Lee from Accend Web Solutions

Hello everyone,

This is a big thank you post to Lee who developed, maintains and supports our website.

Lee is a web developer with over 15 years experience of web design, as he has worked in a variety of environments from higher education, to design houses in covent garden.

Accend Web Solutions started over 6 years ago, and he has built up an impressive list of clients, and we wont to give something back for all his efforts, in letting everybody know that he is a fantastic developer, who can create the perfect website for your needs, and is always looking for new clients to support his family.

If anybody wants a new website, wants an old one re-designed or if you have an expensive maintenace contract with somebody else, then look no further than Lee.

His website is www.accend4web.co.uk ; his email is info@accend4web.co.uk and his mobile number is 07951178120.

Cheers for reading.

Amanda

Happy Christmas From Little Acorns

For most ecommerce owners, the next two days is pretty much all the business they will get this Christmas, as our’s peaked around the end of the first week of December and its been slowing down to an almost trickle now. Obviosuly most of that is due to dwindling stock, but the main reason is the big part Royal Mail play in all of this, as we rely on them to deliver the toys we sell.

The weather has caused loads of delays, and in honesty you can’t trust that the item will arrive in time, so most people dont take the risk after the second week really, especially abroad, which showed as our last order overseas was the first day of December.

We have been online for nearly 5 years, and its great that we can plan the amount of stock we need, and also plan when to expect the sales to drop, so we can then build for the next peak.

The only thing is now, I’ve got to start my shopping, and I expect there is hardly anything left, but thats just me being paranoid, and will be hitting the shops this weekend, to finish it all off.

I wanted to say thank you to all our shoppers and visitors in 2010, and good luck to you all in 2011, as it seems things arent going to improve much with the economy, wo we hope next year we can bring in some more lines, and try and keep our prices either level, or just below the main stores.

Thank you again, you have all been stars, and its great to also see people make use of the blog to post messages about our stock, hope some of you got some replies.

Lots of love

Amanda

xxx

First of all I would like to apologise for the huge gap in our blog posts, we have been quite busy, and in honesty I think I suffered a bit of writers block. I try to make every post interesting, and just rambling on about nothing to do with Little Acorns is pointless.

But I wanted to share with you what we recently experienced, and is a key factor between big toy companies and little ones.

We had a little stall at our children’s school to raise funds for school projects, which went very well, and we sold quite a few toys, but more importantly we had some great feedback and made some new friends.

Anyway get to the point Amanda, we sold more toys that struggle online, and this took us back a bit.

The toys that have done well for us online went well, but the toys that we have struggled to sell went like crazy.

The toys I’m talking about, are the Waybuloo Picture Magnetic Board:

Waybuloo Magnetic Picture Build

and,

Peppa Pig Camping Theme Make and Play Card Playset:

Peppa Pig Camping Theme Make and Play Card Playset

The boxes these toys come in are very attractive, they are a perfect size for birthday presents, and they are reasonably priced. We in fact havent sold many of these at all online, and on that day we sold every one of them, and some mothers asked when we getting more in, so all in all it went well.

It’s a shame that we can’t demonstrate the toys better online, so that customers can see how nice they are,  and that is the advantage that shoppers have when they go to the high street.

Just thought I’d get that off my chest, and hopefully I will get back to posting more often.

Come on sun, where are you! Typical, as soon as summer holiday start, the weather turns for the worst.

Amanda

xx

Frustrated month of May

Hello everybody and I hope we didn’t disappoint anybody in May with our website not showing at first, and then our website not allowing payments to be processed.

The story begins at the beginning of May, where we upgraded our servers and then it happened!

Our website wasn’t showing…

The upgrade didn’t agree with our website for some reason, and so we had 3 weeks of frustration waiting for it to be sorted out.

Then it appeared last week, but one kind customer let us know that he couldn’t pay for his item. So that’s when we had a week and a half of the site showing, and no orders could be processed.

Anyway, we are now fully operational, and hopefully we can resume normal service and sell our wonderful stock all around the world.

Thanks again for reading this, and we hope to see you soon.

Kind Regards

Amanda Elliott

Mr Maker Making Kits CBeebies

Hello again, 

It’s half term its the beginning of summer and its raining with the possibility of snow! Great. 

Okey dokey I’m going to introduce you to one of our best sellers, and that’s the Mr Maker Making Kits as seen on CBeebies here in the UK. 

They are a favourite at Christmas as a stocking filler, and they also seem to go in 5′s & 10′s too, so I’m guessing they are going into party bags. Which is quite posh really, as our children’s party bags are a mish mash of small toys, sweets and some birthday cake. 

We have a nice selection of Mr Maker Making Kits, it’s not the full range as we where originally trying the range out, but they are selling pretty good, and so soon we will be adding the rest of the range, and maybe also adding a few more characters in the making kits range. 

First up is Mister Maker Pom Pom Animals: 

Mister Maker Pom Pom Animals

This Pom Pom Animals kit allows you to make 10 animals and contains Chenille Stems, Felt Sheets, Wiggly Eyes, PVA Glue Stick & Threading Pom Poms. 

Mister Maker Card Making: 

Mister Maker Card Making

Pack contains: coloured cards, envelopes, holographic card, paper, wiggly eyes, glitter glue, PVA glue stick, foam shapes, yarn, sequin swirls, felt tips and instructions.

Mister Maker Sponge Painting: 

Mister Maker Sponge Painting

This Sponge Painting kit allows you to make 10 pictures and contains Paint Palette, Sponge Shapes, Paintbrush & Card Sheets. 

 Mister Maker Endangered Animal Hand Puppets: 

Mister Maker Endangered Animal Hand Puppets

This Endangered Animal Hand Puppets kit allows you to make 3 pictures and contains Animal Print Felt Cutouts, Yarn, PVA Glue, Plastic Needle & Wiggly Eyes. 

Mister Maker Make A Face: 

Mister Maker Make A Face

This Make A Face kit allows you to make 10 faces and contains Chenille Stems, Pom Poms Lollipop Sticks, Wiggly Eyes, Foam Hearts & Printed Badge Blanks. 

Mister Maker Sock Puppets: 

Mister Maker Sock Puppets

This Sock Puppets kit allows you to make 3 puppets and contains Striped Socks, Pom Poms, Wiggly Eyes, Foam Hearts, PVA Glue & Feathers.

Mister Maker Pencil Topper: 

Mister Maker Pencil Topper

This Pencil Topper Making kit allows you to make 10 Pencil Toppers and contains Threading Pom Poms, Chenille Stems, Foam Sheets, Wiggly Eyes, Feathers & PVA Glue. 

Mister Maker Finger Puppet Making: 

Mister Maker Finger Puppet Making

This Finger Puppet Making kit allows you to make 6 Puppets and contains Felt Sheets, Fuzzy Cord, Feathers, Wiggly Eyes, Glitter Glue, Glue Stick, Foam Shapes & Templates. 

Mister Maker Pop Up Card Making: 

Mister Maker Pop-Up Card Making

This Pop-Up Card making kit allows you to make 5 Cards and contains Coloured Card, Envelopes, Patterned Paper, Felt Tips, PVA Glue & Templates. 

Thank you again, that was actually quite a long post. 

Have a nice day 

Amanda

Little Acorns Top 5 Best Sellers

Hello all,

As I’m writing this I’m looking out and its pouring down with rain, and I have just heard on the news that this summer is going to be the best on record – Funny thing is they said the same last year, and I can remember we had one good week!

Anyway, I thought you might be interested in our “Top Five” for March, and the top five being the top five best sellers for us this month.

1. Shaun The Sheep
2. Elmer The Elephant
3. Wallace & Gromit
4. Mr Maker Making Kits
5. Waybuloo

The number one seller Shaun The Sheep, is no shock to us in honesty, as it fills that position nearly every month. We have a good customer base in the UK, and a very good customer base in Europe & America.

Elmer coming in second is due to our European customers, whilst Wallace & Gromit does well in the UK and America. Mr Maker seems to be a UK market toy for us, I actually don’t remember one Mr Maker toy being sent overseas, but as it’s a CBBC show, that would make sense really.

And last but not least is our brand new Waybuloo toys, as we have sold quite a few of the very nice wooden toys to customers in the UK and America.

I hope you found that a little interesting, as it was a quick blog entry really.

Thanks again for reading, and I hope we can all enjoy a nice summer this year with the children.

http://www.littleacornsgifts.co.uk

Cheers

Amanda

Stripy Horse Soft Toy

Stripy Horse Soft Toy is a very famous character from books written by Jim Helmore and illustrated by Karen Wall. 

He is a firm favourite with school children, as we have sold a lot of these toys directly to teachers and have also sent bulk orders to schools around the UK.

The feedback we have had has been great, and it mostly involves the Stripy Horse toy helping the children build up the character when reading the brilliant books. 

Stripy Horse Soft Toy

He once again is a very high quality toy, and also very popular, as shown by us currently being out of stock of them but we are due a few boxes soon, and once we have we will let you all know straight away. We are also looking into making the book available from our store soon, and this will be a fantastic opportunity for moms to buy the book and the toy together for bed time reading with their young children. 

Thanks again for reading this post, you can subscribe to our blog which will keep you up to date on all new posts. 

Diolch 

Amanda Elliott

World Book Day 2010

WorldBookDay.com  

World Book Day is for many parents one of the best days in the school calendar. It’s a chance to dress the children up as characters from their favourite books, or in this years case as characters from classic or fairy tale books.  

Our children are lucky enough to be in a fantastic primary school in Monmouthshire and every year I have dressed them up in handmade costumes ready for World Book Day, and this year has been no exception.  

Let me introduce The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Tick Tock Crocodile from Peter Pan. (Tada!)  

World Book Day 2010 - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

World Book Day 2010 - Tick Tock Crocodile from Peter Pan

Our daughter went as the Crocodile and our son went as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and I was so proud to see them up on the stage.   

Would be lovely to see any comments from other moms and what you did, and how much they enjoyed the day too.  

Have a lovely day  

Amanda (Proud Mum)

As promised in my first Shaun The Sheep post, I would let you all know once the stock had arrived, and it has arrived and the truth is I am having to order more beanies as they went so quickly. So if you want to buy one from us and its isn’t there, we will have some more in by the end of next week. 

The first Shaun The Sheep toy in our store was ‘Shivering Shaun The Sheep’: 

Shivering Shaun The Sheep

Shivering Shaun the Sheep is so cute and is a perfect cuddle companion. Pull Shivering Shaun’s tail to make him shiver, but with the winter we just had, I’m sure he would have shivered anyway! 

He’s made from a soft woolly material, and a simple wash will keep him clean, especially with all that farmyard muck around. 

Our next Shaun toys are the very, very popular beanie toys. These are always the first to run out and this year we have a new character beanie in Whistling Shirley beanie toy. 

Shaun the Sheep Whistling Shirley Soft Toy

Shirley is the biggest sheep in the gang, and she does have a rather nasty wind problem, but her size allows Shaun to be more creative with his antics. 

Our other beanie, is Whistling Shaun, again same as Shirley, you squeeze their bellies, and they whistle the Shaun The Sheep theme tune, sang and written by Vick Reeves. 

Shaun the Sheep Whistling Mini Soft Toy

Shaun is made from a durable woolly material that is extremely soft to touch, and is the perfect pocket-money toy. 

Another toy that made it through from 2009 is the Stick on Shaun The Sheep, and these are great fun for young ones to play with in the car. It’s funny as I see them as I make my way in and home everyday, and sometimes wonder if it was bought from us, I doubt it mind as they are in most big toy stores, but its a nice thought. 

Stick on Shaun The Sheep

Stick on Shaun The Sheep has suction pads on his paws so he can be stuck to any window, mirror or any other suitable surface. 

He does have stick on company in Stick on Little Lamb on Board, Timmy is the baby in the gang, but he’s so cute and again one of these stuck on the car window, is great fun for babies and young kids, or even young at heart adults like myself. 

Stick on Little Lamb on Board

Stick on Timmy is currently out of stock, but we hopefully will be having more in soon. 

There is more Shaun The Sheep toys coming in the summer and once they are available, I will post them on here. 

Thanks again for reading our blog, have a nice day. 

Amanda

Classic Snoopy Retro Toys

Snoopy is a retro cartoon character who started out in the US and quickly become a hit in the UK and probably anywhere else he was shown. Obviously Snoopy was Charlie Browns pet dog from Peanuts written by Charles Schulz, who in many eyes eventually became the main character.   

Little Acorns has a nice range of Snoopy toys in stock, and there are so many available. But we have stuck with the classic range, as it’s the most popular and will more than likely out live me and you.   

We currently have 3 different toys in stock as shown below, and we will be adding to this range at some stage before the summer 2010.   

Medium Original Snoopy Plush:   

Medium Original Snoopy Plush

The Medium Snoopy stands at 21cm and is our largest snoopy soft toy. He is a very high quality toy, and the exact classic look of Snoopy. He comes with Original Snoopy tags, and is a very nice collectable toy or perfect for any fan or child starting out on Charlie Browns adventures with his beagle Snoopy.   

Snoopy In A Retro Gift Bag:   

Snoopy In A Retro Gift Bag

This is our Snoopy beanie toy, and comes sitting in a cute paper bag, with Classic Snoopy all over the bag. Snoopy again comes with a tag, and is a very high quality gift or keep sake.  

Original Snoopy Key-ring 9cm  

Snoopy & Woodstock Keyrings

Last but not least we have the ever-present Snoopy Key-ring, but this time he has his friend Woodstock, and Snoopy himself comes in 2 forms. The one Snoopy key ring has a lovely red hat, and the other Snoopy is wearing a new red jumper, depends what the weather is like I suppose, as to which one you choose.  

Thanks again for reading through this Snoopy post, and once we receive more Snoopy stock I will update this category straight away.  

Have a nice week  

Amanda