It seems like forever since I last blogged but I’ve got my notes app in my iPhone filled with new blog post ideas that I want to wait for certain dates to post them.

So, since leaving university in May and then going on a huge haul in Finland in July/August, I’ve honestly had no money to buy anything new. Luckily, I have an amazing boyfriend who is willing to buy me a few items if I can justify why I need them. In all honesty, I could justify getting any item… but he will only buy me rare or incredibly good value merchandise, which is understandable. Here are the things I’ve got in the last month:

Rare Moomin duvet cover and pillow set on eBay – £20.01
Pretty much no one makes Moomin dresses so I took the plunge and made my own recently (you can see me wearing it on the right sidebar). Moomin duvet covers are expensive so you’re lucky if you can find one on eBay or etsy that sells cheap. I had to get this because it means I won’t want to buy any clothes as I can make my own now, which is fair, right? This is a picture of the padded blanket I got with it because the material is all cut up ready to be sewn into a dress.

Rare Moomin fuzzy felt LP soundtracks – £36.48 (I think)
I got these from one of my favourite Moomin fans who is sadly selling most of his collection. Okay, I didn’t have to buy these, but I was really scared someone would buy them when I could afford to get them myself (my intuition is usually correct) so he agreed to give me them at a discounted rate which I couldn’t refuse.

Rare Stockmann 150 years mug No. 125 2012 – £33
Only 25,000 of these mugs were made which on its own meant it would be pretty hard to get one, never mind the fact that only one store sold them in the entire world and that was in Finland! I am so grateful and fortunate that I have a really good friend over there who was more than happy to pick one up for me. The illustration was donated to Stockmann by Tove Jansson 50 years ago. It was expected to be released for Stockmann’s 100th anniversary but somehow only just got released.

Rare Christmas mug 2004-2005 Joulumuki – £58
I’ve had bad luck buying this in the past. Being outbid and not willing to pay more than £120 for it has meant that I’ve missed out on getting this twice now, but I was in luck at the weekend and won it for half the usual selling price. I LOVE Christmas and this is definitely in my top 5 favourite mugs, not just because it’s beautiful but because the story that the illustration came from (The Fir Tree, Tales from Moominvalley) really touched me and gives me that winter feeling no matter what time of year I read it. It was also the first ever Moomin story that I read, as I found the chapter online in 2009 whilst I was in France.

Moominvalley Turns Jungle, Moomin’s Winter Follies and a Moomin keyring – FREE!
Would you believe my surprise when Tomm won a competition with PGUK Children’s  for all three items? They actually mean a lot more to me than you’d expect. Firstly, I was searching around Manchester on Free Comic Book Day 2012 (May 5th if I remember correctly) as I knew they were giving away the new colour Moominvalley Turns Jungle, but everywhere had ran out. I also pre-ordered Moomin’s Winter Follies but had to cancel my order as I couldn’t afford it, which really upset me. So I am really overjoyed to have these products now!