It’s finally February, the dreary days of January are over. Roll on Spring, but before we get there, the little matter of Valentine’s Day is around the corner. February 14th, whether you think its a nice day to share with loved ones, or a marketing ploy of the high street, it’s difficult to avoid!

Valentine’s Day – Celebrate the Love

“Saint Valentine’s Day, commonly shortened to Valentine’s Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions” (wikipedia).  It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine’s cards, buying flowers and other gifts.

Valentine’s Day Gifts – Knickermail

This year why not send something different to your loved one? Knickermail is a sexy little service that lets you mail a pair of designer knickers to someone special and not too shy. With KnickerMail you can send panties through the letterbox which is a rather sexy way to say hello. Needless to say it’s a perfect Valentine’s Day surprise.

Men and women looking for sexy Valentine’s gifts can now trust sending their loving wishes to KnickerMail, a novel service that lets one send lingerie via post. KnickerMail charge £29 for mailing a luxurious pair of silk satin panties within the UK, international delivery is available for an additional charge. Each hand-made pair sent is accompanied by a hand-written card.

Knickermail - online gift delivery

The KnickerMail collection comes in red, purple and classic black. The laced design makes the knickers look lovely on bums of various sizes according to the site. The collection was designed especially for KnickerMail and is available exclusively from the website.

Knickermail – The History

KnickerMail is the brain child of Kriss Soonik, a London-based lingerie and loungerie designer. Kriss noticed that people using her online store sometimes chose a different delivery address from their home address. First she created a separate mailing section for her store around holidays, which proved popular. She decided to start KnickerMail as a standalone website, with the view this would make it easier for people to discover the service.

Beautifully packaged, beautiful gift

“Sending knickers to someone seems to have an effect greater than any amount of chocolate or flowers”, said Soonik about the idea behind KnickerMail. ”It’s definitely not a safe gift but feedback from the slightly more daring people has been great”, she added.

Kriss Soonik had been thinking about starting KnickerMail for almost a year, but never had enough free time or resources to get the service going. She was joined by Andrus Purde, a seasoned marketer that quit his day job in May to get involved with  cool startups. ”Having spent almost 15 years in marketing it’s great to finally work on something that’s creative and that involves scantily clad models”, he commented his involvement in the project.

Designed by Kriss Soonik

Kriss Soonik is a London-based “loungerie” designer. She designed her first line of lingerie at the age of 18, studied fashion at London College of Fashion and worked at Agent Provocateur for a period before focusing on her own line. Kriss Soonik has demonstrated her line at shows at London Fashion Week and her own headline shows in London, Stockholm and Tallinn. Her line is available at Coco de Mer and Bordello in London and in boutiques across Europe and the US.

“Our first month has been great. We’ve delivered tens of orders already and people seem to like what we do. One of the lucky recipients tweeted this a couple of days ago -”@KnickerMail I have just received a lovely surprise in the post from @sevendotzero! Fab idea. I love them! ” – stuff like this makes our day”.

Win Knickermail!

Win a pair of Knickermail designer knickers to send to a love one or to keep for yourself!

Win Win WIn!

The winners name and email address will be passed on to Knickermail so they can reach out to the lucky person and ask who he or she wants KnickerMail to be sent to, what colour knicker and what to write on the greeting card.

Just answer this question to win a fabulous gift:

Fabulous! Good Luck

Wow! Jewels for Christmas – London

Wow! Jewels for Christmas, is an exhibition of contemporary jewellery that is going to be a real treasure trove for anyone looking for a beautiful and unique Christmas present for someone special. French designer Catherine Marche will be showcasing her recent creations alongside the WOW collective of jewellers, at Craft Central, Farringdon, London. Eight talented designers are coming together for their third Christmas show, each jeweller has a personal and distinctive style, so you can be sure a Wow! Jewels show will have a tempting variety of jewellery to offer, from delicate and pretty to boldly elegant.

Jewellery designers in the Wow! Jewels group include Alexandra Simpson, Debbie Carlton, Emma Rose, Keren Cornelius, Lucy Sylvester, Olga Konopka, Rosemary Lucas and Catherine Marche. They met during the first Coutts London Jewellery week as they exhibited together and decided to merge their talents to form the WOW Jewels collective.

The event is open 12-6pm from Tuesday to Friday December 7th to 10th, with a late night on the Thursday until 7:30pm. Craft Central is located at 33-35 St John’s Square, London EC1M 4DS.

Catherine Marche – French inspired accessories

Fuelled by her inner Parisienne, Catherine Marche designs jewellery to look simply, stunningly gorgeous.The elegant and feminine creations in her collection add fabulous style for anyone from the fashionista to the office executive. With a passion for colour, and soft lines, she created a versatile collection of  limited editions rings, engagement and wedding rings, earrings, chains, cuffs in 18k gold and sterling silver adorned with dazzling semi-precious gemstones and shimmering pearls.

Catherine Marche

Catherine Marche designs and hand makes limited edition and bespoke jewellery is characterised by its chic and elegance, with a hint of French playfulness. Catherine explains her collection is for everyone “everyone deserves to look and feel stunning with beautiful and playful pieces, to enhance their inner beauty and be a statement of the mood of the moment”.

Born in Paris and raised internationally, Catherine has been influenced by her environment. After a career as an IT consultant, artist and fashion illustrator, she decided to follow her passion and set up as a jeweller. Her elegant and stylish work reflects her love for soft lines, simplicity and colour. Catherine Marche received a Getting Started award from the Goldsmiths’ Company and was shortlisted for Holts academy of Jewellery award and a finalist for the Precious award.

The Collection – a sneak preview

Catherine Marche, designer jewellery

Some of these jewels are made of Vermeil, a layer of 18 carat gold on top of sterling silver, the chance to be able to wear durable and lovely decadent pieces of gold without the usual gold tag price. Featuring, Bubbly ring, 18K gold Vermeil one-off ring, Waves Bracelet, 18 carat gold vermeil. Long handmade Vermeil chain made with irregular links as a reminder of Nature’s sense of perfection. Sterling silver Stacking rings from the Blum collection. Catherine March jewellery features long sterling silver chain adorned with natural Botswana agate and opulent carnelian earrings.

Catherine Marche, designer jewellery

The Catherine Marche Volutes Cuff is made in sterling silver. Inspired by wallpaper motives and made by photo-etching, a technique usually used in printed electronic circuit boards. The brushed finish accentuates the texture and pattern to give understated elegance to the wearer.

The Catherine Marche By The Pond ring is a sterling silver, 18carat yellow gold and blue topaz ring, inspired by Farniente, a sunny day at a lake.

Photo credit Electronic Market Squares for Catherine Marche collection

Alexandra Simpson – another designer

Alexandra Simpson will also be featuring at the WOW! Jewels for Christmas event. Alexandra explains her influence for the collection, “I am influenced by the beauty, lines, fantasy and romance of Art Nouveau and nature and love items that stimulate all the senses. This necklace rings like a little fairy bell.”

Alexandra Simpson, elegant jewellery

The Fushia Necklace with Diamond is hand sculpted and made in 18 carat gold with diamonds. It is modelled on an miniature daffodil and then using characteristics of a fuchsia made into Alexandra’s own version of  ’Fushia’. The Double Violet Necklace is inspired by violet flowers along with the movement you can get from mobiles.

Alexandra explained “I wanted to make something a substantial size but still have delicate quality about it. This range I call my fun, flirty double violet range which also has Art Nouveau influences and is simple and elegant. Thus range follows the philosophy KISS – keep it simple stupid!”

Make sure you head to the Wow! Jewels for Christmas event to pick up some spectacular jewellery.

The LadyM Presents team love shopping, understandably, but always feel a bit stuck when it comes to buying gifts for loved ones who have it all. That’s why, when we heard about Experience Days we knew we’d come across something great.

Experience Days – experience the difference

The team at Experience Days offer a vast array of fabulous gifts ranging from as little as £6 for a child’s tour of Arsenal’s Emirates stadium for your footie mad nephew, to becoming a fully qualified skydiver for the price of £1,699.

There are plenty of gift choices to choose from in the categories of Days Out, Adventure, Gourmet, Pamper Days, Driving, Flying and Water Sports adventures. Definitely one to keep in the favourites of your internet browser, when you are searching inspiration for the perfect gift for your loved one.

Afternoon Tea for Two – the perfect experience

The team at LadyM Presents decided to hot foot it to the Park Lane Marriott hotel in London for a delicious Royal Afternoon Tea at the five star London hotel.  The treat for two for just £56 was a sumptuous bargain.

The Park Lane Marriott - be treated

The staff welcomed us with a Kir Royal and as we sipped our champagne we sat in the lap of luxury. Going on to enjoy an afternoon of tea including homemade scones, cute sandwiches without the crusts and the loveliest little patisseries you will ever seen.

Royal Afternoon Tea for Two - Delightful!

Mrs Lady M described the afternoon as “simply wonderful, such a nice treat”, the only consideration was that we needed a box to take those treats home that we couldn’t quite manage to work our way through!

The Marriott Afternoon tea for two is also available at their hotels in Bournemouth, Ware in Hertfordshire and Manchester.  Check out all that Experience Days have to offer.

Painted with Love

Unique, tailor-made personalised art and wooden hearts for babies, children, couples and families

Claire Witz, an artist and mum from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK has been painting for as long as she can remember. Claire had a brief stint at art college before graduating with a degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies and lived in North Africa. On her return to England and after ten years as a consultant for a US management consultant, Claire set up Painted with Love in October 2009.

“As the name says, I create all of my work with love, pride and attention to detail. I use lovely chunky canvases and high quality paints and design my pieces carefully so that they will be treasured in the years to come”

Painted with Love specialise in personalised and unique wooden hearts, name plaques and canvases. Perfect gifts for new babies, christenings, engagements, weddings and anniversaries, basically for any special moment you wish to mark.

Painted with Love

Personalised wooden hearts & luggage tags

The hearts are made from chunky solid birch wood and are warm, smooth and very tactile. Each heart is handmade, handpainted, and tied with either a gorgeous spotty or stitched grosgrain ribbon, natural cotton tape or satin ribbon coordinated to match the design of the heart. The styles featured on the website are just some of those available, Claire happily paints other styles and colours are available on request, including names in Arabic.

Mr & Mrs Wooden Hearts, by Painted with Love

Canvases & Door Plaques

Claire particularly enjoys painting bespoke personalized canvases and canvas letters to fit with a client’s individual interests or existing décor or styles.

Her current children’s collection ranges from names spelled out in block letters, fun, quirky canvases featuring jet planes, cupcakes, cute gingerbread men in various attire, fairies, superheros and princesses.

Canvas Letters, by Painted with Love

Whilst for the adults there are vintage french styles, retro Union Jack and anything polka dot and pretty. The canvases are fabulous as wedding presents, welcoming the new Mr & Mrs to their marital home, or a “Home Sweet Home” reminding you when you return at the end of a hard day, that life is good. Each canvas can have a personalised message on the back so make that gift just that little bit more special.

Home sweet home canvas, by Painted with Love

Inspiration

Claire takes her inspirations from all around her; “my radar is permanently on with a hundred ideas bubbling in my head and the odd Big Idea, which tend to arrive in a sudden flash”.  Her personal love of all things pretty, vintage, French and Islamic styles inspires her as well as the use of light and also artwork from text. Claire described her love for her work, “As I paint the vast majority of my work to order I really enjoy working with clients to create something which is personal and meaningful for them.”

Painted with Love is based at Claire’s home in Royal Tunbridge Wells and she is lucky to paint in a room with lots of light and beautiful views across the town and to the countryside beyond, perfect for developing ideas. All the basic materials are sourced from small UK suppliers as Claire likes to source from the UK, responsibly and with recycled materials wherever possible.

Commissions

Claire is always happy to undertake commissions, be it doing a slightly different twist on one her pieces already in the collection or something completely different that you would like to develop. Some of Claire’s previous commissions can be seen on her website.  Many of the individual pieces become family heirlooms.

Commission piece, by Painted with Love

What’s next for Painted With Love?

Claire regularly exhibits and sells her work at events in and around Tunbridge Wells. Her work can be viewed and bought through her website www.paintedwithlove.co.uk and at Cuppedia, 120 Camden Road, Tunbridge Wells. Painted with Love will also be at All Your Christmas Presents Under One Roof on Saturday 27th November 2010, at St Johns Church, Tunbridge Wells. Claire continues to broaden her customer base, including overseas orders for her Arabic artwork and aims to build up her portfolio in the coming year.

Painted with Love, from Tunbridge Wells