Eco gifts on sale, home wares, candles and jewellery

I’m having a big sale to make room for new ideas and products. There are lots of bargains to be had but get in quick, stocks are limited with only one or two left in each colour!

Cotton turkish towels – on sale now – down to just $25 (from $45) each with lots of wonderful colours to choose from.

Large Agate Coasters – on sale now – down to $125 (from $155), black, pink, purple and natural stone available.

Small Agate Coasters – on sale now – down to $45 (from $65), black, pink, purple and natural stone available.

Stone Geode Bookends – on sale now – down to $150 (from $195), rose quartz, purple agate, pink agate, grey agate and natural stone available.

Stone Platters – on sale now – down to $250 (from $295), pink rose quartz and blue soldalite available.

Moroccan Blankets – on sale now – down to $195 (from $295) only blue / cream and red / cream now available.

Tumbled Stone Necklaces – on sale now – down to $55 (from $75), rose quartz, green aventurine, purple amethyst and yellow citrine available.

Druzy crystal gold stud earrings – on sale now – down to $45 (from $65).

Pure beeswax tea light candles – on sale now – down to $15 (from $35).

 

Now taking wholesale orders of our beautiful handcrafted moroccan poufs.

‘Rock Ribbons’ is very pleased to announce that we are now taking applications for wholesale orders (for Australian based customers) of our beautiful handcrafted moroccan poufs. There are twenty two leather colours to choose from and three fabulous faux metallics, gold, silver and bronze. These traditional artisan moroccan fine leather footstools are a must-have for any room of the house. So many uses around your home, they can be a footstool or used as extra seating, from the living room to the playroom. Each one of these leather poufs are individually hand crafted by artisans in Morocco using thirty five individual pieces of leather. They are all wonderfully unique, with subtle variations in the colour of the leather and will look beautiful and last for many years.

If you share our love of eco friendly handmade home wares and would like more info about stocking these super popular poufs in your own store. Please feel free to contact me more details.

Make every day ‘Earth Day’ with an eco friendly gift

 

Meaningful gifts for thoughtful people from ‘Rock Ribbons’ the handmade eco friendly unique gift and home wares boutique.

Featuring:

Natural Handmade Organic Cotton Turkish Hammam Towels

Cinnamon, Lime and Coconut Glycerine Soap

Pure beeswax honey comb candle

Square green toned satin ribbon cushion with eco friendly fibre filling

Moroccan leather ottoman pouf in Pistachio Green

Angora wool ball acorn lapel pins

Large organic apple green cotton scarf with Pom Pom trim

Unbleached calico eco friendly short handle shopping bag

Cotton forest toned ombre lightweight summer scarf

 

A little bit of colour therapy to brighten your day!

After a bit of a break away from my beloved ‘Rock Ribbons’ blog, I think it’s time to get back into it and what better way than with a little bit of colour therapy from Pantone to brighten you day!

Check out these lovely shades below which you will see the influence of in store over the next few months. With the changing season, the greens from spring evolve and develop yellow-toned Linden Green brings a lightness and brightness to the deeper shades of fall. Try pairing both with Mykonos Blue, a bold, meditative blue, for a classic and relaxed fall look.

Exotic Acai adds mystery and richness to the palette, and can be incorporated with the other colors to create a number of powerful fall combinations. Pair the elegant shade of purple with Emerald for a regal disposition, or spirited Samba red for an expressive and dramatic look. Koi, a decorative orange with dazzling and shimmering qualities, is a statement color that serves as a pick-me-up for your wardrobe. Vivacious, an unruly and wildly deep fuchsia, adds an ebullient sensuality to the palette.

Pair Vivacious with anchoring Deep Lichen Green, a naturally lush shade of green, for a dynamic juxtaposition that captures both ends of the seasonal spectrum. Rounding out this season’s cornerstone colors, Turbulence, a dark mercurial gray, and Carafe, a rich, glamorous brown, provide more interesting and sophisticated alternatives to the black basics usually worn in colder months. Both staple neutrals pair gracefully with more expressive colors within the palette, such as Samba, Koi and Vivacious.

Are we all, just a little bit {creatively} mad?!

I originally saw this wonderful article on a website I love called ‘The School of Life’ and it touched such a creative nerve, that I just had to share it with you all!

Why is creativity often linked to ‘madness’ and why do creative people cause so much frustration to everyone around them?

Why do they keep going to extremes?

Why can’t they just be like normal people?

Highly creative people have unique vulnerabilities and sensitivities – ways of thinking and temperament that need to be understood and managed – for them to not only stay creative and productive but also stay healthy.

The creative mind is wired with the ability to feel with great depth and passion.  Creative people often experience the world in a way we call skinless – as if they lack the protective shield and instinctive filtering that we normally use to cope with the barrage of sensory information that comes at us all.  Without good strategies for managing this hypersensitivity, instead of creativity – the result can be a plunge into the emotional depths.

Along with skinlessness and rapid fluid thinking, creative people often have natural highs and lows, of mood and energy.

Rather than trying to live a normal or balanced life creative people can learn to embrace the highs and lows – and begin to see their lives as being like the tides. The challenge for the creative is to learn how  to navigate the tides not struggle against them or get stuck.

5 Principles For Living With A Creative Mind

1. Affirmation

Creative people need a lot of encouragement. As confident as they may seem, they are also full of doubt. Affirmation helps to buffer the skinlessness of the creative person. It needs to be at the forefront but it also needs to be real. No fake compliments please.

2. Permission To Fail

Unless you are willing to fail you will never be creative. Much of the creative process involves exploration, discovery and a willingness to “go where no one has gone before” – so although failure does not equal creativity – failure and learning from failure is a part of navigating the tidal creative life.

3. Fear Kills Creativity

Creating an environment of anxiety does not promote creativity. Fear automatically inhibits the fluid nature of creative thinking – to make us focus on a threat. While you might think fear is a great motivator, it only motivates certain kinds of responses. Originality is not one of them.

4. Room to Explore

Creative people need room to explore. An essential part of the creative (fluid) thinking process involves the search for new ways of seeing things, or new connections between old things. This often comes from what seems like ‘random’ activity like going out to new places, and seeking out new experiences. Don’t discourage curiosity.

5. They Need To Belong

Creative people need a community of like-minded types because they can often feel like they don’t belong. Creative people tend to be quite tribal . . . musicians like to work with other musicians, dancers with other dancers and so on. Find a tribe. 

Image courtesy of  Yasmeanie on Deviantart Picture.

Ten tips to packing light for your summer holiday!

In 1940s films, glamorous characters board steam ships with an army of porters to lug their many bulky suitcases (all beautifully matching of course). But in today’s age of airline travel, that kind of thing would never happen (not for us normal folks anyway). Nowadays you are charged up $100 for checked bags on a domestic flight, gone are the days of packing every item of clothing that you might conceivably wear on your European vacation.

I’ve had many a holiday (pre kiddie) with just carry on luggage. It saves on costs, time and makes things a lot easier. Here are my top ten tips for packing light for your summer holiday!

1. Make a list, and check it twice.
As you organise what you absolutely need, you’ll realize what you don’t need.

2. Pack a little detergent and a cheap camping clothesline.
If you can spare 10 minutes a night to wash your unmentionables and what you wore that day, you can save a lot of space in your suitcase. Washing your stuff in the shower, rolling it into a towel, squeeze out the excess water, hang it up to dry and in the morning, clean and fresh.

3. Start liking the layered look
Wear multiple layers of lightweight attire, which will trap air and conserve body heat. Large lightweight cotton wraps are are really great to travel with, cool in summer and warm in winter.

4. Make ‘repurposing’ your new buzzword.
You won’t have to pack as much stuff if you pick items that can serve double or triple duty.

5. Pack wrinkle-resistant items.
Certain fabrics simply hold up better on the road, and the latest generation of wrinkle-resistant synthetic blends are one example.

6. Go with a consistent colour scheme.
When everything in your travel wardrobe matches everything else, you increase the number of mix-and-match options. To change up a look include a few of your favourite coloured scarves, they don’t take up any space and are are great accessory.

7. Get over your shoe obsession.
Limit yourself to packing no more than two to three pairs.

8. Pack tight
The tighter and flatter you can get your stuff inside your bag, the more space you’ll have for more stuff. Rolling or bundle-wrapping your clothes, in which you wrap garments tightly around a central core object.

9. Think miniature
When in doubt, smaller is better. Don’t waste precious space in your toiletries bag with full-size containers of deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste and lotions (and they are likely to be confiscated when going through security). Instead, pick up some sample sizes at your local chemist or decant them into travel-sized mini bottles

10. Pack a lightweight turkish towel
These make the perfect beach towel, bath towel, sarong and pareo. It is specially blended from fast drying cotton, does not mildew, doesn’t hold the sand like heavy wet terry towelling and easily rolls small to fit in your suitcase. Designed to be a multi-functional lightweight bath towel that seconds as a tablecloth, table runner and picnic blanket.

The point is: Be smart and pack light. You’ll save the extra costs on paying for checked luggage, you’ll save time having to wait for your luggage to come through on the airport carousel, you’ll save your back having to lug all the luggage around and you’ll minimize the chances of leaving something behind at a hotel.

P.S. But unfortunately I’ve found out, there is no such thing as packing light when you have children because there are an endless lists of favourites that need to come along with them when they go anywhere . . .

Fashion Friday :: Monochrome Magic!

Todays post has been inspired in part by an interesting novel that I have just started reading called ‘The Night Circus’ by Erin Morgenstern.

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

Is there anything easier and more classic than monochrome with a dash of red? It always looks timeless, crisp and translates into everything from fashion accessories to home wares.

A perennial classic, monochrome remains so eminently wearable in that it is both striking yet conservative, the ultimate in juxtaposition. This is a timeless trend which will never go out of style due to the elegance and simplicity exuded by the colours.

Some in the crowd smile knowingly, while others frown and look questioningly at their neighbours. A child near you tugs on her mother’s sleeve, begging to know what it says. “The Circus of Dreams”, comes the reply. The girl smiles delightedly. The iron gates shudder and unlock, seemingly by their own violation.

They swing outward, inviting the crowd inside.

Now the circus is open.

Now you may enter.

Rock Ribbons – Meaningful gifts for thoughtful people.

Ten ways to be happier in your own home!

I found this original list on a website that I love called ‘Apartment Therapy – Saving the world one room at a time’ and have adapted it slightly to fit my own life. This simple list inspired me and hopefully it will inspire you t00!

1. Make your bed.

The book ‘The Happiness Project’, explains that this three minute task is one of the simplest habits you can adopt to positively impact your happiness.

2. Bring every room back to ‘ready’.

I learned this trick from Marilyn Paul’s clever book, ‘It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys’. It’s a known fact: Clutter causes stress; order creates a haven from it. This mood-boosting routine is simple: Take about three minutes to bring each room back to ‘ready’ before you depart it, the room doesn’t have to be spotless just tidy. (Unless you have a toddler, or a partner who likes to simulate earthquakes, three minutes should be sufficient.)

3. Display sentimental items around your home.

One reason that experiences (and memories of those experiences) make us happier than material things is due to the entire cycle of enjoyment that experiences provide: planning the experience, looking forward to the experience, enjoying the experience, and then remembering the experience. Make your home a gallery of positive memories.

4. Start a one-line-a-day gratitude journal.

Before bed, simply jot down one happy memory from that day. One line is enough cause I know you’re tired! (If you have kids, you can ask them, “What did you like best today?”) Reflection is an important part of happiness, and pausing to reflect on a positive event from each day cultivates gratitude (an added bonus).

5. If you can’t get out of it, get into it.

This tip comes from ‘The Happiness Project’. I love the message: The dishes are not going to clean themselves, so you will do it, and you will like it! (Unless, of course, you can outsource this job, in which case I say: Nice work!) Otherwise, get into doing the dishes. Feel the soothing warm water on your hands. Enjoy the tickle of the tiny bubbles. Crank your favorite album at an unusually loud volume and get into it.

6. Before you get up each morning, set an intent for the day.

In ‘The Art of Happiness’, the Dali Lama says “Every day, think as you wake up: today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it.” Wow. What a wise man. I tend to wake up with a strong visceral reaction that says, “Attention human beings: Be afraid of me before my Hot Chocolate. Be very afraid!” Setting a daily intent makes a huge difference. Your daily intent could be something like “be productive” or “enjoy today’s delicious moments” or it could be something more specific like “say thank you to my loved ones today.” But it should not be another “to do” item on your list.

7. Do small favors for the people you live with, expecting nothing in return (not even a thank you!).

(That’s right, I said it: nothing!) Mow the lawn for your husband, but don’t expect him to pat you on the back. Make the bed for your wife, but don’t try to get bonus points for it. Take the rubbish out for your flatmate, just because. The ability to cultivate strong, healthy relationships is one of the biggest contributors to health and happiness, but when you start to keep score, the benefit is lost. (No! It’s YOUR turn to clean up the dog poop!) It’s a well-known fact: When you do good, you feel good.

8. Call at least one friend or family member a day.

You can do this while you clean, while you make the bed, or while you walk the dog. Texts and emails do not count! Make an actual phone call to a loved one, just to chat and catch up. We humans are social beings and studies show that even when we don’t feel like it, even if we are naturally introverted, socializing with our loved ones makes us feel better.

9. Spend money on things that cultivate experiences at home.

Save money for a new BBQ for parties or a new DVD for family movie night – something that will encourage you to have people over and entertain. Plan a summer BBQ, invite your closest friends, kick back and relax. (And don’t forget to print out the pictures to remember the good times.)

10. Spend a few minutes each day connecting with something greater than yourself.

Whatever your spiritual beliefs — or non-beliefs — may be, studies show that connecting to a high power is correlated with happiness. Just stepping back to realize that we are part of an enormous universe can put some perspective on those sometimes annoying encounters that happen during the day. Take a walk in nature. Write in a journal. Create a sacred space in your home. (Or if spirituality is really not your thing, create a home spa: light some candles, soak in a hot bath, delve into a good book on your couch filled with your favourite cushions. Before bed, spend just a few minutes contemplating something larger than yourself.  . . . are you feeling better yet?)

New products in store :: Handmade Moroccan Quality Leather Ottomans

These handcrafted Moroccan leather footstools are a must-have for any room of your home and our now available on pre order in the Rock Ribbons store. I have one in every room of my house including the bathroom because you know someone always wants to chat about something when you are trying to relax! These authentic leather ottomans have so many uses around your home, they can be a footstool or used as extra seating, from the living room to the bedroom to the kids playroom.

Each one of these leather poufs are individually made by artisans in Morocco and ethically purchased using fair trade. After sourcing and buying the goat skin, it is cut and hand painted or dyed, then sent to the outskirt of Marrakech to be stitched and finished with silk embroidery by local Berber women to show off expert craftsmanship and a result that is durable and will stand the test of time. There are five people involved in making each pouf and it takes up one day to complete it.

They are all wonderfully unique, with subtle variations in the colour of the leather and will look beautiful and last for many years to come. Below are all the colours I have in store but if there is a colour you love and you don’t see it here, please send me a message and I’ll see what I can do!

Pre order you favourite colour now for just $120 and save $30 off the normal retail price! And to save even more, don’t forget 10% off your order just click on the coupon code box at checkout.

Meaningful gifts for thoughtful people by Rock Ribbons.

New in store :: Natural handwoven pestemel hammam turkish towels

I first discovered these wonderful towels on my travels through Turkey and the Middle East and ever since then I have used them in my own home, out and about and on the beach. Then I had an epiphany and I realised that you might love them just as much as I did!

Natural handwoven pestemel hammam turkish towels are a ‘clever cotton towel’ that can be used for almost anything. Turkish towels are great beach apparel, they’re one of the most practical and versatile items you’ll use this summer and beyond. They absorb water as fast as a normal towel, dry very quickly and wrap up to nothing making them easy to carry. Because they are super compact, they’re also the perfect travel towel. They also double as baby wraps, bath towels, table cloths, picnic rugs, throw overs . . . well you get the idea. Pestemals are for everyone and like I say can be used for almost anything.

I think that once you’ve used a Pestemal you’ll never use a traditional towel again. At the moment in store I have three traditional colour, Classic Sand, Pale Pink and Dove Grey. I would love to hear what you think about this new ‘Rock Ribbons’ product and then we will be introducing a larger range of colours, designs and weaves to keep it interesting.

The towels I have in store are purchased direct from traditional weavers in rural Turkey who have been hand weaving these wonderful towels the same way for generations. The combination of premium quality cotton, natural plant dyes, traditional weaves and techniques create a product that is of the highest quality, that’s soft, absorbent and lasts.

‘Rock Ribbons’ natural eco friendly handwoven hammam towels are for people who love life, colour and spontaneity. Pestemals are for everyone and like I say can be used for almost anything.