#ink@84

[laurahughes-illustrator]

I spent a lovely sunny day at beautiful Ink@84 Books in Highbury, creating an illustrated window for Independent Bookshop Week.

Here's the finished display in support of The Birthday Invitation, my new book with author Lucy Rowland (Bloomsbury). I painted the parrot character directly onto the glass with acrylic paint, and then added some home-made bunting, paper invitations and tiny hand-drawn party hats. A BIG thank you to Lizz at Bloomsbury for her excellent bunting hanging skills!

**Special tip: If you're thinking of having a go at an illustrated window, don't forget to take a pair of sunglasses! It can be difficult to paint in direct sun.

Ink@84 is a beautiful bookshop in North London. You can find them here: www.ink84bookshop.co.uk They also do very lovely coffee ;-)

[alexaprilgarden]

Brilliant Bookshop: Ink@84 in Highbury

I read about this bookshop here on tumblr. And since I deeply love bookshops, I decided to drag my travel companion there and indulge in wonderful books.

Ink@84 is an absolutely lovely place. It isn't that huge, but it offers a great and well-selected variety of beautiful books, it has really nice people working there and you also get a decent cup of coffee. For those that are longer in London than I was: They also offer workshops on creative writing. Don't even ask if I'd like to sign up for one of those.

I think I spend two or three hours there altogether... and I really wouldn't miss that. I got a couple of beautifully designed and interesting books (I will tell you about at least of them later on) and even my travel companion found himself two books (among them the new Harry Potter which I will borrow from him as soon as he is finished).

So: If you got to London and if you like books, reading, a nice chat along with a cup of coffee with someone as madly loving books and writing as you do, go here.

To find out how to get there, about their Workshops etc, see ink@84's website.