Notes of Life

Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper.

I picked up this book from a Foxwoods Bookshop in Leominster last weekend. I’d picked up a Peter Rabbit soft cloth book for my baby niece and decided to treat myself to a book too (like I don’t already have a stack to get through!). Newes from the Dead caught my eye and the synopsis on the back of the book confirmed it’s a book that I’d find interesting.

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The Synopsis

It is 1650 and a baby lies dead before it even drew breath. A young servant girl, terrified and alone, is accused of its murder and sent to the gallows. Protesting her innocence in the chill air of a December morning, Anne Green is hanged. Moments later her lifeless body is lifted down from the scaffold and carried to the College of Physicians for brutal dissection.

But as Anne’s corpse lies on the table and the doctors assemble, a strange rattle is heard in her throat.

Could she still be alive?

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What makes this book all the more interesting is that it is based on a true story. Anne Green was real and Mary Hooper has brought her story to life in Newes from the Dead.

The book is aimed at those aged 12 and over, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a good read for adults too. I’m quite a number of years over that age group (double it and then add some more!), but I’m still finding the book a good read so far.

If this sounds like your type of book, then you can read an extract over at the author’s website.

I finally finished Angelology by Danielle Trussoni last night. I posted a review on GoodReads not long after I finished reading the book, so the review is a bit scatty… I’ll post the review here shortly, but I don’t know whether to post it in its current form or re-write it.

Posted for It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Why not join in?!

Found in the garden.

All cats have their hiding places and this is a new one for Mika – under the new sofa! And yes, he only just fits!

(Taken on my camera phone)

Posted for Camera Critters.

If I’m impressed with something then I like to let people know (as some of you might have gathered), so below is a review of a company called PastelPrint – who I highly recommend!

As a Bizziebaby member I was given a PastelPrint Fingerprint Charm kit to try out, test and review. I had never heard of PastelPrint before, but having looked at their leaflet and website (www.pastelprint.co.uk) I was interested in giving it a go and was looking forward to the end result.

PastelPrint create handmade beautiful jewellery in silver using childrens or other loved ones fingerprints, handprints, footprints or artwork. PastelPrint can also silver a leaf from a wedding bouquet or some special flowers and turn it into a charm or pendant.

You can choose from charms, pendants, cufflinks, charm bracelets, keyrings and bookmarks. Every item is unique due to your child’s or loved one’s unique stamp (e.g. fingerprint, handprint, footprint or artwork). The silver used to make these pieces of jewellery is a recycled product – the silver is extracted from a number of sources, including old film stock and negatives – so the jewellery is eco-friendly as well as being beautiful and unique.

The website is easy to navigate around and it is beautifully set in pinks and blues. The images of the products on the website show just how delightful and unique they are.

While initially you might think the prices are a little steep, you must remember that these are unique products and a lot of hard work goes into making them… They are worth every penny, believe me!

As I said, as a Bizziebaby tester I was sent a kit to try free of charge. The kit I was sent was for 1 fingerprint charm. The kit included an instruction leaflet, 2 pots of putty (1 blue and 1 white) and a padded envelope to send the fingerprint back to PastelPrint. If I had ordered my fingerprint charm direct from PastelPrint, it would have cost me £35.

There was enough putty in the pots of 3 attempts, which was a good thing because I was using the kit to get a charm with my 6 month old niece’s fingerprint on and it took us the 3 attempts! PastelPrint to advise trying to get a fingerprint from young babies while they sleep, but my niece has a habit of either putting her fingers in her mouth or gripping on to something, so I had to get the fingerprint while she was awake.

I mixed one small lump of white putty with another of the blue putty as instructed by the included leaflet and managed to create a fingerprint mould on the 3rd and final attempt. I think the older the child the easier it would be to do this. After waiting a couple of minutes for the mould to harden, I put it in one of the putty pots and wrote my niece’s name on the label provided on top of the pot. I then filled in the appropriate details on the order form – shape of the fingerprint charm (I chose a heart), name to go on the charm by the fingerprint and my niece’s date of birth to go on the back of the charm. I then put the form and the pot containing the fingerprint mould into the envelope provided and popped it into the post.

As the item is handmade and unique, I was expecting to have to wait a couple of weeks for the fingerprint charm to be made and sent to me. Two weeks later and my fingerprint charm had arrived in the mail via recorded delivery.

Opening the package I was surprised to see that the charm was beautifully presented in a white gift box secured with PastelPrint ribbon tied in a bow. I undid the ribbon and carefully opened the box and there was my beautiful, shiny fingerprint charm in the shape of a heart (complete with fingerprint and my niece’s name on the front and her date of birth on the back). I also received a complimentary silver cleaning cloth to keep the lovely shine of my charm, as well as a little business card-sized leaflet giving me instructions on how to care for my charm and telling me what it’s handcrafted from.

The charm was perfect! I had already decided that I wanted to put it on a necklace I was making myself. However, it was so nice that I also wanted to share it with my niece (when she’s old enough) and brother & sister-in-law… so I’m already considering ordering a copy to give to my niece for her christening later this year!

Yes, it is possible to re-order using the same prints/impression as PastelPrint keep them on file for up to a year. This will certainly come in handy should I go ahead with ordering another fingerprint charm for my niece’s christening as I wouldn’t like to try getting her fingerprints again until she’s a bit older.

I’ve only had my fingerprint charm just over a week and I’m already thinking about making another order, this is just how much I love PastelPrints products. If I had the money I’d be buying my family and friends gifts from PastelPrint as they are unique and so beautiful.

The service is very friendly too… After receiving my fingerprint charm, I wanted to thank PastelPrint for such a wonderful product, ao I sent them an email and, much to my surprise, I received a personal reply just a few minutes later from Allison at PastelPrint thanking me for my feedback.

If you haven’t already gathered, I highly recommend PastelPrint and their products, especially the fingerprint charms!

You turn your back for one minute…

This is an old pram we’ve got for when we look after my baby niece (particularly on a Saturday). We use it as a cot for her when she wants a nap as it can be put away when she’s not here. Leo (the cat) has been told on several occassions that it’s not a place for him (my brother & sister-in-law are allergic to cats), but will he listen? Today he decided to be mischievous and jumped in the moment our backs were turned! So once he’d finished his little nap we then had to change the sheet so my niece could nap in there. We’ve got numerous places for both the cats to sleep (radiator beds etc), but no, Leo has to sleep somewhere he’s not supposed to.

Posted for Camera Critters.