Exhibition alert: Su Blackwell

At Ellie Ellie, we pride ourselves on our sustainability. So we were utterly fascinated when we discovered paper artist and book sculptor Su Blackwell. Taking this idea to a whole new level, Sheffield-born Blackwell creates mesmerizing, intricately detailed, three-dimensional artwork from antique books and paper.

Her new exhibition, Dwelling, is currently at the Long and Ryle Gallery in London until 9th October. You you can expect to see three-dimensional sculptures of tree houses, cottages, and lighthouses hat tell their own story, all cut and glued from pre-loved novels and storybooks.

While some are made simply the black and white pages of text from fictional storybooks such as Blackwell's favourite Alice in Wonderland, others have a burst of colour, like this flower arrangement cut from A Field Guide to Wild Flowers in Britain.

Blackwell has also been involved with several commercial projects, using her steady hand to create exquisite work for set designs, book covers, editorials and turning to art-direction for advertisements.

Head over to her website for her full portfolio, and we'd really recommend going to see her work in person to be fully transported into a fantastical paper world!

www.ellieellie.co.uk

Happy Halloween - Prepared to be spooked!

Happy Halloween! 

We hope you are enjoying a spooky Halloween, filled with trick or treating, pumpkins and dressing up.

We did our very own pumpkin carving evening on Tuesday, which resulted in three very good pumpkins (if we do say so ourselves)

If you are stuck for something to do this weekend, head on down to Tulley's Farm in Crawley, West Sussex for their Halloween event, Spooktober Fest!

Spooktober Fest is the UK's No 1 Halloween family attraction and is jam packed full of activities, fun shows, excitement and haunted houses. Activities at the festival include a fancy dress competition, spooky trail and spook hunt, fireworks, horrid hayride and scary fun house! If you're planning on taking the children, don't worry, all the activities have a scare factor so you know exactly which activities to take them too.

 

For more information and tickets on the Spooktober Fest visit Tulley's Farm!

Shoreham Airshow!

As one of the premier family airshows in the UK, the Shoreham Airshow is a brilliant event that attracts the best UK and European display acts to its event each year.

Taking place next weekend on the 30th and 31st of August, the Airshow is a family fun day, with aircraft displays and exciting aerobatic displays. If you are a plane enthusiast, this is an event for you. The event this year will also see a new attraction which is a World War Two Scenario!

Held to support the work of the Royal Air Forces Association, this event raises so much money for this great cause, which provides comradeship to all members of the Royal Air Force and Royal Air Force Regiment. Since the show first started it has raised over £1.8 million for the RAFA.

Find out more information here and enjoy this exciting day!

Be a pirate for a day!

This Tuesday (the 5th of August) Arundel Castle are hosting their Pirates & Smuggler Day! Set in the lower lawns at the castle, this family day out will be a great opportunity to find out more about the Smugglers and Pirates of Sussex. Who menaced the waters around the World.

As part of the day, you can have a go at fencing, archery as well as other crafts. There will be lots of activities to entertain all the kids and adults too. Included in the day there are also some weapon demonstrations and story telling!

If you are up for something to do this Summer holidays with the kids, this is the perfect day out! Take a picnic and a big rug to have lunch in the grounds.

If you can't get to Arundel on Tuesday, there is also another Pirates & Smugglers Day on Sunday the 21st of September as well!

Find out more information about the events at Arundel Castle! 

101 Summer Activities

After all that inspiration if you're still stuck for ideas, you can't go wrong with Ellie Ellie's Pick Up Sticks Game! Hours of fun for all the family and can be played come rain or shine (we know what the British weather can be like!)

A great game for all the family, find it here!