The Pen and Inkpot

Are you craving a good mystery book? Not the kind with the sleuth and the murderer, but the kind involving missing people, wiped memories and hidden clues? How about the sort of book that you simply cannot put down? Sound good? Well I have the perfect book: The Leaving by Tara Altebrando. Eleven years ago, six children were stolen from their school in what the media called “The Leaving”, and weren’t seen until now. Eleven years later they rocked up on the front doorstep of their house not remembering a thing about the past eleven years of their childhood. Some people think they are lying, others think they are crazy. But it’s not as simple as that because although six children were taken, only five came back. With none of the returned victims remembering anything more than one useless memory, there was no way of knowing who took them, where they took them or where the missing boy had gone. There are so many things that make this book so good. Firstly, the story switches pe...

Welcome to another blog post at The Pen and Inkpot. In previous posts I have been taking you through my favourite things to do in London and Dublin (copy this link to see what I thought of London http://thepenandinkpot.blogspot.com.au/2017/12/the-beginning-of-my-trip-in-europe.html   and copy this link to see what I thought of Dublin  http://thepenandinkpot.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/travelling-around-dublin-and-guildford.html ). Now I will share with you the next part of my journey throughout Europe, which is in Paris. I must admit that our accommodation in Paris was the best of all the locations. We stayed in an apartment in the city which was on the sixth floor of an apartment building. Despite the fact that the building was too old for an elevator and we had to lug our suitcases up six flights of stairs, the view was beautiful and it was nice and quiet at night.  Of course the major sight in Paris is the Eiffel Tower which you must see. Be very careful th...

I have a crafty activity for you in this post which is also related to books. In a previous post I have shown you how to make corner book marks, but now I have a new cute bookmark idea for you to try. All you will need is some wool in your chosen colour, a pair of scissors and your crafty little hands. Step 1: Set aside two lengths of wool, one around 20cm long and the other around 30cm. Step 2: Wrap the wool around two or three of your fingers loosely. Do this for about 2.5m of wool or until the loop is nice and thick. Step 3: Carefully take the wool off your fingers making sure that the loops of wool stay in place. Step 4: Take the shorter piece of wool you cut earlier and tie it around the middle of the pile of wool in your hand, pull it as tight as you can before tying it in a stable knot Step 5:  Cut between the loops on each end of the wool making sure not to cut the middle piece that is tying it all together. ...

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 seve...

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 ...

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...