This will be the last Retail Therapy post.   It’s the last one before Christmas, and it’s MUCH too late to do any ordering now, but I don’t want this blog to become an Etsy vehicle anyway, so enough is enough.

For now.

So, what can we do this week – since it is much too late to be ordering Christmas gifts?  Well, why don’t we look at thank you cards?  Maybe they’re an anachronism in these days of phone calls for pretty much everything and social networking for everything that’s left, but I think they’re a great tradition and people do love to get them.  The witty ones at the top are printed on an Adana flat bed press with antique woodblock letters – by Print for Love of Wood.  SO much nicer than the generic W H Smith or Clinton Cards offerings, if you ask me, and at £2.50 each, hardly more expensive, even though these are lovingly hand made especially for you.

There is a great selection of beautiful, hand made cards out there.  For instance, if you have loved ones you won’t be seeing at Christmas, you might want to pick up half a dozen of these delightful hand-made cards.  You can send one to Auntie Em, for that jumper she sent you with the four foot long sleeves.

Now, I ask you – what aunt wouldn’t love that?  You can buy these charming floral thank-yous from Celebrationz, for £2.61 each.

And maybe Uncle George would appreciate getting one of these in the post to thank him for that stale box of liquorice allsorts.

Not over-the-top cute, these, but really nicely designed and cool as cucumbers.  Perfect for the male rellies, and the more discerning women, too.  Chevron ‘Thank you’ notecards from Delightfully Noted.

… or maybe these would be more appropriate!

I don’t know how stale they might be, but I just love the idea of thank you notes covered in sweeties, don’t you?  Get them while they’re hot fresh off the press from Pink Box Crafts.

It’s the thought that counts, after all, so if you do get totally inappropriate gifts from your nearest and dearest, don’t curse them.  Thank them warmly, with a really puzzling card, and brighten their day.

That genius idea is from Words For You, and of course, since it is more than just a card, it’s a little more expensive – but still good value at £4.59 for one.

And of course, if you get something wonderful, you’ll definitely need these absolutely delightful art deco cards on which to jot down your gratitude and send off into the void that is the Post Office, to be delivered later by your very own Sally the Post Lady*.

These are from The Polite Fox, hand printed on an antique printing press in a beautiful pure blue on a quality cotton blend paper.  If you are writing to someone older, who really cares about nice things and suffers from delights in a little gentle nostalgia, these are the ones for you!  Just £9.83 for a set of eight, high-quality cards with envelopes.

And for those with children, how about these cute-but-not-too-cute, children’s thank you notes?  Twenty four sheets in a pack with coloured envelopes – a bargain at £10 from Aimee and Lou at Yoyo me.

And don’t forget to get your order in now, because some of these need to be sent from the US, and I’m sure you’ll be wanting to get scribbling before the New Year is in.

*Sally the Post Lady is great.  She is our post carrier, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her without a smile on her face.  She is often to be seen with her blond curls flying and toothpaste-ad smile flashing, as she cycles into the teeth of a force 9 hurricane to get our mail delivered safely.  She is pretty, and super-friendly, efficient and very Enid Blyton.  She brightens my day.

And I’m a straight-as-a-die woman, by the way.

Now. What shall I show you this week?  I do, of course, have some spiffy stuff in my HoundMade Designs shop, but only for those of you who have dogs.  And even then, only for those who want to spend their hard-earned cash dressing them up for special occasions … and anyway, there’s not so much under ten pounds, so I’m showing you some spiffy stuff from other people, instead.

There’s still just about time to order from overseas, providing you don’t then want to post your goodies off somewhere else, so this week will be a mix of home-grown and overseas items. They’ll have to be small and lightweight, but then with everything under £10 or so, they’re going to be pretty small anyway.

How about Christmas jewellery? It makes a great stocking filler, it’s small, easily packed and posted, and it’s festive and fun!

And to start, I found these delicious Christmas tree earrings!

They’re only £9.84 and they’re from KCMisMe on Etsy. I have some Christmas earrings in my own shop on Etsy, Jay Silver, but it’s nowhere near as classy as these gorgeous things.

Oh, but .. wait! I did jewellery last week, didn’t I? And no doubt you all rushed off and bought some, and you’re all jewelleried out! So.

Who could possibly resist these adorable wine charms? Forget the Christmas trees and holly and snowmen and jingle bells and all. These are much more fun!

From Wine All About It, they cost a stunningly low £3.83! I don’t know how they even make them for that money. Better order quickly though, since they are made in Canada.

Next up, a super gift for a hostess, or a stocking filler, whichever you like. Have you ever seen such pretty, personalised wine stoppers?

Made by Ruthie Sutter of Pottery Kreations and costing a very reasonable £9.83, again, they come from across The Pond, so get those orders in!

Strolling over to Maureen Pinder, can you guess what these are?

Well, yeah, there’s a heavy clue in the picture, isn’t there? They’re wine bottle aprons, to wrap round your bottle of plonk classy wine to stop the drips spoiling your special tablecloth.  Clever, huh?  And extremely festive.  Educational, too!  AND only £2.50!

Lastly, something cute for the kitchen.  Yours, maybe, or again, a stocking stuffer for a designated driver!

Simple, but effective; a Christmas pudding tea cosy!  This one is made by Madam Morgans and will set you back only £9.00!  Sound expensive?  Not really.  Nine pounds is actually quite reasonable for a hand-crafted pretty thing like this, when you consider the work that goes into it.

People – for some reason – don’t expect to pay much for handcrafted items, and I suppose I’ve perpetuated that myth by finding you some real bargains during this series of Retail Therapy posts, but the fact is that many hand-crafters are at best paying themselves sweat-shop wages, and at worst, barely covering their costs.

And let’s face it, if you buy from places like China* you’ll surely be supporting the equivalent of sweat-shops because how can they produce goods so cheaply otherwise?

Just something to think on.

* Yeah, check those labels, you’ll find a very high percentage of Christmas gifts from reputable UK stores actually come from China. Even those with the Union Jack on them.

These three sweethearts were returned to the RGT* the week before last when their owner tragically died.  I don’t know the details of that, but my heart goes out to the family.  There’s nothing much else I can do for them, though I do feel for them in their loss.

My more immediate concern is for the dogs, who have been living in a comfortable home with a loving owner for a very long time, and now find themselves back in the kennel block and living on concrete again, at the beginning of what might turn out to be a very harsh winter.

The youngest is six years old, having been born in 2005.   That’s Blackjack, the dog on the left.  Then in the middle we have Texas, born 2003, and the elder statesman Whiskey on the right – he was born in 2001.  He looks a lot like Renie, doesn’t he?  I have no idea if they’re related because I don’t know what his racing name was.

You see, these dogs aren’t local.  They came from somewhere further north, but the local kennels were full to bursting and nobody up there could house them, so they asked around and found Brambleberry Greyhounds, and here they are.

They’ve lost their home, they’ve travelled miles, and they’re very unsettled; subdued, and shellshocked.  Chances are, they’ll be split up, too, because it’s hard enough to place a bonded pair, yet alone a triple, so there are more trials still ahead of them.

However, it’s better than the alternative, isn’t it?  And we must do what we can – which is why I’m writing this post.  I know it’s a long shot, but if there’s anyone out there who could help, please do get in touch.  We need homes for these three boys, and we need them soon.  It would be fantastic to rehome them all together, but realistically, they can be split up.

Better a home, love and comfort, than staying together in a kennel – that’s the thinking.  I don’t know … would they prefer to live in spartan conditions with all the aches and pains of advancing age, or would they prefer to be split and have warmth and soft beds?

What do you think?

Anyway, when I got the details so I could post them up on the Brambleberry website, it came with a note:

‘I really need an angel – or angels … ‘

So, that’s it then. All they want for Christmas … is an angel of their own.
 

RGT = Retired Greyhound Trust

So there I was this morning, walking along with a dog lead in my hand and a sore throat taking centre stage and wishing I was back at home, curled up in my comfy chair.  Then I turned a corner and saw this -

And wouldn’t you know it?  I didn’t have my camera with me.  Of course I didn’t.  You only really see the good shots when you’ve left your camera at home, that’s Sod’s Law, so OH’s android took this one.

No, not Data (he would be MY android, anyway, remember?), OH’s android is a phone and I think it’s called a Galaxy, or something.

Anyway, it got me thinking.  You see an awful lot of lost things while walking dogs – well, I do, it seems.  Some of the lost things are merely dropped on the ground having fallen out of someone’s pocket or bag, and while they’re interesting in a kind of ‘I wonder if I should hand that in to the police or if someone will be back for it?’ kind of way, they’re not interesting, if you know what I mean.

However, when you see a lamp-post wearing a pair of glasses, you really have to wonder what the hell happened, don’t you?

A practical joke?  Alien abduction?  The first ever recorded case of ‘man gets transformed into a lampost’? Or perhaps the cycle owner parked them there for some reason and then simply forgot to take them with him.

I suspect we’ll never know.