Valentines Day 2015

The season of romance is here again and if you are looking for the perfect way to tell someone you love them, we have a great selection of keepsake products and personalised cards.

milly & pip Valentine products

From top left to right:

1. Embroidered Personalised Valentine's Card

2. Handmade Fabric Teddy Bear

3. Personalised Embroidered Valentine's Card

4. Personalised Heart Keyring

5. Personalised Embroidered Couples Cushion

6. Personalised Embroidered Love Heart

......and if you want to get extra brownie points, breakfast in bed is one of the best ways to show your other half the love this February. These personalised Mr & Mrs Egg Cosies, are the perfect way to keep your boiled eggs warm and to show whose egg is whose!

Personalised Mr & Mrs Egg Cosies

Father's Day Gift Ideas

Father's Day is just a few weeks away (June the 16th) If you are looking for something a little bit different, we have a great range of unusual gifts which are perfect to give to Dad's and Grandad's this father's day.

For tea and coffee lovers, we have have a range of personalised tea and coffee cosies and if you fancy treating your dad to a fathers day breakfast in bed. A personalised egg cosy will keep boiled eggs perfectly warm.

milly and pip tea, coffee and egg cosies

For gadget fans, you can choose kindle covers, mini ipad covers and phone cosies. Featuring an initial of your choice on one side, with a heart or star on the other, where further words can be added.

milly and pip kindle and phone cosies

For something really unusual, our personalised beach hut doorstops would make a really fun father's day gift. They are filled with organic wheat from our local farm shop and the roofs are made from old pairs of jeans.

milly and pip doorstop

Why not show who's chair belongs to whom. Our personalised cushions can be appliqued with any words of your choice, perfect for both dads and grandads. They are available with a choice of either hearts or stars, which can be appliqued in a range of colours.

milly and pip father's day cushions

 For that finishing touch, our personalised star cards are ideal. They can be embroidered with any words of your choice and would look great popped in a frame to make a wonderful keepsake gift.

milly and pip personalised fathers day card

And lastly, please remember that all our products are made to order and delivery is currently 14 days. So please order as early as possible to ensure that your gift will arrive in time. Thank you x

Designer/makers launch Red Nose Day auction

I'm absolutely thrilled to be taking part in an auction to raise money for this years Red Nose Day. A group of sellers from notonthehighstreet.com have come together to create a fantastic prize which you can bid to win. Each seller has their own business, some may be large and some may be small, but every one is an independent UK creative business who has rallied to support this very worthy cause.

Red Nose Day designer/makers auction

The prize consists of nearly 60 items with a retail value of over £2,300, which have all been donated by a selection of sellers. For those of you who have not heard of notonthehighstreet.com, it is the leading online marketplace for the UK's best small creative businesses, so you can be assured that the quality of the items are second to none.

A full list of items can be seen if you click on the link below the photo above, but with donations ranging from home & garden wares, to clothing, cards and jewellery, there's a fantastic assortment of products that are simply not available on the high street. This could sort out all your gifts & cards for your loved ones (and treats for yourself) for an entire year!

milly and pip lavender filled house

We've donated a lavender filled fabric house decoration, worth £22. Embroidered with 'Home Sweet Home', it's perfect to give to keep for yourself or to give to family and friends, and would make the ideal house warming gift.

100% of the proceeds from the sale will be going to Comic Relief 2013, so not only will the winning bidder be the lucky recipient of some fabulous items, Comic Relief will benefit too. The auction finishes on Red Nose Day, which this year is on the 15th March 2013, good luck.

P.s. Massive thanks goes to fellow notonthehighstreet.com sellers Betsy Benn and Lindleywood for organising the auction.

Mother's Day is just 3 weeks away.

I just thought that I would write a quick blog to show the range of products that we make, which are perfect to give on Mother's Day. Each item is of course personalised and they are ideal for Mum's or Grandma's. 

Personalised Mother's day heart, filled with lavender. The heart can be 

embroidered on the back with your own personalised message.

Personalised Egg Cosy. Perfect for keeping boiled eggs cosy for

 breakfast in bed on Mothering Sunday.

Personalised Tea Cosy, can be appliqued with any word of your choice on the front. 

It's nicely padded to keep tea lovely and hot. The back can also be embroidered

with a personalised message.

Personalised Keyring, filled with lavender. A letter or heart is appliqued 

on one side and can be embroidered with a personalised message on the other.

Personalsed hearts cushion. Can be appliqued with any words of your choice

on the front, with your own personalised message on the back. It comes

complete with a feather inner too.

Personalised Mother's Day Card. Our mother's day card is available in 3 different designs, 

each can be embroidered with any words of your choice.

Last order date for Mother's Day is currently the 27th February, though keep your eye 

out for this as it may be change.

6 months of new stuff

Last year I felt that we hadn't launched many new milly and pip products. I had been working on developing new colourways and versions of existing products, but this year, I made a conscious decision to expand the range as my sketch books (and brain) were getting so full of ideas.

This is a little snap shot of some of the new stuff that we have launched in the last 6 months on our notonthighstreet.com shop, I hope you like them.

Framed Baby Girl Picture

This picture can be appliqued with either a mini heart or an initial inside the heart, with any words of your choice embroidered above and below. It comes ready framed, in a beech frame which is handmade by our local postman. He delivers the post in the morning and makes his frames in the afternoon :0)

Personalised Mr & Mrs Cushion

This cushion is appliqued with Mr & Mrs above the 3 hearts, with a surname of your choice below. The hearts are available in 7 different colours, so the cushion can co-ordinate with your own colour scheme. It comes complete with a feather pad and we can embroider a special personal message on the back if you wish.

Personalised Baby Boy Picture

Like the girls picture, featured above. Our boys picture can be appliqued with a small star or an initial inside the star. It comes ready framed, as we like to keep our framing postman nice and busy.

Personalised Hearts Cushion

Our personalised cushion can be appliqued with any words of your choice above and below the hearts. The hearts are available in 7 different colours and like the Mr & Mrs cushion above, it comes with a feather pad and can be embroidered on the back too.

Personalised Phone Cosies

Our phone cosies are available in 3 colourways and are perfect gifts for hard to buy for teenagers. An initial of your choice is appliqued on one side, with a personalised message embroidered on the other. A touch and close fastening is at the top to ensure that your phone is kept nice and safe.

Personalised New Baby Picture

Our new baby picture is available with either a blue or pink pram, it features button wheels and is sold ready framed.

Personalised Mr & Mrs Heart

The very 1st order which we received from notonthehightstreet.com was for one of our wedding hearts. This is a brand new version, which features the wording Mr & Mrs on one side, with your personalised message on the other.

Personalised American Flag Tea Cosy

We have been getting a steady stream of international orders for a quite a while now. This is the 1st of our tea cosies to feature a international flag teapot. They are quite fiddly to produce as each teapot is appliqued and embroidered by hand, but we were really pleased with this stars and stripes version. Other international flag teapots are in the pipe line.

Personalised Lavender Filled Star

And lastly, our lavender filled personalised stars are now available in pink too.

I hope you like our new products, all are available to buy through our notonthehighstreet.com shop. If there is anything else that you would like to see in our range, we would love to hear from you. Many thanks, milly and pip x

The not on the high street.com make awards 2012

Last Thursday (21st June) I attended the not on the high street.com make awards in London. milly and pip had been lucky enough to have been shortlisted for 2 awards. Partner of the year and Community Ambassador of the year. There are approx 3000 partners on notonthehighstreet.com so to make the shortlist felt like a huge achievement. 

It was a great day and around 500 partners were there. As well as the make awards, there were photography workshops and talks from an array of people, including a welcome speech from Holly & Sophie, the co-founders of notonthehighstreet.com Other speakers were Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, Stuart Smith, CEO of Wood Holmes and Medeia Cohan-Pertolino, creative director of School for Startups

The awards were at the end of the day and were presented by Holly and Sophie. the shortlists and winners were announced as follows:

Gift of the Year 2012 Shortlist (voted for by customers)

• Champagne Cork Stool by Impulse Purchase
• Joy Tote Bag by The Joy of Ex Foundation
• Personalised Coordinates Print by The Drifting Bear Co

and the winner was.......... Champagne Cork Stool by Impulse Purchase

Best Customer Service 2012 Shortlist (voted for by customers)

• Letterfest
• Sally Clay Jewellery
• nickprints

and the winner was........Letterfest

Handmade Product of the Year 2012 Shortlist

• Solid Oak 'Hot stuff' Trivet by SquarePear Furniture
• Personalised Family Tree Papercut by Kyleigh's Papercuts
• Mouse Play Dress by Wild Things Funky Little Dresses

The winner was......... Solid Oak 'Hot Stuff' Trivet by SquarePear Furniture

Personalised Product of the Year 2012 Shortlist

• Personalised Christmas Sack by Harrow & green
• Personalised Tax Disc Cufflinks by Me and My Car
• Personalised Leather Scroll Bracelet by Joulberry

and the winner was.......... Personalised Christmas Sack by Harrow & Green

Innovation Award 2012 Shortlist

• Stitch A Map Postcard by The LittleBoysRoom
• Bespoke Fingerprint Wedding Ring by Patrick Laing
• Cake Slice Club by The Cake Nest

and the winner was........Bespoke Fingerprint Wedding Ring by Partrick Laing

Best New Product 2012 Shortlist

• Personalised Metro Map Style Print by This Is My Map
• Head Case Pillow Case by Twisted Twee
• Personalised 'You're The Best' Apron by Sparks Clothing

The winner was........Head Case Pillow Case by Twisted Twee

Start-Up Success Award 2012 Shortlist

• Impulse Purchase
• The Drifting Bear Co.
• More Than Words

and the winner was.........The Drifting Bear Co.

Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 Shortlist

• Kiki's
• Betsy Benn
• modo creative

and the winner was.........Betsy Benn

Best Presented Storefront 2012 Shortlist

• evajeanie
• Cherry Pie Lane
• Rowen & Wren

and the winner was..........Rowen & Wren

By this point I was getting very nervous...................

Partner of the Year 2012 Shortlist

3 Blonde Bears

milly and pip

Lily Belle

I had met Lily Belle and Jo from 3 Blonde Bears during the day and I would have been thrilled if either of them had won..............and the winner was.............3 Blonde Bears 

Community Ambassador of the Year 2012 Shortlist (voted for by partners)

Ali Millard, milly and pip

Gabriella Buckingham, moobaacluck

Helen Lindley, Lindleywood

and the winner was............me, milly and pip. I was so amazed and thrilled to have won!

Me accepting the award from Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish (photo courtesy of the lovely Jane Means) 

And here's the award, sitting in pride of place in the studio

It was a really brilliant day and it was so lovely to meet many partners who I tweet with and speak to on the notonthehighstreet.com forum. Congratulations to all the winners and those that made the shortlists. Thanks to all the notonthehighstreet.com staff for putting on a great event and huge thanks goes to all the partners who voted for me, I am truly honoured to have won, thank you very much x

My Graduate Fashion Week

As it's graduate fashion week next week, I thought I would share with you my student fashion show which was way back in 1991 (Please don't try and work out how old I am).

I studied fashion design at Derby University and was lucky enough to be selected to show my final collection at the Smirnoff Student Fashion Week, which was held at the Business Design Centre in London.

I remember it was so exciting being there and the day was like a blur. All those years of studying for less than 5 minutes on a runway, but it was worth it and it kick started my 16 year career in fashion design.

The inspiration for my final collection was turn of the century old adverts. I loved the bold colours and the mix of images with words (It's funny as, as I look at it now, milly and pip is also all about images and words)

As I developed my ideas, I knew that my collection would be for young girls. Sophisticated grown up fashion was never my thing, my style was definitely more suited for the 16-25 year old market. I also wanted to add some childrenswear into my collection as I knew that this would give a point of difference to all the other student collections.

My colour palette was bright and fun. I used deck chair stripes, brought from Laura Ashley, mixed with bold chunky knits. I actually can't knit, but I designed 2 patterns which were knitted into garments for me by 2 sailors wives who lived in Portsmouth. When the garments came back, they were amazing, they turned out even better than I had imagined and they were so so heavy.

I designed 7 outfits, and apart from the 2 hand knitted jumpers, I made every single garment myself. The other pieces of knitwear were made on a 10 guage Shima knit machine. There were some really early starts and some very very late nights to finish the collection in time. I was still finishing off some pieces on the train down to London.

I selected the models from agency photo's and they were amazing. Each model wore designs from other students as well as mine and it was amazing how they knew how to perform on the catwalk depending on what they were wearing. They came out skipping and smiling for my catwalk show, which suited the clothes perfectly.

One of the hand knitted jumpers that weighed a ton!

The highlight of the day was being interviewed by Carolyn Franklin for The Clothes Show TV programme. I have no idea what I said, but I do remember that the make up artist had to powder my ears! 

When we got home, we all sat and watched The Clothes Show, wondering if our collection and been selected by the producers to be shown on national TV........and I was one of the lucky ones. It was probably the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. I was also fortunate to have been featured in the press too, which was absolutely brilliant. 

So, good luck to all the students showing their final collections this week. The fashion industry is a real roller coaster of an industry to work in, but I wouldn't have missed it for all the world.

How it all began

In case you are new to milly and pip, we are a small company based in Derbyshire, UK. We make personalised gifts and cards, all handmade from recycled and found materials.

I have sewn since I was a little girl.

Me - many, many years ago

Don't worry, although it looks like I am strangling the kitten, it did live to a ripe old age (but it never did like being picked up!)

I studied fashion design at Uni and went on to work as a children's fashion designer for the high street. After 16 years, I felt I needed a new challenge. Whilst deciding on my next move, I made some cushions for my home and some baby gifts for friends. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed sewing and I began to wonder whether this could be my new career.

I made some more items and displayed them in a local art exhibition at the Beetroot Tree. It was there where I was approached by a local gift shop who wanted to stock my products. 4 more gift shops later, I stumbled across notonthehighstreet.com on the internet. I spotted the 'sell with us' link at the bottom of the page. Over a glass of wine, I filled out the form and clicked send. To my suprise I received an email back the next day accepting me to join......

Me now & some milly and pip products

 ........and that was 2 1/2 years ago.