Christmas can be about buying handcrafted pieces, that are timeless, unique and not mass produced. These don’t need to break the bank, and each piece sold the sellers do a happy dance! This is how we help the economy, by buying small. *I do gain anything from promoting products or shops, I just love to share*

From £8.00 to £20.00 you can buy incredible pieces that are one of a kind Available Here

RiverFell Jewellery Is Simply pretty jewellery. Their jewellery is hand-made at in their own home in Surrey. They spend a lot of time looking for unusual and pretty materials; And while they may not use complicated techniques, they allow the beauty of the beads and gemstones truly shine.

Necklaces, brooches, keyrings and more Available Here ranging from £3.00 to £15.00

Guiding Horses Crafts is a small business based in the UK that sells handmade equine jewellery, equestrian gifts, and equestrian decor.
The shop is owned and operated by Tina Collins, who is passionate about creating beautiful and unique gifts for equestrians.
You can find here, equestrian jewellery, equine accessories, gifts for horse lovers, luxury gifts for equestrians and unique equine jewellery.

From Christmas Tree decorations to crowns they do them all Available Here

Angela Smith Jewellery Is hands down the most gifted wire knitter I know, she crafts the most glorious crowns and jewellery, from a reel of wire and beads. While she loves to use the latest beads and charms, she also upcycles and reuses from old jewellery as well. You won’t find anything like this on the high street.

Knitted characters from £20.00 to £40.00 Available Here

Handmade In Caithness North Scotland Knits Paula takes all the best little characters and creates them in knitted form, from Highland coos, to a mandrake plant from folklore, to spooky skeleton, these are so adorable.

Felted fairies or witches, moongazy hares and sheep Available Here ranging from £20.00 to £52.00

CraftyCambrian Artist uses felt to make the most adorable moongazy hares and magickal fairies, these are perfect as a unique ornament or hanging. I love the witches and I have my eye on one 💖

Make a statement with a light up bottle prices around £25.00 Available Here

The Bottle Bin they launched The Bottle Bin over 5 years ago during their recovery from ME/CFS. And while they are still recovering they find being self-employed and working to their own schedule helps immensely. Gaining inter-transferable skills whilst serving within the RAF, and many years retail management experience has assisted the in setting up The Bottle Bin.

I love supporting Small businesses and I’m a part of two small business groups, one is #MHHSBD which is My Helpful Hints Small Business Directory Available here, and #sbs Small Business Sunday with Theo Paphitis, as I too am a small business (hobbyist) *I do not personally gain anything from promoting and sharing business, gifts and shops*

I’ve made tonnes of friends along the way, and it’s changed how I buy Christmas and birthday gifts, as now I love supporting fellow small business with their unique and one off gifts, instead of mass production products. So this gift guide is solely featuring shopping small.

Find this amazing Art Available Here prices for art ranges from £14.50 to £25.00

This is Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue They are a Husband and Wife team who make hand made items including sewn items and the unique postage stamp art.. All proceeds from these sales will go directly to Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue, A non profit organisation who have a volunteer network across the UK. I can’t think of a better way to spoil a dog lover, buy them a gift and they also are helping rescue dogs too 💖

Canvas art, notebooks and greeting cards Available Here prices range from £6.00 to £15.00

A little bit of love in every make! This is A Canvas A Day Back in 2018 she set herself a challenge to create a mixed media canvas every day for a year!. She smashed that challenge and a couple more similar ones since.
However, whilst viewing this beautiful shop, you will come across jewellery, keyrings, bookmarks, embroidery, cards and my wonderful art! Jill particularly enjoy animals and nature and you will find that many of the pieces encompass both of these subjects! Absolutely stunning, especially the butterfly art canvases.

From custom pieces and original art Available Here prices range from £15.00 to £30.00

The Oaks Art- Jasper is a self taught artist just trying to show the world their work.
Jasper had started teaching himself to draw when he found himself in a job that afforded him a bit of spare time too.
All of their artwork is done using pencil and pastel generally focusing on the female form as well as animals and nature. The faceless women have become a bit of a signature of my work.
Jasper has found doing this art has given him a focus and some self belief. He does custom portraits which is a top gift for family and fur babies.

Drawing sheets to print off, Christmas stickers, or labels Available Here prices range from £2.21 upwards

InksStickersArt is my number one shop for all my stickers, and labels. I love using her art work on my own products, but seeing that she also does digital downloads of mandalas as well for colouring in, these are perfect to print off and make your own booklet. Finish off those Christmas presents with name stickers and labels.

From greeting cards to tea towels and tote bags, Available Here

NenesDesignStudio is a cute and unique way to show your love of Trains, Tractors and Buses. Showcases the best of British trains on tea towels and tote bags or even socks! I know a few train lovers who would love these are gifts. For the man who has everything, or is difficult to buy for.

I have more to share over the next few days and posts, check back for more lovelies

To finish off my little spotlight on mhhsbd members it’s only right I shine the light on the group that’s brought us all together, and the Man behind the directory. Here we have Darren, who after seeing fake reviews everywhere (morphe ones anyone on YouTube??) Or countless ones for Amazon products.

So back in 2017 the website was born, and all reviews are 100 % honest and unbiased. If you Click Here you can see the impressive stats and timeline of products that have been reviewed.

And here is the Small Business Members which explains who they are, what they sell and where to find them.

But what this doesn’t show is, behind the scenes, Darren and Admin run some amazing groups on twitter, and we all support, advise and uplift each other, the friendship groups, the shoulders to lean on, the real sense of community is outstanding.

SammyDesins is Passionate about fabric and the excitement of reworking upcycled and recycled materials into things of beauty.
Sammy began using her mother’s hand operated sewing machine at the age of three, how cool is that? As it was always out on the dining room table and she began using her mother’s scraps to make clothes for her toys. Sammy has always been a bit of a magpie with fabric, unable to resist colour and pattern and with a desire to fashion it into something joyful.

A few years ago she and her husband were lucky enough to move to the coastal town of Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. During our house renovations they met an upholsterer. She was horrified to discover that he discarded the off-cuts of fabric from his work. Not any more! Becausesge never know what she’s going to get and because she rarely receive large pieces, she lets the fabric dictate its use to me and the bag she can make with it. To that end she have reworked/designed a small range of bag patterns that best lend themselves to these random pieces of fabric. The linings are in the main recycled curtains and bedding from local charity shops (all washed of course!). All other trimmings and embellishments are sourced locally wherever possible. Sammy’s ethos is to repurpose, recycle, save on waste and keep down the carbon footprint. Her belief is that there is no reason why things of beauty cannot also be environmentally friendly.

Three years ago she began selling my bags in a small shop locally and also by word of mouth across the island. She is now really excited about the prospect of selling across the UK via my Etsy

Handy bag £35.90 available Here

Wine gift bag £5.90 available Here

Reusable make up wipes £9.90 available Here

TaylorMayde UK is Rebekah and has been running het little home business has been going for 10 years in January and she loves what she does. Rebekah has always crafted but after creating some handmade Christmas gifts for family & friends, She then had the push she needed to make it a business . Rebekah then started creating handmade gifts and home dećor, stepping into printed goods and then adding business stationery & merchandise. You can find her on various platforms including Twitter, Facebook & Etsy Watch this space as my exciting new website is coming in 2023 ♡

Elf arrival box £12.99 available Here

Christmas t-shirt £15.99 available Here

Baby name train £19.00 available Here

Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue

Still with my fellow #mhhsbd members this time I’m highlighting a charity for lurchers, these dogs hold a special place in my heart, as my youngest daughter loves them.

The Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue was set up in 1989 by Pip Singleton who started bringing Greyhounds and Lurchers into her home in an attempt to stop them being destroyed.

The EGLR rescue grew and is now run by about 10 volunteers and has foster homes that look after and raise funds for the 70+ dogs being cared for at any one time.

Now I spoke to Teresa who runs the Twitter side of the charity, and I found out they have a Facebook page Here an Etsy store too Here On the Lurcher.org.uk site you can sponsor or adopt doggies. But you can also help with finding this charity with some beautiful craft items too.

Christmas present tags £6.00 Here

Christmas rag wreath £18.50 Here

Queen Elizabeth stamp art £21.50 Hete

So give a gift with a difference this year and help a rescue charity instead. Let’s prove dogs really are a man’s best friend.