a little bit smaller than I was expecting, but that's purely because I struggle to wrap my head around sizes even when the listing has them. It was posted out within the shipping dates and thanks to Royal Mail arrived very promptly.

There's more notebooks (including a food planner one) as well as badges, stickers and cards so if you're in the mood for something cute I really think you should check out this shop.

Have a nice evening!

Tower Bridge

Today in 1894 one of my favourite London landmarks opened, Tower Bridge!

When I was a little girl my Mum once persuaded my Dad to drive back from a visit to my grandparents in Dorset via central London so I could see some of the things that I'd only seen on the TV before.

This little detour included Tower Bridge, although I can't remember if we saw it up with a boat going underneath (I was only 4 and my memory is decent but not brilliant).

Tower Bridge at Night by blueskyjunction

So happy birthday to Tower Bridge! One of London's loveliest landmarks.

Have a nice day!

Independant Booksellers Week

From today through to 6th July is Independant Booksellers Week here in the UK!

Help celebrate this week (and support your local economy) by visiting your local bookshop. I wanted to post a photo of mine here in Kew but my camera is still out of action :(

Flowers Shown To The Children by RummageRomy

So instead have a vintage book from a UK shop on Etsy!

Have a nice day everyone!

Cheesecake

One of the most delicious desserts in the world has to be cheesecake. My first meal when I visited New York included baked New York cheesecake for pudding. When I'm feel very low and need to cheer myself up, I buy a slice of cheesecake to eat after dinner.

I actually have quite a bit of it in my fridge as I bought some during my weekend shop on Saturday and then when I saw a friend later the same day they had also bought me some cheesecake, so it looks like I won't need to buy any chocolate this week!

New York Cheesecake Earrings by GiraffesKiss

These earrings look good enough to eat, as does the rest of this Etsy shop! There's sweet and savoury miniatures in this shop, in the form of earrings, bracelets and necklaces. I don't know if I'd wear a cheesecake-themed necklace, but browsing through the photos has certainly made me hungry!

Have a nice evening everyone.

Washi Tape

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend! Thank you for putting up with Wordless Week, hopefully I can now get back to some proper blog posts :)

This week I made a little Etsy purchase, after being inspired by various people's photos of packaging. So I went and bought some washi tape.

Vintage Style Script Washi Tape by rikyandnina

This shop has a TON of supplies, including stickers, stamps and tags, and most importantly there's a selection of washi tape! Along with the vintage script one shown above (which I bought to go with any vintage book sales I make) there's lots of patterns such as polka dots and stripes, and there's normal ribbon as well! It was posted out really quickly, and thanks to Royal Mail also being nice and quick my little package was with me by Friday.

So if you need some new supplies, check out rikyandnina!

Have a nice evening everyone!

Last Match

Today is the last match of the Premier League season here in the UK. My team, QPR, were relegated a few weeks ago as it was mathematically impossible for us to survive, but we still have to play our last game against Liverpool this afternoon.

I actually resigned myself to us being relegated before it happened, we've struggled in the Premiership and I've found it difficult to get behind and support a team of players who, for the most part, don't seem to care about the club. Hopefully over the summer we can get rid of the dross and bring in some talented players that are eager to don the hoops and get us promoted.

Football A4 Typographic Print by GarrardPrints

I stumbled on this shop by accident recently and saved it ready for this blog post XD Along with the football print above there's a whole range of customisable prints for birthdays, weddings, or general home decorating.

Have a nice day everyone!

Cambridge shop

I'm back in Hertfordshire for the weekend.

My parents live very close to the Hertforshire-Cambridgeshire border. Unfortunately you can't search for "Hertfordshire" as a location on Etsy, but you can search for shops in the city of Cambridge itself!

Bluebell Blossom Earrings by lazygiraffe

This shop is based in Cambridge and has lots of pretty, delicate pieces of jewellery. There's some lovely stacking rings with necklaces and earrings.

I would write more but I'm tired.

Have a nice evening all!

Etsy Interview - RockyTheZombie

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope you're all having a good week :)

Today I decided to have a change from my usual shop feature and actually interview someone! Obviously normal interviews involve sitting down and talking to people, but that involves far too much human interaction for me, so I settled for emailing some questions instead.

My guinea pig for the first Etsy Interview is Rhi of RockyTheZombie. Currently running the shop from the spare room of her home in the lovely English town of Southsea, Rhi screenprints the designs herself with water based inks on to t-shirts from the eco-friendly company Earth Positive. Her designs involve cute zombies, puffy vampire clouds and cupcakes.

Baby Zombie Pirate T-shirt

How did the idea for your shop come about?
I began selling t-shirts that I had handpainted myself a few years ago on ebay. There used to be a huge DIY clothing community over there, and my MySpace page started gaining fans like crazy. I'd heard about Etsy and thought it would be a much better place for my shop to be. So I went for it, and although it was slow at first, eventually it picked up speed and is capable of bringing in a very good wage as long as I dedicate my full attention to it.

If you were given £1000, with specific instructions to invest it in your business, what would you spend it on?

I had to think about this for a while, as there are so many things I would like to buy. I would probably buy a whole heap of paints, brushes, and blank canvases. Although my shop is primarily clothing; it's painting and illustration where my true love is. But maybe that would be more for my enjoyment than strictly business? Most things I buy are to do with the business anyway, but I actually do need  to invest in some better photography equipment for my product pictures. Oh.. and the newest version of Photoshop & Illustrator, in fact those two alone would eat over half of that amount.

Red Rose Swirl Acrylic on Canvas

 

What one thing would you buy from your shop, as an outsider?

The paintings and prints. I love buying art, and could easily fill every wall in my house up with pictures.

Circumstances recently pushed you into turning Rocky The Zombie into your full time job, if you had had more time to prepare for such a transition what would have done differently?

Not really, in fact it was my full-time job in the beginning. I only went and got a job alongside it because I thought that was a good idea (it wasn't). It was always in the back of my mind to eventually come back to this, and it just happened a lot sooner than I thought it would.

Zombie DJ & Skull Balloons Set of Two Kids T-Shirts

 

Describe your "Yay I got a sale!" dance (everyone has one).

Remember Beavis and Butthead?... I am cornholio!

 

And finally, give us one tip for all the other Etsy sellers out there.

Work your frickin butt off! The rewards are incredible, and I'm still sometimes a little amazed at how far I've come. I've no business education or qualifications, and I learn from trial and error, blog tutorials, and youtube! I probably have some odd ways of doing things, but it works perfectly for me. So don't let anyone ever tell you that 'you're doing it wrong', because you're probably doing it better than they would be. I've always held the belief that you really can achieve anything you set your mind to, if you'll only take the steps towards doing it. You'll find your way as you go, as every circumstance can open up a new opportunity.

Black Zombie Canvas Tote Bag

Thank you very much to Rhi for an awesome interview! If you're looking for a gift for someone who has an affinity for both cute and horror, you definitely need to visit RockyTheZombie.

Have a nice day everyone!

Tulips

It's Tuesday! Carrying on the "T" theme with both the day, and yesterday's theme of "Treasury" today I've decided to go with a tulip.

I haven't seen any wild ones around, it's all daffodils and crocuses here in Kew, but they're still very beautiful, and also seem appropriate as they're a flower associated with Holland and they crowed their new King today (although they didn't crown him with tulips).

Quilled Tulip Card by PaperDaisyCardDesign

It's amazing what some people can do with bits of paper. I can barely fold a sheet of paper evenly, let alone cut it in a straight line. This shop is full of cards made with quilled flowers and animals and is freaking awesome!

Have a nice evening everyone!

Vintage Goodies

Hope everyone is having a nice Tuesday! Today feels like a nice day for something vintage, and I'm currently staring intently at one vintage item, seriously considering buying it.

Pie Dish by LittleJayVintage

Yes, I will admit that I have yet to make a pie myself, but if I bought myself this dish I think I would soon learn. LittleJayVintage is a vintage shop based in the UK and is primarily homewares, with a few pretty brooches thrown in for good measure. If you are looking for some nice vintage to decorate your home then I would highly recommend having a browse of this place!

I'm going to have to buy that pie dish aren't I?

Have a good day!