Fun at the fair and Friday's fun fact

This time last week we were busy setting up for our first show in the Kentish countryside. It was all hands on deck making sure we had everything we would need for selling in the middle of a very muddy field. To say the weather left a little to be desired is a bit of an understatement as this is what we were faced with on arrival...

Even though the sun didn't shine throughout it didn't seem to put people off attending, which was great as we met some lovely customers and all felt it was well worth getting stuck in the mud for! The sun even decided to make a brief appearance at the end of the show which was a welcome break...

I will post some more photos from the weekend soon, but in the meantime here is Friday's fun fact.

Did you know that there are over 500 million domestic cats in the world, making them one of, if not the most popular pet. Their popularity as a pet may have something to do with the fact that it has been scientifically proven that owning a cat can help lower blood pressure and help with stress. It seems their popularity extends to the great writers of our time as this website shows.

www.johnbutlerart.com and getting ready for our first show!

It's all go here at Little Blue Zebra HQ at the moment. John has been working on updating his website. It has taken a little time to put together but as he has had to collate all the work he has done over the past 30 years it is not surprising that it has taken a while. The finished result went live this morning - www.johnbutlerart.com. It is very interesting to see everything he has worked on, from packaging to editorial illustrations, but of course mainly focussed on his adorable animals!

We are also busy getting ready for our first show! We have a stand at the Weald of Kent Craft Show at Penshurst Place in Kent this bank holiday weekend. If you are in the area, we would love you to come along and pop by our stand to say hello, we are stand B15! We are excited to have on sale some new products, including gorgeous greetings cards and gift tags. Everyone has been busy lending a hand to make sure we are ready, including little Lara...

Friday's fun fact - Toot toot toucans

Did you know that toucans are one of the noisiest jungle birds? Their frog like croak can be heard from half a mile away.

And here is a fun time lapse video showing how our little toucan was created...

Happy Friday all x

Rain rain go away

Now, I know a drought has been declared in many parts of the UK and I know we need the rain. It just seems that ever since a hose pipe ban was enforced in our area the rain hasn't stopped. Even my 3 year old keeps asking "why is it still raining?"

Trying to find fun and entertaining things to keep little ones amused is always that bit harder when the rain never stops. So I was very pleased when a friend suggested this lovely bookshop on the coast. They even have storytime sessions (and a tearoom!), which look great fun.

Every cloud has a silver lining, as this little mobile shows...

Down That Little Lane

We are very happy to see that our little armadillo has been making new friends. Having been featured in last week's Friday Fun Fact, it was great to see this feature in the newsletter and homepage for a lovely online company based in Australia. So if you happen to be 'Down Under', why not take a trip down that little lane.

Friday's fun fact - Sleepy Armadillos

If you are feeling a bit sleepy this Friday morning you are not alone. Did you know that armadillos are among the laziest animals in the world. They can enjoy up to 20 hours of sleep a day. Oh to be an armadillo for just a day!

Here is a sleepy little member of the Little Blue Zebra family enjoying a lunchtime nap...

Since having children I have found that sleep is a much talked about topic of conversation. Here are two quotes on the subject that ring true...

"People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one"

"The amount of sleep required by the average person is five minutes more"

Happy Friday all! x

Friday's fun fact - Monkey tails

It's that time again. Friday seems to have come round very quickly because of the bank holiday Monday. Only a few weeks until another one, hooray!

We found today's monkey fun fact in a book John illustrated back in 1993...

And if you have a little monkey who is mad about monkeys you might like these party ideas. Go bananas!!!

Happy Friday all x

Happy Easter x

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter xxxx

Here's one little Easter bunny in his Old Rectory pyjamas...

The Old Rectory is a lovely Irish company set up by two sisters like us. We think their designs are gorgeous, as are their promotional shots...

And here's another one of our Easter bunnies hunting for eggs...

Easter treats for you to enjoy

With the Easter holidays in full swing we thought you might like these cute little illustrations, which you can download, print off and colour in (just click on the images then right click with your mouse and 'print picture' or drag them onto your desktop and print from there). They are sketches from two of John's books, Rainy Day Duckling and Time to Go Home Little Bunny, enjoy...

The World of Creatures

A while ago John was asked to do some illustrations for a range of natural and organic skincare products for children. They had seen his books and loved the style of his illustrations and thought they would work really well with their range, as they say on their website...

"As many other mums I was concerned about the chemicals in every day toiletries and spent the last few years sourcing the best ingredients from around the world to care for children’s skin. I also wanted small children to love the labels and packaging (and to look beautiful in the nursery) and worked with a children’s book illustrator to get these very real looking pictures of animals. Mums tell us their kids love talking to the little creatures on the bottles!"

My two little boys love using theirs and love seeing Grandpa's pictures at bathtime. They like the foam spray a little too much as it has nearly run out, so I will have to stock up again soon.

Friday's fun fact - Dotty Dalmatians

Did you know that most Dalmatian dogs are born with all white coats which do not begin to show spots until they are about 2 weeks old?

And if you are dotty about dalmatians, we think you will love this fab lamp from the wooden lamp company...

Book cover

Following on from the sketch I posted in January from John's forthcoming book 'If your dreams take off and fly', I thought you might like to see a sneak preview of the book cover, which he is busy working on at the moment...

Friday's fun fact - Perfect pigs

Did you know pigs are highly intelligent. Like dogs they can be house trained and even taught to dance, pull and even sniff out landmines.

However, I was taught at a young age, when Joanna bought me this book for my 4th Birthday, that pigs' manners leave a lot to be desired. I still have this book today and read it recently to my 3 year old. I love the fun illustrations and think it's a great way to introduce little ones to manners.

And here are some gorgeous little piglets we saw on our holiday last year...

Mother's day celebrations

We hope all the mothers enjoyed a lovely day on Sunday. The Little Blue Zebra family had a fun day together enjoying a tasty lunch at a country pub. With extended family we had 5 mothers round the table from 3 generations. It was a beautiful sunny day so we decided to have our desserts outside. This seemed like a good idea but our timing wasn't great because as soon as we got outside the heavens opened...

Here's our lovely mother making good use of her napkin!

The importance of introducing our little ones to nature

Saw this interesting article in The New York Times about natural environments all but disappearing from children's books over the past two decades. Researchers have found that natural environments and wild animals are increasingly being replaced by built or modified environments and domesticated or anthropomorphised creatures. Pleased to say that our prints and John Butler's books are keeping little ones in touch with the amazing wonders of the natural world.

This is a spread from Polar Star one of John's books. I love the way the light hits the snow in the background...

And this is from one of his more recent books - Rainy day duckling...

Friday's fun fact - Multi-coloured jaguars!

Did you know that there is no such thing as a black panther? It is just a colour variant of several species of larger cat, including the jaguar and leopard.

There is one other colour of panther of course...

Happy Friday all!

Friday's fun fact - Hip hip hooray for hippos!

Did you know that hippos walk in water? Ok, so it's not quite as impressive as if they could walk on water (that would be weird!), but their enormous size and specific gravitiy means they sink and literally walk along the bottom of rivers.

One of the books John has illustrated is about a little hippo in Africa and is based on factual events that occurred during the catastrophic tsunami of 2004. A family of hippos were swept out to sea from their home on Sabaki River, in Eastern Kenya. The sole survivor of the disaster was a baby hippo who was rescued and given the name Owen. Motherless and alone, Owen was befriended by Mzee, a giant male tortoise at a local nature reserve.

The book is called "A Mummy for Owen" and below is a clip of Fern Britton reading the book as part of the Bookaboo series. We love how they have animated the illustrations.

Also, staying with the hippo theme, we saw these hippo beanbags and thought they were very cute...

Sunny Northumberland

We recently headed up north to say bon voyage to my sister-in-law who has just moved to Bangkok for 2 years. We had a great weekend in sunny Northumberland. It is such a lovely part of the country and one I don't really know very well. When the sun shines in this country (which is admittedly much less than it does in Bangkok!) it makes you a little less jealous of those heading off to sunny climes!

Friday's fun fact - Leap year leaping frogs!!!

Did you know that frogs are some of the best leapers on the planet. Their strong hind legs can launch them over 20 times their own length. That would be like us jumping 100 feet into the air!

Happy Friday all!