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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Jigsaws

Wasn't too sure of the grammar for this one, but WordHippo tells me that the plural of jigsaw is jigsaws. "I have lots of jigsaws" sounds all wrong to me, but I suppose "I have lots of jigsaw" sounds worse. *shrug* Interesting grammatical curiosities aside, I adore board games, and I guess you can include jigsaws in that category. Jigsaws are simply a fantastic way for a family to bond, and I honestly don't know why they aren't held up proudly as an excellent way to spend an afternoon. Don't sit your children in front of a television: do a jigsaw! As well as many others, I had a Peanuts one, with Snoopy and the rest of them all in a street under a rainbow. It must be over a decade since I've even seen the box, but my goodness, that image is burned onto my mind for ever.

As an adult, I still love puzzles and games. I'm a little bit at odds with a lot of my generation in that there's almost nothing that I can think of that's nicer than sitting down and having a good old evening of board games and word games and quizzes. Any of these pieces would make a great present for a puzzle or board game fan.

 ~♥~ JIGSAWS ~♥~ 

        

  

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Chocolate

I hold my hand up to this one; I'm a massive chocoholic. It probably comes from having various kinds of allergies when I was younger, including one to most dairy. When I went to birthday parties as a child, I would have to take my special box of treats. And when I say treats, I mean plain ham sandwiches, liquorice, and ready salted Pom Bear crisps. Hooray. Thankfully, I grew out of the majority of my allergies, though I now have an incredibly sweet tooth and a weakness for chocolate. While Montezuma's chocolate is by far my favourite (seriously, chocoholics need to check them out), my parents recently went to the Lake District and brought back some delicious chocolates from Kennedys. Very nice indeed. :)

These pieces make my mouth water just looking at them. You might be able to tell that I very much like the Fimo Clay creations, as they just look so realistic (although I love all these chocolatey things). Fantastic presents for a chocolate-lover.

 ~♥~ CHOCOLATE ~♥~

           

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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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Amethyst

I find the amethyst stone to be really beautiful, both in its rough and polished forms. While I don't personally believe in any of the mystical properties of gemstones, I do find the mythology and beliefs surrounding them to be fascinating. One of the first birthday presents I got that I seriously loved, was a long strand of chunky amethyst chips given to me by my Grandma. When it eventually snapped, many years later, I re-worked the beads into a sturdy choker, one of the first pieces of jewellery I ever made.

There are some absolutely beautiful pieces here. Perfect for someone who loves fine jewellery or gemstones, any of these pieces would make an excellent birthday present. (And unfortunately, it's not too early to be thinking about Xmas too!) Though the first piece is amethyst-coloured quartz, the rest are described as amethyst itself. It is included because I wanted a variety of gifts, and not just jewellery.

 ~♥~ AMETHYST ~♥~

         

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Steampunk

Science fiction captivated me from a really young age, and I loved alternate history stories. The Victorian era is ones that I also found very interesting, inspired in part by Jacqueline Wilson's The Lottie Project. (Though steampunk isn't just Victorian.) Still, I had never really thought to put the two together, so imagine my delight when I discovered a whole subculture devoted to re-imagining the past, complete with costumes, etiquette, machines and creativity.

It was only around four years ago that I discovered the steampunk movement, and I adore it. There are a heck of a lot of people who are just in it for the look, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I find the alternative history thing as a whole just infinitely more satisfying. Finding a look you like is great, but I love the fact that this whole thing comes from such a creative place, and you're really missing out if you haven't explored it properly. And there are far too many people snooty about getting the look right (as with many subcultures), which can be very expensive, and just isn't the point.

For those of you who have missed the steampunk thing, there's an informative page about it here ---> EtherEmporium. It makes me a little sad that there are so many people "into steampunk" who don't really know anything about the literature or the history behind it, because it really is fascinating, from a creative point of view. A bit of a bumper blog post today, as I really love this look. ^_^ While cogs and keys are the staples of most steampunk jewellery, I've tried to stick to genuinely hand-crafted steampunk gifts (may also include cogs).

 ~♥~ STEAMPUNK ~♥~

         

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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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Retro Games

My love for video games began on the SNES, with Illusion of Time. I loved the graphics, the colours, and the beautiful way that the story was written. You know it's a good story when it involves a little pink pig coming to rescue you from a dungeon your father (who is sort of also a flute [which is also your first weapon]) built before being bullied into saving the princess and setting off on a crazy quest in this alternate universe where a bunch of the wonders of our world exist on the same continent. How can you not fall madly in love with that? ^_^ 

Anyway, seeing as this blog is partly based around the things I personally like, I definitely thought I needed to have a geeky video game post. However, this proved a little more difficult than I had anticipated. Typing in a combination of games, video games, retro games, etc, usually landed me no more than about three pages. Very cool pages, with some very cool stuff, but very little there. Seems like folksy is still quite heavily considered a bit of an up-market handcrafted place, but I think there's a definite gap in the market for nerdily nostalgic jewellery and gifts.

~♥~ RETRO GAMES ~♥~

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Piano

I learned piano for several years when I was younger, from the ever-suffering Wendy. The problem I had as a child is one of the same problems I have as an adult; I am very self-aware. This meant that if she asked me to play something, and I knew I couldn't without more practise, I simply wouldn't. I also had a fantastic ear for music, so would often ask her to play it first and then mimic her movements. It was years before she realised that I couldn't actually read any of the music. I still can't, nearly decades later. The closest I can come is deciphering it: sitting down for ages and working out exactly what each symbol and note means. I know all the chords and notes and absolutely love music, but the highest grade I currently have for piano is Grade 3, because I just can't sight-read. I've recently been given my own piano (!!!) and hope to get considerably better at playing and reading music.

This selection of awesome piano gifts really surprised me. I wasn't expecting to find such a creative range of items on folksy, and the vinyl piano clock in particular stood out as being an great unique gift for someone interested in music. The rest of the pieces are also incredibly cool (music always will be) and fit a variety of price ranges.

~♥~ PIANO ~♥~

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Feathers

With feathers being a popular choice for festival wear, and feather accessories in steampunk on the rise, there are a whole heap of beautiful feathered oddments and ends to be found on folksy. Often in rich browns and silky greys, natural feathers can blend really well with a toned-down autumnal wardrobe, while bright dyed feathers can bring a bit of colour in.

I love feathers, shimmery peacock colours especially, and have picked these sellers out not only for the feathers they have chosen, but the very pretty way they've put them together. These would make an excellent gift for someone who doesn't stick to the shallow end of the trendy pool. Yes, I just used that awful metaphor. Enjoy!

~♥~ FEATHERS ~♥~

 

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