Anna does Kirstie at Christmas


Happy Christmas my lovelies!

Hello and thanks for dropping by today. I bet I'm not alone in wondering how Christmas has suddenly been and gone already. All that hype, all those preparations, all that food and packing of presents and suddenly - it's over! 




This is my Christmas day frock a la Kirstie Allsopp. I'm a huge fan of her pre-Christmas bonanza of programmes in which she wears the shirtwaister dress in all sorts of colours and patterns. I found mine in a charity shop in September and stashed it away ready for the big day. It's a vintage piece by the brand Kerena. The red, green and gold theme screamed out festive dressing the minute I saw it and the voile fabric was too pretty to resist. 




I changed the self fabric belt for this gold trimmed woven one (pre-loved) to add a bit more Christmas pizazz. The ring is also pre-loved and my necklace was a gift from Sasha a couple of years ago - it's been one of my most featured pieces of jewellery thanks to the simplicity and therefore versatility of it.




(Just a little aside here. I spent most of Christmas day thinking I'd forgotten something and it was only when I reviewed these photos that I remembered - the deforestation of my eyebrows! A tad more lipstick wouldn't have gone amiss either.)




I wanted to lift the dress out the conservative dressing bracket and gave it a touch of tartan to create something more "Anna's Island Style". The boots were from M&S ages ago. The red glitter tights add a touch of glamour - maybe too much for some, but a dash of fun for me.




Anyway folks, I wasn't sure if anyone would be checking the blog over the festive period so thank you for calling. I'll be back on Monday for the last of our Style Not Age challenge for 2019. The theme is Winter Opulence and I'm sure it's gonna be a corker! Do pop by for that if you get a moment.



I'll leave you with this fabulous sunset shot taken from my garden this evening.


                                                                                   Anna x

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Tartan and fur for that festive feeling


Hurrah, Christmas cometh!

Hello again my dear readers. I suddenly find myself on that crazy roller coaster ride that is the countdown to Christmas. I have a mixture of joy and panic flipping inside my tummy currently. Yes, I bought a lot of presents, but no, I've not checked if all the festive food menus are going to work out. This weekend I'll be nipping to St Mary's to have my hair cut and check out the last of my to-do list at the shops. How about you? Are you making progress towards the big day?



I've rolled out one of my favourite Christmas looks today with my teddy bear spruce green fur coat supported by a very healthy dose of tartan (or plaid for my readership across the pond). I'm terribly partial to bit of tartan which probably has something to do with being Scottish I suppose.


My beloved tartan boots were from M&S last year.  I must admit that my skirt and boots together remind me of my clan tartan.


This is Kerr tartan, the fabric of my clan. I wonder if this was worn to battle hundreds of years ago?


The only battle I was facing was with the driving winds, but that was a small price to pay for this stunning backdrop across the harbour at New Grimsby over to Bryher.


So, the outfit comprises of the fur coat by The Vintage Collection which came from TK Maxx last year, tartan skirt and black polo neck are both pre-loved and black cotton rich tights are from Tesco's. 


This has to be my favourite black sweater. I love the figure shaping ribbing plus the gilt buttons lift it out of the ordinary. Wash after wash it seems to hold it's shape beautifully. My necklace was a charity shop find, silver and black rings are one pre-loved and one from many moons ago.




My thanks for today's photos go to my lovely friend Fiona who gave up her lunch break to gad about with me looking for the right backdrop for our shoot. I hope you've enjoyed another peek at my island home. Have a great week and I hope to catch up with you again soon!

                                                                                    Anna x

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My Favourite Trend for Autumn, our Style Not Age challenge for October


Goodness doesn't time fly? Here we go again with our end of month style challenge. Jacqui has plumped for this month's theme which has given us lots of creative scope. Me, I've been influenced by a magazine spread again, this time for the ubiquitous argyle knit. The trend isn't so much a fashion as an enduring classic.


You'll excuse me for feeling ever-so-slightly-smug that my knit was a charity shop find last year and has been loitering with intent until the right moment came along. The Country Casuals cardigan cost me all of £4 which adds to the smug factor. But enough of that, let's catch up with the rest of the Collective to see what their favourite seasonal trend is.


For Jacqui's Mummabstylish, the trend is the colour rust which is a true autumn shade. I'm partial to that hue for the cooler months too. See more on her blog here.


Hilda is rocking her stunning red trouser suit accompanied by fabulous leopard print courts. Wowee, is all I can say! Catch the full details on Over The Hilda


Rust is another favourite for Emma of Style Splash along with a liberal dose of velvet by way of this charity-shopped jacket (£2) - way to go Em!


Sasha was my photographer of the day and told me I ought to point out that despite how polished I may look, I'm actually full of the most revolting cold at the moment. I'm layered up in concealer to cover the dark shadows under my eyes from not sleeping last night (hurrah for my Quay Australia sunglasses, eh?) and have a dry, chafed nose from endless blowing.


The Country Casuals cardi has inbuilt shoulder pads which makes me think it might be a vintage piece. It's not showing much sign of wear however. I particularly like the deep pockets as well as the motif on the back of the sweater.



The cream ruffled blouse is another vintage find of mine, one that's been a mainstay for years. The ring is pre-loved too. 


Jumbo cord, wide-legged and lovely - that's how I'd describe these fabulous trews. The brand is Zara, but not this year's. Likewise with the tartan/plaid boots - not this season's, and from M&S, they're still a super statement ankle boot that demand attention.



I'm striding off home now, heading for a Lemsip, lots of fruit, and some downtime for the rest of the day. I fancy this cold was a freebie from my recent trip to the mainland - not the kind of freebie I like though!

                                                                                          Anna x

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Sunday mash up


Hello and welcome to my Sunday mash up, a riot of colour and pattern play. You may recall me saying I've had a little splurge on the Zara sale site recently? Well, these leopard print trousers were one of the pieces I succumbed to for the princely sum of £5.99 - yes, that's right, £5.99! Most the items I bought were that price, which is the best reason ever to keep your eye of for the Zara sale next time. The other leopard print jeans I've already showcased here were also £5.99 which seems totally bonkers, but a win for me. 


Today's mash up may seem a bit too adventurous for some of you, but I just wanted to show how easy it is to mix up lots of patterns together provided they have colours in common. The shirt (pre-loved from Boohoo £2.50) was the most perfect partner for these trousers as they're both sporting the red and black leopard print. The design in itself is a great mash up of leopard print, zebra stripe and chain pattern and can be the star of the show with a simple pair of black trousers - that would look really effective too.


I'm always looking for an opportunity to bring out my tartan boots from M&S. As an idea this may not have been an obvious one, but when you look at the colours together you can see that the clash of patterns is negated by the happy partnership of colours. The outfit is basically red and black and falls into my mindset of Why Not?


I'd like to say that this shoot was taken in my own back garden and that I laze about like this often, but the truth is that my photographer and I had sneaked into one of the holiday cottage gardens to test drive this rather lovely lounger. I can report that yes, it was very comfy and please do go ahead and buy them of all of the cottages. This was in the garden of Smugglers which nestles under the trees, only a stone's throw from the Old Blockhouse.


Are you having a chill-out this Sunday? Or maybe you're making the most of the spring weather and doing some gardening? I'm heading off to work now, continuing with the preparations for the Gallery to open on Friday. The whole island wakes up from its winter slumber on the 15th of March so there is quite a flurry of activity this weekend as the last few maintenance jobs are done. There are lots of new faces appearing on the island too meaning that the staff recruitment has been successful in luring newcomers for the many seasonal roles. There's an undercurrent of simmering excitement (for some that may be panic) as the pace picks up ready for the big day. 


Tomorrow is a big day in the Gallery as I welcome Polly back into her position of Gallery Assistant. She and I will be hanging art, cleaning glass and bronzes and generally pulling the displays together over the next few days. The finishing touches of jewellery cabinets being set up is one of Polly's favourite tasks giving her a chance to show her creative flair. Oh, it will be lovely to have her back on board again!

                                                                                        Anna x

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Happy Christmas!


Happy Christmas!

Hello and how are the preparations coming along? Currently I'm still making fudge as fast as I can, but hopefully by the end of today everyone will have their allotted box. Tomorrow I'll be making a raised chicken pie for dinner along with other savoury nibbles, and I hope to do some prep for the Christmas meal too. Please don't mistake me for a domestic goddess - there's a whole lot of panicking and comedy moments take place when I'm in the kitchen!


Homemade vanilla fudge for family and friends. 


And finally, after weeks of trying to find the perfect showcase for my tartan boots - here it is! Oh my goodness, how I love this tartan medley. I'm not sure why tartan is so big around Christmas, but I've not got a problem with this fabulous pattern being on trend again. The green teddy bear coat was from TK Maxx last year and is still a fond favourite of mine, cosy and snuggly, just like a cuddly bear in fact.


After searching the Internet for hours I came across these tartan trews (what beauties!) on the ASOS website and if you fancy them they've got £10 off now, see here. I totally love them and have had so many compliments about them and how very me they are. And now here they are teamed up with my fab M&S tartan boots and don't they look amazing together? Gush, gush!




The red pie crust, frilly cuffed blouse is by H&M and was sent all the way from Japan when my dear friend Ben was there on holiday. He came across it in a market and decided it had my name on it. It came by post, via surface mail arriving some 10 weeks after he got home. But arrive it did and thank you Ben - I love it!


Another H&M secondhand purchase is the Sealed With A Kiss Christmas jumper. I bought it on eBay last year and have found that the black makes it easy to pair with most festive outfits. I have a new sparkly jumper set aside for Christmas day and if all goes to plan I hope to sidetrack one of the family to take some photos before the post-dinner naps commence.


The black and silver ring is preloved and the frilly seaweed ring is by Emily Nixon.


From here on in, my lovely readers, I'm not sure how the rest of December will go blog-wise. I'd like to award myself with a few days off, away from the clamour of social media and let the blog bubble away, garnering comments from you or not as the case may be. 

On New Year's Eve I'll be joined by the Style Not Age Collective for our monthly challenge which just so happens to be Sequins. Oh dear, can you imagine what a terrible chore this will be for me to don something so brash and sparkly? Never fear, I'll give it my best shot!

In the meantime, I'd like to wish you all 
A Wonderful Christmas 
and let's catch up again soon!


Anna x
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