I’m sure you can imagine the expression on my face when I scrolled around the beloved Bloomsbury online store and came across these little babies:

A: Black Zebra at Bloomsbury, £24.95 (GBP)

B: Orange Penguin at Bloomsbury, £24.95 (GBP)

C: Pink Rabbit at Bloomsbury, £24.95 (GBP)

There’s a whole range of animals - I could start my own sofa-zoo!

I love Russian Dolls (Babooshka dolls, call them what you will).  When I was in Prague before Christmas last year there were all sorts of these dolls in the stores - political figures, football teams, movie stars, you name it!  I think the idea of painting your own, however, is even better.

Russian Doll Painting Kit by House of Crafts at Prezzybox.com, £13.95 (GBP)

1. I have a not-so-secret obsession with Oscar the Grouch.

2. I like the washed out colour green.

3. The statement is topical, yet amusing.

Behold:

‘Green is the New Black’ T-shirt from Urban Outfitters, £28.00 (GBP)

I fell in love with the ‘Oval Ceramic Table Lamp‘ the other day when I was browsing through the Home Contrast collection.  Then I saw the ‘Orange Slices Table Lamp‘ and my lamp-loving fate was sealed.  I love how these lamps glow with life - I can picture mine illuminating a section of bookshelf or throwing pretty patterns on my bedroom wall.

I can’t tell you how tempted I am by this lamp. Not only is it incredibly good looking, but the seller’s recommendation of having it wake you up each morning is a brilliant idea.

The Solarise Lamp Shade at Rockett St George is designed with a thermochromic layer that reacts to heat. This means that the longer the light is on (and the warmer the shade gets), the paler the thermo-chromic section of the shade gets. This gives the effect of the sun-rising over the gorgeous London skyline that is painted along the bottom of the shade. Genius!

I’ve been holding back on showing you this range of clocks. Some part of me is terrified that if I write about them, everyone else will see how cool they are and buy them before I get the chance. Then I realised, I have no money! Why am I selfishly holding back these clocks from all my friendly readers? Please, feel free to buy as many as you want, you’re saving me from myself really:

All of these awesome Knowhere 24 Hour Clocks (available at Pedlars.co.uk) help those of us with vast global families to keep track of what time it is where our loved ones are. Two of the three, the ‘One World Clock’ and the ‘Me and You Clock’, come with customizable stickers so that you can pick out and program the time-zones of your choice. The third, the ‘Cosmos Clock’, has eye-catching arms in the shape of key international landmarks.

All of the clocks come with instructions as to how to program the clocks and their time-zones and because they take AA batteries you don’t have to worry about wiring! Brilliant!