to deb

A message to deb (if you are out there!) who sent an enquiry through our contact form on the website. You didn't give your e-mail address so I'm afraid I have no way to get back to you. But in the vain hope you might see this.... the answer to your question is no, we don't have the cream but still have it in lilac or red (postage <£1).

woodland wonderland

Some new bracelets from Alice & Joy from Stolen Thunder at boo vake! You'll have nothing less than a wooodland wonderland on your wrist with this soft braided leather bracelet - complete with wooden owl, squirrel, acorn, & toadstool charms. Cute as. Wrap it around your wrist then fasten with a little adjustable wooden heart. Or for something simpler (but why!!) - a friendship bracelet with wooden loveheart on purple leather and an adjustable wooden heart holding all in place.
woodland bracelet £28, heart friendship bracelet £11

cherith harrison

Some pretty special glasses cases/purses we have here at boo vake from Edinburgh printmaker Cherith Harrison. They come with a different bird, hen, or flower design on either side and would make a really lovely (and functional*) gift. £24.
*just incase there are any men reading

new sukie agenda

Just in...the new Sukie Agenda! Complete with undated diary, calendar pages, note pages, tear off postcards, storage pockets, sticker sheets and a lovely big red squirrel on the front! What more could you want to keep you organised or to document the coming year.

Also, for the first time we have some Sukie alphabet cushions - screenprinted onto crisp organic cotton.

Sukie Agenda £13.50, Sukie cushions £45

the circus is back!

Just arrived - a few new necklaces & brooches from Edinburgh's Haberdash House. Meet Henrietta, Terence, Trevor, Theodore & Eliah from Marie's Circus collection! My favourite (for now) is the bejewelled Eliah the elephant brooch. He's a bit of a stunner for sure.
necklaces £25, brooches £14

foxy

These have just arrived from the girls @ Lush Designs! Love them! The Foxy cushions and bags are screenprinted on both sides with the fox & cubs design in red & black. The bags are super sturdy, with a generous gusset and long enough handles to fit over your shoulder if you so desire.
cushion £32, bag £20

gift guide...kitchen

1. leaf chopping board from Isak, comes in cotton bag, £25; 2. Small trays by Isak (leaf & lovebirds designs), comes in cotton bag, £15; 3. lidded cups/jars/bowls from Isak. oak lid can also be used as a fitted coaster, £8 each; 4. wee bothy bottle stopper from Glenshee Pottery, £2.90. we also have wee bothy candle holders, £2.90; 5. screenprinted tea cosies by Megan Price. hot on one side, tea on other, £29; 6. Blossom & Bill birchwood laminated trays (in red or blue) by Isak, come in cotton bag, £25; 7. screenprinted tea-towel by Megan Price, £8.50; 8. Rex & Regina tea-towels from Lush Designs, perfect for a his & her gift!, £11 each; 9. knitted coffee cosy from The black Rabbit, £24; 10. screenprinted breakfast tea-towel from Megan Price, £8.50; 11. breakfast in bed melamine tray from Donna Wilson, £28; 12. teacake apron by Gillian Kyle. Scottish Pride & Glasgow Tea designs also available, £13; 13. Gillian Kyle tea-towels, £8; 14. knitted tea cosy from The black Rabbit, £24

Something for all the kitchen dwellers amongst us. You can see this guide bigger here.

something for the beer lover

Perth's own brewery The Inveralmond Brewery have opened an e-shop in time for Christmas! So you can now get a case of Ossian or Lia Fail, or a 5 litre mini-cask of your favourite Inveralmond ale wherever you may be in the UK.

Their website is going through a bit of update at the moment so is not looking quite how it should but the shop is fully functional and ready to process any orders. If you're near Perth you could just pop in and collect.

ps. If you are interested to see how the new Inveralmond Brewery build is getting on you can get all the gen @ Mash Tun Musings.

gift guide....ceramics

1. ceramics birds by Hannah Turner, £32-£40; 2. ceramic bird egg cup by Hannah Turner, £24; 3. Mr Jones bottle from Polly George, £22; 4. market ceramic relief by Hilke MacIntyre, £60; 5. wee bothy bottle stopper by Glenshee Pottery, £2.90; 6. stag flock tile by Ceri White, small £22, medium £37; 7. wedding ceramic relief by Hilke MacIntyre, £85; 8. vessel hanging tile by Ceri White, £23/26; 9. mug by Joanna Basford, £9; 10. mix'n'match ceramic coasters by Ceri White, £7.50 each; 11. ceramic bird by Hannah Turner; 12. leaf cup/jar with oak lid/ coaster by Isak, £8; 13. back to the house ceramic relief by Hilke MacIntyre, £65; 14. dog flock tile by Ceri White, small tile £22, large £56

Another one! See it bigger on the website here.

gift guide....bags & purses

1. super soft leather purses by Suzanne Devine, in variety of colours, £20; 2. flip-side purse from Showpony, screenprinted with insect soup (butterflies & birds on one side and creepy crawlies on other) or passing time (leafy tree on one side and winter tree on other), £20; 3. Skye Harris Tweed bag by Càdadh, £62; 4. Harris bag by Càdadh, come in various Harris Tweeds. small £62, large £66; 5. Harris Tweed bow bag from Breagha, £75; 6. hello screenprinted cotton tote bag by Beth Morrison, £9; 7. let's ride cotton tote bag by Gemma Correll, £9; 8. Harris Tweed ruche clutch bags from Katherine Emtage, £60; 9. felted Harris Tweed purses from Roobedo, £22; 10. cute-as-a-button Harris Tweed bag from Breagha, £65; 11. Suki Dances cotton tote bag by Laurie Hastings, £12

Been forgetting to add the other gift guides from the website .....so at last here's another one! And of course you can see it bigger here.

and the winner is....

Thanks to all who entered our Christmas give-away (whether by e-mail or through the blog). Unfortunately there could only be one winner this time and the first name picked from the polyrap bin was.....Chloe Bostock! So congratulations Chloe - your lovely new Miss Budd purse will be winging it's way to you this week.

For all those not so lucky (sorry Fiona!) don't despair - we will definately be doing something like this again in the future. So keep an eye on the blog - or if you would like to be added to our mailing list get in touch through the website here.

donna wilson tea-towels

I've just unpacked these fabulous tea-towels from Scottish designer Donna Wilson - aren't they great?! ! Whether you actually use them for the purpose intended (heaven forbid) or hang them on your wall, they would make a great gift and an inexpensive way of getting a bit of Donna 's design in your home - coming in at £11 each.

boo vake in fife...one night only!

Oh yes!! boo vake will be hot-footing it over to Fife tomorrow night! We'll be setting out our stall at the Falkland School Christmas Fair (assisted by the lovely Rosie) so if you are in the area come along and say hello!

ps. still time to enter our Christmas give-away (see below) - the draw will take place this coming Sunday!

christmas give-away!

To mark boo vake now being open every day until Christmas we are giving away this gorgeous screen-printed leather clutch purse by Miss Budd!! It is beautifully printed by hand onto gold leather with a different bird design on either side (we would sell this in the shop for £45).

To have a chance of winning this you can either...
1. leave a message here on the blog and just say you would like to be entered
2. contact us through the website here (just put 'christmas give-away' in the message box)
3. if you are on our contact list you will have received an e-mail from us - all you need to do is click reply and we will have your details.
One entry per person please. And I'll put any entries in a 'bucket' to be drawn in just over a weeks time!

Draw will take place on Sunday 6th Dec!!

gift guide....woollies

1. birdy walk scarf from Donna Wilson, £37; 2. funky fair isle scarf by Joanna Hunter. in various colours, £32; 3. fox scarf from Donna Wilson, £45; 4. tuck stitch scarf from Joanna Hunter. in various colours, £23; 5. funky fair isle wrist-warmers from Joanna Hunter. in various colours, £24; 6. skyscraper scarves by Donna Wilson, £39; 7. stripey skinny scarves from Yungi, £15; 8. handmade felt scarf by Lynne Ramsay, £29; 9. tuck stitch wrist-warmers by Joanna Hunter. in various colours, £20; 10. skinny scarf from Yungi, £15; 11. rainy days scarf by Donna Wilson, £39; 12. fringed lambswool dizzi scarves from Saltire Designs. in variety of colours, £24; 13. lumi scarves by Victoria Logan, £38 & £39 (tasselled)

A selection of things from boo vake to keep you toasty warm. See this gift guide on our website (bigger!) here.

gift guide...paper

1. leather bookmarks from Lesley Barnes. from a selection of designs, £4 each or pk of 3, £11; 2. keepsake notelet box by Rosehip, £12; 3. Rosehip notebooks from a selection of designs. small £2.50, large £4.50; 4. I Love Being Recycled memo block (made from old lines of wrapping paper), £8. also available as writing set, £10; 5. d-i-y gift tag set, with original stamp, inkpad, & tags to get you started, £12; 6. from a selection of wrapping paper, £1.50; 7. kitten colouring book by Gemma Correll, £3.60; menagerie postcard book by Girls Who Draw, £8. from a selection of illustrated goodies.8. envelope angel by Blue Marmalade. 100 sets of address & sender labels in handy cardboard dispenser - to send that envelope on another journey! £5; 9. Sukie softback notebooks, £6.50 for pk of 2. from a selection of Sukie notebooks & journals; 10. a selection of cards, £2.50.

Another gift guide from our updated website. See it (bigger) on the website here!

open every day until christmas!!

It's that time of year again and boo vake will now be open every day up until Christmas!

festive opening hours

mon-fri 10-5.50

saturday 10-5

sunday 12-4

ps. the website is now back to normal (hurrah!) so apologises to everyone who tried to have a look at the weekend and found nothing at all or, as on Sunday, found words but no pictures. Apparently all has now been fixed.

gift guide....more gifts!

1. angry ginger by Donna Wilson. this little fella is a bit grumpy but soft inside! £34; 2. 'in'decision bag by Megan Price. for those that have a bit of trouble making up their minds - screenprinted with 'yes please' on one side and 'no thanks' on the other, £14; 3. stripey-pipey from The Black Rabbit, £21; 4. screenprinted bingo bag by Megan Price, £14; 5. pocket mirrors from Hannah Turner, £4; 6. harry hairy head by Donna Wilson. he's a big fan of roller discos and cherry cola (and he can pretend to be a cushion if you like), £45; 7. felt coasters by Donna Wilson, pack of 4, £12; 8. town tea-towel from Lisa Jones (packed in a cardboard tube for easy posting), £10; 9. knitted lavender bod keyrings/charms by The Black Rabbit, £5; 10. d-i-y bunting kit from Showpony, using a mix of Emma's hand-printed organic fabric, £19; 11. rosie by Donna Wilson. she's a lover of ladybirds and rainbow beetles but doesn't like being left alone! £39; 12. screenprinted organic cotton washbags, cosmetic bags & pencil cases from Sukie, £25, £23 & £12; 13. rufus from Donna Wilson. he likes his ears being stroked (well who doesn't) but he's not too fond of smelly feet (ditto)!£37

Another gift guide from our updated website. See this one (and all the others) a bit bigger here.

**our website seems to be down after maintenance by our website provider....grrr! hopefully it will be back up soon. sorry for any inconvenience.**

website update... and new gift guides

1. hanging birds in printed plywood & card from Lush Designs (orange, red, grey, green & teal), £10; 2. retro cats by Jane Foster with hand screenprinted faces and vintage or retro fabric bodies, £16; 3. Suki Dances purse by Laurie Hastings, £12; 4. leather keyrings/charms by Suzanne Devine, £12; 5. teacake bag by Gillian Kyle in shiny red foil print, £16; 6. make-your-own-monster kit by Donna Wilson with pre-stitched knitted shape ready to be personalised with lots of felty bits, £14; 7. alphabetti badges from Showpony, £1; 8. screenprinted plywood clock from Lush Designs, £42; 9. media-mitttens from The Black Rabbit, to hold your mobile phone or i-pod, £8.50; 10. Charlie Whatsname kit from The Black Rabbit. personalise your own Charlie Whatsname with buttons, felt & other bits, £12; 11. Pierre from Donna Wilson. this little chap loves drinking tea and the odd bit of chocolate, but please keep him away from those pesky wasps! £37; 12. printed bags by Gillian Kyle, featuring our favourite Scottish food items. thin shopper £7, and thick £13. Also on aprons £13 & teatowels £8.

I've just added some new gift guides to the website. Each category (festive, paper, gift ideas, more gift ideas, woollies, bags & purses, jewellery, ceramics, kitchen, house 1 & house 2) have a page with a numbered description below (like above infact! - only bigger). Hopefully this will be easier to manoeuvre and will mean less clicking (too much clicking bad!). See this guide (bigger) here!
I will also post the rest of the guides here on the blog over the next week or so.
Thank you!

leather bookmarks from lesley barnes

Some great printed leather bookmarks that arrived in the shop last week from Glasgow based illustrator & animator Lesley Barnes (aka Lesley Toast). You can see one of Lesley's mesmerising animations Herzog and the Monsters, a tale of a little boy who lives in a house full of Penguin books but is not allowed to touch them, by clicking on the link here.

bookmarks £4 each, or in packs of 3 £11

strungling on

snook - knitted door snake by The Black Rabbit

Apologies to anyone who found the shop shut on Wednesday afternoon. I did a rare thing and had to close up due to feeling rather unwell. I can't remember the last time this has happened in the last 16 years (well excusing breaking a leg). Like most self employed people you work through most things and 'save up' the worse for holidays & days off (Christmas being a favourite). Anyway, managed back in body if not mind on Thursday and today beginning to feel a bit more human. Meanwhile loads of parcels and packages have been arriving from the likes of Lesley Barnes, Lydia Leith, Hannah Nunn, Alicia MacInnes, Lollipop, The Black Rabbit, and Joanna Hunter, and once I've regained the power to unpack there will be lots of lovely new things on the shelves at boo vake.

emily stewart's dolls

These are some of the papier-mâché dolls we have at boo vake from Perthshire based textile artist Emily Stewart. Emily is a recent graduate from Grays School of art in Aberdeen. In her own words her collection is "inspired by the rekindling of childhood memories and narratives by utilising illustrated stories and textile art as garments displayed on small handmade Papier-Mache dolls". Each one of her dolls "tells an enchanting tale of sentimentality or naivety by employing recycled fabrics and the use of well-worn domestic textiles to which I have explored traditional stitch, print and woven techniques with great sensitivity in order to amplify the fabric’s narrative qualities".
each doll is £45 (approx 28cm tall)

halloween stuff

In Scotland we have a long tradition of doing a 'turn' when out guising at Halloween. None of this extorting goodies through menace - you have to work for it here. This may be a joke, some poetry, a song, or even a bit of a dance. The creative little person may even make something up especially for the occasion. Example: from 4 year old (dressed as a bush) - Q: Why did the vampire cross the road? A: To get to the VERY scary art gallery on the other side! Mmmm....

gillian kyle

Gillian Kyle's ever popular 'Scottish icons' bags, aprons & teatowels have become a permanent feature here at boo vake over the last year, and from all accounts have found their way to all corners of the globe so far. Nice and light for posting they make the perfect presents for sending to all those relatives living abroad (or even London...).

teatowels £8, aprons £13, bags £7, £13, & £16

the envelope angel comes to the rescue

I'm sure we all have padded envelopes and other packaging filling our cupboards at home that we've kept to re-use but never have. Maybe it's looking a bit scruffy to send that present for your favourite auntie or you just can never find a label that would cover up the previous address. The boys at Blue Marmalade have the perfect solution to stylishly extend the life of that jiffy bag with their envelope angel which houses a roll of 100 sets of address & sender labels. Send a set of labels with your package and you'll make the chances of it being re-used again even higher.
You can buy your envelope angel here at boo vake now.
£5

more from lovely pigeon

Kirsty from Lovely Pigeon has come up trumps once more with a new batch of her vintage button jewellery here in the shop. Lots of lovely hairclips, necklaces, & brooches in red, pink, green, blue and monochrome mixes.

I've seen a lot of jewellery made out of buttons in my time but I don't think any as nicely done and put together as Kirsty's.

prices start at £8 for a pair of hairclips, £12 for necklaces, & £10, £20 & £30 for brooches in various sizes.

float.....

Yesterday a package arrived from Edinburgh designers Blue Marmalade, so last night was spent putting together one of their wonderfully graceful 'float' mobiles to display in the shop. Estimated time to assemble: 20-30 mins - actual time: 1hr and ehm..the rest! I am now, of course, an expert - so if you would like to come in and buy a 'float' mobile from boo vake you can also get my 'top tips'- which mostly comprise of what not to do! The one I put together was a rather lovely black and white one, and once finished it looked pretty darn good at home so I was a bit reluctant to take it back to the shop. Anyway you can now see it hanging in the shop.

I left it to my partner Ken to 'pop' up a fabulous orange Blue Marmalade polyrap wastepaper bin and this he did in not much time at all. It's all in the folding you see - which is what I love about all Blue Marmalade' s products - beautifully simple, every aspect so well thought out, and absolutely nothing there that needn't be.

float mobiles in white or black/white £24

polyrap wastepaper bins in red or orange £18

the clootie well

A few pictures from the Clootie Well on the Black Isle last weekend. I've passed this many times but this was the first time I've stopped for a proper look. A clootie well in Celtic tradition was/is where people would come to tie a 'cloot' (a rag or a piece of cloth or clothing) from a sick person to the trees surrounding a holy well in the hope of curing their illness. As the cloot rotted the illness was believed to leave the person. This clootie well is very much still in use and there certainly is an 'atmosphere' to this place - albeit somewhat interfered with by the abundance of socks, jay cloths, and synthetic materials hung amongst the branches. If you could ignore that it could almost be quite beautiful. Maybe best not to look too closely.

donna wilson scarves & cushions

Mitten Kitten 'resting' on top of some new scarves we have from textile supremo Donna Wilson (now hanging in our window!).

....and some of Donna's cushions we have at boo vake now.

scarves £37-£39, owl & robin cushions £59

laurie hastings - illustrator

These fabulous little purses come from Edinburgh illustrator and printmaker Laurie Hastings. Inspired by burlesque theatre, these little beauties are printed on both sides with Laurie's 'Suki dances' illustration and lined in either hot pink or lime green - perfect for keeping your make-up, coins, or other treasure in.

And for books, shopping, or anything else you fancy, we have some of Laurie's 'Suki dances' cotton tote bags, all tied up with a contrasting ribbon and a 'Suki dances' label - a perfect gift.

'Suki dances' purses and bags £12 each

stolen thunder jewellery

So many new things to post......! These are the new wooden earrings and necklaces we have in from jewellery designers Stolen Thunder (aka Alice Burlinson & Joy Frost from Derbyshire).
prices range from £11-£30

lovely breagha!

It's so good to see so many designers using beautiful Harris Tweed in their work and we have many of them here at boo vake - such as Katherine Emtage, Roobedo, Joan Macleod, Càdadh - and now....Breagha! Breagha is Glasgow based and South Uist born & bred designer Mairead MacAulay and she makes the most stunning bags (a few of which you can see above and below).
breagha bags from £65-£75

And if that wasn't enough - also just in are some more Harris Tweed bags (below) from Poolewe based Mary Buchanan of Càdadh.

Càdadh bags from £62-£66

Harris Tweed is such a fabulous unique material and something which we should be very proud of here in Scotland. When we were in Stockholm recently we spent a day at a place called Skansen, which is a large 'folk' park where traditional buildings from all over Sweden have been brought and re-assembled. Many of the buildings are 'inhabited' to show how life would have been and in one of the traditional farm buildings there was a young woman weaving on a loom by hand. My partner Ken had his Harris Tweed cap in his bag and he brought this out to show her. She was quite amazed that hand woven tweed was still being produced in Scotland and that it was unsubsidised. Certainly made me think that maybe we don't quite appreciate what we do have here in Scotland and perhaps we should shout about it a bit louder.

more gemma

Some new work we have in by the hugely talented Norwich based illustrator Gemma Correll. We have an assortment of cards, colouring books, notebooks, prints and her brand new 'let's ride' cotton tote bag.

We also have a few of these very snazzy postcard books from a collective of illustrators (including Gemma) known as 'girls who draw' .

prices from £2.50 - £8.50