Three Cheers for a Right Royal Wedding!

We want to send our congratulations to the lovely HRH Prince William and Kate Middleton and wish them all the best. Our little Princesses have been getting into the party spirit, they certainly don't need to be asked twice to get their Princess dresses on!!

Simply Stripes

We love to have a stripe or two in our wardrobe and our new brand Milibe Copenhagen has some great stripes to choose from. We love their simple soft basics that combine a stripe with a rib and are available in long sleeve tops, leggings and a dress for the girls. For the tiny ones we have some cute all in ones that are fun yet practical. Check them out and say it with stripes :)

Here Come the Mums - Lorraine Liyanage

Photo by Lorenzo Ali

Another one of our Mum's is the lovely Lorraine Liyanage. Founder of the busy SE22 Piano School and Mum to daughter Bombi (2) Lorraine is kept busy teaching little ones & adults to tickle the ivories

1. Where do you look for inspiration?

Youtube - I'm always browsing for new piano music to learn and teach to my students.

2. Greatest influence

When it comes to the piano, my biggest influence is my teacher, Denise Patton.

3. What's on your wardrobe wishlist for your son/daughter this season?

Shoes! Sophie Schnoor ballet pumps are top of the list.

4. Name your favourite childrenswear designers

Hollys, the dresses and tights are gorgeous, I wish they made them in my size! I am also waiting for my daughter to grow into a really lovely jumpsuit I bought last season!

5. Name your and your childs most treasured possession

My daughter is quite fickle with possessions and usually breaks her favourite toys, but she is quite partial to her Pippi Longstocking cloth doll which is reasonably indestructible. Mine is my piano (of course!)

6. Earliest childhood memory

Getting off a plane in Australia when I was a toddler and being swamped by loads of bees. They were actually flies, but I wasn't impressed eitherway.


7. Describe your perfect family weekend

Going over to my mum and dad's in West London and eating lots and lots of Sri Lankan food, watching Come Dine With Me on catch-up, nipping down the road to catch up with my old school chums at the pub and then coming back home to eat some more!

8. Name the best kept secret in London

A blow-dry at Mathew Alexander Hair Salon just off Bond Street. The only place to go if you have long hair!

9. Name your and your childs favourite bedtime story

"Landy" by Veronica Lamond, about an old 1950s Land Rover that has been abandoned but is given a new lease of life by a young farmer. My boyfriend is a Land Rover enthusiast, just incase you are wondering about the oddness of the story choice.

10. Do you Sparkle or Spin?

Sparkle - spinning makes me feel dizzy!

Happy Easter

Something for the Weekend....Battersea Park & Easy Peasy Skate Easter Egg Hunt

We can't wait to try this fun twist on the traditional Easter Egg Hunt over at Battersea park this Saturday!! Organised by Easy Peasy Skate you turn up with your skates and roll around the park perimeter looking for different coloured eggs. Once collected head back to the start and hand them in to get a tasty prize! Children must be accompanied by an adult (and vice versa).

Easy Peasy Skate also organise a regular free group skate starting at 10:30am, every dry Saturday by the Japanese Peace Pagoda, Battersea Park.

Skates and eggs what a combination!! Fingers crossed you don't get your eggs in a scramble!! http://www.easypeasyskate.com/

For those of you that are not happy on wheels Battersea Park is a great place to visit on foot. We love the zoo and the park is just beautiful. It is on the Sparkle & Spin's list of top family days out so even if you don't want to roller crazy why not just take a stroll instead!

We ♥ Hairy Jayne!

We can't get enough of our hairdresser the lovely Hairy Jayne so thought we'd spread the love and feature her on the blog.

Jayne, who trained with Trevor Sorbie, is based in a cosy studio in Brixton that has the feel of having your hair cut in the comfort of your front room. Luckily for us Jayne is good with the little ones and all of the Sparkle & Spin family love a trip to her studio for a trim. Although as the scamps were keen to point out Jayne is not really hairy at all.

It does have to be said she has fantastic attention to detail and loves classic styles that are easy to mantain and manage when you leave the studio floor. Hairy or not Jayne gets the thumbs up from us!

07765223575
http://www.hairyjayne.co.uk

Something for the Weekend .... The London Marathon

Ok so we're not running the London Marathon, the nearest we've ever got was 10km run a few years back and boy did we feel it!! Although our lovely friend Fil (the man with the big grin on the left!) did venture over to France and complete the Nice marathon, big respect to him!

The London marathon is always worth watching and we love cheering everyone on so we'll be there this weekend and good luck to everyone taking part.

Oh Baby, Baby

Here at Sparkle & Spin we can't resist a cuddle with a baby and we love meeting all the new little ones when they come to visit us here at the shop. So when our new collection of baby stuff arrived it was guaranteed to leave us with a soppy grin. Take a look for yourself and we can promise you that they'll be oohs and ahhs a plenty!!

We ♥ Ellen Calvert!

Since spotting Ellen Calvert's work a few weeks ago at Midcentury Modern we just can't stop talking about it! Ellen takes unloved homewares and tranforms them into modern pieces through the use of craft. Her most recent collection Honey I Stole Your Jumper includes old school furniture, knitted cushions and wall samplers with each piece being given a new lease of life in Ellen's studio in Margate. Check out her website http://www.ellencalvert.co.uk

Give a Little Something to the Japanese Earthquake & Tsunami Fund

The Sparkle & Spin family were very happy to be able to attend a fundraising event in aid of the terrible Great East Japan Earthquake & Tsunami disaster. We were treated to Japanese food and snacks and watched the brilliant Spirited Away. Lots of money was raised for the disaster fund and will be sent to the Japanese Red Cross through the Embassy of Japan. If you want to donate and haven't already follow this link through to the embassy and get giving!

Something for the Weekend.... Sparkle & Spin Sample Sale

Don't forget our fantastic Sample Sale this weekend!!

Here Come the Mums..... Su Judd

Su Judd, Mum to Coco (5) is a freelance stylist who has worked on BBC 1's Strictly Come Dancing for the past six years where she was the Costume Designer. So she certainly know's a thing or too about all things that sparkle & spin.
Su has also been nominated a BAFTA for her great styling. We wish her good luck!


1. Where Do You Look for Inspiration?
Music videos are one of my favourite influences - there is so much amazing creativity in them. The quick images that pour out so quickly make them the best of mood boards. I often have a music channel on as I am working. I am very interested in Catwalk fashion and when Styling for Strictly Come Dancing I like to mix its up to date with elements old movie glamour. I love Edith Head as a Costume Designer. Last years Title dresses were influenced by the Dior Summer couture collection with a touch of Fifties starlet thrown in. I always apply my influences to the wearers view of themselves. I like to see what crazy things Cocos classmates put together, sometimes children's self expression through their clothes can create the most inspiring image in these days of Eclectic dressing.

2. Greatest Influence?
My mum, the best Danish import - stylish, elegant and a right good laugh. She is never afraid of a left hand turn in life.

3. What's on Coco's Wardrobe Wish List This Season?
The Louie Louis balloon trousers - actually want them for myself.

4. Fav Childrens Designer?
I love the Molo mix of practical and decorative.

5. Most Treasured Possession?
Cocos would be her Ikea Doggie. Would it be very shallow to say mine is my lipstick?

6. Earliest Childhood Memory?
I remember discovering small orange shells on the beach at my Auntie Birgits summerhouse in Denmark. They were kept in a 'magic' envelope along with orange fanta bottle tops and were the treasure in our summer adventures whilst on holiday with my Danish cousins. Pale sand dunes with sharp blades of grass, grey-blue, choppy seas and bright orange peices-of-eight.

7. Perfect Family Weekend?
Camping with my sister, friends and our kids. Cooking a fried breakfast in the fresh air, getting a pink nose from a long day on the beach playing tennis, flying kites and building sandcastles. Then home to talk the night away over the camp fire while the kids crash out in the tents. Getting up ridiculously early when the summer sun rises, complaining and then loving the dewy coolness with the first cup of tea whilst stoking the embers of the fire. A day in the field, football, more tea and biscuits, chatter, cartwheels. Accompanied by blue skies and cuddles.

8. Best Kept Secret in London ?
70s roller-skates on sale in Streatham Ice Rink skate shop.

9. Favourite Bedtime Story?
Coco and I read Enid Blyton Famous Five every night at bedtime. We are on book ten.

10. Do You Sparkle or Spin?
I am definitely a Spin - I work with the sparkles but its the dancing that I really love...

Introducing Angulus

For SS11 we have introduced another fabulous Danish brand to the Sparkle & Spin wardrobe. Angulus have had feet on the brain since 1904 and produce fantastic childrens footwear in a rainbow of colours and styles manufactured using nature's own quality materials: leather, wool and plantation crepe rubber. Angulus designs shoes with comfort and style in mind and these shoes are sure to put a spring in your little one's step!

Happy Mothers Day :)

We all love our Mums and we think it's fair to say that all Mums love to shop (we've not meet one yet who doesn't) so we think that this great Love bag from Dandy Star makes the perfect Mother's Day gift. Small enough to keep under the buggy but big enough for daily shopping trips it is a funky green alternative to a carrier bag. So spread the love :)

April Fools

Don't you just love our April Fools. We think they're all super cute and very cheeky!!
Pinch, punch first of the month, white rabbits and no return ;)