Lions and Tigers

My little boy, Jake, is going through a phase of being obsessed with lions and tigers. I’m not sure if it’s because he has African blood running through his veins or that he’s a 2 ½ year old boy’s boy who loves all things fierce!

He recently had chicken pox so I thought I would cheer him up and show him all the beautiful, colourful designs in my Happy Spaces catalogue books. I wasn’t surprised when he homed in on these 2 Carla Daly prints:

He loved them and kept asking me to take them out so he could run around and play with them. Since then I have found him a few times hiding under my desk with my catalogue books trying to find the lion and tigers! After that, I thought I would score some points with him and bring home our ‘You’re a Star’ sample for his room. Well, you should have seen his little face light up when I walked through the door with the picture....... major, major points on the ‘Best Mummy’ scale.

Happy Mothers' Day from Happy Spaces

To all the Mums out there,

We know how hard you work, even though a lot of what you do may go unnoticed ...
We know that, in the eyes of your kids, you are a superhero ...
We know that there is nothing like a mother’s kind words, soft touch or healing kiss ...
We salute you all and we hope that your day on Sunday is filled with love, laughter and happiness!

Lesley Grainger joins Happy Spaces!

Happy Spaces are delighted to announce that our online collection will soon be blessed with the addition of 13 exclusive artworks by artist Lesley Grainger. We have been so excited to unveil these wonderful designs and are especially happy to say that they hold something special for both boys and girls! …we’ll let you know as soon as they're available in our online gallery and hopefully give you just enough time to decide which one’s the perfect pic for your little tot.

Praise for “The Reading Bee”

We recently found out that "The Reading Bee" was selected to go in the Association of Illustrators, Images 34 book. For those of you who don’t know about this competition here is a bit of information from their website:

“Images is the UK's leading illustration competition, annual, awards show, and touring exhibition dedicated to showcasing the very best contemporary illustration published in the UK.

Images is unique in that it is Britain's only jury-selected illustration competition, judged by a highly regarded panel of industry experts, spanning multiple categories. Each entry is marked according to how well the work fulfils the brief, originality, and technical ability. Only the highest scoring images are invited to feature in the annual, whose structure and design combines contemporary book design of the highest quality with functionality.”

Well done, Alison! Thoroughly deserved.

Happy Spaces Competition Winner

When Happy Spaces attended the Spirit of Christmas Fair at the end of last year we ran a competition. We invited those attending the fair to sign up to receive our newsletter for a chance to win a canvas of their choice.

Our lucky winner was Tora from Wiltshire. Tora was over the moon to have won and instantly chose the beautiful ‘Storytime Bunnies’ by Alison Jay for her daughter Ursula.

This is what Tora had to say:

“The canvas arrived on Saturday, wrapped exquisitely. We absolutely adore it and we've framed the postcard copy too and put that in our other daughter's room, so three happy girls! Thank you so, so much.”

Tora sent us the photo below - Looks like two happy bunnies! We know you will both enjoy this special piece for years to come.

and for those of you who also can't resist those cute, furry, bouncy creatures, here are some other beautiful 'bunny' prints available at Happy Spaces online gallery

happyspaces.co.uk - open for business!

Woo hoo! Excellent news .... our website has gone live! It has been a real rollercoaster ride of so many highs and lows along the way but what we have ended up with is a real labour of love for all concerned. We are so extremely proud of the result that we could just burst!

Special thanks needs to go to our designer, Alan Pitchforth, who has worked tirelessly to ensure that we have a site that captures the essence of Happy Spaces and is enjoyable to visit over and over again.

A big thank you also needs to go to our web developers, Blubolt, who have worked really hard to meet all of our perfectionist demands so that our site is exactly as we want it.

Take a peek at www.happyspaces.co.uk to explore the beautiful art on offer!

Kids and Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson talks on the importance of nurturing creativity in our children's education.

This video - from TED - (although a little old) is very funny, relevant and profoundly interesting, proper food for thought. Let us know your thoughts once you have had a look.