I hope you’ve all had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas and New Year. We spent our time at home in London this year – it was very nice just relaxing at home and it certainly made dealing with my Christmas and New Year orders a lot easier!

Highlights included making Christmas decorations with the help of my mother, the writer Jocasta Innes, who has been doing crafting courses at her home and as a result had a lot of craft equipment we could use. My two boys and my nephew Max spent hours making gift tags and decorations to hang up on the Christmas tree. We had a delicious organic turkey on the day itself and I managed to do a lot of shopping at Spitalfieds market so I felt I was supporting local traders and designers. I hope you are all happy with your Christmas orders – Twisted Twee designs in particular were flying out of the shop!

Like everyone I’ve been making New Year’s Resolutions. For my business, it’s to be a better blogger – I’m aiming to do at least two posts per week here and on my personal blog. I’m also going to work on updating my business plan so that I can start the New Year with firm goals and targets. Finally – soon – I will launch a new website to make it easy for overseas customers to shop at Mimimyne! This will have lots of great new features to make the site easier to use and navigate for everyone. I can’t wait!

For myself personally, I’ve joined New Year New Body, a support group set up by Liz Jarvis to help women stay motivated to lose weight and get fit. I’m reasonably active (well, I walk the dogs every day and cycle and walk everywhere) but never find the time to go to the gym, so I’m going to make more time for that too.

My other resolution is to make my home more organised and clutter free. I’m planning to clear it out by the end of January so I can redecorate a couple of rooms. I found a great article on Decluttering with a Conscience over at Angels and Urchins – have a look!

And finally I’m going to make more time for creative writing. I’ve had one short story published recently but I used to write a lot more – screenplays, poetry and fiction – before I had children. I’m going to work at this as it’s something I find inspiring and challenging.

What are your resolutions for the New Year?

How Green is Your Market

It was a wonderful surprise to find out this month that I had won the Greenest Trader Award 2011 as part of the How Green is Your Market competition run by the National Market Traders Federation. I regularly run a stall at the famous Old Spitalfields Market on Sundays where the old fruit and vegetable market used to be. I love trading there partly because I am a proud East Ender (my mother moved to Spitalfields in the late 70′s) and used to visit the fruit and veg market as well as Brick Lane market every Sunday. I also love it because it’s enclosed, bright and spacious, has wonderful food stalls and restaurants and makes a great retail space for small independent designers who want to reach customers directly. The other stallholders are great fun and sell all kinds of interesting products, especially handicrafts, jewellery and clothing – I bought several of my Christmas presents there this year. I won the Award because I sell organic, recycled and biodegradable products and because I transport my goods by bicycle – no carbon emissions there! I wasn’t able to go to the Awards Ceremony so the award judges visited my stall and presented it to me in person this December. I’m proud to be Greenest Trader 2011, thanks again to the NMTF!

Pine Tree Dad and Baby T Shirt by Twisted twee

I know a lot of you will be rushing to get your online shopping finished in time for Christmas, so here are a few suggestions to make life easier! All our gifts are either recycled, recyclable, organic, sustainably sourced, Fair Trade or made in the UK so you can give presents with a clear conscience! Here are my top suggestions for dad and baby, for baby boys and girls, for toddlers, for stocking fillers for older kids and for mum – more ideas coming next week.

For a dad and baby we love Twisted Twee’s Pint and Half Pint Sets but hurry, these sell out fast! We also love the Pine Tree and Fir Cone Dad and Baby T-Shirts in organic cotton.

Baby girls will look super cute in these retro Film Buff T Shirts by Twisted Twee while these Moomin Babygrows by Green Eyed Monster are cute on baby boys and girls and are made of lovely thick organic cotton.

For a special gift for a toddler, how about these handmade Monkey slippers by Oromono as recently recommended in Hello? You can accessorise all the Oromono slippers with a matching Jungle playmat and Monkey cushion. A perfect gift set for any cheeky little monkeys you know!

Monkey Slippers by Oromono

Great stocking fillers available at Mimimyne include these cute Santa and Rudolf puppets by Crafty Kids – great for older kids to make some Christmas puppets on the big day while you get on with cooking the turkey! Mimimyne also recommends our story book and vegetable growing kits by Secret Seed Society – a real bargain at only £5.

For mums we recommend the practical and beautiful Mum’s Bag – this is always a winner and is so handy for shopping and the school run!

I hope you enjoy these suggestions and have a wonderful Christmas!

If you need more convincing, have a read of their 10 Good Reasons to Choose FSC

Wedding photo with wooden words

Another email came from Louise Jones, a wedding planner who runs Veils and Vows and wanted her company name made in wood for wedding fayres and events where she appears. She says in her email “Here is a photo of the beautiful wooden words you did for me. I think they look great on the brown tablecloth.” Apparently the wooden words were a real hit with other exhibitors too, with several asking her where they were from! It’s always lovely to hear from happy customers so this was a real treat for me. Here’s a photo of Veils and Vows’ very attractive stand.

Fayre Stand for Veils and Vows

The wooden words are hand carved from FSC wood with the combination of letters and words that you choose and can be painted in Fairbourn Furniture’s favourite colourways cream, pale blue, pale pink and pale green. Although the designer recommends them for children’s nurseries and bedrooms, as you can see the only limits to their use is your own imagination!

Me with 50's style updo at the Vintage Festival

Mimimyne's Stall at the Vintage Festival

Another view of the Mimimyne Stall

There’s a fantastic slideshow of images by street photographer Scott Hortop which shows the glamour and vintage style of the festival better than my photos could! I sold several of my beautiful upcycled Mimimyne romper suits which have been a huge hit at festivals and market stalls, as well as some Moomin baby clothes by Green Eyed Monster and lots of Pint and Half Pint T Shirts by Twisted Twee. It was a very hot weekend but we were under a marquee and had lots of delicious food stalls nearby, always very important for me as I am rarely organised enough to bring lunch. All in all it was a great three days and though it’s always hard taking such a lot of time out during the school holidays, I got a visit from my husband and lovely boys and spent some time with my sister who helped out on the stall. I really enjoyed this festival, there was a great party atmosphere and it’s reminded me what fun dressing up, trying out different outfits and being thoroughly girly is occasionally!

I’ve been recycling batteries at my local Tesco; there are so many more places where you can do this now and it’s only a five minute walk for me to drop them off! The other thing I could do is cut down on the amount of batteries I use in the first place, I am thinking about buying a battery recharger and rechargeable batteries to reduce my impact on the environment.

I’m going to make a final decision about whether to get a wormery or a composter this week and buy one. My local council subsidises both so it’s really a question of whether I can face up to wriggly worms or whether it’s better to have a composter, even though my garden is very small. The council used to pick up my food waste from my previous address, but sadly does not provide this service where I live now.

I am going to recycle some clothes (too knackered for the charity shop) and a broken electric kettle. RecycleNow has a great list of retailers who will recycle old small electrical appliances but none of them are near me so I will be making a trip to my local recycling centre.

I recently recycled two mobile phones and was paid £45 for them – it’s so worthwhile. Mobile phones that go into landfill are toxic and are also a waste of the expensive hi-tech components that are used to make them. Recycle yours, donate them to charity or get money for them – it’s a really good idea! There are plenty of sites out there which will help you get your old mobile phones recycled, try this tool from Money Saving Expert to compare them.

I’m also using a Kindle to read books. This is great for the book club I attend as I don’t have to run around book stores looking for books at the last minute, I’m finding it hard to kick my newspaper habit though, even if I can read a newspaper online it doesn’t feel quite the same. If I do buy a paper, I recycle it (of course!) but cutting down on my newspaper and magazine purchasing is going to be hard. I’m also going to donate some books to a local charity to clear some space.

I’m also looking into ways my company can help out. I’ve been looking at ways of reusing materials when creating products and am about to launch a new line of children’s clothing, made with talented childrenswear designer Sally Hemphill (who I met on the school run!) which uses recycled fabrics (offcuts from interior design projects which would otherwise have gone to landfill). The clothes are hand made in the UK by Heba Women’s Project, a unique training & enterprise project based in Brick Lane providing women from diverse cultural backgrounds with a safe and welcoming place in which to make new friends, learn new skills and engage in enterprise activities to suit their particular needs and family commitments. Heba’s a fantastic place which has helped many women with their sewing, English and IT courses, work spaces for designers and creche, so I’m proud to be working with them.

Mimimyne uses recycled printing paper, envelopes and reuses packaging, so that’s taken care of: in fact I do almost everything electronically and don’t generate much paper. I also recycle all my print cartridges by donating them to charity or getting them refilled. I am interested in finding out more about green packaging however, a designer I met recently at Pulse uses biodegradable plastic to package her products and I think there is more that I could do in terms of sourcing green packaging materials. I currently use recycled paper bags and Mimimyne recyclable and reusable Smartbags for selling goods at shows but am going to research things like bubble wrap to see if there are greener alternatives I could be using.

There is lots more information about how you can help the environment during Recycle Week at their website Recycle Now. You can also use the widget below to find out more tips about recycling in your area!

I wanted to tell you about a great little place I discovered recently, one of those hidden gems which make you glad to live in the neighbourhood. There is so much to see and do in East London but a lot of it is more grown-up than kiddie fun and it’s always exciting to come across something new for children in the area. I was browsing some websites when I came across a mention of a shop in Hoxton which was part of a social enterprise encouraging kids and young people to write, the Ministry of Stories. The Ministry is partly funded by sales from the Hoxton Monster Supplies shop. Intrigued, I set off with the kids and Other Half. We had lunch at Viet Hoa, a great local Vietnamese restaurant (this was a triumph as we finally discovered a menu item that Felix will eat apart from plain noodles – thank you, spare ribs!). And then went to look for the shop. It’s tucked away on Hoxton Road behind Hackney community college and has an old fashioned wood and glass front. ‘Angry mobs please douse your torches’ said one sign. ‘Nocturnal visits by appointment for vampire customers only’ says another.

Inside the shop has lots of beautifully designed products including tins labelled ‘A vague sense of unease’ or ‘Utter terror’. After a while trying to work out what was inside we found out that they contained short stories – a brilliant idea. We also checked out the invisible cat in the basket in the corner (don’t pet it too hard) and bought a book of children’s stories for the boys. It’s such a great concept and I will certainly be back. The Ministry is currently looking for volunteers and there is also a Book Club.

Tower Hamlets Businessmums Club

You will be able to learn about how to set up a small business, work from home and be your own boss AND have a family life: not an easy thing to do and best learned from people like you who’ve been there and done it! We’re happy for men and women without children to come along too, of course – all are welcome. The Women’s Business Centre has arranged a private area where you can feed or change your baby if necessary. We will have a comfortable conference room to relax in. Older children are welcome but are parents’ responsibility!

ADDRESS
Women’s Business Centre
Newham College of Further Education
High Street South
East Ham
London E6 6ER

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We will be charging £4 entry fee per visitor to cover admin costs and there will free tea and coffee while the networking meeting and expert speaker sessions go on. You can pay online through Eventbrite or pay on the door.

Women's Business Centre

Cute Easter Egg Bunny

Roll on Easter

The little picture company offers a magical world of art for children filled with lasting treasures to inspire your child’s natural imagination. Their limited edition giclee prints are made using archival vegetable based inks and printed on a range of environmentally friendly papers, including sustainable bamboo. The prints are archival quality. They are printed on a range of environmental papers including 100% archival bamboo paper using the highest quality Epson ultrachrome archival inks, which do not discolour or fade over time. Each print is delivered numbered, signed, and cellophane or tissue wrapped, ready to insert into a frame of your choice. The Little Picture Company believe in respecting animals and the environment they inhabit. Their papers and inks are free from any animal derivatives and they use recycled and biodegradable packaging wherever possible.

Japan Relief Fundraiser T Shirt by Rapanui

Rapanui is about making cool eco-fashion for young people; that means clothing that is eco-friendly, ethical and sustainable.

They make clothing from natural organic fabrics in a Fair Wear Foundation audited, wind powered factory, but really what they’re about is communication – It’s not that people don’t care about child labour, the environment, our climate, it’s just they don’t know. At Rapanui they make it easier for people to see where clothing comes from and how it is made so they can make informed choices. It’s called Traceability.

Rapanui was set up by brothers Mart and Rob Drake-Knight in early 2008 now aged 23 and 25 respectively. Through surfing they saw and experienced the changing environment and climate at their local beach and as inspired, unemployed graduates in a recession, they took a different path; if you can’t find a job, make one. The aim still is to inform through the brand and mix eco with trend – to make it fashionable for people to go green.

Degrees in Business Administration and Renewable Energy plus an obsession with excellent customer service helped the Drake-Knight brothers establish Rapanui amongst the Top 100 Startups of 2008.

Rapanui won the 2010 Sustainable Business Awards and now employs 12 full time staff in its office in Bembridge. This achievement is even more remarkable considering the brand was founded with only £200 of savings in University halls; recognised when Rapanui won a runners-up place at the 2010 Enterprising Young Brits Awards. Later in 2010, the Brothers’ ethos of ‘doing business the right way’ was recognised when the brand was Highly Commended by the RSPCA at the Good Business Awards.

The brand’s forte is its radical approach to Sustainability: Rapanui take a total life cycle approach to their product’s human, environmental and climatic impact, and address each aspect. This is not a clothing company ticking the green box. This is a company aiming to change the entire fashion industry. Rapanui uses Certified Organic fabrics, Fair-Trade labour and Renewable Energy.

Rapanui has held Seminars and Lectures at UK and EU universities and multinational companies such as Centrica PLC on Sustainable Business and sit on the Panel at Plymouth University’s All our Futures Conference. These events have helped Rapanui share their Eco-Labelling idea, a way of packaging textiles products to communicate the effects caused by their buying action, essentially a way of forcing and regulating transparent business ethics in textiles. Rapanui also hosts the national petition for Textiles Eco-Labelling at 10 Downing Street.

This year, the range of products and styles has expanded along with the business. With a more edgy, youthful twist on its own-label collection, and a range of bespoke and wholesale organic clothing to offer, Rapanui is a company that has found confidence in achievement.

Rob and Martin Drake-Knight are listed on the Future 100 List of Top young Ethical Entrepreneurs.

Small Car Cushion by Oromono from Transport (Nursery Collection)

Her collection immediately sprung into the limelight when Oromono was awarded ‘Best Newcomer in Textiles’ and the company then went onto to win a competition from the European Union to exhibit at the Interiors Lifestyle Show in Tokyo.

Since then Oromono has had continued success within the industry, designing exclusive collections for world-renowned companies such as The Conran Shop, Liberty, Selfridges and Barneys.

Oromono is also proud to be stocked in selected design stores, fashion boutiques and interior design showrooms throughout Europe, the USA and the Middle East. Like us, Oromono is very proud to work with the environment in mind and has gained recognition for the use of eco-friendly fabrics. They believe it’s essential to ensure that every measure is taken to utilise the world’s natural resources, recycle, re-use and reduce their carbon footprint whenever possible.

The Nursery Collection is only available at a few select stockists in the UK and I’m proud to be one of the stores they’ve selected. What’s wonderful about the Nursery Collection, which is all hand-made in Britain, is that it offers a coordinating selection of cushions, play mats and large floor cushions, in a selection of sizes, so that you can create a theme for your child’s room or bedroom very quickly and easily based on their themes, Garden, Transport, Jungle or Farmyard. A boy might love the Transport collection, featuring a tractor, boat, car or plane while a girl might love the beautiful Garden Collection featuring creatures you would find in an English garden. Best of all, each collection has a matching set of children’s slippers, which you’ll find in our Toys and Gifts for Babies section! I especially recommend the immensely cute dog slippers for babies and toddlers.

Car Cushion (Transport) from Nursery Collection

Transport Play Mat on green gingham background (Nursery Collection, Transport)