No one told me I had to keep the head as separate strokes!! So it is pink not red. But who cares? I expect I could scissor it apart somehow but I'm afraid it might ruin the whole thing as there aren't many nodes. So here is part one. Great fun. I'll do the lettering tomorrow.

So here is some lettering. I lost the middle line of the E somehow and didn't want to undo everything to go get it back so I used the pencil to draw one in! Plus, I actually don't know if the B is right or maybe I lost a vertical off that too. Anyway, the fact remains this worked well mostly because I happened on a word that was not as complicated as flamingo! That was pure luck but I was pleased I managed all the cutting up just fine. Enlarged to a humungous size so I could wobble freely :) Used my Wacom not the mouse for cutting things out. Please - what is the short cut for the lasso tool on Ai? Clearly not an L...