My summer sabbatical begins today! Due to the success of the Wonderful Wildflower Zine (and the support of my patrons!), today I am closing the Hellion Toys web shop and working instead on some art commissions. It’s an exciting new direction and an opportunity to use my design and illustration skills on topics that are very close to my heart. With only 3% of our meadows left, and the knock on effect that this has on the wider ecology, I am very humbled to be able to dedicate time to visually communicating this story.  I plan to keep the shop mainly close through the summer, just reop ..read more

February 25th at 7pm is the official launch of my spring collection. I am beginning this year by releasing a special Spring Spotting Wheel Set: The Wildflower Edition. This special wildflower set is dedicated to raising awareness to the 3% of the United Kingdom's remaining wildflower population.  Very sadly wildflowers in the UK have undergone a huge decline, with 97% of our wildflower meadows lost since 1930's. This loss of habitat and pollution have all played a role in wildflower decline, and the decline of reliant species of birds, polinators and British wildlife.This difficult situat ..read more

Good evening! Tonight I reactivated the webshop and added in some toys to the inventory. Its good to be back online!! However, Hellion classic's that exist all year around like the Letter blocks, Cuboids or Chalking toys, are noticiably limited or out of stock still. I have been truly on hiatus this year so far, no toymaking in advance like usual. So no wooden animals from the Enchanted Forest are ready either! It's not all bad news! I have a stock drop happening February 25th. As always I'll be updating patreon, blog and social media as to what it will feature and when more is likely read ..read more

I am pleased to announce that the workshop reopens on February 18th 2022 ? I'm ready for a creative year ahead! With new wooden toy designs and learning resources to inspire young children's wonder about the natural world and it's beauty. Firstly, I have much appreciated your patience during my little hiatus. It is good to have returned organised and refreshed. Excited too! I have some new friends joining me for reopening day on the 18th. I'm itching to tell you all about them on here in the next week or two and share how I have handcraft these wooden toys and resources on social media once m ..read more

Hello Everyone! Happy New Year to you all. I hope you are keeping well in these cold winter months. As you can see, we have had some cold weather out here in the Forest of Bowland. I am on a little bit of an extended break at the moment, which is why I have been quiet. However, I will be back in February and chomping at the bit to go. I will have some exciting new spring collection pieces to show for my extended hiatus too! If you need me in the meantime for anything. Please do just drop me an email via the contact form Dr H x ..read more

Last week I launched the Enchanted Forest Collection and the array of beautiful animal and forest folk. The collection has been a labour of love and one inspired by nature and sustainability. Some of the pieces in the collection have sold out over the weekend and thank you to all who have turned up to support its launch! I honestly can see with my current commitments it will take a few days before I can begin to make some more.  So in the meantime there is always the 'Notify Me' button on each listing for when things are back being made for you to bag. The reason I'm writing this blog tod ..read more

This week I launch a brand new range of toys called The Enchanted Forest Collection. It is a handcrafted range of heirloom pieces that are inspired by nature and my hope to help children foster a deeper relationship with our environment. You can read more about the inspiration here While part of the collection features Forest folk from lore, myths and legends, the other part is the animals and creatures of this wild forest landscape. No forest would ever be complete without a hungry wolf or wise owl. I feel this is true because of the deep relationships we humans have with the animal kingdom ..read more

As we approach Christmas and the end of 2021, I am busily bustling away at the workshop to release a brand new collection of imaginary and small world toys called The Enchanted Forest collection.  The inspiration behind the collection is rooted in bringing magic and wonder to how we look at our natural environment, especially in light that never has there been more of a moment to treasure our planet. You can read more about the inspiration here. In today's blog post, I want to introduce the Forest Folk who live in the forest. They all have rich biographies, which are connec ..read more

This month I am releasing something very special this Christmas, which has taken much love to develop: The Enchanted Forest collection.  The inspiration for this work first began after hearing a local folk tale about the River Ribble, which has an old longstanding problem with mythical Water Sprites. Wondering what these sprites could look like, how they live and their purpose, set off the development of many diverse characters and environments based on local and British folklore. The Enchanted Forest collection brings forth the first of these characters and places: the Animal folk and Fo ..read more

Autumn is my favourite season. It is probably my most creative time of the year. I'm often busy making toys for the big man in red, and feeling very inspired too. It is the colours, the smells, the jumpers and hot chocolates! Not to forget my favourite shoes, the good old wellies. This autumn season, some friends and I want to share our joy and make this season an ‘Autumn of Adventure’. Therefore I am very excited to let you know first that I have some super sneaky news. I’ll be launching an very special ‘Autumn of Adventure’ campaign in conjunction with The denkitco and The Nature Bug Club in ..read more