Awaiting an arrival

Hello!

Sorry for the silence, I can't believe its over a month since I last posted. I have been pretty busy preparing for the arrival of baby number two and its safe to say a nesting frenzy has been taking place here at little maldod HQ. Its amazing the satisfaction that can be found in sorting out the Tupperware cupboard! 

We've had a lovely month and I've thoroughly enjoyed pottering and sorting. Wilf's newborn baby clothes have been washed, folded and put away ready to be worn again, new prints for the nursery have been framed and put in position and blankets used by my sister and I have been lovingly handed on to us to use after almost 30 years. We've also celebrated Sam's 30th birthday, spending part of it at my parents' beautiful home in Pembrokeshire and then having an obligatory curry at home with great friends.  

I love the Belle and Boo print in this picture.

 We've also been enjoying the spring sunshine and Wilf has a new found love for the garden and all things mud! Its been fun to watch. 

Wilf, Mr Turtle and a muddy hand

When I last posted I had plans for some crafting before our baby arrived and I'm pleased to report that I've manged to get round to making the patchwork blanket and breastfeeding cover that I had planned. 

Patchwork blanket on the top and a striped quilt last used by my sister and I in the 80's!

 They were delayed slightly as a certain little monkey had managed (who knows how) to shove a knitting needle into my sewing machine, jamming it up good and proper. Thankfully my mum helped me take it apart and pull it out so I was back up and running again. 

I also managed to get round to making up lots of cards for the next month or two. March is a busy month for celebrations in our family and I didn't want to miss out on sending cards to some special people. It was nice to freestyle on some designs and I think some of these will be added to the shop at some point, so watch this space. 

Its been lovely to make gifts for other people over the last few weeks and last minute orders have just made their way to me before our own due date. Baby H is due to arrive this Thursday so it could really be any day now. I've decided to shut up shop for a little while from today, just until life with a newborn (and toddler) settles down to some degree of 'normality'!

I have lots of ideas for new ranges I'd like to add to the shop when I reopen, including some big brother/ sister t-shirts (which Wilf will most certainly be modelling in the near future) new gifts for older children and some mini Easter bunting that I can't wait to make for my own home. When I get round to some prototypes I'll pop some pics on the little maldod instagram feed (@littlemaldod).

So keep your eyes open for updates on our new arrival and for details of when the shop will be reopening. Thank you all so much for your support so far this year.

Right, I'm off to find some chocolate and then for a pedicure which I've been looking forward to for WEEKS! Stay put just a bit longer little lady........

With lots of love,
Lowri x

Patchwork, presents and pink

Hello,

I hope you're all staying safe and dry in all this stormy weather. I'm writing this from the comfort of the sofa during the peace and quiet of nap time and hoping the rain will stop before we have to take the dog out. 
But while my feet are up I thought I'd pop by and say hi. 

**UPDATE: Since writing this we've taken the dog. It did rain and very nearly got blown away! Roll on Spring!**

Yesterday was my last day at my part time office job before heading off into maternity leave and I can't tell you how glad I am to have got to this point. Although I only worked there 2 days a week I'm so ready for a bit more time in my week to rest (as much as you can with a 20 month old!)

With our current child care arrangements staying in place for a few more weeks I'm looking forward to a bit more me time and a chance to prepare for the little one's arrival.

I'll still be carrying on with all things little maldod but over the next few weeks I'm hoping to find time to make some things for baby number 2. I've been gathering scraps of fabric from the remnants that are in my collection and am planning to make a patchwork blanket (pram size, not a masterpiece!) Here are a selection of the fabrics I might use. 

I also want to make a breastfeeding cover which I know other friends have found really handy. I've made some for friends in the past and decided that this time round I'd have one myself. This lovely Cath Kidston fabric is nice and light so will do perfectly.  

Minus the creases of course! (Straight out of the fabric box)

We'll be making some changes to our guest room and hopefully turning it into one of the children's bedrooms. Before they take up residence in the summer (when the little one leaves our room) it'll serve as a nice place to play/feed. I've decided to put the build-your-own bunting sample in there to brighten things up, I quite unexpectedly liked the rainbow effect that the flags made. 

In the build up to finishing I've been spoilt with some lovely gifts from a special friend who has given me countdown presents to mark each day left in work! 

 

  And I returned from work yesterday to some beautiful roses, dafs and dahlias from my boys. I feel very blessed! 

If you haven't already guessed from the photos, we're expecting a little girl. We haven't kept it a secret from friends but neither have we announced it across all social media. However, I' guess this post doesn't exactly hide the fact that a little lady will be joining this household! 

There's no point denying it.....things are going to get very pink around here!

I look forward to sharing some photos of whatever I get round to making, that's if little miss doesn't decide to turn up early.......

Thanks for stopping by and reading.

Lots of love,
Lowri x

Snapshot of January

Hello!

Happy Saturday and 1st of February!

It seems like January was quite long and I'm quite glad to be heading into a new month, which brings slightly more light to the end of the day and lots more new shoots popping up in the garden. Now that its February we can also say that baby number 2 will be with us NEXT MONTH! This is both hugely exciting and slightly daunting at the same time..... we have a LOT to get ready.

Anyway, will think about that another time! For now I thought I'd share with you a quick round up of the last month, something I've decided I'll do each month throughout this year.

Little maldod making was quiet early in the new year so we enjoyed lots of cosy nights in with the fire and some amazing hot chocolates (I can highly recommend Twinings hot chocolate). We also blitzed the last series of Breaking Bad, a brilliant series which we've both really enjoyed.

We've enjoyed some nice walks out and about, some in the sunshine and plenty in the rain. Wilf discovered a love of "brellas" and i'm now on a mission to find one that is toddler size!

Signs of spring have been about and it was lovely to have some flowers in the house again.

We've finally got on top of toy storage issues so our lounge has been a bit of a haven this last month - no longer just Wilf's play room but a nice place to relax too.

We've had some fun times at the swings and a few crafty sessions at the kitchen table too.

 
Sam and I also had a lovely night away in Ross-on-Wye at the lovely Bridge House Bed & Breakfast. My mum babysat and although we were only gone 24 hours we felt so relaxed coming back. We both LOVE being parents but just a short break away and to have time that was just for us was so lovely.

The end of this month has seen lots more little maldod orders than I expected and for that i'm very grateful. I was also amazed at the response to the build-your-own bunting giveaway and have thoroughly enjoyed making up quite a few custom orders along with personalised bunting.

I'm looking forward to February when we'll be spending weekends with friends and family and hopefully getting ourselves organised for our new arrival.

Wishing you all a wonderful month ahead!

Thank you for stopping by.
Love,
Lowri x

"Shower the people you love with love"

Hi All, 
 
I hope you're having a great week. 

If you follow little maldod on Instagram you may have noticed that James Taylor's best of album is a frequent soundtrack for the creating that goes on around here. There's a line in one of his songs which says "shower the people you love with love" and, although we think you should do this everyday, Valentines day is a great excuse to go that one step further. That's why we're very excited to share some limited addition lines that have just been added to the little maldod shop which make perfect gifts for the ones you love.  
 

And because we love YOU, we'll be offering 14% off ALL of the Valentines range until the 7th Feb (using the code LOVEMALDOD at the checkout). 

These cute felt hearts can be personalised and don't have to just be given to your true love, why not show your best friend some love or pop a little one's name on for their first Valentines Day.  

Felt heart decorations, £2.95

 Talking of which, this vest would make a perfect addition to an outfit for a little one's first February 14th. It can be personalised and you can also have some fun thinking up some wording for our  'I love….' vest! 

Valentines Vest, £7.95

Our hand printed wooden hearts make a lovely gift too.

 

Wooden heart decoration £2.95

 
Want to play it low key and just send a simple card? These cards say just enough.

Valentines cards, £1.95 each

 Finally, we've added the personalised heart prints to the Valentines range so you can enjoy this special discount off these too.


Mmmmmmwah! And that's for you, just for reading! 

Have a lovely weekend. 
 

With lots of love,
Lowri x

Introducing Build Your Own Bunting and a GIVEAWAY!

Hello!
 
Its been a while since I blogged so thought I'd pop by and say hello and share an exciting addition to the shop with you.

Its been a creative week or two over here at little maldod HQ. I've had the pleasure of making some bespoke gifts for new babies which are as unique and one off as they are, including some lovely nursery prints. One of the nicest things about having a small business is that I can respond individually to customers and create something just for them. 


One of the orders I've worked on this week is this personalised bunting for two beautiful twins, Elliot and Josie. My Mother-in-Law wanted bunting that would suit both a boy and girl and asked me to make up something especially for them. I chose two of the flags from the 'natural bunting' and added a lovely green floral print (one of my favourite fabrics I have).

This got me thinking, whilst I have three bunting designs to chose from in the shop (rose, nautical and natural), these colours won't always suit everyone's taste or décor. I have so many fabrics in my stash of all styles, colours and patterns that I thought it would be great to be able to offer these as options for bunting. 

I'm therefore VERY excited to be launching the option to 'build your own bunting'!  Yes that's right, the same size, length, price and great quality bunting but YOU get to choose the colours you'd like. Why not pop over to the shop, take a look at the colours and patterns available and get your creative cap on! 

To celebrate this new addition to little maldod I'm holding a giveaway on my instagram and facebook pages, where you can WIN 3 metres of bunting, designed by you! You can even enter on both pages if you want to throw your name in the hat twice. 

The giveaway closes 9pm this Sunday (26th Jan) and I'll randomly select and announce the winner on Monday. This is my first giveaway (trust me when I say that I'm very glad to finally be holding one) so a BIG thank you for entering and Good Luck!


Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you all have a great day.
Lowri x

Cupcakes, Owls and Scotty Dogs

Hello!
 
Happy New Year, I hope 2014 has started just the way you want it to. I read earlier that today is the most "depressing day of the year", so thought I would hit back with a bit of happiness, coming to you in the form of photos of the new little maldod range and a great offer on our vests! Yes that's TWO good things to be happy about!

I was busy in the little maldod workroom at the end of last week and launched a new line of vests, gifts and cards on the shop today. I've got some other things up my sleeve so will be adding to this over the coming weeks. After making up the stock I only left myself yesterday afternoon to get it all photographed so it was a race against the daylight to get pictures taken before it got too dark. 

While Wilf had his afternoon nap I snuck into his bedroom to grab some props to style the photos (this is one of my favourite bits about running the shop.) As I took the photos I realised that the pieces I'd picked had been handmade by very talented members of my family, so I wanted to tell you more about these clever ladies here.

The first is my husband's very talented Aunty, Linda. She's an amazing artist and created the beautiful ceramic cupcakes you can see in the photos below. We're lucky enough to have a few of these cupcakes in our house and they're regularly moved from shelf to shelf and incorporated into my pottering. Linda's website can be found here, she also sells some stunning lamps so do take a look. 

Sam's cousin Josie (Linda's daughter) created the cute little owl you can see in the photo below. Wilf was the lucky recipient of him (I forget what we named him) for Christmas. She also gave him this lovely dog when he was born, his name is Plum. Her crochet skills are incredible and she's just set up a website which you can find here. I've already placed an order with her for some more owls for friends with new babies.

Lastly, I must credit my wonderful Mum who made the stuffed dog shown in this bunting photo. My mum has an incredible knack of being able to pop into her craft room and whip up lovely creations. Wilf was also given these when he was born and they sit proudly on his nursery shelf. I have a lot to learn from my Mum (not just in the craft room) and am very tempted to grill her on how to make these fellas, who knows you may even see them popping up for sale in the shop! 

Before I go, I thought you'd like to see this bunch of poppets sporting their little maldod vests over Christmas.

I was delighted to be sent photos of the vests being worn and look forward to seeing the new designs, like this mini mr vest being worn too.

To celebrate the new designs we are offering 15% off all vests until the end of the week. Why not pop over to the shop and take a look at the full range. To take advantage of this special offer just enter happyjan at the checkout and the discount will be applied.  
 
So there, some very good reasons to smile!

Have a wonderful week and thanks for reading. 
Lowri x

From a Welsh Kitchen

Hello!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas with friends and family and have some nice plans tonight to welcome in the new year. I'm writing this from a very toasty kitchen in the heart of West Wales where we're enjoying the last few days of our break. While the rest of the family are off being productive (preparing for tonight's celebrations or felling trees in the garden!) I thought I would pop by and say hi.
 
Since Christmas has passed I've been thinking about the year ahead and what resolutions I might make or particular words I'll hold on to throughout the months of 2014.  This year our word has been 'live', a simple word with a simple meaning - to live life to its full and enjoy every day that we're blessed with. Over the weekend I hopped on the Flipagram bandwagon and made a video of my favourite Instagram pictures taken this year. It was lovely to look back on the many happy moments we've had, including the arrival of some precious babies, lots of laughts with Wilf who has too quickly gone from a baby to a little boy, and the exciting adventures we've embarked upon- little maldod being just one.

We have lots to look forward to in 2014, I'm so excited to show you the new lines that I'm planning to add to the little maldod shop (stay tuned this week), I've loved every minute of running little maldod so far and hope you'll join me for the ride in the new year. But by far the biggest life change for us will be the arrival of our second baby in March. Tomorrow we have just 10 weeks to go until D day and I'm fairly sure that time is going to fly. So amongst our day to day life, the creating and making for little maldod I will also be getting things ready for another little person to join our family. Life is going to get busy and I've no doubt there will be some hefty learning curves but we're ready for it and most certainly looking forward to it!

I expect whatever word or resolution I decide on for 2014 will have a lot to do with the changes that lie ahead of us in the next couple of months. I'm sure I'll share more about this in a future post but for now, I thought I'd leave you with my flipagram video of the year.

Thank you so much for your support this year, I hope you have a very Happy New Year!

Much Love,
Lowri x