Unique Handmade Jewellery

We have a growing collection of fantastic jewellery designers at Not Mass Produced.  Here we have posted just a small taste of the truly unique handmade jewellery available, to whet your appetite.  

We think handmade jewellery is particularly special. Jewellery is a gift to be cherished, kept safe and worn close.  When given as a gift it often represents a special event in our lives, or a connection with someone special.  

Emerald Green hewn Ring

Random Button - Designer Giveaway!

We're really excited as today we have our first artisan interview including a fantastic giveaway to win this beautiful shabby chic cushion, pictured above, part of the 'Parlour Chic' collection from Random Button.

 Details of how you can win this pretty cushion are at the end of the post, but first lets meet the talented designer maker behind it -  Laura Sollis of Random Button.

5 Must Read Green Living Blogs

We have compiled a small collection of 5 of our current favourite green living blogs.  Blogs from the UK dedicated to sharing tips on living a more sustainable lifestyle. We are big supporters of green living at Not Mass Produced, so we love to read blog posts about the latest eco and design products and get some tips and info on reducing our carbon footprint from these well informed green bloggers.

Barkingside21

This is a great blog that was started around a community action group after the 'Agenda 21' action plan for sustainable living that was one of the results of the environmental summit in Rio, back in 1992.  

Little Green Blog
Meet Mrs, Mr and little Miss Green, they have a beautiful blog sharing tips for living more sustainably.

Green and Natural Living
Full of lots of useful information, 'Green and Natural living is written by Jackie, a "green living, salsa loving, Lincolnshire Yellowbelly, mother of 2"

Bee Strawbridge

"Trying to help by raising awareness about the importance of biodiversity and other important issues such as: bees; soil; permaculture; food; ethics; animal rights; growing food; sustainable living and more..."  A great blog from Brigit Strawbridge - a surname we now all associate with living life in a more sustainable way!

The Green Familia

Absolutely packed with tips on where to shop for more environmentally friendly products and tips on being frugal as well as being green.  They also have a really useful directory of stockists that sell sustainable and ethical products.

We hope you enjoy looking through these inspiring blogs - let us know if you have any favourite green living blogs in the comments :)

Summer Punch Recipes

There is something uniquely luxurious about a lazy summer garden party and the wonderful clinking of ice cubes as the punch is ladled into glasses.  We're looking forward to trying these delicious sounding punch recipes over the summer.

So absolutely no excuses -  you don't even need a special punch bowl and ladle to provide a top drawer punch for your guests this summer.  And remember it's a lot more fun to be in charge of the punch bowl than the bbq!  

Summer Fruit Sangria

Strawberry Margarita Spritzers

Are you having a party over the summer?  

Here are a few ideas of what to use if you don't have a traditional punch bowl set.  Altogether much more creative and your guest will love it, even just a simple jug or large flower vase will do, but try to get something clear so people can see all the beautiful fruits.

Use a large Jar as a punch bowl

Cute little jam jars as punch glasses

Make a punch bowl from ice!

Watermelon Punch Bowl

Make sure you and your guests know how strong the punch is - it can be quite deceptive when something tastes so refreshing on a hot day and can lead to plenty of sore heads the next morning! (speaking from experience!)

Enjoy your parties!

Blue trees and Brazilian friends

Trees, trees, beautiful bright blue trees... ??

Australian artist Konstantin Dimopoulos is on a mission to open eyes stop the deforestation that is happening across the world.  He's painting trees blue - bright, vibrant, electric blue , a colour that you will not see naturally occurring, a colour to make us stop and notice the trees.

The pigment is safe, water based and does no harm to the trees or surrounding environment.

Would you notice your local trees if they were suddenly sprayed bright blue? Would you be annoyed? That's exactly the point, by making trees ping out we are reminded just how important they are to us. Both aesthetically and environmentally.

Would it make you stop and think? Read on for a way you can help right now to stop deforestation in the Amazon.

What can you do right now to help stop deforestation?  

Yes, there are lots of ways we can save paper around the home and in the office and if you are a fan of Not Mass Produced, you probably do many of them already, but here is an initiative from Green Peace that could possibly stop mass deforestation in the Amazon - It's amazing that this is still true:

Every 30 seconds a piece of the Amazon the size of a soccer pitch is razed to the ground to make way for cattle grazing or for the planting of agricultural crops on the newly vacant land.

With the help of the Brazilian Friend Finder, you can use your social networks to find Brazilians who will sign this petition to help save what is left of the Amazon - sounds crazy but through using the power of Twitter you could help get 1.4million Brazilian signatures and only Brazilian signatures will do! 

Take a look at the FAQ's to find out more about how this law could help and how GreenPeace support the indiginous people of the Amazon and hopefully stop this destructive deforestation for good.

Jubilee Gift Ideas we love!

Made in Britain Cushion

Marking 60 years of the Queens reign, we are soon to be celebrating a fabulous 4 day weekend, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th of June 2012! It will certainly be a celebration that's recorded in the history books - and that's why everywhere you move there are Union Jacks and Queen's Jubilee Memorabilia .  


We wouldn't want to distract you from the party planning, pimms buying and bunting making  for too long, but we just had to show you the Jubilee inspired gifts that the designer makers at Not Mass Produced have created to celebrate the occasion. (bunting tip at the end of this post!)

London Tubemap Handbag

Crown Handbag Mirror

Corgi Cushion

Union Jack Knitted Phone Case

Leather Union Jack Cushion

We hope you all have a fabulous weekend!  If you haven't started on that essential jubilee bunting yet, why not try this tutorial from blogger 'Paper and String'.  

Bunting Ingredients!

This fun felt bunting tutorial would be a brilliant, boredom busting activity for the kids at any jubilee street parties you're having.  Lay out a table out with all of the bits and bobs they need and let them make it all up themselves - great icebreaker for adults at the party too.

Simple and sustainable gift wrapping ideas

Paper Bow Tutorial

You can save both money and a few trees by trying these really simple ideas to wrap your gifts without having to buy brand new gift wrap. They look great too...

Newspaper bow and wrap

Re-use wrapping paper

This has to be number one. If you take care when opening gifts you can 'hand iron' out the paper, fold it up and stash it away for use later on. This is especially true for gift bags, even if the sender has written on the bag you may be able to glue something over the top to cover it up.

Newspaper

Wrapping gifts in newspaper can look fantastic if you dress them up well. Adding a splash of colour or a pretty detail with a bow or ribbon can make newspaper look like designer wrapping paper.

Using Maps for wrapping

Old Maps

Those large road maps that have seen better days can be re purposed for wrapping paper, or made into these fantastic little pillow boxes.

Using kids drawings for wrapping paper

Kids drawings

Children can get through enormous quantities of paper - save drawings for wrapping gifts, grandparents will be especially pleased :)

Simple brown paper wrapping with decoration

Recycled brown paper

You can buy inexpensive brown parcel paper and decorate it with simple cut outs, ribbons or potato cut stamping (release your inner child or get your kids to do this for you!) or painting a pattern onto the paper before you wrap the gift.

Fabric poppy

Decorate parcels with fabric flowers

Fabric scraps can easily be made into pretty flowers that will dress up a plainly wrapped gift.
Natural decorations

Natural Wrap

Natural Decorations

If your present isn't going to be hanging around long why not nip into the garden or park with some scissors and collect a little bouquet of flowers, leaves, twigs, dried seed heads or cones to add a little flourish to your gift wrap.  This works really well with plain brown paper wrapping too.

Gift bow tutorial

Paper Bows

It's a lot of fun to learn how to make these paper bows, and once you have nailed it you'll never need to buy one again! Cherish the time you spend making these, it can be very theraputic (if you don't leave it right until the very last minute!)  Make them in batches and keep them for emergencies.


For even more inspiration take a look at our Sustainable Wrapping Ideas Pinterest board - let us know if you have any ideas for wrapping presents, or if you have blogged about wrapping we'd love to add your ideas...