An October Activity

Quite a while back I designed an activity to go along with Witch's Cat. It is a guide for how to make your own little paper diorama based on the kitchen scene in the book. If you have kids maybe it is something they would enjoy as an autumn/Halloweeny activity.

HERE is the link to where you can print out a pdf of the activity. I would suggest printing it out on card if possible.

This is what is included:

A little Witch's Cat character with lots of kitchen items, some of them left blank for you to draw in your own things. 

The table with the red spotted table cloth as seen in the book:

And lots of food boxes which can be cut out and constructed.

A chair:
A saucepan:

 And also the background which you can print out and set behind the character if you so wish.

Harpercollins actually made a little video showing how to make the diorama which is on twitter. This is how theirs looked at the end:

★★★★★★★★★ 

Princess Ballroom!

Last week I made a ballroom for the princess books.  It ended up being the biggest room set I have ever made! I thought it ought to be big though as it was a royal ballroom.

It was requested that the floor should be wooden which was something I had to think about how to make- because the floor was so big . In the end I found some very thin sheets of wood, cut them into individual miniature planks and stuck them down one by one. It didn't take as long as I thought it would and I was really pleased with the effect so that was all good!

Here's a close up of the floor:

It was also suggested that a grand piano could be included in the ballroom. I was very taken with that idea so went right ahead and created a gold glittery piano fit for a princess.

Here's how the whole ballroom looked. The pillars and panels were another challenge- something I had not tried before. I was pleased with how they came out though. I also used a string of fairy lights poked through the walls to create lighting round the edge of the room.

Again the flowers were another little challenge. I bought some cheap ones and then spent quite a while painting them (with Henry's help!) different shades of purple and then glittering them up.

I took a few shots without daylight to show how the lights on the walls light up. I think it looks more atmospheric this way. 

Here come some princesses!

 I especially like their glittery skirts:

I am looking forward to seeing how all this will look once it's photographed professionally and put into one of the books!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★