Exotic Packaging: Original Formula Holly & Frankincense Soap

Merry Christmas from this 1987 soap packet!

The soap was made with myrrh, brandy oil, cinnamon, mandarin, bay orange, holly leaf and frankincense. 

What on earth does a holly leaf smell of I wonder? Or does it have amazing medicinal properties?

Exotic Packaging: Wallace & Gromit DVD Tin

This Wallace & Gromit tin came with DVDs in. The design on the lid is raised - you can see the inside of the lid in the bottom photo - the raised design shows up much better there although Wallace's teeth look very creepy from the wrong side. And the side of the tin are decorated with line drawings of cheese and crackers. Of course.

The DVDs live somewhere else now and I use this tin to store patchwork supplies.

This is some of the fabric I keep in the tin. Yes, that snow boarder is printed on fabric. These patterns all went into a pair of curtains I made for the bedroom in Switzerland. I don't ski or snow board, but the family does.

Exotic Packaging: Crabtree & Evelyn Assorted Flavour Fruit Teas

I don't drink tea. I don't even like fruit teas much and mint tea makes me feel fat. So I can only have bought this tin of teas because the tin itself is so fabulous. Perhaps you aren't very surprised?

So here, once upon a time, we had 40 sachets of fruit flavoured black tea. Cherry, Raspberry, Mango and Vanilla. Is vanilla a fruit? It looks like a french bean so I suppose it's just a seed pod.

Each of the four teas is illustrated by a botanical drawing style image showing flowers and fruit at the same time. Sadly we don't get a mango flower, perhaps because they don't look very interesting (check google and see what you think).

I think I have owned this tin since at least 1990. I'm sure I had it when I lived in that tiny basement flat not far from Harrods. Oh look. It says distributed 1988 on the base of the tin. Why didn't I check that before consulting my memory?

The base of the tin also reminds me that of course Crabtree & Evelyn of London is not a company based in London but in Woodstock Hill CT, USA. The tin came from England but the teas from China.

Wherever it all came from it's a very pretty tin don't you think?

Elizabeth Bradley Needlework Kits 23rd Edition

I do like a lot of Elizabeth Bradley's designs very much indeed but unfortunately I am really quite astonishingly impatient and can't bear the thought of cross stitch. The idea of doing each and every stitch twice over makes me feel quite fretful! This is the entire catalogue so there are 56 pages to see. And I do lust after some of the designs vey much indeed.