Monday Inspiration

To combat the stress of work, my colleague is baking biscuits, while I make mosaics. Tomorrow I will eat her biscuits, and she can admire my mosaics. It's a fair swap.



1. Untitled, 2. fragile, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. Radio Romance, 6. Grunge Hydrangea, 7. Untitled, 8. Ocean, 9. Untitled

Wild flowers, picnics, spring sunshine and 100k

Weekends are always better when the sun is shining. And this weekend was utterly glorious!  Saturday was spent vintage shopping in London with Clare and Andrea. Heaven. And today my man and I went for a picnic in the park, followed by a trip to a nature reserve. Bliss.

As the sun shone, my blog reached 100,000 hits (a drop in the ocean compared to the big gun bloggers, but a milestone for little 'ole me), so I wanted to thank Puglypixel, A Thrifty Mrs, A Cup Of Emilia and Kitschen Pink, who, according to my blog statistics, send a lot of traffic my way. I would also like to thank Jeff, my long suffering friend, who is always there to answer my ridiculous web questions, and probably rues the day we met at art college. And I would finally like to thank you for being here. Calm down dear, it's not the Oscars.

In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.  Andy Warhol

Top ~ Boden 

Jeans ~ Levi's

Scarf ~ Vintage agnes b.

Belt ~ Boden

Shoes ~ PF Flyers

Bag ~ Vintage from Urban Outfitters

Sunglasses ~ Prada

Friday Photographer ~ frillie designs

For more please visit frillie designs on Flickr and Shella's blog Tea by the Sea.

Antiques at Lunchtime

The first day of spring arrived covering my living room with golden sunshine, and making me turn to lighter tunes on my way to work - Metronomy, Marvin Gaye, Joni Mitchell.. Great days require antiques. So, as soon as the clock ticked lunchtime, I rushed down the Oxford High Street to Antiques on High.

Antiques on High is the only antique shop in the centre of Oxford. Pretty shocking eh? Although, it more than makes up for the absence, because inside is like a museum, full of treasure filled glass cabinets. I have found many, many things over the years, ranging from Art Nouveau tiles to Avon trinkets. I currently have my eye on an old toffee tin adorned with white Persian kittens, a pretty blue jug (see below) and some 60s flower broaches. If they are still there in a few weeks, I will buy them, and if not, so be it. I am sure there will be some other treasure to tug on my heart strings, that is the beauty of antiques.

Antiques on High can be found at 85 High Street, Oxford, OX1 4BG, and one of the dealers sells her fantastic jewellery, including 60s flower broaches, online at Bag the Jewels. Although hands off, I saw them first.

Friday Photographer ~ Danielle Thompson

Some beautifully colourful and kitsch photographs by Danielle Thompson. For more loveliness please visit Danielle's blog and Flickr page. Have a great weekend!

Worldwide InstaMeet ~ Oxford

It was the 4th Worldwide InstaMeet today, so I grabbed my iPhone, met a bunch of like minded folk in an Oxford coffee shop, and headed out in search of the perfect capture. Here are the results - the flowers were taken in a gloriously sunny University Park, and the vintage goodies were captured in a Cowley Road shop window during my walk home. My Instagram name is candypopimages. 

Orla Kiely Spring / Summer 2012

The Spring / Summer collection by Orla Kiely is beyond cute, with so many pretty vintage influences. Here are a few of my favourites.

York through my iPhone lens

On Thursday I went on a flying visit to York (for work), and thanks to my knowledgeable Twitter friends (especially a thrifty mrs), and their top vintage tips, I was able to visit many amazing places. In York you are not only permitted to take photographs in the vintage shops, one lady even offered to take things out of the cabinets for me to photograph. York is stunningly beautiful, and really rather romantic, even if you are spending your time there alone! I will certainly be returning - maybe with a van.