“The beads were made by woman’s cooperative; the labels are biodegradable; the shipping packaging recycled. If you’re looking for an ethical gift idea then look no further. Just fabulous.”

Buy online at Creative Charlie

Price £4.99

*****

Initial thoughts: I have to admit, I groaned a little bit at thought of ‘making jewellery’.  Thoughts of brightly coloured plastic beads filled my head -  imagine my surprise and relief when I opened up this little kit!

We liked: As a mum who is always on the look out for toys that are not branded and are ‘home made’ I was thrilled with the Creative Charlie jewellery making kit.  I loved so many things: the ethos of the company and the fact that they have obviously taken time to source quality items being the two main ones.  The beads were made by woman’s cooperative; the labels are biodegradable; the shipping packaging recycled. If you’re looking for a great ethical gift idea then look no further.

This little box of recycled magazine beads is fabulous.  Each one is different and the resulting bracelets were fantastic.  We managed to make two bracelets – one for me and one for my daughter.  She got such a kick out of us having matching jewellery.  It was a pleasure to wear and I am eternally grateful that I didn’t have to wear gaudy plastic beads!!

We weren’t keen: I’m only mentioning this here because it might put some people off…  the packaging was a bit homespun. I think it arrived packed in a small cereal box wrapped with old newspapers.  This was not a problem for me as it just brought home the fact that they take the ‘reuse reduce recycle’ philosophy to heart and stick to it.  It would have been out of keeping to use brand spanking new packaging.

Overall: Creative and ethical.  Just the thing for those of us looking for something a little different.

[By Lindy - Squidgyboo]