One of the wonders of the online community, and in this case, flickr is that you get the opportunities to meet people and make friends from all over the world. I don't recall how Joanna and I became connected on flickr, but I have been admiring her photos and designs for quite some time.
Several months ago when she said she was working on a logo for her new online shop and sending out tees with the new logo, I jumped at the chance to get one for our family. The next thing I knew Joanna had sent one of her organic cotton tees to each of the girls along with a whole bunch of other little goodies thrown in for fun.
The tees are the ones my girls snatch straight from the dryer. I've yet to see them make it from the laundry pile into a drawer. And when you see her logo, I think you'll recognize seeing them in several of the photos on my blog. The tees are soft, comfortable and our first foray into the world of organic clothing. They are lovely.
Here are a few words about Joanna and her journey to opening the shop, Little Bird by Post, some great deals for MommyCoddle readers (on the tees and shipping across the pond)....and a VERY generous giveaway!
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Little
Bird is a British family-run company that was born from a desire to
create beautiful tee shirts that are a cut above the usual slogan tee
shirts and instead are gentle and respectful and celebrate children's
lives and loves.
When
their daughter was born, Joanna and Richard found it difficult to source
ethically produced clothes and even harder to find clothing that didn't
brand their daughter with adult-centric humorous slogans. The idea for
Little Bird was sown and is very much a whole family venture with
Joanna, an illustrator and lecturer in art & design, working on the
tee shirt designs; her partner Richard who is a graphic designer,
working on the branding and their four year old daughter Olivia Mae as
a (very) reluctant model.
The
first collection of long sleeved tees reflects the changing of seasons
and the autumnal interests and imaginings of little ones. Among the
designs you will find "Carmen Miranda of the Allotment", a tee to
celebrate green-fingered achievements at autumn harvest time, "The
Acorn Boys" who look like a pair of boy scouts preparing field notes
and one for the star gazers, "The North Star Child" an astronaut
constellation in the winter night sky.
The
tees are bespoke made in organic cotton and screen-printed with
water-based organic inks. Both the cotton and the prints are
wonderfully soft, the screen-printed designs ensure that the tee shirts
will last the endless laundry cycles and can eventually be passed on to
siblings, friends and cousins. The cut of the tee shirts have been
designed to be neither too baggy and flappy nor too skinny and
restrictive, it is important that children can hide in dens, climb
trees, and chase cats in Little Bird tees, they are designed for
playing not posing.
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Little Bird autumn/winter long sleeved tees are currently on sale at $18.50 and available to buy from www.littlebirdbypost.co.uk. As part of the MommyCoddle giveaway, LittleBird is offereing half price postage and packaging on all orders to North America, for just $5. The offer lasts until February 14th. A little Valentine's gift from across the pond! All tee shirts come with a selection of free goodies especially for your children.
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Joanna is generously offering one lucky MommyCoddle reader the chance to win one of each of her six autumn/winter designs show above, in the size of your choosing. Leave a comment in order to be entered in the contest, but Joanna would like to hear your opinion. She uses her flickr account to showcase her tee design ideas and get feedback from her flickr contacts to refine her work until they are ready to be printed on tees. Below is a sneaky peek at a few of the spring/summer collection designs based on the Great British seaside. Please leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway and help Joanna decide which of her summer designs you would most like to see on your child's tee shirt.
GIVEAWAY ENDS FRIDAY.
You can also help spread the word about Joanna's shop by leaving a link to this giveaway on your blog. (It will earn you an extra entry, of course! Just come back to the comments to let me know you've posted!)
Joanna also blogs at Little Bird Twitterings.
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And one last, important note...I would be remiss in not mentioning a big thanks to Ryan, the man (and dad/technical/design guru) behind MomAdvice. He created that snazzy little logo for my Show&Tell posts. I'm so glad his wife let me borrow his talents. Thanks Amy! (and of course, thank you, Ryan.) If you haven't discovered MomAdvice, be sure to take a few moments to check it out.
I adore Miss Yum Yum and the mermaid designs. I really need to order some of these for my girls. My oldest has extremely sensitive skin and many tshirts/dyes irritate her skin. These sound perfect and soft!