When we were running our guest blogs as part of Fairtrade Fortnight, the very wonderful Aroma Candles submitted their entry, and then life got in the way for me and the blogging got neglected – again! I’ve known Sally who is the lovely lady behind Aroma Candles for some time now as, like us, she [...]
As part of Fairtrade Fortnight 2012, we are running a series of profiles on fabulous people running eco-friendly businesses… Who are you and what is your business called? We (Howard and Allyson) set up Gifts from Nature approx 18 months ago to promote the use of recycled and organic products. We have recently launched a [...]
As part of Fairtrade Fortnight 2012, we are running a series of profiles on fabulous people running eco-friendly businesses… Who are you and what is your business called? My name is Emma Weatherall and I am organising the first natural living fair for families in Bath called So Natural Baby Go on – tell us [...]
As part of Fairtrade Fortnight 2012, we are running a series of profiles on fabulous people running eco-friendly businesses… Who are you and what is your business called? My name is Brenda Cuby and I run a natural living blog called The Green Familia Go on – tell us about it! We blog about ethical, [...]
Today marks the start of Fairtrade Fortnight 2012, an annual event where the Fairtrade Foundation seeks to raise greater awareness of its activities amongst a global audience. In an ideal world, it would be Fairtrade year, with all of us taking little steps to help make the world a better place in our day to day lives, but if a fortnightly push can have an impact then so much the better. After all, we are all capable of making small changes, and if everyone makes just one little change then together it can have a huge impact! This is the aim of this year’s campaign “Take a Step“.
Fairtrade Fortnight's 2012 campaign "Take a Step"
To celebrate events this year, we are running a lovely 10% discount off our entire range throughout the fortnight. To claim your 10%, simply quote DCB200 at checkout and your money off will automatically be calculated – yippee! Whilst all of our brands are ethically sourced and/or using organic cotton, one of our fave brands Little Green Radicals is actually certified Fairtrade which means we love them all the more, and their Spring/Summer 2012 collection is right around the corner – delivery any day now!
We’ll also be showcasing profiles of other fab eco-friendly businesses, asking them a series of questions about what it means to them to be running an earth-conscious venture and whether they think it’s just a passing fad. This starts tomorrow with our fellow marketeers, Lovely & Lovely.
Aside from that, some interesting little projects in the pipeline, including me trying to get to grips with some baking of the Fairtrade kind…my kitchen may well up resembling a catastrophe! So watch this space, and in the meantime, why not tell us what you’ve got planned for the next couple of weeks?
Follow DaisychainBaby on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to guestpost for us, email linsATdaisychainbabyDOTcoDOTuk. Our clearance section lives here
Right from when we very first launched, Little Shrimp have always provided us with the most beautiful collections of baby, and now baby and children’s clothing. They caught my eye at the beginning because of their strong colours and bold choice of pattern, not afraid to be unique and rail against pastels. The quality of their clothing is absolutely stunning, the organic cotton luxuriously soft and every detail in place, putting them at the higher end of what we sell with very good reason.
Blue Stripe Wrap Jacket by Little Green Radicals, reduced from £26 to £15
I also really enjoy working with the team behind the brand – they are passionate, supportive and have a small base reaching out to a global audience. Despite great expansion in the past couple of years, they haven’t forgotten the little businesses (like DCB!) and I always enjoy meeting up with them at tradeshows and keeping in touch via email. I never set out to be hard-nosed business woman and although of course it’s important to be successful, I truly believe that there are ways to do this without treating people badly, and my ethical ideals have always extended to anyone I come into contact with on a business basis. Little Shrimp have always spoken honestly about the tough times of the economy and made me feel that there is a genuinely good relationship in place.
Candy Stripe Trousers by Little Shrimp reduced from £15 to £8
With that, we are hoping for a new collection to be in production later in 2012 and I can’t wait to see it! In the meantime, some of the current range where we have only limited stock left in the baby section has been placed on sale. So in my humble opinion, you really should snap something up and see for yourself what I’m talking about!
Follow DaisychainBaby on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to guestpost for us, email linsATdaisychainbabyDOTcoDOTuk. Our clearance section lives here
One of the many things I love about trading at markets, especially our regular Duckpond Market, is the opportunity we have had over the years to meet some truly amazing people. Sometimes as we make the monthly pilgrimage from SE London to NW London third Sunday of every month, it’s only the warm and welcoming atmosphere of the market that gets us out of bed! Our fellow marketeers are friendly, supportive and incredibly talented, and I’m thrilled that Silke, another Duckpond regular, has agreed to write a guest post for us! Silke trades as Dakini Leathercrafts, making all her own products to sell and as you can see from the images below, she has quite some skill. Over to Silke:
Handmade Kindle cases by Silke of Dakini Leathercraft
I started my business by accident! I began making handbags after being inspired by a family relation. The thing is when you make products you have to either give them away or sell them. I soon realised that my hobby was costing me money which I needed to recoup if I wanted to continue. From that my business grew and today I’m still designing and making new products specific to orders from my clients.
I work with Vegetable Tan Leather as well as other, softer leathers in the form of suede, calf, Italian leather and upholstery leather.
Primarily I make handbags, although I do make other, smaller leather products including leather (veg tan) belts, kindle cases, iPad cases, folders and much more. I am always looking for new ways in which to use leather in new products. I’ve recently starting using hair-on calf/cow skin which looks lush! (sorry no other word for it!)
I gain inspirations from fashion markets, seeing what’s trendy at the moment and recreating that in my work. There are endless handbags wandering the markets so I have plenty of inspiration seeing what potential customers carry with them, drawing quick sketches of the ideas I like so that I can recreate or include in my own designs.
As I personalise my products I usually get specifications from customers who provide me with additional inspiration and designs. At the end of the day, its all about what the customer wants and I do my best to ensure that they are satisfied with the outcome as well as the knowledge that what they are getting is a one off, personalised design!
Handmade bag by Silke of Dakini Leathercraft
I would definitely recommend hot-footing it over to Silke’s website Dakini Leathercraft, and you can also keep up to date with her activity via Facebook. Thank you so much to Silke for guest posting for us and here’s to many more in 2012!
Follow DaisychainBaby on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to guestpost for us, email linsATdaisychainbabyDOTcoDOTuk. Our clearance section lives here
Today I came into work a little bit later as I had an appointment this morning. Making my way to the station it felt like such a spring day, lovely and warm and a clear, blue sky. I sat down to wait for the train and started checking emails on my phone and suddenly became aware of raised voices nearby. Looking over, I saw a young woman on my side of the fence on the station platform, and on the other side of the fence in the carpark a young man (I say young, they both looked anything from 25 to 40-ish).
It quickly became apparent that they were arguing about money, or rather he was shouting and she was trying to respond in a calm and quiet manner. He was asking her to give him the f***ing money, calling her the word that we all hate as well as every other name under the sun and went so far as to actually spit at her through the fence. Aside from wondering what on earth she was even doing talking to him and not walking away, the thought that was going through my head was: do I do anything? He kept screaming that she owed him this money and he wanted the card as well and if she touched anything of his again he would f***ing kill her. All the time he was trying to lunge through the fence at her, fortunately she was standing far enough back that he couldn’t reach. After about 5 minutes of him threatening to come into the station, she gave him what he wanted, he disappeared with one last ‘c’ word and she went up and over the tracks to the opposite platform.
Should we mind our own business?
It’s stayed with me for most of the day for many reasons: thankfully I don’t see this kind of thing too often so it shocks me when I do; it made me realise how DAMN lucky I am to have a loving and supportive husband, friends and family and to not find myself caught up in any situations where anyone would even speak to me like that that I actually knew; and mainly, because I couldn’t help wondering what I would have done if it had got worse.
My thoughts were that from our side there was definitely safety in numbers – the station was manned by TFL bods, as well as some burly looking maintenance guys fixing the signs and several passengers. Would I have been brave enough to intervene by myself if it had continued, and not just in this situation but in any where someone is under attack? I always like to think I would, because I’d want someone else to come my help if I needed it, but when push comes to shove would I protect a stranger over myself? Are our reactions different when a woman is involved versus two men? What would YOU do?
Follow DaisychainBaby on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to guestpost for us, email linsATdaisychainbabyDOTcoDOTuk. Our clearance section lives here
Well I can’t believe we’ve made it to 1,500 likers at Facebook!! It kind of started out as a whim a few mornings ago and I never imagined it would take only a few days to make up the 300 shortfall that we had at the time. I’m truly touched by the support of fellow Facebookers, those running small businesses and just genuinely showing their support. These are tough times we’re all going through and it’s great that we can all help each other!
SO! To the goodies! I wanted to let everyone know what is in the prize and there just isn’t enough space on Facebook to right it all down. Before I start, I should add that everything we have is either organic cotton or ethically sourced. It should all last really well so long as they still fit of course! Also, I like colour as a rule. I consider some things unisex that the rest of you may not, but I don’t really do SAFE! So enjoy, here it is!
Our bumper unisex baby giveaway!
-Turquoise pixie style hat by Pili Pala. Size 6-12 months.
-Red & White striped bandana bib by Little Green Radicals. One size
-Citrus Spot bandana bib by HipHipBaby. One size
-Handknitted green shoes by Daisy Dumpling. Size 0-3 months
-Handknitted green hat by Daisy Dumpling. Size 6-12 months
-Handknitted green mittens by Daisy Dumpling. Size 6-12 months
-Muslin with turquoise elphant print by Aden & Anais. This is HUGE!
-Red short-sleeved tshirt by Pili Pala. Size 6-12 months
-Red & navy leggings with yellow trim by Pili Pala. Size 6-12 months
-Turquoise trousers with turn-over cuffs by Pili Pala. Size 3-6 months
-Moomin tshirt by Green Eyed Monster. 0-6 months
-Purple leggings by Little Green Radicals. 0-6 months
-Denim shorts by Green Cotton. Size 3 months
-Sleeveless blue star print vest by Green Cotton. Size newborn
-Sleeveless green stripe vest by Green Cotton. Size 3 months
-Orange & purple vest by Green Cotton. Size 6 months
Well that’s it! To enter, you need to go to our Facebook fanpage and find the original note I wrote about the giveaway on the wall. It should be the one that has all the comments. All you need to do is LIKE the page, then once you find my wall entry, LIKE IT, SHARE IT, and LEAVE A COMMENT ON IT!
The winner will be picked by one of those good randomiser thingies on Thursday evening at 8pm! ENJOY! x
Follow DaisychainBaby on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to guestpost for us, email linsATdaisychainbabyDOTcoDOTuk. Our clearance section lives here
