Marvellous Mary Poppins Carpet Bags

Voyager Elite Wreath Red, was £164.95 now £129.95

I have always been teased for the size of my handbag. It's not really so much a handbag as a room. "Poppins bags," my old housemate used to call them, because ridiculous amounts of stuff kept being magicked in and out of them. And why not?

Really, I loved the Poppins bag nickname. I adored that part of the film where she keeps on bringing furniture out of her carpet bag, and while, sadly, I never was able to fit a standard lamp (switched on, if you please) into my bag, I did have an actual carpet bag which I treasured throughout my teen years.

Grace Tessera Light clutch bag - was £39.95, now £24.95

The ones from Made of Carpet are practically perfect in every way. Designed in Britain to the old Victorian style, and made in Europe from Western European rugs, with leather handles and proper quality checks along the way. They also come in the most ridiculously lovely patterns - check out the full range. And hurrah - some of the one-off designs are ON SALE so are more affordable than usual. If you've been hankering after a special, quirky bag as a treat, this might be the time.

The Voyager Elite style, shown here in navy and wreath red at the top, is my favourite. I love the richness of the colours chosen, and the no-nonsense Poppinsness of the shape. It's £129.94 down from £164.95.

This lovely tote is perfect for swishing over your arm and going off on impromptu travels - that's what the Victorians used them for, anyway. The Amenity Pergola is shown here in a special colour for 2014, "the year of the green-blue Horse", which is significantly more advanced than I knew, which was basically "Um...I think it's the year of the Horse? Possibly? Can't quite recall." It's £129.95 down from £149.95. If you're feeling particularly Sluttery Fantasy, team it up with a pair of Charlotte Olympia's birthday shoes - in the Horse style, naturally.

"Kat, I do not have £130 to spend on a handbag this or any month. Sort me out with something more realistic but still Poppinsy."

Your word, etc. The Grace Bukhara clutch bag is £24.95 down from £39.95 and comes in this great red, and the blonde shown at the top. Made of Carpet do a bunch of fabulous smaller bag designs, including those lovely delicate small bags with a chain called "reticule framed". It even sounds like it belongs in the V&A. Glamour.

For something completely different, try popping this amazing tote bag over your arm: Enigma Bukhara. It snaps shut and has two pockets inside, one zipped, and it's £49.95 down from £69.95.

If you're not quite up for going full-Victoriana (WHAT? *reaches for smelling salts*), then these Torba bags are for you: vintage sack-style bags with a flap and fabulous handles. The Intarsia Navy (bottom) is £139.95 down from £154.95 and the Pergola Light is £114.95 down from £149.95. And if you sniggered at bottom, then Mary Poppins cannot help you, but it's a good excuse to watch a lot of Rik Mayall clips on YouTube instead.

A Modern Mary Poppins

I was suffering a bit from the January Blues earlier this week: the combination of snuffles, cold feet and frizzy hair do not make a happy me. But then an email from Nancy and Betty popped into my inbox and their new treats cheered me up no end. Their Practically Perfect in Every Way tape (£5.95), aside from looking perfectly pretty, inspired me to dig out a copy of Mary Poppins. Every day could do with some of that Mary magic.

The perfect accompaniment to this tape? You could invest in this tea towel we featured a little while back, or go for one of these Mary inspired items:

Mary Poppins wouldn't be anything, or indeed get anywhere, without her brolly. I can't help thinking her parrot handle needs a little update though. How about this British Birds Umbrella? It's £30 from Cath Kidston and it opens at the touch of a button. Now that's magic.

What would Mary do in a dull January? I imagine the desire to Feed the Birds would be somewhere on the list. Pledge your allegiance to her cause with this Cheeky Pigeon badge. It's £4 from Hannah Zakari.

Mary would also surely exclaim, "Let's Go Fly a Kite". If that's not possible due to pesky things like, you know, work, remind yourself to have fun with this Kite necklace by NW3 at Hobbs. However, this particular kite isn't soaring as it's reduced to £22 in their sale.

And when you have to deal with all the boring stuff, try and balance it up. with the sweet stuff. Remember that A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down. Louise Buchan's leather penny pouch is pretty sweet in itself with its rope handle but also benefits from an extra cute spoon screen-printed design. It's £45. I'm not quite sure if you could fit a hatstand in there but then that's a task for the real supercalifragilisticexpialidocious pros...

Practically Perfect

Well we're not perfect, not even a little bit, but I do rather like this Mary Poppins inspired tea towel by Luckies of London. It's from brand new shop Pelican Pear and it's £8. There's lots of exciting things over there, so go and check them out.