Purple & Green

I'm still feeling rather poorly today and I'm not wearing anything worth showing off, but I do have a couple of last week's outfits in store so they'll have to do. This is one of them:

My trusted green corduroy skirt with applique flowers - always a hit!

It looks best when paired with greens and / or purples.

Know what I mean?

I tried to wear it with a navy blue jacket; it looked alright but definitely not as good as this. I'll just stick to my old ways, then...

I'm wearing:

- boots - Humanic
- tights - Polzela (local brand)
- skirt - Kesidov
- roll-neck - Peter James
- skinny leather belt - H&M
- angel accessories, these bracelets

Outdoors:

- jacket - Mana
- leather belt - Jack Jones
- scarf - Benetton (an old birthday present)
- beret - Seeberger
- corsage (on beret) - Kesidov (gift with purchase)
- bag - Barbour

The first month of the year is nearly over!

Jenny Arnott's Handbag Mirror Giveaway!

The lovely Jenny of Jenny Arnott, who is a fabulous textile designer, is having a smashing giveaway on her blog. She has recently passed one hundred blog followers and as a thank you she has decided to give away one of her embroidered handbag mirrors to three lucky winners.

The winners will each be able to choose which mirror they would like from her two new ranges 'Girly' (cupcake, flower, butterfly) and 'Love Hearts' (love you, hug me, kiss me, cutie pie).

All mirrors are handmade and embroidered by Jenny herself using up tiny scraps of pretty fabrics. They each come in a little organza bag.

How to enter the giveaway: check Jenny's fabulous blog for the rules!

I'm in, definitely!

Poorly

My dear blogging friends, I've been feeling very much under the weather today. I have an excruciating headache, high BT, and my heart has been hurt by my friend's incredible selfishness. Please keep me in your thoughts & in your prayers.

And enjoy my little guardian angel, the work of my blogging friend Marysia!

I hope things get better by Monday. Have a lovely weekend.

Decisions, Decisions...

Only a simple oufit.

With lots of pictures.

I couldn't really decide

which one to pick so...

... here you are,

take a look at and enjoy all of them!

I'm wearing:

- boots - local shop
- skinny jeans - miss bonbon
- cardi - local shop
- scarf - local shop
- gorgeous hand-painted brooch - last year's birthday gift from very good friends (from their trip to Moscow!)
- bracelets - TreeTwist, Rice, angels

Almost Friday!

Ness Cardi - Take Two

Another styling idea. Last week's outfit. Comfy & chic. I'd like to think so, anyway...

I really like the colours of this cardi. Neutrals with a twist. What more can you wish for? Well, you can, as a matter of fact. You can wish for a pretty tank top in the same colour scheme & similar pattern. And you can jump with joy when the UPS bloke delivers... I did, last Friday!

I'm wearing:

- boots - Bata
- cropped jeans - Wallis
- top - Tom Tailor
- cardi - Ness
- beret - Seeberger
- button badges - Ness

Outdoors:

- jacket - local clothes shop
- belt - another local clothes shop
- scarf - Tait & Style (Scottish shop in the capital, a few years ago)

Go, Ness!

Etsy Loves

Some very pretty things from Etsy again, they're all from British sellers. Love them, love them, love them!

- Teapot Tea Party Necklace from WickedWonderlands

- Hand Felted Bead Bracelet from Falklandfelts

- Felt and Fabric Flower Brooch from designedbyjane

- Small Coin Purse in Liberty Tana Lawn from janecoe1

- London Skyline Screen Print from KateMcLelland

Gorgeous, and they make me think of spring...

My Treasure

More birthday presents! I love it when presents pour in well after my actual birthday! Especially nice ones like this!!!
If you follow my blog you are well aware of the fact that I love Britain. Adore it, in fact. That I actually believe that before I was born my soul floated above the British Isles...

So it should not come as a surprise that I love tea. And, of course, tea cups and tea pots and all paraphernalia that comes along.

When my dear sister-in-law (my elder brother-in-law's wife) invited me to join her at the local china shop to pick my own birthday present I was, of course, over the moon! I knew exactly what to choose from and I'd already had my eyes on a precious tea cup with snowdrops from the Royal Doulton / Royal Albert 'Flower of the Month' series. But, my s-i-l, who's a very sweet and kind and generous woman (and loves a pretty tea cup herself), was adamant about my not leaving the shop without at least a pair of tea cups! So apart from the January one I also picked the March tea cup, as I celebrate my name day on March 25 ( the Feast of Annunciation).

I was absolutely sure that this was it but my dear s-i-l insisted on my choosing a few tea spoons as well... I ended up with three, June, September (my children's birthdays) and December (Christmas month, an obvious choice!). The little tray you can see above was my s-i-l's present for my birthday last year.

And to make matters even more exciting, my new tea cups match the wedding present my husband and I got for our wedding just over fifteen years ago. It came from some very dear friends from Britain - the family I used to visit regularly in my life B.C. (that's 'before children'). Some of them attended our wedding and presented the newlyweds (us!) with this gorgeous tea set. It's my best china (I love saying that!) and we actually use it very rarely - possibly on our wedding anniversary!

So, thank you, the Mackintosh family, and thank you, my lovely in-laws, for presenting me with 'a piece of Britain' (or is it China?)...

Three Things

- 'A Piece Of Scotland' - the most precious pendants from my blogging friend Aileen, who is an incredibly talented artist with lovely shops on Etsy & Folksy

- a Cath Kidston book bag to match my red Hunter wellies

- my brand new button earrings, made from my favourite Barbour spare buttons; I got the idea here

Winter Cycling

I love cycling in winter. I particularly like cycling-appropriate weather in winter. Where I live, this means not a lot or possibly no snow. Which is a rare occurrence in the month of January. I'm sorry to say that the situation has changed since Monday when these pictures were taken. The roads have been snowed upon again.

Well, I enjoyed my bicycle ride to the choir practice. I get a lot of inspiration for winter cycling from the lovely S. from Simply Bike and I will definitely give riding my bike on snow covered roads a try but I do prefer snow-free winters. I don't mind the cold, even though I'm one of those people who come alive in the heat of the summer, but since I love layering and winter accessories, even freezing temperatures can't get to me if I decide I don't let them.

This outfit is very much cycling friendly. The tunic dress is stretchy enough to give my cycling legs a lot of movement space. It's quite warm as well, so there's no need for another layer of tights. In one word - perfect!

I'm wearing:

- boots - Mass
- tights - no idea (home closet?)
- tunic dress - Kesidov
- roll-neck - Dorothy Perkins
- pink top (underneath, only the long sleeves are peeking out) - TwoWay
- angel accessories
- felt earrings - crafts shop in the capital (no close-up this time, sorry)

Outdoors:
- coat - Mana
- belt - Hofer
- scarf - local shop
- gloves - Benetton (present, from long ago)
- beret - Seeberger
- button badges - Ness
- bag - BlackHouse
- bike - Electra Cruiser Peacock (birthday present from husband!)
- bike basket - Rice

Happy cycling!

Another Outfit

From last week. I love mustard & purple paired in one outfit. With a touch of grey.

My purple tights are not very warm so I layered - I put a grey pair underneath and the result was great - the colours worked well and my legs were really warm. Definitely repeatable! I got the idea from the Academichics - the most stylish group of women in the blogosphere in my opinion!

I'm wearing:

- boots - Humanic
- purple tights - Mana
- grey tights (underneath) - hand-me-downs from Mum
- skirt - S. Oliver
- top - Mana
- cropped cardi - Boden
- skinny leather belt - H&M
- angel accessories

Outdoors:

- jacket (with fake fur collar!) - Mana
- leather belt - Jack Jones
- scarf - Benetton (birthday present from years ago)
- beret - Seeberger
- corsage (on beret) - jysk
- handwarmers - Etsy (Crafts2Cherish)

Until tomorrow!

Tweedy Friendship

Last autumn my blogging friend Alison from Tweed Thoughts (she has a very pretty Etsy shop as well) kindly offered to make me a Harris Tweed pouch lined with Liberty Tana Lawn cotton - my two favourite types of fabric in the whole world! The prettiest pouch came in the post this morning and I couldn't be happier! Just look at this exquisite example of craftsmanship!

I really like the pattern she has chosen for my pouch, it's in the colours of the Scottish sky & soil, methinks... The Liberty fabric is a pretty floral pattern , the sort I always like looking at...

Alison was kind enough to put some additional goodies in the package - these pretty pink embroidered Harris Tweed buttons! The same day, this morning, this tweedy doll came in the post as well, which I'd ordered from her Etsy shop the other day. Plus the cream & green check Harris Tweed buttons... I mean, it's like another Christmas / birthday present!

As a little thank you I sent Alison a packet with my own crafting goodies, a necklace and a bracelet that I felted myself. I hope they will come in handy as winter accessories!

It's ever so nice to have good friends from all over the world. Particularly from Scotland...

Thank you so much once again, Alison!

Annual Capsule Wardrobe Challenge Is On Again!

Yay, Jane from The Small Fabric Of My Life has announced another Annual Capsule Wardrobe Challenge! I love these challenges! I participated in two challenges last year and I enjoyed myself immensely. I'm really looking forward to this one.

This year's challenge begins on Monday, February 14th. The rules are simple:

The participants have to choose ten items of clothing from own wardrobe and mix and match them for five days between Monday February 14th and Friday February 18th.

We can have any combination of shoes, dresses, skirts, tops and jackets as long as it adds up to ten individual items.

We are also allowed five accessories which include jewellery, scarves, bag, belts etc.

Underwear and hosiery do not come under the ten items and five accessories!

Jane is really sweet and she will award a prize for the most creative participant in the 2011 Annual Capsule Wardrobe Challenge.

Let the Valentine's Day come!!!

PrettyNess, LovelyNess, GorgeousNess

Another outfit post. Featuring my new cardi from Ness! Same skirt as in the last post, but everything else is different, so it's a completely different story. I'm totally besotted with this exquisite piece of knitwear. The material! The pattern! The colours! The cut! Oh my!!!

This time I went for everything simple and (predominantly) monochromatic. I thought rich chocolate brown paired with deep sky blue and a touch of pink would work well with the cardi's colour scheme and I'm quite happy with the result.

As for the beret, I chose the pretty button badges from Ness (!) instead of my regular corsage. I love them!

Even though I really like this combination I'm very much excited about what else from my wardrobe can work with this cardi. The possibilities are limited because of the colours and the pattern (and the cut, obviously, as cropped cardis can sometimes be rather tricky to style) but I'm nevertheless looking forward to exploring my options.

I'll let you know what I come up with!

I'm wearing:

- boots - Bata
- tights - Polzela (local brand)
- skirt - Zara (hand-me-down from former colleague)
- top - H&M
- belt - came with a pair of trousers (I no longer have in my possession...; I've kept the belt, though!)
- cardi - Ness (birthday present)
- beret - Seeberger
- button badges - Ness

Outdoors:

- jacket - local store
- belt - local store
- scarf - Tait&Style

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

An Outfit Post - At Last

One of last week's outfits. I'm catching up. With my birthday & all I didn't take outfit pics regularly but I have a few old ones (not so old, they're this year's...) in stock.

I quite liked how this came out. This was one of the outfits which were built in my head first and I wasn't sure whether it would work in real life. Somehow, it did. I guess.

I'm wearing:

- boots - Humanic
- tights - no idea, old!
- skirt - Mango; hand-me-down from former colleague
- leather belt - H&M
- floral top - Kesidov
- long-sleeve top - Zara (girls' department)
- this bracelet and this bracelet

Outdoors:

- jacket - Mana
- leather belt - Jack Jones
- scarf - Benetton; birthday gift from long ago
- this brooch
- beret - Seeberger
- corsage (on beret) - jysk

Until tomorrow!

Birthday - Decoration & What I Got

Warning - a picture heavy post to follow! I did promise to show you my birthday presents, though, and in this case it's inevitable. So, I'll start with this pretty bouquet of roses that I got from my husband as well but forgot to mention (didn't take a picture straight away, of course). It's seen better days, I'm afraid, the picture was taken a few days later. But still, isn't it pretty?

I told you already that my little girl 'gate-crashed' my party... She was really excited about it and she spent the whole afternoon making these bits & pieces that she decorated my parents' dining room with.

This little angel was such a pleasant surprise! It's from a very good friend, the work of an incredibly talented local artist who comes from Poland. I totally adore it!

A Willow Tree Angel - Love of Learning. From another good friend, my (son's former &) daughter's teacher!

A pretty pair of earrings from my brother & his lovely family. So me!

Three pretty hand-painted storage jars. Sugar? Coffee? Tea? No idea yet but they sure bring some colour into my kitchen! From some very good friends.

Poppy-seed soap (to fight away wrinkles!!!), 100% natural. Lovely shape, lovely smell. From a lovely family whose children are my godchildren (they're all teenagers already... so I do need an anti-wrinkle soap).

Another bouquet of flowers in a pretty & bright watering can. I don't think it needs any comment, it has my name written all over... From another good friend & family!

Dish brush with an adorable stand. Her name is Roselynn (Rosalina), my little girl's choice. She's brightening up my kitchen already! Came with the watering can.

Some lovely music. From friends & from my Mum-in-law. Very much appreciated!

A great big thank you to everyone!!!

P.S.: This, of course, is only a selection of all the lovely goodies I got for my birthday!