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I think I’ve seen this jumper before?

Feb 3rd, 2012 by thewishingtree

Why do things stop being fashionable and who decides? Give it 10 years and it will be the height of fashion again! The 2000’s haven’t really developed their own style yet, we keep stealing things from past years. Vintage is so popular at the moment with high street shops picking elements from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and 80’s.  However genuine vintage has taken off too! There seem to be more and more people who want the real deal. The 1950’s are when things started getting exciting and carved a huge following today of rockabilly and pin up styles.  Betty Page stirred up a huge fuss being a pin up bombshell and is now one of the most recognized faces of the 50’s!

Bettie Page 50's pin up

Twiggy and Mary Quant paved the way for fashion in the 60’s with the likes of  Topshop showcasing modern versions of 60’s dresses. If you want something a little more vintage you have to look hard for it. You can find some fantastic little gems in charity shops and backstreet boutiques. If you can find some vintage material and can work your way around a sewing machine it’s a great way to make a new item out of something old!

The 80’s were a crazy mix of shoulder pads, punks, skinheads and huge frizzy hair. Shoulder pads have made a huge comeback and famous faces like Lady Gaga drawing inspiration from the glitz and glam with her own futuristic approach is a perfect example of reviving old trends.

We have recently started our own vintage room here at The Wishing Tree. We are sourcing items for all over the place and customizing various different pieces. Some genuine and some modern. We have shoulder pads, high waisted skirts, brogues and some totally retro sunglasses on offer!! Even a hippy headband :)  Moral of the blog is that nothing really ever goes out of fashion, just gets a bit of a revamp every now and again! Whatever fashion you follow make it your own.

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Successcents…..Mists of change….Scents of purpose

Oct 13th, 2011 by thewishingtree

Successcents
…….Mists of change
…..Scents of purpose
Let the sunshine in and lift your spirits naturally!
At The Wishing Tree we have just introduced these new calming scents in three different smells.
Successence, Wellnessence and Happinessence.  Here is a little bit of information about them as told by the creator Trisha Davies.
Our sense of smell is the most powerful of our five senses and we can make good use of it when we wish to make positive changes and establish new purpose in our lives.
We all know how evocative a scent or aroma can be, that it can strongly remind us of a special person, place or time in our lives, or make us feel good, or serve a warning to keep away from something not good for us, once the link or association has been learned.
It is widely believed that essential oils can have can influence on the way we feel. For instance, it is commonly known that lavender has a calming effect, and aromatherapies use different essential oils to help alleviate physical or emotional symptoms.
‘Successcents has come into being this year in response to a request for me to bottle the blend I have been using to good effect for several years in my tutoring. Students have said that having the aroma available during exam time has re-created the calm, confidence and concentration they experienced in my teaching sessions.
I have combined the essential oils in that blend with some thoughtfully selected flower essences to create ‘Successcence’. I have also developed a blend intended to positively influence well-being. – ‘wellessence’. and with similar intent – ‘happinessence’
Come to The Wishing Tree shop in Long Stratton or you can shop online at www.thewishingtree.biz
Find out more at www.successcents.co.uk or email info@successcents.co.uk

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Tas Valley Homeopathy: New Clinic on Wednesday mornings!

Aug 25th, 2011 by thewishingtree

New at The Wishing Tree we have our little Holistic Treatment room. The room is hired out to Independent practitioners to bring you a variety of healing and adds another little branch to our ever blossoming Tree. Sally Richards from a little local village has written me a guest blog to share with you below, giving you an insight of what she has to offer on a Wednesday morning. You can view her website  http://www.tasvalleyhomeopathy.co.uk/ and discover a little more about Sally and her practice too…when you decide that it’s the way forward for you, give us a call and make that life changing first appointment…..so over to Sally…..

Fascinated by the simplicity of matching a medicine to a picture of ill-health, when my family first used Homeopathy in 2004, I set out to learn more, and we never looked back. I find it incredibly rewarding to help patients return to good health and then to maintain it. I am passionate about sharing this natural, gentle and safe medicine, as others have before me for 200 years.

The new clinic is at The Wishing Tree, every Wednesday morning, from 9.30-1.30. Come along for a free 15 minute introductory consultation, and find out how Homeopathy could help you. Appointments are available at the Wishing Tree, as well as in my own office; please ask for further information.

Homeopathy helps my patients both physically and emotionally. Everyone deserves optimum health, well-being, and joy of life. Over the last 2 and a half years, my patients have been of all ages, with a great variety of conditions, including: migraines, eczema, asthma, and hormone problems, as well as stress, grief, anger and anxiety. Read about the positive effect others have experienced; patient testimonials are available on my website www.tasvalleyhomeopathy.co.uk. Patient confidentiality is respected at all times.

My patient-focused approach will choose a remedy just for you, to trigger your body’s natural system of healing. The details of your own symptoms, and how they feel to you personally, help to determine the medicine you need. For example, for three migraine patients, rather than prescribing the same ‘migraine medication’ to each of them, they may each receive a different remedy depending on their individual symptoms.

Homeopathic remedies work safely and successfully alongside prescribed medication; I am happy to discuss your progress with your healthcare team. As a fully qualified, professional practitioner, providing a unique plan of care, I treat my patients with the high standards I expect to receive myself.

Call 07730 515080 for a free 15 minute consultation,or email: tvhomeopathy@gmail.com.

or you could call us at The Wishing Tree on 01508 536008

Why not try it?

I can speak from personal experience with regards to this form of medicine, Sally helped me recover from a very persistent cough after 3 unsuccessful courses of anti-biotics from my doctor, Sally’s remedy had me cough free with in a week. Other ailments which respond well to Homeopathy are IBS, especially when related to food allergy, Migraine, insomnia and skin problems….give your body a chance and give us a call….

xx

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Piercings….When is it just one hole too many?

Aug 25th, 2011 by thewishingtree

How  many holes do you have to be bragging about??

Is it just a case of having too many ?

Do you think less is more?

Or is there never too many?

Questions, Questions, Questions? Wikipedia has a few answers for you.

piercings tattoo bloke

picture from Wikipedia of tattoo and piercings guy

As  a stockist of jewelery, and being a bit of a random, off the wall kind of shop, we decided last year to start selling a few bits of body jewelery to compliment the range. Personally I am just an earing and a belly bar person, so knowing what to stock was a bit of a learning curve. Think we are getting there now mind you. This is the back country of Norfolk, so getting folks to catch on is a bit of a challenge. Little village gift shop starts selling body jewellery….Oh Arrrr!! Maybe thats a bit harsh, don’t want to be upsetting my customers do I? It’s great to be able to cater for the wider market share actually, the diversity of my little gift shop makes it interesting to an extensive range of people and their shopping needs. All you need to do is look at our website to see the varied selection that we have on our shelves.

So back to Belly Bars…..OK so yes, as I said I have one …..the range we stock is interesting, Gothic, jewelled, Mystical to mention a few….something a bit different to grace your navel.

Whatever your taste or opinion, you have to admit that the guy in the picture just wouldn’t be getting a second glance without his added extras.

Go on make that appointment….get yourself a little something extra special….

We will be seeing you soon

xx

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Guest Blog By Lucy at loopy lou designs

Jul 8th, 2011 by thewishingtree

To bead or not to bead?

Big beads, little beads, gemstone beads? What floats your boat? At The Wishing Tree we try to make a piece of jewellery for every personality, weather it be a chunky beaded necklace or a dainty chain . We have a lot of unique and one off pieces designed by local Norfolk crafters, including loopy lou  designs and Harvey crafty cards. We have recently introduced felt works by twee things including hand felted beads and felt brooches. ……. It can be quite hard to find the right piece of jewellery. Do you look online or get something custom made? I absolutely love big statement jewellery at the moment in bold stand out colours. Blues and greens are really popular this season and people seem to be leaving the daintier jewellery for the big chunky pieces. I love to bead and am always looking for unusual beads and ideas. I have started to incorporate more materials such as feathers and leather and even materials. Charity shops are an amazing place to pick up one off pieces of material or some vintage buttons off an old blouse. It’s amazing what you can sling together with a few odds and sods!

Made by Lucy at Loopy Lou Designs

The same can be said about making hair pieces. You can find some beautiful pieces of material in charity shops and some great stuff in the bargain bin of your local haberdashery store!! This peacock hair clip is made from the shed feathers of the peacock where I used to work!! Wonderful when you can see where the feathers came from!! The mesh came from my local haberdashery store and so are the beads and the result is something you can wear again and again! Dress it up or down, for a special occasion like a Wedding or for a funky daywear look.

So, by visiting The Wishing Tree you can choose from a wide range of hand made, bespoke jewellery pieces, or chat to our crafty ladies and have something made to order.

See you soon for something special….

Lucy

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A Weeks Work Experience At The Wishing Tree

Jul 16th, 2010 by thewishingtree

When I was asked earlier in the year if I would be able to find a placement for a work experience student, I was in two minds weather to say yes or no. I had heard that it could be more trouble that it was worth, but far from it, my student has been a little Gem. I can dispell all the fear of giving these youngsters a first taste of the working world, and it is my pleasure to give our very keen little helper an opportunitity to share the highs and lows of working in retail for a week, and I can only hope she has enjoyed it as much as me, I can honestly say she has motivated me into doing more work than usual, we have achieved a great deal, and I have leant a few things too….so here you are, lets see what she has to share with you….

Here I am on Friday afternoon, this week has gone far too quickly, I have had such a lovely time working here at The Wishing Tree, I have gained many skills from this one week, working and meeting new people has been one of the biggest skills I have used. If only work experience was two weeks, being in the work place is a lot less stressful than being in school. There have only been highs from this week, I have enjoyed myself and feel that this week has gone so well. As you can see in the picture one of my tasks was to design a poster. The Wishing Tree is a very ethical shop and the poster is advertising fill a handbag for the ladies of Kosovo.  After a few hiccups Olivia was really pleased with the finished product and I felt quite good about it too. I was really pleased with what I had produced myself and for a really good cause. On my first day I learnt how to upload things to the website which was really interesting and something that I had not done before. I found this easy once I had got the hang of it, and confident to work on my own.  Here are some of the listings I did. On Wednesday I worked with another member of staff and we created a wonderful window display full of cats, I used my artistic skills to great succes as we sold something out of it straight away. I have helped with loads of things this week and Olivia has offered me a Saturday job over christmas. I am going to be really sad to leave today I have had a great time, I would like to say a big THANKYOU to Olivia for having me to work with her this week, and I hope that she has enjoyed this week as much as me !!!! xx

Yes I most certainly have enjoyed it, and I am confident that the other staff have too. I hope that you can show this blog entry to your teachers and fellow pupils in school, and I hope this and the poster can be used in your school profile. Good luck with writing your CV and be sure to put my name forward as a referance.

Love and Light

Olivia

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Editorial Piece in The Diss Express

Jul 6th, 2010 by thewishingtree

olivia at the wishing treeWe were recently invited to place an editorial in the Diss Express, under the heading of Women in Business. So Helen and I put our heads together and came up with the following….limited to 150 words, it wasnt’t the easiest of tasks but we thought we made a good job of giving the readership a good impression of what The Wishing Tree has to offer….

Who’d have thought you’d have been able to buy a giraffe or an elephant in Long Stratton? Since September 2007 when Olivia Docherty opened The Wishing Tree this Aladdin’s cave has gone from strength to strength. Olivia and her team do their very best to make their customers wishes come true, sourcing unusual and ethical gifts both locally and from around the world. They also offer an unrivalled collection of JellyCat soft toys, Willow Tree Collectables, and the finest amber and gemstone jewellery for miles around. Recent customer interest has prompted a collection of mystical and magical items. A constantly changing window display of all the newest gorgeous things never fails to turn heads on the A140 and with an expansion in the pipeline before the year is out, the girls invite you to be part of The Wishing Tree’s future.

Earlier in the week the photographer had been and taken a few pictures of myself and Helen and the shop etc, which was great, and I managed to steel this one for my new facebook profile picture. I look forward to hearing som feedback from the editorial, and seeing a few new faces in the shop too. There are lots of people who drive past on the main road (A140) wondering what is to offer inside, visitors come from far off places, passing through on thier travels.

Look forward toseeing you soon

Love and Light

Olivia

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An Interview with Natalie AKA Harvey Crafty Cards…….

Jun 15th, 2010 by thewishingtree

Hello Natalie, Welcome to The Wishing Tree, we currently stock some of your items from Harvey Crafty Cards, and as a local crafter I wanted to find out a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes, what inspires you, where you get your drive, and how long you have been crafting.
Hello Olivia, Thank You for asking me to write a blog post for you, What inspires me ? well there are many things that give me inspiration mainly my children my family and friends, I am a mother of 2 little girls, my 3 1/2 year old just loves fairies and angels, she loves to dress up as  fairies and there has been many times I have had to take Tinkerbell to Tesco’s ! she even had me dressing her 10 month old sister to match , anyway its because of her I have made fairy themed items, as you can see from the picture every house, well actually every skirting board needs one of these you have to let the fairies into your home through there very own door, so don’t leave them locked outside let them in and let the magic begin, they are also available in a  frame they look very pretty in your little girls bedroom   or in any room to add a little colour and sparkle, what about the tooth fairy? these have been a good seller of mine , If you have a son or a daughter that has lost a tooth why not make them feel extra special and leave a little fairy dust sprinkled so they can see the fairy has been for themselves, works really well if you have a little girl or boy that loves their dummy!! I also make wooden plaques this one sums me up completely  I also offer personalisation, so any colour, wording let Olivia know and it will come to life. Something which is a must is this beautiful item its one of my favorites and is also a featured item at the moment on the website.
Where do you get your drive? Well that’s a tough question especially on only 4 hours sleep lol, I get a lot of drive and motivation from fellow Folksy shop owners, getting a sale online is one thing that drives me, the fact that someone loves an item I have made as much as I have loved making it ,there isn’t a better feeling than that really.
How long have I been crafting? Well I have always been crafty, I remember watching my Mum on her sewing machine and wishing I could be just like her one day, I enjoyed all the art and textile classes at school, and have recently taken up sewing again   I have been crafting seriously since I was carrying my 1st little girl, making cards and photo albums I also make Wedding Stationery and have completed 7 weddings of there full stationery this is an area I love and would love to expand further .
Right, enough about me if you haven’t been here  you really need to visit !! lots to see inside this beautiful magical shop xx
Thanks Olivia again for this opportunity and for stocking my items :)
Nat xxx 

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Light up the Faerie Belief and Watch the Colourful Majick Glow

May 18th, 2010 by thewishingtree

tea light candles with coloured flames

beautiful faerie flames to brighten your table

When I saw these gorgeous little tea lights I couldn’t believe my eyes. Does it really do what it says on the tin? Well yes actually it does, but it’s not a tin so much as a box. You get six of these little lights and they are in lovely glass holders so you can re-use them. We like to bring you ethical quality. These really are very special, the coloured flames are Red Green and Orange and have a much longer burning time than the standard tea light.  Made from special, water soluble crystals these gems are unscented, safe and non-toxic. They do not contain paraffin wax or animal fat, so can be used by vegetarians.

Place the tea light candle on a flat, non-heat sensitive surface, as the holders do get quite hot. Remember not to place them near a draught as this will cause them to burn away more quickly. Before lighting make sure to straighten the wick, and light it from the bottom not the top, as this will extend the burning time. never trim the wick. Darken the room for the best effect and in a few minites your candle will burn with a coloured flame you will love. In the right conditions your tea light will burn for approx 1 hour.

Always ensure you burn candles out of reach of children and pets, and away from anything flammable. Do not use them in oil burners or food warmers. It is not safe to move a tea light while it is burning as it is hot liquid and could spill. However if you do spill it, remember that these candles are water soluble and are dissolved by water. Use a damp cloth to wipe away any spills. And just to remind you, no matter how distracted you get, never leave a burning candle unattended.

What could be more romantic and Magical?  Here at The Wishing Tree  we like to bring you that little bit of something special and out of the ordinary, so also from the same suppliers there are more in the range. Taper Candles in boxes of 2 in Red, Purple, Orange and Green. Cute little Birthday Cake Candles in Boxes of 12, which are guarenteed to bring the WOW!! Factor to your Birthday Party. Something for everyone.

Light up the Majick in your home

Love and Light

Olivia

XX

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Mugs Away…..as the saying goes

Apr 20th, 2010 by thewishingtree

Giraffe Mug at The Wishing Tree

Huge Giraffe Coffee Mug buy online from The Wishing TreeBone China cup and saucer from the Konitz range from Germany at The Wishing Tree

I really am not sure where the saying comes from…Mugs Away…..lets Google it….Losers to start! An announcement to prompt the beginning of a new game in which the losers of the last are given the chance to start. Originally a phrase from the game of darts. So there you go….and I found the answer here.   Amazing what you can find out hey ??….That has absolutely no referance to my kind of Mugs but lets not dwell on that. It inspired me to take to my keyboard today so I guess thats good enough.  I happened upon this new Company at the Spring Fair this year at the NEC. Konitz are a German Company, with 100 years of mug making experience, I guess they know what they’re doing by now. They certainly impressed me at the Trade Fair, I had trouble deciding what to bring to The Wishing Tree. The Megga Mug in the photo above was my first choice. Being known locally as the Giraffe Lady, it was a “must have” and needing cups of coffee by the bucket load to get me through my hectic days, Size deffinately matters….this Big Mug holds enough caffine to wake up my world…..In the same design I plumped for a more normal size of mug too, for the not so desperate coffee drinker. They are all made from quality Bone China, so great for when the posh friends and relatives come to visit. My second favorite has to be the Teddy Bear cup and saucer, Konitz simply call it Honey. It’s almost big enough to hold a tea party in, and the Mad Hatter would deffinately be happy to have it on his table.

Cats…..did someone mention the Pur..fect cup for a brew is a cat cup…..here you go then, all the cat lovers out there, I know I have several pussy cat collectors amongst the regular visitors to The Wishsing Tree, so this little red number with a pencil drawing of a cat should keep you happy. And what else do we associate with The Wishing Tree then?? Yes I also chose Fairy Princess Hearts, and Elephants and Butterflies…..all available in the shop or online….Saving the sweetest til last “Sorry” yes a mug that says sorry, fill it with the Creamy Hot Chocolate and Cuddle up with the best appology possibe….its a Snuggle Mug, and it has  Zebra and a Giraffe on it too…..
I think the girl did good, don’t you?
Or maybe I just need another brew….
Love and Light and Lovely Mugs ….with the Aahhhh factor of course,
Olivia

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