Are you stuck for ideas for Mother’s Day gifts? Dreading hitting the shops and trawling around looking for something perfect. We have been busy uploading the new Greengate products and some of these are perfect for Mother’s Day.

If you are looking for a little ‘stocking filler’ type gift, the flour sifters are hugely popular and really cute too. I’m loving the new Rosie design which got a mention in last week’s RTE Guide. I love the little detail of the lace trim around the edges too.  I think I’ll be starting a collection of Greengate flour sifters and keep one from every single collection!

The latte cups are really cute too and come in a mini set of four in a lovely gift box or singly. At only €25, these little gift boxed mini latte sets are perfect for a gift.

The beauty of some of these designs is that the Naomi Plum co-ordinates so well with the Valery White and/or the Cornelia so you can really mix and match.

Choose from tin storage boxes, handbags / shouderbags, pretty cushions and more from Greengate.

Order tomorrow and we’ll have it to you in plenty of time for Mother’s Day and don’t forget, we also offer free gift wrapping to add to the convenience but caring factor

Do check out our other gift suggestions for Mother’s Day too.

Do you buy your partner a Valentine’s card or a gift?  Are you wondering what to do on Valentine’s Day that might make it extra special?  Here at Garrendenny Lane, we are always smack bang in the middle of our busiest calving week of the year for Valentine’s Day and my dear husband would prefer a few hours uninterrupted sleep to suggestions of anything remotely romantic! Having said that, I usually get the children involved and we make him some cards along with a cake in a love-heart shaped tin.

From our Garrendenny Lane shop, we have a few prints by Famille Summerbelle and Bold & Noble that would be perfect for expressing your love on Valentine’s Day and reminding him/her of it all year round.

The Love Bugs print is good fun and would be perfect for a farmer/gardener/any lover of flora and fauna.

It was inspired by a school project of one of the children in Famille Summerbelle. Notice the tiny spider hanging down – love that little touch!

Bold and Noble’s handpulled screen prints are great too – choose from

Endless Love, Love Grows and My Heart Prints.

It was Brian’s birthday last week and beyond making two birthday cakes and going out that evening, I never got around to doing anything more. I did query amongst friends on facebook if they purchased birthday cards for partners (was wondering if I was being cruel or normal) and the replies were 50:50 really – some did, some didn’t.

Do you buy your partner a Valentine’s card and gift?

There will be new stock arriving pretty regularly now over the next month or six weeks and here’s news of what arrived in a lovely big box this week.

The Australian fabric sticker company, Mae, have launched fabulous new designs –  mostly for children but there are one or two in there for the mums too (one particularly nice one will arrive in a week or two, I’ll keep you in suspense for now!)

You can see the entire range here on the online shop but here’s a couple of my favourites:

Faraway Circus removable and reusable wall stickers

Pirate Ship Wall Stickers – perfect for any little boy who wants to be a sailor or pirate

And these Butterflies wall stickers are perfect for the kidult in every mum

You will have seen the woodland scene display before, previously available as 3 separate sticker sets which can still be bought separately and added to as you like to build up the scene – the Build a Tree, Oh Deer and Forest Critters but the Woodland scene is now available as one complete sticker set now too, in 3 different colours – the Girly, the Earthy (as seen above) and the Retro with its lovely strong autumnal colours.

And of course, the beauty of the Mae stickers is that they are removable and reusable and they will stay sticky. My daughter loves her dress up doll set and still plays with it regularly and they are just as adhesive as they were on the first day so children can be as creative and imaginative as they like.  I think they make great Christmas gifts.

Yukari is launching her new collection at 100% Design this month and she and her team are beavering away to get the designs finished on time. I don’t even have a sneak peek to show you but she has assured me that photos of the new designs will be arriving in my inbox very soon.

A client recently fell in love with one of Yukari’s Sammy sausage dog cushions and he now sits proudly at the end of her sofa, awaiting a stroke and a cuddle in the evenings.

I wonder what is the collective noun for a number of Sammys? A parliament of owls, a gaggle of geese ….. mmmm.  Each Sammy is created from remnants from Yukari’s wonderful fabrics and hence each one is truly individual.  Handmade too.  A really special Christmas gift that is also very individual and different.

We recently celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary( I know, I was a child bride!), there isn’t any symbolism attached to the nineteenth but I was curious to see what the twentieth is. To be honest, I find it impossible to remember which one is which, beyond remembering that the 50th anniversary is gold.

Do you find it confusing trying to remember which anniversary is paper or wood or silver? Well, we’ve done the maths and working it all out for you plus we have suggested some gifts that we have in our online shop which will fit the particular anniversary perfectly.

1.  First Anniversary is Paper

And what could be nicer as an anniversary present for the first anniversary then than a print – choose from our Map Prints, our humourous Father Ted prints, our Keep Calm prints and more,

Ireland Map print

and we stock typographical maps of other countries too.  Choose a map of the country that the couple are from or where they got married. Do check out the range we have available.

2. Second anniversary is Cotton

3. Third anniversary is Leather

4. Fourth anniversary is Linen

A lovely anniversary present is that of a high quality linen tablecloth and napkins, for special occasions with family or for a romantic dinner together.  The Granny’s China linen tablecloth and napkins are beautifully digitally printed with vintage china and cutlery, there fore merging a contemporary twist with a touch of nostalgia. Absolutely beautiful.

5. Fifth anniversary is Wood

6. Sixth anniversary is Iron

7. Seventh anniversary is Copper

8. Eighth anniversary is Bronze

9. Ninth anniversary is Pottery

Let them eat cake! Who wouldn’t love a pretty stoneware cake stand that will make having a tasty cake extra special?

10. Tenth anniversary is Tin or aluminium

11. Eleventh anniversary is Steel

12. Twelfth anniversary is Silk

For a wedding anniversary present with a difference, why not get something for the home – a silk wallpaper panel will update any room in the house and create a special feature wall. As they can be used singly, even a single one will refresh a room, or try two, one either side of the master bed.

13. Thirteenth anniversary is Lace

14. Fourteenth anniversary is Ivory

15. Fifteenth anniversary is Crystal

16. Twentieth anniversary is China

China – what could be nicer than a trip to the Great Wall of China for a twentieth anniversary but I’m thinking I’m more likely to get a china mug next year or perhaps a vintage china tea set if I’m really lucky!

17. Twenty-fifth anniversary is Silver

A nice anniversary gift for a silver wedding anniversary is a cake knife and server – for cutting the anniversary cake as well as all the cakes they will eat in the future.

18. Thirtieth anniversary is Pearl

19. Thirty-fifth anniversary is Coral or Jade

20. Fortieth anniversary is Rubies

21. Forty-fifth anniversary is sapphires

My parents celebrated their forty-fifth wedding anniversary this year and I never even thought that it was a special one. We did bring them out for a family meal but beyond that, I thought the ‘special’ ones were now every decade. We had a party for them when they were forty years married and there I was thinking the next party would be when they are 50 years wed.

22. Fiftieth anniversary is Gold

23. Fifty-fifth anniversary is Emeralds

24. Sixtieth anniversary is Diamonds

My grandparents were both fairly hale and hearty at their diamond wedding anniversary, I think my grandfather died when they were married 62 years.  A rather gruff grandfather, I never noticed any romance or softness in his demeanour until visiting him in hospital with my grandmother one year when they were about 58 years married and as she said that he had missed going to their daughter’s anniversary party, the first party she had gone to on her own and he covered her hand with his and gave it a squeeze, tears came to my eyes.

Do you think that annivesaries are more special now with the increase in divorce or less so because people are tending to live longer?