As families flood to beaches across Australia this summer, there'll be plenty of mums picking up a bucket and spade and making sandcastles with their children. But for Perth mum Jenny Rossen, building things from sand isn't just a summer holiday activity- it's her career.

Known worldwide as "The Sandcastle Girl", Jenny is Australia's only sand sculptor and travels the world making incredtble displays.

She's sculpted everything from fairytale castles to snowmen out of the yellow stuff.

She started her budding career as a child while playing on Cottesloe Beach with her brothers and sisters.

"I failed at being a surfer, so hanging out on the sand making castles was my thing," she says. ''I'd make a fortress and create towers by dribbling the wet sand. Then I'd imagine that tiny people lived in the tower sand I'd make whole villages. I had no idea that as an adult I'd be traveling the world doing just that."

After graduating from university with an art and design degree, Jenny worked as a conventional artist before realising that working outdoors was what she wanted to do. "I was at the beach one day, messing around, when I fellin love with the idea of sculpting in sand," she explains."I started practicing on the beach twice a weekend reading every book I could on sand sculpting. I then travelled to Spain, America and Italy to work as an assistant for other sand sculptors - soon I was teaching them as much as they were teaching me!"

Now Jenny is internationally recognised for her incredible talent. She's won first prize at the World Sand Sculpting Championship twice and gets paid to build Sleeping Beauty style castles in shoppingmalls. She recently made a castle for a sheikh's wedding in lDubai, where she currently lives with her husband, Hossam,and son,Adam.2.

"These days I pay a team to do the heavy shovelling so I can concentrate on the design and allthe carvings," says Jenny. Her sculptures are of ten up to nine metres high and takeup to 10 days to complete. But she's never sad when her works of art are washed away by the sea, or simply crumble.

"It's likebuying a bunch of flowers-you do it for the beauty of the moment." she explains."No one gets sad when a song finishes- somethings just live in the present time. That's what makes them so magical."