Category: Welsh

Super Stocking Fillers for £10 and under from small, independent businesses

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It may feel as if it’s way in the future, but it’s that time of year when our thoughts turn to getting organised for Christmas. Here to help, I’ve put together a quick guide of lovely stocking fillers for £10 and under from amazing small businesses. I hope this will to help you get off to a great start with your Christmas shopping this year!

Read on to browse some gorgeous small gifts and stocking fillers that friends and family will love…

Stocking Fillers For Foodies

Christmas goes hand in hand with food, and there’s an abundance of gift ideas out there for food loving friends. But something unusual, practical AND personalised? Under a tenner? No way, I hear you say.

Cue our brand new “pudding stirring” wooden spoons here at Doli Dwt! Made from quality wood, engraved with your choice of name(s) and decorated with a festive grosgrain ribbon, this humble but lovely spoon will add star baker quality to all your Christmas baking. It could also start a poignant tradition with your little ones! Bringing out the special Christmas spoon each year to bake festive goodies will create magical memories together as they grow up!

Find it in our shop here, £8.

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Things are certainly looking better this year for family get togethers over Christmas. However, there still may be many reasons why you can’t travel or meet with friends and loved ones. Ruth from CocoBean Chocolates has the perfect, delicious, mini-gifting solution for this situation!

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You can send some cheer in the form of a Coco Bean Brownie (or 2)! They are boxed with a lovely, specially designed-by-Ruth Christmas card with your personal message. Ruth says that it’s “Seasons Greetings done right in these odd non contact times”. A single brownie of your choice, plus the card, is £6 including delivery. 2 Brownies and a card is just £8 with delivery. Visit Www.cocobeanwales.com to order.

Stocking Gifts For Stationery Addicts

Do you know someone who plans, lists and organises everything to the nth degree?! Then a stationery gift always goes down a storm! And at the opposite end of the scale, Christmas is the perfect time to give your most shambolic buddy something to help them becoming more organised one of their easiest-to-keep New Year resolutions!

Whether it’s planning their week, or jotting down a shopping list, Megan Tucker Illustration has all organisational needs covered with her gorgeous stationery range. Most of her items are available in English and Welsh versions too. Priced between £6.50-8.50, they all come under the £10 bracket.

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On the subject of the less-than-organised people in our lives – I bet you know someone who is constantly losing their keys?! Under the sofa, next to their pillow or in the fridge….. They’ll be sure to know where they left them if they’ve got one of these fabulous key fobs from Mitch at Stitchymoocrafts.

Working with fetching fabrics from the likes of Liberty (pictured) and Rifle Paper Co., each gorgeous fob has been quilted and finished with beautiful hardware. They can slip over your wrist, or found easily at the bottom of a bag, making them practical as well as pretty. Mitch has a colour/pattern to suit everyone in her Etsy store, and at just £4.75 you might be able to treat everyone!! Truly lovely stocking fillers for £10 and under.

To make doubly-sure you don’t spend ages riffling around in your bag for your keys, why not snap one of these small cross-body bags from Poppers & Pockets? Perfect for just the essentials, your keys will be easy to spot!

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Lynne has various designs in her shop, but this tartan one with its soft red and green hues would look particularly lovely layered over a neutral coloured coat during Autumn and Winter. It’s currently on special offer for £9.99. As a new-dog mum, I think this would make a perfect bag for dog walking! I just need keys, phone and doggie bags but struggle to hold them while wrestling a puppy on a lead! This small bag would be an ideal solution!

You would also have room to slip in one of the colourful and quirky pocket mirrors from Jac’s Little Welsh Studio . Then you can check that you’re still looking fabulous rather than windswept whilst you’re on the go!

pocket mirrors

Featuring prints of Jac’s very own watercolour illustrations, you can gift these tiny pieces of joyful art for just £6.50. This makes them an ideal secret Santa gift! They’d be a huge hit with teens and tweens too!

Small Gifts for £10 and under for the Home

It’s always lovely to receive something beautiful and handmade for your home. In the era of the “shelfie” and eclectic gallery wall, small but delightful decor items really are having their time to shine.

Quil from Love & Lovelier creates small but mighty ceramics that will make anyone smile. Her items come in a range of price points under £20 and can often be personalised. These these delightful glazed Welsh hearts, which would look spectacular arranged amongst a gallery wall of family photos, or resting against a photoframe, are just £9.50 including postage!

Another beautiful little decoration to hang from a shelf are these gorgeous hand-painted baubles by contemporary artist Catrin Saywell of Cat & Clay Jewellery Forget just hanging baubles at Christmas… These beauties are so magnificent they deserve to be displayed all year round! They will be appearing in her shop in October – but be quick as they don’t stay in stock for long! (Keep an eye on her Instagram for updates). They are £10 each.

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And who doesn’t love a sweet smelling home? Little Bit Different hand make luxury vegan-friendly soy wax melts that make lovely stocking fillers, starting at £3 each. Vicky also offers a letter-box friendly gift set of 12 melts for £10. Purse-friendly, and great for distanced gifting too if you opt to have them sent directly to your recipient.

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Motivational Stocking Fillers

It’s always good to tell loved ones how fantastic they are, and that they’re doing a super job whatever obstacles are in their path. Carli from Colour your Life Club knows just how important a little nod of encouragement can be, and designs the most colourful and uplifting pin badges, stickers, stationery and mugs at pocket-friendly price points.

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With prices ranging from 80p for stickers to £8.99 for mugs, there’s something to make both adults and children smile. Visiting her website to see her huge range of fun products that make perfect stocking fillers for £10 and under is a must.

Christmas themed Stocking Fillers under £10

Of course, everyone loves a Christmas themed stocking filler too! Here are a few little festive treats that won’t break the bank but will break out a smile….

Doli Dwt has our very own robin and penguin baubles. Painstakingly wood burned into a solid beech sphere, then lovingly hand painted, I have individually handcrafted every one. Their charming little faces bring a smile to everyone who sees them. And they’ll bring joy each year when you bring them out for the festive season.

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Mucky Ducky Designs has wonderful little hand painted Nut Crackers in a variety of colours. From the traditional red and black combination, to this lovely pink and grey, they are beautiful!

Her 13cm freestanding Nut Crackers (as pictured) are £10. Additionally, smaller hanging ones, perfect for the Christmas tree, are available for just £6.50 each.

And finally, we all have a friend who can’t resist a Christmas novelty earring! Check out this fun cookie cutter design from Swirly Buttons! Perfect secret Santa gift, to adorn your Christmas party/dinner outfit, or for a friend who loves baking! She has lots of other designs too, including stars, hearts, and Christmas trees, priced at just £6 a pair.

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I hope that this hand full of ideas for stocking fillers for £10 and under has given you some inspiration for your Christmas shopping this year! When you’re ready to go, I can highly recommend the small businesses I’ve selected, having experienced their products myself. You’ll find something lovely on each of their websites if you give them a little visit.

Happy browsing!

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What Does Hiraeth Mean to Me?

It’s so exciting to finally release my Hiraeth and Cwtch Welsh Doll peg ladies! Of course, there’s more about them at the end of this post! But knowing that lots of my customers aren’t Welsh, I thought I will talk about what Hiraeth is, and what does Hiraeth mean to me!

Hiraeth is the welsh word for a deep longing or wistfulness for days gone by, for your homeland. For a place from your past that may have disappeared and can’t be returned to. It is felt deep in your heart and soul. It’s a small word that encompasses so much nostalgia and deep feeling!

What does Hiraeth mean

It’s something that even I must admit I didn’t really understand until recently. Owing to my Dad’s job, I had the privilege of growing up to my mid teens in a special, historic location. With it’s red brick and grey window frames, our little bungalow almost looks fashionable again! We had no neighbours, 12 square miles of woodland to play in (including a beautiful waterfall) as well as 14 acres of gorgeous maintained gardens to ride our bikes around all weekend. Childhood bliss! The site was previously a mansion belonging to a prestigious Victorian family who were pioneers in botany and photography. The observatory from were they took some of the first photographs of the moon still stands there today. I loved where we lived, and appreciated both the beauty and the heritage of the site.

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Above: My sister and I, in traditional Welsh Costume, outside our childhood home.

But times change… Local council boundaries were redrawn, the offices that my father was caretaker of on the site eventually became disused, and we moved. The site remained unused for years, until a housing developer eventually bought the land. They bulldozed the offices and built houses there – not without controversy.

Of course, in the process my old home of 15 years was razed to the ground. The place where I grew up. Where I passed many of life’s important early milestones. And where I still enjoyed visiting for a walk every so often. A place that held such a huge part of my heart, that my soul felt forever attached to. Gone forever.

I genuinely felt a loss, and a longing to be able to go back to how it was years ago.

This is the essence of Hiraeth.

I recently “plucked up the courage” to go and drive through the new houses. The observatory has been kept owing to it’s historical importance. But otherwise I found it hard to orientate myself and work out where things (including my old home) once were. It was highly emotional and took everything I had not to be moved to tears!

So…this is what Hiraeth means to me, and why it led to me creating a hiraeth gift! I’d had a plan for Welsh Dolls for over three years, but this recent experience made me think about how it would be lovely to create something that would be the perfect way of sharing a piece of Wales with someone who is perhaps further afield from their native soil.

Both the Hiraeth and Cwtch gifts are packed with lots of well-researched details.

The Hiraeth Welsh Lady Doll is wearing a more modern traditional Welsh Costume, with many details heralding from the 20th century. She has a black skirt underneath a heavy, full length, red gown, which historically would have been made of flannel woven in a local Welsh wool mill. Her neat, white blouse has balloon cuffs.

Her black and white checked apron is almost full length, and would have protected her gown from dirt.

She wears a pretty red cotton shawl printed with daffodils; something that would have been reserved for special occasions. As with all of my peg dolls, the details are running all around the doll; here’s a closer 360° view:

I also have another Welsh lady available.

Proudly holding her bunting, my Cwtch Welsh Doll is the perfect way of showing a special someone just how much you care about them, as Cwtch is the Welsh word for hug. There is nothing warmer and more comforting than a great big Welsh cwtch!

The Cwtch Welsh Lady Doll is wearing a traditional Welsh Costume. She is has a black and red checked bedgown, which historically would have been made of flannel woven in a local Welsh wool mill. Underneath this she has a red woollen skirt and white blouse.

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Her fringed shawl is grey – a typical colour for a traditional Welsh shawl of this style, however I gave her a more modern polka-dot pattern to give my design a fresh edge. On her head she is wearing a cockle-style Welsh hat, with a lace-edged mob cap gently peeping out from underneath. These hats were traditionally woven from straw, but are now usually made from felt.

The black and red checked gown and cockle shape hat were predominantly worn by the women of Swansea and the surrounding Valleys.

Here she is in all her glory:

Both of these lovely welsh dolls are available in limited stock in my shop

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I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about Hiraeth, and about the lovely place where I grew up….

Lot’s of love from this now-grown-up Little Welsh Girl…

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Christmas Fairs 2019

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Are you looking for unique Christmas gift ideas? We will have our beautiful Christmas wooden peg dolls on sale at these amazing and beautiful Christmas fairs dotted around South Wales . Come see us at one of the three big Christmas fairs this year, for more details keep reading.

Starting with the three day festive fair at the beautiful national trust location of Dinefwr, LLandeilo. Allow carol singers, choirs and brass bands to provide the soundtrack to your day as you sip on a luxury hot chocolate or a glass of mulled wine against the backdrop of Dinefwr Park in all its winter glory. We will be attending between the 22nd and 24th of November. Read more here: Dinefwr

Then we will be attending the amazing craft fayre organised by one of my dearest friends! at Dwr y Felin comprehensive school, Neath on the 28th November. The Fayre is in its fifth year! This year there will be 40 high quality stalls ready for you, selling beautiful, hand crafted items. Check out the event on Facebook: Dwr y Felin

And Last but not least we will be spending 2 days selling our unique Christmas gift ideas at the Etsy Made Local Winter Fair at the Pati Pavilion, Swansea, on the 30th November and 1st of December. Back for it’s second year in an even more perfect venue, Etsy made local Swansea promises to be bigger and better than before. Find out more here: Etsy Made Local

Come find unique Christmas gift ideas at any of these amazing fairs! come support local business.

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We have been working really hard this year to increase our stock, we have been listening to your feedback and brought back your favourites such as the red robin and penguin baubles, the nativity figures and Mr & Mrs Santa with their helpers. Looking forward to seeing you there and having a chat!

Nadolig Llawen pawb!

New Year – New Name!

Happy 2019 Peg Dolls fans!

We’re delighted to be back to work creating beautiful personalised peg dolls for you to treasure.

You may have noticed a few little changes around here! Our business is now called Doli Dwt. It’s a new name, but we promise the same lovely peg dolls, the same attention to detail and the same warm, friendly and personal service!

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The name Pink Elephant Crafts served me well the past 15 years, whilst I dabbled in various arts and crafts. However, it was time to chose a name that fits with my peg dolls, whilst proudly reflecting our Welsh heritage.

I’d been mulling over (just in my head), about a re-brand to better represent what I do for about six months, when my mum serendipitously told me about a dream she had.

She dreamt that she visited our house one day, and lined up outside were life-sized versions of my peg dolls in all different costumes. Along side them was a sign saying “Ty Doli Bach”, which means “little doll house”.

This thought stuck with me and I played around with it in my head for a few days. I soon dropped the “house” in favour of “dwt” , which is Welsh slang for someone who is tiny or cute.

Little Doll….so perfect! Thank you Mum for the inspiration!

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I also must take the time to thank you for a fantastic year in 2018. Each purchase; every like, comment or share on social media, has absolutely meant the world to Mr T and I. I love making my little peg dolls, and without you to make them for it would all be pretty pointless!

We had a brilliant Christmas market season – it was lovely to meet many of you in person across South Wales! It was also a thrill sending parcels to those of you (around the world) who bought items from our webshop too!

Our Nativity sets with the new addition of Kings, new Mr & Mrs Claus (pictured above) and of course those robin baubles, were extremely popular. Thank you for your amazing reaction to them all.

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Don’t forget if you’d like to chat about creating some personalised peg dolls just for you, drop me a line using our contact form.

Here’s to 2019! Wishing you all a fabulous year filled with laughter, love, health and happiness!

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Boho Wedding Cake Topper: From Across the Miles

I love receiving emails asking me if it would be possible to make a Peg Doll Wedding Cake topper. It is truly lovely to be involved in someones special day in a little way.

So imagine my delight when an email from the other side of the world asked if I could do just that! a  wedding cake topper set of five peg dolls, for a beautiful family in Hong Kong who would be returning to Wales for their beautiful boho Wedding, was required.

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My lovely customer Asher was thrilled with the finished results. In fact, she sent me these pictures of the cake toppers on their gorgeous cake. My goodness it makes my mouth water just looking at that. I am indeed a bit of a buttercream fan!!

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Of course, Asher sent me lots and lots of photos to work from giving me a good idea of how they would look on the day. There was a really beautiful boho feel to everything. Dreamy lace dresses and loose, cottage style flowers the order of the day. Her amazing dress was an absolute joy to recreate. The bodice had a contrasting lace pattern to the arms, which was such a fun detail to work on. The satin sash called for my very special pearlescent finish, which is reserved for very special occasions!

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The groom was to wear a smart navy suit. This is paired with a lovely shot of colour in the form of his yellow tie! The bouquet is a posy of gorgeous wild flowers, hand tied with lace.

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The three beautiful little bridesmaids played an important part in the cake topper arrangement. Simple, elegant matching dresses, and beautiful rustic bouquets for the eldest two girls. This elegant simplicity is exactly what is key to the boho wedding style.

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They look so pretty together.  Just lovely  – or “hyfred” as we say here in Wales.

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And a moment of quiet admiration for that heavenly cake again!

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As always, we welcome enquiries for personalised Peg Doll Wedding Cake toppers. I currently have availability for July 2017 onward. However MY ORDER BOOKS ARE BUSY AND TURN OVER IS AROUND 6 WEEKS. with this in mind, Please enquire in plenty of time to avoid disappointment.

Additionally, for more information see our dedicated Peg Doll Wedding Cake Topper page.

Finally, if you’re a Bride to Be, and haven’t said “yes to the dress,” you must check out the styles from Bridal Fashion Week. Brides.Com have comprehensive coverage of their favourites for 2018. It will be interesting to see what filters through for real world brides. Certainly, there’s a few interesting looks! High-necked styles, pale blue and BLACK are being tipped as gown colours we could be seeing at Weddings near us soon! So I wonder if I’ll have any requests for peg doll wedding cake toppers in black wedding dresses as a result?!  We will see, I’m sure!

Cwtch ♥ Mawr

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