Turning a book character into a toy

I was recently handed a sheet of paper and told by him-in-doors "this is for you to fill out." When I looked down I saw the words 'bucket list.' So over the last couple of weeks I've been adding things as they've occurred to me. Now I've always wanted to have one of my book characters turned into a toy. Knowing this was unlikely to happen with my traditionally published picture books I decided I'd do it myself. So I looked at the picture books that have been published as an eBook or an app. As soon as I saw the rabbit that appears in 'Clever Rabbit' and 'The Best Rabbit' I knew I may just be able to make him work.

A page from 'The Best Rabbit'

So I grabbed my crochet hook, some orange, yellow and red yarn and got crocheting. I'll admit I've surprised myself as I've never turned an image into a 3-D object. I'm now hooked - sorry for the pun. I'm now looking at my other characters to see if I can repeat the process. I'm going to allow my brain to cogitate on it and hopefully that brain cell will work out what I need to do. I"m thinking Captain from Captain and Nugget (eBook - app for iPhone/iPad ) at the moment - I know I have just the right colour wall in my stash.  

My crocheted version of Rabbit  

If you'd like to have a go a creating your own Rabbit then a free crochet pattern can be found here.

Regards

Lynne  

Why Do We Love Them?

One way or another there has always been a dog in my life. Each has had their own unique traits and habits, which have often made me wonder why I love them. Take for example my first dog Mitzi, she was:

• Extremely fussy about her food
• If she decided she'd walked enough that was it, she went no further

And yes this is me with Mitzi

Then there was Sally who would only sleep if I rested my hand on her back. This meant each night I fell to sleep with a hand slowly going numb.

Sally

After Sally came our yellow ball of fluff Bonny who:

• Hid chewed, sticky 'treasures' under my duvet
• Stole sweets and hid them behind the settee
• Emptied bins when she became annoyed with us (normally when we went shopping)

Bonny

Then there was Jodi who:

• Played lets jump through the banisters and land on heads
• Dragged plants (roots and all) in from the garden through the dog flap
• Buried clean (they had to be clean) knickers, socks and bras in the back garden
• Jumped into any car with an open door expecting to be taken for a drive

Jodi

Then came Tasha (out current canine friend) who:

• Steals socks, even taking them from the washing machine
• Takes all the space on the settee
• Chases anything that runs
• Believes every ball in the world is hers, even acquiring whilst still being played with
• Has 'entitlements' and unsutbly tells you when they are due

Tasha

However there are also habits they have shared including:

• Leaving footprints on a newly cleaned floor
• Shaking and splattering mud up clean walls
• Creating unsavoury odours

So why do we love them? The answer is simple. They are family and whatever they do they get under your skin. And as a writer I have the added bonus that they feed my writing, they are my muse. Take for example my picture eBook Captain and Nugget (available from Amazon UK and Amazon US). Many of the things my canines friends have done appear in this story and without them I'd never have been able to write it.

So I was wondering what has your canine friend done to make you question why you love them?

P.S. If you'd like to purchase a copy of Captain and Nugget either follow the links about or click on the relevant flag.