I couldn't say that I would mind

Today has been a very long Wednesday despite only having one actual lesson. The build up the exams is really starting to kick in now and my realisation that I still have SO much to learn / revise is really not helping keep calm and organised. I finished my art exam on Friday, which was definitely a good thing, so just have three more subjects to cry over for the next few weeks. It is undoubtedly less stressful than the nine or so I had to study last year, so all is okay really. I just need to try and focus (not helped by my decision to start watching Parks and Recreation).
Anyway, here is another very late set of photos from Cornwall a while back. We ended up getting lost, driving around for ages, giving up and going to the beach...not a bad day in my books. Also I've just realised I took these on the Wednesday of our holiday and today is Wednesday and I get excited about coincidences way more than is necessary.

I wore a vintage shirt and top from Hollie, dungaree dress from The Ragged Priest, boots from The Whitepepper and my backpack from Mi-Pac. The brooch was from an antique market and the pendant from a market in France.

Looking at beach pictures is really really making me want to be anywhere but in my house working...at least the weather has somewhat started to brighten up. Who knows, maybe it'll start getting warmer soon too...?
Anyway, I was recently introduced to the lovely people at Invaluable,  an online auction site that offers a wide variety of live auctions including art, antiques and jewellery. I was asked to share the story behind my jewellery boxes and most sentimental pieces of jewellery, and as a bit of an obsessive when it comes to collecting cute brooches / crazy earrings etc (and working in Hirst Antiques) I couldn't not take it up - although I am cheating slightly as I don't exactly have a jewellery box but hey, organised chaos. That's the way to do it.

I redecorated my bedroom when I was about fourteen and so there are still remnants from my pink/purple/black/grey phase. I have mostly covered it with countless photos, posters and prints and line my walls with clothes I can't bear to hide away in my wardrobe. Jewellery is spread everywhere: I hang necklaces on the walls, brooches and earrings on shelves, and my every day pieces often end up on various little trays or boxes I have scattered around. I quite like being able to see everything all in one place, although I am sure most people would squirm at how disorganised it looks (there is a strange sense of order to my mess, like its all over the place but I can tell if one thing has been moved or misplaced).

I tend to keep the rest of my pieces in various little boxes, such as the porcelain heart box my Granddad won for me in a raffle at a school fair one year (the ticket cost him no more than £3 I think). Then on the mirror are some of my more special pieces including a sterling silver marcasite set from Hirst Antiques and a pair of teeny silvery clip-on earrings one of the ladies I work for, Shirley, gave to me on my first ever day at the shop. The Mona Lisa earrings were an amazing Spitalfield's antique market find last summer, I have no idea where the ring is from (it literally has appeared in my collection and I don't know where from...although very possibly could have been from a stylist's pop up sale I went to with my friend ages and ages ago) and the necklace is Venetian glass (from my long-ago trip to Italy. It makes me miss the pizza. And the ice cream).

 

 

Three more little boxes: my little cat tin full of some of my favourite brooches from Dear Rose With Love, my £1 wooden box with the sweetest little Padstow finds, and a teeny bird box which I use to store my jewellery from Les Néréides. My collection is fairly small so far, but I adore their pieces so much - so tiny and delicate, with the same appeal that Bill Skinner has with his teeny bee and ladybug collections. The heart pendant is from Margate, the floral gold necklace from a stall on Portobello Road, and the donkey brooch from Hirst Antiques. The bracelet is made from glass mosaic and was a present from my parents for my 16th birthday from Hirst.

 

My brooch collection started after I found my Mum's collection from her teen years stored in an old jewellery box in our spare room. I loved the little sandwich pin, the dog, the lizards...and have been adding to them ever since. 

Anyway, apologies for going off on a slight tangent - I have a real thing for vintage jewellery and the opportunity to write about it was too much to resist. Thank you to Invaluable for asking me - and maybe check them out if you are thinking of buying some vintage or antique pieces yourself!

Have a great week!