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Reposted by Natalie Smillie

Beth @f33lthesun.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Here is my review of Thirst by @darrensimpson44.bsky.social. Storytelling at its very best. Dark, chilling and gruesome, this YA tale will feed your love of folklore. Out Sept ‘25. 📚💙@pushkinchildrens.bsky.social Stunning cover art by @natsmillie.bsky.social bethsbookcase.org/2025/05/27/t...

bethsbookcase.org

Thirst by Darren Simpson

Cover Art by Natalie Smillie I was delighted that Pushkin Press sent me a proof copy of Thirst to read and review as I am a big Darren Simpson fan. I loved the originality of The Memory Thieves and…

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Reposted by Natalie Smillie

Beth @f33lthesun.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Thanks @pushkinchildrens.bsky.social for yesterday’s exciting #BookPost. Really looking forward to getting into Thirst by @darrensimpson44.bsky.social as I have loved his previous books. #BookSky 📚💙 Stunning cover by @natsmillie.bsky.social

Book proof of c no Thirst by Darren Simpson. With covering letter.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

I’ve been excitedly telling fellow dog walkers that the forecast is for 16 degrees and sun this week. So far we haven’t got close to that and now it’s raining. The met office has made a fool out of me 😄

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

The hedges are alive with the sound of wrens this morning. They’re absolutely everywhere on my walk, chirping away very happily

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Just had the most intense Dobble tournament. I won about four times. Never felt so alive.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

I’ve just bought some de-icer so get ready to put your shorts on and your BBQ’s out 🙄

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Happy International Women’s Day! I’m thinking about all the amazing women through history that have contributed so much to our development today. Incredible usually unrecognised until after they’ve died, but who have done so much for us.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

This morning a teabag exploded all over the kitchen. Then when I went to snap a yoghurt pot apart, it split down the side. Now I’ve come for my walk and my trainers are literally falling off my feet. I’ve only just started my walk 😂

A close up of a foot wearing a trainer. The trainer is old and well used, and very worn out. The sole has separated from the bottom of the trainer and it’s flapping around when I walk. It’s extremely annoying and I have only just started my dog walk.

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Reposted by Natalie Smillie

Vicki Gausden @vickigausden.co.uk · 06/03/2025

Hey it's #kidlitartpostcard day! 💌 I'm an illustrator who works primarily in kid's books and loves drawing cute animal characters. #kidlitart #kidlit

A little raccoon wearing a heart-dotted apron is tossing a pancake.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Margaret usually comes out to the office to help me eat my lunch (very kind of her), and then goes back into the house. Today she's come out, helped me eat my lunch and farted solidly the entire time, so when she's gone back in she's left me in a cloud of stink

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

I am not religious but religious iconography slaps

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

I’m two minutes into Hidden Figures and I already know my blood pressure is going to be raised by the end of it 😡

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

I’ve had to turn the size of the text up on my phone 😢 I’m getting so old 😢😢

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Reposted by Natalie Smillie

World Book Day UK @worldbookdayuk.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

WIN a home library bundle for your family! 🌟📚 We’re giving FIVE lucky families the chance to create a colourful, cosy reading corner at home! 🏠 Enter now, via buff.ly/41hKbt7. Good luck!

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Credit where it’s due, Starmer greeting Zelenskyy like an old friend and being so welcoming to him is exactly the treatment he deserves.He looked so much happier and more relaxed in Downing Street than he did in the White House.Didn’t get told off for his clothes here did he, and we have Traditions.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Desperately want someone to say to Trumps face that he rambles absolute shite

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Not me stress eating a peach and passion fruit yoghurt in my kitchen wondering if Starmer and the EU leaders will now finally wake up to the fact that the US is no longer an ally and we need full independence from the US. We cannot have Trump here on a state visit. Let’s have Zelenskyy instead.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

The level of disrespect the US has just shown President Zelenskyy is absolutely astounding. The US press corps were sycophantic to Trump, rude and dismissive to Zelenskyy. Trump was characteristically idiotic and JD Vance is the yapping terrier at the ankles of greater men that nobody asked for.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

I’m on my walk this morning and I’ve said hello to SO many dogs, I’m having the best time. I realised I’m a human that prefers dogs to people and I’ve got a dog that prefers humans to dogs. We’re a good mix really 😄

My dog, Margaret. She is a border terrier. I’m this image she is laying on my sofa, half wrapped in a flowery pink blanket. She is looking very sweetly at the camera

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

I don’t know if anyone else is watching Paradise on Disney but if you’re not you SHOULD. Sterling K Brown is incredible, the story is tense and terrifying. Time to catch up before the finale next week!

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Apologies for the rain everyone, I straightened my hair yesterday 🙄

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

God the Hungarian government are suuuuuch a pain in the arse. I think they just like to be as irritating to the EU as possible

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

What’s wild is that there are people in the UK rich enough to do their entire food shop at the co-op

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

I watch court cases while I work a lot - I don't know if anyone else is familiar with the Karen Read case in Massachusetts but it is WILD. Does Massachusetts have a reputation for corruption or something? The evidence on this case is shaky at best and to me looks like she's being framed

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

I don't want to tell you in the US how to do things because we haven't got it completely right in the UK either. But this is what happens when you almost deify your presidents. You have given them too much power for a long time. They are not infallible and they shouldn't be worshipped.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

The worst part about the time difference between the UK and the US is that you wake up to the most INSANE news. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2... When you start agreeing with China, that's when you know something is fundamentally wrong with the world

theguardian.com

Trump declares US will ‘take over’ Gaza Strip as China says it opposes ‘forced transfer’ of Palestinians – live

China believes in ‘Palestinian rule over Palestinians’, says foreign ministry spokesperson after US president’s announcement critics say amounts to ethnic cleansing

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

I see what you're doing, @theguardian.com picture editor. You cheeky little devil, you

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

If I wasn’t an illustrator, I would ABSOLUTELY be running a doggy day care. No question. Prefer dogs to people, quite frankly 😄

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

I really like bluesky, I do NOT like the little arrow at the bottom left I keep accidentally hitting and refreshing my page 😡

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Health and safety isn’t very ‘cool’ and people are always saying ‘health and safety gone mad’, but as the plane crash in DC shows, health and safety regulations are always written in blood. If you strip departments and neuter regulations, people get hurt and die.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

As usual I’ve managed to thoroughly impress myself with the sheer amount of pasta I can eat. Indecent amounts

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

The absolute brass neck to be calling Storm Éowyn 'the storm of the century'. We've got another 75 years to mess the climate up, stop aiming so low.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Absolutely love Elmo Musk’s daughter Vivian, she does not hold back with criticism of him at allllll

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

It turns out that Rudakubana was referred not only to Prevent, but the police, to MASH and to CAHMS. @teamlabouruk.bsky.social - you're going to need to start sticking more money into mental health support, and you need to do it yesterday.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

After searching for some SEND tools, I noticed that the templates aren't always very good, or you need to pay for them. So I made my own - if there are any SENCO's or SEND interested people here, please feel free to download and use these. Happy to take suggestions if you need something else too 👍

a template for a 5 point scale to help with emotional regulation. The first column is numbered 1 - 5 with at the bottom, 1 being green, graduating through yellow and orange up to red on number 5. There are boxes in three columns to the right named 'How do I feel?', 'What', and 'How can I react?'.

Two columns, the first is named 'what does it look like?' and the second is 'how you can help me'. To the left is an inset smaller column numbered 1 at the bottom, 2 in the middle and 3 at the top. 1 is green, 2 is yellow, 3 is red.

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Reposted by Natalie Smillie

Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Morning Bluesky. Led by Donkeys, Britain’s political pressure group, projected Elon Musk's Nazi salute on to Tesla's Gigafactory in Berlin.

Projected image of Musk doing Nazi salute on a factory at night with the words Heil Tesla lit up behind him

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

I know January gets a bad name but it’s completely justified isn’t it. Seventy days long and only February to look forward to at the end of it

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Massive, massive thanks to @britishlibrary.bsky.social, the PLR scheme is fantastic. I am in AWE of libraries and their staff - librarians are unsung heroes!

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

You TELL me that Lauren Sanchez isn't one of those demon women in Devil's Advocate. YOU JUST TELL ME SHE ISN'T

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Didn't have Elmo Musk giving a cheeky little seig heil at the inauguration on my bingo card but I suppose I should have known.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Every now and then I remember I’m a grown up and I can make pancakes whenever I want to

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Just seen Donald Trump entering a church for a service before the inauguration. I'll be surprised if the holy water doesn't start immediately boiling as he walks past

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

I just saw a comment somewhere that referred to politicians as ‘coin operated’ and that really struck a chord with me 😄

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Reposted by Natalie Smillie

Jenny Haines @jennyhainesart.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

UK Illustrators, pls share: The AOI (Association of Illustrators) is conducting a survey on AI and copyright to hopefully fight back against the ridiculous decision by the UK govt to plow ahead regardless. You don't have to be an AOI member to have your say! www.surveymonkey.com/r/ai_consult...

surveymonkey.com

AI and Copyright Consultation Survey for Illustrators

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

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Natalie Smillie @natsmillie.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

Why is Trump’s inauguration inside? Hasn’t he ever heard of thermal underwear? This man wants to take over Greenland smh

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