A tale of a fairy lost in London and found on a birthday cake

This entry should really be one for the '@apickup1 makes' blog - were it to exist. He worked on most of this gift for his niece Ivy's fifth birthday and it definitely deserves an entry here.

Ivy is a big fan of fairies - and, more recently, lego. Alex cycled round London taking pictures of a small lego fairy in front of various monuments. He got some strange looks from tourists, especially when he got out the fake snow.

Ida looking for Ivy by the Thames

He used his photoshop skills to take out his hand and to add fairy sparkles and snow.

He also wrote a story about a lego fairy called Ida who sat on a shelf in our house. She saw a little girl called Ivy who came to visit and wanted to go and find her again.

There she is on the shelf in our house, in front of all my diaries (which you can read about here on my other blog where I've written a piece about journalling and mental health). She searched all round London to find Ivy.

Ida in front of one of London's landmarks.

Finally, exhausted, she goes to sleep in Trafalgar Square. In a flurry of warm white snow the Father Christmas of the Living Toys appears and grants her a wish - he will magic her to Ivy on her birthday. But Ivy must keep a look out for her.....

After writing the story, he sent it off to get printed as a photo book.

Ida travelled with us up north for the weekend and was safely deposited on top of the fairy garden cake - which I decorated the evening before.

Note the ivy leaves made out of icing and the icing toadstalls:)

On the day of Ivy's party, we gave Ivy her book before her birthday lunch.

I read it to her and her twin cousins. She looked for Ida all over the house but it wasn't until her birthday lunch that Ida appeared...

Ivy was gratifyingly pleased to find Ida on her cake.

Those of you who follow my blog will recognise Flower the meercat - who doesn't seem to be wearing her dress.

The whole present was a big success - well done Uncle Alex,

A lego sewing machine

My sewing machine is playing up again, so while I hoped to share with you the printer cover I'm in the middle of making (exciting times), it's going to have to wait.

However, I could't resist sharing this wonderful 3D card I got for my birthday recently. It's my Brother sewing machine, crafted from bits of lego from the 'random bits box' Alex recently rescued from his parents' attic. It's got a place for the cotton reel, bobbin and needle - and it's threaded up about as accurately as a lego machine could ever be. I love it.

Magic Sandcastle - a silly stop motion of the building and a lego man takeover...

Last week we went on holiday to the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Alex took some lego men with him, of course, and we made them a castle to live in. We took photos as we did it to create a simple stop motion of the castle being built and the lego Hamlet and lego bagpiper climbing to the top. Here's the castle;

I did the decorations, Alex did the fortifications!

And here is the video;

Magic Castle from Alex Pickup on Vimeo.

We also made a timelapse of the tide coming in and destroying it - I'll add than when we have it on Vimeo.