Merrilee Liddiard of Mer Mag holiday gift guide
With her love of creative play Merrilee Liddiard has been immersed in making magic out of the simple things since childhood. She grew up watching her mother cast porcelain, stitch together cloth bodices, and paint miniature eyes and cheeks onto handmade doll faces. Merrilee has consequentially had a passion for dolls and doll-making ever since.
You can find her turning boxes into playful brownstones and paper plates into jungle masks on her blog MerMagblog.com and in her book Playful: Fun Projects to Make With and For Kids. You can also find her illustrating and writing simple tales and Merrillee has a series of Fairy Friends board books for your children to enjoy.
Mer Mag Shop: merrileeliddiardshop.com and @merrileeliddiarshop
Words by Merrilee Liddiard
I’m all about stories so my favourite gifts are those that work doubly hard: books, objects or art that has a second meaning under the surface, be that one of sustainability, history or innovation. I love to fill my home with things that have layers of meaning and resonance. You’ll find a number of examples below of gifts that repurpose or recall. They provide wonderful ways, I think, to reach back and connect with the past. When you find special items that make sense of our humanity, you play a part in passing that story on to the next generation.
So here are the gifts I’m going to be gifting… and a list of those I dream of receiving on Christmas Day!
Cutest kid Christmas Eve PJs by Little Cotton Clothes
A lovely, traditional pair of pyjamas made in beautiful printed 100% organic cotton.
Small Folk - Ceramic Tea Set - Cherry
Eying this simple and sweet tea set
Lyra wooden colouring pencils
Obsessed with these pencils for kids coloring and crafty creations
And this darling pencil holder keeping them close and accessible for when inspiration strikes!
Strathmore Mixed Media Drawing pads
Hands down my favourite sketchbooks. Jon gifted these to me last year -one sketchbook for each month - and it’s been amazing. I would definitely gift these to all my friends, young and old.
I have always loved gifting children’s books and I’ve been eying these:
My daughter’s favourite fidget toy by Wooden Story
Nee Nee Twigs, handmade hunters Star quilt vest.
Definitely want a mommy and me set of these
The Simple Folk
Elizabeth Dress in Holiday Stripe
And a few from my shop: These best sellers have brought hours of creative fun!
Mushroom House and Pixie Characters Printable
And we just restocked a few of these special hand-painted heirloom dolls.
“Meet Pixie art doll Callula. She is a thoughtful and kind friend. Always thinking of how she can help her pixie friends and loves planning holiday parties for them. She loves making and giving gifts to add a touch of magic to the holidays.”
Johana Krasinski
And I wrap everything up and these gorgeous papers - Wrapping paper Holiday collection