Wyrzog is a feisty Book Wyrm that lurks in my bookshelves and slithers about my many piles of much-loved books. She has an annoying habit of eating bookmarks, but will hiss and snap if I even consider dog-earring a page.
Wyrzog the Book Wyrm
Wyrzog is surprisingly open to contentious grammar and the odd typo: she have seen humans change their language over thousands of years, and admires it all. Wyrms love stories, big or small. They love books with illustrations, illuminations and those with beautiful maps folded within.
‘Wyrm’ – a species of dragon with no legs or wings. The most famous kind of wyrm are sea-serpents, like Orkney’s very own Mester Stoorworm, but not all are ocean-dwelling creatures.
Wyrzog tends to hoard books with strong, female characters and prefers non-traditional fairytales where the princess and dragons live happily ever after. She has an insatiable appetite for literature but, despite how excited she gets about a book, she will never, ever give away a plot ending. Those who do will find their toes nibbled.
Zog the (very handsome) orange dragon is her personal hero.
Prunella finds joy in the small things of life. Coffee and doughnuts, apples and peanut butter, flowers and herbs, pebbles and seaglass, jumpers and tartan check trousers! She flies the flag for them all. Literally.
Prunella flying her flag for coffee!
Prunella has hundreds of little flags. Probably thousands. Puppies. Peonies. Enamel pins. Rainbows and sunsets. Scratchy pencils and clicky pens. Colourful candles in sparkly candlesticks. She’s got a flag for them all. Prunella is passionate. Which is why I love her so much. But who is she?
Prunella’s a monster who has been told she looks like a pig disguised as a Highland Coo. Seeing as she champions both intelligent pigs and cute Highlanders, Prunella wasn’t the least bit offended. She says her spirit animal is a haggis.
Coffee. She loves coffee. Prunella drinks it black, but sometimes enjoys snuffling up a cappuccino with her snout. She has her own special take-away cup, and a dozen little coffee-cup cozies to match her jumper. All the coffee does make her whirlwind of positivity. She would be annoying if it wasn’t for her enthusiastic oink!
Prunella loves all things bookish!
Prunella has an exuberant Scottish accent that even the most Scottish Scot can have difficulty understanding. She adores dictionaries and uses lots of weird and random words with a few Scottish classics thrown in. Here’s a few of her favourites:
Peedie – small
Swagde – to relax after a big, big meal
Pumple-footed – accident prone, a bit clumsy
Shoogle – shake, move to side to side, wiggle
Polyphloisboisterous – noisy
Despite reading many a long dictionary, Prunella’s spelling is…. interesting. But she usually gets her message across. She also enjoys everything bookish, including Scottish poetry, cook books, rom coms, notebooks, tartan noir and will carefully read any vintage manual to a Singer sewing machine.
The lists could go on and on. (Yes, she likes writing lists.) Prunella has shared with me so many tiny passions I can’t possibly fit them in one blog post. Instead, each and every day, she’ll continue to fly the flag for the small joy she’s loving that day. I think we could learn a lot from Prunella. Even if we can’t always catch exactly what she’s saying…
Shh! Don’t startle this shy creature. For though this wee wild unicorn tiptoes through the wilderness as quietly as can be, it too can be fierce and feisty.
With cloven hooves, a wiggly beard and long lush lion’s tail, this is far from your domesticated unicorn. A beautifully rare beast of Scotland, these unicorns love to roam forests, nibble flowers and occasionally give chase to a hairy haggis!
An illustration of a wild unicorn foal
A very few well guarded wild unicorns do roam the islands of Orkney…
I was lucky to spot this foal, just on the cusp of adulthood, silently sipping from a loch. Perhaps for safety, or simply for the magic of it, wild unicorns are most active at dawn and dusk. The latter is known locally as grimleens, and is truly an enchanted time of day for humans and faeries alike.
Grimleens: Orcadian dialect for twilight, dusk, the magical moment between day and night.
Head to where the four-leaf clover springs up from the ground, where there’s a soft tinkling in the breeze, where rainbows bloom in the sky…
And if you are quiet, patient and granted a large dose of luck, you may be able to spot a wild unicorn too!
Please note: Do not follow directions from local trows, they’ll send you on a wild unicorn race. This usually involves the dizzying heights of Hoy, a boggart attack at Birsay and a possible drowning in Stenness loch. It’s not fun.
This haggis likes to hoard – what weird and wonderfuss stuff does it collect?
Tartan underpants? Unicorn magnets? Mouldy old Scotch eggs maybe?
Doodle some fantastic things – from fidget spinners to buttercups – that this haggis has been gathering. It might be busy sneaking something from right under your nose!
Talking of noses… haggis like to show off their collection by balancing their favourite things on their snouts! Draw the bestest thing in this collection on the very tip of its snouty-nose!
Top Tip: Haggis are usually gingery-brown. So get some orange and brown pencils to colour your haggis in!
Note: This haggis is the Fierce Orkney kind, instead of the longer-sleeker-haired Braw Haggis of the Highlands.
A mercat? A dinomaid? Or maybe a Deep-Water-Kelp-Breath mermaid with long seaweed hair who likes to slurp up limpets? Yuck!
Design your very own mermaid top using the slippery-swishy tail. You can draw inspiration from animals and magical creatures – from rhinos to vampires – to create your own unique creature.
Or simply doodle the top half of a friend or family member onto the tail to magic them into a mermaid! Just don’t forget the clam bra!
Top Tip: If your mermaid has hands, remember to give them bubble-icious webbed fingers!
What do selkies sing about deep under the ocean waves?
Seashells? Seagulls? Sea serpents!?
Name your selkie and doodle what you think would make a magical selkie song… Maybe she loves fish and chips or playing with dolphins or blowing bubbles up a basking sharks bum! Naughty!
Top Tip: You can draw swirly musical spirals or jazzy zigzags or maybe even a jiggedly fiddle to make your song more magical!
I’ve got some more Doodle Monsters for you to get scribbling on!
These mini monsters need a magic wand – or a pencil – to make them magnificently monstrous! Doodle a new ginormous nose, sharp go-faster spikes, two big twitchy ears and some flappity-flap wings to whizz around the clouds!
When you’re finished, you can also create your own mish-mash monster full of squiggly legs, googly eyes, gnashing teeth, and squiggly claws!
Hands up who loves to read… This tiny book imp sure does! Book imps love magicking books, even impossible books, and sniffing that bookish smell! (Bit odd.)
What is your book imp called? He or she wants you to dream up what your perfect book would be and doodle a brilliant book cover!
Here are a few ideas of titles:
Luna Lovegood’s Secret Diary
Is There Really A Monster Under Your Bed?
Hiccup’s Guide to Dragon Dentistry
The Hobbit’s Recipe Book of Second Breakfasts
The Unicorn Who Couldn’t Sing
Ah, poor little unicorn. If you’re little yourself, you can get an adult to help you with the words.
Or, if you have a top favourite book that’s pretty perfect already, you can copy its design or create a brand new cover for it. The possibilities are endless!
Download and print this free PDF Activity Sheet and get doodling some storytime delights!
This design was created specially for all the kids and parents in lockdown and to cheer things up in these tough times. Sending you all some cosy, bookish vibes!
Be sure to comment, tweet, instagram, email, message me your brilliant book designs!
What weird and wonderfuss stuff would you find in a witch’s bottle?
Eyeballs for potions? Newt tails for breakfast? The tears of naughty children for a cauldron-carrot-cake recipe? Whether it be ghost farts or demon giggles, doodle something you would capture and keep for a magic spell or ghastly witching brew.
Top Tip: Witches can squeeeeeeeze almost anything inside a witchy bottle – the only limit is your imagination!
Download and print this free PDF Activity Sheet and get doodling some weird, gross and fun magic ingredients!
This design was created specially for all the kids and parents in lockdown and to cheer things up in these tough times. Sending you all some powerful, good witchy magic!
Be sure to comment, tweet, instagram, email, message me your wonderfuss witch bottles!
