Weekend Loves: bird boxes, succulents and online music festivals

Ruth O'Connor's weekly guide to inspiring ideas and beautiful things

Avoca succulents: learn to let them grow with an online workshop

Grow in April with Avoca

Focus on well-being and nature with Avoca this month. Join Aisling Leonard in a live meditation class from Mount Usher Gardens, follow a tree trail tour through the gardens with Sean Heffernan or join in a slow flow yoga class from Powerscourt Gardens. 

Get some great gardening and growing tips from Dermot Carey and Des Carton or join Joanna Caffery’s succulent workshop and find out how to make the most of the new range of succulents at Avoca’s Kilmacanogue, Dunboyne and Rathcoole stores.

avoca.com or follow @avocaireland on Instagram.

Cathy Davey - performing online for MusicTown

Online festival is music to our ears

While venues remain closed, the team at MusicTown 2021 has gone above and beyond to support artists and engage audiences. 

Running from April 15-25, choose from rooftop lullabies, choral performances and discussions on club culture with prominent DJs. 

Discover a celebration of all musical genres that aims to put creativity, diversity, community and history centre stage. 

Pictured here is Cathy Davey who will perform live at Dublin’s Pepper Canister Church on Thursday 15 at 8pm in her first live show since 2019. 

The festival takes place online at musictown.ie. See @musictowndublin on social media for more information.

OGX Thick & Full Biotin & Collagen Shampoo

Fall in love with lockdown locks with OGX

If your hair is less than lustrous, or you’ve fallen out of love with your locks, then look to the pH balanced OGX range of shampoos and discover one for your hair type. 

Salons may be closed but you don’t have to compromise with these salon-quality products designed to bring more shine, less frizz and more smoothness to your hair. 

The shampoos are perfectly pH balanced to clean well without damaging hair and scalp. With ingredients such as argan oil, coconut milk and Brazilian keratin oil, the products feel luxurious and smell amazing. 

The upgraded OGX collection is available from Dunnes Stores, Tesco and pharmacies nationwide. 

RRP €9.73.

Running Stones (3 sets) €60 available from sensationalkids.ie

Sensational outdoor toys for learning through play

SensationalKids.ie is Ireland’s only non-profit store designed to help children play, develop and learn while helping other kids too. Profits from product sales are reinvested into providing therapies for children of all ages at four child development centres across Ireland which provide occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and play therapy. 

The online shop has lots of brilliant sensory toys, toys to help develop fine and gross motor skills, fidget toys and handwriting tools. Their brilliant range of outdoor toys includes balance boards, pedal racers, crawl tunnels and hula hoops. 

We love these running stones — a less dangerous take on traditional tin can stilts. Designed to encourage balance and coordination, they can be used for walking races or as stepping stones without the ropes. 

€60 for a three pair set. sensationalkids.ie

Art Auction in aid of The Jack and Jill Children's Foundation

Incognito 2021: An art sale in aid of Jack & Jill

This year’s Incognito art auction sees a plethora of Ireland’s well-known personalities and most accomplished artists come together to create more than 3,000 postcard-size works of art in aid of the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation. 

Famous names include The Edge, Bob Geldof, Tommy Tiernan, Don Conroy and DJ Mo Kelly alongside artists including Robert Ballagh, Guggi, Jill & Gill, Maser and Abigail O’Brien. You buy with your eye — the artists will only be revealed when the auction ends. 

Each artwork costs €60 and every piece bought provides for four hours of specialist home nursing care for a child. The sale takes place on Thursday, April 22nd at 10am sharp. 

Last year’s sale sold out in minutes so register now at incognito.ie

Tailored Lydia Blazer by Louise Kennedy on sharejoy.ie

Sustainable fashion finds at ShareJoy

ShareJoy is the new non-profit online sustainable fashion shop and wellbeing initiative founded by digital executive, founder and journalist, Anne-Marie Tomchak. Well-known figures donate pieces from their wardrobes and all money raised goes to help mental health charities.

 This ‘Lydia’ blazer by Louise Kennedy from her AW20 collection is now available on ShareJoy for €1,350 but you can buy items from around €30. 

Support ShareJoy and make a donation by visiting sharejoy.ie. Shop the ShareJoy edit at: depop.com/sharejoy and follow ShareJoy on Instagram: @sharejoy_ie.

Bird House by Irish Design Shop

Welcome the birds this Spring with Irish Design Shop

We always love to see what’s new at Irish Design Shop and this season you’ll find ceramic tableware from Annandale Brickworks; coloured glassware from Jerpoint Glass; willow trugs for the garden by Island Willow; and beautiful textiles from John Hanly & Co; and Cushendale. 

These new nesting boxes, made by enterprising transition year student, Shane Pedlow, are available in woodland grey, sage green and golden oak. The boxes are ideally shaped to suit blue tits and other small birds that nest from mid-April to mid-May. They are made to an approved design and painted with environmentally-friendly paint that is safe for birds. 

€30. irishdesignshop.com