Ridiculous!

November 14, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far, click here

To be continued ….

Grandfather?

November 13, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

To read the story so far click here

To be continued ….

After all, you can’t please everyone

November 12, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far, click here

To be continued ………

So the princess made a deal …

November 11, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far click here

To be continued ….

Ahhh!!!

November 10, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far click here

To be continued ….

I will not renegotiate!

November 7, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far click here

To be continued …

That very afternoon …

November 6, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far click here

To be continued ….

Among the sunflowers

November 5, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far click here

To be continued …

Deep Sleep

November 3, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far click here

Continues tomorrow 😉

Incognito

October 31, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

To read the story so far, click here

To be continued …

Oh Father!

October 30, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Click here for the story so far

To be continued tomorrow 🙂

The Princess Who Liked To Be Popular

October 28, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Story begins tomorrow 🙂

In a Fairy Tale World

October 17, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

“T-wit T-woo,” go the owls,

Sc-ratch and dangle, the spiders.

The witch is thinking, she frowns, she scowls,

New brooms fly by with riders.

***

A flickering light, the rising of smoke,

From the clearing, through the trees,

Gives away the location of quivering folk

Around the fire, on their knees.

***

In a fairy tale world with fairy tale rules

The wicked have much to fear.

They’ve been unkind, selfish, heartless fools,

Which won’t be tolerated here.

***

Fairy tales, creepy tales, mystical magic tales,

Castles and fairies and witches and ghosts.

Suspend disbelief for these ‘anything can happen’ tales,

Where innocents get rescued and evil gets smote.

Fairy Tales Shelf – Coming Soon!

October 16, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

A Fairy Tales shelf will be coming soon to the Home Page.

Watch this space! 🙂

Who said that?

October 14, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

The End ….. for now

October 3, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the whole episode click here

That’s all folks!

Episode 3 will pick it up from here …. eventually 😉

Where are you going?

October 2, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far, click here

To be continued ….

I just remembered …

October 1, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far, click here

To be continued ….

The following day ….

September 30, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far, click here

To be continued ….

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps …

September 29, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For The English Family Anderson, episode 2, so far, click here

To be continued ….

I’ve got a bamboo toothbrush

September 24, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

I’ve got a bamboo toothbrush,

It’s the best one you can own.

It’s not as good as mine though,

Mine is red and yours is brown

****

Yours is red because it’s plastic,

You know plastic isn’t good.

It is good coz it’s shiny.

Yours is dull, it’s made of wood.

****

Toothbrushes by the millions

Are thrown away each year,

And because they don’t rot naturally,

Lifetimes later they’re still here.

****

Well at least my plastic toothbrush

Won’t make forests get the chop.

Your wood one’s killing all the trees,

You shouldn’t kill trees, so stop!

****

No, bamboo is not like other trees,

Because it grows so fast.

They’re always planting new ones

So their supply will always last.

****

And when my toothbrush is old and useless,

When I have to throw it out,

The natural fibre it’s made from

Will safely, quickly rot.

Would you like a bamboo toothbrush?

Look here

and here

Or maybe they sell them at your local health food store? 🙂

This place is haunted

September 17, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far click here

To be continued …

I know why Venus glows

September 16, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far click here

To be continued ….

A lot to think about

September 15, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far click here

To be continued …

Peckish

September 11, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far, click here

To be continued ….

The English Family Anderson – the story continues

September 9, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Can’t remember this one? Check out Episode 1 for the story so far 🙂

To be continued ….

Veganism

September 8, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Brother Eagle, Sister Sky

September 5, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

This book is absolutely beautiful.

Treat yourself to a copy or borrow it from the library – that’s where we found it 🙂

Cute things children say Part 2

August 21, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Once when we were on holiday, Eve was only a baby and Emily must have been about 4 years old, we were in a public toilets, washing our hands, when another lady came in.

Emily said to her, with genuine interest, “Are you a vegetarian?”

The lady replied, “No, I’m afraid not.”

Emily thought for a moment and then said, “Nanny ate fish once but she didn’t mean it.”

Cute things children say

August 20, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

My children were brought up vegetarian from birth but when they were very young I didn’t make a fuss about gelatine in sweets that were given to them by other people. However, one day when they were choosing some sweets at the corner shop after school, I decided to explain to them what gelatine was after they’d both chosen sweets containing it. Emily, who was 7 years old then, immediately returned the sweets to the shelf and chose some without gelatine.

I turned to Eve, who was only 4, and asked her “Do you want to change yours or are you not old enough to understand?”

She looked thoughtfully at her sweets and then at me and said,

“I don’t think I’m old enough to understand.”

Thus she made the difficult decision to quit gelatine another day 😉

Free and Easy

August 14, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Going to the library is fun. Browsing the books, choosing something you like and taking it home for weeks at a time. For nothing. This is something to be truly appreciated and not taken for granted.

If we don’t use it, we might lose it 😮

If you live in the sticks like us, miles from the nearest library building, there might be a mobile library that visits your area. They usually come by every couple of weeks. Contact your local county council to find out where and when your mobile library is coming next 🙂

Keep it green!

August 13, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Luke Walker and the Hypothetical Question

August 8, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Two days later …

Wild Flower Appreciation with Babs

August 7, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Why don’t you see what types of wild flowers are in your area?

It would help if you had a field guide like this one, which you could probably borrow from your local library or, if you’re lucky, you might be able to get one cheap at a charity shop.

****

Pictures by Miranda, Words by Violet 🙂

Win a free copy of Edmund’s Lunch

August 5, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

The Edmund’s Lunch paperback giveaway is now live on Goodreads, so if you want it, get over there and enter!

Good luck 🙂

Skipping Lunch

August 1, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far, click here

To be continued ….

Make a bus like the Andersons’ Old Red

July 23, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Take a look at Old Red in The English Family Anderson and have a go at making a model bus just like it 🙂

You’ll need:

some cardboard, a pencil, a rubber, a pen, some paint, some scissors, a ruler and some sticky tape.

First measure out the shape of the bus. Using a cereal box made it easy because I could use the side as the roof (so it already had neat folds). The front needs to be the same width as the roof; make the length at least twice the width of the bus. Mine came out a bit short but you can make yours as long as you’ve got room for on your cardboard.

Once you’ve got the two sides, roof and front measured out you can draw in the details. My bus is open at the back because I want to be able to furnish the inside later, but if you’ve got a long enough piece of card you can draw a back too (see the video at the bottom for how it should all be laid out).

When you’ve got it all mapped out, go over all the good lines in pen.

Then rub out all the untidy planning lines you don’t want anymore.

Then paint it 🙂

When it’s dry, cut it out:

Now you’ve just got to fold it and stick it. If you’ve used a box like I have, you should already have good tidy creases between the sides and roof, but you’ll need to score a neat crease where the front folds to meet the other side. Carefully place a ruler on the wrong side (inside) of the bus, along the line where you want to fold it, and score a line with your scissors.

NB: If you want to furnish the inside of the bus then take a look at this before you stick it together. Then put a piece of tape on the top and side edge of the front of the bus (again on the wrong side)

Then you can fold it and stick it to the top and other side of the bus.

It’s a bit fiddly but you’ll get there 🙂

And there you have it!

I got this idea from Dylan Bryan.

Watch him do it (especially look out for his mum interrupting) I love this video* 🙂

* sadly, Dylan’s video is now deleted from youtube 😦

If you want to furnish your bus, go to Part 2 🙂

Now where have I smelled that before?

July 17, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far click here

To be continued …

Halfway there

July 16, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

For the story so far, click here

To be continued ….

Summertime!

April 28, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Violet’s Veg*n e-Comics declares that summer is here!

So switch off your computer, get outside and soak up some vitamin D! I’m off to plant my tomatoes 🙂

Crafty Vegan

April 23, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Veganism should be happy and it should be everywhere.

You can say it loud and proud without ever having to open your mouth!

Show the world your happy veganism by writing it on your stuff!

No pattern needed for these make-it-up-as-you-go bags and pencil cases made from upcycled old jeans and shirts. Just put your imagination behind your scissors and get snipping. Then sew your designs to your background. The lettering (above) is made by sewing knitting yarn onto the material with zigzag machine stitch.

This bag is different from the others in that it has no zip at the top. Instead it has a fold-over flap that keeps your bag closed. This is easily done by taking a rectangular piece of fabric which is a little wider than you want your bag and a bit longer than three times the depth of your bag. Place a piece of contrasting material the same size (for the lining) with it’s right side against the right side of the outer fabric. Then sew around 3 sides of the two of them and turn them right side out. Tidily sew the open end together with the rough edges tucked in.

Then sew on your design(s). If you’re doing a design on front, back and flap like this one, make sure each design will be the right way up when the fabric is folded. Pin it first if you’re not sure.

Now, with your designs on the outside, fold the bottom of this piece up to 2 thirds of the way up – the last third will be your fold-over flap – then sew up the two sides (sew it inside out if you don’t want the stitches to show). You should now have a bag (minus the strap) with a fold-over flap.

So, you’ve got your bag, you’ve got your design on your bag, now you just need to cut your strap, sew it together if it’s in two pieces, and attach it. This “Smile – U R Vegan” bag is made of an old shirt and some oddments of material. The strap is the button bands of the shirt. Make sure your stitching is strong but don’t worry about neatly hemming it – I think it looks good being a bit rough around the edges. Button hole bands are good to use for this because half the work’s done for you as it’s already sewn double thickness.

And that’s pretty much it. You could have a different one for every day of the week! 🙂

Say it with knitting!

April 22, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

Whether it be on your clothes, a cushion cover or a patchwork blanket – you can say it with knitting!

First of all decide what you want to write. Then make a plan.

You’ll need some squared paper which you can buy or make yourself. Each square on the paper will represent one stitch on your needle. So number the squares and then mark out whatever you want to write in knitting. Once you’ve worked out how many stitches wide your whole piece will be you can cast on in your background colour, and have your contrasting colour ready to use when you come to the stitches mapped out on your plan. As you change colours you just string the other colour across the back of the knitting ready to use next time that colour is required by your plan – you don’t cut – just keep changing between colours while keeping all yarns attached until you’ve completed your design.

It’s important to make sure you’re counting from the right direction so that your writing comes out the right way round. Look what happens if you don’t:

This should read NEVER TRUST A MAN IN A SUIT but the words A MAN have come out backwards because the stitches were counted from the wrong direction – ie On your plan, on a purl row the stitches should be counted from the left and on a knit row you count from the right. Let me show you what I mean.

In this picture the purl rows are indicated in purple and the knit rows in red. When you want to produce an image or writing on your knitting you have to remember you’ll be building from the bottom right. So, if you’re following your own pattern, starting the bottom line of your words with a knit row, you need to count from the right. For example, the first stitch for which you’d use a different colour in this example would be the 21st stitch of a knit row which is the tail of the G. Then, on the next row, the first purl stitch for which you’d use a different colour would be the 6th, for the bottom of the V.

Does that make sense?

So that’s it. Be a crafty activist and make your own outspoken jumpers, hats, scarves and blankets 🙂

Oh, and if you don’t know how to knit but would like to learn, here’s a really good video to get you started:

For the right handed:

For the left handed:

Green Smoothie Magic

March 28, 2014

By Violet's Vegan Comics

This looks fun!

I am a big fan of the Boutenko family, having 3 of their books already, (and currently enjoying 12 Steps to Raw Foods) so when I discovered that Victoria has also made a few books for children, I just had to share.

In Green Smoothie Magic, beautifully illustrated by Katya Korobkina, Victoria tells a delightful story about a six year old boy who learns about the magic of greens.