I’ve just heard some very exciting news!!! My “This Book Is Totally Rubbish” has been shortlisted in the Best New Talent (books) category of the Junior Design Awards 2012.
Walking around with a massive smile on my face….please keep fingers and toes crossed for us and I’ll keep you updated on any further news.
Lots of love,
Maggie xx
We all love having photos to treasure of our little ones and a while ago, Kate, one of our lovely members asked Anna and I for recommendations….quick as a flash only one named popped out of both of our mouths….step in the lovely Kate.
“Thanks to Maggie and Anna, I had the pleasure to meet the most superb children’s photographer, David Bier. On one sunny autumn day, we did a trial shoot – the result was something money cannot buy, a lasting memory of our children to cherish forever. From the first moment David met my children, he instantly bonded with them and after a few questions of their likes and dislikes immediately got a real feel for their characters.
After a few shots in the house, ( it didn’t take long for our children to be completely at ease with David! ) we wandered over to Holland Park, which is a place our family love and from this David built our Children’s story. Running through the leaves, balancing on logs, riding on scooters and capturing a big smile from my eldest son. Within days, a few sample photos were sent to us and we couldn’t wait to see the whole story! Just 2 hours of our day
taken up and we have these amazing memories and photos to look at every day. No fake smiles, no posed for photos, just real shots showing the exact characters of our children and a whole story book built that we will have forever.
This photographer is extremely talented and his prices are competitive, for what is truly unique. Prints start off at £150 for a large beautifully framed picture to up to £950. A portfolio package is around £1,050 which includes 15 mounted prints or a portfolio book of 20 images, which provide museum level protection, Now our home will be a shrine to our children, but who cares,we have real life memories that will last a lifetime!”
Lots of love, Kate xx
We have quite a few new faces in the office & café, all of whom I will be introducing over the next few months, starting with the new girls in the office ……….
Marina has taken on the mammoth task of Keeping the M&R team organised – poor love! She is the one of the end of the phone to help you with class bookings and anything else
that is needed. She is doing a great job and creates the prettiest Excel spreadsheets
I have ever seen!
Amy is our Press girl and has turned us from twits to twitters! She has been fab at getting all of our bits and bobs out there, and helping us to actually meet press deadlines!
Belles is getting married – woo hoo!! For those of you who don’t know Belles she is our fabulous chef aka The Food Fairy.
In case you missed the HUGE rock on her finger – Belles is officially engaged and due to become Mrs Nick Simpson in September.
We are super excited for our very lovely Belles, and all loving looking at fabulous dresses, flowers and cakes xx
As a follow up on my Childs Farm post, we’ve had the products at home for a while now and they are going down a treat, the girls love that they have their own products separate from the boys.
It’s great that the boys wash is for hair and body in one, as Oscar is the biggest culprit for wasting conditioner!! Smells great, lathers up nicely and a good sized bottle. The product names and illustrations are very cool too. I definitley recommend them.
We’ve got them on sale at The Club – you can also buy them online at http://www.childsfarm.com/ . The website is so cute – hover over the animals to see what noise they make!
Fancy bringing some celebrity ‘Star Light’ into your living room?
Our FAVE charity Starlight has teamed up with a host of high profile names in the first ever celebrity lampshade auction launched on eBay.
Each lampshade comes with a ‘Chelsea Floor Lamp’ designed by Alexander Miles and all proceeds go directly to Starlight! These exclusive one-off lampshades have been designed by: Ricky Gervais, Jonathan Ross, Nicole Scherzinger, Bill Nighy, Stereophonics, William Tempest, Daisy de Villeneuve, Sam Taylor-Wood, Linford Christie and Stephen Webster!
Each lamp is available to buy on eBay until 18th February 2012.
You can also check out the lampshades in person too – they’re on display in the Palm Court at The Langham London Hotel during the auction period.
These SERIOUSLY cool lamps are on auction via eBay at www.starlightsforstarlight.co.
WE REALLY WANT ONE!!!
Valentines is a lovely time of the year to remember your loved ones, and in particular our little treasures.
Usually I leave a card under their pillow with a special something that I love about them. From silly things like ‘how you dribble in your sleep’ to encouraging things like ‘because you learnt to spell your name’
Last year I went the whole hog and gave them a ’10 things I love about you’ list! It does always pull at my heart strings when they come back to me and interrogate me as to my reasons why I love that particular thing – with kids its always why!
My husband always sends them anonymous individual cards, even going as far as cutting the letters out of magazines to disguise his writing – which they love!!! Although you can only get away with it for a fewyears!
Whatever you choose to do Valentines is a lovely lovely celebration!
We all kind of know that we should keep an eye on what is in our kids products, and there are so many products out there now, claiming to be all natural and free of nasty stuff. On a recent Boots shop, I found myself standing there, wondering how I could justify £8 for a 150ml bottle of baby soap that would last my family all of a week – but it was the only organic one they had. I decided to investigate a bit further about what exactly is ok. I found an expert to do a Q&A for us, she has started her own brand of kiddy shampoo and wash called Childs Farm and it’s pretty faba rooney! I figured she knows what she is talking about!
A little bit about Joanna -
Joanna Jenson is a former Investment Banker who has always led a double life; work during the week, countryside and horses at the weekends. Having fleed from big city life, she now has two young girls as well as fields of horses and ponies, sheep, bantams, ducks and dogs all at the real life Childs Farm in Hampshire, which is where her delicious range of kiddy wash products started their life ……
What made you set up Childs farm?
I’ve always been interested in herbalism and using natural ingredients, I was frustrated at not being able to find any hair products for my girls that could cut through their horrific tangles, and didn’t smell of lavender. Many of the ‘organic’ products I bought didn’t work, and many other products were full of hideous chemicals I wasn’t putting anywhere near a child. And the focus was babies and toddlers: nothing for anyone over 3 or 4, and we didn’t want a Disney spin off which was cheap and harsh on the skin. Realising the strong connection the young have with ponies and tractors, and having a friend who is a children’s illustrator, we decided to get a great product and present it in a great way. Bingo – Childs Farm!
You must have had to do a lot of research!!!!
The children’s bathroom was FULL of products! We have tried everything on the market, looking at what worked and what didn’t. Then it was the ingredients that we had to scrutinise: lots of trawling through scientific journals, lots of questions to chemists, lots
of disbelief at some of the stuff written on the internet. I have notebooks full of the most bizarre stuff, and of course, I started making my own to see really what it turned out like.
What was some of the most interesting stuff you found out?
Two things: one, was the properties of some of the most delicious smelling essential oils. For example, Tangerine Oil has the same calming and soothing properties as lavender but smells FANASTIC – it’s known as ‘happy juice’ round here! Although tea tree oil is a natural antiseptic, it is not proven to be offensive to nits, so including it in your ingredients list and claiming it is a deterrent is simply not accurate.
Secondly, cheap shampoos and washes for children can be really damaging to young skin. Products which look attractive to children are not necessarily suitable for children, yet how are you supposed to know?
Tell us a bit about your range and what makes it unique?
Our launch range has 3 products for girls (Shampoo, conditioner and bubble bath)
and 2 for boys (hair and body wash, and bubble bath). We have another three products ready to launch before Easter too.
All of them have fabulous fruity fragrances, they all work and they all look grrreat. The package images are of ponies and farmyard animals having fun and each design has something new to see in it every time you look. The images are made of photocollage: each image is made out of wrapping paper, hair, bubble wrap, buttons, and all glued together
And all the animals are real, and you can read all about them on the website. www.childsfarm.com
The lovely ladies at the Bupa Cromwell would like to take us out for lunch to pick our brains about a new woman’s centre they are planning. They have booked a table at The Hansom Cab, to treat us to a delicious lunch at Marco Pierre Whites new restaurant. In return they want to ask us a few questions about what we think is missing in woman’s health.
Any excuse to leave the office I say!
Monday 6th February, 1pm @ The Hansom Cab. Please contact me if you would like to come along.
I am super excited about Stella & Dots trunk show at the club. Come and see us after hours on Wednesday 18th Jan from 7:30-9:30 and check out the range. Stella & Dot is a boutique-style jewellery and accessories line, designed in New York and available exclusivley through in-home ‘Trunk Shows’ by Independent stylists and online. One of our members is hosting the event and you are all welcome. Stella & Dot jewellery has been featured in InStyle, Vogue, and Glamour. Plus there are fabulous finds for under £40.
I love, love, love the jewellery from Stella & Dot and can’t wait to have them in the club. Hope to see you there x
