World Book Night - 5th March 2011

You may or may not have been aware that Saturday March 5th was World Book Night. Taking place two days after World Book Day, World Book Night was an ambitious project supported by the Publishers Association, the Booksellers Association, the Independent Publishers Guild, the Reading Agency with libraries, World Book Day, the BBC and RTE. It saw one million books given away by volunteers to random members of the public across the UK and Ireland. I applied to be a volunteer and was sent 48 copies of Sarah Waters' fantastic book Fingersmith to give away. I spent Saturday 5th walking the streets of Leeds giving out copies to lovely people.

It felt really satisfying to give things away to grateful individuals and the event rekindled my love of literature. World Book Night also inspired me to make a new version of "The Bookworm" Ring. Consisting of a bronze tone adjustable ring base and a miniature book with real paper pages, this little homage to literature is a great way to show your love of reading. Plus, it is available in four colours - red, blue, green or brown - and is the perfect gift for someone special as you can write a secret note in its tiny pages! Cute!

The Bookworm - £8/$12, Available for purchase here http://www.etsy.com/listing/68313437/the-bookworm-blue-red-brown-or-green

If you're as obsessed with literature as I am, why not head over to www.judgingcovers.co.uk. Judging Covers is a book review blog written by women, for women. You'll be sure to find honest reviews of interesting books. Who knows it might help you decide what to read next.

Adieu x 

All Aboard...The Hogwarts Express!

You may or may not know that I adore Harry Potter. And so, when my wonderful boyfriend Mark, told me we were going to see and go on the Hogwart's Express I smiled so much my face nearly broke. The train was visiting The National Rail Museum in York - which train lovers and haters should all go to, there's something for everyone - and even though we had to wait for ages in a queue in the biting cold to board the train, it was worth it.

To coincide with the Hogwart's Express visit, the museum had also put on a show for children involving a man dressed as Dumbledore performing magic tricks and an owl display. I loved the owls but I also found something I loved that was non-Harry-Potter-related tucked away in a corner - a stuffed railway collection dog called "Laddie". According to the information provided by the museum, railway collection dogs were common in large stations in England between the late-19th and mid-20th centuries. They were looked after by the station staff and performed tricks in exchange for money for railway charities.
 

"Laddie" - the lovely dog in photo above - was born in 1948 and worked in Wimbledon Station from 1949-1956 collecting money for the Southern Railwaymen's Homes in Woking. He collected over £5000 during his working life and when he retired he went to live with the old people at the Home he had collected money for. He died in 1960, was stuffed and returned to Wimbledon station with a donation box. He collected for the homes again until 1990 when he became part of the National Railway Collection. There's still a little donation box at the bottom of the glass case so Mark and I donated some money, and if you ever see him make sure you give him something too!

The March Giveaway!

This month I will be giving away my "Let Them Eat Cake Version Deux" vintage inspired necklace to one lucky fan! To see more photos and a description of the piece click here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/63556467/let-them-eat-cake-version-deux-bronze 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 31st of March and a winner will be chosen on the 1st of April. GOOD LUCK!!! xx

The February Competition Winner

Congratulations to Heathery who won the February Penny Masquerade contest! Your Alice necklace will be making its way to you as soon as I receive your address. If you didn't win, don't worry! A new contest is due to begin this evening!

Over and out. x

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!

The January Giveaway!

This month I will be giving away my "What Big Teeth You Have" Red Riding Hood vintage inspired necklace to one lucky fan! To see more photos and a description of the piece click here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/54048121/what-big-teeth-you-have-bronze-and-green 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. A winner will be picked on the 15th of February GOOD LUCK!!! xx

Bad Blog Mum

So I have to apologise. I am not being a very good blog mum at the moment. I'm surprised social services hasn't swept in and taken it away from me. The neglect has been shocking. But it is one of my New Year's Resolutions to be better and to bring you more exciting posts about lovely things, rather than the competition-centric stuff you're getting right now. That's not to say that competitions will stop, on the contrary, they will still be monthly occurences designed to give something back to Penny Masquerade aficionados, but this time round they'll be interspersed with posts about places I've been and things I like. Whether or not this will extend past the local park and cats remains to be seen but I shall certainly endeavour to write something you'll want to read!

 
Ok apologies over, now to announce the December competition winner! December's winner is.... Amber! Congratulations Amber! I have sent you an e-mail and as soon as you send me your address your teapot ring will be shipped!

The next giveaway will begin this evening so watch this space!

Ta Ta For Now! xxx