Friday Feature - Monkey & Mole Moccasins - get 20% off!

I am really happy to introduce an exciting new brand to you for today's Friday Feature.  For a long time now I have been a fan of moccasins on babies and toddlers.  Like many people, I've lusted after Freshly Picked moccs but have been put off by prices and the risk of import taxes (Freshly Picked are an American brand). I've scoured Instagram, Pinterest and Etsy for something similar and based closer to home but until last week, I hadn't found anything..

And then it happened.. on Instagram I stumbled across Monkey & Mole.  I couldn't believe my eyes, here were some moccs that looked just as amazing if not MORE amazing than Freshly Picked.  Better still, they were UK based.  No import taxes!!  I knew it was only a matter of weeks (days.. hours.. minutes!) until I'd place an order.  I couldn't stop thinking about them.

Monkey & Mole is the brainchild of work at home Mum Chrissy.  Her little monkey wasn't keen on wearing socks or shoes leaving Chrissy in a bit of a quandary.  Like me, she had fallen for American brands of moccs but was struggling to find any in the UK.  So, she decided to design and make her own and she has done a fantastic job I have to say!

Chrissy currently offers her moccasins in a variety of colours; cream, yellow, blue, coral, green and pink.

Monkey and Mole Moccassins

She also makes a rather amazing range of moccasin sandals.  Something I've not seen anywhere before (I'll be ordering a pair for summer!).  These are available only in green at the moment.  Chrissy makes all of the moccasins herself and most are made to order although she does have a "ready made" tab on her website.  At the moment she has a pair of coral moccs and yellow moccs ready to ship.  Most orders take 7-10 days to complete.  The moccasins are made from 100% leather in UK baby/toddler sizes 0-10.

Monkey and Mole Sandals

I plumped for a green pair in size 4 for Felix.  I placed the order late on the 6th of March and received them early on the 12th, less than a week later and only 3 business days later!  I couldn't have been more impressed.  As I follow Monkey & Mole on Twitter and Instagram, I knew that they were on the way because Chrissy posted a photo tagging me!  It only added to the anticipation!

They arrived beautifully packaged in a stylish cardboard box and wrapped in some gorgeous tissue paper.  You could really see the care that had gone into making and packing them.

Monkey and Mole

It was obvious straight way what fantastic quality the moccs are.  The leather is butter soft to touch but firm at the same time.  Previous pairs of moccs I've bought for Felix have been cheaper but the quality has been nowhere near as good.  Chrissy states on her website that the moccs are designed to stay on and I can confirm they really truly do.  Felix has been wearing them every day since they arrived and they have not made it off his feet once.  This has never happened with any of his shoes before.  Even his Moccis have come off from time to time.

The moccs are receiving compliments left, right and centre.  Everyone adores them!  Felix is as happy as Larry wearing them.  He doesn't try to take them off, just happily goes about his day crawling and trying to walk.  I think they are helping him with the walking and standing because they grip quite naturally to the floor.

Monkey and Mole Moccasins close up

Felix's moccs fit him very well.  I chose size 4 based on the size of his other shoes.  They have a little growing room in them which is fantastic.  Chrissy offers a very helpful size guide on her site.

I have something very exciting to tell you now - Chrissy has very kindly offered my readers and followers a 20% off discount code.  For a very short time, between now and Tuesday pm (18th March) you can get 20% off your order of moccasins (not sandals I'm afraid) by using the code Spring20 at checkout.

Monkey and Mole moccasins are £35.00 and postage is £4.95.  Free delivery is available on UK orders over £50.  Whilst these are not a cheap purchase, I fully believe you get what you pay for.  Having paid around £25 for shoes that look similar, I can promise you, these are far better quality.  Other shoes I've bought Felix have looked worn within hours.  His still look brand new despite him crawling around in them for 4 days.  I know they are going to continue to look great for a long time yet.

Friday Feature - New Fashion Finds

I LOVE bringing you new fashion finds.  I'm going to feature a couple I'm really excited about today.

As I've said before, Instagram is a major source of inspiration for me.  It's where I come across most of my new finds.  We are fans of Studio Ghibli in our house, in particular, Totoro.  I was searching Instagram with the tag #Totoro the other week and came across a new brand, Tohnik Clothing.  This brand are very new and there is little about them on the web.  In fact, they don't have a website yet, just Instagram, but I am very excited.  They look like they are going to sell some fantastic leggings for women - I'm hoping children as well!

Image Source: Tohnik Clothing

Image Source: Tohnik Clothing

If you're after some really cool and handmade clothing for your children then look no futher than US based Mum of 3 Kenzie Jaws.  She is one creative lady and makes some really funky clothing, in particular, tops and hats.  I really want to order the boys a hat each from her.  Kenzie has an etsy shop you can check out here.

Image Source:  Kenzie Jaws

Image Source: Kenzie Jaws

I'll be back again soon with some new finds, I'm sure! In the meantime, have a lovely weekend folks!

Friday Feature - The Pippa & Ike Show

I first heard about The Pippa & Ike Show towards the end of last year.  I can't quite remember how.. It may have been via Facebook.. at first I was excited to find out that they had a shop near me in Bristol.  However, this shop was in the process of being closed.  All was not to be lost though because The Pippa & Ike Show were going online.

It has to be said that in today's climate, it's often easier to have an online business than an actual in the flesh shop (no matter how lovely those are).  Let's face it, most of us shop online these days.  We love a cheaper price and it's cheaper for businesses to go online and offer a slightly lower price.  It also increases their reach!

Why was I excited to discover The Pippa & Ike Show?  Well, they stock all the things I love for one thing.  I'm a huge Scandi fan.  I love Scandinavian clothing and style.  I love the look, the ethos, the quality.  Pippa & Ike have everything I lust after all in one place!

The Pippa & Ike Show was set up by Lianne who worked as a children's clothing designer for 18 years in her homeland, The Netherlands.  Lianne has some serious taste.  If you're anything like me, I think you will LOVE her online shop.

I've made several purchases from The Pippa & Ike Show.  A lot of what I've bought is on show in our new baby's room.  Ethan also has a few bits and pieces.

Items from The Pippa & Ike Show in baby's room

Lianne has added some new brands recently including Lapin & Me who I adore.  Here are my current top picks AKA the items I am lusting over but can't really afford to splash the cash on:

Image source:The Pippa & Ike Show

Top Left - Jewellery by Macon & Lesquoy

Top Right - 2 D animal puzzles by Ingela P Arrhenius

Middle Left - Washi Tape from Omm Design

Bottom Right - Baby Sleeping Bag from Farg&Form

Bottom Left - Sonny Angel Dolls

Image source:The Pippa & Ike Show

A beautiful backpack by Mibo for CoqenPâte

I could go on and on listing, honestly, Lianne has THE BEST taste.  The backpack I love in particular because Ethan starts "proper" school in September and his current backpack won't be big enough for all his bits and pieces.  He loves penguins, he's addicted to Pingu at the moment, so I think this would be perfect for him and different enough to suit our style.

I love having Friday Feature on my blog.  It's not about sponsored posts, giveaways etc, just me telling you about a company I love and I cannot express how much I have loved discovering Pippa & Ike.  I love receiving news emails from Lianne, there's always something to tempt me!  Customer service is excellent, parcels are always beautifully wrapped and received quickly.  I can't recommend The Pippa & Ike Show enough!

If you want to keep up to date with Pippa & Ike news, you can sign up for the newsletter at the bottom of this webpage and follow them on Twitter here.

***This is not a sponsored/paid for post.  I am writing this because I love this company and want to spread the word! No compensation has been received for writing this***

Friday Feature - Claire on Cloud 9

I got Friday Feature started with a big bang a few weeks back, featuring Funky Little People and with a lovely giveaway for my readers.  Since then we've had the school holidays.  We were away last week... I've been too busy to blog properly!  Well, despite being heavily pregnant, this week, things are back to normal.  So, with no further ado, I'd like to get back to today's Friday Feature!

This Friday I'm featuring a lovely lady who makes the most beautiful and original cloud themed mobiles you could wish for.  I don't mean mobile phones of course, I meant the kind you hang from your ceiling.

As I'm currently putting together our new baby's bedroom, I've been spending a lot of time searching the internet for items to decorate it with.  I wanted to get a mobile, something that wouldn't necessarily go over the cot (because I have one of those canopies Ikea sell that's going over the cot) but that could hang on the ceiling and be beautiful and funky to look at, but also engaging for baby over a long period of time.  I searched on eBay (often my first port of call), Amazon, Etsy, Folksy and on Facebook (there are loads of groups and pages on Facebook these days!).  After spending hours over a period of days searching  I found Claire and her mobiles which appear on both Etsy and Facebook.

Claire hand-makes a variety of items including large raindrop, moon and cloud cushions, cloud mobiles and cloud with raindrop mobiles.  I knew as soon as I found her page that her items were for me.  Bright, eye catching and different.  I could really see one of her mobiles working in baby's room.  The tough part was deciding what to go for.  I must admit I was very tempted by one of her smaller rainbow cloud mobiles (a gorgeous mobile with lots of tiny clouds) but in the end I decided I wanted to make a bold statement with a cloud and raindrops mobile.

Images: All via Claireoncloud9

I got in touch with Claire and she replied very quickly   I wanted to place a custom order because I wanted to choose the colour of the raindrops.  Claire had our mobile finished and posted out within days - honestly, within a week I had the mobile up in baby's room!  She was lovely to correspond with, in touch with me regularly.  Our mobile cost £30 which I think is very reasonable for an item that has been handmade, that I was able to have some say in in terms of colour choice.  The quality of Claire's work is great and I love that we have something so original and different in baby's room.

Our cloud mobile in situ

If you are looking for something to decorate a child's room, or any room really, a mobile with a difference, a cushion your child will love to hug, I'd recommend you check out Claire's Etsy and Facebook pages.  Or just ask her a question!  She's very helpful and responds quickly!

Friday Feature - Funky Little People

Hello lovely readers!

I have something new for you today! From now on, I am going to be running a new feature on my blog.  Simply called "Friday Feature", each Friday I will be... well... featuring a company, person or product I love.  If this is something you would be interested in being part of, whether as a company or fellow blogger, please get in touch with me and I'll see what I can do!  I have serveral weeks worth of posts lined up and today I'm very pleased to start with a lovely new company!

Let me introduce to you Funky Little People.  If you are a regular reader you no doubt know all about my love of Scandinavian children's clothing.  Ethan can often be found wearing Smafolk, Katvig, Molo, Snoozy and many other Scandi brands.  I first discovered them when I was pregnant and I fell in love.  Perhaps the closest you can get on the UK High Street is H&M but if you want bright, funky and eco friendly clothiong for your child, Scandi is where it's at!

Funky Little People started life as an eBay shop but recently Anna (the owner) decided to branch out and launch a web shop.  I followed Funky Little People on Facebook and bought in the past via eBay so I knew all about Anna's new venture and wanted to help out in any way I can.  This is what  brought Friday Feature about!  In these times of recession, I want to help out businesses in any way I can, especially ones I like and support.

Anna stocks a variety of children's clothing via Funky Little People.  The brands she stocks at present are Snoozy, Jny Design, Snoffs & Nosh Organics.  She also stocks accessories such as card holders and postcards.  Perhaps best of all (and something quite unique!) she stocks a whole host of Moomin goodies including clothing!

Image Source:Funky Little People

Anna has quite a few bargains available at Funky Little People - for example, there are some beautiful blankets which are £16 instead of £30.  I know I'm tempted by them, even though I have more blankets than a blanket shop!

Image Source: Funky Little People

 Also, some fantastic trousers and tops such as these!

Image Source: Funky Little People

 I think I'm going to be buying a pair of these trousers for Ethan when we next get paid, and I suspect one of the blankets because you can never have enough spare (beautiful) blankets in the car, can you!!!  After all, we will have an extra person in need of a cosy blanket in a few weeks!

I recommend checking out Anna's shop.  Please remember it's in it's early days, Anna is planning on having more stock soon.  In the meantime, we have a little something for you, lovely readers!!  Are there any Moomin fans among you?  If so, you're going to like the giveaway Anna and I are running - Anna is offering up two lovely Moomin card holders, great for keeping cards handy in your bag, or if you have a bus pass or similar transport season pass you need to hand.

Moomin 'handys' from Funky Little People

So - if you want to be in with a chance of winning one of the two card holders, please use the Rafflecopter below.  In the meantime, do go and check out Funky Little People!

a Rafflecopter giveaway