jewellery craves pt. 1: Genevieve Motley

As much as I love vintage jewellery, and finding a handfull of stuff at a flea market for 50 kronor, I do still crave some new designed pieces every now and then (or most of the time if we're being honest here ...). So without further ado, let me introduce you to a new favorite designer, Durban-based Genevieve Motley. I'm a bit disappointed I discovered her gorgeous jewellery maybe one or two weeks after I left Durban this time around, but since my husband is still there I'm hoping I can still get my hands on some things with his help, not having to rely in the post office to do their job. All that's left now is the anxiety of choosing! I'll show you a bunch of candidates, maybe you can help me make a pick? First up is a pretty perfect birds-on-a-string-engraved wood necklace for 85 rand.


Completely amazing hummingbird necklace for 110 rand. I'll admit this is my favorite. I just love everything about it. I wish it came as a brooch and earrings too, I'd cover myself in hummingbirds!


More hummingbirds, in the lovely material perspex, as earrings for 95 rand. A lot of the different things are available in black or white perspex as well as wood, making it even harder to choose cos they all look so good!


When can you ever go wrong with cherry blossoms? Certainly not like this anyway, beautiful wood engraved necklace for 85 rand. The heart and round necklaces come in different sizes, and a bigger version is 110 rand.


Birdcage with escaped bird silver necklace, 120 rand. How cute is this? The more I look at it, the more I can almost start feeling it around my neck ...


Another pretty birdcage necklace, this one in black perspex with silver bird, for 90 rand.


With matching earrings for 90 rand this couple could be a winner! Seeing that the birdcages look like chinese lanterns, I doubt I'll not end up with these.



Finally an incredibly cute fat robin brooch in white perspex for 60 rand. You can find out how and where to buy Genevieve Motleys lovely jewellery on her website, and right now you can also participate in a blog giveaway. Go to Being Brazens nice blog and find out how to enter, then cross your fingers and hope you'll be the lucky winner (competing with me I should add!). Best of luck to us all!

for a handful of pretties

This weekend I've visited my hometown Nyköping and enjoyed myself a lot doing all sorts of summery things. Not having a driver's license or a car makes it a bit hard going outside of town, but me and my mum were fortunate enough to have one of her friends doing that for us. The first night we stayed in the city though, and took a short walk down to the harbour for some very delicious dinner at Rökeriet, The smokery. I took enough pictures to fool everyone I was a tourist, so those might get posted later. After dinner I was excited to find the curiousity shop was still open, I've made some nice finds there over the years. This time I only found two small books though, for 5 kronor each, and I mainly wanted them cos the covers are so great. With a little help of google translate the title "Yrhättan som förlovad" would in English be "Hoyden as engaged" (correct google if it's wrong, don't blame me!). With some more help from Wikipedia, I've just found out that Emmy von Rohden should actually be Emmy von Rhoden, who's real name in turn was Emmy Friedrich (1829-1885), although to make things even more complicated: this sequel was written by Emmy Friedrich's daughter. This Swedish translation in it's third edition was published in 1933, as you can almost guess by the lovely cover. Will report more after I've read it, I'm sure it'll have some good tips for a modern married woman such as myself.



This is an edition of "The sorrows of young Werther" by Goethe from 1968 that I simply could not resist. I just love that he looks like a Hollywood moviestar. Interestingly enough, the books is both in Swedish and German, and I have no idea why because there's no explanation anywhere. It's not one sentence in German, then the translation in Swedish after, it seems more random and it's not about translating at all. A mystery indeed. And maybe a good way for me to brush up on my mostly forgotten German knowledge reading a classic that I really liked when I read it in my late teens.



Yesterday we were driving around in the countryside, stopping at most places along the road, and I thought it was fitting to buy some old fashioned candy in an old fashioned country shop, Åstugan. My two favorite summer flavours as well, wild strawberries and raspberries. Åstugan is a very idyllic and romantic little café by a small stream, and I haven't been there for some years now but it looked the same. Except that the little shop used to carry more antique stuff as well, now it's mainly new things, although most of it is looking vintage and old fashioned. I do prefer my candy new rather than antique however.



In another little shop I just had to buy this supercute bat soap box, no matter how unnecessary it might be. And expensive ... 40 kronor is a bit much for a small piece of soap actually, but I decided the bat was worth it. Or Vespertilio auritus in latin.



What blew me away the most during this little road trip was a huge fleamarket we found. I'm seriously considering going back with a small truck in order to be able to buy all the great stuff I found but couldn't buy this time for obvious reasons. That is carrying a 40's arm chair on the train isn't exactly ideal ... And that was just one of the many pieces of furniture I found for maybe a third of the price it would probably have in Stockholm. I'll admit I'm no antiques shopper of course, so maybe the furniture you can buy in the antique shops in Stockholm are better somehow, but to my eye it looks very much the same at least. Carrying a few brooches and a necklace is no problem on the other hand, so I took what I could carry in one hand. This filigree flower I think is the one I'm most happy finding. It's gorgeous! Have no idea when it's from, not even gonna guess, and don't really care either.



This simple black three stone piece I'd take a wild guess is from the 40's, and maybe the stones are onyx? Either way I love the classic look it's got and know it's gonna look good with a lot of things in my wardrobe, and together with my onyx necklace, a 40's replica.



This little cutie is a clip earring that was all alone, so I got it for free. Thank you very much! I'm pretty sure I can make use of it as it is, or simply put a pin on it, or sew it onto something like a fancy button.



A beautiful red necklace was the last thing I decided I couldn't leave behind, it's nice and heavy and glitters perfectly in the light. I'm gonna guess 40's with this one too, why not? It's just a tiny bit too long to be perfectly perfect though, so I'll see if I can do something about it. Otherwise I could of course just wear it with lowcut clothes.



For this handful of pretties I paid, after a bit of a hesitant reply from one of the ladies at the flea market, which made me slightly nervous: 50 kronor. Afterwards I suspect she was actually hesitant about pricing it too high, expecting me to haggle, but that's not really my style, and obviously 50 kronor for this lot is a steal, so I quickly paid and tried not to jump around with happiness cos of my great bargain! Like I said, it was a very good weekend.

it's all in the details

My grandmother's old lamp cuddles up in the corner by the record players. I love it's 60's look, but was considering getting a new lamp shade until I realised how nice the pastels look together. So for now I'll keep it just like it is.



I couldn't help but to put this awesome record collection box on display as I stumbled upon it while looking for something else. It was a great christmas gift some years ago, and it doesn't just look good, it includes some really fine tunes as well.



Very soon I'm gonna try and find some batteries for this little beauty, and find out if it still works. I don't really mind if it doesn't though, I still love it.



Grandmother's old cake stand with selected new and old jewellery, surrounded by delicious ivy and fairy light flowers.



Madonna candle from Coctail, got it a long time ago, now put on a tiny crochet table cloth, or maybe it's a coaster really, from my grandmother. A very cute, gifted owl pen gets to stay there too at the moment.



Like I've said before, I love old science fiction posters. Monsters are usually my favourites, but robots like these will do too.



Naked blonde femme fatale and a giant fish or two, can it get more intruiging? I also love any title with the word fantastic in them.



Very classic movie that I've actually never seen. But I wouldn't mind that dress one bit, even if it meant having to meet a mummy. I think. Unless it's a smelly mummy, inside a tomb.



Finally one of my favourite couples ever, Tim Burton's Stick Boy and Match Girl in love. A perfect gift almost exactly three years ago on the day, from my then boyfriend, now husband.

hot hot heat

Maybe it's heat stroke, maybe it's something else, but every morning I feel like I don't have anything to wear that will suit this heat, everything is gonna feel too tight and too hot and too long and too much! In the end I put something on and while walking to work I regret the choice and wish I'd brought a change. Of course there's nothing wrong with my huge wardrobe, but yet again it's an excuse for shopping some more on my way home from work.



First stop was Myrorna at Götgatan, and I got this cute floral pink/red/white/silver cotton top for 35 kronor. And I was looking at stuff in the corner with the AC for a very long time. I love AC. I tried to buy a fan yesterday, but every store were out of stock, and in one place they said even the suppliers are out of stock. So all I've got is icecream to keep me cool ...



A pretty floral frilly skirt that looks very summery also caught my eye, and with a perfect fit and a pricetag of 45 kronor I didn't have to think about it twice.



Black, white and pinks are so cute together. And the frills on this skirt are very nice and flowy, almost suitable for line dancing, should I choose to take that up at some point. Or are you supposed to wear tight jeans and a cowboy hat maybe? In that case line dancing has to do without me.



At H&M I found a turquoise cardigan on sale for 50 kronor, how perfect is that? Quite perfect I say, as I didn't have one in that colour before, and a girl can never have too many cardigans. It's true, ask anyone.



Monki at Skrapan is also having a sale, and they've got a very nice AC to make shopping easier. It's much appreciated! In order to show my appreciation I got two singlets for 50 kronor each. One is plain pink, that I might embellish somehow, or just wear with some brooches, and the other one is this black and white pumpkin print above that I fell in love with. It's completely weird and adorable at the same time, and it reminds me of Chinese lanterns, which can never be a bad thing. My red owl likes it too.

I wonder what I'll wear tomorrow?

floral interlude

I'm fortunate enough to have a very talented hobby gardener as a neighbour, and thanks to him we have the most amazing and beautiful flowers in front of our house in the whole of Stockholm. Mostly alcea rosea (or hollyhock) in an array of colours, but also regular roses and clematis climbing the walls. They're suffering a bit from the heat at the moment, as am I, but I hope they'll make it a few more weeks at least. Let's take a closer look at these beauties.





























I decide on a new favourite colour every day, cos how could I ever choose one when there are so many lovely? Today it's this pretty in pink that I can't take my eyes off.

big reveal pt. 2

I didn't plan to put the bed in the middle of the room like this, but after my brother moved it in order to put up the shelves this weekend, I realised it actually looked really good like this. And if I get tired of it later, it's not exactly difficult to put it against the wall instead. The turquoise Indian bedspread is a table cloth from Indiska, that I just got for the bargain price of 69 kronor, cos the teller made a mistake and I didn't notice it until it was too late. Well, sort of anyway ...



Red silk Indian and Chinese rose cushion covers are old ones from Indiska, and wool embroidered cushion cover from my grandmother, probably from the 50's or 60's.



My old rocking chair, that I got at the Salvation army years ago for 600 kronor, doesn't really fit that well in that place, but I'll keep it there for now anyway. Since my cat has used her claws on it quite frequently, I've tried to hid the worst with a black table cloth kind of thing from Åhléns. They're made of felt, and cut out in lace-like patterns, and they seem to be very popular at the moment, cos I've seen them in a lot of stores. They're also quite cheap, and I quite like them.



The teak 60's bar when it's closed. Most things on the shelves are from my grandmother, and it looks a bit too static right now, like it's in a store, so I need to do some rearranging somehow. Or mix it up a bit with books or something. Will show close-ups some other time.



Open bar! It's got a lamp too, very cool indeed. I remember that I used to love this cabinet so much when I was little visiting my grandmother and grandfather, cos in my eyes it was something quite magical about how it opened and revealed so many hidden things inside.



Pretty much everything inside the bar cabinet is also from my grandmother, so many lovely items! I love looking at them. Now I need to start throwing some more serious dinner parties, or maybe ladies tea parties or something, so I can use it all.



The little crystal ice bucket is one of my favorite items, and I really need to have a drink party soon so I can use it. I need to get some tongs first though, and a proper shaker. The Lagavulin is unfortunately finished, it's one of my fave whiskys, but the Laphroigh is not. Very hot summer nights don't really seem like the best backdrop to whisky though, unless I'd learn how to make a chilled mint julep. Mostly just cos I love the name mint julep.



Here's the wonderful surprise with the desk I was hinting about the other day. It's also a vanity chest! As you can see I haven't decided what to put in there yet, it needs some careful consideration I think. And I've got enough of pretty things for sure, now I just need to choose.