from the giftlist - for mother's day

No, this isn't a gratuitous excuse to share this ridiculously cute pic of my kid (but look at his little smile! his little gappy teeth!) but part of the Mother's Day present for my mother in law.

See, the mil is one of those people who's windowsills and tabletops are covered in photos of her family, her four kids and eight grandkids. And I'm a bit ashamed to say that amongst them there is only one photo of little Vin, taken on my brother in law's iPhone and printed onto plain A4 paper. Between my beloved 35mm SLR still encased in my mom's garage 126 miles away and the fact that noone else shares my nostalgic romance with film these days, I just don't have any tangible photos to decorate the walls with.

So I sent the other half out with instructions to buy a digital photo frame and a memory stick with a huge capacity that I have now filled with photos of our little family. The frame has a slideshow option to flick through the hundreds of photos, and of course, can be updated at any time as the little man and our family grows.

And while I always thought that a phot frame was an obvious and unoriginal mother's day gift, I think this little present might just have convinced me otherwise.

Blue Skies,

Charlotte xo

these are a few of my favourite things...

this week some friends and I got together to have a little gift exchange. We thought of a few themes, but I remembered this favourite things party from Blonde Designs and I figured it was a great idea for a bunch of people who have very different tastes and relatively small budgets. We set a spend limit of £7.50 and went off to find our favourite things.

we had a bunch of beautiful tulips, interior design magazines, chocolate biscuits, scented lip balm, bath products and I put together this little package of things that make me smile:

I had so much fun with this, it is strangely appealing to buy gifts that you love, rather than hunting for the perfect thing for someone else, plus the spend limit means you have to think creatively (otherwise I would have had to buy a laptop, kitchenaid, fujifilm instax camera and plane tickets to Paris).

So tell me friends, what would be in your package?

Blue Skies,

Charlotte xo

from the giftlist - celebrate the boy

With all the lovey doviness that has been going on in blogland on this here space I feel the boys have been shoved somewhat to the sidelines. Which is why I jumped for joy when I saw '30 Days of BOY' hosted by Dana Made It and Made by Rae. Starting February 15th that means 30 days of crafting, tutorials and projects celebrating all that is good about little boys. Being the only girl in an otherwise boy household I knew I had to get in on the action, so I thought I'd post a couple of my favourite boy friendly projects of my own.

So I shall kick off my celebration of the boy with a gift guide for the little man in your life:

felt car wall decals | construction set | animal shape lorry

Lego Duplo zoo

Batboy cape | wooden carpenter set | 'Keep Calm...' print 

pop back tomorrow lovelies, for a boy themed wrap it and check out Dana and Rae's blogs to find out what 30 days of BOY is all about.

Blue Skies,
Charlotte xo

from the giftlist - pour homme



top row: 'I still know...' papercut spotted on Domestic Sluttery | revolutionary playing cards | love molecule hoopla

middle row: Super Secret Date Night spotted on Design Crush | paper plane wall decals | engraved guitar pick | heartbeat pillowcase

bottom row: Brooks aged brown Saddle | Romeo & Juliet mugs | rorscharch coasters

proving that V-day doesn't have to be pink and flowery... gift ideas for the man in your life

from the giftlist - a very uncliche Valentine to you

I think part of my passion for gifting was sparked when I worked in a handmade cosmetic store over Christmas. We were busy from October through till January selling gifts gifts gifts, making recommendations and perfecting wrapping techniques, but nothing could have prepared me for the afternoon I had on Christmas Eve. I have never seen so many desperate men in my life, frantically snatching up whatever crushed and tattered offerings were left. Torn open gift box, smashed bath bombs, half melted massage bars - they were taking it all. With stocks of our Christmas themed supplies gone or beyond the point at which I would be willing to sell them, I had to get creative with what was left. So I grabbed some boxes and filled them with our floral soaps, petal filled bath bombs and chocolate bath melts. Instead of the typical Milk Tray and Roses combination of the expected husband to wife gifts, here was a treat box of hand-selected 'chocolates and flowers' lapped up by my grateful customers and hopefully well-recieved by their unsuspecting other halves.

So with two weeks till Valentines my friends, I thought I would share with you a chocolatey-flowery gift guide with not a cliche in sight!

flowers for my valentine earrings; chocolate scented parfum; floral locket;

chocolate bathmelts; vintage chocolat; ruffled fleur shoeclips; sweet treats and roses

from the giftlist - a Blue Monday pick me up

smile cloud earrings; sunflowers card; 'blue skies and fluffy white clouds' Bubble Bar; cinnamon girl flower pins; campbells soup can-tainers; 'happiness is...' tea towel; chocolate fluff scented candle

from the giftlist - tea-zone

clockwise from top left:

teacup candle; afternoon tea-towel; 'my cup of tea' valentine;

jasmine & green tea bath melts; teeny tea-cup ring; Artful tea gift basket; cupcake cosy

Just a quick note for today, since I am super busy with diy projects for my afternoon tea birthday party next week and a hundred and one Valentines guest posts - hopefully you will be seeing some Charlotte inspired gift love at some of your favourite blogs. Tomorrow I will be posting a super cute doily project and later in the week some graduation inspiration in celebration of my mom getting her masters degree!

Blue Skies,
Charlotte xo

from the giftlist - le geek c'est chic

Clockwise from left:

'I'm much cooler online' print; recycled diskpad; Nintendo iPhone sticker; 'Pow' Cushion; 

"I can write a blog..." print; pac-man cookie cutters;  'Geek' Necklace;  i-fridge app magnets;

In my head I wanted to call this week's imaginary gift recipient Bob. Bob sounds like the kind of guy who works in IT right? But then I figured some of my choices are a little girly. I don't see any guy named Bob wearing this 'Geek' Necklace, at least not around the office! So I needed to come up with a female version of Bob... Barbara? Anyway, Bob, Barbara, or any other name we care to label our benefactee, probably doesn't work in IT. No, that's too obvious, they probably have a job in online marketing for a trendy record label and wear supercool skinny jeans from Uniglo and have a hipster haircut. And they would love a set of pac-man cookie cutters and these i-fridge app magnets. Probably anyway.

from the giftlist - arty & poetic Cecile

Clockwise from top left: Frida Pouch; Finely Feathered Cloche;
Sylvia Plath Illustration; Cambridge Satchel; Wolf Brooch; Tree Journal

I have to tell you, my inspiration when putting this gift guide together was entirely fuelled by self-interest. See, it is my birthday at the end of this month, and my head has been full of wishlists and shopping trips. So when I set out to create a gift guide for a teenage girl, this got somewhat skewed into a gift guide for a teenage me. Albeit a somewhat cooler and more self-aware version of the teenager I was. And she has much better taste than I did.

I call her Cecile. She is never without a notebook tucked under her arm. People don't quite 'get' her, but she secretly likes being misunderstood. Her angst fuels her art. Her wardrobe is full of vintage inspired pieces  and in her makeup bag you'll find black kohl liner and red lipstick. She would describe her style as somewhere between Sylvia and Virginia. She will probably tell you she does not want to acknowledge her birthday, but if you did, Cecile would probably thank you quietly and without smiling because it would not sit right with her image.