Mrs Kipperchops meets Paph The Magic Dragon!

Back in November 2010 I spotted something on Twitter called 'Small Business Sunday' (or SBS for short) on the timeline of Theo Paphitis (businessman and Dragon). Intrigued, I went to see what this was all about. Well it turned out to be an absolute gem of an idea! Theo wanted to help some small business gain some much needed publicity and so SBS was born....

"Each week Theo rewards small businesses that tweet him @TheoPaphitis and describe their business in one tweet including the all-important hashtag #SBS. Only tweets made in the time slot between 5.00 PM and 7.30 PM on Sundays count" (from www.theopaphitissbs.com)

We got our retweet from Theo on 7th November and our timeline went crazy! So many people had already seen this brilliant business idea too and it felt like everyone on Twitter was congratulating us!

Our Facebook entry on November 8th

We continued to follow the progress of Theo's SBS campaign and each Sunday another 6 lucky businesses were picked from the thousands of tweets. The campaign carried on growing and every Sunday buzzed with excitement for small businesses nationwide.

Fast forward to early 2012 and Theo sent a message out to all of the SBS winners...

I remember seeing the announcement...part of me was squealing with delight the other part of me remained sceptical. Would someone like Theo Paphitis really be true to his word and support small businesses at a special event? I have to be honest I thought we would all have to buy tickets and then we'd probably see Theo from a distance. He'd do a talk, thank us all for coming and that would be that.

How wrong I was!!

It's not often you get invited to events like this so we knew we had to be there!

Mr Kipperchops and myself arrived at Edgbaston Cricket ground on the Friday morning and I must admit there was a flutter of excitement in my stomach. It was great to have a day off and spend time doing something completely different with like-minded people. We weren't sure of the itinerary for the day but I think this only added to the excitement!

All of the staff were so friendly and helpful and we were given badges when we registered at the desk. We were shown into a hospitality suite overlooking the cricket ground and were greeted with trays of beer, wine, orange juice and huge tables holding a vast array of tasty looking sandwiches.

The room was full of small business owners (the other SBS winners) and everyone was busily chatting and laughing. We met up with some wonderful people - special mentions for our fellow Notonthehighstreet partners: Jo from 3 Blonde Bears, Kyleigh from Kyleigh's Papercuts (with her lovely framer Wendy) and Gabby from Moobaacluck. 

Kyleigh Scissorhands, Mrs Kipperchops, Mrs Moo and DottySpotty Becky

We also met Tia from Who Ate My Crayons, Amy from Chambers & Beau (who had brought along her equally talented sister Kirsty from Kirsty Elson Designs), Helen from Kindred Rose, Liza from LizaJDesign, Lyndsey from Lyndsey James Photography and Charlie from Cherry Pie Lane.

Helen (Kindred Rose) Lyndsey (Lyndsey James Photography) Kyleigh (Kyleigh's Papercuts

We also finally got to meet the very smiley Becky (and her husband Jeff) from Dots and Spots! I have been tweeting with Becky from the beginning and we have watched each other's businesses grow - it was such a joy to meet her and she's as lovely as she seems online!

Next we were taken through to a conference room with a big screen at the front (we all had lots of fun seeing who could get their tweets on the screen while we waited for Theo to make an appearance!)

Then there he was...an actual Dragon in the room! 

 We had speeches from Kypros (CEO of Ryman's who had sponsored the whole event) and Chris Wheeler from Metal Frog who introduced us to the brilliant new website solely for SBS winners (Chris and his team have done a fantastic job and his speech left many of us teary-eyed!)

Chris and The Metal Frog Studio team

Theo then did a Question & Answer session for 2 and a half hours!!

making a twit of myself!!

We were completely blown away by Theo's genuine interest and enthusiasm for our small businesses. He gave us great advice and was such good fun - nothing seemed to be too much trouble. He had great banter with Kypros and the whole afternoon was so enjoyable...didn't want to go home!

Theo had one more surprise up his sleeve...not only were we all going to get an SBS certifcate we were all going to get an opportunity to have our photos taken with him too! We were totally taken aback - what a fabulous bloke Theo turned out to be...he had to stand and grin for an hour and a half and never once complained! There was even a FREE bar!! He chatted to everyone in turn and seemed genuinely happy to meet us all.

When our turn came around I sneaked a cheeky peck on he cheek to say thank you for such a brilliant day 'Ah Mrs Kipperchops!' he said 'You should go and meet Kypros...we call him Kypper too!'
So not one to miss an opportunity we rushed off to find Kypper, had a photo taken and thanked him for putting on an excellent event..I even kissed the financal manager, I got a bit carried away!!

Kyp and Kipperchops!

We met some more SBS winners before leaving for home..Jo from Red Herring Games along with HG Sherlock and his sidekick Dr Whiting and Sandrine from The Nautical Company. Other lovely tweeters included Jan from Perfect Verse For You, Fiona and daughter Amy from Sparrow Primitives, Sam from Funky Goddess, Susan from Dottie Designs and Ali from My Gorgeous Gifts. So many others I forget but you know who you are and it was wonderful to meet you!!

There are a couple of other very special people I have to mention...namely Shelly (aka Shellibobbins)one of the most positive, supportive, genuinely lovely people I have ever met and her beautiful brave little boy Noah. I welled up when I saw him snoozing peacefully in his pram when Mr Bobbins brought him upstairs to meet Theo. I gave Shelly a huge hug - I was delighted to finally meet her in person (My only regret was that we had to leave for home before I got to have cuddles with Noah...next time Shelly!)

Lovely Shellybobbins

We had a truly amazing day and even before we left at 6pm (it was supposed to finish at 4pm and Theo was still there and still chatting away!) we got yet another surprise...a goody bag from Ryman Stationery which included pens, notebooks, USB sticks ...so generous! I also managed another little chat with Theo to say thank you to him and to Ryman's for putting on the event and he gave me this...

Thanks Theo!

Twitter Tea Party

Within our hectic start to 2012 I was delighted to be invited to afternoon tea with some of the lovely people I have met through twitter. I say 'people' when actually I now feel that they are firm friends...I cannot rave about twitter enough. It really has been the best 'social' tool I have ever come across!
The 'tweet up' was organised by Tia at @whoatmycrayons - a truly lovely person all round - genuinely warm and friendly (affectionately now known as crayonface or cakey) She is a talented soul too.

Crayonface (in the grey) with Nadine

As the 'tweet up' was for tweeters in the Lincs/Cambs/Norfolk area Tia decided on Peterborough for the rendezvous location as it was easiest for everyone to reach. I travelled with my Mum Jenny (@winnibriggs) as I knew she would enjoy meeting everyone as much as I would. We met in the bar of the Park Inn Hotel for a glass of wine and some nibbles - we were some of the 1st to arrive and we were a little nervous! Tia and Nadine (@Nadine_Ingle) were there to greet us with huge smiles and hugs all round.

Nadine, Mel, Gabs, Helen, Sam, Jenny and Me (thanks to Tia for the photo)

Then the others arrived...Helen @HWRDesigns, Sam @SamKersley and Mel @melandersondes...everyone was so friendly and it felt like we had all known each other for ages! Last to arrive was the fabulous Gabs from @moobaacluck who always makes me laugh with her calamitous tales..this time she got lost (but she did have to drive a fair way from Norfolk so she was forgiven!)
1pm came around so fast as we'd all been chatting away oblivious of the time. We had a table booked at a nearby tearooms and the lure of the cake was very strong at this point...we all arrived at the tearoom in breakneck speed! (amazing the power of cake!)

CAKE!!

We all had pots of tea, open finger sandwiches and the biggest pieces of homemade cake you've ever seen! It was all so delicious and the conversation flowed. We talked about our businesses, our families and life in general. It's not often I get to enjoy days off like this so I really enjoyed having some 'me' time and meeting some fabulous people into the bargain.

Gabs

Helen and Sam

Mel and Gabs enjoy some tea

Helen with contraband!

The afternoon went far too quickly. We all headed off to another bar for a goodbye drink before setting off for home. It was a brilliant afternoon and I'd like to thank Tia for organising our get-together - we had a lovely time and can't wait to meet up again!

Sugar rush!!

Spring Has Sprung and it's all systems GO!

Another couple of months has flown by and I realised that the blog that I was going to keep updated at least once a week has alas been sadly neglected once more. So I thought a quick newsround would be a good place to start again (without John Craven...I'm flying solo..and showing my age!)
Back in February Steve and I travelled down to London for a meeting with Notonthehightstreet in their new offices in Lion House in Richmond. The big open plan office beyond the beautiful hand carved reception desk was a hive of activity and it was lovely to see some of the Noths girls again. We had our meeting in 'Harry's Room' (decorated for Holly's little boy with Noths partners products. It had the most amazing vintage car wallpaper from Catkin Collection (designed & made by Ditte) 

We had our meeting with our personal partner manager Jo Vernon (a very lovely lady and very heavily pregnant!) Two hours later we came away with a whole head full of new ideas and very excited about our pending 2nd storefront with Notonthehighstreet called Giddy Weddings. (I will change this link as soon as the new shop is live!)

It snowed heavily on our way home but after treating ourselves to 1st class train tickets for the day the free Shiraz and hot food was a welcome bonus!

February also saw some other interesting and exciting developments for Giddy Kipper. We were contacted by a major British holiday company (we may become a supplier to their gift shops...but this is all very much in the air still) our products appeared in two national magazines within reader's homes (a lovely surprise) and we were contacted by several other wedding and home magazines for product loans and images for features in the Summer months. 

Our fabulous Ice Lolly Soapsicles (which are the only products we sell that are not handmade in the UK but by a lovely lady in California) are being used in a Summer photoshoot for big high street chains New Look and River Island! (keep your eyes peeled for those!) Our products continue to be featured on other home, kids and wedding blogs which we very much appreciate - everyone has been so supportive.

 I was also asked to write a guest post for the Cheeky Pickle blog run by Ali Benyon an English textile artist now living in Australia.I was thrilled to be asked and decided my focus should be on PR for small businesses as we have had a fair amount on success in this area. It was so well-received and I was grateful to 4 fabulous journalists for helping me with the post. The PR side of the business has also seen us being included in a book by Debbie Leven which is being published later in the year and inclusion in another book which for now remains a top secret publication...we will reveal all when we can!

In other news I am being interviewed for a further two blogs (both of which I absolutely love!) - a mixture of business and fun for both this time and I'm really looking forward to answering the questions! The first interview will be up in about 3-4 weeks on The Curiosity Project blog. If you haven't already discovered this fantastic project run by Tiffany Grant-Riley (of the beautiful Grant-Riley Weddings) I urge you to go and check it out NOW!


I have also had the most exciting email this week from the editor of Wedding Ideas Magazine. I have been asked to write a guest post for the magazine's blog!! I feel so honoured and am absolutely thrilled to contribute. My post will be up in the next couple of weeks and I will of course be bursting to tell you when it's live!!!

It has been a very exciting start to the year business-wise but inevitably not everything goes to plan and with both of our boys being ill for around 3 weeks in total in March (tonsilitis and 'slapped cheek' virus) it's also been a very tiring and emotional start too. But then running your own business is never easy (there have been plenty of 1am finishes recently!) and you have to take the rough with the smooth. We're always grateful for the amount of orders we receive at any time of year and try to fit in some family time when we can.
Now... does anyone have a couple of spare hours I could have please??

Bowling, Birthday Cake and A Ravenous Beast!

Alfie turned 5 last week and decided he didn't want a party - he would like to go bowling with the family instead. He's a bit of a whizzkid when it comes to games and sport...he thrashes us all regularly on the wii. None of us had been bowling for sometime and I wasn't sure my muscles were up to it...I gave the audience a You've Been Framed moment when i fell over after launching a ball down the alley! It was all caught on camera and very embarrassing. That £250 is mine as compensation!

Back at the house the non-birthday party had in fact turned into rather a large party but consisted mainly of adults. Alfie was allowed a 'couple' of friends but the whole family were there too. For me it passed in a bit of a blur - running around topping up party rings and jugs of squash , supervising pass the parcel and rescuing small children from the upstairs toilet...the Princess dresses were causing major problems! Alfie had a whale of a time and the front room was filled with presents and cards.

In my wisdom a few weeks prior to his birthday I had asked him what kind of cake he would like this year. I had made all of his previous birthday cakes (bar one) A car for his 1st birthday followed by a train and a fire engine (Shop-bought Peppa Pig sneaked in age 3...too many kids to cater for!). knowing just how much he likes his vehicles I was praying for something fairly easy to produce (a campervan would have been a good choice) but no. He was very specific. He would like a "convertible Mercedes car cake Mummy" Right. I'll just go and rustle one of those up then! (Next year he's having a hedgehog cake and liking it!)

Thankfully Daddy was on hand to help cut the sponges I had made then it was down to me to ice it and decorate it and make it look vaguely like it was supposed to. On inspection by the birthday boy next morning I got a "well it's not exactly like a Mercedes Mummy..." but thankfully he did love it all the same!

We bought him a trampoline this year - something that he has had his eye on for a while. Daddy took the afternoon off and built it while he was at school so he came home to a wonderful surprise. 'This is fanatstic!' he yelled at us through the safety netting. It was definitely a hit and was his 'first favourite' present.

Later in the week we suddenly realised that it was World Book Day and with all the excitement of his birthday we had forgotten to make a hat! Guess who got the job.....

Yes, Mummy muggins rushed off down to Ryman's looking for card and glue and shiny paper. He had decided that he would like a Ravenous Beast hat - his favourite book of choice...for this week at least!

I actually quite enjoyed getting creative with the card and the hat turned out a treat...my big grown up 5 year old was very impressed with Mummy's efforts. Not so impressed when Mummy wore it on the way home though. Well isn't it part of my job description to embarrass the children??

I was just doing my duty!

Life and loss

I can't quite believe that it is March already. These first couple of months have disappeared in a flash and after all the excitement of award ceremony in January life settled down ..or so I thought. To be honest this last couple of weeks in particular have been very hard. I was diagnosed with post natal depression last year after a bout of dizzy spells (although thankfully mild) but some days it can creep up on me and make even quite trivial things seem much harder.

Apart from the general household drudgery (washing and ironing piles up to the ceiling and constant cleaning) I've also had to work every night once the children are in bed as well as fitting in my daytime work hours between school runs and days when I have baby Charlie at home. I've been beyond tired some days but you just have to keep going. The business is thriving for which I am truly grateful - I know how tough it can be for small businesses at any time of year but especially that tricky post-Christmas period. It's just some days...I wish I could stop the world and get off for a breather!

Sadly my mood has been very sombre recently too due to the fact that my lovely Auntie had been poorly in hospital. After a successful op she returned home and was doing well. They discovered that she was suffering from cancer during the op (hadn't known it was there previously) and were just deciding on the course of treatment when we had a devastating phonecall. On Friday 24th she collapsed and was taken back to hospital and whilst holding our eldest son's 5th birthday celebrations on the Saturday she passed away.
It was a very difficult weekend and hard to put on a brave face for our darling boy but his party went ahead on the instruction of his Nanny who had just lost her sister that day.

My lovely Auntie Sylv

This week we have been preparing to say goodbye to my Auntie and my Mum has been back and forth to see her husband and to help where she can. Tuesday was Alfie's official birthday - Nanny & Grandad came for tea and he was spoiled rotten! It was emotional as we found a card amongst the pile posted by my auntie before she died but I'm glad she was part of the day.
I know she was very proud of us all and I can still hear her laughter. She was one of the kindest people I have ever known and will be sadly missed by us all.
Tomorrow we are holding a service and will say goodbye to her. I just hope she knows just how much she was loved back

Superwoman Syndrome

Ok. I give in.I can't do it all.

If you're anything like me each day is a battle against time to fit in as many tasks as a humanly possible. Then bedtime comes around and the guilt sets in...I didn't spend enough time on 4 year old's homework (he's in reception class...why is he getting homework?) , I didn't spend enough time playing with baby, dinner wasn't a culinary masterpiece, I didn't clean the bathroom, I didn't do any baking, the house is a mess, I can see dust everywhere ...on and on I get myself into frenzy. Add in the pile of kids birthday invitations to reply to, a massive pin board full of school events and charity functions, the endless birthdays to remember...it's no wonder I go to bed each night with a feeling of absolute panic. Oh and silly me...I run my own business too.

Why do we do this to ourselves?? I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Last weekend I decided to beat myself up about the fact I'm not making homemade meals for our 8 month old baby...I'm a bad mother I cried!! 

Then there's the BIG one for me...why am I not slim? I've been battling with this particular issue for a while. I began putting on weight in my 30s which I hated but not surprising really - I was socialising (a lot) and the exercise had started to wane. I had both children late on - so after 2 major ops and 2 kids I ended up feeling very unhappy with my size.

But there I go again! Feeling bad about myself ...my rational side knows that yes maybe I need to make more of an effort. The irrational side tells me I need to be a size 10 NOW! Stupid, stupid, stupid. Even after all these years I still feel the pressure to look good, have a fabulous business, have 2 immaculately dressed, well-behaved children (dressed in Mini Boden obviously) and a show home house like something out of a Cath Kidston shoot.

Most days in my exhausted state I am more likely to put my pants on over my tights but I'm no superwoman despite being called that recently. I'm just muddling along like every other mum and dad with a job or business to run and kids to sort and a house to keep.

Well this week since it's half term and particularly difficult to keep juggling all those domestic balls - that niggling irrational side can take a running jump. The kids are happy, the meals are edible and the house looks fairly clean (if you don't look too closely). I've decided that my gorgeous little boys are not going to remember if the toilet was clean. What they will hopefully remember is a happy Mummy playing with them in the snow or painting pictures.

It's about time we all just stopped trying to be Superwoman...I for one am hanging up my cape.