Daisy Dress

Fairtrade Fortnight has been and gone, but here at Sprogs it is Fairtrade all year round.  We continue to look for lovely clothes, toys and gifts that are all ethically made with as little damage to the planet as possible.  We now have good links with suppliers who import goods from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and South Africa, all of whom have actually been out to these countries to check on the working conditions and pay that the makers receive. The Bishopston Daisy dress pictured above is a great example of Fairtrade clothing.

What is more heartwarming than to see your child or grandchild wearing a beautifully made item of clothing or playing with a hand made toy and knowing that a less fortunate child is going to benefit.

Pebble Octopus

We also love to find things made in this country and are delighted with  the new Buttonbag craft kits that are in now.  The Lucky Black Cat is sure to be a favourite and the Knitting Kit continues to be a great success – we just love the retro look to the Spotty suitcase that the knitting kit is presented in.

Lucky Black Cat Sewing Kit

Learn to Knit Kit

Ooh so many new ideas for presents – the hard bit is choosing between them all!

She's Huge!!

We knew we had been feeding our rag dolls well, but when we arrived at the shop the other day and found this one in the window, we knew we had gone too far!!!!!!!  She is a giant!!! Luckily she is happy to be in the shop window and really doesn’t mind all the people who are outside pointing and staring.  Sadly she is not for sale, but of course we still have lots of smaller ones who are sooo much easier to look after!

There is no way this enormous doll would fit on our brand new range of wooden chairs and stools, so we will be saving them for all the dainty little children who will surely want one.  We have Tractors, Pirates, Cats, Dogs, Princesses….. and lots more to come – all beautifully made to Fair Trade standards in Thailand from a very special wood from the Monkey Pod tree.  This amazing tree grows about 13 feet a year, so there is always a surplus and luckily for us it is made into gorgeous wooden furniture and toys.

Here’s just a few examples

Lion Chair

Rocking Carousel Horse

Pirate Stool

Little Princess Stool

Aren’t they just fab?? and it’s great to know that no forests were damaged, no wildlife was compromised and no people were exploited in the making of these things – aaah that makes us very happy Sprogs people…;-)

So, the silly season is over and now it’s time for all the boring jobs that we didn’t have time for up to Christmas  – boo!!

Aah well at least we have lots of lovely trade fairs to look forward to in January/February, where we can indulge ourselves and check out all the new toys that we want to have in Sprogs for 2011.

Definitely on the list are more big items such as wooden dolls houses, train sets, ride on toys and lots more – we are going to produce a Sprogs catalogue with an advance ordering and deposit option as we know that buying these quality items can be costly and we want to give our customers the option of ordering well in advance and paying a deposit so that they know they have reserved their present for that special Birthday etc.  These are just a few examples

Pink Palace

Wooden Play Garage

Ride On Calfy

Anyway, time to get back to the stocktaking -yawn…….;-)

Don’t you just love Autumn? Everything seems to take on a warm orange glow (and I don’t mean the people desperately trying to hang on to summer by plastering themselves with fake tan)! Leaves on trees are turning orangey red, pumpkins are starting to ripen and shop windows are starting to look distinctly Halloweenish. We are cultivating our own pumpkin ready for Sprogs window (we just grow the one, but rely on quality not quantity) and we are looking forward to our little town of Winchcombe throwing itself into the spirit of the scary season.

We have started the festivities by hanging a very large realistic looking wolf outside the shop (we like people to remember us as the shop that always has something unusual outside)! Trouble is instead of being scary, our wolf is drawing ooh’s and aah’s from everyone who sees him! He is far too cuddly and lovable!

We also have a very large Tiger who is going out next (well at least he is orange ish) these large toys are a whopping 30 inches long! perfect for snuggling up to on cold Autumn evenings, and very cheap to feed;-)

So, it’s time to dig out those warm boots and make the most of lovely Autumn days before the clocks change. We would suggest a pair of our sheepskin bootees would be perfect for the little ones….

Anyway, got to go now before all the conkers are nabbed, plus the pumpkin needs a polish……………enjoy.

Thank goodness Sprogs isn’t one of those silly High Street shops who only sell things in season. Right now, our best sellers are Wellies and Umbrellas!! Luckily we have good stocks of both all year round – you won’t find us letting little ones get wet…

Jungle Animals Umbrella!

Dinosaur Umbrella!

Mermaid Umbrella!

We still love the name of our best wellies “Spotty Otters! Red or Blue suit boys or girls and we just can’t get enough of them! from baby size 3 up to size 12

Spotty Otters!

And we mustn’t forget the only cat that actually enjoys getting wet………….

Pink Cat Wellies

Yes, we are nothing if not well prepared for the good old British weather – new supply of wellies arriving any minute – if that doesn’t trigger a heatwave, nothing will……..;-)

Considering that neither Bob or I hold a valid passport, we do pretty well in international terms! In recent months we have posted dolls, wellies, music boxes and games to such faraway lands as Australia, USA, Latvia, Italy, Norway and Kazakhstan! Then to cap it all, yesterday some returning customers to the shop from the very north of Scotland (where they have no toy shops! – shocking!) took a selection of our favourite toys, including Noah’s Ark puppet set, pony in a bag, ginger cat puppet and poodle in a bag and all of these will be going to Japan in a few weeks time!!!!

Maybe one day we will get a chance to actually leave the shop and travel to the places our toys are heading to………….knowing our luck this would be our mode of transport;-)

Build Your Own Pirate Ship Kit!

Our fabulous range of Button Bag craft kits will help kids create lovely things that they will be so proud of.  We love these kits as they are all made here in the UK, which is so unusual these days. Click on any of the pictures to see what lovely things can be made:-

Fairytale Peg Doll Kit

Adventure Peg Doll Kit

Make Your Own Bunny Hutch

There are lots more but hopefully this gives you a taste of how you can get the kids crafting and  creating!

Of course it may continue to be soo hot and sunny that all they will want to do is laze around and sleep like these two babies below:-)

Pinky and Perky

Taken on a recent visit to Hidcote Manor in Gloucestershire – a beautiful garden with lots of hidden paths and woods for kids to explore- well worth a visit if only to say hello to the piggies!!  And don’t forget to pop in to Sprogs while you are in the area!

“The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hip hooray, the sun has got his hat on and he’s coming out today”

Sprogs breathe a sigh of relief as our big yellow friend has decided to grace us with his presence for a whole week!

What a difference it makes to everyone – finally t-shirts, summer dresses and sunhats are actually flying out of the door! Well, not literally, we do always put them in our classy red Sprogs carrier bags before they leave the shop!

Babies are still the main topic of conversation here at Sprogs, Carol is now an expert in grandparenting (baby Amelia now 10 weeks old) and is more than happy to chat to anyone who has the time to listen (you need to set aside a good half hour)! about the joys of a new  baby.

We have been thrilled to find a fabulous new supplier of gorgeous baby blankets, all designed locally in Cheltenham, 100% softest cotton and in pastel stripy colours.  All of them are soo lovely, the problem is choosing which design to have.

By the way, neither of these babies are Amelia as we haven’t yet negotiated her appearance fees:-)

Our 2 new rag dolls, Peter Pirate and Penny Pony Rider are keeping a low profile in the shop at the moment as they don’t want to upstage the rag dolls who have been here for a long time –

Our boy dolls are really happy at the moment as they finally get to change their clothes! Yes – at long last we have a set of clothes for the boys, comprising of 4 trendy outfits with loads of street cred

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Have just realised that the line I have just drawn reminds me of a railway track – that’s perfect as I have remembered to tell you not to forget that Sprogs is brilliantly positioned half way along the Gloucestershire railway line between Cheltenham and Toddington.  It’s a lovely day out on a nostalgic steam train ride and you can get off at Winchcombe station and stroll into the town and visit all the lovely shops, especially Sprogs!  Here is the link – have a look as at VERY special times of the year THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE comes to visit – not to be missed!!!

Click on Thomas to visit the railway!

That’s all for now – happy sunbathing

Carol & Bob

When we interviewed Mavis for the position of “Every Wednesday” we only had 2 questions – “Can you make tea”? and “Do you like children”?  She passed both tests perfectly and now has her feet well under the counter.

The second addition is Amelia Jayne – not strictly a member of staff, but as first grandchild she is well on the way to learning the trade – mainly by wearing all the lovely baby clothes we sell and playing with the toys.  She is only a month old but has already tested several of our most popular toys!

We now have plenty in common with all the Grandparents who shop in Sprogs and can quite understand why they just love buying baby things!  Especially the gorgeous new Bishopston Fair Trade range which has just arrived for Spring/Summer.  The patchwork dungarees in pretty pinks/peach and blues/greens are just lovely and selling out already.  That’ll teach us to pay more attention to our forward ordering – but it’s really hard ordering summer clothes in the middle of November when you are freezing cold and can’t imagine ever seeing the sun again!

That’s all for now – until next week……..

Bob & Carol