~ Obsession With Handbags ~

I do have a morbid obsession with handbags. I buy them at regular intervals and I never use the same bag for long. I guess it started when I was a child, I used to change my school bags a lot. As I grew older, the obsession grew and I graduated to designer handbags when I was in my late teens/early 20s. And when money was tight, it was back to high street handbags with a cheaper price tag. And if I'm given a choice between clothes or bags, I quite happily go for the latter!

Today I realised how many I had when I was clearing my room and found some bags that I had completely forgotten I had them! I then decided to empty out 2 plastic boxes filled with hubby's rubbish (you know it's rubbish when he hasn't touched them for years!) to make way for my bags. I had to literally pull bags out from  every corner of my room, pack them nicely in two boxes. So now I do know what I've got and I can quite easily change them at will! (Actually, I do have another stack of bags stashed away in another room.) Wish I had done it earlier as my dog chewed up a very lovely handbag. It had a unique design and I was so upset. When I buy bags, it has to be somewhat unique in design and colour. I do avoid black and brown as I've got so many of them in those colours. I love them in unusual colours. The brighter the better!

Anyway, best pal brought me to The Factory Outlet in Swindon yesterday and I stepped into a Fiorelli store for a browse (with no intention to buy any) and saw this!

OMG! Jaw dropped and after mulling for a while, I had to get it! I was looking for a travelling handbag (for my impending trip to Singapore, any excuse!) and it had to be able to house my DSLR camera too. This fitted the bill perfectly and it kinda have the Bottega look, minus the hefty price tag of course! It came in four colours, black, yellow, tan and cerise. I would have gone for the cerise except that the store only had it in tan. Well, at the factory outlet price, it would have been a shame not to get it! 

Then today, while surfing around (don't ask why I was looking at handbags), I chanced upon this bag...

Again by Fiorelli. Checking the dimensions, I realised it would fit my 15" Macbook Pro perfectly. Yeah, I do have a laptop bag but always nice to be able to carry a laptop without publicly announcing you are carrying one. This came in 3 colours, black, tan and red. Went for red as it my fav colour. 

Am I nuts to be buying two new bags in a week? Possibly but I know I'll regret if I don't get the above as it is a bag that I have been searching for. What more, it came with a zip too. I generally avoid bags that don't have a zip as I don't feel safe carrying it around. And I do like carrying big bags... don't ask me what I put in there but I've got a handbag organiser so I simple transfer it from one bag to another.

Shame I don't have any daughters to share my passion for handbags. My mom is also another bag fanatic and I always raid her cupboard when I'm in Singapore to see what she has that I can use. If I'm bad, she's worst! And she loves buying clothes too! :) Oh well, one can't have too many handbags! TTFN!

~ Back From A Mini Break ~

It has been a very busy 2 weeks for me. My best chum arrived from Shanghai with her toddler and stayed with me for 5 days. Can't tell you how much that meant to me, having your best pal with you and being able to chat normally instead of over Whatsapp! Not to mention getting to play with her little boy who is now walking and quite vocal too. My boys took to him and the wee one even helped to watch over him. Bless him! I even managed to bring her shopping in between working hours and it was fun to do stuff that we used to do before!

Then half term came and we headed off to the Isle of Bute, Scotland to join my SIL and her hubby for a few days. The weather up there was fab! It rained only once and we had a few walks on  some deserted beaches. My dog had a field time running loose! It's fun to hang out in places not overly crowded at all!

The view from the house! How peaceful! That's the ferry coming into the island.

Got home on Tuesday after nearly 7 hours of driving (with stops in between), only to freshen up and head out once more to Circencester. Best chum had rented a cottage in Kemble and invited us over to stay. So off we went again. Talk about being in the most remote area around but it was sheer bliss not to hear traffic, neighbours or noise! 

The view from our car going to the cottage. Beautiful place, definitely worth keeping it in mind for future hols!

Finally got home on Wednesday night to a mountain load of washing to do! Oh well, back to routine then! TTFN!

~ Val C. Designs & Cilenia Curtis: Fly With Me ~

Val did a collaboration with Cilenia Curtis, owner of Scrap Art Studio and came up with this fantastic kit called Fly With Me, available both at Oscraps & SAS.

AJ_Spread Your Wings

Fly High

What a fantastic collaboration! Really enjoyed playing with the kit. TTFN!

~ Angie Young: On Display ~

Oops! I've been so busy lately that I've neglected my blog. Anyway, time for some updates!

I'm absolutely in love with Angie Young's DARE series of art journaling kits. They are just so easy to play with. They are available at Scrap Art Studio and here's her store. 

Here are some pages done with DARE To Nurture Your Inner Self kit. 

I Am Enough

AJC13 Itinerary #06 Loved

This was also done for my Art Journal Caravan 2013 album.

 I also played with her next kit DARE To Believe In Something Bigger.

AJ_Believe

AJ_Boys

My boys had their portraits 'tooned' and I couldn't resist using them for this art journal. 

No doubt, I'll be playing more of her stuff. TTFN!