Archived Blog Entries

22nd February 2010: Blog 3

Last weekend saw us paying a visit to The Crafty Cat in Upper Stowe – a pottery painting studio near Weedon. It was a fun little re-union for our NCT ante-natal group, organised by one of the mums who had seen the 10% off voucher for The Crafty Cat in the Toddle About magazine!

It turned out to be a really fun afternoon, and a great alternative to meeting in a cafe or at someone’s house. The children (all about 2½ now) each had a piece of pottery to paint which they attacked with gusto, if not with artistic finesse, and we were very excited to see the final ‘fired’ pieces this weekend. The bowl that Alice painted is, well, beautiful. I’m not sure anyone else would want it, with its slightly clashing use of colour and rather haphazard style, but she made it, so to us it’s wonderful.

And it is genuinely amazing to see the transformation that has occurred from the bowl we left behind last weekend. The bowl we have now is shiny and smooth and the colours are so much brighter – Alice was excited to have her dinner in it when we got home and she has used it for virtually every meal since!

You can read the full review of our pottery painting experience in the articles section of the website, but suffice it to say here that Sue, who owns the Crafty Cat, has done a great job of creating a homely and inviting space which remains very practical and safe. She has a huge range of pottery to paint, from bowls and mugs to champagne bottles, picture frames and money boxes. With only a little imagination, you could quite easily create some really thoughtful, personalised gifts for granny & grandpa which they are certain to treasure.

15th February 2010: Blog 2

Last weekend Toddle About proudly sponsored The Baby & Child Show which arrived in style at the Towcester Racecourse for its debut show - and what a great day it was!

With over 800 visitors, the Show was a resounding success for its organisers Sam & Cliff at Inform Exhibitions and it certainly kept all the exhibitors occupied. Split over 3 floors, the room never felt over-crowded or noisy despite all the people who attended and there was a wide selection of stalls to browse around, from nurseries and unique beds to wooden toys, children’s shoes and photographers. The Show also had some fantastic entertainment for the children, with the Kiddie’s Playbus parked outside providing the children with a super outlet for all their energy, not-to-mention face-painting, Humphrey the Elephant and lots of balloons and bubbles!

Our stall was extremely busy, and we were really pleased to meet so many of our readers who had seen the show promoted in the Toddle About magazine. Thank you all for your kind comments! We boosted our subscription numbers by another 100 on the day, bringing us to over 600 subscribers, and excitingly that figure is growing daily. Bring on 1000!

The Baby & Child Show did so well that another date has been booked for September 19th at the same location, with the majority of exhibitors re-booking to attend once again.

Courtesy of Mark Betts Photography, here are some pictures of the big day – we hope to see you there again next time!

10th February 2010: Blog 1

I really want to take this opportunity to thank all our readers for the wonderful feedback that you have given us on the first issue of Toddle About. It’s been great!

When Ruth and I first started working seriously on this project last Summer, we knew that a magazine like Toddle About was something that we wanted and needed, and we figured that we weren’t alone. It’s just so reassuring to find out that we were right!

Seeing as this is my first blog, I thought it would be a good idea to explain what we have put on the Toddle About website to help you navigate around and find the things that are of interest to you. So here is a breakdown of what you will find here:

• Searchable Directory

  We have 2 sections to the directory so you can search Groups and Classes, or Businesses and Services. You can put in your home address to find the things that are closest to your home and if you use the ‘Advanced Search’ options then you can, for example, find the parent and toddler groups that are running on a Wednesday morning and cost less than £3 to attend.
  

• Articles

  Here you will find all the articles, features and competitions from issue 1 (with more articles to follow), so you can enjoy them again, or share the link with friends who might also be interested. Members can also comment on the articles and it is very much our hope that we will, in time, form a virtual community of local parents sharing ideas, thoughts and recommendations.
  Alongside all the products and books we review you will find links taking you to places where you can buy them, if you so choose.
  

• Special Offers

  Toddle About has managed to negotiate some great special offers from local suppliers of baby & toddlers products and services and you can find them all in this section.
  

• Upcoming Events

  Not long after launching, one of our readers suggested we put together a local events page. So here it is! It is definitely still (and always will be, I suppose...) a work in progress, so if you are running or attending an event this year that you would like us to promote, please just let us know and we’ll add it to our listings for free.

And I think that’s it... for now. We have some really exciting plans for toddleabout.co.uk – if you subscribe to the magazine, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear about them!

Thank you once again for your support.
Till next blog-time,

Tim
Editor