Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. It's taking me a while to catapult myself into 2013 and reluctantly leave a wonderful 2012 behind. January is when I go in to hibernation. All the children are back at school, the excitement of Christmas is over and I'm left to my own devices spent at home or on long dog walks and enjoying all the calm and stillness. Contemplating the year ahead for both my business and family with the usual new years resolutions applying: Lose weight, read more, eat less, cook more (inspirationally), spend less! This is when I plan ridiculous family gap years and research house moves to the Highlands! By February reality has usually set in and I'm ready to embrace all the highs and lows that the New Year has in store.

2012 was the best year yet for My Heart and Home and I am so looking forward to taking my little home grown business forward in 2013 with so many new and exciting things to look forward to.

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2013 too,

Janne xx

Tis the Season to be Molly....

Excuse the pun....all will be revealed. But yes, I am feeling rather jolly as the round of November gift fairs and shopping evenings near an end and the advent calendar is strung out ready for my own Christmas. (which is actually miles away from being organised although I did manage  to buy a christmas pud today)

I feel like I've rather neglected my blog post and face book pages recently as I do like to keep everyone up to date with the latest new additions to the range. I'm Making up for it now though with a lovely little give away over on FB to win either a Molly or a Megan rag doll with a retail value of £29.95. You can see details of the competition over on Facebook here. All you have to do is like our page and or share the post.

These beautiful dolls are from toy company Ragtales and I wrote a blog post about them earlier in the year which you can read here. They really are beautifully crafted dolls with adorable faces and plush velour knotted hair. With pretty dresses and stripy tights they each have their own personalities. And of course little girls love carting their dollies about so each doll comes in a linen carry bag too with her name embroidered on the front.

I hope you enjoy all your Christmas preparations this month!

Janne x

http://www.myheartandhome.co.uk

Mia's Wardrobe

I'm so excited to be stocking 'Mia' a beautiful cotton doll from English toy company Ragtales. She is designed to be dressed in a variety of hand finished clothes and arrives dressed in a pretty dotty frock and soft hand knitted cardi. White socks and smart black shoes complete the look. Her suitcase doubles as a wardrobe with hanging rail and little drawer to keep her clothes neat and tidy.

 With her pretty embroidered face and woollen pigtails she really is a traditional doll in every sense. Vintage styling and hand picked fabrics are carefully put together to create a unique doll.

A dark pink felt coat and a pyjama set are included in the set. 

She comes in a high quality suitcase that doubles as her dressing up wardrobe and really does make a very special gift for a birthday or christmas, designed to be cherished and loved. A toy to be handed down to the next generation just how toys used to be! 

Mia costs £49.95 and is available here

New season photo shoot part 2 - Nightdresses

It's been a busy couple of weeks here at My Heart and Home. Busy in a good way with family staying, but that invariably brings lots of extra washing, ironing and cooking! I realised I haven't even shared half the photos from the August photo shoot with Vicki Knights so thought I'd show you some of the beautiful nightdress scenes in this blog post.  Vicki is used to working with small children, but not always with animals at the same time! Austin the cat was always destined to star in our shoot, but Alfie the labrador was determined to get a look in too.

There's nothing like seeing your little poppet brushed, scrubbed and ready for bed in a pretty white nightdress for a hint of nostalgia.(big sigh) As a Mum of 9 year old Eloise (featured in this photo shoot with her friend Scarlett), I know there is only a fleeting few years in which to enjoy 'fairy stuff', before nightwear decisions are out of our control!

 All our Powell Craft nightdresses are 100% cotton and have been modelled on Victorian designs which were always white, with high necklines and long sleeves. Well, the shapes might essentially be the same, but I prefer nightdresses with a little more whimsy and these  feature owls, fairies, mice or angels. Edges are trimmed with lace and each night-dress has hand finished appliqué or embroidery detailing. As the festive season approaches lots of Mums, Grannies and Aunties will be wanting to see their own real life angel under the tree on Christmas morning! You can see the nightdresses we stock here which start at age 2-3 years.

We were lucky enough once again to work with Surrey lifestyle family photographer Vicki Knights to shoot some more lovely nightdress photos for the website. You can read the 'Secret Garden' blog post about last years photo shoot here. 

 If you have any questions about the nightdresses and sizing don't hesitate to get in touch!

janne@myheartandhome.co.uk

Janne x

Oscar the dog

I was really excited to discover Ragtales earlier this year. I'm always on the lookout for new suppliers and fell in love with the British designed range of characters. All their toys feature lovely detailing such as hand knitted clothing, gorgeous hand picked fabrics and all made in the softest, high quality velour. They all come beautifully packaged too, making adorable gifts for birthdays and christenings.You can read my previous blog about some of our Ragtales toys here and Dollytales here.

Oscar the dog is new in to the range. He measures 35cm from his head down to his paws and comes in a linen bag with his name embroidered on the front. He is machine washable which is good news for all us mummies when soft toys for our little ones are subjected to....well lets just say 'everything'! 

 I love his dark grey hand-knitted woolly sweater and his jersey striped shorts

To celebrate the arrival of the new Ragtales range, Oscar is featured in our latest giveaway over on our Facebook page. Enter to win and he could be snuggled up with you in no time. He's just asking to be loved!

The Ragtales toys are full of charm and originality drawing their inspiration from the heritage of English life which is why they complement our nightwear range so perfectly.

You can buy Oscar from our site for £19.95 along with his buddy Dasher the dog a cute little dachshund that comes with his own kennel.

I think he's pretty irresistible xx

New season photo shoot part 1

I  was very excited when Vicki Knights agreed to shoot my new seasons range for me this summer. It had been a year since our last photo shoot with four gorgeous little models, so this year I wanted to include the boys. Having worked together before, I knew she would be able to make my vision a reality and produce some beautiful images that reflect my brand whilst capturing the innocence of childhood.

Inspired by a friends garden field, I decided on the 'outdoor camping' theme. The location is in an idyllic setting backing on to woods and the vintage tractor was the star attraction for the children. (along with a very friendly Labrador called Alfie who wanted to be in every shot)! 

Kiran, Scarlett, Eloise, Harrison and Ro were all real stars and given a teepee for a den, a bundle of sticks and some naturally crafted bows and arrows, their imaginations took over!

I love this quote by Michael Powell: "There is no land like the land of your childhood" and Vicki captured this perfect vision of children playing naturally together. The sun even made an appearance for a fleeting moment making the scene even more magical.

Because the nightwear we stock is traditional in style I wanted the shoot to have a real feeling of nostalgia reflecting the wonder of childhood. I think Vicki has captured this perfectly.

You can see the updated site here which includes lots of the new photos and you can read Vicki's blog about the shoot here. 

This is only part of the shoot and I look forward to sharing some more very soon.

Janne
xx

Photo Shoot

July and August is the time of year when most of my family are enjoying their summer, but I'm trying to get my head around Christmas, booking fairs and ordering new stock (all with the usual panic of have I ordered too much of one thing and not enough of another or will it be a ridiculously warm winter as I order fleece PJs)! Its also time to update the site with new stock, photos and a new look too.

Last year I met Vicki Knights through twitter, loved her photography style and asked her to take some commercial photos of my nightwear for my site. The shoot was so much fun featuring a friends three gorgeous girls and my daughter Eloise. It was pretty and whimsical in the idyllic setting of the Medicine Garden. You can read about that shoot here and here.

This year I wanted to carry on the theme of 'idyllic childhood freedom' and include boys too as I have gorgeous boys pjs on the site. As one of Surreys leading child and lifestyle photographers, Vicki gets booked up months in advance and so I think I booked the session last February! These are some photos I took of Vicki in action. She is of course used to taking photos of children, but not necessarily lying flat out amongst prickles and rabbit droppings faced with a line of fire! Alfie the golden lab was determined to try and sneak into every shot too!

I prefer to have outdoor lifestyle photos of my range rather than staged studio shots and loved the idea of a teepee sleepover/campout where the children would run around and play naturally with bows and arrows, climb trees, find sticks from the woods and munch on marshmallows afterwards. Pinterest was a great source of inspiration and over the months leading up to the shoot Vicki and I exchanged ideas.

I had already ear marked the venue for the shoot. A friends house set on the edge of a wood complete with cats and a dog as well as a vintage style tractor. It couldn't be a more perfect place in which to bring the shoot to life.

I loved making the teepee from a pattern I bought on ebay. I'd almost forgotten I could sew! And roaming charity shops for props and vintage finds is always satisfying. My husband who secretly loved the idea of whittling sticks produced amazing bows and arrows with twigs from the garden and feathers collected on our dog walks.

He also made the signpost too. Every thing came together and fingers were crossed for some early evening sun.

I am so thrilled with the results of Vicki's shoot and look forward to sharing her photos later in the week.

Janne x