Boris, OBE - Police Horse of outstanding bravery

Police Horse Boris and his PC Tony

I had the great fortune to meet an amazing Police Horse today - Boris, OBE.

He was out patrolling the Arnold Circus Midsummer Picnic and saying hi to the local children with PC Tony on his back.  Boris is 21 years old and has been a Police Horse since he was 4 years old.

Last week Boris received the PDSA Order of Merit (the animal equivalent of an OBE) for his bravery in the 2011 London riots, showing leadership and fearlessness, and giving his fellow police horses confidence in a terrifying situation - leaping over fire, through smoke, rioters and missiles.  He worked a 26 hour shift when the riots erupted, only stopping for 20 minute water breaks.  All of the police horses involved were near exhaustion once the rioting was over.

A little bit of youtube research, and you can see Boris leading his fellow horses in many a situation, from the riots, to official royal escort duties.

Most touching is this video of Boris where he is described by PC Paul Copeland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PfuSRth5mE

 on Wetnose TV, who's founders Gavin and Andrea we met at the London Pet Show earlier this year before they flew off to Romania to continue their devoted animal welfare work.

Our Creature Clothes stand at London Pet Show even pops up on one of their videos as a backdrop to Ben Fogle's interview and pledge of support for Wet Nose Day at the show.

Arnold Circus Bandstand

A glorious day and a very special encounter with a very special horse.

Thank you Boris.

East London Comics and Arts Festival

We visited ELCAF today - WOW. 

Elcaf is the The East London Comics and Arts Festival.

It was a haven of art and design brilliance.  Packed with comic and illustration fans and the artists they had come to worship, the room was buzzing with excitement.  The rain was pouring outside as the Queens birthday fly-over zoomed overhead.  It was all a bit special.

#ELCAF

My daughters immediately set about erasing the undoubtably very witty comment someone had written on the collaborative cartoon board in the entry hall, to replace it with "I Love Mummy". 

Maybe not as original as what the organisers had intended, but I was super chuffed.

The exhibition space - Oval Space London - was amazing. We walked up a fire escape running alongside a huge gas works and past a cafe with pallets elegently bolted to the walls and housing strawberry plants - check the Creature Clothes Instagram feed for pics of these - and into the exhibition hall.

Luke Pearson

My kids screamed 

"HILDA! MUMMY, IT'S HILDA, IT'S HILDA!"

Not only was it Hilda of Hilda and the Troll fame (she's HUGE in our house - check her out), but it was also Luke Pearson the brains & pen behind this feisty super cool girl.  The Hilda books are available on the Flying Eye Books imprint from Nobrow Press.  

He inscribed their new book - Hilda and the Midnight Giant with a beautiful drawing of Hilda for them.

Two seriously happy little girls.

Dan Berry

Next up we stopped at Things By Dan, and met Dan Berry who's latest graphic novel is about a dog, albeit a dead dog... I left a card for all visual references needed for cool collar illustration!

The book is called The Suitcase.

Aside from illustration and writing work, Dan has a podcast called

Make It Then Tell Everybody

in which he talks to comic artists about their work and how they do what they do - I'm subscribing tonight.  Looking at the interview list, I'm going to have my headphones on for a looooong time listening to every single episode.

Malarko

Then... I heard a whisper... Malarky/Malarko was here.  

"NO WAY!"

we all screeched (we're so cool us) and found his spot.  

Malarko's work has featured on this blog before and we are always seeking out his Street Art to use as a backdrop in our urban shoots for Creature Clothes.  One of our most popular and highly featured images is of my kids and dogs taking their own brushes to his work while wearing their deckchair stripe collars (the dogs) and belts (the kids).  The obsession started when my girls and I watched him transform the wall at the end of our street into an explosion of colour, foxes, monsters, googly eyes, and everything inbetween - all in glorious technicolour. 

We've been a bit obsessed ever since.

Totally engrossed in their new books. Happy happy happy.

Such an inspirational day. We can't wait for next year.

In the meantime I'm really intrigued to see the effect such a visually overwhelming and exciting art laden day had on my kids.  I post the highlights of their creative output onto Tumblr - I'll be keeping it updated until then!

Ruby Tuesday and Juniper's tumblr:

www.mummyimadethisforyou.tumblr.com

For more information on ELCAF:

www.elcaf.co.uk

Memories of The #HoundAround in Shoreditch

A few weeks ago we had the great pleasure of being a part of the Hound Around in Shoreditch, East London.

Here are our highlights from the show!

An East London Welcome - go left at the K9 Street Art for #Hound Around

Stolli and Goose Lounging in the #Hound Lounge on our Dog Bed Covers

The space the event was in was amazing - perfect for showing off our collars and leads suspended from the rafters.
See http://www.secondhome.io for more info.

Stolli and Goose were very excited about the Agility Course - they even created a Sibling Rivalry Relay Team!
Of course they HAD to wear matching team colours in the form of Red Gingham Bandanas

Juno takes Goose over the ramp - check our bunting in the background!

This is fellow exhibitor Stacey from ArtSea CraftSea - check out her hand machine embroidery on her facebook page - it's amazing.
https://www.facebook.com/ArtSeaCraftSea

New customer Gus looking amazing in his neon orange collar

Some of our wonderful customers - I love their matching greys and silvers!

Marlene the Frenchie looking 100% fabulous.
Check out her mum's amazing work at www.marlenesgang.co.uk

Ralph the Ridgeback came and hung out with me for a day at the show, and got himself all neon'ed up in a new collar

Our model and BFF Taz popped by to say hi and update us on the new range she's been testing for us... the feedback is GREAT so the new lines will soon be unveiled!

Taz, Juno and Bessie give the assault course their best shot!