Christmas has landed!

Morning all!

Hope you had a great weekend and that your week is off to a good start.

I'm delighted to share little maldod's Christmas 2014 range of vests and tees with you all today! Christmas vests were really popular last year so I wanted to make them available to you as early as possible. I've added no less than 8 new designs and really hope you like them.

I've featured a few of my favourites below, but you can see the full range here. 

Rudolph and Penguin Vests and Tees, from £9.95

A couple of cheeky little chaps have joined us this year - Rudolph (his mates) and a Penguin can now be found on both our vests and toddler tees.

Christmas Tree Vest/Tee, from £9.95

I'm a big fan of this Christmas tree design. Perfect for those that prefer things a bit more understated.

Candy Cane Vest/Tee, from £9.95

This design is a festive take on our bestselling polka dot buttons vest/tee. I ended up eating too many candy canes (ahem, props!) while photographing this, I'd forgotten how good they are. Must remember to buy more for our tree.

Limited Edition Stocking, £14.95

I have also added some Christmas stockings to the shop today. Last time I blogged I shared my plans for some limited edition designs. This 'children at play' stocking is the first in this range and is now available to buy. There's only TWO of these though so be quick if you don't want to miss out!

Large Personalised Stocking, £24.95

Large Personalised Stockings were very popular last year and are also now available. Here's a picture a customer sent in of theirs hanging at home last December. We love customer photos!

For anyone interested in ordering one of these, please note that the dispatch times for these are slightly longer than for other products. Instead of the usual 7 working days, these stockings will take 14 working days to be made up and dispatched. I hope, seeing as they won't be put to use until the 24th December, that this doesn't cause any problems! If you need an order urgently though then drop me a line and I'll see what I can do.

Trust me when I say that I have PLENTY more planned in the way of Christmas so do keep your eyes open for the launch of more products. However, I thought I'd offer those of you who like to be organised, a special early bird discount! *** To receive 10% off all Christmas Vests and large stockings until midnight on the 31st October, just enter code: littleearlybird at the checkout.***

I thoroughly appreciate that its still only October and with spooky Halloween around the corner (we're bypassing that altogether thanks!) that some of you may not even be thinking about Christmas just yet. I'm even beginning to wonder if I have enough festive cheer to keep me going for the long haul (will resort to eating more candy canes if not). However every year December 24th comes round more quickly than the last so I don't think it can hurt to get organised and start planning for this extra special time of year. I hope you agree!

I'll keep you updated on the launch of new products over the next couple of weeks. But for now, thanks so much for reading and happy shopping.

Lowri x

My Stocking Bicycle

Morning,

Happy Friday friends.

Just a quick post today, I don't normally write my posts when the children are awake and I've just remembered why...... The tune of Bob the Builder doesn't exactly help the thought and writing process.

But I wanted to pop by and tell you about some plans I have for some lovely stockings.

I opened up my fabric stash the other day and had a good look through at the huge range that I've accumulated over the last year or two. I'm terrible for buying fabrics and taking ages to actually use them for something. However I'll often place a couple along side each other and match up patterns and colours that I think 'work' together.

The other night I hopped back on my stocking making bicycle (took me a while to remember how to make them but appears its like riding a bike!) I made the stocking you can see in the picture below. Its a lovely size, lined with a mint green polka dot and has this gorgeous 'children at play' fabric.

She reminds me of me as a girl!

I loved the process of choosing the colours and making up something with fabric I've been saving for something special. So, I've decided to make up some other stockings like this for the little maldod shop. I'll make up one or two more of the stocking you can see above but as I have a limited amount of the fabric there'll only be a couple available. I'll then make up some more in other fabrics I like together.

Unlike the other products in the shop which are made to order, these stockings will be made up and then added to the shop. This means they won't be available for personalising but can be popped in the post to you pretty promptly.

Below is a small selection of fabrics that I like, not necessarily that Christmassy but I think they'd look great as stockings! Which are your favourite?

The designs of each of these stockings will be limited and I'll pop photos on the little maldod social media pages as and when new stockings are added. So if you see one you like be quick as they might not be around for long. 

Large personalised stockings will be available again this year as well as mini stockings which will be great for hanging on the tree and popping a chocolate or two in.

I'm hoping to have the Christmas stock photographed and added to the shop at some point in the next week or so. I'm looking forward to sharing it all with you. 

Right, off to turn off Bob and get ourselves out of pyjamas......

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Much love,

Lowri x

Buttons for Beti

Morning All,

A friend recently placed an order for a baby called Beti. When she told me the reason for giving the gift my heart broke.

Beti is a beautiful 8 month old little girl who, during this last summer, has had to undergo 5 operations to remove a brain tumour. Thankfully most of the tumour has been removed but Beti now has to undergo a year long run of chemotherapy after which her family have been told to expect to need to travel to America for a period of focused radiotherapy.

I met Beti's lovely parents, Natalie and Stuart, on Friday evening at a local event we both happened to be at. They live locally to me and, with exactly two months between their daughter and mine, I couldn't help but be deeply moved by their story. The friends and family of Natalie and Stuart have set up a dedicated facebook and fundraising page and, as their words are far better than mine, I'd urge you to click on these links if you'd like to read more.

Various events have been planned to help raise funds for any necessary treatment Beti may require in her fight against Cancer. I've thought about this family a lot since hearing their story and after reading their fundraising page decided that I also wanted to make a contribution. I've therefore decided to  make 'Buttons for Beti.'

Since reopening the shop in the summer the Buttons vest has been a best seller and its this design that my friend ordered for Beti. With that in mind I have decided to donate 10% of all sales from the Buttons vest to this hugely worthwhile cause.

If you've already ordered a buttons vest since the reopening then a percentage of your order will also be going towards this.

I am thankful every single day for the health of my two children and I can't even begin to imagine what this family have been through, let alone the journey they still have to take. I can only pray that the treatment Beti receives will enable her to grow up to enjoy a happy, fun filled childhood and future.

If  you live in Cardiff then do follow the Facebook page to hear about some lovely fundraising events coming up.

Thank you so much for reading.

With love,
Lowri x

Autumn and a change of pace

Hi there,

I haven't stopped by here in a while, hope you're all well!

Thought I'd update you on what we've been up to round these parts and fill you in on some plans for the little maldod shop in the lead up to our first birthday and..... Christmas! Yes, that's right I'm a big fan of the festive season so you can expect things to get pretty, well, Christmassy soon enough.

Life with the little maldod shop back open has been busy, but I expected that and its how our household generally operates, on full steam. However, when we got to the end of the summer and realised we'd only had one weekend out of 11 at home with JUST the four of us, five including our four legged pal Alfie, we decided things needed to sloooooow right down.
Don't get me wrong, our summer was packed full of brilliant weekends - away seeing friends, away on holiday or having friends to stay. We're absolutely blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives dotted around the country to spend time with.

But we decided that our Autumn weekends should have a slower pace and I must say, its been just lovely! Apart from a cracking week away in Longleat (a belated gift for Sam's 30th) we've enjoyed some quiet weekends at home - pj's until midday, roast dinners and cosy film nights, that kind of thing. Here's a few of my favourite photos from the last few weeks.

Autumn light in the park

Harvesting in pyjamas

Cosy night in with the bake off

Late afternoon fun at the local 'ranch'

Smiles at Barry Island!

A little monkey and a little penguin.

little maldod HQ transformed

A special anniversary day in Rye

Lovely Longleat

With my feet on the ground a little more, I've also had some time to think ahead and plan for my second little maldod Christmas. It was a busy one last year and quite a shock to the system having only been open for a month, so I'm getting a bit of a head start this year. 

I've shared a couple of sneak peeks over on facebook and instagram but am going to make you wait a little longer to see the full range....

This stocking was a big hit last year though so I'll be bringing them back again when the Christmas range is launched.

Finally, I've also been planning some fun and treats for little maldod's FIRST BIRTHDAY next month! Can't believe that we'll soon be blowing out a birthday candle. What a year its been and I've LOVED the adventure so far.

So, some very exciting things to come! I look forward to sharing more with you over the coming weeks. 

Thanks for reading this little round up. I hope you're enjoying the start of this lovely cosy season. I love each new season when it arrives but particularly love the change of pace that Autumn brings.

See you back here soon.

Lowri x