Baby Signing the Piddley Pix way!

As you are aware Piddley Pix sells pictures for Children's spaces, the kind you put on the wall of your children's bedrooms or play rooms to give it that little extra something.  What you may not know is that we have also entered the world of corporate illustration, so this post is to tell you a bit more about what we can do and about one of the projects we are currently undertaking!

Corporate illustration is an area with such variety, it's hard to give you all the information you may want on it, but if you need something illustrating please get in touch and we can talk about your needs! We can illustrate your stories, books, training documents and more! 

To demonstrate a little more, let me introduce you to a project we are working on - Baby Signing Mummy; we were contacted by Louise from Baby Signing Mummy through the amazing world of Twitter asking if we did corporate/bespoke work and of course our answer was yes! Baby Signing Mummy is developing by the week and Louise needed some artwork for the company to show the signs she teaches - so the Signing Stars were born:

 

So, if we can help you in anyway - get in touch info@piddleypix.com or if you are interested in Baby Signing for your little one check out the website!

Christmas Is Coming!

 

As you have seen this week we have introduced our Christmas cards to the Piddley Pix site, yes, yes we know it is only October and we should be getting bonfire night out the way first but it seems a lot of people are trying to spread the cost this year, and are starting to prepare for Christmas early!

Now I have to make a confession, we started our Christmas shopping in August, we saw a bargain that we just had to have it and the idea to spread the cost was far too tempting to resist! Where are we now? Well for our children (2.5 yr old and a 6 month old) we have nearly finished, but for the rest of the family well that's another story, let's just say some are more fussy than others!

So now for a little plug; if you are starting your Christmas shopping check out Piddley Pix we have perfect pressies for children of any age, you can buy a 'friend in a frame' straight from the site or you could get something a little bit more special by talking to us about a commission (more info about these coming tomorrow on the blog!)

You can also find us on Kiddiebase along with many other awesome products for families with Bump - 12 years old. Here you will find our one-off prints, these are unique and you would be the only owner of the picture (with a certificate of authenticity).

So, to finish off we would like to give a small shout out to some other places you may find perfect Christmas gifts for the family.

Baby Signing Mummy - A place to start your little ones journey with Baby Signing, we particularly like the Old Lady Complete set - It is on our daughter's Christmas list!

Poppy Sparkles - Check out their facebook page for their Handcrafted Charm Jewellery- really beautiful dainty pieces!

Little Silver Touches - Bespoke Fingerprint Jewellery ; check out the 'perfect for dads' cufflinks

Silver Birch Crafts - Many gifts suitable for the whole family - we love the Soft Baby Books

All About The Boys - If you are looking for that fab new outfit for your Children (girls and boys) to wear for Christmas this is the place, have a look at this Ralph Lauren outfit!

There are so many other places to check out, so keep your eyes peeled for more guest posts, reviews and more on this blog for ideas, also pop back tomorrow for our giveaway!

Two Women, a Website and a Baby – The KiddieBase Story

Back at the end of 2009, 2 good friends were having a coffee (this will be a recurrent theme in this story!) and talking about their lives.

One of them, Antonia, had just decided not to go back to her corporate job quite yet and the other, Karen, was debating whether or not 3 children was enough   Both of them were talking about a need to do something useful and hopefully earn a little bit of money to help their families along.  Karen used to work in retail and Antonia in technology so quite quickly the idea of a shopping-related website emerged (after a few more coffees!).

Exclusive to Kiddiebase - Sold by Piddley Pix

The debate then ensued for some time (for far too long if you were to consult the KiddieBase husbands!)  Then as with the inception of most good ideas, it came back to the general idea of finding a problem and fixing it.  And the problem identified was the huge volume of choice out there online for bumps, babies and children, the time it took to shop and hunt down all the websites and of course, what about the wonderful products that were out there and no-one even knows about!? The KiddieBase ladies really don’t like to miss out on anything you see...  How good would it be if there was a site that brought all these great products together to give the shopper the best choice possible but still let the sellers retain their own brand, individuality, descriptions, pricing etc.  Light-bulbs flashed and an idea was born...

So now the coffee shops of one small town in Buckinghamshire have significantly higher takings, two ladies have an idea and two husbands and 5 small boys have breathed a big sigh of relief.  What next?  A company name you say, that won’t take a minute – let’s just jot a few ideas down.  The greatly abridged version of this chapter is that after a few thousand online searches and many spreadsheets of potential names, KiddieBase – the base for all your kids needs – arrived!

So the idea is here, the name is here, now just a lot of hard work to do.  Plans were put in place, action lists written, logo ideas discussed and then over coffee one morning, Karen said to Antonia, “There’s just one little thing I need to tell you....” and that’s when “Baby Arrives” became a new line on the project plan!  Much debate was had over timing, how quickly could the idea be brought to life from the technical perspective, how much marketing should be done pre-launch, need to be out before Christmas and however many times the plan was cut, September 2010 ended up with two major milestones – “Launch of www.kiddiebase.co.uk” and “Baby Arrives”!

Months of hard work later and the many jokes about the PR potential of the baby and business coinciding became reality!  On 24th September, www.kiddiebase.co.uk went live and early on 25th September Karen’s baby arrived.  The full story of the latter can be found on our blog!  So what’s the situation now?

Poppy Sparkles on Kiddiebase

http://www.kiddiebase.co.uk is live with more than 50 retailers on board, 1000+ products and some sales under its belt.  Antonia and Karen are delighted that KiddieBase is to be featured in a Guardian supplement in October and in a number of local publications and are really looking forward to exhibiting KiddieBase at the Earls Court Baby Show.  They are especially proud of the fantastic group of stores that have joined them and that make the site what it is.  There are some truly amazing products there and the range covered is fantastic – gifts, toys, clothes, art, slings, maternity, nursing, furnishings, travel, accessories, personalised items, totally new products and much, much more...

And Baby KiddieBase, well he’s happy, healthy and just gorgeous......

So, make sure you head over to Kiddiebase and check out all the great products, you will find some one off pieces by Piddley Pix there too!!

Thank you to Antonia and Karen for a wonderful post, Congratulations to them both on the launch of the website and to Karen and family and the arrival of the new baby!!