Checklist for things to do in November: (1) buy new winter coat, (2) fix broken boiler, (3) record seminal album. That's right, the folk from Hometaping have declared that you should spend the month of November making and recording your own music. It's the second year that they're running the project. It's free and anyone can join. What a perfect excuse for everyone who's ever wanted to make music but procrastinated on it (says the pot calling the kettle black). They've even included a few tips on the home recording process to help out first-timers.

The Hometaping project begins Monday 1st November 2010 and ends at midnight on Tuesday 30th November. In the words of the organizers: "there is no judging. There is no competition. There are no other rules. You don't have to make it better than anyone else's. You just have to make it." So go make it.

See their website for more information. (Photo by Felipe Neves)

Issue three is on sale now. You can find it in WHSmith, as well as our independent stockists.

Inside, we gave you some disposable cameras and waited to see what happened. We played with a box of pretty clothes for a happy afternoon. And we found out what happens when you swap deodorant for baking soda.

Say hello to our new stockists: the Spider and the Fly (Edinburgh), Cherry Cherry (Norwich), Chapter Arts (Cardiff), Magma Books (Leicester Square), Handmade (Brighton) and Magazero (everywhere).

We love cake. We love to bake it, we love to decorate it and we most certainly love to eat it. So it goes without saying that we get pretty excited when we hear about something that combines baked goods and creativity. The Mad Artists Tea Party is a series of events that gets together some of the UK's most exciting artists and skilled cake creators to come up with "unique edible works of art which exist only in cake form, and only for a short amount of time." No, this ain't your Gran's battenberg.

The Mad Artists Tea Party is the brainchild of dessert connoisseur Emmylou Cakehead. Their first event, Cake Britain, was held at London's Future Gallery in August, featuring baked creations that interpreted the meaning of ‘FAIR'. Among the edible exhibits were smiling takeaway burger cakes from illustrator John Burgerman and a wall of lyrics from the Futureheads, spelled out in biscuits.

This Halloween, in conjuction with PRETOX drink Alibi, The Mad Artists Tea Party folk are taking baking to frightening heights with their new exhibition, ‘Eat Your Heart Out & The PRETOX Potion'. They describe it as "the world's first 18+ cake shop...pushing the concept that cake can never be offensive to the extreme." Each day a team of zombies will be selling 666 original [terrifying] treats from [creepy] cake artists.

The adults-only event runs from the 28th - 31st October 2010, in the ‘dungeon' of Maiden (188 Shoreditch High Street, London).

Visit their website for more information on how to get your hands on what could possibly be a delicious severed hand.

We first spotted Emily Warren's work at End of the Road Festival this September. She created a very elegant brown bear that greeted visitors at the box office and also decorated the festival library in the Enchanted Forest.

Over a couple of emails, I asked Emily about her work and English summers spent festival going.

When did you start making illustrated sculptures?

I studied Illustration (BA) down in Exeter and then at Central St. Martins. For my final piece at St. Martins I made a life size horse out of cardboard boxes. It had a peep hole under its tail through which a magical landscape could be viewed. It was from making the horse that I started to make the animal trophy heads. It was quite a natural progression. I started selling them through a shop in Sussex nearly three years ago now and haven't stopped since.

What about your work for End of the Road festival? How did that come about?

The End of the Road Festival work came about as one of the organisers approached me after seeing my work in the shop in Sussex. Last year I made a number of heads which we attached high up in the trees in the enchanted forest. It was so exciting to see them lit up at night and everyone taking pictures of them!

This summer it was great painting the box office just before the festival started. There are lots of artists working at the site getting everything ready the week before. I loved being part of that busy creative atmosphere.

What were your favourtie things at EOTR this year?

My favourite things this year were the sunshine, the secret garden to the side of the main stage where the peacocks hang out, falafel and chai, The Unthanks, Moddi and Jarvis Cocker buying one of my mini heads in the merchandise tent!

Where is your studio based? Does the environment you live in affect your work?

I work from home in a little village under the Downs near Brighton. I'm a country girl at heart even though I love the city. I am to some extent influenced by my environment in the types of animal I make such as foxes, rabbits and British birds. But all animals are beautiful and fascinating to me. I have started to experiment making human heads. The bearded lady and strong man are my particular favourites.

Take a trip to Emily's website for more information on her work.

Last month, we ran a competition in collaboration with the lovely Folksy (which is always worth checking out for unique gift idea). We asked their sellers to make us an object with a story. 

We're pleased to announce that the winners are Kirsty and Natalie. You can look out for their creations in Issue 4, or check out their shops on Folksy. 

The photo is by Alex Simms.

We're just putting the last touches on issue three before sending it off to the printers. This issue has been a bit more chilled than the last two, but involved just as much junk food. We bought some beer and quite a lot pizza one evening, and sat around thinking of headlines for everything.

The issue will start to reach shops on the 21st, after it's been printed and sent out.

It's been a little quiet on here lately, and that's because we're just putting the finishing touches on issue 3. There have been lots of biscuit- and Pringle-eating and late-night discussions and the result is looking rather lovely. We're very excited.

Anyway, it's time to introduce a new feature we'll be running on here from time to time. We're going to ask a photographer to say a bit about a photo they've taken.

Our first is Emma Crichton, who is an art photographer from Glasgow, now based in London. This photo is from a series entitled 'I started to laugh', which was recently exhibited at the Street Level Gallery in Glasgow.

She says, "This image is from the series  'I started to laugh...', which is based around the relationships between people, objects and nature. This particular image is a close up shot of the back of my friends head. I tend to photograph people I am close to, who have had an effect on my life and who I can't be with all the time. I wanted to create a sense of intimacy as she is someone I feel very comfortable around. The soft, muted colours I have used reflect this as well as giving the image a feeling of nostalgia."