putting out the bunting here at Sunny Side Up for new friends made this month…

This was the month in which friends stepped out of Twitter / the blogosphere and into REAL LIFE! This a LONG POST, please bring a thermos and sleeping bag…

First off, me and the bunnies trundled along for an event with Emma Chichester Clark at The Oxford Literary Festival and had a truly fabulous day. The children listened to Martha and the Bunny brothers I Heart School,

and made an army of felt bunnies.  It was the most brilliant audience we could possibly have hoped for. I was very chuffed that @cguillain and @DavidMelling1 came along, and, AT LAST, I met @ChildLedChaos and her girls – who were every bit as lovely as I knew they would be. Bearing a gift for me that caused quite a commotion…

I used JUST ONE of these heavenly buttons on a cushion I made for my brother’s wedding (but only one, and made quite sure he realised what sacrifice it was). She wrote a perfect post about it all, which you can read here.

Then we were honoured a wonderful invitation to Book Sniffer Towers, and @maybeswabey wrote this sensational piece about us! We award @maybeswabey a huge cake, a bag of sweets and a pink ribbon out of 5!

Next up: brush those ears and comb those whiskers –

it’s the Apple Store in Covent Garden! There’s so much to say about the total thrill of drawing on iPads –

first me drawing, and then seeing my very young audience take to it like ducks to water and produce extremely stunning pics – that I’m going to post about that later. But the extra treat was meeting @Elephantthai, @pollylwh and their fabulous boys. We were a brilliant huddle of laughs and chatting in amongst the super-smart atmosphere of the machines! And @Elephantthai produced – as if by magic – my best thing in all the world:

a pot of HOME-MADE LEMON CURD!!! Not much left now, as you can see. I am very often to be found with my snout jammed stuck in the pot, Winnie-the-Pooh style… if you haven’t called by to read her fantastic poetry yet, you can find it here.

@pollylwh wrote a post about the Apple Store event that I practically fell off my chair reading: it is so generous, so funny, and her pics and captions are so superb – please do hop on over to see it here. Her blog The Little Wooden Horse is a true connoisseur’s take on books and reading, and it is very droll.

Chick-Lit!

Do you know Bookish Bites, from @NatashaWorswick? It’s a screen-lickingly good combination of books and yummy things and I find I’m popping in very often. So you can imagine how happy I was to see this post – Martha, chocolate nests, fluffy chicks in pastel shades (me and Natasha have a bit of a chick thing going)… but best of all it’s starring Happy Bunny Club member Milo!

Last off, back in the car –

and off to Discover Children’s Story Centre in Stratford – the most inspiring, creative, incredible, place – for a PACKED session of story-telling, drawing,

more felt bunny-making, and lots new members for The Happy Bunny Club!

And then, just at the very moment I was about to press the ‘publish’ button, I found this review of Martha and the Bunny Brothers I Heart School from my great Twitter-chum @HelenaPielichat, who has noticed all the things I most dearly hoped would be seen. AND there are retro-Marthas in her piece – take a look! From a such a damn fine writer to boot, and as nutty as me. I am Right Royally Chuffed.

I just don’t know how to thank you all. I might have to say it with this, a film from DevinSuperTramp

With love from Clara, happiest Happy Bunny of all XX