One of my favourite things to do in the weeks leading up to Christmas is to scour the magazines for gift ideas. Not just for myself, although that was obviously a big draw, but for my children, husband, my parents and in-laws and nephews and niece.
It (eventually!) occurred to me that with my blog I can create my own gift guides. This one has a bookish theme with all links to Etsy. I like to support Etsy as all the items come through individual sellers. I’ve bought a number of things from there over the course of this year, including my gorgeous wooden desk that you see in so many of my Instagram posts and YouTube videos.
[Just to be completely transparent all the links to Etsy here are affiliate links. That means I get a small amount if you shop through the links but at NO cost to yourself.]
Wall prints
Quantum Prints has some beautiful vintage wall art prints.
I have to start with this Hundred Acre Wood Print. It is utterly gorgeous. I could get lost staring at it. Then another stunner is this set of nine Alice in Wonderland wall art poster set. I also adore this tree art print.
BokaPrint has a number of lovely Harry Potter themed prints but my favourite has to be this one saying ‘when in doubt go to the library’. I’m getting it for my book-mad daughter’s birthday.
This Hercule Poirot print by TeddyandGoo is actually an instant download so there is no wait for it to be shipped. Perfect for last minute presents.
Another Alice in Wonderland print. I just adore the deep colours. Have a look at the shop the print is from. It’s called Abbielmagine and has cute little gifts - I mean who doesn’t want a ‘Greatest Snowman’ mug in their Christmas stocking? There is also Jane Austen, Peter Pan and various Fairytale prints. And I love this Les Miserables one.
This Bellatrix Lestrange print (one of my favourite characters from Harry Potter) (similar to the one pictured above) is available from HoneyBlossomMurals.
Other bookish gifts.
I’ve already mentioned an Alice in Wonderland print but there’s also this ‘drink me’ mug from KatieAbeyDesign.
And who doesn’t want their home smelling like a vintage bookshop? This vintage bookshop candle by TheYorkCandleCompany is a musky blend of woods.
This Albus Dumbledore quote candle comes in a gorgeous tin with a variety of scent choices by wearefyrefly.
And finally…I would’ve loved this as a teen. My very own library kit complete with date stamp. ALL the heart emojis!
(Below is my rustic wooden desk at 150cm wide. It is made from reclaimed scaffold boards and is on hairpin legs. Mine is treated in walnut and has green hairpin legs. Its is from CoastalFurnitureUK.)
With writing we are lucky in that we don’t need much in the way of kit before we start. Just a notebook and pen. A computer is also good as is a printer. In this day and age many people have already got these items for work or school. I’ve always written my projects in Microsoft Word but since last year I blew the dust off the Scrivener software I invested in some years ago and started to use it for my book proposal. And I was hooked. Since then I’ve used it for my Patreon essays and for my newsletters. Everything now gets written in there and then gets saved on my external hard drive and backed up on another external hard drive.
In this video I share exactly how I use Scrivener and which external storage I use. Click the link to watch: https://youtu.be/EEqj6LqUVkk