toy story

 Do you need to buy a gift for a baby or little person that you know?

Are you unsure of what to get? Unsure if they're big or little, tall or short? Unsure exactly how old they are, what size they are or if the British weather necessitates short or long sleeves???

Sometimes, these things can be an absolute nightmare. The choice, the decisions...everything!

Here at Carry Me Home we have a great range of baby and children's clothes and accessories, and we're always happy to help and give a friendly opinion or some advice. But sometimes, you need to think beyond baby grows and bibs and dinky little socks, and enter the world of

TOYS!!!

The gift of a toy can be the start of a beautiful life long friendship. It can comfort, console, share in the fun and help little ones learn about and explore the exciting world around them. There's no real gender bias with a Happy Accident toy (pictured below), and the textures and colours are so fun and wild they're bound to inspire some amazing pictures and stories! Each one is lovingly handmade and unique, what's not to love?

Whereas with a baby grow or t-shirt  there is an absolute certainty that sometime down the line it won't fit, that's not a consideration with a toy. Our Carry Me Home bears are beautiful, soft towelling teddy bears, each with a unique identification number. They're exclusive to us, so owning one makes you part of an elite special members club! We've sent them all around the world. 

Boo the yellow bear (pictured below) is currently playing with the other toys in the shop...

we wonder where he'll travel to, who'll be his owner and what his forever home will look like.

Toys can be educational (we used the wooden alphabet blocks, currently on sale in the shop, to spell out all of the words in the photos), and they can also be fun. How could you not have fun with one of these new car toys (below)? We've just added them to our website, and we reckon the gift of one of these little motors could start a life long obsession with cars (best warn mum and dad!). 

So, whether it be a cheeky monkey, a little set of hand-painted wooden soldier skittles, a beautiful collectors Whimsy doll fox or baby's first bear, you really can't go wrong with a toy.

That's our little toy story :)

baby bauhaus

So, the four day jubilee extravaganza is over...what next? Well, if you're in London, I'd really recommend the 'Bauhaus: Art as Life' exhibition at the Barbican. If you're a fan of Bauhaus style, or if you don't know anything about it, this exhibition provides a vast array of art, furniture, home wares, rugs, you name it, all in the Bauhaus style.

  

'But what has this got to do with babies?' I hear you ask...well, the Bauhaus school of design married art and craft practise to create fashionable and functional goods for every aspect of our lives, including children! Above you can see a wooden block boat toy, one of numerous toys in the exhibition. 

Fun and function!

 And here at Carry Me Home we also believe that children and babies should be able to look cool and feel comfy all at the same time (never compromise!). Our lovely baby grows are all super fashionable, but also soft, cosy and perfect for all little men and little ladies. For example, how about some rainbow braces, or trendy breton stripes?

 Another strong aspect of the exhibition was typography, and we're also a little bit alphabet partial ourselves :) learn in style with a funky poster, or some wooden letters

We think the Bauhaus would be proud!
Information on the exhibition can be found here,
and (nearly) all of the products can be found on our website here.

And, if you're not keen on the exhibition, don't worry, there's the European Championships, Father's Day and the Olympics coming up to keep you busy! x

12 reasons to smile in 2012!

It's that old familiar feeling, we've had all the excitement of Christmas and New Year, and now we have... January. The weather is a bit, well not really anything, and we're all feeling deflated after all of that festive excitement.

So we thought we'd share some Carry Me Home joy, and give everyone 12 good reasons to smile in 2012! (No workout DVDs or diet plans here, promise!)

1. This 'Smile' t-shirt. It just makes you feel happy!

2. The fact that the 'Smile' t-shirt is part of our sale! online and instore.

3. Sale shopping in general. Nothing quite makes you as satisfied as a hefty discount (speaking as a lady with new boots and mittens (1/2 price) I can guarantee this).

4. With this in mind, the rest of the Carry Me Home sale is a perfect happy place. Featuring this lovely babygrow (pictured below), along with several other items of clothing, toys and accessories. 5. New stuff! New Year, new lovely things coming into the shop, like this fabulous t-shirt (we'll put it online soon, or pop in to the shop and bag it first!)

6. Chocolate. Always and forever the ultimate pick me up. Even the yucky ones at the bottom of the tin and the last of the selection pack.

7. A chocolate bib, of course :)

8. The Grayson Perry exhibition at the British Museum. I wouldn't suggest you take the kids, but this is a lovely exhibition featuring lots of strange artefacts collected from the British Museum's archives, alongside new and old works by Grayson Perry (ceramics, tapestries...iron cast death ships) The real reason to go? The show is a complete homage to Grayson's teddy bear Alan Measles, who features everywhere. The picture below shows Alan Measles' own version of the popemobile, in which he and Perry toured Germany. Click here for more information.

9. Alan Measles the teddy bear is 50 years old, and cherished by his owner. We like to think our Carry Me Home bears are worthy of that kind of devotion. Like Hubert here. I'm sure he'd love to have his own exhibition!

10. All the new babies that will be born in 2012

11. Olympics, Euro 2012, diamond jubilee. Quite a lot is actually going to happen this year. Thought I better mention that.

12. There's only another 352 days until Christmas!

Boys Gifts

If you're anything like us, Christmas lists just keep on getting longer and even more daunting. Where to start?!

To make things a little easier we thought we'd show you some things that we think would make perfect gifts on Christmas day. This time we're focussing on pressies for the little men in your lives. As usual, they're available in our lovely Knigly Court shop or (mostly) online.

And never fear, we'll be covering gifts for girls next week :)

Toys, breakfast sets, booties, bibs: gifts that'll last for ages and be well loved!

A nice smart outfit for Christmas Day! As you can see above, it's so simple to look stylish in a bow tie bib, a tuxedo baby grow or a braces t-shirt. Effortless!

Pictured above we have a range of clothing perfect for this wintery weather.

Stocking Fillers - Gifts £10 and under

I don't know about you, but in our house one of the best things about Christmas is unwrapping lots of amazing surprises, filling the room with lots of lovely shiny paper. What could be better than waking up to a mountain of small gifts, all waiting to be unwrapped?

That's why I thought I'd share some of our small but perfect gifts instore and online. They make brilliant little pressies, wonderful stocking fillers or a nice something extra for someone special, just because.

And the best bit is? They're ALL £10 or less.

These elephant lights (above) are a great gift. As you can see the colour of the lights changes, making them a perfect little treat that'll last for years to come. We also have a moon or an angel. £9.95

A bib (below) is a perfect small present, and we have lots to choose from! The fruit bibs are popular year round, and specially for Christmas we have the pudding version (which look amazing on Christmas and Boxing day), £10 each. Our very own small bibs with the classic 'oops' or 'star' are 100% purse friendly at £3.50. Or our large 'I love chocolate' or seasonal 'I want my chrsitmas pudding' bibs, which fit up to 18months. £8.50

Or how about a game for when everybody (especially little ones) are tired of watching Christmas T.V.? Our traditional wooden soldiers £9.50 are by far our best selling Christmas toy. A game of 'Snap' £2.95, or 'Heads and Tails' £3.95 bring some old school family fun.

Last up, the all important accessories. For the little ladies we have Arty&Bella hair clips, handmade in London and available in a range of colours £8.95. There are also gorgeous Dimples socks £5.95 in size 0-12m, for girls the mary janes are available in red, pink and black, for boys the trainers come in brown and blue.

Everything is available right here and in our shop in Kingly Court.

Power of Making

Last week I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington to see the (free!) exhibition 'Power of Making'. I'd really recommend it to anyone who is interested in how things are made and the skills that are involved in making. It's amazing to see the methods of production and labours of love that are required to craft some of the weird and wonderful creations! The V&A themselves describe the exhibition as a celebration of '...the role of making in our lives...an eclectic collection of over 100 exquisitely crafted objects, ranging from a life-size crochet bear to a ceramic eye-patch...'

This of course reminded me of all the lovely made objects in the shop. There are our babygrows, t-shirts and bibs which we lovingly create right here in Kingly Court, London. And who could forget our incredibly popular Carry Me Home bears? They are unique to us, beautifully made and make the best presents ever!

Not only do we make wonderful products, but we find other people who are excellent makers and crafters and sell their lovely wares online and in the shop. It's hard to say no to a My Happy Accident or Minimod toy or dress knowing the care and skill that goes into making them.

In fact, why go to the exhibition at all? The power of making can be found at Carry Me Home!

A walk on the wild side...

This week we have met lots of cute animals on our travels around town and in the shop! There have been cats, hamsters and guinea pigs and a trip to a donkey sanctuary. Even this morning on my journey to work a squirrel fell out of a tree and landed right in front of me. Luckily I don't think he was hurt, just a bit startled and embarrassed, he ran off very quickly!

In the shop we have a veritable zoo full of lots of lovely toys (Sam and Oliver the Whimsy Foxes shown above and a beautiful handmade Happy Accident elephant pictured below are just a couple of examples). There are also lots of printed dresses, baby grows and sets with a range of very cute and cuddly animals featured. There's something cool and unique for every young animal fan!

And... while the temperature is dropping and those squirrels are collecting nuts (or falling out of trees) in preparation for hibernating, little ones can stay snugly and warm throughout the winter months in these fun leopard print all-in-ones. There's even a fur lined hood for added cuddly-ness. As usual everything is available in the shop or on our website. Purr-fect!

Bunting

Here are some pictures of bunting Ive made recently - Ella, Gracie and Callums mums kindly sent us some pictures to put on the blog!

I seem to have made i mistake with the boys bunting though - i made it to say 'Callum' but that's not Callum in the picture - that's superman!? I went for lovely bright primary coloured fabric patterned with polka dots, gingham, numbers, spacemen and stripes.

Gracie's mum asked for bright, graphic fabric so i went for a mostly pink and green colour palette, with cupcakes, polka dots, butterflies, apples, strawberries and numbers and i think it looks fab with Gracie's bright floral wallpaper.

Ella (Gracie's little sister) needed a soft, vintage colour palette for her bunting so i used lots of pale pink and green fabric - florals, gingham, kittens and spots. And in the corner - it looks like Ella has one of our lovely white 'Thomas' bears - lucky girl!

Carry Me Home bunting is made to order. Just tell us the name or word you would like, if there are any particular fabrics or themes you want, and what colours you fancy! Pop in to the shop and say hello or drop us an email. Hand made by me, can be ready to collect from the shop, or posted to you in a week. Remember bunting isn't the only thing we personalise - Gayle personalises t shirts, baby grows, bibs and hats too!