Maple and Oak Designs

Hello all,
Once again I disappeared. I'm having a very hard time fitting my blogging into my life somehow. Whether for lack of time, inspiration or content. However today I'm back with a post (as you very clearly can see), and it's half-outfit post, half-introduction (to a company).

Without further ado, I want to introduce you to Maple and Oak Designs.
Leonie, the creator, owner and designer of Maple and Oak, and I have been Instagram friends for some time, and I have secretly admired her company of fun and unique accessories. So when Leonie contacted me about a collaboration I was very happy indeed.

Leonie kindly sent me one of her rockabilly headbands from her shop, and I love everything about it. First off, red is probably my favourite colour to wear. And secondly, and more importantly, polka dots! Polka dots people! I do love me some polka dots.

This headband instantly lifts any outfit with it's vintage inspired design. It's so cute, and effortlessly so. Gosh it's adorable!

Maple and Oak's accessories are hand made from vintage, reclaimed and retro fabrics, to reduce the strain on the planet, and it came from all the way over in Canada.

In August Maple and Oak will relaunch their website and shop. You can check it all out here.

Also, check out their Facebook page (here) and Instagram (@mapleandoak). I will let you in on a little secret too. If you follow Maple and Oak, there might *wink* be a coupon code coming in time with the relaunch of the website.

They ship internationally (yay) and have a whole myriad of wonderfully funky, quirky accessories. I've personally got my eyes on the hood scarves and felted ponchos (as well as the rest of their rockabilly headbands).

Headband: Maple and Oak Designs (here)

Blouse: Miss Patina (old)

Dress: Closet via ModCloth (old)

Shoes: ModCloth (here)

I love when you can feel the heart that goes into a creation, and with Leonie's Maple and Oak the love, hard work and fun is tangible.

Hope you're all doing great.
Much love,

Galos de Joanie

Hi there you,

Long time no see. I'm back for a blog post, you guys.

I want to start by asking you how you are all doing.

What's going on in your life and how's the weather where you are?

Here it's just about getting a bit warmer. Last week it snowed basically every day, but finally the sun is out and you only need a regular spring jacket.

I wanted to write this post and let you all know about a brand that I only recently discovered (not sponsored though). I might have been late to the party (it's amazing that I even arrived at the party at all), as it seems to be a pretty popular brand on instagram.

The brand is called Joanie Clothing and wow!

I want everything they make. They have vintage and retro inspired clothes that have a south European feel to it, with French-inspired tops and this lovely dress that I'm wearing with a Portuguese Galo de Barcelos print. About this dress, I adore the warm summery colour and the detailed print. The little bow is like icing on a cake. It has become my favourite dress and I got plenty of compliments when wearing it this weekend.

Had you heard of Joanie?

Dress: Joanie Clothing (here)
Lipstick: Besame Cosmetics (here)
Necklace: Edblad

I wish you all a happy rest of the week. Take care.

Much love,

Mona

Faves of 2016

Hello all,
I hope you are doing well, and I hope that 2017 has started off in a brilliant way for you!

I have a hormonal disease known as Hashimoto's thyroiditis that leaves me feeling really crap at times, and this last week has unfortunately been like that. I'm thinking about writing a post only about that at some point, but for now, I just wanted to let you know that I'm not doing so well, so new content will have to wait.

But I have been seeing that a lot of bloggers make a little summary post about their favourite outfits of the past year in January, so I'm doing that! Here are my 10 favourite outfit posts (+ 1 baking post, and 2 extra photos) of 2016.

The past year started really well for me, and I posted quite a few outfit posts. My favourite of January would have to be this one:

Magical year

I wore a beautiful velvet dress from Book of Deer that I just adore, with an icy grey bow with embroidered bears, and a rose gold zipper. Ugh it's to die for.


In February I had my 25th birthday and my favourite post from that month is the post with my birthday cake:

A Quarter of a Century

However, my favourite outfit post of the month was this one:

Are you still here?

Once again I wore Book of Deer (wouldn't be the last time), this time the perfect winter's dress. And I topped it all off with specs!


In March you'd think that Spring would make an appearance but it didn't (not in northern Sweden anyway), so I continued to photograph my outfits indoors. My favourite was yet another Book of Deer dress:

Flora and Fauna

This dress is stunning and with it's embroidered magpies it is a really unique and quirky dress. I added saddle shoes to complete the look.


April came and I wore berets a lot. This is my favourite outfit from April:

Silly nilly

I wore a Dear Creatures dress, and have since then heard that there is no more Dear Creatures, which makes me sad. But I'm glad I've got this lovely dress to remember them by. The red accents really made this outfit.


May was perhaps the best month yet - I had my 1 year blogiversary, and celebrated by hosting a giveaway together with Book of Deer.

1 year Blogiversary - Giveaway: Win your favourite Book of Deer dress

I wore a stunning summer dress from BoD with the cutest pattern, and headed outdoors to snap the photos (finally some sun and warmth).


My favourite outfit from June is this one:

Vintage Joy

I wore my first ever vintage dress, and I loved it!


July came by and I wore Windram Design:

Summer florals

This dress and the petticoat I wore it with made me feel and look like a cupcake. It was fantastic!


In August the country is at its greenest and everything is beautiful.

Country life

I wore an old Miss Patina dress, with a hat from ModCloth as I went poké-hunting.


September was an exciting month for me!

Zebrawood & Champagne 

I went on my holidays to London, I saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, as well as some other awesome plays and musicals. I met with Andini from Adventures of an Anglophile, and Nora from NoraFinds, as well as meeting BoD creator Eilidh. Best month ever!!!

The gorgeous and beautiful Andini and I, on the Millennium Bridge (the Harry Potter bridge). Look at her awesome outfit!! That hat!

The ever-stunning Nora looking ridiculously classy, the ethereal beauty Eilidh dressed in an own design, gorgeous as ever, and I.

In October and November I was very lousy at blogging, and I didn't get one outfit post worth mentioning posted. But in December, at the very end of 2016, I went out with a bang, and an awesome outfit (if I may say so myself).

New Year, Good bye 2016

I discovered the brand Tatyana, and wore this incredible skirt for New Year's Eve.


And that was my year in outfits!
Hope you enjoyed this post, I personally loved looking back at the year in style.

Much love,

Last day of Summer

Hello everyone,
Hope you are all doing well.

I am very happy today, because in about 2 hours the last day of Summer will have come to an end here in Sweden. Autumn is here!

So I am sharing with you, the last of my summer outfits for this year (unless the weather turns warm suddenly).

I wore this lovely blue dress from Lindy Bop to an outing at IKEA, and just as I was rushing to leave two of the buttons popped off the dress. I don't know if the dress was trying to tell me that it was too tight, but I didn't heed the warning. Instead I grabbed two trusty safety pins and pinned together the front of the dress!

The dress is mended now, and I've worn it without the buttons popping off, so I take that as a good sign. It really is a lovely dress, very lightweight and perfect for a hot summer's day.

I got it on sale from Lindy Bop. I've mentioned this before, but it's worth another mention -- Lindy Bop has the best sales. And there is actually one on going right now!

Dress: Lindy Bop (old)

Flats: Asos (here)

Earrings: ModCloth (old)

So that's that, and summer is no more!
To which I say - "Yay!" and "Welcome Autumn".

Much love,

Vintage Summer

Hello there,
I truly hope you are doing good today!

I am squeezing the last out of summer and wearing my sun dresses and such for the last time this year. This lovely fuchsia dress was my first vintage dress that I bought (not the first to wear, see my other vintage dresses here and here). It's a wee bit too small, but I couldn't let it go! And so I got it from the lovely shop Simplicity is Bliss on Etsy.

I adore the colour, that is a mixture between hot pink and red - I think it's a very flattering colour on me. The dress was not deadstock, but could practically have been so. It looked completely unworn, the buttonholes look like they were just made and the fabric is crisp. The tags look brand new (Bobbie Brooks, people!!), and it is in impeccable condition. In other words, it was the perfect vintage dress to start with!

Wiggle wiggle

I couldn't have been happier with this fantastic dress. I love that the condition is so good that I'm not afraid to wear it. With other vintage dresses I have felt like the piece is so fragile that I'm almost scared while wearing it. This dress even had it's original belt, which is always something I look for when searching for vintage. The one thing I could complain about are the pleats - that are a pain to iron, but it's a small price to pay for the magnificently full skirt.

Dress: Simplicity is Bliss (vintage)

Petticoat: ModCloth (here)

Flats: Asos (here)

On another note, this is the last week before my holiday to London and I am beyond excited! We've got so much planned, but if you have any tips of things I just can't miss, please let me know in the comments!

I wish you all a splendid weekend!
Much love,

Style Icon: Jean Truscott from "Breathless"

Hello all you lovely people!
It is once again time for one of my Style Icons. And since last time's style icon was from the tv series Breathless and I mentioned that there was another lady in that television series that inspired me, I though I'd share that lady with you today.

Today's style icon is the character Jean Truscott from Breathless, played by the gorgeous Zoe Boyle. Jean is a former nurse, that is settling into life as a housewife to a young gynaecologist surgeon. The series is set in the early 1960's London and Jean is young and hip. She dresses in what at the 60's would have been real modern clothes. She has a flirty and sexy style with tight-fitting dresses and cool coats with awesome silhouettes.

My favourite outfit of Jean's is a black, tight and sexy dress, with dainty gloves and a stunning hat (seen below). She looks a million in that gorgeous outfit, and I seriously want the exact replica of that dress, it's so chic and lovely.

Like I said last time, I wouldn't necessarily recommend Breathless, but if your interested in vintage fashion or costume design then it's a very beautiful and suave series.

Much love,