Mums, Mothers and Mummies!

Today it is all about Mums, go, treat them!

Mummy Necklaces from Poppy Sparkles

Poppy Sparkles was founded in March 2010 by Viv Smith and specialises in Swarovski Crystal Birthstone jewellery with the unique Poppy Sparkles charm system. Their jewelery is gorgeous and I am more than happy for you to hear more about their lovely 'Mummy Necklaces' here!

Poppy Sparkles have just added Swarovski crystal heart designs to their collection just in time for Mother’s Day. Offering a unique and sparkly way to celebrate your child(ren), using Swarovski birthstone crystals to represent those special people either side of a large heart – the symbol of love.  Poppy Sparkles offers the modern mother a contemporary and fresh take on traditional charm jewellery, whilst still retaining everlasting appeal.

“I love to give and receive gifts with meaning  that can be kept and treasured for years. It is this that inspires my jewellery designs and led me to creating birthstone jewellery.” Says Poppy Sparkles’ designer-maker, Viv. “And, as a mum myself, developing a range of jewellery for mums to celebrate and cherish their children was a natural step”.

Although Mummy Necklaces are a lovely gift for mum, they also have value for the children represented; a lesson Viv learnt herself recently.  Her toddler was very taken with mummy's new necklace and listened as each charm was explained – the ruby crystal marked him with his July birthday, Topaz for his sister and her November birth and the big heart was for all the love mummy had for them both.  A smile beamed across his face, but as you might expect, he soon got bored.  The following day he was once again fascinated and took great joy in picking out his and his sister’s crystals, then the big heart, that was for “all the love” he said, as he flung his arms around in a big hug.

[Viv] "I knew how much mummies valued their necklaces as a means to cherish and remember their little ones, but I’d not thought about my jewellery beyond the wearer. My little boy, in his toddler’s innocence, taught me a valuable lesson.  Children love to feel valued and this is just another way to say ‘I love you’, by wearing something pretty."

Mummy Necklaces are available from £23 and make a lovely gift for a mum or Grandmother. Personalised with your choice of birthstone or Freshwater pearl charms.

Kiddiebase for Christmas

I am really loving sites where you can do Christmas shopping for a variety of people in one go this year, and if you do too I would suggest Kiddiebase is the perfect place for all of you bump to 12 year olds (and there is stuff for their families too)

Here are some of my favourites:

So before you finish your Christmas shopping check out Kiddiebase now!

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!!

Guest Post - Baby Signing Mummy

I would like you to meet another great twitter friend of mine, Louise from Baby Signing Mummy talks a bit about something that may affect many Mumpreneurs!

I love being asked to write articles or guest blog posts so I was thrilled when the lovely Kelly from PiddleyPix asked me to write for her fab new business blog. So what to write about? Well seeing as I am usually always talking about the benefits of baby sign language I thought I might do something a little different - how about a little bit about me  and the mammoth decision to quit my regular day job and become a full time mummy at home running my business Baby Signing Mummy?

I do not think I have ever had such a tough decision to make, and it took months to reach the final decision, that in the meantime made my beloved Baby Signing Daddy (@kjlloydie) despair of me whenever I would mention the subject. Mainly because my ‘decision’ would change every few seconds.

 

Louise's Daughter Isabella on her 3rd Birthday!

My ‘regular day job’ was as a paediatric nurse - which had always been my dream job, from the tender age of 3 I was given my first nurses uniform dress up set and from that moment on I told everyone I was going to be a nurse. I qualified in 2000 as a paediatric nurse and could not have been prouder, graduating from the University of Surrey I thought I knew it all, I had reached that goal! Then I started my first job and realized I wanted more...I was the lowly newly qualified and I wanted to be a senior nurse! As my career progressed I realized I was always going to want to achieve more and each time I broke that goal a new one was set. In 2008 I reached my ultimate goal I was a Sister. I had worked in paediatric intensive care for 4 years and passed the university course that went with it, I had moved on and specialized in Children’s Allergy and was then promoted to clinical nurse specialist. Whilst very happy in this role for a couple of years (balancing this role full time whilst my beautiful daughter travelled with me daily to London to go to the hospital nursery) it soon became apparent to me that I again wanted a new challenge.

So I took on a Masters course in Advanced Practice - yes that would do it, I wanted to be an advanced practitioner now that would complete my career. So I undertook the advanced assessment skills course and passed - leading me into running my own nurse led clinic with my own patient load. I loved working closely with the families and diagnosing their child’s allergies and producing management plans. But still something was missing. So I undertook the non-medical prescribing course. This is known as the ‘hardest’ post qualification nursing course there is. I loved it, it made my brain think and extend my knowledge even further. I passed with flying colours! I can now prescribe medications.

This last part, I only found out the Monday after my last day at my job. Am I sad? A little bit I guess - but was I happy? No. Forever putting a new goal on my nursing career it suddenly occurred to me when I was deciding whether to hand in my notice or not that I wasn’t sure what my end goal was.  I am not sure what my end goal is now actually! - I want to be successful in my business - I am going to put in as much drive and determination into my business as I have done my whole education and nursing career. I can only hope that will help me to succeed. I love being my own boss and running my business around my daughter and being able to be there to take her and pick her up from preschool. I love the fact that I am involved in her life more. I also know how lucky I am that I have been able to make this move.

Making that final decision was a risk, we need the business to be successful as I do need to earn some money for the family, but I couldn’t give the business my whole whilst I was nursing three days a week in London. I really felt split down the middle and to be honest even with my resignation letter in my hand it was touch and go as to whether I was going to actually hand it to the Matron. I have taken a huge leap of faith and left behind a part of me that I always felt was innate in me. I thought I would feel like I was missing a part of me, but so far I have been adjusting well. I think passing that final exam and getting the prescribing role added to my registration has made me realize that perhaps nursing is a way of life for me. Maybe I will end up going back to it one day, but when I am ready. Right now I have a new goal and focus in my life, I want to be the best mummy I can be to our beautiful daughter and I want to prove to myself that I am more than just a nurse. I can be a successful businesses woman and learn a whole new world, whilst still keeping within my passion of working with children and families.

My advice to anyone else who is wondering whether to give up their ‘regular day job’ is to think long and hard about why it is that you are doing it. For a long time for me it was because I loved what I did and there was always something I wanted to achieve. But I had reached my peak and I couldn’t see a new goal.  Until Baby Signing Mummy was born.

Have a browse of the Baby Signing Mummy Website or Find Louise on Twitter at  http://twitter.com/babysigningmum