Treasures from the Old English Company

Happy National Stationary Week everyone! I saw that this was a thing today on my instagram and knew there was no better time to share my new bits and bobs from the Old English Company* with you all.

If you've followed me for a while, or even if you've just landed on this page and have had a first glimpse, you'll know that I have a real penchant for beautiful notebooks and anything pink. You can imagine my delight when I found the Old English Company's website: a sanctuary of dreamy homeware, stunny planners and subtle colours. Swoon. 

Old English Company hand letter all their own products with cute quirky messages. I for one am obsessed with the selection of unique fonts which make each one of their products extremely instagrammable. Their website is really easy to navigate (or ahem, spend hours on) and there's even a cute little feature which pops up to tell you who is buying what as you browse. Maybe it is just because I'm nosy but I love this. I guess it's like when you're in a shop and see someone pick something up to buy and suddenly you need it too. 

After a long time of umming and arring I finally narrowed my selection down to:

The Blush and Gold A5 Planner

Don't Worry Bee Happy Mug

You've Got This Keyring

Love Heart Keyring

I love the gold theme of what I got. I'm going to be straight with you - I did get the 'Love' keyring purely in honour of Louise from St. Louis. The 'You've Got This' keyring is for a little reassurance whenever I need it. I had my last EVER university deadline on Tuesday and although I am so happy to be finished and have lots to keep me going for the next couple of months, I think it might be easy to slip into panic mode about the big wide world or the rest of my life. So, this will serve as a friendly reminder to take my worry hat off. I don't even need to explain why I love the mug - between the copious amount of tea I drink and the sheer cuteness of it, I'm sure you can guess. The planner is simple and gorgeous: a very pale pink cardboard cover with 'Old English Company Made in England' embossed in gold on the back and each page inside printed with bullet points for 'Today's Tasks', space for 'Notes', and a header to mark in the date. Nothing motivates me like being able to tick a task off my to do list.

I am so glad I discovered Old English Company - it is such a gem and the perfect place to buy unique gifts and treat yourself.

*These lovely products were sent to me for consideration for review, but all opinions are my own.

Lisbon Haul

Hey Everyone!
One of my priorities when visiting somewhere new is finding out what the shops have to offer. There's something really exciting about shopping in a place which is completely different from what you're used to. In Lisbon, I found many of the same shops I loved in Barcelona, but this time round I only spent a few hours of the holiday shopping as there weren't as many. A stand out was definitely Stradivarius. This clothes shop seems to be really big in Europe but for some reason we don't have it in the UK. I spent a lot of time in there and liked the vast majority of what they had. The only problem was the fitting room scenario: scorching heat, fluid retention and being covered top to toe in sun cream- safe to say I found myself in quite a pickle trying to get some dresses on and off. 

I loved these floral printed trousers (€19.95) so much that I had to buy the exact same pair in two different prints. They are both really light weight and perfect for this time of year. I've wanted some thing yellow since the beginning of the season but until now I hadn't seen anything I thought would suit me. I'm still not sure if this bright yellow will go with my skin tone but for €3.99 sale I thought I'd buy it to suppress my craving. It is a light, baggy crop top and it sits really nicely on. Another clothing item I've sought for ages is a white skirt and this tulip skirt (€15.95) is a beautiful shape and fits the bill nicely. Finally the white knitted jumper (€19.95) is really cute on and will be perfect for this unpredictable weather and into next season too.
My next major haulage was from Tiger. We do have Tiger in the UK, I recently discovered it in Glasgow, but the one in Lisbon is double the size. It is similar to IKEA but minus the furniture, add lots of stationary and crafts. 

I've decided to use some of the time I have left this summer to try a variety of new hobbies. I'll be posting about each one but most of the stuff I picked up in Tiger was to get me going with those. Its really inexpensive and is one of those places you just want to buy everything. 

I then bought miscellaneous from a few different places. There is a big department store in Lisbon called El Corte Inglés and in the beauty department was a Sephora (hallelujah!) which actually had a sale on (hallelujah! x2). I got their own brand of primer for €4 and this minature Nails Inc trio for €5. They also have an amazing stationary department where I found this super cute notebook. There are lots of small independent shops in side streets and my mum and I found a very reasonably priced jewellery making store. Finally, I bought a post card made out of cork purely for the novelty.
I actually spent less than I anticipated on holiday which works out well as I now have extra euros left over for Greece. 

I Love Stationery!

I'm posting everyday at 6.00pm this week: let me know in the comments if you would like me to post at set times like this more often :)

Hey Everyone!

In keeping with expanding my blog themes, I thought I'd tell you about another obsession I have: stationery! During the #bbloggers twitter chat on Sunday I was very inspired by @_noire by her love for notebooks. She said how she always has a notebook to hand to scribble down ideas and I think this is lovely and I would quite like to try something similar. The pretty notebooks above are currently written in very little (anyone else do that- start one and never finish it?). My plan is to use the spotty one for lists, which I began doing in summer but never continued it and the bird cage one as a journal. The other two I'm not quite sure about yet, any ideas?

I also love stationery for the fact that it can be just as cute and pretty as makeup and decor. Take the rainbow pens in the first picture for example- these look amazing on display and they're amazing for mind maps. Also, how cute is this mini pink essentials kit? 

I realise this is an extremely random post, but I sometimes think its important to appreciate the small things in life, and wanted to share with you one of those!

What sort of creative, inspiring, wonderful things do you write down?