WellChild is a national charity that provides support to seriously ill children and their families, as well as funding scientific research. I was delighted to contribute by providing the prize for the winner of the 2017 Calendar Art Competition held for children and young people supported by WellChild. 

The winning design was done by Thomas, who made a wonderful Play-Doh scene of a forest full of magical creatures and fallen leaves. It reminded me of Where the Wild Things Are. I was expecting a drawing or a painting so I was pleasantly surprised when I received his winning entry to work on for my next project. After considering the nature of his artwork, I decided against making a plush and made a lit shadow box for Thomas. But first, here is Thomas!

This is his bio:

Hi my name is Thomas and I'm 4 years old. I love Play Doh so made my picture of autumn using Play Doh and Lego. I made the snake on the log all by myself with no help. :) Mummy helped me with the other forest animals but I twisted the trees and made the leaves. I couldn't post my entry so mummy took a picture on her phone. My mum is a member of the WellChild Family Tree and we are new to the charity so look forward to the future events.

I've wanted to make this for awhile now, so I was happy to get started when I got a chance between projects. The concept was a Biology lab bench made out of felt, along with some laboratory equipment, and a female scientist.  I'm interested in making Science accessible to girls so that's how the idea came about.

Everything is made out of 100% wool felt. The drawers and cupboards all open and the fridge has a little drawer inside! I think it could do with a microscope and a centrifuge. 

In my last post, I shared the display plush I made for the nonprofit, Spoonie Survival Kits, that puts together gift bags for people with chronic illness.

In addition to the display plush, I made a few bookmarks for them to include in their bags.