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The London Mummy

People Services Spotlight

Samantha Bishop: Website Wizz

You may have noticed that The London Mummy’s website has changed! My aim was to make it look more professional, easier to navigate and above all, more stylish. Samantha Bishop from  Occomedia has done all the leg work for me. I knew I was in experienced and capable hands and so let her work her magic. I think she has succeeded, but most importantly – I love it and hope you and your friends will too…

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Samantha seamlessly upgraded, tweaked and pimped my blog with not one little glitch.  She completed it efficiently and professionally without ever losing her rag at my constant changes (!)  I have had a baptism of fire in the ‘web design’ sphere and it takes a very special person to do what she does – namely bright and patient, which she is both as a friend and professional.

“My father made my twin sister Kinvara and I study computer science at uni. I was desperate to do art but he wanted us to do something that we could use afterwards”   

After university and then working for a few big corporations including Sky, she decided to go freelance. It was the best decision she ever made! Kinvara and Samantha love it because they can work from home (and with a combined total of 6 children under 5 between them, this is a necessity). They also love being their own boss, although the downside is that they never switch off and often work into the night and at the weekend.

Samantha and her twin sister Kinvara

A few examples of website’s they have completed –

Celebrity chef James Martin’s

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Milliner Jess Collet

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Architects Allies and Morrison

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Samantha has has compiled a concise list of what to think about before you set up your own website.  (Perhaps a few things I should have thought about before embarking on my initial blog).

  1. The main aim/goals of your site. What is it going to be used for and who will be using it. Once you have decided this you (or the designer) can think about which system will be best to use. This is most important!
  2. Copyrighting. Before you start writing it is important to think about the tone of voice you will be using on the site. Also, how much copy – remember on websites – less is more.
  3. Images. They should match the style of the site, they can really make a site.
  4. A list of competitors sights. What you like and don’t like from their websites.
  5. SEO. Very important if you want your site to appear in the top of the Google search results. Think about your keywords, and try and populate
    them around the site as much as possible. Also links (with your keywords in) and keywords used in page titles.
  6. Scalability. Important for sites built on a budget, make sure your site can scale up if needs be – when you make it big time!
  7. Hosting. Who or what company will host, manage and maintain the website.
  8. Mobile friendly. Very important as a large proportion of visitor to your site will probably be using a mobile or tablet.  Also, Google discredits sites which aren’t optimised for mobile, so make sure your designer adds one in!

If  you thinking of upgrading your current website or want to set up a new one from scratch, I strongly urge you to contact Samantha who will be able to help with any requirements. She gets that the average Joe doesn’t understand all the technical jargon and will explain what she is doing clearly and simply, whilst keeping you in the loop on every matter.  You would be in the best possible hands and whenever anyone asks for a recommendation from now on, I will always say to contact Samantha for a chat.

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Samantha with her three beautiful children

Samantha’s Favourite’s

Website: http://designspiration.net
Shop:  Wondaland
Restaurant:Ostuni, Queens Park in London
Hotel: Mango Bay, Phu Quoc, Vietman
Place to go: Gospel Oak Playground, Hampstead Heath

http://www.occomedia.com/

TLM Monthly Edit

TLM Monthly Edit : June 2015

Here are my top picks for June…

Bonds Lacies Racer Crop Bra, Hyper Coral from John Lewis £22

With an on trend racer back, this Lacie Crop is perfect for layering and everyday wear. Also comes in black. Result – no more granny straps!
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Frog Prince from Lipstick Queen at Space NK £22

Frog Prince is an emerald green lipstick that transforms into rosebud pink as soon as it touches your lips. By reacting and adapting to the natural pH of your lips, Frog Prince becomes your own custom shade of pink, working perfectly in harmony with your complexion.

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Star Beauty Bag from Blue Summer Travel Essentials £10

So many useful and pretty travel accessories on this website!

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Snack Boxes from Office Pantry Prices Vary

Office pantry now delivers fruit and milk as well as healthy snacks. The Snack Boxes are so yummy, they are enough to make me want to open an office, if I had the need for it! When The London Mummy is global…

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Throw from Monte’s and Clark £425

A stunning single bed through to add a dash of colour to your children’s bedroom. Worth having a look at this wonderful website full of home products made by women-led cooperatives in Mexico, ensuring traditional crafts can thrive in a modern world.

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www.thelondonmummy.com

Interiors People Services Spotlight

Talia H. Cobbold: Interior Designer

 

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In this current climate, there aren’t many business that are inundated with requests that they can afford to pick and choose which jobs they take on, however one that can is interior designer, Talia H. Cobbold, based in Kensal Rise.  She started up Talia H Cobbold Interior Design 4 years ago after her son was born and she is now endlessly sought after by property developers and private clients.

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“If asked, I think most of my boarding school friends would have said, from my obsessive approach to the look of my area in our dormitories that I should have immediately gone into a career in interiors”.

However, it took her 9 years working in newspapers and magazine as a Picture Editor, and a chance opportunity with a developer friend to get her there. Whilst on maternity leave, a friend and developer David Harragin, who knew her (obsessive!) interest in interiors, was too busy to do the interior design for a house he was working on so gave her the opportunity to head it up. The job was a huge success and she has since worked with his company, Oryx Partners, on a number of other high end residential projects.

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Talia H Cobbold Interior Design also works with private clients, fulfilling their needs and expectations, and creating individual and exceptional homes to really live in. She has just completed a 5 bedroom development in Chelsea, and is currently working on a townhouse in Westbourne Grove.

Talia is inspired by designers such as Turner and Pocock, Suzy Hoodless and Caroline Riddell, and tends to lean towards classic design with a contemporary twist.

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Talia’s Favourite’s

Shop: The Cloth Shop – Portobello Road

Website: Pinterest

Restaurant: Ostuni – Queens Park

Hotel: Hotel Talia, Modica Sicily (the name is a coincidence…)

Place to go with kids:  Hampstead Heath

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www.taliahcobbold.com

People Services Spotlight

Miranda Lewis : Private Yoga Classes

Want to indulge in something that makes you look and feel a million dollars? I don’t need to go into the benefits of yoga but I can introduce you to a wonderful private teacher, who can either visit you in your home or in her stunning studio in SW6.

Miranda first started practising yoga as a form of exercise. She quickly found, however, that there was so much more to it than just the physical benefits. While it is physically rewarding it also allows you to let go of the constant chatter of the mind, pent up emotions and frustrations and to listen to something deeper.  Something much needed in the frenetic hum drum of London.

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Miranda qualified as a yoga teacher in Australia, Byron Bay (www.yogaarts.com.au) in 2005.  She began teaching part time whilst completing a postgraduate course in psychology and she now teaches yoga full time.  With her gentle manner, she will put you at ease straight away whilst also pushing you to your max, so no second (or money) is wasted.  Invigorating!

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Miranda’s ‘5 Favourite’s’

Shop: Lulu Lemon in Chelsea, London

Website: www.honestlyhealthyfood.com

Hotel: Spa Samui in Thailand

Restaurant: Nama in Notting Hill, London

Place to go: Battersea Park, London

 

For more information

www.privateyogaclasses.co.uk/myyoga.php#

 

Big Fashion Products Spotlight

pampeano: Argentine Craftmanship Combined With British Luxury

Recently I have seen a few waists accentuated with ultra smart woven belts. They have all happened to be from the same company – pampeano.

The company was set up by Jenny, who spent a lot of time in Argentina in 2007 riding and wandering around bars and cafes. She totally fell in love with the Argentine lifestyle, the horsemanship, the food and the products and particularly the leather goods. She had a sense that continuing the rich Argentine heritage of leather and polo would be very well received by discerning Europeans, and so pampeano was started.  pampeano houses the finest polo equipment and their eponymous, exquisite, pampeano polo belts.  pampeano means ‘from the Pampa’, an area of Argentina renowned for its vast rolling plains and beautiful estancias.

Their products use only premium-grade, butter-soft, vegetable tanned Argentine leather and the highest quality saddlery threads. Each polo belt has been skilfully made in Argentina by true artisans, each one taking four to five hours to hand craft and weave, creating a product that will last for many years and will only improve with age.

With this in mind, each product has been expertly designed and developed in Great Britain to ensure that we continually remain on trend throughout the changing seasons. No two are quite the same, making them as individual as the people who wear them.

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I love the dog collars too!

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Will definitely be purchasing one for a Father’s Day present and with any luck, hubby will share it!

 

Jenny’s Favourite’s

Shop: Shapes Auctioneers, Edinburgh

Website: VoyagesPrive

Restaurant: Franks in Palermo, Buenos Aires.

Hotel: Rosewood, London

Place: Holkham Beach, Norfolk

Click here to buy

www.pampeano.co.uk

Big Fashion Little Spotlight

Millie Pink : Hot Hair Accessories

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I’m a bit of magpie when it comes to brightly coloured accessories, so when I saw a few of the mother’s wrists at the school gates adorned with funky fabrics, I had to investigate. I was informed about a fantastic new website, Millie Pink.

Millie Pink was started by Kirsten, who was fed up with boring black hair ties that were too ugly to wear on her wrist and seemed to disappear as quickly as she could buy them, Kirsten set about to bring beauty and glamour to manes and wrists across Britain. It didn’t take long before she stumbled across some gorgeous foldover elastic in the most mouth-watering colours & funky prints and Millie Pink, named after her daughter Millie, was born.

 

Each hair tie is handmade in Berkshire with oodles of love and patience. Made from a super soft and stretchy fabric, Millie Pink hair ties will not only be incredibly kind to your hair, they look pretty cool on your wrist.

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Kirsten

 

Kirsten’s Favourie’s

Shop: Anthropologie

Website: www.giftpop.co.uk

Restaurant: The Beach Hut, South Milton Sands, Devon.

Hotel: Hotel Esplendido, Puerto de Soller, Mallorca.

Place: Thurlestone, South Devon.

www.milliepink.com

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Fashion Products Spotlight

Beulah London: An Answer For All Occasions

Natasha and Lavinia spent two months in Delhi with women who had been trafficked in October 2009. They then set up Beulah in 2010, after witnessing the harrowing effects of trafficking with an aim to create a business which could employ the victims and provide them with a sustainable, alternative livelihood.

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Natasha and Lavinia

The SS15 collection has been inspired by the concept of ‘Inner Beauty’. This season they have looked to clients need for dresses for all occasions: each piece is a timeless wardrobe staple with a nod to the seasonal trends.

The work of photographer Don Dudenbostel who’s X-ray photographs capture the hidden inner beauty in objects of nature is referenced throughout the collection. Garments have an intricate attention to detail influenced by the quote, ‘True beauty comes from within’. The focus is on luxurious fabrications of silk satin, printed silk chiffons and introducing a decorative embroidered lace for true occasion.

There is nothing like a browse through beautiful clothes to pick you up on a grim day. These are a few of my favourite’s –

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Natasha’s Favourites

Restaurant: Kurobuta in Chelsea, London
Hotel: The Coral Reef, Barbados
Website: www.net-a-porter.com
Shop: Their new Beulah store on Ebury Street, London
Place to go with children: Maggie and Rose in Chiswick, London

Lavinia’s Favourites

Restaurant: The Ivy in Chelsea, London
Hotel: Soneva Fushi, Maldives
Website:  style.com
Shop: Their new Beulah store on Ebury Street, London
Place to go with Children: The Hurlingham Club


To order and for stockists –

www.beulahlondon.com

 

People Property Services Spotlight

London Property Management

One look at Amelia’s smart and concise website, A & L Property Solutions, would entice any homeowner who has a property that needs to be let or managed, to enlist her to do it for them. Her website is an extension of her professionalism and her background in property gives her the experience to take the pain, time and paperwork and do it all for you. She will find trustworthy and professional tenants and manage to process from start to finish.

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Amelia has many years of experience in the industry. Her entrepreneurial mother has a property portfolio, so she has always helped find her tenants and manage properties from a very young age. At the end of University, she worked as a property stylist in Central London, which gave her a fantastic insight into what tenants wanted, before finally moving into residential agency.

After she had children, she decided to use her resources and set up on her own.
Thank goodness she did. London needs a personal service with someone who you can trust implicitly – and Amelia is just that.

Amelia with her gorgeous children

Amelia with her gorgeous children

Amelia’s ‘5 Favourite’s’

Shop: Fara Kids

Website: www.tripadvisor.co.uk

Restaurant: Princess Victoria, Shepherds Bush

Hotel: Xara Palace, Malta

Place To Go with Children: Wellington Country Park, Hampshire

To see a list of services www.aandlproperty.co.uk

To contact Amelia  07813 215 851

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