Hi gang! Sorry I was a little AWOL in March but true to the theme of fresh starts: we're back and we're ready for it all over again. Thank you so much to the mods & helpers for keeping the club ticking along in the last few weeks <3 April's theme is Fresh Starts and the book selected is... Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. Links to purchase:&nbs ..read more

Is there anything better than a gloomy Saturday when you know you have no responsibility to leave the house? Raindrops gently tapping the window panes as you wait for the kettle to boil for your third cup of tea. You could go out, sure. You could do the grocery shopping to top up your fridge, or you could finally drop that bag of clothes donations to the charity shop. You remember the last ten Saturdays in a row: you’ve had plans, you’ve run errands, you’ve begrudgingly set an alarm ahead of the train you needed to catch. You consider the next ten Saturdays in a row: coffee meetings, day trip ..read more

Hi! I'm Nadine and I do crafts for better mental health. When I'm not playing with air dry clay or painting, you can find me reading and trying desperately to reach my Goodreads goal. I wanted to find a way to combine my two loves, so here's my idea. A bookclub for people that love arts & crafts. Or, an arts & crafts club for readers. It works both ways! - We'll read a book chosen together as a community - We'll meet up online to discuss the book - We'll each create a piece of art based on the book we've just read You don't have to be a speedy reader, a seasoned artist, a bookworm o ..read more

 Shop is temporarily paused while I'm at Portobello Road Market! New products dropping tomorrow ..read more

The journey of recovery from mental illness is counter intuitive. You work hard, you utilise every ounce of strength you have to march towards your destination, without the foggiest idea what that destination looks like.  You must have faith that whatever it is will be better than where you are now. For a long time, I was unable to envision a future I wanted. I tried to picture a life that most people look towards: a bustling career, travelling the globe, adopting pets and maybe one day having a family. Nothing ignited a spark in me. Nothing made me feel like the journey could be worthwh ..read more

Today, I shipped my first three art orders. Three pieces of art, discovered by total strangers on the internet, that have been crafted and hand packed with love and adoration, ready to adorn their new homes.  It feels serendipitous today being World Mental Health Day - I know a lot of us might know this day as a lazy day for corporations to make some performative social media posts then ignore the mental health of their employees for the rest of the year - but nevertheless today CAN provide a chance to raise awareness for mental health issues, reduce stigma and learn solutions. I started ..read more

The other day, Harry convinced me to watch Aftersun (2022). If you haven’t seen it, it’s a story about a daughter recollecting memories with her father, who she realises now in later life, was very depressed. I’m a total crybaby, and normally can’t get through an episode of Come Dine With Me without shedding at least a little tear. When the credits rolled on Paul Mescal, Harry turned to my frowning self and noted ‘you didn’t like it’. ‘Just wasn’t for me’ I shrugged, ‘I just think he didn’t seem that sad’. 30 minutes later, we were in bed, the imminent childhood flashbacks had appeared and ..read more

Trigger warning: depression & suicidal thoughts. I promise it's otherwise a lovely collection of thoughts, though! Before I reached my mid-twenties, the thought of it terrified me. I know how ridiculous that sounds, especially to anyone older than me, but it’s the truth. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman, and society has decided that we’re only useful when we’re beautiful, and we’re only beautiful when we’re young.  Maybe - and this one’s a few notches darker - it’s because when I was 17, my mild teenage depression had twisted itself into suicidal ideation, and decided quite inconveni ..read more

I’m bad with money. I order more takeaways than I like to admit. I cycle through gym memberships two or three times a year, creative hobbies come and go, I use my calendar and diary on a week-on-week-off basis and keeping on top of the dishes seems to depend on whether the month’s second full moon has occurred yet or not. I have terrible self control. My intentions are almost always good, they’re often great. But there tends to be a huge, invisible obstacle with no name and no purpose in the way when it comes to following through. I tried to be vegan from the age of 18-22. I’d transitioned m ..read more

 Have you ever been sat on a bus or train, when a small child decides, unprovoked, to stare you down? Turning around in their seat, eyes fixed, mouth open. Absolutely fascinated by your face, maybe your piercings, more likely an enormous spot on your chin. You have no idea how to acknowledge this child - if you return eye contact, they could cry (bad), they could laugh (worse), their parent might accuse you of being a nonce (never happened but still a real fear).  So you just have to stare at your phone, look out the window, do anything but look in the kid’s direction. Avoidance is t ..read more