More for the jolly holiday - Pt 2

Absolute must for both bath time and beach time - hooded towel.
These are great, big enough for baby and toddler and perfect for playing super heroes!

£24 from cloud cuckoo designs available in 3 print choices

Whilst on beach time, can't go without some great flags, windmills and a classic bucket and spade.
These mini windmills that would look amazing on top of a sandcastle

A pack of 16 paper windmills from colloco tI oroiginally spotted these over at BabyStyleFile their suggestion was for a party so these windmills could certainly get about, bargain too £4.95 for 16!

Bucket & spade

£1.10 at Funky Crab at FunkyCrab they too have traditional sandcastle windmills and you could have a party with their 48 pack at £11.73 (wish I'd got these in time to go)

I might be getting carried away now (at the Funky Crab) but I also spotted this and just love it, even though slightly a mad version of Bambi!

Happy Holidays all x

Celebrating 1st day of Summer

Since having children days are longer whatever the season due to our early rises, however today it's official it is the first day of Summer and as voiced by my eldest her favourite and best day, I agree!
In celebration of this glorious long day here are a few photos that always say summer to me, they make me smile and feel sunny.
I love the pink, naive motif paintings on the elephant the innocent happy colours and all the warmth and joy these pictures generate. Enjoy x

now i know my abc

Miss Maudie has a new favourite song abcdefg....hijk....
She is singing it all the time and i think this alphabet animal print might be why.

I'm also liking this new print lots and lots, it's fun and fresh, filled with animals and as for little ones they (mine-tried and tested!) they appear to love it, added bonus as it's educational too, getting to know your abc and lots of animals too.

If you can't wait till we add it to our online shop drop me a line via email

dad weekend

Just had a very mum daughter morning with dance class, which was fab, think I loved it just as much as Maudie did.
It's not all about girls though this weekend as it's dads day tomorrow, so for all those super dads here are some of our less girly illustrations.

Happy dad day all

BEST DAD

JAKE

JIM

MIKE
all by cloud cuckOO designs

bye birds

Last of Spring watch tonight and I now look forward to Autumn Watch, some of my buds think I'm a bit crazy loving this nature stuff but I do and if any of you have been watching too you'd have seen the lovely puffins along with many other nature delights.
Well in celebration of a fab programme and gorgeous wildlife here is a bit of our own.
All available as prints and greeting cards.

The complete alphabet is available if there is another bird, animal, amphibian you have in mind.
Enjoy

a few things for the jolly holi....

So here I am holding back the excitement of that holiday just on the horizon and I got thinking of the 'nice' things to pack, yes we've got all the sensible must haves; sunhats, cream, sunnies, plenty of activities to keep ALL amused but here are a few extras I'd like to share....

A pop-up tent is a must on my holiday packing list, this one here is by Lucy and Michael, I love this retro rodeo print

A few years back we got a great little one which now is a permanent 'den' in my eldest daughters room.

This wasn't on my list but it's great to bring a pushchair from winter into summer!!
Mamas & Papas have a great summer accessory pack; this fab fresh pear print reversible colourful liner will personalise your pushchair and the co-ordinating parasol to give your pushchair a summer makeover!
Includes matching fabric bag too, and is on sale with £15 off at just £30

Hampers, picnic blanket and if you're camping too then there is only one place to get the lot and with style Anorak
At the moment they have a 'silly sale' you can pick up a coolbag for £27.50 and picnic blanket £18, bargain!

a real treat

If you go down to Barnes today you're in for a real surprise......if you don't know this little gem already then let me introduce you to The Treat Garden, a delight for little ones and us older ones too, whether you fancy 100g of Kola pips, a gorgeous toy, giftwrap & card, a craft session, party or take part in one of their workshops then The Treat Garden is the place to go.

Cloud CuckOO Designs starting stocking The Treat Garden last year and it is a real 'treat' to have a selection of our own delights in this gorgeous shop.

Owned and managed by local resident, Elizabeth Haselgrove, Elizabeth and Roger (aka Mr. Treat Garden) opened their doors in November 2009 after moving to Barnes and instantly fell in love with the beauty and charm of the area and its residents. For the first time in nearly 20 years, Elizabeth felt that she had found "home" and decided to put down some roots in this community.
And so, The Treat Garden was born....

a sea of red....can you believe this.....

I love red, however nothing quite prepared me for this

(panoramio photo)
Driving past fields on the way to Bewdley seemed normal and then wham! a huge burst of gorgeous red poppies that are getting brighter each year, beautifully inspiring and uplifting.

Well yes this got me onto RED, what have I seen, done, brought of recently that is RED, here are few things:

Little RED riding & Squirrel Lunch Box (£12.50 Modes4U)

Red Wooden Bus (£33 Shelf)

Kissing Rabbits Picnic Rug (£36 Anorak)

Print (print commission £80 cloud cuckOO designs)

What's in the bag?

Gathering the washing, tidying the toys, out for the day, hanging on the hook and looking jolly, and so many more uses for being thankful to our bags.
From the offset of putting together the textile collections at Cloud Cuckoo Designs I knew they must include a 'laundry bag / storage sack" and this was before I was a mum. I've always really liked and found a use for bags, storage sacks, boxes so there we had it they were in the collections.
Currently we have three bag designs; Owl, Robot Monkey & Kitty

and the responses we get are great, both adults and little ones use them for an array of things our personal ones at the moment are mostly occupied with laundry and toys with a recent added use being for our play-mats so they can be easily transported, it was actually a customer that purchased both together and let me know how useful they were 'together' and what a perfect fit the mat was inside the bag, they had found it super useful for their mother baby massage sessions and for home storage - I agree!
We have in-store and on-line stockists throughout the UK and overseas including YellowLolly, PiquantBaby for the complete collection you can visit here at our own cloud cuckoo designs on-line shop

what's the time mr wolf....

Today has been a clock day, firstly i noticed the absence of dongs then remembered it was Sunday and that Grandfather should have been wound up yesterday. Then later (7.45am) we thought our "Cucu clock"

£205 (many colour choices)
had gone mad as the 'cuckoo' 'cuckoo' 'cuckoo' call was going off, but only when we were close to the open window, very happy I was to hear the real cuckoo calling especially this time of year.
Thirdly a book came off the shelf and needed a read (so little one said) and i just love this book; What's the time Mr Wolf?

This book seems a winner with all little ones and you can pick one up at The Book Depository I use them lots though Amazon and their delivery is speedy and customer service excellent.

So with all this time ticking I thought I'd look at some clocks.
Here is what I found at The Design Shop

Elihu the Elephant Clock £80

Fernando the Fish Clock £80

Butterfly Clock £134 (other colours available)

Ball Clock £195.60 designed by George Nelson, capturing the best spirit of post-war design, available in other colours as well as multi shown here

Half Time £180, I love this 'cu-coo clock with the surprise cuckoo popping out the side
From online shop Huntandgather I came across these gorgeous bamboo animal clocks, yesterday I blogged on some bamboo furniture and it really is a great wood to use, eco friendly, tough and I personally like the appearance too, anyhow check out these fab animals designed by decoylab usa and sold at Huntergather

Eco Bamboo Clocks $59 - $79

a chair, a desk & I NEED!

Okay so I have a bit of a thing for chairs and now having little ones I have an excuse to buy mini chairs too.
You probably saw the fantastic duo; chair & cushion my little one got for her first birthday (if not, click here) Well today i've been on the look for an old retro school desk to go with one of the chairs I've had forever.
I got side tracked and yes looked at more chairs.....Lilly's chair

it is by Henrik Thygesen and Sebastian Jorgensen and it's adorable. The site i found it (and these pics) on is also completely fabulous "e-side"
The chair is made from bamboo so super eco friendly, available in red, blue and black, and there was a link with my search, a desk is also available 'Geos Desk'

I just love this desk now just need to get my little ones to NEED it as much as me!
If you're tempted, the chair and desk would total £329 and what a great furniture duo to have for the little ones and then keep in the family, and being bamboo they'll be tough little pieces (my chopping board can vouch for that!!)

If the chair and desk are not on your list right now then I'm sure 'e-side' will have something that is whether it be for you, the home, the kids or outdoors.

Kitty's new dress & cheese with Mabel & Birdie

One of our new ranges this year is the 'Mini-Boo' collection.
At a recent trade show Kitty, Mouse & Bird alongside the others enjoyed the limelight.
In the range so far we have 12 greeting card designs, all 125mm x 175mm and blank inside for your own message, the characters all have a story to tell and a personality of their own, here we share some of their daily do's.

Kitty just loves shopping, last week she found this delightful spotty dress when she went on a wander and found herself in Dixies Department store on the feline fashion floor.
After her shopping spree she went to see her friend Mabel.....

Kitty found Mabel doing what Mabel does best.... foraging around her kitchen looking for cheese, not any old cheese like most mice would be happy with but Mabel's very special cheese 'Made by Mabel'. Mabel has been making cheese for some time now and you should see her cheese cupboard; well if she lets you!

A little birdie told me that if Mabel invites you into her cheese cupboard you will see the most wonderful treats, Birdie often gets invited because Birdie is the most tidy clean busy birdie of all and just loves pecking and collecting delicious little cheese crumbs.

We look forward to you meeting our other animal friends, there is a tiger, a monkey, an owl, a pair of bears, a bambi with the best boots and more......

All our characters are also available as large format prints ready to be framed.

smiling strawberry face and cheeky orange

Last night I blogged about the fabulous chair and cushion that Boo had for her birthday.
Lucky girl that she was she also had a great eating set (that is being pulled out of the cupboard along with the reset of the cupboards contents at this exact moment!), avoiding characters and the usual boring melamine ware I was chuffed (as was the birthday girl!) to see what our friend who knows us well had selected; this great set of a smiling strawberry plate and orange bowl. The bigger surprise followed, half price from mothercare.

If cheery fruits are not your thing then I'm sure the animals over at babystylefile will be, take a look the site has some really fab finds.....
Happy breakfast all