:: Trek Morocco ::

We’re extremely grateful to Johanna at Pamper Cake, as her generous donation to TrekMorocco took the total to over £1500.

Nappy Cake was launched in 2006 by Johanna and a colleague. Johanna then
took sole control of the business in June 2008 and introduced the new
range of Pamper Cakes to cater for every occasion.

Johanna & Katy set-up their Children’s Boutique in August 2004, although
a successful Toy & Gift shop, they were continuously striving to
find ultimate & unique gifts when they discovered the Diaper Cake
in America. In very little time the Nappy Cakes became a huge success
and not only were they selling them through their local store, but
also despatching them on a National scale.

Pamper Cake offers a range of unique gift options from the Organic cake
which includes eco –friendly nappies, sleepsuit, hat, mittens, bib
and bodysuit through to a wedding cake made from white cotton towels
which includes twister party topper, a pair of flip flops, sweets
with just married written through them and champagne glass shaped
bubbles. There are also congratulation cakes, chocolate gifts,
children’s party boxes, teenagers pamper cakes and hen night boxes.
You can even design your own nappy cake by selecting the colours and
products to go in the cake.

To see the full range please visit www.pampercake.co.uk

A BIG thank you to Jo at Stealing Candy for her donation of a this lovely Fairtrade finger puppet set (below) for our ebay auction site. Our ebay site raises money for Trek Morocco/Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity.

Stealing Candy was set up after Jo realised how difficult it is to shop for clothes and gifts with children in tow. The website focuses on clothing and gifts for children up to the age of 4. From the beautiful, and very colourful babygros through to a lovely range of T-shirts for older children, Jo has sourced perfect gifts for either your own children or those of friends and relatives.

As well as the clothing range there is also a range of toys, gift sets and party products. The toys include Fair Trade Knitted sets of cupcakes, vegetable rattles and finger puppets. So as well as being a beautiful gift they are ensuring that the people who made them received a fair price. There is also a variety of soft, colourful animals to choose from. The range of party products includes material party bags and fabric bunting a lovely reusable alternative to the plastic ones available on the High Street.

Stealing Candy will be at the Baby Show at Earls Court (stand B24) on October 17^th -19^th. Alternatively visit the website and see the wonderful range of products; www.stealingcandy.co.uk

Many thanks to Lucy at Little Cherry for her donation of a wooden fire engine and wooden train for our charity ebay auction site. See http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/tishtashtoystrekmorocco

Lucy set up her eco-friendly party supplies business with the vision of educating children about the environment in a fun way, foremost in her mind. She thought that by getting children involved in the organisation of an eco-friendly party it would not only get away from the plastic disposable nature of children’s party products, but would also enable parents to teach children about the environment in a way that they could easily understand and enjoy.

The fantastic range of products available from Little Cherry includes all your party needs from 100% beeswax birthday candles, biodegradable balloons and compostable ribbon through to reusable fabric bunting a, recycled decorations and biodegrable tableware.

Lucy has also developed a range of filled party bags to save busy parents time when it comes to organising a party. The party bags are available at a range of prices, and in a choice of party bag from colourful paper bags to a wonderful range of handmade fabric bags in a whole host of designs. Each party bag can be filled with traditional wooden toys that have been given a modern twist which your children will love. From a traditional wooden toy train set that any child would adore to party bag fillers like clown cars or spinning tops to party bag toy jewellery and pretty hair accessories. So, why not help the environment and educate our children whilst providing your guests with gorgeous party bags to remember.

Visit www.littlecherry.co.uk to see the range available.

Tired tonight after a 9 mile training walk from the coastal village of Beer in Devon, up through Seaton to Lyme Regis in Dorset. I’m going to Morocco on 11th September to walk up Mount Toukbal for charity, so if you are reading this, please take two minutes to donate a pound or two.

Dry day but very very muddy paths, after a week of rain. Passed about a dozen other walkers so not busy but everyone really chatty today, all helping each other out with the slippery wet path conditions etc. Walking stick helped a lot, to steady me on the sludgy bits, over the five hours I was walking. Only stopped for a ten minute lunch and arrived in Lyme Regis an hour earlier than expected, so I must be getting faster! The Lyme Regis undercliffs nature reserve area was stunning, like a rainforest, dark, lush, lots of ferns. The reserve which is managed by Natural England is one of the largest active coastal landslide systems in Western Europe. The National Nature Reserve forms part of the 95 mile long Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and contains rocks from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods of geological time. The rocks get younger as you walk from Axmouth in the west to Lyme Regis in the east.

Hubby and the kids dropped me off in Beer, then the walk up to Seaton only seemed to take about 40 minutes. Nothing much to write home about in Seaton so passed through there quickly and on to Lyme Regis. The official south west coast path website says it’s A challenging walk over uneven terrain, and due to the clay soils sections of the path can be muddy and slippery after wet weather. Note, once you have entered the Undercliff there are no paths leading inland (or seaward) and it generally takes about 3½ - 4 hours to reach Lyme Regis.

I really enjoyed today, even the mud. I was talking to a fellow walker and he described it as quite technically challenging. It was a challenge, but a fun one and after the nine miles, I was just really pleased that I didn’t fall flat on my bum in the mud - even once!!!

Don’t forget to make a quick donation to Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity!

Thanks to Amanda at Peruvian Knitwear for her donation of two beautiful Rainbow Berets for our Trek Morocco ebay auction. Amanda’s gorgeous hats are only on our ebay until Saturday 16th August 2008 but you can purchase them anytime on the wonderful Peruvian Knitwear website www.peruvianknitwear.co.uk

The history of Peruvian Knitwear starts when Amanda had her first child and received lots of brightly coloured knitwear from her husband’s relatives in Peru. Amanda received such admiring comments from people regarding the items that she decided to set up Peruvian Knitwear.

Amanda sources products made from the highly sought after fibre Alpaca, which comes from an animal native to the Andes in Peru (the Alpaca’s cousin is the llama).

The fibre is renowned for the fact that it is not only very insulating but is also lightweight, and actually breathes better than thermal clothing due to the fibres having microscopic air pockets. Alpaca is a luxurious product as it is as soft and smooth as Cashmere and Angora and this is why it is known in Peru as ‘El oro de los Andes’ or ‘The Gold of the Andes’. There is a wide range of products available on the website from beautiful baby cardigans, children’s hats and jumpers, through to women’s ponchos and cardigans.

The factories where the knitwear is made pay their workers a fair wage and workers also have pension and healthcare rights. So, when shopping at Peruvian Knitwear you can be assured of the ethical credentials of the products. To see Amanda’s beautiful range of products please visit www.peruvianknitwear.co.uk

Thank you to Louise from Tiny Feet Designs for her recent donation, taking our sponsorship total to almost £1500 !!!

Louise started Tiny Feet Designs after she had her children and found herself juggling childcare, work and all their commitments. Louise felt that she was losing her quality of life and made the decision to do something about it and so Tiny Feet Designs was conceived. Louise trained as a Graphic Designer and had always kept up her skills, so she decided to combine two areas she knew - babies and design!

Louise offers a beautiful range of personalised cards for birth announcements, birthday parties, christenings, weddings and events. Louise also personalises a range of gifts including t-shirts, bags, bibs and calendars. All designs are individual and tailored to your own particular requirements.

Louise has also started Tiny Business Design to help other work at home mums and people starting small businesses. This includes helping new businesses with designing their logos and offering variety of packages to help fit within their budgets for their design and advertising needs. Louise also offers special discounts for work at home mums who are just starting out.

Louise says ‘With all these lines, I like to ensure that my friendly personal service is key and to ensure all new mums know I understand the demands of life with a new born and the skill you learn of baby in one hand and typing in the other.’

To view Louise’s range of fantastic products, please see www.tinyfeetdesigns.co.uk

To make a donation to Sharon Pavey’s Rainbow Trust appeal and find out more about how you can have an article all about your website added to this blog - simply visit www.justgiving.com/tishtashtoys

Looking for a job in the run up to Christmas?

We are recruiting at www.tishtashtoys.com

Thank you to Jolene at Babi Pur for her donation of a wooden fire engine and a wooden mouse stacking toy for our charity ebay auction site. They will help to raise more funds for Trek Morocco and Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity.

Babi Pur is a family run business set up by Jolene, and is based on the edge of Snowdonia. Babi Pur is Welsh for pure baby and everything sold by Jolene reflects that. All the products have been carefully researched to ensure that Fair trade standards and environmental impact are always the highest priority.

Babi Pur sells a wide range of products including baby and children’s clothing, bedding, washable nappies, skincare and a whole host of other items. Some of the items – such as the fantastic rocking sheep pictured below - are made locally in Wales using natural ingredients and materials. Other products are made in developing countries and carry the Fairtrade mark.

So if you are looking for baby or children’s products and want to be assured of their natural origins and fair-trade credentials why not visit Babi Pur – www.babipur.co.uk

Thank you to Rochelle at Bambino Merino for her generous donation to the Trek Morocco sponsorship.

Bambino Merino was launched by Rochelle after the birth of her son in 2005. She found that when he was dressed in clothes made of synthetic materials that he became hot, sweaty and uncomfortable. This inspired Rochelle to create a range of natural sleeping bags and clothing made from merino wool.

The superfine fibres of the merino wool are lightweight and soft so there are no worries about irritating delicate skin, making it ideal for eczema sufferers. The merino wool is breathable which helps to regulate the body temperature ensuring that your baby is kept warm but not too hot, trapping or circulating air as needed. This means that they are warm in winter, but cool in summer – so no need to worry about which TOG rating you need to use, unlike other sleeping bags. All the products sold by Bambino Merino are machine washable and can be tumble dried on a low heat.

The flexible design of the baby sleeping bags means that they are suitable from 3-24 months; you simply adjust the size of the arm holes using the cleverly positioned poppers. This means no more having to buy the next size up as your baby grows. The poppers and full length zip also mean that the sleeping bags can be fully opened for night-time nappy changes.

With the success of the sleeping bag, Rochelle has extended the range of products available and you can now buy sleepsuits, pyjamas, bodysuits and hats made from the same quality merino wool.

So if you are looking for night clothing made from 100% natural fibres and an alternative to the synthetic sleeping bags and nightwear visit www.bambinomerino.com to see Rochelle’s fantastic range.

Thank you to the extremely lovely presenter Judi Spiers for her generous donation to our Rainbow Trust appeal this week. You can see details of all our donations on here www.justgiving.com/tishtashtoys

Here is Judi, pictured above with a moggy who looks spookily similar to my own handsome boy Robbie! I’m particularly grateful to Judi as I imagine she’s a pretty busy lady with her show on BBC Radio 2 every weekday morning 8.55am - midday. Over the past couple of years Judi’s interviewed a host of new and established performers and celebrities including; Katherine Jenkins, Harry Hill, Joss Stone, Joe Pasquale, Tony Christie, Gene Simmons (from Kiss), Nancy Sinatra, Ben Elton, Russell Watson, Joanna Trollope, Noel Edmunds… and loads more!

She’s also had live sessions from some of the best local and visiting performers to the region like Hayseed Dixie, Show of Hands, Seth Lakeman and Chas & Dave. There’s regular ’specialist’ music slots that cover genres from classic and contemporary Rock, Country & Americana to Vintage & Classic soul and Folk and Roots.