Handmade Birthday

We arrived back home yesterday after visiting the UK for 3 weeks. In the first 30mins that we were back I  bumped into quite a few friends including one who invited us to their daughter's birthday party that evening. Being totally unprepared and not in the mood to go shopping after a long journey I decided that it would be a handmade birthday present. I set to work and 4 hours after we had arrived home, as well as unpacking and other stuff I had made this! The little girl loved it and jumped up and down when she opened it. All in all a good first day back home.

Plush Team Summer Challenge

After a lot of busy months I am so happy that I have managed to make something for this month's Plush Team Challenge. The theme is 'Dessert or Desert' and I decided to combine the two and make a cactus ice cream! I drew a little picture of the idea that was in my head, and a few hours later, after some unravelling and re-doing, I finished it!

The perfect desert dessert. The cactus ice cream cornet.

What do you see?

If you watched the video on my last blog post you may have already spotted some of these wooden dolls. They are so easy to make and so cute and effective. We made about 40 of them for our Street Art Day!

This is what they look like before they are painted. I buy these in a shop which sells building supplies. On the label it says it is a finishing piece for a column. I think it looks like the end piece for a curtain rail or maybe banisters. Anyway, a couple of years ago when we were looking in this shop for something we needed for our house I saw these things on a shelf and instead of seeing a 'finishing piece for a column' I saw a doll! (That probably says a lot about the way I think!) I decided straight away I had to buy some and use them for a craft activity. They went down a storm and so ever since I have been buying them and turning them into dolls at craft workshops. 

Next week we are going to camp. It is a camp for teenagers and the theme is 'Discovering life in an Indian way.' They asked me to run craft workshops, so guess what we'll be making?

Street Art brightens up the day!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since March! Well, I have a kind of excuse - I've been very busy running this street art project for young people. The project had it's grand finale on Sunday when all the art work was displayed on the street. Here's a video so you can see some of the highlights of the day. And here's a facebook link so you can see the photos. Hopefully I'll have a bit more time now to get back into blogging! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the video.

When the pages of a book come alive...

This year I am involved again in organising a Street Art Project in our town. This year's theme is 'Finding Neverland', giving people space to use their imagination to create a fairy tale kind of world on the streets! With fairy tales in mind, I tried my hand at a bit of book sculpture and I'm pretty happy with the results.

Introducing my Mardi Gras Dragon

 On the morning of 12th February I went to the Post Office to check our PO Box and in it I found what I had been hoping for! A yellow piece of paper - which could only mean one thing; there was a parcel waiting for me! And I was pretty sure I knew what kind of parcel it would be.

I picked the parcel up and took it with me to work. I knew from the label on the box that it was from Zooguu and I was excited to see what kind of plush creation was inside...

I opened the box, and when I saw that little tail poking out of the packaging I had a good guess at what it could be - a dinosaur or a dragon.

It was a purple and gold dragon! So cute and beautifully made.

 I love his little arms and his shiny gold wings.

And his little white teeth :)

As well as the dragon there was a lovely note from Jen and her bright and happy business card. Thank you so much Jen :) It made my day to receive this. If any of you readers are jealous of my lovely dragon, make sure you check out Zooguu's etsy shop or her website where you will find lots more lovely creations and perhaps be tempted to get yourself one!

It's Fat Tuesday!

Today is Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, or as we call it in England - Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day! Here in Bosnia and Herzegovina they call it Maskara and their tradition is to do 'trick or treating' like we would do for Halloween. I'll wait and see how many of the kids we know knock on our door tonight! We will be observing the British tradition of eating pancakes :)

As the Plush Team we are celebrating this day by doing a Mardi Gras themed plush swap. Mine still hasn't arrived - but I haven't been to the post office yet today so maybe it's waiting for me there... This is the plush that I sent to Jen of FuzFrenzy.