Bags & Pins

A few months ago I purchased three precious fabric brooches from the very talented Cathy of Dear Emma - a butterfly, a dragonfly and a blue tit. Cathy is an amazing artist, she can do magic with tiny scraps of fabric (she can of course also do magic with large pieces of fabric...) and I love her way with colours. 

I totally adore her pins and I wear them all the time - be it on my clothes or bags or other accessories, like scarves (not worn very often these days, though!). Here is a collection of my colourful bags, embellished with little pieces of Cathy's art:

This is a Joules bag, bought on sale - a lovely bargain, I absolutely adore it, it's very spacious and goes well with most of my outfits. The pink butterfly could hardly wait to take a rest on the inside pocket...

The blue clutch was purchased last spring, at a local boutique, and it used to be embellished with some Liberty Suffolk puffs - very pretty, even if I say so myself... However, once the dragonfly 'flew in', this seemed to be the only obvious choice.

The mustard bag/clutch comes from Disaster Designs (purchased by mail order in Slovenia) - I love its envelope shape and the inscriptions, and the polka dot bow is beyond gorgeous.

The only thing missing, obviously, was this blue tit - it's absolutely perfect now!

Thank you, Cathy, for the prettiest accessories a girl could wish for!

Oh, The Places We'Ve Been!

Photo source: Wikipedia

Hello, dear friends, I guess a three-week holiday break should do - we're all settled back home, the youngest ones another fortnight off school, my husband & I back to our working routine. We had a lovely time together, we spent a week at the seaside - our traditional destination - and visited some lovely places in between. 

I've given you a hint as to where we've been, I promise to tell you more about it as soon as I manage to download my pictures (I know...). In the meantime, expect some of my personal style preferences for the upcoming autumn season, and perhaps a styling idea or two...

I hope you are all well, I've been reading about your lovely get-aways!

Summery Outfit

One from the warmer and sunnier days. 

I'm wearing:

- sandals - Boden

- skirt (former dress) - Corazon

- obi belt - Kokoska (local brand)

- top - local shop

- sunglasses - M&S

- forget-me-not necklace - Etsy (silverpebble)

- earrings - Etsy (gift with purchase)

- bracelet - souvenir from Vienna

- crochet bag - I made it!

P.S.: I'm taking a little blogging break, to spend some much longed-for time with my family. Will be back soon, hopefully with some new adventures!

Would You Like To Take Your Dragonflies Shopping?

Giveaway time, yay! Pop over to Diana's lovely blog called *p r e t t y l i t t l e t h i n g s* and you may just be lucky enough to win the most gorgeous handmade bag with appliqued dragonflies! 

The giveaway is open internationally and what you have to do is:

1 follow Diana's blog

2 leave a comment for the giveaway post

3 share the giveaway on your blog / Facebook /Twitter etc.

Good luck, everyone, including myself :)

Cycling Outfit

Ever since I got my precious cruiser (just over two years ago!), I've been figuring out that I can actually cycle in most of my outfits (and more or less the entire year, minus the snowed-in time). Naturally, I ride my beloved Peacock more frequently during the warmer months, even though I must admit that it is rather appealing to cycle with hand-warmers and bundled up in woollen scarves...

Anyway, almost time for scarves in the last few days, but generally speaking we've had a fair share of warm summer days so far.

My cycling go-to uniform usually consists of a summery skirt, a top of some sort, sandals or plimsolls, and some fun accessories.

On one of my cycling trips into town I wore:

- plimsolls (with cherries!) - Cath Kidston

- denim skirt - Corazon

- shirt - McKinley

- bicycle pendant - borrowed from my son

- hydrangea brooch -  handmade by my friend Marysia

- messenger bag - Joules

- pink watch - S. Oliver
- glass cherry earrings - Etsy (bullseyebeads)

Do you enjoy cycling?

Three Things

I'm cheating a little bit, I'm posting five things on three pictures but never mind. These are some accessories I just had to have for the Jubilee celebrations last month. Aren't they all adorable?

The key rings and the Union Jack heart pin are from Accessorize (which is now available in our capital, yay!). Very British (although, sadly, most probably made in China...).

I made the above necklace myself, from bits and bobs I found in my little treasure chest :)

Last but not least, as always, a gorgeous purse from Cath Kidston. Love at first sight, as you can well imagine  - florals, mother-of-pearl buttons, Union Jack - what's not to love?

Long live the Queen!

May & June In Pictures II.

In the beginning of June my boy turned eleven. 

He's a big fan of 'pancake pie' (as seen in Findus books) so he asked for one for his birthday.

My Mum made him a coconut cake. Both were delicious. Here you can see the birthday boy light his own candles :)

His greatest birthday wish was to fly with a friend of ours who is a proud owner of an ultralight plane. 

Our friend gave us a big surprise by flying all four of us (separately, of course). We enjoyed lovely panoramic views of our little part of the world.

Needless to say, our birthday boy had a blast!

Thank you, our dear pilot friend R.!