Blog
When we started
We started screenprinting in 2003, just before our daughter was born. Our son was 5 yrs old and had been the centre of our life all that time and knowing that he would lose the limelight we screenprinted I'm The Big Brother t-shirt for him to make him feel special.
Having just purchased a Green Earth Screenprinter for our existing bannerette business it was easy to do and we knew he would just love it.
2nd February 2008 - Pauline
He did love it and he looked so proud wearing his Big Brother t-shirt and holding his new baby sister. The great thing about him wearing it, as well, was that it reminded people to give him attention and not just the new baby. We took a photograph of him wearing his t-shirt and standing alongside his sleeping new baby sister and it is a photograph that I will cherish forever.
6th February 2008 - Pauline
Of course once our friends saw the t-shirt they all wanted one for their children and word spread to the point that we were making large quantities. It was from there that our t-shirt printing business started. As time has gone by our range is gradually building and this year we have just launched our new Maternitees. Which are absolutely lovely and soft.
13th February 2008 - Pauline
We have had our Maternitee shirts researched by Mum's to be (again) and the feedback we have had from them is fantastic. The have told us the Maternitee Shirt is lovely and comfortable, washes and tumble dry, and they still look great. The length has also been an important factor, as not everyone wants to show off half their gorgeous belly. Also, the extra room around the underarm, so you do not feel tight, hot and sweaty.
At the moment we are working on one or two designs to screenprint on some of the maternitees. Hopefully, we shall get around to printing some soon. We have a few customised orders to get done and then we shall have some Maternitees printed.
21st February 2008 - Pauline
Well, it's been a busy week but I am now able to start working on a design for the Maternitee shirt. If you have a specific design that you would like to pass on to me, feel free to do so. I am always open to the ideas of what people would like.
One of the things I am hearing is that people do want organic. It is for this reason that next week I shall be sourcing suppliers of 100% organic t-shirts for adults and children. We are already somewhat environmentally friendly as we use water-based inks and our Green Earth Screenprinting Machine.
29th February 2008 - Pauline
I am pleased to let you all know that we have now printed our first Maternity T-Shirt. We shall hopefully have them photographed and on the website in the next week. As usual things are extremely busy here and I have only just caught up with everything, having taken time out to visit the Birmingham NEC for the Print and Promotion Wear Exhibition.
The exhibition, although not as big as I expected was definitely worthwhile visiting. I have been able to source extremely good quality organic t-shirts, both for adults and children. So now have another job to do in purchasing and printing those.
10th March 2008 - Pauline
Yaay! I have ordered in the new blank Organic kids T-shirts. They will arrive tomorrow and I plan on printing them, if all goes well, on Saturday. I am about to photograph the Preggers 'N' Proud Maternity T-Shirts, a few of which we have screenprinted, as I have not had time recently to get them on to the website.
13th March 2008 - Pauline
Well, I have been extremely busy. I am pleased to say our Maternity T-Shirts are now available for purchase. The Preggers 'N' Proud label is now available to all expectant mums. So, if you want to be as comfortable as some of the celebrities that have been gifted or spotted wearing Preggers 'N' Proud Maternity T-Shirts, you can be. We have screenprinted our own motif, but also have plain available too. Grab your's whilst you can and you will be extremely happy with your maternitee shirt.
Due to many requests we have also extended the size range of our Stedman, Pink, Big Sister T-shirts. We now cater from size 26" - 32".
Also now available, are the new Humbugz - Tender Loving Clothing (R) Collection. 100% Certified Natural Organic Girls T-Shirt. These are absolutely wonderful. Sooo soft and with a stretchy interlock. Using our water-based inks and Green Earth Screenprinter, we have, by hand, printed I'm The Big Sister slogan. I am really excited with this new range and I know you will be too. We shall be printing these with I'm The Big Brother slogan, very soon.
17th March 2008 - Pauline
About our Organic T-Shirts
The Humbugz - Tender Loving Clothing (R) Collection are sourced only from factories that meet demanding standards. There is a transparency that enables the company - Mantis - to oversee a fully vertical operation at every stage of the production process. From the very beginning - with raw cotton that is spun, woven and, if required, dyed, right through to the end - with the stitched finished garment. It is possible to be considerate to the world with planet-friendly production methods and fair wages. This results in high quality, fashionable garments through fair trade.
In order to ensure that Mantis are doing the things when they produce their clothing, they approached some important organisations for their views and guidelines, and to certify their credibility.
Ethical Trade Initiative Base Code - This code ensures companies are meeting international labour standards. Mantis take advice from the experts with regular, independent social and environmental audits to monitor their progress and guarantee their own compliance. Not only do they do this, but they are also providing local communities with employment, education and skills for the future.
Oeko Tex Association - This provides assurance that no harmful substances or dyes are used during any stage of the production process, or indeed that any chemicals or harmful residues are left on the garments. Not only do they hold the Oeko-Tex 100 standard certification, but also the highest classification of Class 1, the most stringent test that covers the safety of babywear.
Bio Inspecta - Provides independant auditing, accreditation and certification for thousands of organic products worldwide. They make sure the organic cotton that is used by Mantis meets these standards and issue a certificate if and when it does.
22nd March 2008 - Pauline
bioRe(R) Certified Organic Cotton -With this trademark, it means Mantis organic cotton materials are made not only from certified organic cotton with no nasty chemicals in them, but that the local workers have been employed in healthy and safe conditions.
27th March 2008 - Pauline
Hooray! We have printed, this weekend, I'm The Big Brother Organic T-Shirts. These are the humbugz - Tending Loving Clothing (R) Collection. Children's age range 4-6 yrs and 7-9 yrs. We hope to have these on the website by Thursday morning. Superb quality t-shirts and really low prices for organic t-shirts and, screenprinted by hand.
It has been a busy weekend as our daughter had her birthday party today. She is 5 yrs old on this week. My, time does fly. So, it will also be 5 yrs since we made our first I'm The Big Brother T-Shirt. So, it seemed only right that today she wore her 'Birthday Girl' badge and her brother now 10 yrs old wore his black with white print I'm The Big Brother T-Shirt.
30th March 2008 - Pauline
We now have humbugz-Tender Loving Clothing(R) - I'm The Big Brother T-Shirts screenprinted t-shirts. Remember, we use water-based inks and these t-shirts are all individually printed by us.
3rd April 2008
I am pleased you are enjoying our organic Big Brother and Big Sister T-Shirts! We do have a few of the I'm The Big Brother design in the Hogwart font in the age 7-9 yrs, which hopefully, I will get the time to photograph this coming week and get on to the website. Yet again I am extremely busy, as all of us with children always are!
At the moment I am having to do my stocktake for the year end and that is oh so much fun! As exciting in fact as doing the year end accounts. Which is why I am here and not doing the dreaded paperwork. Oh well, I guess I best go and do a little bit of it then. Small steps climb big mountains as they say.
12th April 2008 - Pauline
I have managed to get the blue Stedman Classic Hogwart font onto the I'm The Big Brother section, together with the black t-shirts which we have now printed in silver.
This weekend we shall be printing our new label............Babybugz. A fantastic quality baby t-shirt in age 3-6 months. This is from the Mantis label.
Also being printed this weekend are the I'm The Big Sister t-shirts in Adult size. As these have proven to be popular in the past we are bringing this size back too.
Have a great weekend and thank you for your custom.
18th April 2008 - Pauline
Hello! I am sorry I have been away for sooo long and not have not been able to do my blog. But I am happy to say I have been so busy sending out the t-shirts to my customers and printing more of them, that, unusually for me, I have been too tired to talk!!! In fact I am taking a breather as we are about to print up more in the coming week or so. I absolutely love it though and thank all my customers for the compliments on our t-shirts.
I should let you all know that if you are sending t-shirts to friends or relatives and want them posted direct we do this quite happily and are also more than happy to put in a little gift card (from you!) free of charge. Just let me know by email and I will do so.
6th May 2008 - Pauline
Yet again it has been busy and I have not been able to blog! I would like to thank Mr K. for his idea of putting a 'button' on for you to click for the free gift tag and 'change of address' if your t-shirt is a gift for a friend. At the moment I am trying to work out the easiest and quickest way possible to do this. I think for the moment you will need to put the new address in your Paypal payment. My apologies for the delay in doing this.
18th May 2008 - Pauline
Well I have had a day out at the Birmingham NEC, The Baby Show. Absolutely great fun to be out there meeting and talking to you Mums (and Dads). An extremely tiring, busy but fun day. If I met you there...hello and thanks for popping in!
Thank you to Ms B who purchased some tees as gifts and emailed me to say "they are great and she is sure her family will be delighted with them". I guess I should set up a testimonial page as so many of you are kind enough to take the time to let me know how much you love our tees. A big thank you from me to all of you, my customers.
25th May 2008 - Pauline
I am excited about the new t-shirts I have in stock for baby girls. I am presently working on a new design for them and hopefully I will have the new design printed and on the website in about a week from now.
Also, inspired by my son I am designing a new slogan tee for the older boys.......watch this space!
6th June 2008 - Pauline
They're are here! New designs are now on the site:
Daddy's Little Princess
This is a top quality baby skate layered top. Fushia/pink. We have matched the print to the pink in the sleeves. At the moment we are only doing these is age 12/18 months. When other sizes are available we shall cover those too.
Do you like the slogan tee inspired by my 10 yr old son?
It ain't my ATTITUDE ..................it's my hormones
haha, after soooo many discussions with my mummy friends we decided the way our wonderful children suddenly change around this age, it must have something to do with their hormones. These are unisex!!!!!!
18th June 2008
Hello!
Well this time busy is not the word. Manic is more like it! I have not had the chance to blog because it has been, as I say, manic. We have had quite a few customised orders and also have had to print more of our own stock as it has been selling so fast.
Also, we now have I'm the Little Brother in Newborn size. The Larkwood label is a very good quality and once again we have been able to maintain our low prices and high quality.
3rd July 2008
One-Off Personalised Prints
I am pleased to announce that after a lot of research we are now able to print one-off personalised t-shirts using heat-press transfers. I must say that we have acquired extremely high quality transfers and the print is almost as soft to the touch as our screenprints. The feedback I have had from an existing customer whom I asked to compare with their screenprinted order was.............
Pauline, it is sooooo lovely, absolutely fabulous.
So, I shall soon be making a Special Birthday Bundle available for children and adults. In the meantime, if you require a personalised/one-off print for children or adults let me know what you require via my contact form.
16th July 2008
Have you seen my soon to be Great Niece/Nephew? Yes, that is one of my relative's on the maternity t-shirt - Baby scan!
At the moment I am working on new designs which does take time in between all the printing orders, but I shall get there eventually!
I am also about to put one or two items on for Mum. High quality tops at our low prices. So look out for those.
3 August 2008 - Pauline
European Chic Award - 2008
Congratulations to Mantis World who received the European Chic Award 2008 for their childrenswear in the category 'Best Collection of Childrenswear'. This award was based on design and quality, workmanship and pattern.
I am proud to be able to sell just some of their childrenswear and will most certainly be stocking other designs soon.
14th August 2008 - Pauline
Update on what we have been up to!
Well, I'm not sure really! I have had so much to do since I last blogged. I shall make a list of pointers and come back to them as and when I have the time.
The first thing that comes to mind is 'Run to the Beat' the London Half Marathon. We were honoured to be asked to supply and print some running vests for a Golf Society who are customers of mine. They were running the half marathon to raise funds for a children's hospice in South East London. We provided the printed vests at cost price which you can see, and please feel free to make a donation to such a worthy cause, on this link: http://www.justgiving.com/runtothebeat Well done to all the runners involved.
We now have, due to popular demand, I'm the Bigger Brother t-shirts. These are now available. Also, printed but not yet on the website are I'm the Big Brother and I'm the Big Sister in 18-24 months and 24-36 months, on the Larkwood label which are truly a fantastic quality t-shirt and as always at our fantastically low prices. Another new baby design is due to be placed on the website for newborn baby. Hopefully, I can have these placed on the website by next week, please bear with me!
24th October 2008 - Pauline
Day out at The Baby Show
Had a great day out today at the Little Monsters Baby Show in Cheltenham. Met with Jane the forum owner of www.mumsclub.co.uk. We had a good walk round looking at all the baby items on show. I am thinking about booking a stand for next year at either Bath or Bristol Show, will let you know next year......which will soon be here, aaagh!
I did buy my kiddiewinks a reward chart. I must admit I did not think the children would be chuffed with it as they normally don't care for the gold stickers in their workbooks! But hey, mum got it right for a change, yaay! They love it, although it may be because they decided that their reward at the end of the week if they obtain 57 stars, one will have a Bionicle and the other wants Lego. I shall be kept on my toes watching out for any cheating, hehe.
On the t-shirt side of what's going on I have a new design for 6-12 month old. I shall aim to get the photo and details on the website this week. Busy, busy, busy!
9th November 2008 - Pauline