Flights of Fancy! New Cath Kidston Print... British Bird!

How very exciting! Cath Kidston have created a gorgeous new print, entitled, "British Bird". Here's what the lovely folk over at Cath Kidston have to say about the newbie in their collection of beautiful prints... "Bird prints make their fashion debut this season with a stunning new print from Cath Kidston featuring a "British Bird" on a selection of must have accessories. Available in a contemporary charcoal colour palette and adopting a vintage wallpaper style, these are the perfect accompaniment to any outfit".

The Beautiful British Birds messenger bag - £40.
This is my favourite in the new collection!

British Birds Holdall - £85

Bird Stone Clasp Purse - £12

British Birds Walking Umbrella - £30

British Birds Printed Shawl - £48

Bird Needlepoint Frame Bag - £65

Which is your favourite?

*She Was a Rollerskater, Rollerskating All of the Day*

I got these little delights from the wonderful Rokit Vintage! I was eyeing them up after the blogger event at Rokit HQ back in April. I've been wanting some roller skates for a while now, so I could relive my childhood. I had some neon pink and yellow liquorice all sorts roller skates as a child, but I'm not sure I could pull those off nowadays! You lovely lot helped me decide on buying these great skates when I asked you to cast your votes in a previous blog post... and I'm so very glad you steered me towards getting the roller skates. They're fab!

One of my best friends has some roller blades and so we headed over to a nice spot on Bexhill sea front so I could give the skates a whirl (in a relatively quiet area so if I fell over I wouldn't have a massive audience!). The weather was gorgeous too, despite the ominous looking clouds in the photo.

After some serious skating an ice cream was in order! A good waffle cone, whippy ice cream and a flake went down a treat!

I did manage to incur a slight skating injury... but not when I was whizzing up and down the promenade... I actually fell over and cut my legs after coming to a stop and looking out to sea by the railings. The lovely Joanne captured the moment here for me! Thanks... not my most glamorous moment I have to say! :D

The Beautiful and Mysterious Doors of Krakow and Koprivnice...

As some of you know, I have a little bit of an obsession with lovely doors... it's a strange one I know, but I just can't help it! Especially when I'm on my travels. Last summer on my trip round Italy I found some amazing doors and I couldn't help but photograph them all - you can see them here in my blog post. There's something so intriguing about a hugely elaborate or completely delapidated door... I can't help but wonder what lies behind it? I found some gorgeous and mysterious looking doors on my recent explorations of Krakow, Poland, and Koprivnice, The Czech Republic. I travelled to Poland to teach in a summer school based in the Czech Republic. It was such a fantastic experience and I highly recommend visiting Krakow, it's an absolutely beautiful city! But anyway, back to the doors... here they are, enjoy!

Feature Wallpaper... Polka Dots, Birds and Flowers!

I'm getting a little bit excited about moving soon. I'm going to have a space that I can, for the first time, decorate however I like! I've been thinking about giving the rooms a little bit of personality after only ever being able to decorate in "neutral" colours... i.e. magnolia, cream, beige etc etc... so I want to inject a little bit of colour and life onto the walls. But at the same time, I don't want to overpower the space, so I've been looking into some lovely feature wallpaper.

Belle-Rose Polka Dot range
Naturally as a polka dot obsessive, I've been looking into getting some polka dotty feature wallpaper, I love the red one, but I also like the slightly less space-dominating grey polka dots too.

Bookshelf Wallpaper
I adore this bookshelf wallpaper. I would love to have this on one wall in my study/mini-library. It'd only be a small amount as it is quite a dark colour, not to mention it's £70 a roll!

Isabelle Wallpaper - Graham and Brown
I love this wallpaper and it's not too pricey either at £30 a roll.

Cath Kidston Antique Rose Wallpaper
Of course I had a little look the trusty Cath Kidston website to see what wallpaper was on offer there, and I found this gorgeous print.

Louise Body Wallpapers
I adore Louise Body's wallpaper designs. In particular these bird-themed wallpapers.

Willow Tree Wallpaper - House To Home
I really like this willow tree design. It wouldn't match any of my colour schemes at the moment and would be much better in a warmer colour.

Polka Dots For Your Pouts!

These amazing temporary lip tattoos were brought to my attention by the lovely Anne Cupcake via Twitter the other day. Violent Lips make these little beauties and here's what they say about them: "Add a whimsical edge to your make–up polka dot ‘Violent Lips’ temporary lip tattoos. Designed to last four to eight hours (depending on skin type and care) they are easy to apply and can be removed by using baby oil or mineral oil with a textured wipe."
The Budget Babe over at her blog has reviewed the lip tattoos and her photos look great! I'm not entirely convinced I'd ever be brave enough to wear them or ever be able to pull them off, but they are a fun idea and I love the notion of having polka dotty lips!

The temporary lip tattoos also come in a wide range of patterns and I can see the leopard print ones working really well and adding that little something extra to an outfit, especially for attending festivals. Violent Lips have got a "coming soon" range: the Glitterati range, give your lips some sparkle! If you've given these a go, I'd love to know what you think...

My Adventures in Krakow... Fantastyczny!

Some of you may have noticed that All About Abbie posts have been a tad thin on the ground of late... and the reason is this: I've been off adventuring in Poland. I travelled to Krakow to teach Polish children in a summer school based in the Czech Republic. But before and after the summer camp we had a chance to explore Krakow and enjoy the city.

The city is absolutely beautiful. There is so much to do and see! If you are ever in Poland I highly recommend a visit to Krakow. St Mary's Basilica is one of the main historical buildings in the main square, along with the amazing Cloth Hall.

Every hour, on the hour, a trumpeter plays out of each window of the tower. The trumpeter stops abruptly mid-way through the trumpet signal to commemorate the famous 13th century trumpeter who was shot in the throat before he could sound the alarm during the Mongol attack on the city.

Our hostel was a 20 minute walk from the main square so, a few days, after a long day of walking and exploring, we hopped onto a tram to save our poor aching feet.

We visited the Salt Mines.... yeah sounds a bit dull, but, do not be fooled. They were amazing!! The cavern above was carved entirely out of solid salt and rock. The sculptures and caverns were amazing! Even the chandeliers we made from salt crystals.

Love this crochet covered bike!

The main square was always buzzing with activity and there were always entertainers around. This guy was brilliant!

Gorgeous chocolate cake!

Fudge tart and ice cream!

Posing inside the head statue on the main square

On our penultimate day in poland we had a magical horse and carriage ride around the city. It was only £5 each! We felt like royalty :)

The beautiful Cloth Hall from the view of the St Mary's Basilica tower! We climbed up the hundreds of steps to have a bird's eye view of the sqaure and the rest of Krakow and it was totally worth it!

A gorgeous church I spotted on our walk to Oscar Schindler's factory and museum across the river.

We had a lovely little rest by the river with a view of wawel, the oldest part of the city where the palace, castle, basilica and "dragon's den" is located. I would heartily recommend a trip to Poland. The weather was gorgeous, the architecture was lovely and we had such a brilliant time... Fantastyczny! :D