My latest find ...

I'm not entirely sure what women did on maternity leave before Facebook, probably all of the sorts of things I should be doing! Nevertheless, I made a new Facebook discovery a couple of months ago; The Crafty Mouse, and I have been stalking her page ever since. The Crafty Mouse, the talented Emma Chapman, makes beautiful keepsakes from your baby's clothes; turning them into things like Bunny's, Roary the Lion, Polo the Pony, Sparky the Dragon, Deano the Dinosaur and Scraps the Dog, to name but a few ... All of which have been designed by The Crafty Mouse, herself.


So how does this work ... ? Well, The Crafty Mouse is a very hardworking lady, who as well as being a mum and turning people's precious baby clothes into keepsakes, has a full-time job. Therefore there is a waiting list, which you need to get your name on. When your turn comes about you send off your baby clothes, then begins the eager, stalker like, wait for The Crafty Mouse to work her magic; this can take about four weeks (this time-frame has been taken from http://www.thecraftymouse.co.uk/). Prices for keepsakes range from £15-£25 (prices are correct at the time of this post but are due to change in the New Year), though personally I would pay a lot more for something so special and unique. You can also have your keepsake personalised for an extra £3.50. 


I was lucky enough to "jump" the queue as I placed a bid, which was subsequently the winning bid, on a Roary that was kindly donated to a charity auction by The Crafty Mouse.  

Our finished Roary. 

Close up of the personalisation - Riley 17.05.11

All of the items I sent for this keepsake were some of the first clothes Riley wore. Instead of being stuffed into boxes and forgotten about, we now have a beautiful keepsake which I can display and Riley can keep forever. 

These clothes are similar to some of the items I sent to The Crafty Mouse.

I absolutely Love this personalised Roary and I'm still on the waiting list awaiting my "proper" turn. When this comes around, I will be ordering a Sparky the Dragon and Deano the Dinosaur. The quality of these keepsakes is amazing, as are the prices for such a great product. I would definitely recommend getting one!