Adding the Fun Factor to Christmas ...

Today is all about adding some festive fun into Christmas with charming, humorous Christmas cards from Holy Mackerel. The first images are from the best-selling range 'One Lump or Two' by Artist Erica Sturla. Each card poses Erica's polymer clay characters into a cute, festive setting; with genuine life and warmth in every figure they make a charming and occasionally cheeky addition to the Christmas fun. The 'One Lump or Two' collection has over 100 designs in total with 23 dedicated to Christmas celebrations. The final images are from the 'Minimiam Christmas' collection, where an assorted cast of mini people have interrupted the Christmas feast. The Holy Mackerel Christmas collection offers some delightful cards that will see you through the festive period with a smile. Take a look ...

Christmas cards from 'One Lump or Two' and 'Minimiam' are available to purchase online from the Holy Mackerel website. Designs are priced at £2.15 each. Click here to take a shortcut to the Holy Mackerel website.

Thoughtful & Creative Gift Ideas ...

Spaceform has been creatively using glass to convey messages of love, friendship and positivity since their launch in 1995. Today's gorgeous gift inspiration is from their much loved collection of keepsakes and tokens. In the beginning these small gifts were made from the glass pieces leftover from larger specialist glass artworks, but the small designs had such unique charm and appeal that they became a highlight of the Spaceform collection. As the company has gone from strength to strength, the gift range has grown; today there is a Spaceform keepsake, token, frame, paperweight or pocket mirror for every occasion, and every special person in your life. For today's post I have chosen a few of my favourite items that will make thoughtful gifts for this year's Christmas stockings.

Featured Gifts: Colourful Frames, from £13.00; Russian Dolls Pocket Mirror, £16.00; Layered Paperweight I Love You Daisy, £35.00; Round Message Tokens, £22.00; Positive Expressions, from £9.00 and Text Tokens, £11.00. The extensive collection of Spaceform keepsakes and tokens can be purchased online from the Spaceform website; to go straight there click here.

Cute Christmas Cards by Pango Productions ...

Today's super cute Christmas card pick is from London-based Pango Productions; an independent publishing house that creates design-led greetings cards and gifts. The cards I have chosen to show to you today are from two fabulous ranges: 'Merry Glitter' and 'Christmas Bubble'. Pango Productions glitter Christmas designs, shown in the first four images, are the most glitter-decked cards you will probably ever see; each image is a bright, cute version of a classic Christmas character. The second group of images are from the lovely Christmas Bubble collection. The printed cards are decorated with Christmas scenes in the cute Pango Productions style, each is then finished with a liquid filled bubble sticker, which can be removed and reused long after the festive season has passed.

Pango Productions Christmas card ranges are available to purchase online from their Etsy shop. Glitter Cards are available in Rudolph, Penguin, Snowman, Angel and Santa designs, retailing at £2.66 or $4.00 each. The Christmas Bubble cards include: Santa, Penguins, Eskimo, Rudolph, Snowman and Gingerbread Man designs. Bubble cards can be purchased for £3.32 or $5.00 each. To find out more about Pango Productions visit their website. Alternatively to head straight to the online shop click here.

Sunday Blog Spot: Howkapow the Blog ...

Howkapow is a design shop that sells all manner of fabulous design-led items that make original, unique gifts. Aiming to choose only the most 'innovative and interesting work from breakthrough talent' the shop is jam packed with an eclectic mix of gift ideas.Today's choice for Sunday Blog Spot is 'Howkapow - The Blog' is created by Howkapow founders Rog & Cat, and follows in the style of their design shop, with an unusual gathering together of fabulous design from all over the world. The blog is so sleek, with lots of great pictures from Designer-Makers; there's a mix of posts covering art, homewares, jewellery and lots more ... there's so much to discover, I think you could happily spend ages just looking through all the photographs! Ultimately it's a great blog to find lots of inspiration and new designers that you may not have seen anywhere else. I hope you like it, let me know what you think!  Charlotte x

Cute Gifts from Crowded Teeth ...

To end the week we have some bright, cute gifts from Crowded Teeth. A selection of fun products that appeal to all ages and will make excellent stocking fillers this Christmas. Launched in 2004, Crowded Teeth is the home of self-taught, Illustrator and Designer Michelle Romo. Influenced by Japanese and Scandanavian design, and any other item with the cute factor (!) Michelle wanted to create cute, affordable products based on her own unique illustrations. Since 2004, Crowded Teeth has gone from strength to strength, and today the collection comprises a wide array of products - from socks to stationery. All of Michelle's designs magically mix bold graphics with bright colours, making vastly appealing gifts that brighten even the coldest winter days.

Featured Gifts: Crowded Teeth postcards (included with Chubby Notebook); Chubby Notebook, $21.95; Mountain Time Earring Pack, $12.50; Panda Socks, $12; Panda Friends Tote Bag, $65; Paper Wonderland Book, £19.99 and selection of Crowded Teeth Phone Accessories, $20 each. To see the full Crowded Teeth collection and grab yourself some cute Christmas gifts visit the website and online shop. 

Christmas Cards from LetterPost NL ...

Today's post is some delightful, graphics-based Christmas cards from the folks at LetterPost NL, a collaboration between two Dutch design teams: KunstKlub and Zoet en Stoer Ontwerp (roughly translated that's Art Club and Sweet & Cool Design). I love seeing designs from all over the world and am very pleased to be able to show you some of the LetterPost NL Christmas collection on today's post. The images I've chosen are a selection of my favourites; the designs give a modern twist to traditional Christmas themes with minimalist-style graphics and a bright colour palette. I love the fun, playfulness to be found in the collection, from the cool black and white angel (below) to the Christmas tree of colourful, exotic birds (see the final image).

Currently there are LetterPost NL online shops for the UK, USA and the Netherlands. Pricing starts from £2.39 in the UK, $2.99 in the USA and €1.39 in the Netherlands. To see the whole collection and find out more about LetterPost NL please visit their websites: UK site, USA site and Dutch site.

Christmas Petite by Kate Hamilton Hunter ...

Regulars to the blog who have very good memories may remember that back in May I featured an everyday collection of fantastic jewellery from Kate Hamilton-Hunter (click here if you missed it or don't have a super long memory). I'm happy to report that today is dedicated to a quick catch up with the artistic ladies of the Kate Hamilton-Hunter studio who have been hard at work crafting the beautiful 'Christmas Petite' collection. Using Kate's distinctive style of upcycling, the collection recycles elements of vintage biscuit, sweet and toffee tins, and combines these found treasures with 100% recycled silver and decorations of Swarovski crystals. The 'Christmas Petite' collection is a sweet and seasonal collection of doves, heart, butterflies and stars, which would make an ideal gift this Christmas. For today's post I've picked a few of my favourite pieces, see what you think and please feel free to leave me a comment at the bottom of the post ...

Featured gifts: Tiny Flower Necklace, £17.99 and matching earrings, £15.99; Dove earrings, £17.99; Dove with crystals on small hoops, £19.99; Small star hoop earrings, £17.99; Petite charm bracelet, £29.99 and Buterfly necklace, £19.99. All of these items and more jewellery gifts from the 'Christmas Petite' collection are available to buy online at the Kate Hamilton-Hunter website. To take a look at the collection now click here. 

A Splendid Christmas Collection by Nancy & Betty ...

The Nancy & Betty studio is the home of handmade stationery and paper goods by designer Hannah Bidmead. In today's post were very lucky to be showcasing items from their brilliant new Christmas collection. Nancy & Betty (named after Hannah's Grandma and her twin sister in case you were wondering) is all about 'simple graphics, strong colours, with a nod to retro themes' and their Christmas collection ties in with this philosophy perfectly. The cards use traditional Christmas themes but give them a modern twist with sharp graphics and bold Christmas colours. There are four designs in the collection and each of the Christmas cards is available individually or as part of a box set. As today's last image shows there is also some co-ordinated Brussels Sprouts wrapping paper so Christmas gifts can have a taste of Nancy & Betty Christmas magic too.

Featured Items: 12 Days of Christmas Card, Two Reindeer Christmas Card, Brussel Sprout Card and Candy Canes Christmas Card; individual cards are £2.55 each or a box set of 8 cards is £12.95. Brussels Sprouts wrapping paper is £7.95 for 5 sheets of 500mm x 700mm recycled wrap. All of the Christmas items shown today are available to purchase online from the Nancy & Betty website, to go straight there click here.