Exploring Our New Garden

Our new garden is very mature, and was beautifully kept by the previous owner (well her gardener anyway!). Having been very focussed on getting the house to a reasonable state, I haven't spent much time in the garden so far. Nick and the girls spend a good few hours each weekend out there. I had a good nose around on Sunday, in between torrential rain and thunderstorms and took the photos below. I don't think the garden has fully accepted that it's Autumn, and I discovered some beautiful organic patterns and colours as well as what I think are quince?!

Hello DODO Dino Prints

Hello DODO are made up of Jam and Ali, a lovely couple of print makers based in Brighton. We have long admired their witty, playful designs and these dinosaur prints were a must for dino enthusiast Scarlett. There are many brilliant prints, totes, greetings cards and even t-shirts to be found on their Etsy site, be sure to check them out! Dinosaur relief prints £5 each, HelloDODO Twitter: @hellohelloDODO

The Pumpkin & Apple Gala

Last Saturday we visited the Pumpkin and Apple gala in the beautiful walled gardens of Luton Hoo, a posh hotel in Bedfordshire. Having visited last year, we knew it was fun for the children and that there would be a great selection of food and craft stalls. This time there were even more craft activities, and Scarlett thoroughly enjoyed herself! The highlight of the day was in one of the marquees. A friendly man teaching lino printing, with a little printing press on the back of his bike! He was from The Culture Cart, a creative collective who run art workshops and gallery spaces. It was an engaging and fun stall, Scarlett created the print below of a rabbit, of which she is extremely proud. Her favourite part was turning the handle on the press, and discovering the print after it rolled through. Do check out the culture cart website, I think the activity would be popular at a number of types of event, for kids and adults alike. The Culture Cart create prints especially for each event. Scarlett also enjoyed the ‘squash rolling’ contest (she won a pumpkin straw), and of course the rickety fake Disney train. My own highlight was the enormous cake stall! Isla just loved jumping in puddles and pointing at dogs. Look out for this event next year if you’re local, it’s a lovely way to support local makers and businesses. www.theculturecart.co.uk Twitter: @theculturecart

New Beginnings

This blog has been very neglected so far this year! This is due to a rather drawn out house move, which included a stint living with my Mum, among other reasons. We finally moved into our new house at the end of August, to the excitement, and momentary apprehension of Scarlett. She was very happy living at mum's, but was instantly thrilled with the new house once she realised the lady selling it to us wasn't included in the deal(as nice as she was)! It is a project for sure, which is what we wanted and its very exciting to plot and plan a renovation for the future. For now we're putting our mark on the house, bit by bit. The house has a lovey feeling about it, and is close to Scarlett's school and friends. Ah yes, school...... anyone who knows me has had to endure my stress, ranting and general paranoia when trying to get Scarlett in to our chosen school. It was attached to her nursery, but we weren't yet living close enough for entry to Reception. To cut a very meandering story short, she's in and for the most part loving it. The days are a bit long for 4 year olds I feel, and she gets frustrated with doing the mundane tasks like dressing herself and queuing to leave the classroom! Isla is a force to be reckoned with (yes another one), and enjoys seeing the siblings on the school run everyday. Now that things have calmed down a bit, my focus is turning back to work and catching up in all I've missed in the design world. I will also be posting on the (most likely slow) progress made on doing up the house. Exciting times for our family!

Happy New Year!

Wow, suddenly it's January 1st. The last few weeks were just so incredibly busy with orders, Christmas preparations and finally time to relax and enjoy! I vastly underestimated the number of orders I would receive over the last 3 months, which is great but meant very little sleep indeed! I will soon be looking for some help with stitching to fulfil the larger orders coming our way. I'm so grateful to everyone who has supported me and helped Lettie Belle grow this year. So much encouragement, it really helps. Lots of new designs will launch at Bubble London later this month. This is a trade show, but fear not, everything will be available on the website soon. A whole new collection called 'All At Sea'is in the making, as well as stitched art work, and additional designs to existing collections. We had a great show last year and I'm particularly looking forward to meeting lovely fellow business owners there. After an action packed 2012, there's so much to look forward to in 2013. Here's to a great year for everyone! A glimpse of the last few weeks........

A Most Curious Kids Fair

Please come and see us at this fabulous fair in London! We will be selling cushions, felt sets and prints. There will be about 50 stalls full of gorgeous gift ideas. Dec 2, York Hall, Bethnal Green, London.

Story Of A Bespoke Cushion

I create many bespoke cushions, and very recently created this one. It was a lot of fun to make, and most importantly the customer loved it! It was a gift for baby Herbie, featuring a picture of the family dog Hudson. Below shows in pictures the journey from order, to finished product

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If you would like to enquire about ordering a bespoke cushion or piece of wall art, please do email Laura at lettiebelle@gmail.com