CHRISTMAS WRAPPED WITH THE KID WHO

I've been quite organised this year in getting the gifts ready for the big day, hiding them away from little hands and prying eyes, but I'd forgotten about the little details when it comes to gifting and  making them look pretty, whether using ribbons and bows or handprinted paper, presentation is a big thing when it comes to giving out presents. Thankfully I've got Christmas wrapped with these cool products from online store The Kid Who.

Each month I've been collaborating with cool the independent online retailer The Kid Who to showcase some of their gift ideas, so with Christmas on my mind – think stylish decortarive wrap, cute gift tags, cards full of festive wishes – I was excited to share everything you need to get your gifts looking stylish this holiday.


I'm totally in love with all the cute cards that from The Kid Who and have stocked up this season. Normally we try to buy a big batch of cards that donate to charity for his friends at school and then we choose some stylish cards for close friends and family as an extra special touch. I love Ingela Arrhenius illustrations so it's no surprise I was drawn to this cute Christmas Reindeer card and this stylish foil Santa card, also this Snow Sledge card from UK illustrator, Ben Jarvens, reminds me of having fun in the snow! You can find the full range of cards here.

When it comes to gift wrap we always try to get a bit creative, in the past we've printed our own, we've gone crazy with colour and always try to make it as personal as possible. As soon as I saw these OMY Coloring in City Food Mats I knew they would be great for Christmas. F has been colouring his heart out and bringing to life city scenes, and we're going to use the finished sheets as wrapping paper to decorate the gifts given by him. We've kept a few spare sheets as these will be great at the dinner table on Christmas Day to keep him entertained as the family tuck in to the extensive Christmas feasting.

How cute is this Noodle Masking tape! I've hidden this away from F as I'm planning on wrapping his presents with this. Not only has it got the cutest little characters on the tape, it's also masking tape making it easy for him to tear open presents under the tree. I also love the cute little presentation screen printed box it comes in and the free bunny bookmark!

I'm always drawn to geometric shapes, minimalist design, and gold/whites colour combination, so when I saw these super stylish gift tags from Scandinavian brand Ferm Living I knew they would be high up on my must have list! I love the simplistic design and can't wait to see the smiles as I hand over Christmas wishes written on these beauties. 

When all gifts are wrapped and the finishing touches are in place, all that's left is to hang the stockings and wait for Father Christmas to do his thing. Every year we unpack the boxes, hang the baubles and get the house all twinkly, but this year one of our boxes has gone missing – along with our nine year old Christmas star – and the stockings are nowhere to be found. So I snapped up this gorgeous Scandi stocking from Ferm living, I love the gold splatter effect and it will look perfect hanging from the mantelpiece. 

For those dear ones too far to send presents by post, then why not send a decoration. I think I'm going to invest in a handful of these beautiful pop out card decorations by Studio Roof to send over to our friends in Australia. They are super stylish and affordable, being the same price as a Christmas card.

Have you got your Christmas wrapped or are you a last minute shopper? If you want some more gift wrapping ideas then why not check out my pinterest board for some last minute inspiration. 

CHRISTMAS STOCKING FILLERS FROM THE KID WHO

As you might remember I'm collaborating with the fab independent store The Kid Who to showcase some of their super gifts for kids and now that December is less than 24 hours away, I've started pulling together some ideas for the big day and thought I'd share my Christmas Stocking fillers list. For me being able to put a few small presents at the end of the bed can potentially buy at least 20 minutes of shut eye before we all get into the day's festivities – although *shh* secretly I'm normally the first up due to all the excitement.

Whether buying for children of friends or family, I've found these five super gifts for £15 or under, all channelling great design and style, perfect for little ones. First off is this stunning book In The Forest, at £15 this will delight any child with beautiful illustrations that literally pop off the page. The story shows a lush green vibrant jungle full of animals and what happens once it's destroyed. Children will love searching for the Sloth hidden in the tree tops and the beautiful lesson on taking care of nature and seeing a forest reborn.

Jigsaws are always a big hit in our house, F will spend ages on the floor working on a puzzle and what's more fun than the bright lights of New York City! This fab Mouk Jigsaw Puzzle at £14 will get little minds racing trying to piece together the vibrant picture and pour over all the quirky details in Marc Boutavant's illustration.

If a you fancy hanging your stocking fillers at the end of the bed but you want something that lasts longer than a day, how about this gorgeous Kids Landscape Gym Bag from Ferm Living at £12. Made from 100% this soft drawstring bag is the perfect size to fit a few gifts in doubling up as a great present in itself. F has already sneaked this one out from it's hiding place and has promptly started using it as a teddy bear carrier. I love the Nordic inspired design from Ferm Living and I think it makes the perfect accessory for an adventurous day out with little ones.

Do you have a small space fanatic in your family? I do so this Studio Roof Totem Kanika pop out Space gift couldn't be more perfect for a stocking filler at £5. Made from card, you can pop out a space station, rockets, radar, astronaut and space related illustrations, and slot them together to create small toys for budding astronauts. Once played with just un-slot the pieces and carry in your bag ready for some emergency fun on the go.

Lastly this cute Bunny Night Light at £4 will be a hit with any animal or nature lover. It gives of a small a warm cosy glow with an internal LED light and a nice fuzzy feeling inside due to the cuteness factor, and would look perfect on any kids shelf for those who want a little comfort at night.

Oh and as it's Cyber Monday The Kid Who have a fab range of gifts that are on sale until midnight today so don't miss out! Have you got your stocking fillers ready? What would be under your tree? I love these 5 products for under £15 and think they are a great addition to any Christmas day.

*A huge thanks for The Kid Who to ask me to collaborate with them over the next six months as a Gift & Interior Advisor and sending me these wonderful products in exchange for a review.

HOW TO MAKE BUTTER BISCUITS AND THE KID WHO

As you might remember I'm collaborating with the fab independent store The Kid Who to showcase some of their super gifts for kids and last month I focused on all things school related. Well with Halloween creeping up I've picked out some fun products that I thought would inspire our spooky side and creative play.

One of my favourite things to do with F is create biscuit recipes – you can see some of our favourites here and here. So as soon as we found these Halloween cookie cutters I knew we'd spend a morning baking at home, and what better way to display our Butter BOO Biscuits then on these cool Fox and Wolf plates by Helen Dardik! With such a huge range of fun characters to choose from you can make any meal time fun.

We made Gluten Free biscuits due to Paul's intolerance and they are so super easy to make with only three ingredients needed!

To make your Gluten Free Butter Boo Biscuits you'll need:
• 225g Gluten free white bread flour
• 85g Caster sugar
• 170g Organic unsalted butter

To make:
1. Sift your flour into a bowl and add in the sugar and soft butter. Mix together until combined – you might need to get your hands stuck in to make a good dough.
2. Roll into a ball, wrap in cling film and pop it in the fridge for 20 minutes.
3. Take your dough out the fridge and roll onto a floured surface and cut your spooky shapes.
4. Place your biscuits shapes on a grease proof baking tray and into a pre-heated oven at 180°C.
5. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden and remove. Allow to cool before getting stuck in!

As well as making spooky biscuits F loves wearing temporary tattoos and picked out some fun Fruit & Vegetable tatts. I'm not sure why he thinks this is a spooky carrot but anythin that helps get stuck into fruit is a great idea in my mind.

This next product has provided a perfect solution for a storage issue we've been having in F's room. This boy loves LOVES dressing up and has a huge amount of costumes to choose from, as you can see they're starting to spill out of his storage basket. With Halloween coming up and a Frankenstein outfit joining the collection I thought this Kolor Paper Bag would be perfect for keeping the clothes contained.

The reinforced paper bag is printed in neon and can be shaped to create a sculpture like storage solution in your room, plus you can choose from paper, stuff and toys depending on what you're using it for. I love the cool scandi style feel to this bag and how it hides all the clutter.

The last item we chose was Endless City New York, this fab game engages your child's imagination by creating a different street scene depending on the order of the cards. In fact we love this so much we have the Endless City London edition. The New York version is atmospheric showing the characterful NYC at night. We both take turns to make a street scene and explore it by making our hands take a walk. F loves this version saying it's fun to be out at late at night, just like trick or treating and I'm secretly hoping to take him there next year for a stateside adventure!

What fun things do you have planned for Halloween? Are you going out Trick or Treating or staying cosy at home?

*A huge thanks for The Kid Who to ask me to collaborate with them over the next six months as a Gift & Interior Advisor and sending me these wonderful products in exchange for a review.

GET YOUR CHILD SCHOOL READY WITH THE KID WHO

As you might remember from this post I have been tasked with the awesome job of Interior Advisor for the wonderful award winning online children's lifestyle and gift store The Kid Who. Each month I've been asked to choose some of their fab products to share with you and as I love design and cool kids pieces I couldn't think of a better brand collaboration!

As you can imagine this month has been all about starting school, and what with parents evenings, washing uniforms and a kiddo old enough to be in school I'm suddenly feeling officially old. So to get myself prepared for this next huge step I focused this months items on things that will get my child school ready.

Already last week we've had four letters, yep let's just count that again, f-o-u-r letters from school, two gold smiley stickers for good listening – which F is oh so proud of – and my attempt at decoding his descriptions of his new friends and potentially identify them at the school gate with the class name list to hand. Who knew it would be so complicated! So to help us/me get better organised and let F have a bit more independence I chose this Pegboard by Block in light blue. I thought this would look great in either his room or the kitchen – A.K.A keeper of letters/notes/vouchers/general paper information  – and be solely dedicated to school stuff. So any badges, stickers, drawing etc can be displayed and he can feel proud of himself knowing he's got a dedicated display space. I love the light blue colour and the wooden pegs each with contrasting colour ends.

Next I chose this super cute Meo & Friends keyring from Danish designer Cristine Crebas, at £3 I'm hoping this friendly little character will keep F company at school while giving his school bag a bit of personality. He's already super keen to get some more fun badges to pop on their too and jazz up his navy bag.

Lastly I chose this fun kids book, Stargazers, Skyscrapers & Extraordinary Sausages, I'm a huge fan of kids books and have been collecting book filled with beautiful illustrations and great design since my early twenties, so knew this had to be added to our shelves. F was so excited to have a book to put in his book bag – even though that's not quite how it works – and I'm happy he's excited about school. The book unfolds the imagination of Henrietta and her dog Frank, and while she's dreaming of all the things she wants to be when she's older, there's only one thing on his mind.

What do you think? Can you imagine any of these beauties in your home? I'd love to hear what your favourite prodct is from The Kid Who.

*A huge thanks for The Kid Who to ask me to collaborate with them over the next six months as a Gift & Interior Advisor and sending me these wonderful products in exchange for a review.

PERFECT KIDS GIFTS FROM THE KID WHO

What better way to celebrate my love for design and independent stores that combine an eye for detail with beautiful products, than to share with you the awesome online shop The Kid Who. Yep this award winning online children's lifestyle and gift store make for browsing heaven with a huge range of contemporary brands all under one virtual roof.

I'm super excited to be working with them over the next six months as an Interior Advisor to showcase some of their fab products making a perfect gift for those big and small kiddo's in your life! I'm hoping to pick out pieces that I think would spruce up a kid's space, giving their room and interior that special touch, and F starts school next week I'm focusing on giving his room a little makeover which I can't wait to share with you. I'm so grateful for these opportunities that allow me to work with such wonderful brands and treat F in the process.

My first choice were these Friends From New York Mini Prints by Ingela Arrhenius, I've had my eye on for these while now and this pack of 7 large postcards are a great to use as notes sent to friends or as mini prints to brighten up a room, plus  I love the cute characters illustrated on top of photographs of NYC landmarks. In fact I love these cards so much I'm keen to add Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam to my collection and F's walls.

My next choice were these super cute Helen Dardik In The Woods Nesting Dolls, we have quite a few Russian dolls dotted around the flat and F loves playing with them, spending time stacking them and including them in his games. So as soon as I saw these animal nesting dolls I knew they would make the perfect gift, not only do they act as a great display piece in his room but he loves acting out scenes from fairy tales with them and making up stories, I particularly love the squirrel don't you?

I totally fell for this super cute Red Dog & Wolf Cup also from the talented Helen Dardik, I really wanted to get a stylish yet functional product that would look good is F's room and he would enjoy using. I love how it looks on his Eames kids table, the cute illustration and the way the colour pops, plus it's a steal at £5.50!

Finally what better way to give a room an instant face lift than this cool giant Ideas Poster by Stephanie Wunderlich, I love the illustration and quirky style promoting big ideas and creativity. It will spruce up any wall and inspire little minds at the same time.

What do you think? can you imagine any of these beauties in your home? I'd love to hear what your favourite is and if you have any suggestions of any fab products from The Kid Who would help transform F's room.

*A huge thanks for The Kid Who to ask me to collaborate with them over the next six months as a interior advisor and sending me these wonderful products in exchange for a review.