Oh Vivienne How I Love Thee!

After the Japonesque consult and the St David's Xmas Shopping Event last week I was invited to the Vivienne Westwood new collection showcase. Ah you know how much I love me a bit of Westwood! 

Her new collection is a collaboration with a number of other top british designers.

The jumpers and jacket didn't really win me over but I am a little in love with the 70's style felt brimmed hats (maroon one in hat box above with blue ribbon, navy one in hat box bellow with black ribbon) they were made in collaboration with Lock & Co. Sadly they are £250!

And how amazing are her vintage style suitcases! Made in collaboration with Globe-Trotter they range from £400 for the mini (on shelf below) to £1285 for the larger one (cream one above)

 Then of course I had a good nose around the rest of the shop, it would have been rude not to!

 Loving the heeled bondage boot above! £375

 Oh how I love her bags!!

 I think the above colour collection is my favourite the black has a grey blue pattern to it, that is really beautiful!

And this dress below is my favourite item from the whole store, the whole season in fact. It is just too perfect! At £520 though it is a little more than I can ever afford!

X-rated images below! Please if you are easily offended do not read any further, but if you love a bit of Vivienne's humour and phallic imagery, look away and enjoy!!

Viv we salute you for your genius! 
Fingers crossed one day I will actually manage to afford something of hers. 

Outfit Post - Patterned Monochrome

When I bought my new Favourite Skirt in Matalan I also picked up this awesome Black and White one, it is high waisted too, so is really really long! I just loved the pattern so much, it is bold and striking even though it's only in black and white and it was only £16 I think, pretty good! For it's first outing I paired it with a simple black tee, black lace effect blouse and some black strappy sandals, figured I may as well keep the monochrome look going. We went to a Jazz Cafe/Bar for some drinks and Tapas for my Dad's birthday.  

 Skirt: Matalan

Vest Top: Matalan

Shirt: Bella Moda

Shoes: Marks and Spencers

Hairband: Claire's

Necklace: Vintage 

Bangle: Gift from my Aunty Elaine from a craft fair

Watch: Vivienne Westwood

Ring: Dorothy Perkins

 The pattern in all it's glory!

Had forgotten about my fork bangle, so thought it would go well with the outfit.

What do you think of the skirt? Anyone else really love monochrome looks?

I've decided to dedicate all this week to monochrome, so expect to see other bloggers takes on the monochrome look on Wednesday and lots of beautiful monochrome items from the high street you can buy on Friday! 

Outfit Post - In Victoria Gardens

We have been busy running errands and sorting stuff for the business this week, and with the weather still being decidedly indecisive it has meant getting dressed is still a bit of an issue. So when I was down in town sorting out my new sunglasses and other random stuff I decided to wear something that covered me but was still loose and airy to keep me cool if the temperature heated up. As we were in town I had Jon take the pictures in our small gardens in the centre, all the flowers were in bloom so it was nice and colourful there.

Dress: Izabel from House of Fraser

Tights: Random Brand via TKMaxx

Bag: Paraphrase gift from my Aunty Elaine

Shoes: George at ASDA

Watch: Vivienne Westwood

Swarovski Bangle: Gift from Lindsey

Flower Bandle: Gift from Rachel

Necklace: Vintage

Had this bag for ages, but just rediscovered it and it has become my favourite for the past few weeks. Think it works really well for the summer months, plus its just big enough to fit all my day to day stuff in without being too big and bulky.

So that's me for today! Anyone been up to anything fun this week? We shoot our first official wedding on the weekend, so expect to see pictures from that soon!

Update on my life! And a Giveaway!

Well lovely ladies (and the occasional gents who read my blog) a lot of you will know that Jon, the hubby, is very much into his photography and you may have noticed the odd Cross-Jones Photography post cropping up on the blog. Well big changes are coming in my/our life. We are very excited about it but it is also a little scary. Now that the wheels are fully in motion and the plans are all in place I thought I would let you all know.

Jon has decided to go self employed (me part time!) he has left the pub trade and we are launching own company. Cross-Jones Photography will be an official company as of 1st July!! For this to happen we are moving home to Neath to live with my parents for a while, so Jon can dedicate time to getting the company up and running and to help relieve a little tension on the finances while we build the company up. We will be available to shoot weddings, engagements, family portraits, head-shots, newborn, maternity, events, publicity and anything else you can think of. We almost have everything in place now, it's just a matter of promoting the business and getting our name out there.

As I will be moving this month (and that is a mammoth task!) and trying to launch a company I am sadly taking a month off blogging, but I wouldn't dare leave all of you without some great posts. So don't worry, for the month of June I have some amazing guest posts coming your way from some of my favourite bloggers. I have asked them all to do a post on the theme of 'Show Us Your Favourite...' meaning they will be telling us about their favourite bands, beauty products, holidays, clothing items, food or what ever else they want to tell you about. I hope you enjoy them.

But as I am leaving you and in honour of our new company I am also hosting a little giveaway (actually 2 giveaways, 1 now and 1 in 2 weeks time! So remember to come back). This giveaway is for 1 of 2 awesome books. 1 to fit with my blog and 1 to fit with Jon's. You have the chance to win either a Vivienne Westwood book or a Digital Photography Guide (one of Jon's favourites!)

 Vivienne Westwood Book

The Complete Digital Photo Manual 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So please don't forget to enter my giveaway and check back in on the blog as I will have a ton of brilliant guest posts for you all to read. 

Outfit Post - A moment of sunlight

A little outfit post for you all. This is the cute little butterfly dress I managed to score at TKMaxx in the sale. We actually had a few odd days of decent sunshine last week so I thought it would be the perfect occasion to wear my little sundress.

 You actually have a few shots of me wearing my specs, which I don't often do on the blog.

Dress: Lili via TKMaxx

Shoes: M&S

Glasses: Osiris

Earrings: Stella & Dot

Watch: Vivienne Westwood

Outfit Post and NOTW - South Wales Bloggers Meet

As you will have seen in yesterdays post I helped co-host the South Wales Blogger Meet on Saturday, but I didn't show you all what I wore, so here is a special post just for that.

As it was a big occasion I thought it deserved a big dress!

 Dress: Hell Bunny Vixen Range

Shoes: Ruby Shoo via AG Meek

Cardigan: Vintage

Tights: Random

Hair Band: Claire's

Watch: Vivienne Westwood

Bangle: Stella & Dot - You can still shop my trunk show until the 14th of May so take a peek on there now!

Necklace: Etsy

 Gave my nails a quick lick of this George Cloudless Sky polish - for £1 it's ok but doesn't last long, even with a good top coat. Plus I added these sweet heart nail shapes - but I will be reviewing them later in the week.

So there you have my little outfit for the event. I'll post about the goody bags and thank you's to all the companies who helped us organise this event and stuff the bags super full soon too

Then for the month of May I have decided to slightly alter my blog and challenge myself all in one go. So May will now be Product Review Month (mostly!), I think over the past few months I have received so many different samples from so many different companies that I should be able to spend the entire month writing daily review posts for new products. As I am not usually a beauty blogger this will be a little change for me and I hope you will all like to see something a little different too.

Happy New Year and Christmas Present Time

Happy New Year to all! I hope you had an awesome Christmas and a great New Years Eve. I can't believe it's 2013 already. I suppose I should be announcing my New Years Resolutions. Well in all honesty I am not setting any this year, I never keep to them so why bother. Instead I just have a few goals to achieve in 2013. They're all very boring and business/financial related really, so I won't bother explaining them all - oh and the usual lose weight one!

So it's been a little while since my last post but with Christmas and New Year it's been a bit busy round the Cross-Jones household. Here are a few pictures from my Christmas Day.

 What we were drinking on the day

 Jon's cracker present

 My cracker present! The awesome Alison in Wonderland Rabbit Brooch from the House of Ismay

Jon was cutting the Beef and little Pasha was watching, hoping for some dropped scraps! It was so cute!

As all the festivities are now out of the way I thought I should share with you some of the amazing gifts I got for Christmas. I was a very lucky girl this year and had some amazing prezzies. 

My big present from my parents was this AMAZING Westwood Watch! You all know my love for Westwood so this was a huge surprise! 

My big present off Jon was these perfect Hush Puppy Vivianna Boots

 Henry Holland Dog Print Dress

 This Cute Skirt

This stunning DP Butterfly Dress by Atelier

Great cozy jumper with studded shoulders from Peacocks

 Accessorize Owl Bag

 Jon bought me a H&M Bowler - I Love It!!

The Vintage Tea Party Book - Can't wait to try some of the recipes!

Ceramic Knives and 

The Sharpest Knife in the World - I love to cook and these will make my life easier!

I also got some DVD's, Books, CD's and make-up stuff too. 

So what did everyone else get? Any big surprises?