Vintage love: children's books

I am constantly amazed at the things my mum has kept from our childhood days. She recently asked if my own daughter would 'like to read any of these' - as soon as I saw this collection of children's books I was flooded with memories of reading them as a child. They were my favourites and I must have read them over and over again.

Any child of the 80s will recognise these books! In fact if you are a child of the 80s, you'll love this website

I love a bit of nostalgia, so couldn't resist sharing them with you!

Play School

Babar the Elephant

Munch Bunch

The Wombles

And finally the Berenstain Bears

New Years Resolution: decluttering

I'm not keen on making loads of New Years Resolutions which fall by the wayside come the end of January. One I am planning on sticking to is making an attempt to declutter our house.

This plastic jug pictured above just about sums up my problem. It sits tucked away under my toilet cistern, in our bathroom. Everytime a toothbrush gets too worn out to be used on our teeth, I put it in the jug where it might 'come in handy' for something. My husband thinks I'm mad, but tolerates these things. Whilst I am not a hoarder on this type of scale, I do hate to throw things out. The thought of all the waste making it's way to landfill in this country alone on a daily basis makes me shudder.

Kerbside recycling has improved dramatically over the past few years and we can easily put out paper, cardboard, certain plastics, food waste and garden waste to be picked up from our doorsteps. I'm also keen on passing on sellable things and regularly fill bags for charity. We've also used Freecycle on many occasions and I think it's a fantastic site and must help to prevent more waste going to landfill. We've passed on old TVs, a stereo, old toys, plant pots, boxes of tiles and even a double mattress. The fact that someone is willing to collect from your house is fantastic. I think since we've lived in our current house, we've been to the local rubbish dump about 5 times over 5 years, which is pretty good going and I think Freecycle has been a big help in keeping those trips to the dump to a minimum.

But what about the jug of toothbrushes? There are just some things that don't fit into the kerbside collections and noone would want these in a charity shop and I think they are even beyond Freecyclers, yet I can't bring myself to chuck them in the bin...I know one of the golden rules on recycling is not to buy items in the first place if you can possibly help it, which is something I try to stick to, but as far as toothbrushes go, I don't want to lose my teeth, so I'm going to keep on brushing them. Which leaves the problem of what to do with the old brushes.

And there are lots of other household items that fall into that category, video tapes, old CDs, wine bottle corks, plastic spoons...the list goes on.

Which is why am I so glad I stumbled across this website when trying to find ways to recycle my growing collection of toothbrushes.

How can I recycle this? is a fantastic source of ideas for all those hard to recycle items. It's run by two people who were in exactly the same position as I am now when faced with waste which could be reused if only they knew how. The site works by taking suggestions for items to be reused, then it's up to the good people of the internet to post their suggestions underneath said item. The site also likes to promote people's clever, interesting and creative ideas for recycling something.

A quick search of the site throws up this post on "How can I reuse or recycle … old toothbrushes?". There are some interesting suggestions, including using a Terradent toothbrush, which helps to eliminate the need to keep buying new toothbrushes in the first place. Apart from toothbrushes there are so many other clever ideas, in fact the site has over 14,000 suggestions for a plethora of items. It's definitely a site I will be bookmarking for later use!

Handmade Christmas Gifts

My Auntie is a fab knitter and we've been really lucky to receive lots of lovely presents from her over the past few years. We had a knitted bride and groom for our wedding...and lots of knitted animals when our daughter was born - you can see all her hard work here

This year was no exception - she kindly knitted our daughter a gaggle of Father Christmasses and a snowman. They are so cute and my daughter loves them! They've all had a trip round the house in the pushchair - an honour usually only offered to her Peppa Pig toy :)

My online stores will be closed from 20th December through to 27th December whilst we spend time with my husband's family over the holiday period. This will probably be my last blog post before Christmas, so I would like to wish all my customers and blog readers a very merry Christmas!

Charity at Christmas

It's so easy to get caught up in shopping, decorating and planning for our own family Christmasses that we forget people who are much, much less fortunate than ourselves. I read about this clever idea in my local newspaper and wanted to share it on my blog.

It's such a simple idea, yet since StreetSmart was established in 1998, it has raised over £4.7million for the homeless. Basically, you eat in a participating restaurant (there are lots all across the UK) and a voluntary £1 donation is added to your bill. A 100% of that £1 goes to homeless charities.

In my home city of Bristol there are over 12 restaurants taking part and the funds raised will go to help charities such as Bristol Soup Run Trust, Caring at Christmas and One 25.

So, whilst many of us are out celebrating, the StreetSmart campaign reminds us how important and how easy it can be to give a little bit back to charity at Christmas.

Warm Spice Owl Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed - many thanks to everyone who took part!

This is a festive twist on my popular range of lavender owls. Instead of the usual floral aroma, this owl is filled with my own delicious blend of star anise, cinnamon and cloves. It brings a truly festive scent into your home!

This giveaway will run for two weeks and the lucky winner will win one warm spice vintage fabric owl in buttercup and chestnut. Full details of the competition and how to enter are listed below. Good Luck!

How to enter:

mandatory - Please visit my Etsy store and leave a comment below telling me which is your favourite item.

three additional ways to enter:

1. Become a follower of my blog. Leave a comment and let me know that you're new.

2. Tweet this giveaway: @pouchbags Warm Spice Owl Giveaway: http://pouchbags.blogspot.com/2011/11/warm-spice-owl-giveaway.html

3. Become a fan of Pouch on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pouchdesigns

**If you enter this giveaway, please state clearly your email address, OR your Facebook/Twitter/Etsy username, so I can contact you in case you win**

The giveaway runs from Friday November 25th through to midnight (GMT) Friday 9th December. I will pick a winner at random, and announce the winner on December 12th 2011. Please note: This competition is open to worldwide entries, but if you live in Australia, I will not be able to send a scented owl due to strict custom restrictions. I will be happy to send an unscented version.

**Shop news!** I am also offering free worldwide shipping on all items in my Etsy store for 7 days, starting from Cyber monday and ending on 5th December. Please use coupon code CYBER2011 at checkout!

Vintage love: fabric finds for November

I have been behaving myself recently and I have not given in to my addiction. I haven't bought any vintage fabric for, well, at least four weeks, maybe even five...

But I just had to buy this floral fabric, it's just the stuff I like to use to make my lavender owls and rabbits. I find it has the perfect texture and thickness for making my plush animals. I can't wait to get snipping and making with this lovely lot. It will have to be in 2012 though as I am pretty busy with Christmas orders at the moment!

The other 'zig zag' fabric was given to me as a gift. After doing a bit of googling, it turns out that this Margo International fabric designed by Anna Caldwell dates from 1972. I've found a link to some of her work here, her "Brix" fabric won a Design Council Award in 1975. So, I am very happy that it was gifted to me! I'm not sure what to make with it yet. It is lovely and thick with a nice weave to the fabric.

20% off all vintage trims

Right now I am offering 20% off all trims in my Etsy and Folksy stores. This is a perfect time to stock up on some beautiful fabric trims for your next crafting project. They come in all colours of the rainbow and many are incredibly intricate and highly collectable. A must-have for all you vintage fans! Hurry over, due to the fact these trims are vintage, they are all strictly limited edition, once they are gone...I can't source more!