The timeless saying, “They grow up so fast”, rings true with all babies, yet we’re still shocked to see how quickly they really do grow into little people with amazing personalities of their own! You’ll cope with the little changes, like buying bigger clothes and needing proper shoes, but you’ll also soon realise the nursery needs a bit of a makeover as well. Don’t panic, Izziwotnot is here to help!

When the time comes for your baby to make the move from a cot into a bed, it is a good time to make some changes to the nursery and turn it into a kid’s room that they will love to play and sleep in. Your little one will have developed their own personality and probably have some of their own taste and style. They will certainly have their own opinions on what they like!

So why not get them involved with making some changes to their nursery? Get them excited about moving into a bed. The more excited they are, the less anxious they will be about moving from their cot. Get them involved in some of the choices for colour schemes in their new ‘grown up’ room. The room will change from being a place just for sleep, to somewhere they will want to play too. They will need more space for toys, but the room still needs to provide them with a haven for sleep, so storage will be key to ensure toys can be cleared away at night.

Your little one will no doubt have some favourite characters that they have grown up with and may want to introduce into the room. This could be in the form of bedding, accessories, or simply lots of toys! Izziwotnot has a great range of characters featured in its bedding collections specifically designed for this transition from nursery to junior bedroom, from the adorable Humphrey and Lottie through to GoochiCoo’s Bunny Girl and Toy Boy – all lovable characters who feature in nursery and junior bedding collections from Izziwotnot.

If your little boy has decided he loves cars but has grown out of Humphrey and his little red pedal car, check out Izziwotnot’s Pitstop. Beautifully constructed with embroidered appliques in bold colours and soft cottons, Pitstop will have your little one racing to bed. As well as bedding, the vibrant Pitstop range has two matching canvas arts plus a great canopy for a cabin bed, perfect to hide away toys!

For little girls who love animals, the gorgeous Ribbons and Rosettes from Izziwotnot is perfect for pony lovers and a great transition from the Martha Mouse or Mop & Squeak collections. Little girls won’t be able to wait to saddle up for sweet dreams after a tiring day of playtime under the beautiful matching canopy.

Izziwotnot also stock a huge selection of accessories, from curtains to cushions and everything in between - ideal for any little one’s room. Many ranges transform perfectly from nursery to bedroom, so all these accessories are designed with longevity in mind. From the beautiful Cherry Blossom and whimsical Babyooshka to the wild ABC Safari and calming Hide Away Bay, you’ll find everything you need to kit out your growing child’s bedroom.

So give your child some decisions when it comes to their new ‘grown up’ room. It will make them feel more involved and it will be fun for them too.

In today’s busy world, we’re increasingly under pressure to be prepared and organised. As a result, surprises in life are becoming fewer.

But when it comes to babies… do today’s expectant parents want to know the sex so they can be prepared? It appears not all do.

Here at Izziwotnot we have asked some of our expectant parent customers if they are planning to find out the sex of their forthcoming new arrival. Over half those who have already responded say “no”; 57% said they would rather wait.

It seems we still like some surprises in life, perhaps? Maybe it’s seen as something that is out of any future parent’s control, so they decide to wait? But with over 40% of expectant parents appearing not to like surprises and wanting to know the sex of their imminent arrival, the result is almost too close to call.

We’ll keep you posted on the final results…will they change?!

In light of these results, here at Izziwotnot we strive to meet the needs of all expectant parents, with a wide range of nursery furniture and accessories designed for both those parents who do want to know and those that prefer to wait until baby’s arrival.

For those on the fence, we have a wide selection of contemporary neutral ranges, with even more designs coming soon, perfect for those parents who want to be surprised.

For a classic teddy bear theme with a twist, Izziwotnot’s Vincent Bear range in crisp white cotton, features beautiful appliqués of Vincent; combining fresh neutrals with warm chocolate accents. The range features everything from cot bed blankets and bumpers through to curtains and wallpaper borders.

For a timeless neutral design, Izziwotnot’s White Gift and Cream Gift ranges are also perfect for the neutral nursery. White Gift is a pure white mini waffle design, whilst the Cream Gift waffle bedding pieces are accented with caramel piping. Both ranges include maize and wicker moses baskets, cot bed quilts, bumpers, curtains and fleece blankets.

Izziwotnot is also introducing two brand new neutral ranges for Autumn/Winter 2010 with the arrival of Time to Play and Pitter Patter. Watch the website at www.izziwotnot.com

Win your very own Tooth Fairy Cushion & Lottie Toy

It’s back! National Smile Month returns under the new slogan of ‘Teeth4Life’ and to celebrate we are running a colouring competion, where little ones can win a lovely Lottie Toy and Tooth Fairy Cushion, so they are ready for the Tooth Fairy when she visits!

To enter simply download the printable pdf simply visit our competition page  and download the picture of Lottie and get your little ones colouring in Lottie, they can use crayons, paints, glitter anything they fancy. 

Once their work of art is finished simply post it to us at Izziwotnot, 1 Edward Street, Cambridge Industrial Area, Manchester, M7 1FN. remember to make sure you include their name, age, address and your telephone number and email on the back, so we can advise the winners. Closing date is 30^th June.

Established as the UK’s largest oral health awareness campaign, this year’s slogan of ‘Teeth4Life’ highlights the importance of looking after your teeth and maintaining them for life.

Chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter, believes this year’s ‘Teeth4Life’ campaign will get the nation talking about the importance of good oral health and he anticipates yet another successful campaign.

He said: “When the first ever Smile campaign was launched more than 35 years ago, one in three people over the age of 16 had no teeth at all. Now that is something you really have to think about twice to appreciate.”

“Fortunately, these days the situation is a much happier one. Most of us expect to keep our teeth for life and indeed do so. National Smile Month is all about educating people on how to make the best of their smile.”

It’s not only our little ones that can benefit, in the lead-up to this year’s campaign, evidence of the first documented link between a foetal death and the mother’s pregnancy-related gum disease emerged. The case emphasised the importance of preventive dental treatment and good oral health practice.

“New scientific evidence of systemic links between oral health and overall body health continues to mount.

Gum disease has been linked to diabetes, strokes and pregnancy problems as well as heart disease, so it is vital to look after oral hygiene. Almost all of us suffer from gum disease at some point in our lives, but is easy to control it and prevent serious risks,” Dr Carter added. (Source Teeth4Life Campaign).

To maintain good oral health, it is vital to:

• Brush teeth twice daily with fluoride toothpaste
• Visit the dentist regularly, as often as they recommend
• Cut down on how often you have sugary snacks or drinks

Dr Carter said: “All systemic links to gum disease have been well documented and are backed by robust scientific evidence. Despite this, the 2009 survey found that only one in six people realise that people with gum disease are at risk of strokes or diabetes, only one in three are aware of the heart disease link and just one in twenty know that pregnant women with gum disease are more likely to give birth prematurely!

“These results begin to make you realise just how important it is to make people aware of the health risks associated with a poor dental routine.” So let’s spread a positive message to make this year’s campaign the most successful ever!

To enter our colouring competition click here or for more information on Teeth4Life please visit www.nationalsmilemonth.org

We’ve teamed up with another much loved brand, Forever Friends, to bring the Bear with a big heart to a new generation. We’re really excited about the launch of our new Forever Friends nursery bedding ranges, Beautiful and Little Star, for girls and boys.

So eager were we to share with you our beautiful prints, delicate embroideries, soft fabrics and cute Bear embroideries, that we cheekily previewed our luxury bedding at the Harrogate Nursery Fair. Needless to say, our designs were greeted with many ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’, confirming our thoughts that this range will be adored by little ones everywhere. Many buyers were reminiscent about the Forever Friends bedding, toys or jewellery they had themselves and it’s a true delight to bring Forever Friends into our portfolio.

The first Forever Friends bear danced its way onto the page of artist Deborah Jones in 1987. The brand grew from strength to strength with its distinctive style and sentiment, becoming synonymous with a hug in an envelope! After 13 years, Deborah decided to pass the sketchbook over to Hallmark and their creative team. In 2005, the Forever Friends brand was re-launched, bringing Bear right up to date with water colours and cleaner lines for a more modern look, while bringing hugs and happiness to people around the world.

If you missed the show, visit our Facebook page to see photos of the new Forever Friends ranges and the other products we exhibited.

We’re patiently awaiting the arrival of the full range, due in September this year. If you’re just as excited as we are, why not drop us an email at enquiries@izziwotnot.com so that we can keep you informed on arrival dates.

We’ve just returned from Harrogate, where we exhibited at the annual Harrogate Nursery Fair, a major event for the UK nursery retail trade.

The show is always a great opportunity for us to showcase our new collections and talk to our customers.  We were really excited this year, as we previewed new ranges designed exclusively for much loved brands Forever Friends, as nursery collections and The Gruffalo, as junior products.

The Forever Friends bear was also a visitor to the show and got a great reception from all the children, he proved very popular with certain adults too! There was lots of anticipation in the air and the show proved very successful. Our new products were extremely well received by all of our retailers and some new ones too.

Every year we take almost 60 square metres of blank canvas and turn it into an eye-catching contemporary stand that allows our products to stand out as king! We are genuinely proud of our collections and try to create a show-stopping space to live up to Izziwotnot’s premium quality and style-conscious image, promoting our extensive range of furniture, bedding, toys and gifts, for babies and young children.

With a clean white backdrop, the stand allowed our traditional ranges to sit alongside our more modern pieces in harmony and as we always like to include an individual element, Italian designed, Kartell acrylic stools in the shape of vases and bright chairs provided funky seating, for practical meetings in front of the colourful gift display.

Bringing rich warmth to our fresh white stand, the Latitude cot bed displayed Vincent bedding, whilst the Tranquillity Chestnut unveiled our new Time To Play bedding.

Steeling the limelight, our contemporary and colourful high gloss Skyline furniture in red and white lacquer created real impact and proved the perfect furniture to display our new GoochiCoo ranges for Flower Girl and Toy Racer.

Firm favourites Hemingway Two and Tranquillity White also featured prominently on our stand, not least in their display of new bedding ranges from Forever Friends, again in beautiful designs for girls and boys.

It can certainly be agreed that the whole Izziwotnot team had a brilliant time in Harrogate and can’t wait to get stuck into our plans for the coming year. We’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to everybody who made the week such a success, from contractors to customers. Hopefully we’ll see you all again for the Harrogate Nursery Fair 2011!

You can see more photos of our stand and the products on show at the Nursery Fair on our Facebook page. If you’d like more information on any of these products just drop us an email to enquiries@izziwotnot.com. If you have any feedback on the show we’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave us a comment!

We want you to enjoy visiting our website each and every time, which is why we created our blog to provide regular food for thought and hopefully inspiration!

 We would also love to hear from you, so please feel free to comment. Let us know what you think of the things going on in the world, the joys of being a parent, our ranges, our service or anything that is important to you.

We care about what you think and want to know what we can do to make this amazing time even more special for you, so we invite everyone to reply to posts, send us your ideas, stories or even photographs, as we are always happy to meet our extended family.

Love

Izzi.  xx