The February Giveaway

This month I will be giving away my brand new "Alice in Gold" vintage inspired long necklace to one lucky fan! To see more photos and a description of the piece click here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/68353271/alice-in-gold-long-alice-in-wonderland TO ENTER all you need to do is visit either the etsy shop - http://www.pennymasquerade.etsy.com - or the brand spanking new shop - www.pennymasquerade.com - find your favourite item and post a reply to this message telling everyone what it is and why you love it. SIMPLE! I will ship internationally so anyone and everyone can enter. Multiple entries can be gained by blogging and/or tweeting about this giveaway on twitter (please provide the link to your post below as evidence) and/or becoming a follower of my blog (please let me know what you have done in a message below). Plus you can now get an extra entry by joining my mailing list! Just scroll down the page until you see the mailing list box on the right and enter your name and e-mail. Each extra thing you do will gain you one extra entry! Each thing you do to gain an additional entry needs to be listed in a separate message as I will be using a random number generator to pick the winners. Once the numbers have been generated I will go down the list of entries until I find the corresponding entries.

PLEASE REMEMBER to leave your name and e-mail address so I can contact you if you win. If I can't contact you another winner will be chosen. The competition closes on the 28th of February and a winner will be chosen on the 1st of March. GOOD LUCK!!! xx

Drumroll Please...

Thank you so much to all who entered the January contest. I can now reveal that the winner is...Kirsten! Congratulations! An e-mail has been sent to you and as soon as I get your address your necklace will be shipped.

To anyone who didn't enter, don't panic! A new giveaway is due to begin tomorrow and you'll have a chance to win a piece of Penny Masquerade jewellery all over again!

Ta Ta For Now xxx

Salt's Mill - My Mecca

If there's one place in the world I never ever get fed up of it's Salt's Mill in Saltaire, Yorkshire. Not only does it have a beautiful art shop that really makes me regret the fact that I no longer have time to draw, but it also has the biggest and bestest (Urban Dictionary says this is a word so I'm going with it) book shop I've ever seen filled with obscure texts from some of my favourite authors and some I have yet to discover. It's also filled with David Hockney works, gorgeous cafes and restaurants, a cutting-edge interior design and homeware shop, a clothes shop, a smaller art gallery exhibiting work from a local artist, another exhibition area currently projecting still life pictures of flowers created by David Hockney on his iPad and a fantastic antique shop. I always stop and look in the glass cabinets at the stunning pieces of antique jewellery on offer. The Mill is a sprawling wonderland that stirs your creative juices and stays in your thoughts for a long time after your visit. I can't wait to go back there and discover more nooks and crannies I didn't find the first time round and peruse the bookshelves in the hope of finding some unusual and brilliantly written piece of literature.

I visited Salt's Mill two weekends ago and my hoard from that day consists of three fantastic books I can't wait to get stuck into:
1) Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, Vitezslav Nezval
2) The Glass Books of The Dream Eaters, G.W. Dahlquist
3) Tips For Knitters, Debbie Bliss

Ok so the last one isn't a piece of literature, but I took knitting up before Christmas and am now a little obsessed with it. When I saw the book I just had to buy it. I can only do one stitch at the moment as I'm still a beginner so I'm hoping it will improve my range and that I'll have some lovely pretty things to show you soon.

The second book, The Glass Books of The Dream Eaters is one I've wanted to read ever since I saw it described as an "adult Harry Potter". Enough said.

The third book, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders was initially picked up by my friend who thought it looked interesting. I don't think she anticipated how persuasive a picture of a headless girl and a comparison in the blurb to F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu would be to me. I'd bought it within five minutes of my friend discarding it. Bring on gothicy, pulpy, erotic Czech modernist literature. In the unlikely event that anyone would want to read what I have to say about it once I've read it, I will be writing a review of it for the brand spanking new, wonderful, fantastical, marvellous book review site www.judgingcovers.co.uk, which I have somehow managed to become a reviewer for. I'll keep you posted so watch this space.

A New Home for My Jewels

The Penny Masquerade Vintage Inspired Collection. Model in Photograph: Chesty Von Ellem, Photographer: Steve Prue

Somewhere in between stock taking, accounting, making up orders, running to the Post Office, responding to enquiries and sorting out wedding requests - gosh this year has been busy so far! - I have managed to find a new UK stockist! You can now buy Penny Masquerade jewels at Hairworks on Silver Street in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. As you've probably gathered from the name, it's a hairdressers rather than a shop, but they have a few cabinets filled with jewellery and accessories in their foyer.

Unusually I actually got to go to this one and set everything up for them. Most of the stockists I have at the moment are too far away to visit so it was really nice to go to one for a change and make everything look all pretty! If you live anywhere near Doncaster and want to go and peruse the jewellery for sale at Hairworks please do so. They currently stock a small collection that comprises primarily of exclusive pieces not yet available online! Exciting!