For a limited time, the handmade and vintage marketplace, Etsy.com is offering £5 off your first order. To sign up and claim your discount (we suggest you shop wisely and treat a little person in your life to a Mimi & Will t-shirt), simply follow this link.
We had a visit to Smile Acorns, the first retail outlet where you can buy a small selection of t-shirts from our range! Located on lovely farmland in the North West of England, Smile Acorns is run by Emma, a fellow mum and maker of lovely childrenswear.
The shop is part of a larger farm complex, called Inglenook Farm. Other shops on site include a guitar shop, traditional farm shop showcasing the best of the region’s local produce, including Lytham Coffee, and the main product of the farm itself – essential oils and soaps from the fields of lavender growing outside! The stars of the show at the moment have to be the newly-arrived twin baby goats.
There’s also a traditional team rooms and a barn for hire. Last week was an Easter fun day for children, but chickens were also welcome, and keen to get stuck in!
You can find Smile Acorns just off what my dad calls ‘the Southport Road’, or the A570 as the rest of us know it. It’s close to Haydock, but even with race meet traffic on a busy Saturday, we drove there in about half an hour from the outskirts of Manchester. A good time was had by all (I went with my daughter, niece, nephew, dad and sister – a real family day out!)
So we thought we were back and then the household got poorly again – is it just us or has everyone had the non-stop sniffles since about October?
Here’s a round up of things to get you through if your household is similarly afflicted.
First off, cosy in with this blanket from A Home for All Seasons – currently at 50% off:
If you must go out – remember your brolly! We love this Duckhead umbrella by ethical clothing superstars American Apparel, it’s available in the Mimi and Will colours, too.
Of course colder days mean clearer nights, did anyone manage to spot Mars recently? Never fear, the planets are fully aligned in this space cape from one of our favourite designer-makers, Sewing Circus.
If you’re going to sneeze, it might as well be an educational one! Ouch at the pricetag, but what a stunning vintage hanky from Orbiting Debris on Etsy.
And if all else fails, well, there’s always Marshmallows, hot chocolate and a movie… We suggest you follow Edinburgh-based Burgh Bakes on Facebook for special deals and news about new flavours *cough* Prosecco and Rose *cough*.
And if you’re under the weather, we hope you’re feeling better soon.
Image by Clean Mama Printables
After a blogging hiatus at the start of 2014, we’re back with some Mimi and Will news. Behind the scenes we’ve been beavering away with new plans for the rest of this year. We’ve been talking to a handful of very nice shops about stocking our t-shirts so that more people can discover the tops that you and your children love.
We’ve been working on our branding, and making plans for an updated website and a photoshoot now that the light is starting to last past tea time and the weather is brightening up, too.
We also have some new designs on the slate, and have been collaborating with some really exciting people from the worlds of illustration, art and design. We can’t wait to show you our new samples later in the year once our new micro collection is ready.
We’ll be back again soon with more news, thoughts and musings – we have plenty to tell you. But don’t forget in the meantime, you can always find us on Facebook and Twitter for more frequent updates – see you there!
Gosh, December seems to have sneaked up on us out of nowhere! I think both Jo and I and assorted family members have been poorly with the usual winter illnesses for the last month or so, too, so time seems to be doing strange things at the moment.
We’ve managed to attend a few Christmas sale events where we were delighted to start selling our t-shirts in person, and we’ve received a lot of positive feedback on both the originality of the designs in our collection and the high quality of the t-shirts and prints. We’ve also set up a way to buy online through our website, we’re just trying out the format at the moment, so if you see a t-shirt you’d like which appears to be missing from the collection, do please contact us and we’ll set up an invoice.
We have a few t-shirts in stock and ready to send right now – including Supersaurus, Tents, Read more books, Puddles, Jelly Loves Ice Cream and Lion. Puffer and Treehouse are currently sold out, but they’ll be back in stock soon!
We’re now also taking orders for t-shirts on a wholesale basis, whether you’re an independent or chain, online or bricks and mortar shop we’d love to hear from you.
Here’s a reminder of our sizing information, and our full range is available to view here.
Did anyone else have to scrape ice from the car this morning? It’s getting chilly out there. Our thoughts have turned to getting cosy, and we’ve found some very nice things out there to warm up your day.
We want to snuggle with Mabel the Hedgehog, available from Sara Carr on Folksy
As t-shirt makers, we are also big fans of the winter layer. This basic but stylish pattern for a cover up is available from The Velvet Acorn on Etsy – crochet versions are also available, and patterns for all kinds of winter woolies come in styles which work for boys or girls.
One for the mums and dads, here. Cashmere socks are a staple of my winter evenings. This oatmeal textured pair are from Toast, which is a fine purveyor of all things toasty-making.
Although Brora.co.uk is new to me, the brand has been making fine cashmere products in the Scottish Borders for more than 200 years. They also have a very generous sale right now, with this traditional blanket for children reduced from £72 to £45.
Be warm out there!
We’ve been a little bit quiet this week as we focus on fulfilling our first orders and preparing our online shop for launch.
Looking around the internet, it seems that our designers are just as busy.
Neil Slorance, designer of our Supersaurus t-shirt, was featured in an interview by a local TV company.
Julia Smith, designer of our Puffer t-shirt, participated in the Make/Works tour of Scotland, who’ll be making a short film about her ceramics work and processes. Some stunning still photos are published on the Make/Works blog.
Like us, Lucy Farfort has been busy, but found a minute to post this time-saving pizza recipe on her blog. Yum! We recommend it followed up by jelly and ice cream, obviously 😉
And we have a busy weekend ahead of us – you’ll find Jo here, at the Rowdy Roddy Ghoulish Gathering at the Sparklehorse in Glasgow and Katy here, enjoying herself with the family in Dublin for the weekend.
We had a stall at Gin in Teacups at the Arches, had a great time, met some marvellous people and ate fantastic onion rings.
We got a lovely write up on the Life is Peachy Blog.
We ‘re nearly at the end of our Indiegogo Campaign. Thanks to all who’ve supported by buying, tweeting and sharing so far. It’s really appreciated! Only a few days left!
No, it’s not just another Thursday night in at M&WHQ, we’re talking about an event taking place this Saturday at The Arches, in Glasgow. Next door to Central Station, just under the Heilanmans Umbrella, you’ll find The Arches – a great little space that’s host to every kind of entertainment, including live music, performance, art and even aliens.
This Saturday we’ll be there with our Mimi and Will samples for you to see in person, as well as assorted goodies from our alter egos with StellaMyStar and GirlIndustries. Gin in Teacups is a well-established Scottish vintage and crafts market and we’ve been assured that their events at the Arches are always a good time.
So come and join us from 12-5, check out what’s on, and maybe treat yourself to a bite to eat or stick with the theme and go for some gin in the bar. Hope to see you there!
Can’t make it along to see us? Remember you can always place your order online – but only for the next 6 days – at Indiegogo.
With only a few days to go for pre-orders, here’s a friendly reminder to count up all the children on your Christmas shopping list, to have your favourite designs in mind and your order placed here: www.tinyurl.com/mw-preorders. Previously, supporters in the UK have only been able to check out from Indiegogo (who is hosting our pre-order campaign) via PayPal, but now we are delighted to announce that you can also pay directly with your credit card – we never see your details during the transaction, but you don’t have to go through the extra step of PayPal to pay up.
If you’ve decided that Indiegogo isn’t for you, or you’ve experienced problems with the checkout process (we’ve heard it can be tricky on some phones), but you’d still like to pre-order t-shirts, colouring books or badges, drop us a line through the contact us form or via our facebook page and we can send you an invoice to pay direct via PayPal, cheque or bank transfer.
Mimi and Will 