Easter Competition - Egg + Soldiers by Ketchup on Everything

Now, don't get me wrong, I love chocolate, but I know that my little foxes will get loads of it for easter from the rest of the family, so, this year I have decided to get them an easter gift, instead of a chocolate egg.  They just don't need any more chocolate.

To be honest, this was the perfect excuse to replace their rather worn table mats with the beautifully illustrated melamine ones from the wonderfully talented Kay Vincent of Ketchup On Everything.  Having come across her designs online we met the ever cheerful Kay at Pulse last year.  

Her animal alphabet designs were the first thing to really catch my eye there and I loved them.  Kay was really friendly and fun and her personality, along with her obvious love of 50's an 60's children's illustrations, comes through in her designs.  She describes the animal alphabet design process on her blog;

"It was a really exciting project as it encouraged me to develop creativity within the restriction imposed by the letters of the alphabet and the requirement that each animal had to be doing something beginning with its letter. I never would have thought of a ‘Valentine Vulture' or a 'Scooting Squirrel' with out this thought process!"

And from these initial designs she now produces; placemats & coasters, tea towels, mugs, greeting cards, screen prints (I bought my daughter a wonderful Unicycling Unicorn) and now personalised name prints too, great for celebrating a new baby or birthday.

We have a super-eggciting competition to win one of Ketchup on Everything's Egg and Soldiers melamine placemats tote and a T-towel.

Just pop a comment at the bottom of this post, tell us what you're up to for easter and in our usual 'old skool' way (no rafflecopter for us) one of the little foxes will pick a name at random next week to receive this wonderful gift in time for easter.

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSE!

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Snoopers Paradise.

Jumble and Pearls is getting closer so we thought we'd expose some of the traders!

We've not been before but the idea of this fayre makes me think of my all time favourite shop, Snoopers Paradise in Brighton, and to days before I had the responsibility of 3 little people, ergo; the ability to wander around shops in a carefree manner without constantly panicking every time a small child disappeared from my view.
The shop is huge and you can find hundreds (and thousands) of things you'd not find anywhere else.  Old and older toys, jewellery, furniture, clothes, bags, cutlery, crockery, paintings, embroideries, records, beautiful old ashtrays, you name it.  It is my favourite shop ever and eckers, I can't have been there for about 8 years… dreadful!  (Must remedy that this year.)

Jumble and Pearls may not be as large or dusty but it will certainly be just as eclectic and we can't wait to snoop around.

So what has got us so excited?  Have a look…

Eleni Edipidi & Levantes Dance Theatre - wonderful flowery jewellery and a selection of colourful and sparkly garments inspired by previous theatre productions.

Maiden Found Millinery & Crafts - affordable bespoke head wear pieces, and crafts perfect for gifts, all made using traditional methods and vintage materials.

Brake Bikes is a distinctive brand of unique single speed bikes.  Limited to 100 bikes in the three specific colour combinations, influencing fans of street art.

Isabella Salamone, Surface Textile designer, a vintage fabric collector and a maker.  She has recently started creating unique and very limited ranges of products by recycling original vintage fabric.  From stationery to fashion accessories and home decor objects, expect colourful bright pattern!

Hannah Knight will be selling her hand selected vintage pieces in fabrics sourced from Paris, Milan and and London as well as designer pieces including Burberry, Max Mars and Valentino.

Philip Ignatious Salacious Stein, London's premier underground art dealer will be selling some of his private collection.

These are just a few of the inspiring purveyors that will be there selling their wares.  Most will be bringing unique items which are limited, vintage or handmade and one off's.  

The Jumble & Pearls event is a chance to find something you just have to have and that you will really be hard pushed to find anything like, anywhere else. 

Upstairs there is free wifi, table tennis, a bar and an all day restaurant, this will be a perfect day out… if you're in or near London, why ever would you not make it a date?

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Pulse - London

Magnetic Wallpaper by Sian Zeng

We Mrs Foxes went to Pulse-London on the weekend.  Pulse is a trade show that brings together over 600 of the latest lifestyle brands in London organised into five distinct show sectors: Home, Gift, Fashion Accessories, Wellbeing and Launchpad.  So, although Pulse is not exactly aimed at the children's market we wanted to have a look at what was out there, catch up with some favourite designers and see what was new.  The Launchpad section brings together the "hottest new inspirational design-led products", designers new to Pulse in plain English, and was by far the most exciting section. Here are some of our favourites:

Sian Zeng's magnetic wallpaper (see above) is fabulous.  It illustrates a fairytale forest with hedgehogs, frogs and houses.  Magical creatures including birds, flying pigs, geese riding lamas and speech bubbles can then be added to the paper, all held in place magnetically.  Her cushions, prints and cards are in the same vein, and I want her stuffed cloth scissors for my studio.

http://www.sianzeng.com

Jack the Clown Beakers

Butterscotch and Beesting have added to their remarkable circus of wonder, which was already one of our firm favourites, with Jack the clown ceramics above and more from Bumblewick Beesting, the magician whose circus parade creates gorgeous patterns on homewares including lampshades and cushions.

http://www.butterscotchandbeesting.com

Ruby Ruth Dolls

Ruby Ruth Dolls are handmade partly from recycled fabrics, with huge button eyes.  We loved them, Mrs Jackie Fox found herself drawn to rubbing their oversized tummies again and again.  Jenny, their creator, told us she is also working on a stop frame animation with these characters. 

http://rubyruthonline.com

Ketchup on Everything's U is for Unicorn

And the great retro kids prints by Kay Vincent from Ketchup on Everything.  She creates these wonderful animal alphabet designs on prints, placemats, posters and tea towels.
http://www.ketchuponeverything.co.uk

Lion Paper Costume

OMY Design and Play is a French company whose playful graphics cover prints, vinyl stickers, placemats, posters and the wonderful paper costumes above.

http://www.omy.fr

Sinead O Moore's porcelain tealights

Finally, nothing to do with children this one, I just loved Sinead O Moore's beautiful, fragile porcelain ceramics.  The tealights are exquisitely delicate, like the petals of a flower, and it is my birthday next week so I will be treating myself.  You can find her at Greenwich Market in London most Sundays.

http://www.sineadomoore.com

So many clever, creative people it was all very inspirational.

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