A very rucheful lookbook

On this slightly rainy Monday I'd like to share with you the most gorgeous lookbook I've ever laid eyes on, well maybe. Ruche has this habit of creating stunning lookbooks... every. single. time. Just wow. This time is no exception! the sets! the dreamy model that makes me cry inside a little because of her gorgeous hair! and of course, the clothes. I'm not what we call girly really, but I do appreciate these for letting me express that inner desire I have to wear dresses every day. ;)

gah, go and look at the rest, I command you!

Collection! Mint Shoes

Aw man, I'm in serious need of therapy, I mean really. I'm an addict, a sneaky little addict, and that addiction is shoes! (along with my other addictions to cats, cat related clothes, cuddling cats and sometimes dogs too). But this season I'm able to embrace two of my loves! My general love of all things an aqua minty colour and shoes! Hello! Look at this epic collection I've whipped up, It really wasn't hard, there are so many about.

1. Topshop 

2. Topshop 

3. New look

4. Kurt Geiger (On sale!)

5. Robert Clergerie

6. Hunter

7. Converse

I really hope that the Topshop brogues stay around until the end of next month, I REALLY need them in my life, they're one of the 3 pairs of shoes I will be hopefully purchasing for summer.. granted they stay around till then, Topshop is so fickle. (My second and third pair.. if you were wondering are some wedges from New look and some Toms ballet flats) (There's a 50% chance that isn't true though, I change my mind a lot) 

I hope this minty shoe post has left you feeling minty fresh and ready for spring! Happy Friday! xo

(PS! March is nearly here! I offer ad swaps on my blog, if you'd like to trade buttons for march, email or leave a comment xo)

Glitter is good for you!

I have never been more enraptured by anything... I keep staring at my hands. Don't judge me, but have you seen my nails? have you? Good job I've taken too many pictures to show you then isn't it!

The polish is "Ice crush" by topshop, obviously. It was tough decision between this and the pink version, I stood there for ages uhm'ing and ahhh'ing about it while Michael got impatient with me ;) 

This is definitely an incentive to begin painting my nails more! I can't wait to paint it over a colour.. I might need to actually buy some other colours first though.. I have my eyes on these topshop colours for now "Heart of Gold, Gypsy Night, Parma Violet & Pool Party" , plus a few Orly ones in my local boots, I wish they had models own there too, but they don't...

Some instagrams, because I document momentous occasions like this!

Happy Sparkle filled Thursday!

xo Annabel

Raw Chocolate

On Monday I got a little treat in the post, a miniature belated valentines gift from Michael! I'd seen RawChocolate on Etsy and faved them immediately, as I do with nearly all food shops on Etsy that are in the UK, they're few and far between! I mentioned them to Michael, because come on, Raw chocolate?? that sounds mighty interesting! He thought so too, so bought me a bar to try :)

Why raw?

When cacao is cooked, almost all of the nutrients, minerals and antioxidants are lost in the process. Cacao in its raw state is actually considered a superfood – it contains over 300 nutritional compounds, it is one of the richest sources of antioxidants and is full of essential minerals – especially rich in iron, zinc and magnesium. It even contains the natural “love” molecule PEA.

Most chocolate is made with cacao that has been cooked and chemically treated – it is also usually full of refined sugar, processed oils, artificial preservatives and emulsifiers.

Raw Chocolate by Ailey Mae has only pure, high quality ingredients and absolutely nothing artificial. It is suitable for vegans, diabetics and anyone on a weight loss diet.

- Taken from RawChocolate

Chocolate is a superfood? Chocolate contains love?? Sounds about right!

It doesn't disappoint, granted it's a small bar for a price that I can't afford on a regular basis, but oh my gosh, it's dreamy. The texture reminds me of a slightly more solid lindor centre, if that makes sense? It's buttery, creamy, dark and has just the right amount of mint. Without the mint I think it would be too much, because it is quite a dark chocolate, but another factor that helps is the smoothness, it melts so easily in your mouth. It's not bitter by any means either, in fact, I'd say this was the perfect bar of mint chocolate, thank you Michael! 

(I also got a little sample of their mango flavour, I'm not a fan of fruit and chocolate really but it was surprisingly nice!) (Strawberries dipped in chocolate?? why ruin two lovely things? why?!)

It arrived a little broken... so I bit it.. you know for photography purposes ;)

I recommend checking out RawChocolate, especially their mint flavour!

Happy Chocolate day Wednesday xo

Instantly Tuesday

1. Tiny boxes for my jewellery  2. Sky  3.Favourite dress

4. My first Macaron!  5. A charm necklace I made  6. Michael is finally reading these!

7. Out and about  8. Raw chocolate (yum!)  9. New art print needs a frame

xo Annabel

(PS. Post about my RAW chocolate experience coming tomorrow! eep!)

Close up.

Aren't close-ups interesting? especially when the subject is a little different. I thought I'd share a few pictures I took while photographing my jewellery and sitting at my desk. I love it when I've taken a photo and get it onto my computer and discover it is crystal clear and perfect, happy moment! 

I love these two because they're so light! I also like it when my camera tries to please me by focusing correctly ;) (One day I promise, I will have an SLR..)

These two were taken at night (grainy!) but I like the angles :)

Happy Monday!
xo Annabel

A Wonderful Weekend ~ White decor

Happy Saturday! Today I'm carrying on the white theme with some inspiring home furnishing images, I love open spaces, white walls and bursts of colour!
The main reason I'm doing this today is because we found a place to live! (when I say we, I mean me and Michael) We found 2 lovely little flats to view in an old Victorian house around 20 minutes from uni, so we went and had a look!
The first one was on the first floor and consisted of only two rooms, a super gorgeous brand new kitchen and a bedroom with en-suite, I loved the kitchen, and how the bedroom has such big windows to let in light, but there isn't much space, and nowhere really to just sit and chill, you know? unless we want to always be sat on a bed... So up another two floors we went to the attic! It's all open plan, basically a studio, but so much nicer than any studio we had visited before. The kitchen is new by probably a year or so, and there's a sweet little breakfast bar on the end. The furniture is a bit odd, nothing matches. But we get a leather sofa, a squishy comfortable little leather sofa! There isn't as much light, a skylight above the kitchen and a little window in another corner, so I'll have to get creative taking product shots. I really don't mind though, We'll have a place all to ourselves, A fridge and freezer all to ourselves! (honestly this is such a big deal when having to share with 5 other people!) I can't wait to make it home :)

(source) ~ Wanted to include all of these, so inspiring!

(source)

(source) 

(source)

(source)

(could not locate proper source unfortunately)

PS! You should click all the source links for SO much more amazing interior design inspiration loveliness! (and breathe)

xo Annabel

A vision in white {Collection}

Hold up, this isn't anything wedding related, I just really love white! Honest :) I'm only 20, sheesh.
Anyway! White, white white, It's simple, clean and a little bit daring (Ever eaten spag bol in white? no? I dare you to come away spotless...) I love wearing white, I only have a few pieces in white but I always feel good in them, I also like that it makes my hair whether it's currently red or brown look really nice, is that weird? I can't describe it.. but it's like it makes it stands out. Hmm.

Here's a iddy biddy collection of pretty gorgeous white things:

Dress via thiefandbandit

messenger bag // brooch // lipbalm

Art print by whatkatiedoes

xo Annabel

Modern Buttercup

Today I got to do a guest post over at the lovely Modern Buttercup blog! You should have a peek because I posted all about what I'm lusting over come spring and summer! *hint* wedges! ;)

xo Annabel

Valentines!

Hello! Happy Valentines!! :) Hope you've had a good day today, I wanted to post that I got this gorgeous print by Sandra Dieckmann in the post today off of my lovely boyfriend, I was so excited, it's drool-worthy and dreamy, I keep staring at it :P I need to get a frame now ASAP. I love her style and the geometric patterns included in every drawing, so unique. And the print itself is such quality, a lovely textured matte paper that is nice and thick. Sorry for rambling, but you know... ;)

Visit Sandra Dieckmann's site!

xo

A wonderful weekend ~ Love

artwork by Daniela Henriquez

I started my weekend early this week! On Thursday actually, It's been pretty nice to be home, even if my parent's house is freezing. There's been snow here unlike where I live, but it's begun to melt now so there's no pretty pictures to be taken, ah. 

Of course Valentines day is approaching, what do you have planned? I don't think we're doing anything special, maybe an effort will be made for tea or something ;) I still have to get Michael something... a little late I know! 

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend, just thought I would check in and say hi! :)

2nd Project.

I've been meaning to post this for aaaaages! basically what I did for my second project at uni that was before christmas. It was based around consumption and the high street and.. you know, stuff. 

I took over a window in the studio and covered it in paper poms, they looked a little like an explosion of brightly coloured mould in the end, I though it was pretty cool. My tutor marked me down though because I could have made more and covered the area like a growth taking over to express my point more. Clearly she didn't know how poor I was and how expensive this tissue paper was (neither did I at first, but trust me buying this much tissue paper is not cheap)

I also took a series of photographs in the dark with just a little battery powered bulb illuminating a tonne of yarn pom poms that I also made (again with the £££... I have no control at all) I got some pretty interesting shots with lovely shadows and shape, I think I liked these most of all :)

Anyway! That was pretty much all I did for the final pieces, along with my sketchbook to accompany it all. I got a 2:1 in the end, which is fair because I got a little bit lost along the way, not knowing what to do and doubting myself. I hope my current project doesn't go that way because it was a little stressful.

Hope you are all having a good week! xo

P.S. I got disqus for the commenting system, this way I can reply directly to each comment! :) 

Motivation Hibernation

This post is serious business, serious. Well, maybe. 

You see, I have a bit of a procrastination problem, I rather enjoy wasting my time. Not wasting it per-say just putting off anything that I actually have to get done. I blame this laptop, it's cursed in its enticing ways, it's always good to me and  never crashes. Okay so maybe it's not my laptops fault, maybe it's mine.

So I'm making myself a promise, to be better, to do the things I need to do before I get lost and distracted. 

& boy do I get distracted a lot! just now I've stared off into space a few times, yawned, thought about one of the squinterns from Bones because I couldn't remember his name, looked longingly at my empty cup of juice and admired it's lovely cup-ness, messed about on my iPhone and squished a bit of white tac into more of a ball shape.

I've read a few posts and thought of a few things that might help me focus more, so I'm listing them here as a reminder, maybe they'll be useful for you too! :)
1. Wake up!
Something I la-la-love doing is sleeping, it's great. Something I don't like doing so much is getting up, yuck. I'm not telling myself to get up at 7 everyday that's just crazy and would kill me, but I am telling myself to get up when I wake up the first time and not just drift off back to sleep for another hour, that will help me stay awake and not be in a constant state of sleepyhead-ness.
2. Eat breakfast AND lunch.
I very rarely eat both, and tend to combine them and just have one meal at an odd time of day, like 11 or 2. Silly. So I will be making more of an effort to eat both of my cheerios and sandwich each day.
3. Drink more water and fresh juice.
Fizzy Vimto is my favourite, though apparently fizzy drinks aren't good for you?? pah! This is me making more of an effort to flush my system of the bad stuff, help my skin and not wake up dying of thirst in the middle of the night.
4. Music can help.
I don't listen to a lot of music anymore, I used to but just sort of... stopped. When ever I do listen it helps me knuckle down and drown out distractions, so more music please!
5. Take a break
All of these things I've got to do can seem daunting sometimes, so I've decided it's okay to take 20 minutes off and watch an episode of How I Met Your Mother, and it's okay to read a few new blog posts or take time to spend with my boyfriend. It's okay, be calm.

That's my list for now, I don't want to rush into anything and declare myself a changed woman overnight, that's not going to happen now is it, I'm a 20 year old student afterall, so I'm slightly proud of the effort I'm making now! ;)
Hopefully by this time next week I will have been more productive and less of a lazy bones in terms of my art project, essay and research sketchbook, jewelery making, designs for charlotte and maybe cleaning a bit! xo

Today I'm Lusting over...

Cat wallpaper and a certain oversized jumper!

My god, just look at that wallpaper, seriously... adore. I actually just ordered a sample of it from the website, because hey, it's free, pretty and useful for probably a thousand things. If you'd like your own, because I know you do, go here! click click!. I can imagine it perfectly as a feature wall in my future studio/bedroom/living room/anywhere. I think I'm obsessed.

Next up is this Ivory crochet knit sweater from shoplimbs on Etsy, I'm a creature of comfort and this, this is just perfect and pretty all in one. I like the way the it's styled in the images, casual yet classy, though I probably couldn't pull off those heels she's wearing, no sir, too high. 

What are you lusting over this week? xo

New pieces

I put a few new pieces up in the shop this weekend, can I talk about how much I love them for a sec? Gah I do! I've gathered an obsession with beads, interesting beads of all kinds, brass, glass, gemstones! I love finding something a little different. My shopping carts on etsy and ebay are chocka-block full of my finds, waiting for the day I give in to temptation and buy. It's so fun putting together these unique combinations, finding colours that match, or clash, textures, size, shape. There is definitely more to come with this line of jewellery, just you wait! :) 

Brass, czech glass & matte agate.

Fossil stone beads and colourless citrine

Fossil and stardust beads.

Fab Thursday

Short 'n' sweet today! Here are 3 little things I've found that have made my week so far that little bit better! 

My first experience at Caffe Nero! (Note to self..Yum!), I really shouldn't have got a cold drink though, my hands went numb on the way home with the bitter winds and icy drink! 

This absolutely gorgeous illustration of a red panda by Sandra Dieckmann ... I'm hoping it becomes mine soon ;)

& finally! clean & modern design is my thing, I dream of having a beautiful kitchen one day. I advise you to click the link to see this gorgeous house.

Happy Thursday! xo