Wee Birdy

London's best Christmas crackers: the crafty cracker

Cracker crib notes:
What? Laura Laura handmade crackers.
From? Laura Laura.
How much? £5 each or a set for £25.
The booty? Each cracker contains a traditional paper hat, a motto and a pair of button earrings.

Birdy pick of the week

These utterly wonderful clay birds are doing the rounds on the blogosphere (India Knight's Posterous via Tea for Joy) - but how could I *not* post about them? They're birds. They're made in London. Heck, they're even made from London itself (clay, to be exact). Historical too - the clay is dug up from the site of an old Victorian warehouse in Islington, and dates back to "the Palaeogene period, 50-60 million years ago ... when a warm tropical sea covered London". Swooon. You can get them from Folksy (but they appear to be sold-out at the moment), or check out the blog.

Wee Etsy find: Simpli Jessi dolls

I've had these hand-crafted dolls by Simpli Jessi bookmarked for months now. I love their ruby-red circle cheeks, wavy hair and graphic simplicity, as well as the raw, vintage quality of each individual doll. And they take custom orders, too. They'd make perfect Christmas presents for children three years and up. US$64 from Simpli Jessi's Etsy shop. Follow the blog here.

After more handmade Christmas present ideas? Browse through my Etsy find archives.

Christmas shopping nights in London – part 3

Here's my final round-up of London's best Christmas shopping sales, markets and events. Get your diaries ready and dig in...

3 December: Late Night Exmouth Market Christmas Shopping Extravaganza
Indulge in some mulled wine and nibbles while you consider your purchases from independent boutiques like EC One Jewellery, Family Tree (pictured below) and Clerkenwell Tales Bookshop. 5-9pm.

5-6, 12-13, 19-20, 21, 22 and 23 December: Pop up Christmas
If you’re in the Stoke Newington area, you might like to check out this Christmas market, which features a variety of brands and designers including Joseph Joseph, Pantone and Rude. You can also make merry with the requisite mulled wine and mince pies, along with Christmas carols and Father Christmas. Click here for more details.

12 December: Bust Craftacular
The Bust girls are back with their festive spectacular, offering over 60 stalls of crafty, handmade goodness. Shop to the sounds of ‘60s girl-pop courtesy of Sheila B, and try your luck at Tatty Devine’s Christmas Tree Tombola (can’t wait to see that one!). Keep an eye out for Belgium Waffle’s Cruel Tea stall, although prudish types may wish to avert their eyes. Adm £2. Click here for more details.

12 and 19 December: Of Cabbages and Kings Christmas market
This Stoke Newington market will be offering a host of festive treats, with refreshments from the Of Cabbages and Kings café. Look out for handmade wares by the likes of Edwyn UK (see below), Strikk handknits and Helen Rawlinson. Click here for more details.

12 December: The Mangle Xmas Sale
Tatty Devine, Rob Ryan and Amanda Fatherazi are just some of the big names to feature in this festive Shoreditch sale. Entrance is free and there will also be tea, cake and music. 11am-6pm. Click here for more details.

18, 19-22 December: Somerset House Super Christmas Market
If you’ve left Christmas shopping ‘til the last minute, here’s your chance pick up some great gifts of the non-high street variety from designers including Michael Marriott, Carl Clerkin and students from the Royal College of Art and Camberwell. Adm £2. Click here for more details.

Wee find: Decorative tapes

Here’s something completely non-essential that I can’t stop looking at: decorative tape. I briefly touched on the subject recently when I posted about Lazy Oaf, but I’ve since found a couple of relatively new UK-based online shops that do a particularly good job at sourcing some hard-to-find varieties from Japan, Korea, the US and beyond.

I’ve been gifted some very cool Japanese MT Tape (above, £5.95 for a pack of two) by Nonesuchthings, who describes her website as ‘somewhere between a blog and a shop’. It’s made from Washi (rice) paper and is removable, so it can be used for all sorts of crafty and enterprising endeavours.

Meanwhile, Papermash (above) stocks all manner of gorgeous stationery goodies that excites paper nerds like myself, including a lovely lace design (£3.75, above) and a pretty illustrative birdy tape. Don’t miss the ‘Free’ page which features a nifty downloadable snowflakes votive project (very pretty for Christmas).