I’ll be honest, so far this year has been a bit crazy. Not quite quit my day job crazy, but several times more sales than I usually have in the first three months of the year crazy. So, I haven’t really had my usual amount of quiet time to reflect and recuperate from the Christmas mentalness. Add to this the fact I’ve been given a temporary promotion, which comes with more work to go with the more pay, and I haven’t had time for you at all.

I’m sorry.

Let me make it up to you by sharing some lovely shops and people I’ve dealt with  recently, shall I? And maybe an ice-cream Sundae next time you visit? Ok, deal.

1) Lorton & Horn, who make beautiful goat leather bags, and happen to be based in Nottingham. I recently bought this beautiful satchel from them, my whole flat still smells of new leather. It is quite possibly the best handbag I’ve ever owned, and could easily accomodate a small kitchen sink… To top it all, my parcel came with a mini bag of haribo starmix, which made my day! Having a look through their recent sales, they seem to be going through a busy period, and I couldn’t be more chuffed for them!

2) Under A Glass Sky, from Folksy, who makes all sorts of cute and wonderful things! This is the sort of store that makes me feel like a kid in a candy store, my heart starts racing and I want everything all at once and then I have to have a sit down and a cold drink… Particular favourites include the stamp jewellery (I have a thing about stamps, but don’t tell anyone, it would ruin my street cred. Do kids still say street cred?) and the bizarre brilliance of the world in a matchbox series. She’s relatively new, but her products speak for themselves, and I particularly love the really high quality photos of her stock.

3) Artistique. Good god I could spend a fortune on dolls houses… Maybe because my parents never let me have one when I was a child? The practical side of me is head over heels in love with the re-purposed dolls house storage cabinets, and I have the perfect spot in mind one day (when we have a grown up house!) for this house shaped chalk board, complete with little window and door…

4) Huiyitan, from Truro, who apparently share my obsession with colouring pencils! If you’re reading this mum, then these pencil slice stud earrings would make a great present for someone close to you, perhaps one of your daughters? Maybe the only one with pierced ears? Maybe just as a “happy Tuesday” present, no need to wait till her next birthday!

5) MsSpanner, from the lovely Nicola Rowlands who I had the pleasure to meet at Hello Etsy in Berlin, September 2011. Nicolas illustrations are the sort of thing that set my inner child giggling, with my personal favourites being the slightly random statement pieces, such as “Knickers to them & what they think” and the sublimely viscous “I hate your shoes (please go away)”. She’s been featured on the front page a bunch of times, mainly cause she’s awesome, and her photos properly do justice to her amazing work.

6) Last but not least, the adorable BrickHeads, who take lego jewellery one step futher. Sure you have the standard lego figure cufflinks, but they’ve also carved a niche with celebrity inspired lego figure jewellery and lego memory sticks, and I love the simplicity of the basic brick stuff…

There, now don’t say I never give you anything!