I love gift shops so much that it was my dream to have my own, but full of my original art, books, stationery, and home goods. While we do use and decorate our home with my lovely seasonal gifts for special occasions, we also like to shop once a year at The Bees Knees British Imports shop. These women exude happiness. It’s so fun to visit their online shop, and we hope to one day visit their MA store.
The British Store, Bridgham & Cook shop in Freeport Maine, is a local (to us) place to choose our annual themed ornament. I used to love exploring every UK-sourced shop in whichever city I was living. I’m a collector of newsboy hats, tartan scarves, and cable knit jumpers, but only the rare organic cotton ones. (As always, not a sponsored post, just like this co.)
Then for some extra flavour, we bake and snuggle up with our favourite BBC programs like Gardener’s World and Agatha Raisin, Miss Scarlet, Jane Austen movies, old stop-motion Paddington episodes, Beatrix Potter’s friends, Mr. Bean (not while eating), and our silly old Pooh Bear movies. Recently, we found an odd but funny little show called, Five Children and It. Very odd, but fun to see what the kids wish for. Many of our books are by British authors, so it’s a cosy day of tea and reading in the sitting room nook, curled up in bed, or in the sun of the library. We hope the Brambly Hedge fine china designs come back! We love the puzzles.
This week, we’re organising our sewing supplies. This little thread tin will help to keep our current threads in one place…and not rolling off the table. The prettily threaded tote bags will hop along with us on outtings in town. We’re very much a family of library owls. And, the mugs…we just use daily so it’s fun to catch up on certain ones. Love the flora-fauna one. It has a good feel, and when we find some each year, it builds up a nice collection in our custom-made tea drawer. Ours is a home of artists and writers, so having these classic illustrations about is another fun way to celebrate the imagination. I’ve been waiting years to see these lovelies in shops again, and done very well. Quality matters a lot to me. We only buy special things that will last lifetimes. We only make special things that will last for ages. It’s fun to take care of your treasures.
When I was a teen, there was a beautiful online French gift shop where I got some lovely tablecloths and some amazing rainbow striped high-top espadrilles. There is just something about wanting to find a gift for yourself, or a Dear One, and being surrounded with a curated array of gorgeous options to wander and choose as you like. As a child, there was a local gift shop that was absolutely bewitching to explore. I recall a very elegant (expertly handmade) winged frog fae on a shelf that really sparked a new kind of magic in me. I have many plans to add to A Gentle Life Collection…coming up, my Darlings.
Well, we’re away laughing on a fast camel…bringing strawberry vegan icecream cones down to the beach. Happy summer birthdays! Love, ~Amor Milagre
