Aaaand... Rewind to Spring!

Oh, hello 16 degrees, tights and Docs, trenches and raincoats! I'm back in England! :)






































Compared to Budapest's 36 Celsius, this Devon weather is actually rather lovely. And it's not only the weather that makes me happy here... I just love Devon and being together with Marco (my boyfriend) again!






































Being near the sea is an absolute dream, and I still love running into the ice cold waves then warming up with a cup of hot chocolate...





















We actually ran into a music festival as well, which was fun! We realised something was going on when the bus we took to the beach started to fill up with teenagers wearing wellies. And I mean every single girl wore wellies. It was rather suspicious, so my boyfriend turned to this guy who got on with his (wellied) girlfriend, and proceeded to ask: "Why's everyone in wellies for?"
Which is a rather ridiculous sentence, if you think about it! :D

So that's how we ended up at a music fest!

    

Wearing: Dress from a Chinese shop, Calzedonia tights,

second hand watch, bracelet from a craft shop, Docs. 

Oh, and I gave Pinterest a try, and it really is addictive! Here's where you can find me, or leave me your Pinterest link in the comments so that I can find you! :)

Mrkgnao! the cat said loudly.

Happy Bloomsday everyone! June 16 - the day James Joyce's Ulysses is set, and the day Joyceans celebrate around the world.






















As you can see from the pictures, as a good Irish Studies student, my obsession with Joycean things started early - I won't even tell you how old some of these pictures are! The first statue is in Dublin, the second in Trieste. Sandycove is in Dublin again - a setting in Ulysses, and below, I meet James Joyce again in sunny Trieste a few years on...






































I have so many great memories of my travels connected to Joyce. Ireland, Dublin, Ennis, Pula, Trieste, Paris, Szombathely... Not to mention the Joycean crowd who are just lovely people simply. Starting with my boyfriend of course, without whom I wouldn't have gotten into appreciating Joyce and to these great places! So thank you, Marco! :)






















And again a few years pass, and I greet Joyce like old friends. :)






















A fun Joyce statue in Szombathely I'm discussing something with, in Hungary, where Bloom's father is from in the book.


























Yes, I spent 3 days in Paris, but of course I had to see the Shakespeare and Co. bookshop - another Joycean link!






















Their Joyce display...






















Here's to many more happy Bloomsdays! If you have a Guinness today, think of Joyce and one of the kindest heroes in literature ever, Leopold Bloom.
And if you're interested in Ulysses, there are dramatised bits all day through on BBC Radio 4 you can listen to online!

In Green Hues by Zsófi Raffay

I'm blown away every time by Zsófi's photos, and I'm so lucky to work with her! We met up with a client of Zsófi's who would like a portrait shoot of herself, which I'm really looking forward to. She's such a sweet girl and styling her will surely be a pleasure!

We got there earlier and Zsófi snapped a few pictures of me with her newly aquired objective from an old camera.









































These fuzzy pictures are my favourite... I thought if we're doing something out of focus, it would look good if I twirled... And proceeded to do so for the next 6 minutes, which was rather exhilarting, but absolutely worth it! Aren't the pictures just dreamy?









































Here I am in all seriousness. I wanted to emulate the below photograph I found on Fortepan.hu, but forgot how the girl sat exactly...
































She also snapped a few pictures in a newly redecorated Art Deco style shopping centre from the early 20th century, which now has a huge antiques strore on the top floor. Such an atmospheric place with huge windows!

It's always a great experience to be on the other side of Zsófi's camera. If you ever feel like some brilliant pictures, look around on her facebook page, and do order a session with her! She works in Vienna and Italy too, apart from Hungary. Oh, and if you ask for styling, you'll meet me too! :)

Wearing: Invázió tee, F&F skirt (Tesco value, hehe), H&M belt, 

earrings bought at a design market and crafted onto a clip-on by me. 

I also wore green tights and a black pair of shoes you can't see. :)   

Photographic Time Travel 1910-1920

A fellow self-photographer a hundred years ago...

































A picture from around 1912 that would work just perfectly on most of the blogs I read in 2012. Let's just say I'd love to borrow the whole outfit.






































A radiant smile and a great belt!








































Looking at these pictures my first instict was to reach out to these girls, to connect, as I do every day when I leave comments on blogs. I felt them as close as I do my blogger friends. It was such an eerie feeling to remind myself that they are now frozen in time forever, and their youth and kindness that radiates from the pictures is not in this world anymore. 





















The 1910s was a turbulent decade in Hungary, the First World War rearranging and ending so many lives. I hope this soldier returned to this girl after the battles...


































And that this defiant nurse helped many of the wounded and was safe herself at the end of the decade. The mystery of these pictures is that we'll never know...



















Looking through Fortepan's collection from between 1910 and 1920, what you notice is that so many of the pictures that people kept and cherished and that eventually made their way to the world wide web a hundred years later, talk about happiness and joy, of friends, families and loves. I think we feel close to these pictures because in essence, nothing changed. These are the same things we keep close to our hearts.






















Look at these wonderful swimsuits! What a summer it must have been!

























And these girlfriends in a brilliantly lit café? I wonder what they talk about!

























I kept this one for last. I'm pretty sure these girls are wearing their boyfriends' suits, posing with their unlit cigarettes, and judging from the cheekyness of their smiles and the liquor on the table, the boys must be quite scantily dressed. :D 

In case you missed my first Photographic Time Travel post, all of these wonderful pictures are from Fortepan.hu, which collects amateur photographs from 1900 to 1990, which you can browse and enjoy and also share if you feel like it! The creators collected old negatives and slides, saved pictures from being lost forever. Luckily for us, one day they started to scan and publish them online for everyone to see. So now time travel really is possible for us! All we need is some free time to immerse yourself in the everyday life of the 20th century... So go on and visit Fortepan and have a browse. You can also read more about their project here!

Yellow and Brown Set

Another rainy day... In between two rainshowers the best thing you can do is to wear yellow!






































Thank you so much for your kind words and overall lovely positive feedback on my jewellery! Honestly, it means so much that you girls like them!

Here's another set I've made last week, in brownish-yellowish colours. I decided to wear them with something relatively simple, as I guess the two pieces together are a statement enough! Of course I couldn't resist throwing in a pair of coloured tights...







































Isn't this thrifted bag cute? My Mum found it at our favourite second hand store - proof that all the inconveniences of thrifting that I wrote about are worth it after all!





















For some reason I lift my hand to my neck on almost all the pictures, and I have no idea why. The necklace holds up fine, one doesn't need to hold it in place! :)









































I'm definitely selling this set along with many others once the project I'm working on is finished, and I'll have time to set up the Etsy shop of my dreams! Next week! Exciting!

Wearing: necklace and headband made by me, H&M dress and vest, thrifted bag, 

random shoes, Calzedonia tights.

Pictures taken by my Mum, edited by me.

Necklaces in Magenta

As I promised, here's a sneek peek into what I've been up to on the jewellery front!
It's been a week full of creating, which is the best kind of week, really!





















I've been on the lookout for statement necklaces for a long while, but never seemed to find a perfect one. Bulky necklaces usually weigh a ton, which makes them difficult to wear throughout the day. So I thought and thought and came up with a really light but very eye-catching idea...





















I made the flowers first, then played around with colourful buttons and felt to match, then sew on a chain and fastened the back piece. Using a chain is great, as it makes it easy to adjust the lenght of the necklaces, so they can be worn with different necklines.

A good statement piece for me would work with a simple t-shirt and jeans, as well as a little black dress, or an outfit that's thought up around it.

I couldn't stop at one, so since I made the first piece, I've been making them non-stop, in different colours, using different materials...





















Here's another prototype, with a cat cut out from an old bicycle tire, and the usual colourful buttons. It makes me insanely happy to use recycled and upcycled stuff! This necklace already found a new home with Sophie, who came up with the idea of a rubber cat in the first place, and cut some out for me.






































I've always loved buttons, vintage or new. What's more, I actually won my first online auction for more buttons, so that I can create on! I'm planning on assembling a starting set and work out a cool way of packaging, then find some little shops in Budapest that would store them... And of course I'm planning to open an Etsy shop too, so that my necklaces could travel the world!

I do hope you like them! :)

Wearing: necklaces made by me, handbag from Jojó Art Shop, thrifted skirt and top, 

Tamaris sandals and Calzedonia tights.

Pictures taken right after a huge rainstorm! Just in case you're interested. :)