The Pen and Inkpot

After a recent pick up from my local library, I came home with this book. Girl on a Wire was quite an easy read but it had an intriguing plot line that kept me interested all the way through. The novel revolves around two families and their ancient rivalry as competitors at the circus, it seems harmless enough to Julieta and her cousin Sam. Nan doesn’t seem to cope, but they remind themselves that she’ll get over it. Working beside the Gracia family turned out easier than they had expected, much too easy in fact. When Julieta begins to fall in love with Remy Gracia they must keep it a secret because someone is out to get them. Julieta finds mysterious objects planted on her costumes before performances which seem to bring her bad luck. With each circus performance, Julieta attempts something death defying, so it seems too easy for history to resurface and for her to fall again... There are many themes in this book such as romance and superstition. These are all things that J

I have written up this blog post for you so I can continue sharing with you my favourite parts of my travels in Europe. In the previous Blog post I outlined my three favourite places in London (copy this link to check it out  http://thepenandinkpot.blogspot.com.au/2017/12/the-beginning-of-my-trip-in-europe.html ). In this post I will share with you my adventures in Guildford in the English countryside and things to do in Dublin, Ireland. After spending 6 days in the heart of London, we took the train out to a town called Guildford which was around 45 minutes from the city. There we spend a few days at a small hotel called the Premier Inn. (It was a little cramped in there!) During our stay, we visited friends who used to live near us in Melbourne and we thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful countryside. We went on little walks in and out the the town, did some shopping then escaped for a day to a even smaller village called Shere. It was a tedious drive to get there through several

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a novel written by Patrick Ness, author of A Monster Calls (read my review through this link  http://thepenandinkpot.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/a-monster-calls-patrick-ness.html ). It tells the story of a boy named Mike who explains his troubles with his OCD, his sisters, his Mum’s political fantasy and the chance of the high school blowing up again before he graduates. The indie kids who are somewhat ‘different’, start dying and there are mysterious flashes of blue light coming from the woods and Mike realises that all he finds important is being able to graduate and spend time with his friends over the Summer before they move away to different colleges. Mike’s OCD gets worse though, and he fights through the feelings of not being wanted. With all of the mysterious happenings in that small country town, he has to live his life with the people he loves while he still has them. Like other books I’ve read by Patrick Ness, I enjoyed the deep meanings behi

Since I’m on summer holidays at the moment, I have had much more time to get crafty and creative, hence, I decided to make this felt gnome. I got the idea from “The Big Book of Softies” which is a gorgeous book filled with adorable little animals to make with patterns and easy to follow instructions. It made sewing this softie quite simple. I tweaked the instructions to how I thought it was easiest and customised it to how I wanted it to look. The materials you will need are: felt or other fabric two or three colours (can be two scraps at least 8cm wide and 18cm long) Stuffing Threads according to fabric colour (+black for mouth and eyes) Pins, needles etc. Step 1: Trace the pattern from the book onto a piece of paper and cut out the shape of both the face and body. If you do not have the book it is quite easy to draw the shapes yourself to get the same result or customise it however you like. Step 2:  Place the paper shape of the body onto the two