Thornton, Sandy: - Sandy Thornton is a picture book maker with over 20 years' experience in early years, creative play, running her own children's art and craft classes, and providing creative ideas and content for children's TV, including Cbeebies' Mr Maker. Whilst working as a nanny for many years, Sandy came to realise the power of art and imagination. Allowing the children in her care the safe space for unabashed creativity, she found herself further inspired to create her own stories, exploring scenarios and narratives through the playful use of art materials. This provided the opportunity to follow her passion for sketching, creating dynamic, colourful characters, using a combination of traditional and digital art. From an early age, Sandy snipped, sketched, glued, and stapled her own little books and magazines, influenced at the time by Herge's Tintin and Jansson's Moomins. Sandy lives in North London, with her family, their dog Winston and cat Finnie.