When I think of settings suitable for my jewelry collaboration with GoodAfterNine, it doesn't get more ideal than this woodland scene in spring with the wild garlic in full bloom. Here you can spy badger holes and dens fox cubs might hide inside. On sunny days lazy orange tips float across the path and the air is heavy with the scent of wood garlic. This is a place that inspired the jewelry with some of my favorite woodland creatures, but this collection of rings and charms and earrings is also the perfect portable capsule of this woodland scene. I can't pack up a bundle of wood garlic and mail it to you, or capture the delicate flight of an orange tip butterfly through the marshes, but by casting them in metal and hand-painting their features and color onto petite pieces of jewelry this scene has been partially frozen in time and made shareable. I like to think of the collection as a tangible version of "quiet in the wild;" it's a bit of wild you can wear on your wrist and take on adventures in both green spaces and more urban ones so you can always have the wild within reach...

These bluebell woods feel like a scene straight out of a Beatrix Potter illustration. I rather expect Peter Rabbit in his blue jacket to dash by at any moment or Jemima Puddle-Duck to waddle past in her bonnet. I used to find fashion inspiration in vintage films and magazines, but these days I feel my inspiration can more directly be found in books and characters. I think it's because I find myself living in a scene that is so reminiscent of the books and stories I grew up on. I can imagine Potter strolling through this landscape with her notebook and watercolor kit far easier than I can imagine Audrey Hepburn here with her always impeccable makeup. So instead of taking inspiration from Funny Face, I find myself wanting to look like some Edwardian author (or perhaps Edwardian school child as my penchant for bows makes my style err towards the juvenile!). With the Edwardian era's penchant for ruffly aprons, giant bows and bonnets, sailor collars, and lacey white blouses, who can resist? My new pieces from Miss Patina give me a subtle nod to that era with a classic pinafore dress and bow-trimmed blouse. It's modern Edwardian, or Edwardian-lite, in clean neutrals that let the subtle details shine through (this blouse is made to be a perfect layering and styling piece mixing with a dozen pieces already in your wardrobe). A suitably timeless look for these ancient woods finished with the perfect pocket for filling with secrets and sprigs of hawthorn.

It's no secret that I've been a fan of GoodAfterNine's pretty enamel jewelry for years now. Their floral and animal themed pieces fit my style perfectly and add a touch of whimsy to every outfit. So you can imagine my excitement when I started to design this collection with them last autumn. One saying I came to for inspiration is the sly, "foxes are wolves that bring flowers." While I don't see myself as a wolf in fox clothing, I love the image of a clever fox holding out a bouquet of flowers--and this collection delivers both. There's the charming petite fox with gold-tipped paws and tail, alongside cheerful yellow blossoms, and a delicate orange-tip butterfly that all repeat across a variety of pieces. The whole collection is made up of a hair clip (my favorite piece!), charm bracelet, stacking rings, ear climbers, and simple pendant necklace on a long chain. I love the versatility of these pieces that combine my favorite things (foxes and flowers); the fox necklace is small and sweet, easily wearable every day and the stacking rings can be paired up for a statement or worn singly for a more simple look. I especially like how nice the orange tip ring looks singly, like a little vine wrapped around your finger and an ephemeral butterfly that just briefly landed there. GoodAfterNine really hit it out of the park with the details on these as well; all of GoodAfterNine's pieces are handcrafted and painted to incredible detail. With the charms and necklace too all the little figures are perfect from every angle, there's no fear of things looking "backwards" or looking wrong at certain angles. Instead the little figures have all the personality and life of the real thing in miniature form--the fox looks ready to prance off into the woods...I hope you love this collection as much as I enjoyed helping design it and hopefully the whimsical pieces can help bring a bit of whimsy into your life.

When spring rolls around I turn into a blossom hunter. I stalk and capture (in photographs) my chosen prey of flowers in every corner of my region. No blossom is to be spared! With all of the cherry blossoms, apple blossoms, and magnolias blooming lately my feed has been very pink-hued causing a few people to dub me a pastel blogger (they clearly don't follow me in autumn!), so I'm excited that there are more flowers beginning to bloom in our region. Deep purple lilacs, bright yellow rapeseed and chain trees, even more bluebell woods; all of which should prove I'm not loyal to pink or really any particular color palette! I do admire people who can stick to a set editing style or color palette for their photographs, but to do so is to fight nature. Nature produces every color in the rainbow and varies wildly throughout the year. This is why my preset packs are divided into the four seasons and why my feed isn't consistent because I'm not a pastel blogger or an autumn blogger--I'm a seasons blogger! Even if I only took photographs on my in-laws apple farm that scene varies wildly through the year, right now it's a soft light green of new buds and pale fading blossoms, in summer the green is richer and stronger and come autumn the branches are heavy with deep red Katy apples and sunburnt Bramleys of green and gold. The woods by me right now are blanketed with a confetti of white wood garlic and dusky bluebells, but in autumn they'll turn rust and gold and in winter they'll be bare and brown. To me it just makes sense to attune myself to these natural cycles; letting my wardrobe echo the shades I'm seeing and spending time in every season forest bathing to absorb the subtle changes from week to week and month to month. You see the landscape change not just season by season, but year by year as well. The bluebell patches by us come back more lush and vibrant each year spreading further and further until they resemble a sea of bowing blue, while conversely one of my favorite green passages was destroyed by a farmer who tore down all the ancient trees leaving an open dirt track behind where shadowy greens and lace-like cow parsley used to beckon. While some things are lost forever there's also new areas to be explored and new marvels to be found. Spring is beckoning you outdoors with the cry of starlings and a zephyr of elusive lilac brushing your cheek.