NinaSayCheese loves our Deer-Princess warm water bottle

Winter is just around the corner and we've had a few cold nights, but we found the prettiest way to keep warm. This mini warm water bottle is 21 x 12cm - a little bigger than my hand- the perfect little size for Nina.
The deer-princess and hearts are two of our favourite things (think Bambi) and the wool so soft and cosy. Its a Princess Lillifee [http://www.prinzessinlillifee.de/en/] product, we love it!

Water_bottle

Lexi's Hip Hip Hooray! tea party

Lexi and her best friend Clare have a lot of fun together, they love swimming and have their own secret hideout, they also had a lot of fun playing at our tea party.
It was a very "special occasion tea party" - The pretty Lexi celebrated her 6th birthday with us. She says the best thing about a birthday is having friends and yummy cake, she sums it up as a lovely friendly day.
"Turning 6 is great as you are getting bigger and you are standing taller, closer to the size of a grown up."  She likes chocolate and vanilla mixed cake, but it must have sprinkles, and your tea must be sweet. Lexi also likes the colour red, because its nice for lipstick and her favourite vegetable is broccoli with butter (We think thats very grown up!)
She loves her grandpa because he makes her laugh. She has 4 pets: "Sinatra is a Siamese. He jumps a lot. Friday is a chocolate Burmese. She is friends with Sinatra.
Billy Bob is a staffie. He chases us and sleeps on the couch.
Charlie is a beagle. He likes to play catches with us." 

Knock knock
Who's there?
Lexi
Lexi who?
Let's see whose on the other side.  (This is Lexi's own joke)

We really love birthday tea parties and we are sure you can tell from the pictures that these pretty girls had a fabulous time.

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NinaSayCheese adores Bambi

Our favourite story at the moment is the classic, Bambi - a life in the woods. The novel was written in 1923 by Felix Salten. Thanks Felix. It has been translated and enjoyed in over twenty languages around the world and especially in our world. Not only do we love that it is one of the first environmental novels, the Disney animated film (1942) has the most lovable characters - Thumper and Flower and the best soundtrack. We love "Little April shower" - this is what we are singing at the moment :

Drip, drip, drop Little April shower
Beating a tune
As you fall all around 

Drip, drip, drop
Little April shower
What can compare
To your beautiful sound 

Drip, drip, drop
When the sky is cloudy
Your pretty music
Can brighten the day 

Drip, drip, drop
When the sun says howdy
You say goodbye right away 

Drip, drip drop
Little April shower
Beating a tune
Ev'rywhere that you fall 

Drip, drip drop
Little April shower
I'm getting wet
And I don't care at all 

Drip, drop, drip, drop
I'll never be afraid
Of a good little
Gay little
April serenade 

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NinaSayCheese loves Victoria Ball our illustrator

We receive so many lovely compliments about our beautiful website and it's time to give credit where it's due. Victoria Ball is our fantastic illustrator, here is a bit more about her.

Victoria graduated from Falmouth College of Arts, Cornwall, with a first class BA Hons in Illustration. Having spent time illustrating in-house in London and Bath, she now works from her Gloucestershire based studio. 
Victoria has produced artwork for a broad range of clients and markets both in the UK and Internationally. She continues to enjoy illustrating for children's books, magazines, merchandising, advertising and packaging. 
Her mixed media style is achieved by digitally combining, through the use of Adobe Photoshop, hand drawn and painted elements with photography and sourced pattern.

We found her at [www.illustrationweb.com] ,they represent her and here Vicky from Illustrationweb chats with her:
Vicky: What drew you to illustration/design? Victoria: I have always loved art and drawing, it just seemed like a natural progression. My parents are both artistic and were very encouraging. My Mum has a keen eye for design and has been making jewellery for many years and my Dad is a talented draughtsman. Vicky: Do you have any formal design training? Victoria: Yes, I studied illustration at Falmouth college of Arts, Cornwall. I have many happy memories from my time there. Vicky:Where are you originally from? Victoria: Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK.Vicky: Where do you live now & what drew you there? Victoria: I moved around a fair bit after leaving Falmouth, but decided a couple of years ago to move back to the Cotswolds. It's a beautiful part of the world and I love that I can hop on a train to London and be there within a couple of hours.Vicky: Where is your studio and can you describe it for me? Victoria: I have a studio at the top of my house, which is lovely and light. I've recently started renting studio space at a converted paint factory in Bristol, too. I work from there a few days a week and the rest of the time from home. It gets me out(!) and it's inspiring, being around other creative people. Vicky: Do you collect anything? Victoria: I love typography and collect shop sign letters. I have them dotted all around my house. I also collect vintage hardbacks and antique greetings cards and postcards, as much for the handwritten messages inside as for the design. I love some of the kitsch graphics and typography you can find on book jackets from the 1950s and 60s, it's a great place to find interesting colourways, too.Vicky: Do you keep a scrapbook? Victoria: I keep notebooks, where I jot down my ideas and doodles. Any drawings found in these are like short hand, for me to remember an idea. I don't keep a scrapbook but my computer desktop is awash with images that have caught my attention. The top drawer of my plan chest holds lots of miscellaneous snippets too.Vicky: Tell us about a favourite project you’ve recently completed.Victoria: I was asked recently to produce a series of food illustrations for the Sunday Times Style supplement, I really enjoyed working on these. Who’d have thought painting a poached egg would be so much fun?!Vicky: What would be your dream job/commission? Victoria: To have the opportunity and plenty of time to write and illustrate my own children's book. Vicky: Who is/are your illustration hero/es? Victoria: Eric Carle, Charley Harper, Quentin Blake, Lisbeth Zwerger. Vicky: Who is/are your musical hero/es? Victoria: Paul Kossoff, Free. Vicky: If you could travel back in time which period would you visit & why? Victoria: August 1970, for the Isle of Wight festival.

It was a great pleasure to meet and work with her and see our little world come alive. Visit her site for more of her magical work : [www.victoria-ball.co.uk

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Fun at the circus with Zara and Bailey

Our Circus got new lights and Zara and Bailey loved them. We do too. These super cute sisters were the first photographed at NinaSayCheese so we were delighted to see them again. I am sure we have mentioned that we are huge fans of their mom's shop In Good Company [www.ingoodcompany.co.za] and we did a little project together which we will share with you later. Guess who had the most popcorn? Bailey loves popcorn. Zara WOWed us with her magic tricks and balancing acts. She is a natural.

Cant wait to see you again girls!

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NinaSayCheese loves Mr. Jeremy Fisher

Peter Rabbit introduced us to Mr. Jeremy Fisher, and we love all rabbits' friends. It's the beautiful tale written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. Thanks to Nina's granny we have the original little book that her dad used to read and we cherish it. We love his shiny shoes and friends- Mr Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise and Sir Isaac Newton. 
Here are some of our favourite parts in the book: "I will get some worms and go fishing and catch a dish of minnows for my dinner," said Jeremy Fisher. "If I catch more than five fish, I will invite my friends mr Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise and Sir Isaac Newton. The Alderman, however, eats salad."........." Mr. Jeremy bounced up to the surface of the water, like a cork and the bubbles out of a soda water bottle; and he swam with all his might to the edge of the pond. ........ "And instead of a nice dish of minnows- they had a roasted grasshopper with lady-bird sauce; which frogs consider a beautiful treat; but I think it must have been nasty! "

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NinaSayCheese loves The princess and the pea

Once upon a time we fell in love with the story of The Princess and the pea, then we found the princess doll, complete with the bed and the pea from Maileg ! It also has a small book with the fairy tale and beautiful illustrations. We love Maileg, such clever people! [www.maileg.dk] Thanks to In Good Company [www.ingoodcompany.co.za] we did not have to go to Denmark to buy it- But we would have, its that cute. Here is the story as written in the little book and some pictures we took.
There was a prince who wanted to marry a real princess. There were plenty princesses, but it was hard to know whether they were real princesses. The prince went all over the world looking for a true princess. But there was always something the matter with them. So the prince had to return home without having found a real princess. Then, one night, there was a terrible storm. The lightning flashed, the thunder roared and the rain poured down. In the middle of the storm there was a knock at the door of the castle and the old king went to open it. There, standing outside, was a princess, but it was hard to tell. The rain ran down her face and her hair, her dress was drenched and her gold shoes were completely sodden and muddy. She said that she was a real princess, looking for shelter from the rain. "We will see about that!" thought the old queen. "We can easily find out whether she's telling the truth." She went into a bedroom and placed a small pea under the mattress of the bed. Then she laid 7 thick mattresses on top, and there the princess should sleep for the night.
In the morning, the queen asked the princess how she had slept. "Oh, dreadfully. I hardly slept a wink all night." replied the princess. "I feel as if Ive slept on a stone, it was awful! Goodness knows what was in the bed?" Then everyone knew that she was a real princess because she had been able to feel the tiniest pea through seven thick mattresses. "Only a true princess could be so sensitive," said the prince. So saying he asked the princess to marry him, because he knew that he had finally found a real princess. The pea was gilded, and to this day it is still shining on the tiny hand of the princess.

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Kayla and Josh clowning around

Kayla and Josh had such fun in our circus set-
According to Kayla, she loved dressing up in clothes that were not too girly! She liked the popcorn the most, especially when her and Josh got to throw it at each other and make a huge mess and did not have to clean it up! She said it was fun that they got to act crazy. Her favourite picture of all was the skittles and how we“magicked” the third skittle into the photo. She LOVES that one. The sad clown photo makes her laugh because she was not sad at all when the picture was taken, just acting. She thinks the pilot one would also be cool, and wants to know when she can come and play again.
We hope to see you soon! The pilot set has a few new things like a wind sock and real wind to blow your (beautiful) hair back Kayla! We are sure Josh will look super cool in the aviator goggles.

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