So excited to finally set our Peggybobs wooden peg dolls loose into the world!! Hello to everyone and thank you for visiting our site! I wanted to introduce us and tell you a bit about how Peggybobs came to be. We are a small family business, based in Carterton, West Oxfordshire. Peggybobs are designed and painted by me, Meg, with the support of my husband, Jim, and inspired by our little one, Immi, who has just turned 3. My initial inspiration for Peggybobs came from my love of wooden toys when Immi was just tiny. Discovering the gorgeous Grimms wooden toys and Grapat wooden peg dolls, and an interest in Montessori and Waldorf philosophies combined to inspire a whole heap of ideas for Peggybob creations! My poor husband is now surrounded by an army of Peggybobs! (He is very pleased I am actually finally starting to sell them!!)
I am an artist and have been painting family portrait comissions in a unique, bright style with child-friendly characters, for several years. Peggybobs were a natural progression from that as the little characters fitted in perfectly with the style I had already developed. Check out my artist website at www.megkellyart.com to see some paintings. Since having Immi I have always had a craft or art project on the go. Some I have completed, like the mural on her bedroom wall in our old house, her felt quiet book (massive rush on that one for a holiday we were going on!), felt play food (still have loads more that I wanted to make, but that ain't gonna happen!), a monster mobile (the one thing I actually made whilst pregnant, oh to have that free time back again, how much more productive I would have been!!). Other projects not so completed, like the felt calendar that has been ongoing for about 2 years now, the wooden picture lotto game that I got my dad to make for me (about 50 little wooden tiles that I still haven't actually got round to painting!) and the children's picture books that I will definitely, definitely finish... one day... possibly in time for my own grandchildren... at a push. But Peggybobs has been the main project that I have actually followed through on... I love painting them so much!! So many possibilities, and seeing Immi play with them, learn with them and incorporate them in her little play worlds is just the best! They also look damn good on the shelf... if I may say so myself! (Always a fan of a toy that does that... thanks Grimms rainbows!!!)
I am very interested in the Montessori and Waldorf philosophies which have inspired some cracking play spaces and activities in our house! A lot of the Peggybobs that I have designed have been a result of these ideas as well as observing Immi's interests. As such, the Peggybobs fit well into a Montessori or Waldorf style of play. I will write a blog post that focuses on these philosophies in the future, including information on play spaces, activities and approaches that we've had success with. Follow @peggybobs on Instagram to see pictures of Immi's often changing play spaces, fun activities, how we use her daily calendar and how we incorporate our Peggybobs in different play and learning opportunities. Though please don't be put off by the thought of Montessori/Waldorf plus Instagram... we have good intentions, know of some fine theories and can lay out a ruddy good loose parts play activity... but our darling little Immi is the most stubborn 3 year old you will meet, is happiest when she is legging it round our house, will play with an activity for maybe 10 minutes IF you're playing with her before she is onto the next thing... and we watch far too much Cbeebies!!! So no, our Instagram will not be Insta-perfect! But it will be full of Peggybobs and fun! So come say hey anyway!!!
Our Peggybobs aren't just for kids. I painted our family as Peggybobs for Immi and it went from there really! They proved popular with grown ups too and people have been gifting them for lots of lovely occasions! My husband is in the RAF and when he goes away on trips he takes our little Immi Peggybob with him! He loves having her in his pocket when he's away and she loves seeing the photos he sends home of her little Peggybob on his travels! The customised Peggybobs are my current focus while I sort out all the CE testing for the child sets (when I'm finished I'll write a blog post on that incase anyone else is looking for help with it... it's not all the fun!!!).
I love painting all the new challenges that people give me - camo uniforms are a good one! Tartan is always a challenge! Leopard print is a new favourite to paint!! Some of the details that people want included are wonderful, and it keeps it very interesting! My breastfeeding mama and tots were inspired by my own breastfeeding journey, and are proving a popular gift for mamas who have just finished breastfeeding or just want to celebrate their own journey. As I say, my Peggybobs style is very similar to my previous painting style and I've turned a couple of my characters into little Love Peggybobs - taken from my painting 'You Have My Heart'. A sweet little gift for big people too! There are lots of occasions where a custom painted family of Peggybobs makes a truly special gift for big people as well as littlies, and I've been priviledged to have painted sets to mark the arrival of new babies, anniversaries, cake toppers for weddings, breastfeeding journies, Mother's Day gifts and to make little ones smile when their daddies are away with work! You can find examples of lots of these custom projects on our commissions page.
Nature is a huge part of our lives, hence a lot of nature inspired Peggybob sets. Being as eco as possible is very important to us (I say us... to me, I'm the hippy in our family... my husband is trying his best!!!) so we are trying to start out on the right foot with sustainably sourced beech wood peg dolls, eco-friendly clay paint, biodegradeable packaging, and hopefully encouraging a love and respect for nature with some of the themes in our Peggybob sets! You can find out more about the products we use in our FAQs.
I have so many more Peggybob ideas I want to create and share with you all! Lots more coming when I have completed the CE testing and I so hope that you like what we're doing so far. Please do share with your friends, have a look through our commissions, and get in touch with any suggestions of peg dolls you would like to see in the future (they may already be in the pipe line!) or if there is something special we can create just for you!
So that's us! Happy Peggybobbing everyone! Speak soon!
Meg x