We Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday!

Here at Penny Masquerade headquarters Christmas is huge. It's not only our busiest time of the year but also our favourite time of year. What makes it even better for us is that we get to start preparing in July! Some would call us mad, but we love designing our Autumn/Winter pieces in the height of summer - it gets us all excited. The other thing we love about about this time of year is undertaking festive DIY craft projects. We've found some amazing tutorials this year and wanted to share them with you.

The first is this fantastic handmade mini Christmas tree idea. This tutorial is great for anyone on a budget and the results are stunning. You can find the tutorial at Shauna Mailloux's blog.
 

Our second festive craft idea is from the Maya Made blog. She has a great tutorial on how to make this lovely advent calendar. And guess what? It's only made from toilet roll tubes! *GASP!*

Thirdly, we have a simple but effective idea from Vicky Dar. There's no tutorial for this as it's pretty self-explanatory but the results are beautiful.

Last but not least we have a great tutorial from The Sweetest Occasion which shows you how to make these beautiful glittery jars! Who doesn't love glitter?!

Enjoy! And remember, if you're not making much mess, you're not having enough fun! xx

Behind The Scenes - The Autumn Winter 2012 Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago we did our Autumn/Winter photo shoot with our stunning model Tanya - if you're a Penny Masquerade aficionado you may have already seen some of the results over at www.pennymasquerade.com. We split the shot between outdoors and in so we'd have a variety of settings and looks to choose from. We enlisted the help of our wonderful make-up artist Sam and photographer Andy and the results were fantastic. It was a great team effort and it was so worth the hours of preparation and hard work that everyone put into it. We thought you'd like to see a bit of what went on behind the scenes and the outcome of all that work!

Make-Up:

The Shoot:

The Results:

 

There are still plenty of photos we haven't shown you, but they will all be making an appearance on the Penny Masquerade website over the Christmas period. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this little selection though. Hope you like them! xx

P.s. Don't forget to enter the November giveaway below for your chance to win our brand new Antler necklace!

Delightful Christmas Packaging

Sometimes a flimsy polythene bag just doesn't cut it. You - like most other discerning shoppers out there - would no doubt love for your online purchases to arrive beautifully packaged in a way that shows just how much love, care and attention has gone into the item. It just makes you feel special. We're proud to say we've never used flimsy polythene bags or uninspiring packaging in any shape or form. We believe in presenting our jewellery in the most beautiful way possible, using the most eco-friendly materials. Every piece in our collection is sent to the recipient in a reusable organza bag, which is then parcelled up in a hand-printed brown-paper envelope, tied up with string and finished with a dried rosebud. And until the 25th of December, we'll be adding a gorgeous little cluster of sleigh bells to each and every parcel. Perfect for giving as a Christmas gift or keeping as a little present to yourself!


P.s. Don't forget to enter the November giveaway below for your chance to win our brand new Antler necklace!

The Autumn/Winter 2012 Collection

Just on the off-chance that you hadn't noticed the huge influx of new items over at www.pennymasquerade.com and www.pennmasquerade.etsy.com we thought we'd better mention it. We've added over 50 new items to the site, including vintage lockets, quirky necklaces, pocket watch jewellery, unusual rings, dainty bracelets and gorgeous earrings. The Autumn/Winter collection is inspired by woodland creatures, vintage illustrations, nautical niceties, English eccentricity, geometric design, the art deco period and all things tribal. Prices range from £5 and £26 so whatever your budget and whoever you're buying for, you'll be sure to find the perfect piece. Happy shopping!

P.s. Don't forget to enter the November giveaway below for your chance to win our brand new Antler necklace!

Congratulations...

...to Glo! You have won the October Giveaway and your Dapper Cadaver skull earrings will be with you as soon as I receive your address details! Don't worry if you didn't win, there will be another chance to win a piece of jewellery very soon so watch this space! xx

The October Giveaway!

Happy October lovely followers! To celebrate this the spookiest of months we have a gorgeous little pair of our newest additions to the shop to give away to one lucky winner - the Dapper Cadaver earrings! These gorgeous little on-trend skull earrings comprise of howlite beads, gold mesh bows and gold plated earwires. The earrings will come with rubber backs to prevent them from falling out whilst wearing. What more could you want?

TO ENTER and be in with a chance of winning these cute earrings all you need to do is visit either www.pennymasquerade.com or www.pennymasquerade.etsy.com and find your favourite piece, then post a reply to this post telling everyone what it is and why you love it. SIMPLE! Worldwide shipping is available so anyone and everyone can enter.

Multiple entries can be gained by:
1) Blogging about the giveaway or your favourite item
2) Tweeting about the giveaway or your favourite item (Please included our Twitter name - @pennymasquerade - and the link to this contest in your tweet).
3) Following this blog or the twitter page (click on the buttons on the right to find the twitter page)
4) Joining the Mailing List (click the mailing list button on the right to be directed to the sign-up page)

Please note: Facebook does not allow a condition of a competition entry to be liking a facebook page. We'd still love it if you'd follow us though - our facebook fans are the first to hear about giveaways and we offer exclusive discounts to facebook and twitter followers. You can find our facebook page here: www.facebook.com/pennymasquerade

Please tell us what you've done to enter in a message below. Each extra thing you do will gain you one extra entry but PLEASE make sure that each extra thing you've done is listed in a seperate message as we use a random number generator to pick the winners. Once the numbers have been generated we we will go down the list of entries until the corresponding numbers are found. If you've listed everything you've done in one great big message, it will only count as one entry so make sure you don't do that!

PLEASE REMEMBER to leave your name and e-mail address so we can contact you if you win. If we can't contact you another winner will be chosen. The competition closes on the 31st of October and a winner will be announced in the first week of November. GOOD LUCK!!! xx

Congratulations...

to Damla! You have won the September Giveaway and your Lovely Bird necklace will be with you as soon as I receive your address details! Don't worry if you didn't win, there will be another chance to win a piece of jewellery starting tomorrow so watch this space! xx

The September Giveaway!

Bless our ears and whiskers it's September already! We wanted to provide you with a prize this month that's simple, beautiful, versatile and new! Our brand spanking new "Lovely" bird necklace is just that. Comprising of an image of a gorgeous vintage illustration of a bird dancing over sheet music, an acrylic bubble, a silver ox plated setting and stainless steel chain, it oozes simplicity and beauty. What's more its muted colour palette of grey, black and cream will make it the most versatile piece in your wardrobe this Autumn.

TO ENTER and be in with a chance of winning this lovely necklace, all you need to do is visit either www.pennymasquerade.com or www.pennymasquerade.etsy.com and find your favourite piece, then post a reply to this post telling everyone what it is and why you love it. SIMPLE! Worldwide shipping is available so anyone and everyone can enter.

Multiple entries can be gained by:
1) Blogging about the giveaway or your favourite item
2) Tweeting about the giveaway or your favourite item (Please included our Twitter name - @pennymasquerade - and the link to this contest in your tweet).
3) Following this blog or the twitter page (click on the buttons on the right to find the twitter page)
4) Joining the Mailing List (click the mailing list button on the right to be directed to the sign-up page)

Please note: Facebook does not allow a condition of a competition entry to be liking a facebook page. We'd still love it if you'd follow us though - our facebook fans are the first to hear about giveaways and we offer exclusive discounts to facebook and twitter followers. You can find our facebook page here: www.facebook.com/pennymasquerade

Please tell us what you've done to enter in a message below. Each extra thing you do will gain you one extra entry but PLEASE make sure that each extra thing you've done is listed in a seperate message as we use a random number generator to pick the winners. Once the numbers have been generated we we will go down the list of entries until the corresponding numbers are found. If you've listed everything you've done in one great big message, it will only count as one entry so make sure you don't do that!

PLEASE REMEMBER to leave your name and e-mail address so we can contact you if you win. If we can't contact you another winner will be chosen. The competition closes on the 30th of September and a winner will be announced in the first week of October . GOOD LUCK!!! xx

Congratulations...

...to Jenny Morr! You have won the August Giveaway and your Bumble Bee bracelet will be with you as soon as I receive your address details! Don't worry if you didn't win, there'll be another chance to win a piece of jewellery starting tomorrow so watch this space!

xx

The August Giveaway

The Bumble Bee Bracelet - Buzz Buzz Buzz!

The sun has finally come out here in the UK and with that in mind we felt it would be lovely to give away our brand new summery bee bracelet! We can adjust the length of this bracelet to suit the wrist size of the winner so don't worry if you think it won't fit you!

TO ENTER all you need to do is visit either www.pennymasquerade.com or www.pennymasquerade.etsy.com and find your favourite piece, then post a reply to this post telling everyone what it is and why you love it. SIMPLE! Worldwide shipping is available so anyone and everyone can enter.

Multiple entries can be gained by:
1) Blogging about the giveaway or your favourite item
2) Tweeting about the giveaway or your favourite item (Please included our Twitter name - @pennymasquerade - and the link to this contest in your tweet).
3) Following this blog or the twitter page (click on the buttons on the right to find the twitter page)
4) Joining the Mailing List (click the mailing list button on the right to be directed to the sign-up page)

Please note: Facebook does not allow a condition of a competition entry to be liking a facebook page. We'd still love it if you'd follow us though - our facebook fans are the first to hear about giveaways and we offer exclusive discounts to facebook and twitter followers. You can find our facebook page here: www.facebook.com/pennymasquerade

Please tell us what you've done to enter in a message below. Each extra thing you do will gain you one extra entry but PLEASE make sure that each extra thing you've done is listed in a seperate message as we use a random number generator to pick the winners. Once the numbers have been generated we we will go down the list of entries until the corresponding numbers are found. If you've listed everything you've done in one great big message, it will only count as one entry so make sure you don't do that!

PLEASE REMEMBER to leave your name and e-mail address so we can contact you if you win. If we can't contact you another winner will be chosen. The competition closes on the 31st of August and a winner will be announced on the 1st of September . GOOD LUCK!!! xx

And The Winners Are...

Firstly apologies for the delay with announcing the giveaway winners - illness has thwarted us yet again! The winners of the May 2012 giveaway are as follows:

Prize 1 - Scissors Pendant: Alex

Prize 2 - Map or Penny Black Ring: Serena

Prize 3 - Feather Hairslides: Felicity

Congratulations! E-mails have been sent to you all and as soon as you send us your addresses your prizes will be in the post. A new giveaway will begin on August 1st so watch this space! xx

The Relaunch & The May Giveaway!

You may have noticed that the blog has been neglected for a while, but we're back with the necessary gusto needed to relaunch it! To celebrate the relaunch of the blog, we'll be giving away not one, not two, but three prizes! 


Prize number one is the lovely Sew Sew Sewing necklace - which isn't even up for sale on the website yet! Exclusive indeed! Prize number two is a choice between two new additions to the collection - the Best of British rings. These rings display either an image of the famous 19th century Penny Black stamp or an image of a vintage map of Britain. And last but not least, prize number three is a pair of our Fancy Feather hairslides. another new addition to the Penny Masquerade family. 

TO ENTER all you need to do is visit either www.pennymasquerade.com or www.pennymasquerade.etsy.com and find your favourite piece, then post a reply to this post telling everyone what it is and why you love it. SIMPLE! Worldwide shipping is available so anyone and everyone can enter.

Multiple entries can be gained by:
1) Blogging about the giveaway or your favourite item
2) Tweeting about the giveaway or your favourite item (Please included our Twitter name - @pennymasquerade - and the link to this contest in your tweet).
3) Following this blog or the twitter page (click on the buttons on the right to find the twitter page)
4) Joining the Mailing List (click the mailing list button on the right to be directed to the sign-up page)

Please note: Facebook does not allow a condition of a competition entry to be liking a facebook page. We'd still love it if you'd follow us though - our facebook fans are the first to hear about giveaways and we offer exclusive discounts to facebook and twitter followers. 

Please tell us what you've done to enter in a message below. Each extra thing you do will gain you one extra entry but please make sure that each extra thing you've done is listed in a seperate message as we use a random number generator to pick the winners. Once the numbers have been generated we we will go down the list of entries until the corresponding numbers are found. 

PLEASE REMEMBER to leave your name and e-mail address so we can contact you if you win. If we can't contact you another winner will be chosen. The competition closes on the 31st of May and a winner will be announced on the 1st of June . GOOD LUCK!!! xx

20% Off This Weekend!

Thought you all might like to know that this is happening! 20% off your entire order! THIS weekend only. The offer ends at midnight on Monday 7th May so make sure you get your orders in quickly and feel free to take advantage of the free domestic shipping on orders over £30 offer as well. Also keep your eyes peeled because a new giveaway will begin HERE tomorrow...and don't tell anyone, but it's only a triple giveaway! Oh my! xx