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If you are looking for cute gift ideas then here are some ideas from UK retailer Accessorize. I had a browse around the store and website last week and picked out various designs on stationery, bags, and clothing.... Read the rest of this post

Also new at Cath Kidston for Spring Summer 2017 will be a range of activewear clothing including sports vests, hooded tops and leggings all in this stylish dark floral print (above) called 'Windflower Bunch'. It will also include dedicated gym bags, water bottles and tech accessories.

Cornish company Seasalt have some interesting patterns in their latest collection on jute bags, stationery, chocolate packaging and tea towels. Here are some of best..... 

Orla Kiely has done it again and created another wonderful licensing deal for her prints. This is time it is with UK retailer Halfords to produce a series of bicycles, bike accessories, and camping gear. Orla's designs now appear on everything from saddle covers, to tents and, enamel mugs. Branded under the Orla Kiely diffusion label 'Olive and Orange' (named after her labradoodle dog) there

Accessorize is always a fun place to look during the summer season for bright neon holiday colours and for interesting stationery. Here are some designs spotted in the store and online this week. All this season faves are there - parrots, pineapples, and colourful florals. Catching my eye were the woodland prints and tribal inspired tee-pees. I also included some jewellery pieces for colour

This bright, colourful range of products are the work of MaggieMagoo Designs, founded in 2015 by designer Carole Fenwick. Their tea towels, notebooks, tote bags and art prints are available here on Etsy. They have recently added purses, pencil cases & embroidery hoop art to the collection which will be available at various craft fairs including Crafted by Hand at Masham in Yorkshire on July 3rd

After the success of a pop up shop at Christmas time New Zealand based designer Ellen Giggenbach has taken the plunge and opened her very own retail store "ELLEN G" in Petone near Wellington. It’s in a lovely big airy space and filled with a large variety of products all featuring Ellen's wonderful art. Ellen makes as much as she can herself (the wall hangings, cushions and paper products/

Nicola Blanchfield has a BA(Hons) degree in textile design for fashion and interiors from the University of Huddersfield. She has several years experience working within the greetings card industry. Nicola worked for Tigerprint for five of those years and currently works for UK Greetings. She has recently decided to launch her own website with a range of unique hand made products which include

We begin the new week with a look at some of the latest arrivals at Accessorize. There is a colourful new painted floral design called 'Fleur' which features on notebooks, notecards, gift bags and more. For younger shoppers there is a fun new design called 'Mermazing' on stationery and some lovely wild meadow style florals on various bags and purses. Here are a selection of patterns that caught

Designer Ali Benyon has spent the last ten years living in Australia, but recently moved back to the UK. Now getting straight back into business in her new home she has just launched a new website and released a new range of products, all designed and manufactured in the UK! Products include cushions, toiletry bags, purses, note books, greetings cards and candles Besides her pretty and

Natalya Zahn is an American illustrator currently located in Boston, MA. Her love of nature, animals, and natural history subjects has resulted in a new collection of textiles based on wild plants and pollinators. The original goal for the collection was for display during a solo art exhibition called 'Birds, Bees and Tulip Trees' - thus each pattern was designed at a larger than life size to

Tamasyn Gambell has launched a new range of hand printed accessories this winter. The collection is made from silk-screen printed linens and includes large zip pouches and wash bags ideal for travel and toiletries and smaller pouches are all available for looses change, cards, phone etc. Available exclusively from the Tamasyn Gambell shop you can see an array of patterns and colours online here

Cherith Harrison is a designer and printmaker from Edinburgh who has created a range a Scottish themed products. Cherith's unique home and gift range feature wild rabbits, birds, foxes and her own Scottie dog in tea towels, shopping bags, mugs and greetings cards. The designs all began as screen prints which Cherith illustrates and prints herself and were then adapted onto product. You can

Tom and Hannah at Showler & Showler have just launched some new Tote Bag designs. With seven different designs to choose from the bags are lovingly made in the UK from 100% cotton canvas. Motifs include multi coloured pencils, raindrops and balloons and they can all be found online here along with cards and prints .

'Joke' is the illustrator behind the Artibonita studio label and shops. Joke is based in Belgium and she creates colorful home decor items and trendy accessories for kids and adults. She describes her style as fun, happy, whimsical & colorful. Here are some examples of her work and you can find more Artibonita online here and on Etsy.

Ooh La La are a stationery brand based in Seoul, Korea. Their designs mix retro motifs and florals with quirky characters with graphic influences from the 1970's and 80's. Products include Notebooks, mugs, bags, fabric pouches, pens and more. I searched all around the web to check out their colourful creations and during my research found a UK stockist here.

Today I wanted to post a colourful summery print as we experience a heatwave hear in the UK. Prints don't come much bolder and more colourful than those at Marimekko where you will currently find Sitruunapuu, which i believe translates from Finnish as Citrus. This watercolour pattern was designed by Aino-Maiha Metsola and features on fabrics, ceramics, bedding, kitchen textiles, paper napkins

Yardage Design is an independent design business founded by Nicole James in Brisbane, Australia. Specialising in original textiles all their products are designed and handprinted by Nicole. After the birth of her first child Nicole took up sewing, and although her original aim was just to design and print 'yardage' she soon evolved into bags, tea towels, napkins, etc. Inspiration comes from

Annie Chen is a graphic/surface designer based in Vancouver, Canada and the artist behind Lemonni. The brand wad established in 2013 to bring Annie's patterns and her love of paper and textile together. Her work uses simple shapes inspired by nature, animals and travelling. Her prints such as Acorns, Clouds, and Fish are available on bags, table runners, cushions, tea towels etc. See more from

Today I wanted to highlight a fab print design from Marimekko called "Pikku Huhuli" designed by Aino-Maija Metsola. The print is based on an Autumn woodland where animals are out and about before hibernating for winter. The leaping rabbit/hare motifs add real movement to the pattern and looks especially good on the mug below. Pikku Huhuli is available as fabric by the metre, bedlinen, kitchen

'Allotment' is the newly coloured print for SS15 from Betty & Walter. Now available in a brand new blue colour way the print features across handbags and purses ideal for injecting a bit of colour into everyday life. Allotment was designed by Lisa Levis (nee Stickley) who is the founder the brand Betty & Walter  which she named after her Aunt & Uncle. The pattern began with a series of

What’s Inside? by Isabel Minhós Martins and Madalena Matoso, translated by Isabel Alves and Bergen Peck is a simple and yet clever, funny and honest look at the very stuff of life; the clutter, the detritus we accumulate in our pockets, stuff into in the back of drawers, let lurk around in the bottom of our bags.

Part spotting-game, part memory-exerciser, What’s Inside is a slice of family life which allows readers and listeners to play detective. First, a double page spread questions what we might find in a given location (including ‘Granny’s beach bag”, your coat pocket and bedroom wall), before we turn the page to find recognisable treasure; old bus tickets, pieces of lego, bits of plastic toy, string, the odd coin, a dirty tissue or two. The prediction game alone is great fun, but Martins has made it even more enjoyable by sneaking in some unexpected items, by posing extra questions which get you to go back and look again at what you’ve found, by making connections which link the different handfuls of bits and pieces pulled up and out into the daylight from where they’ve been gathering those little bits of crud which get stuck under your fingernails.

Replete with opportunities for discussion, laughter and moments of satisfaction (not only from recognition but also as a result of successful discoveries and problem solving), this is a delightful book, with bold and stylish illustrations, which will appeal across a wide age range, and especially to any children who love to collect and hoard, to classify and arrange their special things.

I don’t have a handbag as such, but I never leave the house without my rucksack…

Here’s my kitchen counter; can you spot the samovar, bag of pistachios, and kitchen waste waiting to go to the allotment compost bin?

Somehow showing what is inside my fridge seems like baring my soul!

Can you spot what really shouldn’t be in the fridge??

Music which could go well with What’s Inside? includes:

Other activities which you could enjoy alongside reading What’s Inside? include:

What’s inside your fridge? Go on! Share a picture on Twitter or via the Playing by the book Facebook page

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of What’s Inside from its UK publisher.

I am continuing to feature new Spring Summer ranges, starting with Oliver Bonas. Some of these items are sneak preview of what we can expect to see over the next few months in their stores and online. There will be a personalised range where customers can pick from four, colourful silk screen printed covers to create the perfect personalised journal, made from 100% recycled paper and presented

I came across a really great web shop recently called Deco-Graphic. This French based website not only stocks some great brands such as Atelier LZC, Mini Labo, Isak, Hipp, Ingela, Mr & Mrs Clynk, Fifi Mandirac, Orla Kiely, and Lotta Jansdotter but it also styles it's product shots really nicely. The owners obviously put a lot of time and effort into their photography and create styling with