What Eli wore - sheep and squirrel

With the lovely snow in London its the perfect excuse to dress Eli up in cosy wool things, here's my favourite outfit at the moment- a squirrel cardigan, that my friend Charlie got from Cath Kidston, a beautiful pair of leggans from ratdesign.is which I bought in Iceland, and some gorgeous sheepskin mitts from a wee place in the North East of Scotland (thanks Doughal!) they have a bit of ribbon joining them together so you don't loose one! and below cosy sheepskin boots from the white company- (thanks Maria!)

What Eli wore- fisherman

Today Eli is wearing his fisherman outfit.

I LOVE these dungarees that my sister got for him,  they are so cosy and natural pure wool so keep him at a good temperature and let his body breath. Underneath is a hand knitted jumper hand me down and some cosy wool socks.

His dungarees were from http://www.cambridgebaby.co.uk/catalog/ which has lots of beautiful natural and organic baby wear. the brand is disana http://www.disana.de look like a very nice family run german company.I will be buying more from here!

look at this lovely cosy sleep bag they do.

New year new life

So since I last wrote on my kids things blog a lot has happened. Mr Eli Almond is in the world. He's 6 weeks old today, which is a strange feeling. Where did those 6 weeks go? He was born after a bit of a long and difficult birth, and is now settling into to his life on the outside! 
Becoming a mum is an incredible journey, no matter how much people tell you, nothing can really prepare you for how you feel after having a little human being that is completely dependant on you for everything! I'm getting more and more confident with him by the week, but I did think to myself, how would I ever be able to leave the house again! 
I now spend hours gazing at him with a smile on my face wondering what he will look like when he's a bit older, what will his personality be like? and enjoying every precious minute with him!
Through this blog I hope to share with you things I do, and see,  and find, and creative things for creative kids ( I do hope he will be be creative after all he has two parents that are designers) and now I'm wondering how little Mr Eli will change me! 
so happy happy new year everyone, here's to an exiting and growing 2013!

The Bump

I loved having a bump. It's the most amazing thing, thinking that theres a little human being inside growing and getting ready to come out into the world. And you are giving it everything it needs without really doing anything!

A few photos taken on a webcam! this is more for me I guess.... but thought you might enjoy the video at the bottom!

My little nephew is wondering what I'm doing and decided to take a photo of his tummy too!

Have a look at this youtube video....I love the way the couple move house and everything changes around them.  it's a shame child birth isn't that easy! enjoy.

Dutch Dolls- Esthex

When I was studying my BA in Scotland, I was lucky enough to do an exchange trip to Maastricht in the south of Holland. It was a great experience for me and I still have friends that I met there over 15 years ago!

One of my good friends Esther has her own toy company - they make kids toys, pram accessories, and some soft furnishings. She has a really unique style which keeps developing. I love her latest catalogue where she creates a story and wonderful sets... A hairdresser, a kitchen.

To go to the Esthex shop: www.esthex.com

Here are a few images from her story in the new catalogue, love all the details.

I love the mushroom range! 

The story of Christmas

This is so cute , I had to share it with you. I  L O V E the donkey!!and the sheep.

Happy Christmas everyone. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWq60oyrHVQ&sns=em

Creative Creatures - Kids activity book by Donna Wilson

 Speaking of books... I have some very exciting news. This year I have been working on a kids activity book, with the publishers Kingfisher. It's not launching until Spring, but I wanted to show a sneak preview of some of 'the making of'  It's been one of my favorite projects, as I love doing these sort of shoots.

 Wilbur glove puppet- and paper finger puppets. These are a few things that you can make from the book- some are really easy and some are a but harder and involve sewing. 

 I really wanted all the spreads in the book to be shot in real life! rather than photoshopped together... so we had a lot of fun setting up little sets- the blank spaces in theses images are for the activity instructions to be placed onto.

 Behind the scenes at the theatre!
and one of my favourites:

 I had to put this in as one of the activities- make your own outfits for Charlie monkey- I remember having a lot of fun when I was young making lovely dresses for the girl you got with 'Twinkle'magazine ( showing my age now!)

Below is how the spread turned out!

It was a fantastic project to work on, and I can't wait until it comes out.  I will keep you posted.