Monday 31 January 2011

Monday Makery - Peg Dolls



Peg dolls are a wonderful traditional part of childhood creativity. People have been making them for such a long time. Not only are they great fun to make but children will play for hours with them afterwards. I remember making these peg dolls when I was young and I think its one of those creative pleasures that will always be enjoyed.
You don't need much to get started and there are endless possibilities in the way of fashion, hairstyles and faces. You can add fairy wings using felt or card sprinkled with glitter , pirates in paper hats, make woolen pompoms for colourful tutu's, add moustaches and glasses simply with felt tip pens. Children will love being able to appoint different characters to the pegs using scraps of fabric and imagination. You can add arms. though I've always preferred the simple lines with no awkard looking pipe-cleaner limbs. If your children are too young to be able to co-ordinate wrapping wool, fixing with glue and cutting fabric then let them paint or colour them with pens instead. Its great to use lots of different materials and you'll be surprised how easily the pegs become characters with colour.

Here's what you'll need:
  • good old fashioned clothes pegs
  • scraps of fabric
  • wool
  • PVA glue
  • felt tipped pens
  • scissors



    Here's how to get started:

    Making a female peg doll.
    1. Starting with the bare body draw on faces to the bobbly head. If you'd like to draw on shoes add them to the end of the prongs.
    2. Take a piece of fabric and cut a 3in x 8 in (8cm x 20cm) rectangle. Using a little glue half way down the peg wrap the fabric around the middle of the peg gathering it to make a skirt.
    3. Take a length of wool and tie it around the top of the skirt to hold it in place and tie a knot.
    4. Keep wrapping the wool around the upper body of the peg towards the head and fix it in place with a dab of glue. You may need to hold it in place until the glue is dry but impatience often lends itself to a heavy book leaning on top!
    5. Now she's dressed its time to make her hair. To make curly locks wrap loops of wool around your fingers, tie in the middle with a short piece of wool and cut the ends. Make your loops longer or shorter depending on the hairstyle desired. 
    6. Secure the hair in place with a little glue and hey presto your first peg doll!
    Now she'll need a friend

    Making a male peg doll:
    1. Start in the same way, drawing on eyes, nose, mouth and a moustache or beard if it tickles your fancy!
    2. Starting from the centre of the peg wrap the wool around the peg moving towards the feet, again securing the begining of the wool with a little PVA glue. Continue wrapping the wool down one 'leg' to make a trouser leg. Cut the wool at the end and glue the end in place. Continue wrapping the woolen trousers down the other prong gluing the begining and the end of the wool in place each time.
    3. Finally this gentleman needs hair! Make curls using the same technique as before or cut short pieces of wool and glue to the top of his handsome head. Alternatively you could give him a rather dashing gelled look by using felt tipped pens to create his hair. 
    4. If you'd like your little man attire to be a little smarter a piece of wool tied around his neck fastened in a bow looks very fine or a bright fabric cumberband adds a dashing splash of colour!

      Now they're ready to play. A shoe box house is the perfect place for them to turn into a home and they make great characters for puppet shows too. If you have a go yourself why not use them as place names, making each doll look like the expected guest. They'll look fabulous pegged onto the lip of a glass on a table or a paper cup at childrens parties.


      Have a go and do send us your pictures.

      Saturday 29 January 2011

      Saturday singing

      We have spent Saturday morning in our pjyamas remembering the words to 'The Animals Went in Two by Two....'
      Hurrah, hurrah!

      Who remembers this one?

      Wednesday 26 January 2011

      Woo-hoo!

      It's wednesday and we want to woo - hoo you!

      When I first came across these skirts I knew how crazy my girls would be for them. The decision wasn't whether to buy one but rather what colour I should get. 
      Made with over forty yards of fabric and an oversized bow these skirts are every girls dream. 



      The petti skirts are the most wonderful skirt for dressing up, though there's no need to reserve these skirts for special occasions as they're machine washable. Hooray! Now we don't care if they get muddy or covered in cake. 
      Wear them with ballet pumps and pretty tops for parties or team with wellies and a soft jumper for bounding through the park. Complete in a vintage style hatbox the petti skirts are a delicate and fun addition to every girls wardrobe.


      Silver Cloud - Urban Cool
      Team with strong colours and typography and a pair of wellies for some serious rainy day fun 
        



      Vanilla - Tea Party
      Wear with classic pretty tops with simple lines and a lambswool cardigan for some miniature Hepburn understated glam
       



      Sessi would happily spend all day and every day in her 'cupcake' skirt. I know that when she's running about with all its multitude of froffy fluffy layers swooshing around her she cannot help but smile and feel elated. 




      Oh and if you're fortunate enough to be a size 8-10 the 6-8 yrs size will fit you too! As Sessi would say "sharing is caring".
      Available in vanilla, cupcake, hot pink, silver cloud and tea rose.

      The Sisters Guild sale continues with up to 60% off designers such as Hucklebones, ilovegorgeous, Dandy Star,   Little Duckling, and Belle & Boo.

      View the entire sale here and for a further 10% off all items in the 'dressing rooms' including the petti skirts quote 'WOOHOO' at the checkout. *

      *offer vaild until monday 31st January

      Monday 24 January 2011

      Monday Makery - Shortbread Buttons



      Children love to make pretend food with play dough making edible looking treats for their loveable soft and cuddly friends. I wanted to create the reverse turning an ordinarily inedible object into something quite scrummy. This recipe for shortbread buttons is an easy one to follow with just a few ingredients and minimal fuss saving the fun bit for designing the buttons themselves. I love baking with my girls and they love this idea. We serve them with knitted napkins straight from the sewing box and they love the trickery of it.

      Ingredients:
      • 250g butter at room temperature
      • 75g caster sugar
      • 35g rice flour*
      • 335g plain flour
      • 1 tbsp caster sugar for sprinkling!
       * Rice flour will give your shortbread that slightly crunchy taste. Alternatively you could replace the 35g of rice flour with 35g of corn flour for a delicate melt-in-your-mouth texture. The recipe is quite versatile and if you have neither Rice flour nor corn flour just use ordinary plain flour instead. I promise it will still work.



      1. Preheat the oven to 150C or 130C for fan assisted. Grease oven trays or line with greaseproof paper.
      2. Mix the soft butter and sugar in a bowl until its smooth, its quite hard work so you might want to use an electric mixer.
      3. Stir in the remaining dry ingredients and mix until you have a dough.
      4. Knead the dough on a floured surface.
      5. If you'd like to make different colours and add different flavours separate the dough into small bowls. Add a few drops of your colour depending on how strong you want the colour to be, and knead the dough until so the colour works it way through.
      6. Using a round cutter (about 5cm) sprinkle it with flour, place on the baking tray. Take a tablespoon of dough and fill the cutter using the back of the spoon to smooth it. Repeat with the remaining dough using flour on the cutter to prevent it from sticking.
      7. Take a lid from a plastic water bottle and push down gently on top of each dough circle. This will make the indentation for the buttons. Now use a skewer or chopstick to make the button holes and a fork to make patterns on the edges. 
      8. Sprinkle the buttons with a little caster sugar and bake for 30 minutes or until they feel firm to touch. Cool them on the trays. I tried removing mine too early once and as they were not yet cool they fell apart! Be patient. 
      9. Once cooled you can add any further decoration, dip the sides in melted chocolate, or drizzle patterns of chocolate or icing over the top. 
       This should make about 26 buttons but that'll depend on how much you eat as you're going!

      If you would like to give each set of buttons a different flavour you might like to add some chocolate chips or try adding a little (1tsp) espresso powder for a coffee flavour. To make stripy buttons you could try dipping the sides of the buttons into melted chocolate! We like to add orange and lemon zest to our yellow buttons for a little zing. Quite often I'll let the girls choose the flavours. Trying to match a flavour to a colour. Cinnamon is a warm taste so this works well with the red buttons. They like being inventive and occasionally we end up with a winner. The point is the recipe is so very easily varied with colour and flavour once you've got a little experimental with them you'll see how fun they are to make and truly scrumptious to eat too.

      These make great birthday party treats. We made them as part of our Alice in Wonderland party where everything is not as you would think.

      Friday 21 January 2011

      Swaddle me happy

      Swaddling is an ancient practice, a mothers gentle and loving act of wrapping her baby so it is safely cocooned just like in the womb.

      Swaddling felt right for me and Gabriel from day one.  It was instinctive perhaps because it was winter and also because Gabe had constant flayling arms - I later read that boys tend to have the 'moro reflex' stronger and for longer, and Gabe certainly did so he was swaddled for a long time and it mostly made for calm bedtimes and restful nights.


      Some babies may not be so keen on swaddling but most enjoy the initial sense of being wrapped and cocconed.  I have to say that I also liked the neat little bundle they become when they are swaddled.

      Swaddling became part of our bedtime ritual, the swaddling and feeding being a consistent sign that sleepy time was here.  I also used a smudge of Badger baby balm (from Infinity Foods or online here from my fave new skincare site lovelula.com) on the swaddling, which was another sleep association.  I'm not saying any of these things are guaranteed baby sleep techniques as I reckon that following our own instincts is the only way, but these little things helped me be calm and that was the key (didn't stop bedtime being horrendous sometimes, but I shall choose to forget those moments especially now that I'm thinking about having another baby!)

      If anyone is looking for a book recommendation then I can say that Gentle First Year by Gowri Motha is a book that is really encouraging and made me feel confident in my instincts.  Not sure that with a second baby I will have quite so much time to lie around and sleep and massage and be in a newborn baby bubble for so long, but it's lovely thinking about it!

      To swaddle you need a large enough blanket, piece of fabric or ideally a large muslin that will fold into a large  triangle shape, with 2 points of the triangle long enough to wrap around.  It's best described here. I did struggle with blankets that weren't large enough and actually ended up with only one perfect swaddling blanket, a knitted blanket from my sis that I shall treasure.  I genuinely wish I had found Aden+Anais swaddling wraps when Gabe was a baby as they are so large and perfect and have so many other uses too. Muslin really is a perfect fabric - soft, breathable and comforting. My future baby things wish list is shaping up nicely...and I'm getting broody for sure.

      Wednesday 19 January 2011

      Wooing Wednesday: Miller Goodman PlayShapes and ShapeMaker

      This Wednesday we woo you with...Miller Goodman, set up by Brighton duo David Goodman and Zoe Miller who are 'passionate about good design which encourages open creative play for children and adults'

      Miller Goodman PlayShapes £74.95

      Miller Goodman ShapeMaker blocks £29.95


      The PlayShapes set and ShapeMaker blocks keep the adults and kids busy in both sisters households. We can understand why the Playshapes have been awarded Gold by the Parents' Choice awards 2010 and ShapeMaker is Winner of a gold award at the 2009 Practical Pre-School awards.

      PlayShapes is a unique modular set of 74 wooden geometric shapes which you can arrange or stack to make hundreds of 3D creations, such as animals, people, faces, vehicles, buildings and much more. The shapes also make fantastic drawing templates. They are beautifully crafted from environmentally-friendly, durable rubberwood, the shapes feel soft in your hand and the flashes of colour add a modern accent. The set of shapes come in a printed, unbleached cotton drawstring bag along with a set of instructive illustrations.

      ShapeMaker is a set of 25 colourful, geometric design, hand printed, beautifully crafted, environmentally friendly hardwood blocks made of rubber wood - a replenishable wood. The blocks can be excitingly arranged to create a menagerie of thousands of surprising creatures and tons of sparkling, imaginative, engaging images that guarantee to delight children of all ages.


      People have uploaded their ShapeMaker creations on the Flickr site here
      And what people have been able to make with the Playshapes is just amazing - take a look on the Flickr site here

      And you just have to see this little vid:

      Tuesday 18 January 2011

      Monday Makery - Playdough

       


      Children of all ages love the feel of playdough. Squishing it their hands, rolling it up into balls, strecthing it out under a rolling pin. It's fun to make too and little hands will love the apothecary of mixing it all together and getting a little mucky along the way.

      Here's how to make it home.

      You will need:
      • 1 cup of flour
      • 1/2 cup of salt
      • 1 cup of water
      • 1 tablesspoon of oil
      • 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
      • food colouring



        1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a saucepan
        2. add the remaining wet ingredients
        3. cook over a low to medium heat for 5-10 minutes stirring constantly to prevent any one area cooking too long! 
        4. remove the playdough when it feels the right consistency, i.e when it no longer feels sticky
        5. knead the dough until it feels smooth
        6. This is when I like to add the colour. Oona loves to see, as we squish and knead, how the colour of the dough changes with marble like swirls to a solid hue.


          You can store the playdough in the fridge in a sealed plastic container. You could also add a scent to the playdough using vanilla or cinnamon. I try to add scents that aren't asscociated with food so that the children are not tempted to eat it. You could try adding lavender oil or rose or my favourite for playdough, citronella.

          Sunday 16 January 2011

          Being Sister


           
          Watching Sessi and Oona play together has reminded me the significance of the bond between sisters.
          They have in each other a friend who will understand them more than any other. They will be the keepers of eachothers identity. They will be the best friend that you can't get rid of and they will share with eachother their secrets, their memories and their grown-up dreams.
          When Oona was born a sister awaited her. The birth of their story as sisters began. Sessi mothers her little sister taking care when they play and cheering her up when she's sad and making her laugh when she's a little bothered about having her nappy changed. She has become the big sister and enjoys the feeling of being teacher, defender against the older children in the park who run clumsily and just occasionally the bossy leader who insists her little sister should sit at the tap end of the bath.
          Oona looks up to Sessi with such awe. It is beautiful to see in her eyes a look of adoration and respect; a look that is mirrored back. Oona often mirrors her sisters play too she will try to copy her dancing, tries to ride her bike and will insist on wearing her big sisters wellies despite them finishing at her thighs. She knows in Sessi she has a protector, someone else to come to with a bumped knee and someone to gang up with when she wants to listen to 'pencil full of lead' again for the twelfth time at 7.20 in the morning!

          They will grow up with the same tribal laws, the same memories of crazy dancing in the kitchen, their life connected by familiar smells, bedtime stories and the walk to school with the taste of marmite still in their mouths. Bound together by sharing the same sense of being, of belonging, of being the same and yet very different, they know eachothers hearts and can see one another smiling, even in the dark.
          I see the bond that is budding between them and it fills my heart with peaceful song.



          I had three companions through my childhood who I know will always be there for me, who know I'll always be there for them. My fellow conspirators, defenders, my competitors for parental attention, my mirror of memories and sharers of delights.
          Together we journeyed through childhood and went through our 'rite of passage' together. Unified by all that we shared; all that was home.
          With them I am both a child and an adult and all that was in-between. I am the child that cried after being thrown in the nettles, the teen that borrowed her sisters shoes (quite a few times) and the adult that knows that as much as I'd like to forget how much I annoyed my brother for singing constantly, I will never be allowed.
          Being the third of four children with two older sisters and a younger brother I am fortunate to know what it means to be both a younger and older sister. I was the guinea pig for sliding down the stairs in a sleeping bag, the messenger of news to our mum and one of the sisters who insisted our brother (aged 2) dress up as a girl and call himself Rosie for a laugh when mum had friends for lunch. I was the bossed and the bossy!


          In our mother I can see the pride in her face and how she enjoys seeing us being as we have always been albeit a little older. Whilst to the outside world we are all grown up, together we will always be the children that ran through the fields, performed theatrical debuts in the living room and the gang that made the best tree-houses I have ever seen. Its fun being all together, of recounting our sides of the same story that was our childhood, I know in my brother and sisters there are pieces of my life that cannot be lost.
          There is a love that is unconditional that despite the rivalries, monopolisation of the bathroom, moments of anger for things I mostly don't remember, name calling, snarls and huffs, love has always resurfaced with its smiles, open arms, laughter and that unspoken forgiveness. 
          It takes a brother or a sister to see you for all that you truly are, that forgives and loves each imperfection and that reminds you where you come from. It is this love that nourishes and will remain for as long as we are family. 

          I know with my two daughters that they too have this special bond that will help to carry them through life. They will always look after eachother and be able to guide eachother in a way that no other family member could. They are joined by memory, through play and shared imaginings. Bound together by a golden thread of childhood dreams.
          They will venture together through their lives. They will fight over a hairbrush or a borrowed dress. They will find in eachother passwords that enable the trickiest of buttons to be pushed. They will kiss one anothers grazed knees and mend eachothers broken hearts. They will keep eachother awake at night giggling and conspire against me when they feel its their right, and though their friends will inevitably grow and move away, their love for others come and pass, they will always have eachother.


          They will always be sisters.


          Friday 14 January 2011

          The Sisters Guild sale gets silly

          If it's not raining it's pouring!

          We have further sale reductions in the Sisters Guild boutique...now with up to 60% off

          And, because we're sisters working together under the influence of tea and cake, we've got a bit silly and are offering you a further SILLY discount code to give you an extra 10% off*  baby dressing room, girls dressing room and boys dressing room
          Designers include Aden & Anais, Angel's Face, Dandy Star,  ilovegorgoeus, Hucklebones and Little Duckling.

          Pink feather mega muse dress by ilovegorgeous, WAS £54.00 NOW £35.10

          Little Duckling dungarees - Field print. WAS £31.00, NOW £15.50
          Paperchain rabbit double collar blouse by Hucklebones, WAS £62.00 NOW £24.80

          *Use discount code SILLY at checkout for an extra 10% off sale prices in baby dressing room, girls dressing room and boys dressing room.  This weekend only (expires Monday 17th January 2011)

          Tuesday 11 January 2011

          New Liberty Art Fabrics - Children's Illustrators Collection

          We grew up with Liberty fabrics in our lives and they remain a passion of ours. Many Liberty fabrics sit among our stacks of material waiting to become all sorts of creations.

          We are so delighted by the new Liberty Art Fabrics Spring Summer 2011 collection which features collaborations with favourite children's illustrators including Lauren Child of 'Charlie and Lola' and 'Clarice Bean' fame, Quentin Blake OBE, Children's Laureate (need say no more!) and Emma Chichester Clarke whose Blue Kangaroo books we are most fond of.  There's also a collaboration with Hello Kitty and  'four young protégés of the Liberty Design Studio'.  Imagine being an 8 year old girl and designing for Liberty - what a dream!


          Each print tells a story.  They are so enchanting:

          Emma Chichester Clark
          This series of designs was inspired by her book ‘Eliza and the Moonchild’.
          ‘Plum Dog’ is an original print featuring Emma’s beloved dog Plum:

          Emma Chichester Clark - Plum Dog C, Tana Lawn Liberty Fabric


          Hello Kitty is the inspiration for this collection of fabrics, designed by four young protégés of the Liberty Design Studio. Mauve Mawston says the flowers are ‘whizzy’ and has chosen pink for girls and blue for boys:

          Hello Kitty - Emm A, Tana Lawn Liberty Fabric


          Lauren Child's fabric designs are a mixture of an original ‘Clarice Bean’ she has created for Liberty, and patterns inspired by Liberty Archive prints she has selected personally. Pep features a stylised cherry blossom. Tuesday Trees is a forest of Liberty print with textured tree trunks:

          Lauren Child - Pep C, Tana Lawn Liberty Fabric

          Lauren Child - Tuesday Trees A, Tana Lawn Liberty Fabric


          Liberty have created designs inspired by Quentin Blake’s ‘L for Legs’ from his ‘ABC’, resulting in an eclectic mix of prints that reflect his quirky and playful style.  Lola Weisselberg is an old fashioned floral medley echoing old seed packets and samplers, this design creates the effect of English country wildflowers climbing up the fabric:

          Quentin Blake - Lola Weisselberg B, Tana Lawn Liberty Fabric

           Images from www.liberty.co.uk - see the full collection here

          From 2 print and pattern passionate sisters www.sistersguild.com

          Read more...
          Memories are made of this - Carla dreams of sewing for her girls
          Clothkits Nostalgia - Bekka remembers being a Clothkits kid

          Sunday 9 January 2011

          Thank you notes on Sunday

          There was a song we sang at our village Primary School with the chorus No, I musn't forget, No I musn't forget to say a great big thank you, I musn't forget..

          I always remember the words and how everyone in assembly joined in loudly with the chorus with a great big 'Fankooo'.  I also remember, later in my student days, singing the same song with a friend of mine when we realised with drunken delight that we had the same song book at school. Anyhow...this year, now that my son has just turned 3, I think it's time to introduce him to some good old-fashioned thank you letter writing. 



          Though the writing will be scribbles, the sentiment will be clear. Sunday seems like the perfect day for letter writing. We're not a religious household, but Sunday is a thoughtful family day, a together day, a day that feels gentle (apart from the bit where I'm woken up at 6am!).  So, it's a morning spread of tea and toast and pens and paper (friends and family will have to excuse the Raspberry Jam smears)

          We've found the perfect colourful pack of cards and envelopes for Sisters Guild here

          Saturday 8 January 2011

          First reads of the New Year

          As a Christmas gift I was completely chuffed to receive a book of poetry from my husband.  Poetry isn't everyones cup of tea, but I can get utterly lost in it.  I have always read it aloud to my son as the rhythm can be quite soothing, but now he's 3 he says 'that's boring mummy'!

          My husband chose Carol Ann Duffy New Selected Poems for me as he remembered the poem I asked to be read at our wedding was River (from the Love Poems collection Rapture).  What was also so lovely and made me feel that my family do actually know me well, was that Sis chose the same book as a Christmas gift for me too. Was really touched.  One for my bedside and one for the 'slowly peruse shelf' at Granny's house.

          The dust jacket has a lovely design by the Printmaker Angie Lewin:



          The other book that was a pleasure to give to my niece Sophia was The Red Shoes by Sun Young Yoo / Gloria Fowler from Ammo Books, an adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale.


          The illustrations in this book are beautiful and the sentiment of  the story is very inspiring:

          ...this contemporary version of The Red Shoes, offers a positive message to young girls that is much more in tune with our time. This adaptation focuses on the transcendent love between a mother and daughter, and the key notion that perseverance, ingenuity and hard work can allow one to overcome some of the greatest obstacles in life in order to pursue one’s artistic and creative dreams.




          Many more stories and poems to lose myself in and many more books out there to discover. I'll let you know what we find over the year ahead.

          Now, the only thing missing is a window seat - one of those snug little window seats with cushions to sit with a book and a cup of tea...and a cat maybe!

          Can anyone lend me one? 







          Friday 7 January 2011

          Hucklebones spring / summer 2011 collection

          We are anticipating the arrival of the new Hucklebones collection...and hush, deep breath, we can now give you a peek.


          Hucklebones spring / summer 2011 offers a refined take on children's daywear, evocative of times gone by.  This is an heirloom collection that speaks of childhood innocence.
          We love the beautiful dahlia print and the colour palette inspired by petals. With colour names such as Wedgewood Blue, Walnut, Buttercup, Sunshine and Peony, you immediately know these pieces are delicious, delicate and would look beautiful on your girls. With shapes that reflect feminine grace and movement:  A-line dresses, neat ‘penny collar’ blouses, bows and scalloped hems.  Fabrics perfect for the fresh skipping days of spring and balmy summer afternoons, with pinpoint cotton, seersucker, ditsy checks, fine cotton voile, soft fluid silk, natural jersey, crisp cottons and cool linen .

          The collection takes inspiration from the fauna and flora of the garden.  Oh yes, we can picture the garden that inspired such a collection - a delicate English garden with a few bursts of colour.  It would of course be a garden with a lawn with space to run free, for girls dressed in soft silk dresses, floaty tops and jumpsuits, to play on picnic rugs, chase balloons, do cartwheels and possibly end the day in a beautiful sleepy heap with a crumpled dress and tangled hair.

          That's the vision that the spring / summer Hucklebones collection conjours up for us.

          Take a look for yourself and feel a hint of the gentle spring that will soon be here!


          Hucklebones SS11 available at Sisters Guild soon.
          View the AW10 Hucklebones collection here

          Monday 3 January 2011

          The Pink Penned Pleasure


          I love a good sale. The excitement of filling a basket with deliciousness at reduced prices makes my heart flutter with a blissful won't-break-the-bank glee. I always feel rather smug too when the next winter comes around and aha! I have my tucked away glorious and rather cleverly purchased (always buying one size bigger to allow for my childrens ever extending limbs) pieces at the ready. I will always try to buy those staple pieces that will go well with whatever else I might pick up with the new season as well as party dresses for the girls and maybe one or two more for birthday pressies for their special friends too. This always goes down well with their mums too, so extra points there!


            
          I think one day I'll be one of those grannies that buy Christmas presents in the January sale. Grabbing all those wonderful things that will make the family swoon, skip and jump about with giddied delight.  I'm definately heading that way with my secret present drawer full of fabulous things for all those birthdays. You know, the ones that seem to spring up on you suddenly, like a Sunday afternoon when really the last thing you would want to do would be trawl the shops looking for that special 'something' for so-and-so who since only last Wednesday has become your childs best friend! So, off to my secret treasure chest of wonders I go to find things I've picked up throughout the year,  when I just couldn't hold back the temptation but as yet had no birthday to buy for.

          But Christmas shopping is a different occasion, a time when I love to head out in the early darkened and delicately decorated streets. I love too the smell of the cold, the bustle of people all looking for the thrill of finding that perfect gift. So, perhaps I'll hold off my granny-that-stashes plan until the thought of Christmas shopping mid December throws me into a crazed panic. It is tempting though.

          This is the first sale of Sisters Guild and we hope it's a giddy-giving, swoon-tastic*, heart-fluttering, tell-a-friend, fill your basket with deliciousness sale. Perhaps it wasn't such a good plan to slash the prices whilst sitting with my sister, bottle of wine, full with a generosity of Christmas spirit, but, it's been fun, especially to know that we'll be passing on that same pleasure of shopping in the sales that we love too.


           *some adjectives may not actually exist and are sometimes created for artistic reasons.

          Here's a few of our favourite colourful and cool pieces:

          Mini McGhee felted striped baby blanket in Pink/Grey
          Was £46.00 Now £34.50

          Fabric covered embroidered boxes by Rice Dk Was £51.30 Now £30.78




          Fuchsia candelabra
           Was £44.00 Now £35.20 more colours available
          Tupperware that deserves a party! Melamine bowls with lids by Rice DK Was £34.00 Now £27.20
          Cotton Sateen Long Sleeved Blouse by Hucklebones Was £55 Now £27.50

          Ripple Stitch Sweater by Hucklebones Was £49.00 Now £24.50

          Slate Blue Mallow T by ilovegorgeous Was £39.00 Now £29.25

          Grey Sprig Twiglet Dress by ilovegorgeous Was £59.00 Now £44.25

          Cozy Winter Sleeping Bag Was £29.95 Now £17.97

          Lucy Sweater by Dandy Star Was £35 Now £28

          Please, find a comfy chair pour yourself your favourite drink and enjoy our first sale with up to 50% off lines including Hucklebones, ilovegorgeous, Dandy Star, Little Duckling, Rice DK, Maileg, Aden&Anais and Mini McGhee! **

          ** Reductions may cause heart fluttering excitement