Candle Power - Cook with Lisa ...

Lisa Roukin is an experienced and passionate cook, who has developed her childhood love of cooking into a successful career. Lisa has travelled the world learning new cuisines, worked in some of London's finest restaurants and last year even reached the final of Gordon Ramsey's 'The F Word'. All of this experience has led Lisa to set up 'Cook with Lisa' ... her very own cookery school - jam packed with foodie wisdom and importantly for Card & Gift Blog a shop! As you can imagine the Cook with Lisa online shop has a selection of gifts perfect for food-lovers. Today were featuring the fabulous range of recipe-inspired candles. Recreating the smells of your favourite foods baking, these candles allow you to enjoy the delicious aromas without piling on the calories. Each candle also comes with the recipe it recreates on the can.

Featured Candles: Apple Pie, Homemade Shortbread, Pineapple Flambe and Raspberry Sorbet. All individual candles are priced at £14.99. Or choose all four for a discounted price of £44.97 saving a fabulous 25%. Right now you can also get 'buy one get one free' on the Apple Pie candles in celebration of the Jewish New Year; the offer is available till Monday 3rd October so get yourself over to the Cook with Lisa website now!

Happy 30th Birthday to Aurora World ...

This year plush manufacturer Aurora World is celebrating 30 years in the gift industry. Today's celebration therefore is a little overdue ... time to take a quick look at their cute soft toy collection.

Aurora World is an award-winning, global brand that is stocked in more than 45,000 shops all over the world. Constantly innovating by bringing new characters and animals into the collection gives Aurora World an impressive range of designs (it was hard to choose which characters to show today). The first images on today's post are bears for babies, which would make ideal presents for newborns or as a non-traditional christening gift. Next is a selection of themed toys from the Yoohoo & Friends, Aurora World's best-selling range; popular with a variety of age groups. My personal favourites are saved for last, Hippo and Meerkat & Pup are luxurious, plush toys straight from the Jungle collection.

Featured: Comfy Baby - ABC Musical (plays alphabet song when squeezed), $20; My 1st Teddy, $13; Yoohoo Pirate, from $9; Yoohoo 80's Dancer, from $9; Leemee Punk Rocker, from $9; Hippo, $13 and last but not least the Meerkat & Pup, $16. To see all of these cute critters and hundreds more with gift potential check out the Aurora World website. (Prices on today's post are in America Dollars).

Cupcakes Galore by Nyha Graphics ...

Naomi Robinson is the Illustrator behind Nyha Graphics. As well as working on numerous creative projects, including designing book jackets, Naomi has her own collection of greetings cards and gifts that are sold online and shipped worldwide. The collection has a wide range of subjects and inspiration but today's post focuses on one specialist area ... cupcake art! The cheerful and delicious looking cupcake is a big trend in the world of cards and gifts and Nyha Graphics has a cupcake for any occasion. The single cards are perfect for birthdays, or a double pack means you have a cute card for any celebration. Alternatively for the food lovers you can choose a magnet or art print to cheer and inspire in the kitchen.

The images on today's blog post include: Single Cupcake Cards, £1.75; Two Cupcake Cards Pack, £3.50; Cupcake Magnet, £2.00 and Cupcake Art Print, £25.00. Find out more about any of these items at the Nyha Graphics online store.

Gifts with a Twist - Twisted Twee ...

Today's long overdue post is dedicated to the fabulous Twisted Twee. A favourite with independent boutiques here in the UK, I was thrilled to finally stumble across the online emporium (I have no idea what took me so long). The cool, funky website gives a hint of the equally cool, funky products to be found inside. With an impressive collection of organic clothing and a heap of quirky accessories, Twisted Twee offers a wonderful world of gift potential. Adding a bit of fun and lunacy to the world, today's post features cute clothing lines like Film Buff Stuff and Double Act, alongside the amazingly cute Sleepyhead Pillows. All designs are "exclusively cobbled together" by Twisted Twee chief Suzi Warren. Each item is original, affordable, high quality and comes beautifully packaged and presented.

Film Buff Stuff Baby Grows, £16 each; Spartacus Twinset, £30; Double Act Chalk and Cheese, £25 for the two t-shirts; Equal Opportunity Baby Grows, £16 each; Dad & Child Twinsets - Pink & Half Pint, £32 (family set shown is £40) and last but not least the Sleepyhead Pillow, £15.

To see or purcahse any of these items and a heap of other Twisted Twee goodies visit the website.

Charming Ceramics by Reiko Kaneko ...

Reiko Kaneko established her ceramics design studio in London's East End in 2007. Born in Britain but spending her childhood in Japan, Reiko uses these two cultures to inspire her love of ceramics, creating her own brand of unique, fusion pottery. Today's collection combines British bone china, with a Japanese design twist; the result is a stunning collection of tablewares and homewares that provide great gift inspiration. Combining 3D modelling techniques with the centuries-old expertise to be found in Stoke on Trent (the home of pottery in England) helps give the collection its fresh feel, while maintaining a sense of classic style. There's so much to love in the collection; today's post is a mix of my favourite items from the sleek, structural pieces to the whimsically decorated contemporary designs.

Items featured: Breakfast Express - Egg Cup, £19.95; Toast Rack, £19.95; Salt & Pepper Cellar, £19.95; Drip Tease Collection - Teapot, £69.95; Milk Jug, £19.95; Cup & Saucer, £27.95; Lip Tease Cup & Saucer, £27.95; Lip Tease Mug, £13.95; Heart Teacup & Saucer, £22.95; Arctic Bamboo Low Tumbler, £11.95; Iceberg & Iceberg Stepped, both £24.95; The Boat (shown in natural, black also available), £119.00 and Cluster Vase, £79.00.

To see all of the items and many more beautiful pieces from the Reiko Kaneko collection go along to the official website, which contains an online shop where you can purchase any of these items.

Animal Magic by FishInk ...

Today's post is dedicated to the greetings cards and stationery gifts of Fishink. Based in Manchester, Fishink designer Craig is a textile designer, illustrator and photographer. Drawing inspiration from unlikely sources ideas are quickly formed into quirky characters with a life of their own and it's these characters that become the centrepiece of the designs. With charm and personality the characters jump off the page, their bold shapes and colours making them a bright and appealing for children and adults.

Featured items today include notebooks, greetings cards and sticker sets. Available to purchase online and ship worldwide, single greetings cards are £2.00, packs of 5 cards are £8.00, packs of 10 cards are £15.00; Individual notebooks are £3.50 or you can choose your favourite 3 designs for £10.00; a pack of ten stickers retails at £1.00. To see the whole collection visit the Fishink website.

Working with Nature - Tilia Press ...

Tilia Press was born out of a love of hand-written correspondence, paper, print and pattern. Launched at New York's National Stationery Show in 2009, designer Anne Hammes combines all of these elements together in an Eco-friendly stationery collection. Tilia Press designs explore the importance of nature while remaining respectful of the world's resources. All of the cards and stationery are created using renewable energy sources, soy based inks and FSC certified, 100% recycled PCW (post-consumer waste) paper. The nature-inspired designs perfectly mix old and new with a striking combination of modern prints and retro patterns.

Tilia Press cards and stationery are available to buy online, click here to go to the shop. A mix of single cards and packs of eight; images today are from the Flutter by Butterfly, Ode to a Linden Tree, A Rose is a Rose and What's Buzzin' collections. To find out more about Tilia Press visit their website.