Photoshoots, foraging and a food festival

Two trips to London and 8 days of photoshoots later, and at last I feel I'm making proper progress with the second craft book. Of course I'm relieved, but also weirdly deflated, which has left me feeling a bit restless, and possibly, depending on who you talk to, a little grumpy?

Coming up with 35 new craft projects took over the whole of my summer - if I wasn't making something out of cardboard, I was thinking about making something out of cardboard.... or feeling guilty I wasn't. It drove me mad but also gave me a focus, because I didn't have long, just 2 months, and the date for the first photoshoot was burning a hole in my wall calendar. Couldn't really think about much else, which made me feel guilty I wasn't doing enough with the kids. Can't win, can you.

When the London days came and went, I suppose it was a bit like taking the lid off a pressure cooker - and I just wasn't as over the moon with what was left in the pot as I thought. Probably didn't help that I'd had a really good time in London - the days were full-on but rewarding, and I stayed with an old school friend I don't see enough. After work we chatted, went out, ate out - no one else to feed or clean up after. I felt like me. Even took a bit better care of me. Even used my hardly ever touched eye-cream, which seems to be some kind of strange barometer to where I sit on my list of priorities.

There are many wonderful things about being able to work from home, especially with kids, school runs and an often absent husband to deal with - but it is hard to keep motivated sometimes, and it's lonely. Being away just brought all of that into sharp focus again I think.
I miss people and chat and talking ideas though with someone.
So, best not to ring me during the day at the moment, you'll never get me off the phone.

Possibly it's been a bit of an anti-climax and I'm kicking my heels about getting back to my quiet existence in peaceful Herefordshire - but I know it'll pass, it usually does. And it's not as if I have nothing much to do. Still need to write up all the instructions for the craft projects! Which is what I should be doing right now.

And sure, there are adventures of a different kind to be had here too. The day before I caught a very early train to London I went for a 'get thoughts in order' walk near home and did a double take when I spotted this huge puffball by a gate.

It was so big and brilliant white in the sun, I thought for a second it was a sheep taking a nap.
I rushed back to tell my daughter who gets extremely excited about this sort of thing. And it was a perfect giant puffball; very firm and hardly nibbled.

Giant puffball

She was desperate for me to take it home - when we found a much smaller one a few years ago, I fried slices in butter, garlic and bacon and it was a big hit. Lasted for days too, so goodness knows how many meals we could have got out of this one.* But we left it in the end, because I was off first thing, and my husband isn't keen on cooking bog-standard stuff, let alone a mushroom twice as big as his head.

When I got back home I treated myself to a day at the Abergavenny Food Festival. What could be better than delicious and lovingly-made produce as far as the eye can see? Though I do seem to suffer from some kind of food festival meltdown - happened last year as well - there's just too much choice. I become annoyingly indecisive, can't make up my mind at all, and end up eating very little. Instead I seem to spend most of my time checking out what other people are eating and wondering where it came from. I did bring a few things home and they did go down very well, especially the orange and chilli jelly.

I also bought a beautiful knitting book, which was a bit of surprise at a Food Festival.. Delighted with it though. More about that soon.




*Giant puffballs like this are about the only mushrooms I'd happily forage because they're pretty hard to mistake for anything else. More nervous about other ones, after going on an fungi foraging course last autumn (which was excellent) and realising there are a few common wild mushrooms that have an evil almost identical-looking twin. You really need to know your stuff. Think now the pleasure's in the finding rather than the eating for me.

Sunday Photo

Linking with Photalife's My Sunday Photo  

Make a paper roll unicorn

I needed to come up with a project for a craft workshop at Puzzlewood, and unicorns just seemed like the obvious choice. If they were going to live anywhere, then this ancient woodland, with its twisted trees and walls of mossy rock, would have to be the place!

A day at Hay

Standing in front of patient parents and kids, holding my cardboard tube aloft, I did wonder, just for a moment, what the blazes I was doing there. Only lasted seconds thankfully before the adrenalin kicked in, and we were off - making lions, giraffes, penguins, icebergs, birds in trees - back on familiar ground. Comfortable ground. In my sort of happy cardboard zone.

The workshops were in the Make and Take tent at the Hay Festival - a lovely bright, open space for kids to get crafty, draw or read books. And it's free - so, as you can imagine it's chocca during the Half Term week. Terribly Tall Terry was a huge hit and almost lost his legs a few times. I have the sweetest video of a little girl hugging him.

My husband and two of the kids came along for moral support which was lovely, and such a help with the car unloading and setting up all the zoo scenes - my daughter's getting really good at that.

I'd done a fair bit of prep for the workshops, because if I've learnt anything, it's that it's much better to keep things shifting along at a steady pace - no waiting for paint/glue to dry unless there's something else going on at the same time. Keep boredom at bay at all costs! The workshops never go the way I think they're going to go in my head, but that's okay... for a start, even though MYOZ is really aimed at primary school age kids, at a busy event like Hay, you can't really go about saying no to younger kids who want to join in. So, I try to pick projects that can be adapted for little ones.

The weather was cool enough when we started, but by lunchtime the tent was heating up and I was feeling it. Wished I'd worn something a little more summery. On the plus side, no problem getting paint and glue to dry! I did 4 sessions altogether, and although it's tiring being on your feet all that time, it's invigorating too, seeing what the children make, all so different, adding their own little touches. Love it when they start doing their own thing. That's what it's about really, getting their imagination going, getting creative.

The other encouraging thing for me was talking to people about the book - I haven't done that for a while and it's good to feel a bit more connected again. I am not the best at self-promotion, but this time I did try not to mumble or twiddle my thumbs, and I did get some lovely feedback and a few good ideas about promoting the book that I really should follow up. The problem is, I come home and lose a bit of that drive. Still, I have another workshop next weekend, so maybe it'll help give me a sharp shove in the right direction...

There's a giraffe in my garden...

Many hours and many loo rolls later, Terribly Tall Terry is ready for the Hay Literary Festival!
Definitely a labour of love, but worth it I think.
He'll be watching over me during the Make Your Own Zoo workshops in the Make and Take tent this Thursday.
We'd love to see you!

Linking up with Photalife's My Sunday Photo 

Birds of a feather - easy egg carton craft

I'm really fond of these little birds, and they're easy to make.

You'll need:
1 egg box
Small feathers
PVA/craft glue
Nail scissors (to make holes)
paint
fine black felt tip pen

1. First, roughly cut a cone from the egg box - this makes it easier to work with. We measured 3cm from the top and marked each side (make it any size you want though). Join the marks and cut along the line. Measuring helps keep the cone base nice and even.

2.  Paint the cone any colour you like.
Putting it on your finger is a handy way to paint the bottom edges.

3. When dry, choose the side you want for the front and with a fine black felt-tip or gel pen draw eyes close to the top.

4. Use the nail scissors to make a small hole in the top and one at the back (about 1cm from the bottom). Keep the scissors closed, press down and twist carefully from side to side. If you're making the birds with kids, always supervise this part, or make the holes yourself.

5. Dab some glue behind the holes and push a suitable feather in each one - small and fluffy for the head plume and a little longer and showy for the tail feathers. We got these lovely colourful speckled ones from The Works, but you can buy them online too.

6. For the wings, you'll need 2 little fluffy feathers or if none are small enough, cut pieces from the top of a larger one. Brush a very thin layer of glue on the sides (so it doesn't stick through the features) and stick them down.

7. Just below the eyes dot a small but thick blob of yellow paint with a fine paintbrush, and leave to dry.

OR, if you'd like a sticky-out beak, cut a thin strip of cereal box card, colour it with a yellow felt tip, snip a V at one end and cut off about a cm.
Make a horizontal slot below the eyes with the nails scissors (keep closed, press and twist gently). Dab a little glue behind the slot and push the beak into place.

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!