a treat for you from me, made with love
I’ve been hopping with impatience to share this with you, and AT LAST I can!
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the Bedtime Bunnies Song!
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Dixie crafty project part five – FINISHED!
The engine is running, the excited passengers have jumped into their seats…
a TOOT TOOT of the horn and a flash of the button-headlights -
and they’re off!
I’m sure Josie has packed them some tiny sandwiches and filled up the tank with a tiny drop of petrol before sending them on their merry way up to London to lucky, lucky me.
What a talented person she is, and what an amazing job she has done.
Do call by to see the last of her posts describing the work-in-progess with some extra fab pics, and why not leave her a comment?
Meanwhile I am setting up camp on the doorstep, waiting for the chaps to motor around the corner to their new home. They will just have time to put their feet up with a cuppa, before coming on tour with me and my Mum to celebrate publication of Dixie O’Day in the Fast Lane!
my workplace -
the truth
People mostly fib about their workplaces.
I should know, I’ve done it myself plenty of times.
When asked for a photograph, writers and illustrators hastily clear away the tat and old coffee cups and artfully arrange the tools of their trade into a seemingly natural, carefree scene.
I thought perhaps I’d be brave and show you not what’s ON my desk but what’s BEHIND it. You will see that:
my reading material is not especially intellectual;
I don’t wash my paints out promptly;
I sometimes use children’s art materials;
my deer’s head needs hanging:
I have a bit of A Thing about patterned tape;
I have 10 metres of campervan ribbon and I now can’t remember why;
it’s no wonder I can never find my glasses if their case now houses lots of small rubber animals and, yes, crawling babies.
Now I’ve done it, would you consider doing it too?
Tweet me a pic of your desk, workplace, kitchen table AS IT REALLY IS and we can make an Honesty Gallery!
Dixie crafty project part four
Every morning I jump out of bed and my waking thought is – how is Josie getting on?
I am just so excited – too excited – and eager to see…
Shiny buttons for headlights, red gingham upholstery; teeny tiny wing mirrors and the hunt for the perfect way to make the steering wheel…
Motor over to Josie’s place to see the Dixie project SO NEARLY at the finishing line.
And marvel at her creation: best pals Dixie and Percy – pure tweedy smiley perfection!
Dixie crafty project part three
Hip hip hooray for Josie! She really has her foot on the accelerator and the Dixie project is motoring along BRILLIANTLY…
The car has been modelled and sanded and filled and sanded again (Dixie is VERY proud of his car, I think he would approve of all this care taken). And for me to sit back and see those lovely felty chums coming to life (Dixie’s lovely tum now covered by his red tweed waistcoat, Percy’s sports jacket on it’s way) – well, as you can imagine, me and Dixie and Percy are doing a lot of smiling at each other.
And do make a special visit to Josie’s place to see a marvellous picture of her new helper, examining the specifications!
top children’s book characters round-up
A huge thank you to all you lovely kind commenters for popping over to my place and adding your very brilliant choices of top children’s book characters to our discussion. Every one you chose is an absolute winner.
I’ve had a smile on my face pretty much non-stop thinking about this, and geting lot of suggestions on twitter too…
it was amazing to see just how much Claude is the nation’s pin up, and how devoted Ant and Bee’s fans still are after all this time, and how the Moomins crop up again and again…
I’ve been thinking about what makes a good character, as opposed to a central figure in a cracking good book. They are slightly separate things, but tricky to differentiate.
And also, no surprise here really, how time has squished up, and the characters I loved when I was small and the characters my children loved when they were small have all concertina-ed in my memory into one happy love affair with books.