Etsy Pick: Shedraws accessories

I can't think of many Etsy sellers who make it their business to celebrate the British biscuit, and that was the first thing that drew me to She Draws, a home-grown seller whose gorgeous acrylic items are all based around her own hand scrawlings.

There's a range of stud earrings, which includes the Nice and Party Ring designs pictured above right, and some ingenious geek chic accessories like the Retro Record Headphone Tins, above left.


Other teatime treats are celebrated elsewhere in this cute collection, and I particularly love the oversized Raspberry Jelly t-shirt and tea set studs. There's a simple charm to the pieces, which make a refreshing change from the usual cupcake-heavy, all-American iconography we've come to expect from Etsy and its denizens in recent years!

Lovely Lipstick: Topshop's Flame Lip Stick

I've been trying to find the perfect red lipstick since way before it became associated with all things retro (this year, a stylish friend tried to persuade me to attend an interview in red lippie and rollers 'because then they'll know you like vintage'). My first was (probably) from the Body Shop and (definitely) looked terrible. I've ploughed through the classics - Chanel, MAC's Russian Red - and nothing suited my very pale skin.

Typically, my dream red is not by Chanel, MAC or any other fancy brand but by Topshop. When Topshop first announced a makeup line, I was suspicious - it seemed like an exercise in brand extension. But then I saw the products: beautiful packaging, lovely colours and decent prices.

This Lip Stick in Flame is a bargainous £7 and is (for me) the perfect dark-rose red. Best of all, it's a stick so you can outline your lips first, and then fill them in. It gives a glossy, gorgeous colour and I think I might have finally cracked wearing red lippie without looking like a clown.

You have mail

How lovely is this airmail doormat? I'm certain that if I had this doormat, lots of lovely things would land on it. Hand-written letters from loves across the other side of the world, surprise presents from lovely friends. And a subscription to LivingEtc.

In reality, it'll be my credit card bill, a voucher for some washing up liquid and fifty takeaway menus. Shame. Still, that won't stop me paying £21.50 to Graham & Green in the hope that my mail karma might change.

Up with the birds: Birdbox Alarm clock

In an ideal world I'd be awoken by the breaking of dawn accompanied by a chorus of birds. In reality, I'm more likely to be awoken by a neighbourly dispute, the dustmen or the sound of my flat mate bagsying the shower first. That's why I like the idea behind this Birdbox so much. It brings a touch of the rural ideal to us urban types. And with no real animals or animal poo involved, thank god.

Buy one of these flat pack birdhouses from the Design Museum shop and download an app onto your i-phone/i-pod touch. Park your i-pod inside the birdhouse with the screen visible behind the circular hole. When the alarm goes off,  the screen displays a virtual menagerie of birds, nesting, cooing and being cute. The danger is that you then sit entranced by the feathered creatures and still fail to get out of bed but that's the gamble you take for a bit of prettiness at 7am every morning.

When it's not showing cute birdies, the screen displays a regular clock face, matched to the colour of your Birdbox.  I've selected the wood effect box here (well, if you're going to pretend you've got a bird house in your bedroom you may as well do it properly, right?) and it also comes in blue, green or white so there's surely a model suitable for any bedroom décor. Infinitely more stylish than a tamagotchi, the Birdbox costs just £8.

Back to school cool

It's tragic to admit but, come this time of year, I quite miss going to school. It's not because I get a kick out of learning German vocab or quadratic equations or that those were the best days of my life by any means. With September around the corner, I would daydream that somehow this would be the school year when the boy I really fancied looked beneath my greasy fringe and specs and saw the beautiful inner me.  While I never got the boy, I always made sure I got a new pencil case and school bag in readiness for the new term. And therein I learnt a valuable lesson in the comforting powers of consumerism.

Flash forward fifteen to twenty years and that lesson still applies. If your woe is that you really miss going back to school, take a look at these school inspired products for your home. Then rejoice in the fact you have a job and can afford to buy them. They're an awful lot prettier than a chewing gum covered desk, believe me.

I still don't know much about science books or indeed the French I took but I do know I love these experimental flasks from Anthropologie. Made from glass, I can guess they'll look a lot better filled with flowers than they ever would filled with sulphuric acid. They range in cost from £8 to £22.

Maths more your style? Dare to deviate from the standard with the Graphkin designed by Colin O'Dowd. Yep, graph paper + napkin = graphkin. Clever stuff. There's twelve in a pack for £3.50.

More poetic types may favour these zippered cases available from Pilosale's Etsy shop. Made from fabric embroidered to look like writing paper, I'd definitely give these an A. Priced at £13.13, they're suitably sized for make-up or pens. So that's the new pencil case sorted. Time to get onto the satchel and to start plotting an unobtainable crush ready for September.

Natty Necklace: Souvenir Necklace by Tatty Devine

Being the seasoned traveller that I *ahem* am, I have learned the hard way what a bad idea souvenirs are. Bad Bad Bad. Always with a capital B.

You think at the time that it’s so cute and that it you don’t get it you’ll forget the wonderful time that you had, but it’s just not true. What happens is that they go into a box that you you do forget about, until you do a spring clean. Then you hate yourself, for spending €5 on a fridge magnet.

Having said that, I do actually love this souvenir necklace by English company Tatty Devine. Possibly enough to take it home....It’s acrylic, it’s handmade by an independent company and it’s all self referential and lovely. It’s also £18, but still, it is a souvenir that keeps on giving.

I swear it is.

Weird and whimsical: Duktig breakfast set

I'm not sure where my fascination for fake food comes from. It just looks so perfectly delicious, like a fast food poster but without any of the calories. I have a collection of plastic vegetables in my drawer at the office. Last week I lugged back a giant plush hamburger cushion from Paris. It's bigger than my face.

So I was thrilled to find this on Ikea's website this morning. It's a full Swedish. A plush breakfast set. There are holes in the cheese, sauce on the sausages, and the rashers look so crispy I may just need a second breakfast.

It's part of the Duktig range of toys designed to encourage children to role play. I have no idea what I would do with it, but at £5.99 it will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.