It feels really early to be shouting about Christmas gifting at the beginning of October, but when I was doing markets in August people were confiding that the purchases that they were making were actually for Christmas presents! For some of you this post will therefore be perfectly-timed - I’ve got a lovely range of eco-friendly Christmas cards and wrapping paper already in stock, with more cards to come later this month, alongside drops of new gift sets featuring some of my best-selling designs, as well as commission slots for those looking to give something unique and bespoke!

I’m so excited to finally be able to talk about a project I’ve been working on for the charity Equal Arts to illustrate two singing Christmas cards developed and performed by a group at Grange Lea care home and Birch Grove assisted living in Tyneside.

I’ve worked hard to identify suppliers that share my values around environmental responsibility; all of the companies I work with are based in the UK and take sustainability seriously. I’ve tried to keep to a small range of either beautiful or functional (or both!) items like mugs, tea towels, coasters, cards and prints.

I really love giving people presents - both bought and handmade. In fact, I used to spend hours and hours on Christmas boxes for people, trying to create the perfect mix of handmade goodies (usually edible, but sometimes sewn or knitted) and little things I’d bought over a period of months. By gifting in this way, I could also be 100% sure of what something was made from and it also meant that I could reduce the environmental impact of the gifts themselves, as well as the wrapping and packing. A couple of big life events have made spending that much time on Christmas gifting unfeasible over the last few years. So I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve been doing more recently to try to ensure that my Christmas gifting continues to be as eco-friendly and sustainable as possible.

I really enjoy the run up to Christmas, as I’m a natural list-maker and organiser. I love getting cosy at home with the wood burner on and the smells of Christmas baking and cooking, or venturing out into town or to local events with twinkling lights and good company.

I decided to commit to the process: 1 seamless pattern (and associated artwork), created from scratch each week and shared with the Instagram challenge hashtag for a whole year!