Five favourite Easter thingies

I'm not a big Easter celebration sort... but I could be tempted by some of the sweet bunny-egg-chick themed things in the shops right now. Hard to resist...

1. Our Workshop is a lovely place to browse online for handmade and vintage goodies. And these egg-shaped salt and pepper shakers, just £3.50 would not only give a sweet Easter twist to your Sunday lunch – but you could use them all year round.

2. These Russian chicks, £10 (set of four), from John Lewis are totally pointless but make for a dinky festive mantlepiece adornment. And kids will love playing with them too.

3. Simple but stylish, no? Wooden bunny ears egg-cup , £10.95 from Not on the High Street (check out their sweet Easter egg cosies too)

4. I had a bit of a bonanza window shop at NOTH (or should that be eggs-travaganza, ba-boom). These dinky crocheted chick egg holders, £1.50 each, are adorable though, how could I resist? Perfect for a children's egg hunt, or simply on the table for breakfast or a small, chocolate-y pudding...

5. Do you need bunny-shaped Easter bunting? YES YOU DO! Get yours from Etsy, around £3.30 per garland, plus £1.57 for postage.

PS – if you're looking for cute Easter cards to send, try Claire Giles. Lovely graphics.

The lovely Cox & Cox Spring catalogue

What a treat – the Cox and Cox spring catalogue has just appeared on my doormat. And it's full of affordable treats to spruce up the home for spring. A few highlights to inspire...

How cute are these apple bookends? Perfect for the stylish small person in your life (if only children actively chose attractive vintage books, too... perhaps they could go on a nice high shelf – or is that a bit wrong?!).  Mmm. Maybe. Still, they're only £12.50 a set – why not get two pairs?

What a pretty way to display hyacinths. You really feel like spring has sprung with the heady smell of these babies filling the house... They cost £18.50 for the trio 

As regular readers know, I can't resist a nice bit of a canine accessory. This 'bullseye' lamp, made from poly-propylene plastic, would make a great nightlight, or just soft living room floor glow. He's available from the end of the month, and doesn't come cheap – he's £90. But a dog is for life... 

I'm a bit over wall stickers... but these pretty bird window stickers give the whole idea a fresh twist. And they're so friendly-looking  – they're meant to be for children's rooms, but I'd be very happy to wake up and find these little tweets hanging out. They're available from the end of the month too and cost £12.50 for a pack of ten.

Who says fairy lights are just for Christmas? These ones are most definitely summer-friendly; the tiny Moroccan-style lattice-cut lanterns give off such a pretty glow. And just to prove it, the Maroq Light Garland Maroq Light Garland(£36) isn't available until late June... but we think it's worth the wait.

Vintage treasures from The Bucket Tree

The Bucket Tree is my new favourite shop (yes, yes, I know that happens quite a lot...). The rather lovely vintage emporium is run by Artemis Russell, who also writes a very beautiful and inspiring blog, Junkaholic. She also runs RUST, a jewellery company, based in Clerkenwell, London, and Tokyo, with her husband Nao.

The shop came about because Artemis and Nao's love for collecting junk outgrew their tiny south London flat... so they thought they'd sell some of it. And lucky us – because they collect some absolutely beautiful things, as you can see above.

Wooden rabbit nesting dolls

This lovable, hand painted wooden rabbit family, would look great in a child's bedroom. They measure 15cm high and cost £25.

60s children's card game
Love this colourful, animal-illustrated game for children from late sixties'. Instructions (and original price of 7 1/2p!) included. £14.

40s/50s alarm clock
A pretty little wind-up clock, which has luminous hands and brass fittings on the back. It's made of metal, ticks loudly and measures 7cm tall 
and 6.5cm across and costs £29.

She has heaps more adorable things for sale – from old books to crochet blankets, a miniature yacht, an art deco perfume bottle and a few clothes, too (love the 1930s dickie bow).

Stylish interiors for children

How adorable is this panda? He's part of a range of posters for children from the online shop, A Little Bit of Art, which specialises in affordable art.

This chap – who officially goes by the name of Pandamonium – costs £40 (40cm x 50cm) and is one of a limited edition of 50 signed screenprints. I like Pandapop too (below). Same price, same size etc.

For more inspiring ideas on staying stylish when you have little people sharing your home, check out my Insider column on the topic in today's Independent on Sunday.

Retro lunchbox

It's a bit silly, but this 'I Love London' lunchbox is very sweet. It might make a nice cake or biscuit tin for the kitchen, or just spruce up your Tuppaware collection with it.

The illustration is very cute and reminds me of hand-me-down picture books I was read as a child, and makes me wish I lived in 1960s London and could commute alongside men in trilby hats and wear smart, swish outfits all the time. Which of course would be most tiresome really... but that's my romantic vision and I'm sticking to it. 

Anyway - this comes from Bouf, which is a spectacular website if you're not familiar (it's essentially a storefront for all sorts of interesting small-scale designers). And it comes from I Love Retro and costs £7.16 (random price, but it's on sale right now, so get in quick).

Charley Harper - but affordable

I can't remember where I first came across Charley Harper's gorgeous, stylised bird and nature illustrations - but I instantly fell for their clean, colourful modernist style. Look at them - how could you not?

But then I was thwarted: I could not find affordable prints of his work anywhere (I hadn't, then, stumbled across this brilliant Charley Harper prints website). But while on a work excursion to the opening of the new Saatchi Gallery in the King's Road, London, I found myself in the rather lovely little on-site shop and spotted the Charley Harper Memory Card Game - the children's game where you have to find two of the same images on little card squares and match them up. It cost less than a tenner, but I walked away with a whole bundle of Harper pictures in one little box - brilliant. Once home, I laid them out on a piece of card to fit a nice, square Ikea birchwood frame, glued them down once I was happy with the arrangement - et voila: cheap art!

The Saatchi shop online isn't very easy to navigate so I can't see if they still sell it, but I found it on Amazon for a bargainous £7.53. Nice.