Happy New Year from Mimimyne! My New Year’s Resolutions

: Turning Over a New Leaf

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 … Read the rest

Mimimyne won Greenest Trader 2011 Award from the NMTF

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 … Read the rest

Eco friendly Christmas shopping guide for all the family

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 … Read the rest

The winner of the Mimimyne competition for Facebook Fans is Kirsty Fox!

Kirsty will be winning a £20 E-voucher from Mimimyne just in time for Christmas! Congratulations, Kirsty – I wonder what you’ll buy? Mimimyne has over eighty eco friendly gifts for £20 and under so it’s a great place to pick up eco friendly clothes, toys and stocking fillers for babies, kids and mums and dads too….. … Read the rest

Mimimyne is running a competition for Facebook Fans – you could win an e-voucher for £20!

Just to let readers of this blog know, I am running a competition on Mimimyne’s Facebook Page to win an e-voucher for £20. All you need to do is go over to Mimimyne’s Facebook Page, become a Fan of the page if you aren’t already and visit the Promos tab to enter the competition and see the terms and conditions. The winner is being chosen randomly and will be emailed an e-voucher as soon as the competition ends! You can redeem your coupon online and buy anything you like for £20 (including p&p) at Mimimyne, for example the organic and Fair Trade Siberian Tiger T Shirt shown in the picture is only £18.95 including delivery.… Read the rest

It’s FSC Friday this week!

It’s FSC Friday this Friday 30th September! What is FSC Friday, I hear you ask? Many of you who shop regularly on Mimimyne will have noticed that some of our products are FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified. This means that they are sustainably sourced from certified forests. FSC products are not always made of wood but can include paper, charcoal and decking – even venison according to the FSC’s website! If I am considering stocking a paper or wood product, ideally I will want it to be either FSC or recycled. Similarly, when you are shopping, looking for FSC certification means that you are helping the environment and helping save our natural resources for future generations.

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

Wooden words by Fairbourn Furniture and why you love them – a wedding planner and a bride both sent in some photographs to Mimimyne

While I was away on my family holiday I received two wonderful emails from Mimimyne customers who had bought Fairbourn Furniture’s wooden words with photographs that I’m really looking forward to sharing with you. One was from Charlotte, a newly-wed who bought the words ‘Thank You’ when she was planning her wedding. She wanted to have a photograph of her and her husband taken on their wedding day holding the words so the photograph could be sent to all their wedding guests afterwards. I think you’ll agree that this is a lovely gesture which must have been much appreciated by the wedding guests and made a perfect souvenir of the day. Congratulations to the beautiful bride and her very dashing husband!

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 … Read the rest

We have a winner!

I’ve been running a competition exclusively for Facebook fans of Mimimyne and today I’m happy to announce we have a winner selected with the help of Random.org. The winner is Kohtrad Silk! Congratulations and I’ll be in touch to arrange your £15 voucher. There’ll be another competition soon! … Read the rest

Vintage Fun and Frolics

Hi, sorry it’s taken me such a while to post, I usually try and keep my blog bang up to date but have been very busy! Mimimyne has been on the road at the Vintage Festival run by Wayne Hemingway – it was a special festival held at the South Bank celebrating British culture, style and design. I was in the Upcycled marquee along with two other fabulous companies, Paperpom, who hand-make beautiful paper pom poms from FSC tissue paper, and Sparrowkids, who make fantastic felt craft kits for children (and adults). Our section of the marquee was full of colourful paper pom poms, beautiful craft kits and colourful baby clothes, so we got lots of visitors! I was very impressed by all the period outfits on display, we were encouraged to wear 50′s, 60′s, 70′s and 80′s gear and some people wore unbelievably complex, creative and unique … Read the rest

It’s Recycle Week 2011!

It’s Recycle Week in the UK and it’s a great time to revisit ways to help the environment and put a bit less strain on it by reducing, reusing and recycling. I wanted to share with you some of the things that I’ve been doing and plan to do this week, and some tips and ideas to help you cut down on waste.

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 … Read the rest

Last orders for Father’s Day!

Just to let you know that today is the last day for orders for Father’s Day to go in the regular post. If you want to buy any Pint or Half Pint T Shirts or any other gifts for dads after today you will need to send me an email and I will send you a Paypal invoice for the cost of your gift plus express delivery charge! Many thanks and have a wonderful Father’s Day all you fabulous dads out there! … Read the rest

Mimimyne has a mobile App in the Android market

I just wanted to let you know that I’ve created a news App, Mimimyne Eco News, to help people interested in Mimimyne to keep track of Mimimyne’s news, Youtube videos, tweets and photos when they are out and about. It is available for free in the Android Market so will work on any Android phone such as the HTC Desire. You can download Mimimyne Eco News from the Android Market from your phone or on your computer or you can scan the QR code below with any bar code scanning app like Barcode Scanner or Google Shopper to install it straight to your phone. Please rate it if you do download it, it is very new in the Android Market and needs some reviews and ratings!

Mimimyne Eco News for Android on AppBrain

… Read the rest

Anyone for tennis? Turner Pocock Cazalet wallpapers discounted!

In honour of Wimbledon and Test Cricket, Turner Pocock Cazalet have offered a very tempting discount on their beautiful vintage-style wallpapers featuring a cricket bat and a ball and a racquet and tennis ball, which are made in the UK and printed on FSC approved paper. The cricket bat and ball pattern for Cricket was the very first design made by artist Catherine Cazalet for Bunny Turner and Emma Pocock, and was inspired by a trip to India where cricket is a national obsession. The Tennis wallpaper followed soon after and similarly combines an artistic design and a retro style with a great eye for vivid colour. The wallpapers work beautifully in both modern and traditional interiors and can be used in children’s playrooms, nurseries or bedrooms, or in adult spaces – their best-selling Zebra design was recently used in a private bar on the King’s Road! … Read the rest

The Monster Supplies shop in Hoxton

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 … Read the rest

Mimimyne has just won the Small Business Sunday #SBS competition run by Theo Paphitis!

I just wanted to share with you the exciting news that Mimimyne has just been chosen along with five other companies to be retweeted by Theo Paphitis as part of his “Small Business Sunday” competition. Theo Paphitis the legendary retail Dragon needs, I’m sure, no introduction but “Small Business Sunday” may not be known to everyone. To support small business in the UK, Theo asks small businesses to tweet @TheoPaphitis every Sunday between 5pm and 7.30[, with the special #SBS hashtag somewhere in the tweet. Although this sounds as though it should be easy, it’s actually trickier than you’d think to remember to send a tweet at a certain time once a week, and on several occasions I’d actually tweeted too early and missed the slot, or left it too late, and ended up kicking myself on Monday. Anyway, last Sunday night I sent a Small Business Sunday tweet, but … Read the rest

New Mumpreneurs meet up in East London on the 17th May

Our next meeting date is finally confirmed! We will be meeting at the fabulous, purpose built space at the Women’s Business Centre in East Ham on Tuesday the 17th of May 2011 between 10am and 12noon for informal presentations, networking and tea and coffee with likeminded entrepreneurs and business women. The Women’s Business Centre is a venue designed specifically to help women in business and we are very grateful for their support. Our first Confirmed Speaker is Alex Tham of the fabulous Green Eyed Monster who will tell us about setting up a shop in East London: this will be of interest to everyone thinking of opening a shop and anyone who is thinking of designing childrenswear, as Alex also runs a clothing company. Tabitha Potts of Mimimyne (that’s me!) will also be giving an introductory talk on using social media to promote your business. Other speakers to be confirmed. … Read the rest

Twisted Twee serves up a Pint and Half Pint set for the whole family in fabulous fluorescent colours!

For quite some time there’s been a demand for a Pint and Half Pint T Shirt set that was a bit more fitted and suited for the ladies – yes, that’s right, a ladies’ pint – so the fantastic Suzi Warren has served it up! Available in an oh-so-now neon pink against a tasteful grey background, this Pint t shirt will make you the envy of all your fellow pub-goers. Single ladies might want to snap up the Ladies Pint on its own, for DINKYs you can just get the matching his and hers set (his comes in an equally fetching fluorescent yellow and grey) while the whole family can enjoy the full set with a co-ordinating baby Half Pint featuring orange lettering against a grey background. Family outings will never be the same again! … Read the rest

OMG How cute are we! Gorgeous eco friendly limited edition prints just in time for Easter

Mimimyne is lucky enough to have added a new supplier just in time for Easter with some beautiful Easter bunny and Easter egg original, eco friendly art works to brighten up your little one’s nursery or playroom. These adorable, original images which are limited edition and very reasonably priced would be a perfect Easter gift for a new baby, grandchild, niece or nephew.

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, … Read the rest

All about Rapanui Eco-Fashion, Mimimyne’s latest designers, and their fundraising T-Shirts for Japan

Mimimyne is very happy to announce we’ve added Rapanui Eco-Fashion to our eco boutique! Their designs have got a cool, laid back, breezy style but are classic enough to suit men and women of any age. We will be adding a lot of their designs to our website but right now just want to alert you to their fabulous Japan Relief Fundraiser t-shirt for women and Japan Relief Fundraiser t-shirt for men – 100% of profits will go towards helping the people of Japan. We’re very happy to be supporting them and to be supporting the people of Japan who have suffered so appallingly. The design takes its inspiration from Japan’s iconic National flag, and the Kanji reads tsunami, in memory of the thousands of people who lost their lives.

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

They make … Read the rest

Have you seen our new co-ordinating range of cushions, floor cushions and playmats for kids playrooms and bedrooms from Oromono?

Some exciting new designs have come to Mimimyne, courtesy of Oromono, the London-based soft furnishings designers! Kirsty Anne Powell is the Founder and Director of Oromono, she launched her own label in 2004 at the Maison et Objet Exhibition in Paris.

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 … Read the rest