* Making & Learning *

A busy bank holiday for me with lots of making and learning new things!

First, we visited some friends who are expecting their first baby and I had a go at making a 'Baby Bear face & hand towel' - here's how Benji Bear turned out:

I added a little label to explain what Benji Bear was (i.e. not a toy!):

And wrapped him up in tissue paper and was duly presented to the expectant parents:

I'm hoping to make a few of these little chaps for myself before little lady Bilbrough arrives!

Next, we had to say au revoir to a lovely family who are moving to Spain - I made each of them some felt 'Prayer Turtlies' - each turtle had a special prayer for every person in the family, from dad to baby...

...and could all be stacked up together, as a reminder they can support each other as a family:

I think everyone liked their gifts!

Husband Jon has been sharing his gift of music with me - I had promised myself that if I was blessed enough to become pregnant, I'd learn how to play the guitar so I could play lullabies and songs to our children.

I'm currently learning how to play one of Jon's very own lullabies, Elanor, a song about the last character in Toliken's The Lord of the Rings.

I'm coming along ok!

Hope you had a lovely bank holiday too!

x*x*x

* Spring Days *

My little characters were so excited this morning - for spring had truly arrived! They clamored to be let out in the garden, so I packed them into my basket and carried them out into the garden...

...and they hurried off to play!
The garden is pretty big for such small friends - can you see where they are?
Oh look - there's Bert waving by the front door.

Buttercup Bunny is talking to the Primroses...

...and sniffing the grape hyacinths.Are there any characters playing in the flower beds?

Is that something by the white hyacinths?
Ah - ha! Hello Fleur Bear!

Here is Pussy Cat Bleu prowling on the Camellia...

...and Berta is dreaming by the pink hyacinth.
Pussy Cat Bleu then pranced over to the tulips...
...whilst Berta climbed up into the Forsythia bush (because the flowers match her little nose)...
...and Hobbes and 'Robber' friend joined in and basked in the spring sun down below.'What a happy spring day!' cried all the characters.

x*x*x

* Audition Bunny *

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately - working on Red Nose Day, my 30th birthday and holiday fun has all meant I've not had time to blog - but now here I am!

For my sister Sue's birthday, I made her an 'Audition Bunny' - she is a marvellous actor and I wanted to make a special gift that reflected her wonderful talents.
This bun is nice and pocket sized to hide in her pocket when she goes to auditions and stuffed with lavender from Provence to calm her nerves! I also made a leaflet to go with Audition Bunny to show how useful the bunny is when auditioning!
More fun to follow!


x*x*x

* Little Red Update *

So I'm progressing with my illustrations of 'Little Red' the Fox - Jon had the marvellous idea that I should make shapes and photograph them, so there is a 3D effect. Here's the start of the new illustration ideas...

...this is the summer scene

And here are my other Little Red's waiting for their scenes to be made:


Fleur Bear was watching all the photo fun under a vase of flowers... x*x*x

* Some News & Birthday Gifting *

Sorry I've been a bit quiet recently - this has been due to a rather exciting event - becoming pregnant! Wow!

Needless to say, we are very excited (and a bit nervous!) All going well, baby should arrive early September...

Here baby is, showing mum and dad just how fast they can move their arms and legs (the scan helpfully points out where everything is, in case its a bit tricky to know what's what!):

Beautiful!

As a result, I have been suffering from nausea everyday for the past two months, but as this is settling down now, I've been able to start making things again - hooray! There have been many birthdays across February - here are some little things I have made recently for friends:

Baby Poppet the Owl


Fleur Bear

...and a special Bilbrough birthday card!

I'll hopefully be doing more stuff now - see you soon!

x*x*x

* Meet Little Red *

Apologies for being a bit quiet recently - after my bout of making hair corsages I have been dreaming of finishing some little books I have been working on - Beatrice the Dancing Bee being one of them! In the meantime, I have been doodling some new characters. Here is Little Red, having been inspired by the changing of the seasons and my love for foxes - they get too much bad press in my opinion!






It might be a small book for small ones - not many words, just pictures of Little Red's adventures in the forest and beyond!

x*x*x

* Friday Treat Time! *

As the beautiful season of autumn is nearly over I thought I would cheer us up with some fun autumn-y activity sheets, featuring squirrels, Hobbes the Cat and Bert & Berta!

This is a fun project I started a while back - and its definitely a work in progress, learning lots along the way! The activities are from a black and white 'seasonal' magazine aimed at 2-5 year olds, including photo stories, making a coat for a sausage dog, autumn recipes and more! I guess I need to start a winter one now!

Just click on one of the images below to download the three activities.

Happy Friday!

x*x*

* Hobbes' First Day Outside! *

It was a momentous day in the Bilbrough household - for the first time in his life, Hobbes saw the outside world!

He is used to being pampered and carried around indoors...


...and watching the washing go round.


But today, he stood on his own four paws and sniffed and frisked in the great outdoors.

A tiny cat in a big world...

...it's a like a jungle out there (in our garden).

Eeep! Things got a little scary at times...

...but he soon settled down to his usual playful antics...

...And here he is - a professional prowler in the making:

After all that running around, he was content to chill out by the kitchen door...

...waiting for the next opportunity to see the outside world.

* The End *
(for now...)