Cottontails is nine years old today!

Today is our ninth birthday! Yes, nine years ago today I first opened the doors on our little high street shop in Pershore, and so began the Cottontails journey.

It's been quite a busy day today with a gigantic Moulin Roty order to unpack and lots of parcels to wrap (it's the last day of our sale today too), but I managed to find time to host a little birthday tea party this afternoon...

It was a lovely hour in the sunshine, eating Party Rings and Dolly Mixtures and toasting our ninth birthday with homemade elderflower cordial. As you can see, Humphrey joined in the fun too - although it wasn't long before he started to steal everyone's Party Rings and had to be returned to the office.

It's a nice time to be celebrating a birthday as there are one or two changes afoot at Cottontails - nothing major but a bit of a re-brand (it's three years since our last refresh, where did that time go?) and a refocus on our core strengths - lovely toys and gifts for new babies, first birthday presents, Christenings etc. In fact, the enormous Moulin Roty delivery I mentioned, well that contained lots of lovely new stock that I will be adding to the website tomorrow.

So, happy birthday to Cottontails and here's to nine more happy years!

Little Red Riding Hood - Ostheimer wooden toys

Many months ago I started work on a new project, it was to be called 'Fairy Tale Friday' and was an ambitious plan to make little films of classic stories featuring some Cottontails characters.

Well, guess what? I totally overstretched myself, have abandoned the project and made the decision that such matters are best left to the BBC!

However, I did take some nice photos as part of the project and it seemed a shame not to share them, so here are a few of the stills from the film that never was (starring a whole range of relevant Ostheimer wooden toys, and a few irrelevant Ostheimer rabbits, because this is Cottontails after all...)

Little Red Riding Hood

 

Take this basket to your grandmother

 

And don't stray off the path!

Off to granny's house

Meanwhile, not too far away...

Distracted by bunnies

"Where are you going, little girl!"

Wolf arrives at granny's cottage...

(It's not looking good for granny...)

 In the cupboard with you!

(I'll have you later, for pudding)

Little Red Riding Hood arrives...

 ...and finds 'granny' in bed

My what big teeth you have etc etc etc....

ROAR!!

Oh thank goodness! A woodcutter arrives...

He saves the day

And rescues granny from the cupboard

And they all live happily ever after...

...especially the bunnies

(who are much happier when there's one less wolf around)

THE END

All the little wooden toy animals and people featured in the story are made by Ostheimer, and everything is available to buy at Cottontails  - find them all here.

Ostheimer are one of very few toy makers in the world who still make toys in a completely traditional way. It's wonderful.

Each piece is individually sawn, sanded and hand painted - not one part of the production process is computerised which is extremely unusual today. Made from sustainable wood - maple, ash and alder - with water based non toxic paints and a walnut oil finish, each piece is eco-friendly, hand-crafted and unique.

They are not inexpensive, we know that, but each little animal truly is one of a kind, and the ethics and toy-making philosophy of Ostheimer are exemplary.

And as for my film making activities, don't worry - there will be many more curious little Cottontails films in the future, just not any full on fairy tale feature films!!

A Hare About the House

You are going to love this!

Thank you so much to Annette over at The Dragon House of Yuen for introducing me to A Hare About the House, a charming 1950s natural history book. It records one man's adventures sharing his home with a rescued hare and his companion rabbit - and was written in the days long before house rabbits were as popular as they are today ('Yes, Humphrey, pet rabbits used to live outside. Imagine.")

I promise it will lift your day to dip into this book and you can get a PDF of it right here: A Hare About the House.

I started it a couple of nights ago and plan to continue tonight. It is an excellent distraction while the football is on, and Humphrey likes me to read aloud :)

Introducing the Cottontails Price Nibble!

Okay, quiet please..... hush everybody.... I would like to introduce a brand new and rather fabulous reason to shop at Cottontails... Are you ready? Very well then... Drum roll please....It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you.....

....The Price Nibble!

Quite simply I have taken a handful of our very best selling toys and taken about 25% off the RRP, therefore ensuring we have the keenest prices around on certain core items, and hopefully enticing some more customers to the website... (where they will fall in love with Cottontails and shop with us for life...).

It may be madness (and it does sort of go against the grain for me) but my other half (who is far better at matters commercial than me) promises me it will ultimately make Cottontails far more profitable. 

And of course that would mean more of the finest carrots for Humphrey!

So, when you are browsing through the website, look out for the little nibbled carrot in the Price Nibble logo, and know that you are getting a super-duper price - for example, look at some of the lovely Moulin Roty Grand Family animals.

And if it all works out okay, I will be adding a few more 'nibbles' over time...

Hooray!

Hello Flower Sisters! Welcoming some new Maileg rabbits...

Maileg are best known for their characterful 'Brother and Sister' range of fabric rabbits - long tall bunnies with dangly limbs and sturdily stuffed linen bodies. They have become a modern classic and often grace the pages of Country Living magazine etc - casually propped up in the middle of the bed, or resting on a book shelf somewhere.

And now they have launched a new family of rabbits - The Flower Sisters. They still have the same simple fabric charm and dangly limbs, but there is one crucial difference: these rabbits are lops! 

Their bodies are a bit lighter than the classic 'Brother and Sister' bunnies, their embroidered faces have a sweeter character, but the main difference is definitely their long - very long! - floppy ears.

So far there are only four bunnies in the family and they are all girls. Meet Rose, Viola, Lily and Bell.

Also new in this week - some lovely Maileg stationery and posters, for example the classic Carrot Story poster, and some cards featuring the Brother & Sister bunnies.

I hope you like the new arrivals and you can find them all in the Maileg section of Cottontails.

Cottontails competition - Who Nose?

I think it's about time for another Cottontails competition, and this time it's quite a challenge...

Can you identify eight Cottontails toy creatures from just their noses? Not easy I know but I have sorted out a lovely prize, so worth having a go...

The prize is a classic Ragtales Darcy teddy bear AND a set of nightwear - choose from pink or blue. Both teddy and clothes come in lovely gift boxes, and altogether the prize is worth £47, so quite a treat.

So, take a look at the eight noses pictured below and see if you can work out who they belong to. They are all featured on the Cottontails website, and I have put a little clue under each photograph to help you in your quest...

 

 1. A Moulin Roty classic, and a member of the Grand Family

 

2. Count his friends to help you get to sleep

 

3. Zzzzzz..... purr......

 

4. Sometimes described as sly.. but we don't think so

 

5. Straight from the Wild West...

 

6. Handy to have around if you fancy a glass of milk...

 

7.  A favourite with little girls - and very fond of cheese

 

8. Dashing off to get his bone...

When you think you've worked out who they are, simply send me an email to enquiries@cottontailsbaby.co.uk with your list of names.

All the correct answers will go into a hat and I'll pick a winner on the 31st May 2012.

Don't be too daunted, it's not easy-peasy but a little searching around the Cottontails website should suffice. And don't forget the little search box in the top right corner of the website, it might help you narrow down certain types of animal and so on.

And finally, it would be nice if you would like to leave a comment to say you've taken part, but please don't give away the answers in your comment.

Have fun and good luck!

------------------------

2nd June update!! And the winner is....

Gilda Morley Ward!

Congratulations!

 

 

Mice, peas and Timmy Willie

A recent discovery: mice love peas.

I have been looking at the packaging on a new range of Moulin Roty mice, and notice that the little mouse family is depicted shelling peas.

And since I've mentioned the new mice (plus I did promise you some Cottontails toys in my next blog post) I might as well introduce them to you. They are a little family of three - Zaza  mummy mouse, Zephyr daddy mouse and Zoe baby mouse. Each mouse comes in a lovely box - complete with pea-shelling illustration.

Big daddy mouse - Zephyr is £37.50

Medium sized mummy mouse - Zaza is £30

Little baby mouse - Zoe is £24

And all this mouse / pea business got me thinking about an illustration in one of my favourite books - the Tale of Johnny Town Mouse by Beatrix Potter. You probably know the story - it's that old town mouse / country mouse fable.

At the start of the story Timmy Willie (country mouse) makes his way into a vegetable hamper and just look what happens...

Yep. Under the influence of too many peas Timmy Willie falls asleep in the hamper (... and wakes up in the town, yikes).

So you see, mice seem very fond of peas.

And if you Google the subject, it seems there is quite a vibrant community of gardeners out there battling the little creatures. Take this quote from the RHS's online 'garden community'.

 Packets of peas and beans generally come with instructions to sow them in the ground where they are to grow. It sounds good enough, but it puzzles me because the instructions don’t take into account a certain small mammal - the mouse.

It made me smile anyway - but then I'm not trying to grow any peas this year :)