Pop-up Zara

I made a pop-up birthday card for a friend :)

She is a super-duper woman who juggles a multitude of things and still manages to smile through it all whilst making sure everyone is ok. I was umm-ing and err-ing about what she could be juggling in the card, when a whatsapp conversation before our night out led to this: purple gin and a kebab!!

I had a lot of fun putting it together!

SNAPPY CHRISTMAS!

It's been another busy year, mostly looking after the little ones and squeezing what creativity I can into into the little gaps of time I can find. The loss of nap time with our littlest meant that gap of time got even tinier but there is big change ahead, for the little one starts preschool next year!!!

As much as I will miss our time together, those 3 hours every day is going to be heavenly and I can't wait to fill it with creativity :)

Snappy Christmas everyone and see you in 2018!

Late night printing club

Thanks to my mum, we have acquired a small table-top printing press!! Like most exciting arty things we own, it has been stored away for ages gathering dust whilst the children take up most of the space in the house with their STUFF.

Each year I try to create a new illustration which I send off to get printed as Christmas cards but this month has been crazy busy so I've not managed to find any time. Instead, I thought I'd dig out the printing press and try a simple lino-cut as an experiment to get to know our new piece of equipment. 

The only space we can set it up is in the little spare room next to the boys' bedroom, which meant that I had to do some super stealthy late night printing. It was tricky but I managed to do it without waking the boys or leaving a big inky mess on the spare bed, phew!

I'm looking forward to more experimenting in the New Year :)

Christmas Cards of Love

I have been invited by Rachael Rogan to run a workshop tomorrow at Rogan's Books - the best children's bookshop in Bedford and beyond! - for children to make a pop-up huggy snowman card to send to the elderly residents of Airedale and Elcombe House.

The drop-in workshop will run from 1-3pm and is FREE! 
Help spread some Christmas cheer and love :) 

pop-up peeps

It's been a loooong time since my last post. This is due to loss of nap time by our littlest one, and I think it is affecting both me and him immensely. I am much more disorganised, frustrated, impatient and exhausted than usual, and I think he is too (apart from the "disorganised" bit - I don't know what a toddler needs to organise other than maybe his gem collection or toy cars). 

It's become a bit of a mission to do anything other than the basics of looking after family and home.

I have been playing around with some pop-up card ideas though, and have managed to put together a rather silly video voiced by our very own non-sleeping but lovely huggy boys! This is partly in preparation for an art and craft workshop I will be giving as part of a "Wellbeing Day" for staff at a local school next week. I'm looking forward to it :)