Frill Seekers, the Style Not Age challenge for October

Hello again and welcome to this months challenge from the Style Not Age collective. This month Jacqui came up with the idea of Frill Seekers and as usual we're all giving it our best shot. Steve and I made the most of one of the last few sunny days of October to get out and about to capture my frilly offering, a vintage and much loved cream blouse. But more of that later, first let's see what inspired Jacqui to throw this challenge into the arena.

And here she is wowing us with this very feminine dress from M&S. The frill wrap over style suits her hour glass figure as does the vibrant colour. Pop over to her blog Mummabstylish to get all the details.

Hilda's pretty frilled sweater has the added bonus of a sexy shoulder too. Add to that a pair of wide legged trousers and snakeskin courts and she's got it all going on here. Read more on her blog Over The Hilda. 

I think this outfit from Emma has my name all over it. From those red trainers up to the embroidered jacket all the way to that pleated filled shirt, oooo I could copy the lot! I'll race you across to her blog Style Splash to source where it all came from.

This vintage blouse has been a feature in my wardrobe for years now and was certainly worth it for cost per wear. The jeans and waistcoat are both also preloved, which helps offset the brocade ASOS boots from last winter. In my mind I can allow myself to have a retail splurge from time to time as long as I'm maintaining the majority of recycled items in my collection. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

The sunglasses were new, but in the sale at TK Maxx in April and the brand is Quay Australia, my go-to choice, but my belt is second hand - see? It all evens out.

The large ring was another TK Maxx purchase and the gold dome ring was preloved.

Some of you may recognise the island in the background as Tean, one which I've featured quite a few times for picnics. See here for the most recent of those.

I made a happy discovery of some boxes under the far side of my bed recently and found two pairs of brocade boots I'd completely forgotten about, both from ASOS. This prompted me to search for yet another brocade pair from River Island, which you'll no doubt see in due course. Autumn and winter seem to be the months when the richness of brocade work perfectly with my wool and velvet pieces. 

Today's shoot was taken from the Old Blockhouse ruins. The pristine beach below has super soft sand that shelves slowly into a rock free bay making this a lovely beach to swim from. It connects with the other similar cove beyond and both of them are classed as Blockhouse beach. When the wind is coming from the West this beach is ideal for getting out of the way of the breeze. By facing East it also means that you get some stunning sunrises from this vantage point up here too. Like these ones below...

I hope you've enjoyed our Frill Seekers production today and that you'll take a moment to visit the other ladies on the challenge. 

Wishing you a lovely week!

Anna x

Life's a ball! - our Style not Age challenge for September

Hello and welcome again to our monthly Style Not Age challenge with my co-conspirators Hilda, Emma and Jacqui.  This month I chose the theme of Life's a Ball, giving us a fine excuse to bring out our ball gowns. I've been angling to introduce my new ball gown for months now, so without further ado here we go...

The gown was a charity shop purchase; a designer piece by Sonia Pena and was an absolute bargain at £25. But more of this later. Let's take a look at my dear blogging friends to see what they made of this month's challenge.

Hilda, sporting a youthful new haircut, is resplendent in a rich green gown with a lace and beading bodice, a theme she has continued with her bead encrusted clutch. See more on her blog Over the Hilda.

Emma's stunning dress is actually her wedding gown. Lady in Red comes to mind as the soundtrack for this beautiful lady. Join Emma on her blog, Style Splash to see more of this exquisite creation.

Sleek and elegant is how Jacqui has played it in her black gown with diamante trim. Lots of sparkles and fabulous heels complete this chic ensemble. Jacqui's blog Mummabstylish is where you'll catch up with the rest of her story.

The story of this dress starts in April this year when I came across it in a charity shop in Penzance. I tried it on, fell in love with it, but had a real issue with transporting it. I was on my way to Harrogate on business and didn't have the space in my suitcase to carry it all the way there and back. 

Fast forward to June when Steve and I went to Penzance together and as we were walking down the main street I told him about his wonderful dress I'd seen some months before. By that time we were standing in front of the shop and I told him to wait as I just wanted to check in case it was still there. Yay, it was and surely was destined to be mine! Steve said it's a dress that needs to be taken on a cruise...

The colour, the embroidery, the beading, the style, the fit - all make this a dream of a gown. 

I decided to bring out my orange nail polish for this special frock adding my green amethyst bracelet and citron rings to finish the look.

So let's talk about the setting for my photo shoot shall we? As you can see, it was blowing an absolute gale on the only day I had available so rather than trying to hide from the wind Steve and I decided to embrace the conditions. 

A dramatic gown deserves a dramatic backdrop don't you think? We are on the rocky headland at the North End of the island overlooking the neighbouring island of Bryher with the raging Atlantic beyond.

We used the ruin building of King Charles Castle as our location. Steve kept guard as I changed out of jeans and cosy coat into my dress, amidst gusts of wind that whipped scarves, hangers and plastic dress cover skywards. Steve darted about as I hopped from foot to foot into dainty heels totally unfit for the surroundings. It was an absolute hoot. Cold? I can't say I had time to notice.

These pretty satin shoes are my much loved Primark specials, gold heels and all for £5!

We had one or two spectators at this stage, but being ever the professionals we just pretended that this was a totally normal thing and just carried on.

The castle acted as a vantage point protecting the north channel from attack and dates back to the 1500's. I've gathered together lots of shots in and around the building and plan to put them into a stand alone post for those of you who might like to see more of my island paradise, to follow soon.

Thanks for joining us for this month's feature. Jacqui has cleverly added links in her post taking you to all of our previous challenges so do pop over to see those when you get a moment. In the meantime, do have a lovely week!

Anna x

Wild about animal print - the Style Not Age challenge for August

Welcome to the Style Not Age monthly challenge with our subject of Wild About Animal Print as suggested by Emma of Style Splash. You may be surprised to learn that I don't seem to have as much animal print as you might expect, given my extensive clothes collection. One cardigan, one pair of boots, one pair of shoes and these trousers were all I could lay my hands on last week when I was trying to pull my outfit together.

The silky trousers are the Viyella brand, and are second hand, purchased many moons ago, but never worn until now. The issue I have with them is the elasticated waistband which makes me feel puffy around the midriff and therefore middle aged (what do you mean, that's cos I am!). My options were limited on this very hot day, so trousers it was. The Karl tee is by Karl Lagerfeld, a find in TK Maxx earlier this summer and it has been a great addition to my wardrobe for when I wanted a simple look without being too understated. 

The rose gold pumps are from TK Maxx too, the brand is Head Over Heels and again they've been very handy this summer for that dressed down look. Sunglasses are by Quay Australia.

I'm wearing my wedding ring along with a rose gold cz ring, my Michael Kors watch and two rose gold bangles.

I forgot to mention the gold necklace. This has quite a funny story to it ... Sasha and I were out shopping in Truro last year, checking out all of the charity shops for me and the high street ones for her. I came across this lovely necklace amongst a little cache of jewellery in the Barnardo's shop and gathered up a selection to take to the cash desk. Sasha stopped me on my way, telling me in hushed tones that these were all things that she had cleared out of her jewellery box only the previous week! As you can see, that didn't stop me as I was very happy to know the provenance of them all, plus the charity was benefiting too.

The Abbey Garden is full of lovely little nooks and crannies of interesting views with all sorts of plants. The agapanthus seem to be much favoured by my artists, so much so, that almost any painting featuring them sells!

The joyful bronze sculpture is called "Tresco children" and was made by David Wynne.

Let's take a look at the other ladies and their animal print ensembles.

Emma from Style Splash is vamping it up with her leopard print pencil skirt. She's chosen black as her neutral to compliment the print and wow, what a glamorous look this is. The layered frills on the sleeves are wonderful (do keep me in mind, when you're done with this one Emma).

Jacqui has accessorised her animal print dress with pink sling backs and handbag. She too has taken a walk on the wild side with the exotic backdrop for her shoot and is another lady who looks like she wants to squeeze the last out of summer. See Jacqui's post on her blog here.

This month's challenge clearly inspired Hilda to go to great lengths by wearing three kinds of animal print - giraffe, snake and leopard print and how fabulous does she look! Hilda's is always a class act and this time is no different. I'd award full marks to her for originality. See more on her blog Over the Hilda.

Thanks for joining us and before I leave, I'll add some shots of the Abbey Garden in bloom. Apologies for the lack of plants names here, but I hope you enjoy the flowers anyway.

Enjoy your week!

Anna x

Not Square With Gingham - our Style Not Age challenge

Hello and welcome! Thanks for joining me today as I gather together my Style Not Age friends who between us are presenting "Not Square With Gingham". It was Hilda's choice this month, and one that had me scratching my head a bit as I wondered what to wear. I really only have three gingham pieces, one of which I've already featured on our monthly style challenge (here). With no shopping trip in sight and a clampdown on spending this month due to far too many expenses with out little motor boat, I had to give up on my idea of eBay solving my problem. Anyway, as you can see I've gone all bright and colourful (oh what a surprise!) wearing this floral gingham top that came from a charity shop last year, but more on this later.

Hilda wears gingham check fitted trousers by Puno Roma and a classic Zara shirt. Why oh why, does that half tuck look stylish on her and yet half undone on me? Hilda's feature can be seen in full on her blog Over The HIlda.

Emma from Style Splash wears a summery pink and white gingham skirt and tee shirt both from Zara. (Have these ladies both been cashing in on the Zara sale site I wonder?) Her sleek and stylish summer shoes are from River Island. Do pop over to see more from Emma on her blog too.

Jacqui has given us a double dose of gingham with these crops and matching brolly, but she's also added some pattern play by way of this sleeveless duster in summer florals - fab! Last minute photos brought about this weather-led shoot which turned out both cute and playful for her. See Jacqui's post on Mummabstylish.

My photos were weather-led too as I panicked at my last minute attempt to find somewhere out of the high winds and between showers to capture my gingham offering. Steve kindly did the honours in his lunchtime. If he had zoomed into the sea in the distance you'd have seen the white horses driving over the tops of the waves. Heavy showers for the past few days has brought inches of welcome rain to the UK which is long overdue as you can see by the parched grassland of Jimmy Cox's field. (Jimmy Cox is long dead, so we weren't in danger of being chased off!)

I pushed the boat out by adding these pop art courts by Chockers to my jolly vintage skirt by Jaeger. They cost £8.50 in St Michael's Hospice charity shop in Harrogate in the spring.

My gingham top is by F&F at Tesco's but was sourced in a charity shop last year. I like the feature of the split sleeve which was a great compromise for me when off-the-shoulder tops ruled the roost, but weren't my thing. The addition of flowers and greenery to the gingham appealed to my need to break with convention. 

Today's jewellery is all preloved apart from my favourite gold chain necklace which was a gift from Sasha. This pretty pink cuff is a recent and welcome addition to my stash.

My other go-to accessory has to be this pink stretch belt which I found on eBay a couple of years ago. At £5 the cost per wear must have dropped down into the pennies by now as I seem to wear this belt at least once a week - it's turned into a signature piece of mine - not the most stylish, classy or expensive, but certainly useful!

The final flourish to my outfit was my black net petticoat, adding fun and fullness to the skirt. The simple act of adding a net underskirt instantly adds a sense of occasion to any ensemble - a favourite trick of mine.

Thank goodness that there was no-one about to see this windswept scenario as they were out for a woodlands walk - what would they have thought?

Thanks for joining me today on this last post of July. I can't quite believe that August is upon us! The summer is rushing past me with so many things left behind in the rush and tear of life; no link-ups as I'm too time challenged; far too infrequent exchanges with blogging friends; not enough miles clocked up ready for my big sea swim challenge - oh dear, I must try harder. On the plus side, I'm drawing on my mindfulness training from earlier this year (see here) and remembering to take a moment which has been a life saver. The "musts" and "shoulds" and "have tos" are being dropped in favour of power naps, picnics and revelling in the outdoors life. Counting my blessings is a great way of grounding myself and stopping the runaway train of thoughts that can sometimes drive me to exhaustion. Summer on these beautiful islands is in itself a huge blessing and one not to be overlooked. On that note, I shall leave you, my lovely readers and wish you well. Downtime is just what the doctor ordered methinks!

Until next time, take care!

Anna x