Laura Ashley AW15 - Home Stuffs

Hi Guys!
How you week been?

I have good week so far and after my personal post the other day I can say I got some good news today. I have been offered a permanent job at the organisation I am temping at, which is awesome because I really enjoy working there, my team is awesome and my manager is great!

More on that later.... for now I want to share some pictures from the Laura Ashley AW15 Press, that I went to yesterday. I try to attend the press shows each season, one because the lovely ladies never forget to invite me and two i come away feeling so inspired to create a beautiful home or make beautiful dresses.

As always my favourite part was the Christmas selection.... I can't wait till the 15th September as that is the date at which it is 100 days till Christmas.  This is also the point I am allowed to start counting down. hehehe!!! The red, green and gold mixed with tartan is one of the things I love the most about Christmas. It's nostalgic for me and takes me back to my aunts thatched roof cottage all decorated for Christmas.

This bronze, brown and gold collection was my absolute favourite!! I actually said wow out loud when walked round the corner. We are currently try to decide how to decorate the lounge and this colour palette is giving so many ideas.

 My next favourite part of the collection was this sofa set up, the purples, pinks and greens work so well together. It is really pretty and feminine without being overly girly. Although I am not sure I could talk Mr Berto into it, but never the less its pretty.


One of the cool aspects this seasons collection is the craft collection, I love all the little jars full of buttons and they have even started a haberdashery. As a sewer this makes me soooo happy :)

Check out the giant knitting!!! How cool!!!!

Here are just a few of the other collections, which were really cute.

I love this chopping board shelve!!!

Check out the kitchen!!!! The colours are amazing!

Well, I hope you liked the pictures.

I will be sharing the clothing collection pictures soon, although I made an amateur mistake by not taking an extra battery so there are far less....sorry guys!!!

Anyway, have a good evening and I'll be seeing you soon.

Ciao for now
Love Mrs Berto xx

Festival Dreaming.......Spell FESTIVAL 15

Hi Guys,

As I have mentioned my style is always changing and I move from one style to the next trying different things. My BOHO/Gypsy/Hippie style is one that comes back around again and again. When I was about 13 it started with overgrown maxi dresses & DM's. As I am now feeling more drawn to that style again, I looked for clothing brands that provided a more grown up version. Without looking like a crazy aunt (although my nieces & nephew would probably say I am the crazy aunt).

While searching I came across Spell & the Gypsy Collective who in the last few months have become one of my favorite brands.  Now they are Australian so the duty/tax is a pain but when you receive your items you promptly forget all about it.   

I was lucky enough to get one of their Gypsy Queen Leather Jackets last year and then a couple of items for Christmas but I will share those in another post.

Today I want to share the Spell FESTIVAL 15 collection. With Coachella & Glastonbury on their way (well sort of I mean in a couple of months). I like to dream of the outfits I would wear if I was able to go. 

My picks from the collection would be:

My favourite item has to be the Fleetwood Mini dress, I kinda feel like a top hat would be necessary for the outfit too.

I borrowed the pictures from the Spell & The Gypsy Collective website and I hope they are ok with me sharing. I love their clothes, how could I not? right?!!

Go check them out!!!

Ciao for now
Love Mrs Berto xx

Laura Ashley feature me!

Hi Guys,
I'm totally excited to tell you I am featured over on the Laura Ashley Blog!!!
Please go take a peek :)

Ciao for now
Love Katrina x

Happy 60th Birthday Laura Ashley

Hi Lovelies,

I am so glad I get to share this post with you :)

I have been planning it since I attended the SS13 Press day in November last year.

Laura Ashley is one of the biggest known UK brands in the UK; it started in 1953, which makes this year its 60th Birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 

I have very early and found memories of Laura Ashley, I was 6 or 7 when my aunt took me to chose a new bed spread for my room at her cottage. I remember visiting the shop and being given full reign over what I wanted. There were so many different patterns; I clearly remember a pink candy striped duvet cover with small yellow & pink flowers. I came away with a blue and white floral print, which my aunt still has :)

At the press show they had brought with them a number of items from their Archives and I cheekily joked about visiting the Laura Ashley archives. I so was amazed when the lovely ladies replied “of course anytime”. I cannot tell you how excited I was!! 

So a couple of Monday’s ago I put on my favourite vintage dress, grab Annie Afghan and made my way down to their Head Office. I was taken to meet the archivist Angela who talked me though all the lovely pieces. We spoke about how Laura Ashley first undertook some development work for the Women's Institute on quilt work and designed headscarves, napkins, table-mats and tea towels which Bernard her husband would print on the kitchen table of their flat Pimlico. 

The company was moved to Kent in 1955, then 1961 it was moved to Wales where Laura was born and had spent much of her childhood following the birth of their third child. So if you find any of the beautiful tea towels that have made in England on them, they date back to before 1961. 

I was amazed to find out that Laura Ashley’s first scent No1 was re-launched the end of last year and sold out in a matter of hours. Angela showed me the scent set from when it was first launched. 

 How pretty is the bottle :)

There was so much to see and talk about; including books full of fabric samples and even a blue floral onesy (… is that how you spell it?) Laura Ashley sure where ahead of the fashions… like way ahead :) Although you still wouldn’t find me in one even if it was by Laura Ashley. 

I was surprised to find out that the Archive at the Head Office was only part of the collection; there is actually a warehouse in Wales too. Where they store so many other items, could you imagine me in that warehouse? I'd go mad with lust :)

Here is a very small selection of the dresses that they have, my favourite is the pink on the right.

The last item I saw was this Headscarf which is one of the very first to be printed. A customer donated this, which was a really amazing donation as Angela told me that not all items were kept and some were even destroyed when the old room used for archiving was flooded. As I understand the archives do collect new items but they rely on donations when it comes to more of the vintage items. So if you have any Laura Ashley items you no longer use and would like to donate just drop them a tweet.

I am very proud that we still have such wonderful British Heritage brands going strong, it really makes me smile. It is amazing to see where they come from, how they develop and how many people still love the brand. 

 I would like to say a big thank you to the Laura Ashley team for allowing me to visit and a special thank you to Emma and Angela for spending the afternoon sharing all there wonderful collection. 

I hope you enjoyed this unusually long post; there were so many things to share. 

Have a great week. 

Ciao for now 

Love Katrina xx

Laura Ashley SS13 Press Day - Home

Hi guys
how are we?
I have been meaning to share the Laura Ashley SS13 Press Day event with you but as there was so much to see I think I am going have to do separate posts.

First I am going to start with the SS13 Home collection.

Now as a newly married lady I do spend my time dreaming about  when we own our home, of which we are in the process of saving for. So when I visited the event I was in my eliment.

I loved the mixture of the purple & turquoise in collection, which could not only be seen in the sofa's an cushions but also in the bedding.

I could imagine all these items in my home.

 Every little detail just added something special, I loved how this dressing table was dressed, even the flowers at the back tie in with colours & made me want them in my home

The bedding was also stunning, I particularly loved this quilted cushion & blanket.

My favorite item from the home collection had to be this lamp, you can open the base and add anything you want inside. I can't help but think gold fish would look awesome in there or retro sweets?

I know gold fish in a lamp would be cruel and I wouldn't actually do it but still as an idea it's kinda cool.
 

I can't wait for the collection to hit the shops because I am totally going to be first in line.

I hope you're having a lovely Saturday.
Take care

Ciao for now
Love Katrina xx

Cath Kidston Press Day SS13 - Favourite Items

Hi sweetie pies, how are we?

Ok I have got a confession, I wasn't sure about sharing it with you all but I have an addiction.

My name is Katrina and I'm...ermm... addicted to...sighhhh... Cath Kidston!

There I said it!!! Wow that feels better :)

Yes I am a Cath Kidston addict, so when I saw that they were having a Press Day on Twitter I totally invited myself.

I took so many pictures so here the disclaimer....you will want to buy things!

I started with a Hot Chocolate & piece of Vikki sponge in Cath's Cafe.

I love the lamp shades hanging from the ceiling in the Cafe, all the little details were perfect from the crockery to metal picnic tables.

Once my belly was suitable full, I wondered round with my camera & took some snaps.

My favorite thing about the collection was the new prints, I automatically fell in love with the Cottage & Train print dresses. I love the boldness of the trains & the softness of the countryside on the cottage dress.

                      

Another new style this year are the printed leather bags, I love the little cross body bag with polka dots. It is definitely classic with a quirky twist, which is very me :)

 

I love how the new prints ran along into little accessories, keeping these in your bag will definitely make you smile.

Along side the new prints were the old faithfuls, the London print is one of my favourites.

One of the new prints also includes this playful boat scene, you can also find variation of this on dresses, skirts & some accessories.

If I had to pick one item out of the whole collection it would have to be the dress below. I can imagine dressing it up for weddings & summer parties. As well as adding a little cardi & some pumps to run around in all day.

Actually I can't chose just one.... I tried but it is just not possible, so I think I would also have to say this jumper as well, because seriously what's not to love... right?

There are so many more pictures I took which I would love to show you so here is my Dropbox account. I plan to add pictures here when I have too many to include in one post.

Well I have loads more posts in the pipeline & I hope to share them with you all soon.

Have a super duper weekend.

Ciao for now

Love Katrina xx

Laura Ashley 1 upon a time party

Hello all
How's your weekend been??

I had a real busy week, with the gym, work, the Laura Ashley Blogger party and a wedding. Not that I minded it was all quite fun.

I will share some outfit pictures from the wedding but for now I thought I'd share my pictures from the Laura Ashley 1 upon a time party to celebrate the blogs 1st. Birthday.

I met the lovely Eillie of Pretty much penniless for a coffee before the event. Yes she is just lovely in real life.

We wondered down to the event together & had a good o'l wedding themed gossip.

The ladies & gents of Laura Ashley put on an amazing party I must say. The room was like a very chic Santa's grotto with beautiful twinkling lights on silver trees and lots of gift ideas

There were also cute wooden cut outs of animals. I was particularly take by the owl & the fox.

That sounds like a good sequel to the fox & the hound no?

Anyway off topic.

I took loads of pictures mainly because there were so many pretty things to look at. I really like the models they used. They had really sweet freckles all over their noses & I'm pro freckles for obvious reasons.

One of the new lines that Laura Ashley has at the moment is called Chelsea girl and it includes really cute whippet print.

I got to meet some fellow bloggers but there wasn't much time for catch ups as we were all pre-occupied with take pictures.
 
I also met Angel of The Vintage Patisserie, she is such a lovely lady, the tea and cakes she served were divine.  

One picture of mine that didn't turn out so well was of the wishing tree. I hope the folks at Laura Ashley don't mind I borrowed a picture from their blog.
You got to pick an envelope which contained a prize. I got a really lovely jar but I'm not sure what I'll put in it yet :)

Anyway I could natter for hours about how lovely it was but I guess all there is left to say is Happy Birthday to the Laura Ashley Blog & Kate you are doing a fabulous job with it :)

Enjoy your Friday & I'll be back soon to share some pictures from the SS13 Laura Ashley event in a couple of weeks.

Ciao for now
Love Katrina xx