Secret Santa Gift

We have a little tradition in our office which is Secret Santa but the rules state that the gift has to be from a charity shop, and cost under £5.

I was rather pleased with the gift I put together for my boss; a pretty 'floral alphabet' Ulster weavers t-towel (which had never been used) and a sweet edition of Madame Bovary.

My gift came well in under the £5 mark and actually made a rather smart little present. I would have been happy to give this as a gift regardless of what the rules stated about the presence of a charity shop in the gift giving process. Heck, this chic little parcel would please lots of fabulous ladies I know.

Lovely Jasmine, who I have mentioned before, gave me the idea to free-hand embroider names onto ribbon for the gift tags - a lovely little personal touch.

Vintage Liberty Print Skirt

A couple of weekends ago I struck gold on the Walworth Road.

Behold - a thing of a beauty, character and history - an absolute wonder which will never date... a genuine Liberty print skirt. Size 10, for £3.99.

YES. £3.99

To any second-hander, finding Liberty print really is like finding gold. Even in high-end second-hand and vintage shops, genuine Liberty print is hard to find. And the reason for this: Liberty print is so expertly designed that it will be a thing of charm forever. And so, Liberty print items stay in families forever and get passed down between generations and can be worn quite comfortably for years.

I think this skirt is from the 60s because of the chic pencil shape. And as this is the time of year for giving, I will be gifting this find to a lovely friend of mine who I know will absolutely treasure it. Plus, I know it will fit her like a glove, her Twitter profile even says: 'ultra-journalist in Liberty fabrics'. I saw this and thought of her; she has to have it. Sorry for ruining your Christmas surprise, lovely Jasmine. I couldn't keep this from my blog any longer.

Bright Old Things - Vintage Lamp

Can you believe that I got this chic lamp from my favourite charity shop in Luton for the princely sum of £2.90 last weekend?

I have been searching for a lamp of this high class caliber for a while now - sturdy and classic, just the right size - Perfect for brightening up a dark corner of my room.

The added bonus: you can't get 100watt bulbs in regular shops anymore because they're too ridiculous for the sensible EU standard deciders... unless, you get really lucky with a charity shop lamp which comes with a now obsolete dazzling bulb. It's bright enough for me to apply my make-up on a dark morning in December without looking like a complete clown come proper light at 10am.