trip to Iceland

Last week my parents, my sister and I went to Iceland. It was very unusual and incredibly fun experience. We purposely wanted to go without our partners just sort of "old family" like when we were kids and it felt like it. There was so much laughter, just a brilliant time. 

I have never been to Iceland before,  its an amazing place. We stayed for 3 days  in Reykjavik ( in this hotel, great location in an old port) and made trips into countryside. Unfortunately there wasn't time to see all places I planned, but still we managed to see loads and come back full of memories. 

It was cold and rainy for a bit, felt like early March, but we had couple of sunny, clear days so we were taking photos like crazy. Some places felt like landing on a moon, actually quite a lot of them, almost surreal, black lava fields everywhere you looked, steam coming out the mountains, hot lakes to bath in....hardly any trees....The grass wasn't green yet in most areas so it evoked the feeling of emptiness and contrast even more, I imagine that in summer when everything turns green it must be wonderful. 

For me this video perfectly captures the island http://vimeo.com/64835157.

Truly unique country, do visit if you can.......

we are going to.....

Inspired by Iceland Video from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.
only for a few days, my parents, my sister and me, Christmas present from my husband.  I will post on my Instagram....

latest styling

I started styling a taking photos again. Mainly refreshing our current products and developing  a  new website, which should be much more functional and prettier....

This product is one of my favourites lately - a book with almost any text you like, we do wedding vows, poems, reading texts but most popular favourite song lyrics. We have had some really nice review and feedbacks on this product and for me personally it is the perfect gift. Thoughtful, beautifully presented and with hint of nostalgia. 

find our book framed pictures here + at the background a painting from my friend Audrey Walas

my week in 5 photos

The sun has been out which is absolutely wonderful, we have been busy with starting wedding season and changing our website, I also danced quite heavily this weekend at a friends wedding and now I have a horrible cold. But all feels good and I hope for you as well?
all photos my instagram

reading for weekend

Don't we all dream of having a nice brick&mortar shop filled with gorgeous things? I definitely do, and mine would be this one....full feature on The Hamlbledon Gallery via 91 magazine

Great interview with talented Rachel Hart about her creative agency
Gentle video....go and create something today....Ticket to LA: Urs Fischer on Nowness.com
Have a lovely weekend!

my week in 5 photos

From my previous post you might have guessed I spend a lot of free time with our new kitten, William. 

He has been getting used to our house, and all of us can't stop cuddling and playing with him. 

The weather is finally nicer so tried to spend some time outside, cycling, gardening and walking. I also  wallpapered a wall in our living room with a new paper from Ferm Living , which makes the room much lighter and fun. It was very easy to put up  so I highly recommend it. I will post more photos soon. We had a few couples around for dinner last night, which was a nice end to a fairly relaxed week. I hope you had a great week(end)? 

All photos from my instagram

william

We have a new family member, William. I love cats and wanted one for ages. So this was my birthday present. He is 9.5 weeks and so adorable.....

packed with love + instagram

Sorry about being very quite around here. Between celebrating few family birthdays ( including mine - turned 35), I flew to Prague last week to drop my daughter off to my parents, she is there full two weeks of her spring break. We have done it in past, I fly with her, stay couple of days, and pick her up after a week also. It works really well, they love her to bits, she really enjoys spending time with them and it also means we have a childcare to cover her school holidays.

I always try to fit loads of things in that time, going out, extra work, DIY etc. We went to celebrate friends birthday here last night, going to theatre on Monday to see this and to rugby game! tomorrow. Please just don't be too cold....
Between all that we have been working on a new website, blog, packaging, new products, ideas. As usual there is loads of them in my head, but I try to simplify and make wise choices this time. Don't we all these days?
Here is our finished new packaging, very gentle. I love our thank you (product cards), I took inspiration from this, do you remember I featured it here a while back?

One more news - I finally (re) started Instagram ( after ages when I kept losing my password) and you can now follow my work, outings, bits of family life over there too.
my name is : veronikapollard
Let me know if you are on Instagram, I would love to have peek into your life too....

have a great week(end)

spring sale

During last weekend we reached 10 000 admires in our Etsy shop.  It's calling for a small celebration so we are offering 20% discount on all items. Head over to our shop and apply code : SPRING after you add items to your cart. Enjoy!

THE CODE IS VALID FROM 3rd April - 8th April. 

sarah & bendrix Etsy shop

Easter table setting

Very simple and pretty Easter table settings from here. 

kids birthday party ideas

Anya is still in her pink phase, so she would love this kind of party. Her birthday is 2 months away but she is already thinking about the theme. Pink heart balloons and strawberry lollies? I can hear " YES please...". Very cute.

from here

Australia 5. - Good Bye

Last week of our trip took us to Queensland. We stayed in place called Rainbow Beach about 3 hours north of Brisbane. A small town surrounded by nature, deep forest and ocean. As it was after summer season the town was very quiet, so our two teenagers felt a bit bored. But selfishly I didn't mind at all. I loved it. I managed to read  a few books, swam every morning, slept long hours...just paradise. We stayed in this place which was luxury itself. Seriously perfect...
We visited Fraser's Island, which was just 15 mins drive. It's a World Heritage site and the largest sand island in the world. Magical place.
Unfortunately the weather was a bit changeable but still very warm.
I'm sorry to everyone who is fed up with me going about our "perfect " trip to Aus but I wanted to share with you my experience and some of my thousands photos.

Just last couple notes :

Australia is bigger then you think, I know sounds  banal but you don't realise how huge it is until you are there.

At the moment their dollar is very strong so everything is very very expensive for Europeans.

Check your flight details, not once but twice even more....you save yourself lots of trouble.

I personally think 4 year old is bit too young for a long trip like this. A. was fantastic, really enjoyed it, but she still feel a bit tired now from the constant travelling and moves.

Don't care if someone tells you what to pack, make your own choices:)

If members of family don't pack any books for long flights pack it for them. Or make them to buy some in duty free. You save yourself sanity.

....

so Good Bye Australia!

Australia 4. - Blue Mountains

Yes it wasn't all just wonderfully sunny and hot. We had about 4 days of rain and very cold weather. M. told me not to pack any jackets or jumpers. Trip to NorthFace was necessary, I get cold and grumpy really quickly....
Shame we couldn't enjoy Blue Mountains more, but still - I loved walking through the rainforest and staying in a pretty village called Leura. 

Australia 3. - shops I enjoyed

We got back couple of days ago and after spending almost 30 hours on plane I felt awfully jet legged and exhausted. Due to a wrongly booked flight we had to travel from Brisbane to Melbourne, then to Bangkok, wait 4 hours and then to London. Simply, we left lunchtime on Monday from our apartment and got home on Wednesday morning. Not recommended with 4 year old :) But hey...
Back to this post. When in Melbourne and Sydney I discovered a couple lovely shops which I would like to share with you.
In Melbourne I found MUD which sell beautiful ceramic, the first photo. If I could I'd have bought the whole lot but I'm very happy with a few lovely bowls I purchased.
The second photo is from Little Salon where I bought these cutest neon earrings. Both definitely worth a visit if you are in area.
In Sydney I very much enjoyed Aesop, (3rd. photo) and Seed where I bought way to much clothes for Anya...And the last photo is of lovely Brooke from elementsilove, our Australian stockist. They store wonderful mixture of French and Indian antiques and vintage inspired pieces. Beautiful shop.....

touch of spring

Hi it is Petra here today.

At a time when our friends from London traveled with family to sunny Australia, we at the same time left for vacation to London and lived in their lovely house. I love London. Every visit I discover a lot of interesting places. As I mentioned in a previous post, I planned to visit Poilâne bakery and I can recommend it, we had a pleasant experience.

Every time I return home full of inspiration and enthusiasm to implement both new and long overdue ideas. For some time I wanted to use a bit of old rose color in our bedroom, where I usually prefer beige and gray and white, accented with gold and black.

And after the return from London, was the right time to bring old rose into our house like a nice memory of the first spring flowers in parks and gardens.

I can't wait until spring arrives to Prague!

See you later!
photos & styling by P.+V. Weiss

kiss poster pink here