Witches

I know this isn't a particularly heavy blog, but I want to make one thing clear. I don't believe in the evil Disney witch stereotype, I have several friends that are spritually-minded, and I myself spent several years studying the subject. The witchy gifts I've picked out here are in no way intended to be offensive to any pagans, wiccans or spiritual people. With that in mind, I've always maintained that if someone external to yourself can upset one of your core beliefs with a joke or a light-hearted attitude, then perhaps you need to rethink that belief, if it can be so easily shaken.

Right! Serious moment over, these gifts are a great collection of witchy bits and pieces. I absolutely love kitchen witchery, so there are a few household decorations here as well as a great variety of witch prints, figures, a great trick or treat bag, and an absurdly cute knitting pattern.

 ~♥~ WITCHES~♥~ 

         

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Ghosts

Ghosts! From Pinky, Blinky, Inky and Clyde to Jacob Marley, ghosts are awesome. If written well, they can give a story great intruigue and depth, allowing us to explore a character and their motives in detail. Or they can flash blue and white and try to eat you before you eat them. Ghosts are varied in their depiction, is what I'm saying. :) And no, I don't believe they exist, but that doesn't mean they don't. There are plenty of things in this world that we don't understand yet, and science has so far given us some crazy and fascinating things to ponder, so maybe I'm wrong...

These ghosts are mostly cute or cartoon ghosts, which is probably more suitable for a Halloween gift than a blood-dripping character from a Japanese horror film, for example. Enjoy!

 ~♥~ GHOSTS ~♥~ 

        

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Pumpkins

Well, I've been away for a few days having a birthday and moving house (argh!) but I'm back again, and thought I'd do a bit of a Halloween theme this week. I know the actual day is not for another two weeks, but when better to order your Halloweeny tricks and treats?

I thought I'd start with pumpkins, that very Halloween decoration. I love food with pumpkin in it, in a stew or roasted with parsnips or as a soup or fried in fritters. It's a great vegetable that has a lovely flavour to it, which can stand by itself or as part of a medley. Argh, this is making me hungry. Anyway, I chose these items mostly because they really work with the orange colour of pumpkins, which can sometimes be difficult to work with artistically.

 ~♥~ PUMPKINS ~♥~ 

         

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Frogs

Whenever my Nan's birthday would come around, there were two things to make sure of. The first was that her gift either had to be something froggy or something delicious a diabetic could eat, and the second was to trail through the shops to find/make from scratch a birthday card with the word "Nan" somewhere on it. Still makes me smile. I'm not so much of a real-life froggy person myself, and the only kind of frogs I really like are treefrogs, but I do like frog designs.

These pieces have been chosen either for the cute froggy designs or for the interesting way in which they have used them. Again, as with the Retro Games post, I found very few froggy gifts. A gap in the folksy market there, possibly :)

 ~♥~ FROGS ~♥~

           

  

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Victoriana

The Victorian era is one of my favourite periods in history, being a fascinating mix of cultural repression, refinement, and subtle decadence. I can trace my love for it right back to my childhood, when I went on the school trip to St Fagans. St Fagans is a history-come-to-life sort of place, and is a fantastic place to go for the day. It was one of those school trips where you dress up. I wore a white pinny and a ruffled hat. We spent a whole day in costume, having Victorian lessons, playing Victorian games, having a very serious picture taken, etc. (I seemed to confuse being serious with being an aggressive owl). Wonderful stuff. I heartily recommend going, whatever your interest in history.

These pieces have been chosen in part for their authenticity, and in part for their innovation. You might have noticed that the theme is not "Victorian" but "Victoriana", which I think leaves a certain amount of leeway in terms of design and function. Victorian-inspired, then, instead of Victorian replicas. Victorian Victorian Victorian. Ooh, that word looks odd now.

 ~♥~ VICTORIANA ~♥~ 

         

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Geckos

I adore geckos. I love the way they pitter-patter across walls and ceilings, their blinky eyes and big toes, and possibly most of all, how they fight spiders. Spiders are evil, and geckos are their adorable nemeses. Nemesis? Anemonies? Ememies, let's just say enemies.

I have a gecko tattoo on my back, partly because of my love for them and partly because I had it done to celebrate the end of my teaching year in Viet Nam, where geckos ran all over the place. I know it's a tattoo a lot of people have, but while I would hate to think of myself as having done something just because other people think it's what I should be doing, I think it's equally stupid to stop myself from doing something I genuinely want to just because it's been done before. And I genuinely I love my little tattoo. She's called River. The twenty minutes it took to do seemed like about two minutes, though a very intense two minutes. My Dad gave me some excellent advice when I was 15 that I used when making my tattoo decision. He said if you really want something like that done, then think about it for two years. If you still want it done after two years then you'll probably be alright with it for the rest of your life. If you change your mind, it's probably not the best idea.

These geckos are amazing. I love how these gifts really capture the movement and wiggliness (sure, it's a word) of the gecko, and some of the colours used are really beautiful.

~♥~ GECKOS ~♥~

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Cars

This blog post is in celebration of my luvverly talented partner passing his test to become a driving instructor. I don't pretend to understand anything about cars, or have much of an involvement with them very much beyond "ooh shiny" or "oh, what a stupid colour", but there is something very appealing to me about the idea of the car, of freedom and travelling. I don't know how to drive partly because driving scares me and I spook too easily, like a tripped-out horse, and partly because I spent the money I would have spent on driving lessons on going to Viet Nam and being a teacher for a year.

These car gifts are nice for someone who has just passed their test, or for someone who just likes them! Some of these gifts are great for children, and some are great for adults.

~♥~ CARS ~♥~

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Owls

I think I got my love of owls from my Grandma, who had several owly things. Paintings, pens, magnets, everyone knew she loved owls and so she always ended up with lots of owly gifts. :) This is a tactic I have started to employ myself as people never know what to get me for my birthday, and I now have my own owl collection of owly things. Even though owls remind me of my Grandma and that she's sadly no longer here, it's still nice to have that connection. I miss her very much.

These pieces here are a great mix of the way that owls can be represented in arts and crafts, from a fun cartoon depiction to a specific and realistic portrayal of owly loveliness.

~♥~ OWLS ~♥~

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