Hay workshops and a hungry giraffe...

I got a bit carried away and promised someone I'd make a giant giraffe out of loo rolls...
It seemed like such a good idea at the time.

Now of course I am sort of regretting it, as I'm not totally sure what I'm doing. Really hadn't thought it through. But that's what happens when you get caught up in a wave excitement - and I was - I was proper surfing that wave, because the toddler-sized giraffe is for the Hay Festival. THE Hay Festival!

I love the Hay Festival, and this year I'm going to be there, not just visiting, but actually doing Make Your Own Zoo workshops, like the one I did before Christmas. Such an amazing opportunity.

We're lucky enough to live fairly close to Hay, so the 2 week Literary Festival has always been an easy option for us, and it's a great way to spend a day. Such a relaxed event; just wander in - you only need tickets for the talks, which you can book in advance online, or on the day, if there are any spaces left. Always such an interesting, diverse range of writers - serious, funny, thought-provoking, informative, quirky, illuminating - a long list and a packed programme. Don't really want to say there's something for everyone; such a cliche, but there probably is. The rest of the time you can amble around the stalls, check out the food hall, do a spot of people/celeb watching and then maybe enjoy a glass of something lovely as you sit in the sun (hopefully) reading a book you've just bought. Or snoozing.

Obviously this would be a perfect... if you managed to go without kids. If that's not possible, during Half Term week they lay on loads of activities - talks by well known kids' authors and all kinds of workshops, like the one I'm doing.

I'm going to be in the Make and Take tent on the 2nd June, and there'll be 4 free sessions throughout the day. My plan is a different animal per session, so now I have to work out which ones and how much prep to do, based on what I learnt from the workshops last year. Need to keep things moving along - definitely learnt that.

But I can't properly think about the workshops until I finish the giant giraffe, which is by no means a quick make...

I've used pieces of cereal box card and newspaper to slot tubes together - it is surprisingly sturdy.

Different sized tubes helped a lot with the head.

I've still not completely sure about the body, or how it's all going to come together, and I keep running out of tubes! I've been on the scrounge for weeks, but it is a bit awkward to keep asking, and this giraffe is just gobbling them up.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Moth Menace (Tineola bisselliella)

Getty images

Small with shiny, dusty wings, they look really harmless,

but if moths find your woolies drawer, they'll leave your jumpers armless.

What's worse the little blighters seem to have discerning taste,

so it's not the chunky hand knits that's their favourite nesting place,

No, it's cashmere that's the yarn of choice, CASHMERE if you please!

and when I shook mine out last week it looked like holey cheese.

That wasn't all, they'd had a ball! Made me feel quite queasy,

so I googled how to shift them.

Turns out it isn't easy.

Moth Balls work though not just moths who think the things are lethal,

what's the point in using them if all your clothes smell evil?

But we were well past the prevention stage; way too late, for sure;

can't hot wash my best jumpers, I need another cure.

So I stick them in the freezer, a few items at a time,

and pray it kills the pesky eggs and larva in its prime.

Then I buy a cotton zip-up bag to fill my woolies drawer

and every time it's opened there's a waft of lavender.

Now I smell like Yardley's soap, and finding jumpers is a bore,

But moths I've got your number,

touch my cashmere and it's WAR.

(And if you doubt me at all

just count the smudges on the wall...)

Linking up with Victoria's Prose for Thought

Tyrella

Back to the beach where we played in the sand,

time didn't matter and nothing was planned.

Back to the sea that made us squeal from the cold,

laughing and splashing, no care in the world.

Back to those rocks that are made for adventure,

hands dipped in pools, just never quite sure...

Back to the place with the pockets of treasure,

so many shells all tumbled together.

Back to the beach to watch my kids play

next to the shadows of yesterday.

Linking up with Photolife's My Sunday Photo and Victoria's Prose for Thought

Shelf life - Sunday photo

Believe it or not the rest of our house is relatively clutter free - but I made up for it here...

It's sort of like the old me escaped and went on a trinket/toy/tat gathering binge.

To be fair, many of the toys are ones I've made and can't face selling, and there's a lot of stuff rescued from my 8 year old daughter's room. She doesn't like ANYTHING on surfaces (what's wrong with her??) - I'll often find a small pile of unwanted nicknacks outside her bedroom door. Can't bear to get rid of them, so I shuffle things along.... and make a space.

Linking up with Photalife's My Sunday Photo

Photo shoot - Sunday photo

Just back from a busy two day photo shoot for the animal board books and next craft book. Not as glamorous as it might sound, but unquestionably more interesting than my usual Thursday/Friday routine! We were in a basement studio somewhere in east London; facing a small but significant cardboard mountain of stuff to do.

I spent all day on my feet, or leaning over a table, holding my breath while I moved animals and tiny flowers/butterflies/snakes into place. Knocked the trees over a few times and the whole lot went like dominos which wasn't at all funny... Heaps of patience required. And my back's in bits.

I've spent a daft number of hours over the last month, making all the teeny finishing touches, like squirrels, rabbits, daisies, patchwork hills.
Many, many things.
Hope they'll make a difference.

Walking and tubing it back to Paddington on a Friday evening with a collection of shoe boxes, and a large art folder was a nightmare. So, so relieved to get to the station; felt like punching the air. But that good feeling didn't last long. The train was heaving. Ended up standing all the way to Bristol Parkway because I hadn't reserved a ticket.
Won't be doing that again.

Linking up with My Sunday Photo at Photalife.

Easy Easter Bunny - Easter crafts

These make really fun table settings/decorations for Easter day, as they're a perfect size for hiding a chocolate egg or two!

You'll need:
2 cardboard tubes - preferably different widths (we used a kitchen paper roll and a toilet paper tube)
A piece of coloured paper and paint to match
cotton wool ball
scissors
PVA/craft glue
black felt tip pen.

1. For the bunny's body, cut a 7cm piece from the wider tube, and a 5cm piece from the narrower one for the head. The quickest and easiest way to do this is to mark your measurement on the tube, squeeze the sides together just under the mark, and cut straight across the tube.
Paint them your chosen colour.

2. Cut a 6cmx12cm piece of coloured paper and fold it in half, lengthways.

3. About a quarter of the way up, on the folded edge, draw a short line across (no more than a cm) and then draw a rabbit's ear, using all the paper space available, right up to the top. Try to make both sides look as even as possible.

4. Cut out and open up.

5. For the front paws, cut another piece of paper - 4cmx10cm this time, and fold in half lengthways again.

6. At the top of one end, draw a rounded paw. Cut out and open up.

7. Glue the bottom part of the ears to the head, then glue this to the body.

8. Brush glue on the other piece of paper, except for the paws, and stick to the bottom of your bunny so you can see the paws at the front. This helps hold the bunny together. Glue on a small piece of cotton wool for the fluffy tail.

9. When dry, draw a face with the black felt tip pen and add chocolate!

Linking up with Coombe Mill's Trash to Treasure.

Exciting news!

I'm knee deep in egg boxes, tubes and cereal boxes again. Happily wallowing in cardboard, making animals and scenery for a few new book projects.

Still can't quite believe that my hobby has somehow turned into a job. I've been very lucky, I know - but there's more to it than that, because escaping into a world of cardboard has helped keep me sane over the past 8 months. And I really do mean it - I've struggled with my husband being away this time. Kind of knew it was going to be one Tour too many. He has spent almost 2 and a half of the last 6 years in Afghanistan. It's taken its toll on both of us - but that's a post for another day, when he's home; when he's never, ever going away again.

Better at the moment to focus on good, happy things - where the cardboard comes in! I'm working on another themed craft book which is massively exciting. Wouldn't take a huge leap of imagination to work out what the theme is, but here's a clue anyway...

And I'm also making new creatures and settings for a series of board books for little ones - counting, noises, that sort of thing. So pleased the animals are getting books of their own!

It is pretty time-consuming for sure, but I want the scenes to look as perfect as possible, with plenty going on. I've just finished making a cave out of a large yogurt pot and a fair amount of newspaper...

The plan is to get all the board book makes done, plus the start of the craft book, for a photo session early to mid March, so I need to get my skates on. This is all still pretty new to me, but I enjoyed the photography stage last time - it was intense, but most of the hard grind is behind you by then.
In theory.

I thought maybe I'd write a little about my experience of the whole book process. I've talked about the beginning and the end, but not really so much about the middle.
Possibly because for a while I think I blanked it from my mind...

From the contract being signed to the last proof check took about 5 months. The first scheduled thing I had to do was send in scripts for the step-by-steps by set dates. This started off okay, because some of the animals I'd made and written up ages ago. But there were 35 projects to send in - I'd worked on a few new ideas over the summer holidays - still, there was definitely a 'seat of my pants' feeling by the end of the second month.

The first photo session was for the front cover and two step-by-step projects. I remember feeling so nervous, because this was all my stuff; people were looking to me to check if things were set out right, angled right, clear enough for the instructions. I realised pretty quickly I had to somehow look and sound confident, even if I didn't really feel it inside. Way out of my comfort zone, but I came home buzzing. Such a great feeling.

Didn't last that long though, because it soon began to dawn on me just how much there was to do. We'd only shot two projects. There were another 33 to go. I had plenty of animals but no other steps made up. This was my biggest mistake. One never to be repeated. I spent weeks and weeks working all the hours possible, to make up the various steps for all the other animals and scenery. Don't think I fully appreciated how long this would take me. For each project I was essentially making whatever it happened to be, at least 3 times. Definitely sapped all the joy out of it. This time I'm making up the steps as I go along. Lesson learnt.

The other downside of my cramming approach was that I started changing some of the instructions as I found better or easier ways to make up the animals. This is what happens when you develop an idea and make it for the 100th blinking time. There were a few other changes during the photo sessions too - so by the time I saw the first draft it needed a lot of corrections.
I spent a very fraught week in Costa's in Monmouth.

Just going back to the final photo session quickly - it was a non-stop three day marathon. But all the extra work I'd done on the steps did help speed things up, and the photographer was so experienced at close-up shoots, cracking on at a racy pace. There was a hand model too, which was such a relief because my hands are horrible! She was absolutely lovely and a really talented artist, which helped with all the painting stages.

Brings back lots of memories thinking about it all again. If I'd been asked back then about doing another book, I'd have had to take a few deep breaths before answering. But time has turned down the volume on the more tricky stages, and now I'm really, positively looking forward to the next challenge. It's going to be different this time. Yes?

Meanwhile  I'm busy making, trying to stay ahead of the game. With the odd detour...

Star Wars meets the little Red Tractor...