Last Sunday the sun peeped from behind the clouds for a few hours, and I could finally go out with my camera to capture some beauty around town – rapeseed fields around Chipping Norton, stormy skies, and bluebells in the woods. Enjoy!

Do you remember the lovely Llamas Valley magazine I wrote about some time ago? Well, their new issue is out, and it’s packed with gorgeous photographs and interesting articles on interiors, food, design, fashion and more.

You all know how much I love Scandinavian style and white interiors, so I was thrilled to see two gorgeous Nordic houses featured in this issue.

The first  house belongs to Annaleena, a Swedish interior stylist who also writes a blog (photos by Annaleena Karlsson):

I love Annaleena’s design choices – all that white warmed up with the texture of wood, a bit of steel, the eclectic mix of furniture…and the light, of course, simply amazing.

Nina Holst’s gorgeous shots also caught my eye (photos by Nina Holst): love the simplicity, the mix of white and soft greys:

Her use of reclaimed wooden crates:

And look at the table! That’s my table too, with the Eames chairs I want…they look good, don’t they?

I also like this apartment in Vilnius – how to add character to an interior using stunning reclaimed doors! (photo by Roberta Riabovas).

Last but not least, I enjoyed reading the feature about artist Ludovico de Luigi and his studio/house in Venice (photo by Milda Bendoraityte).

This picture especially reminds me of my late uncle, who was a painter;  when I was a little girl I used to spend hours looking at him painting, or studying his collection of art books. When I look at this photo, I can smell the turpentine and linseed oil…

Anyway, this is just a sneak peek of  the gorgeous new issue of Llamas Valley magazine – just head over there and enjoy it all!

The three days of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival almost went in a blur: the Town Hall set up on Friday, the launch party, dinner with committee members, and the buzz of Saturday and Sunday…it was all very exciting, beautiful and intense, and left me quite exhausted but truly happy to have been part of such an amazing event.

So, if you missed the festival or simply didn’t get the chance to visit the Town Hall (shame, really), here’s your chance to get a taste of it.

Drum roll…

There it is!

Ally from Oxford Bunting Co. made the gorgeous bunting in the festival colours; the bunting worked really well to visually lower the very high ceiling and make the whole space cosier. Ally’s bunting is top notch, and if you’re looking for something unique she’s the girl for you. Just look at the fabric selection!

We got the huge balloons  from The Balloon Lady; I find them way more effective than standard balloons, and you only need a few to make a statement. They caused a stir, and their size  especially fascinated children.

I chose book pages as a theme for all the decorations, as you saw in my last post; for the children’s corner, I made butterflies and flowers  out of coloured card and nursery rhymes book pages:

For the rest of the Town Hall, I used pages from old paperbacks:

Applegarth Nurseries kindly provided all the plants: bay trees, small birch trees and lime trees, that we decorated with more book pages – poetry this time.

I used the topiary and the “book trees” to define different areas in the Hall.

We had a reading corner, set up in a “Gryffindor common room” style:

Our Author Table, where local authors signed books, asked readers’ questions and even created a poem inspired by the Festival (thank you Dan!):

We had our own twitterfall, courtesy of Shaun from Black Dog New Media:

We also organised a very successful book swap – some visitors who didn’t have a book went home to get some and came back just for the swap!

We set up a “Favourite Word board”, and I enjoyed checking all the different words that people came up with:

There was also a café area with some amazing cakes, courtesy of the lovely Emma – she must have baked all night! The “book trees” worked particularly well to screen off the café from the author table:

And were did the origami flowers end up? But why, in the lavender pots of course!

Aren’t they lovely? If I may say so myself…I would have liked to keep one just for me!

There was a nice flow of visitors for the whole weekend, browsing our exhibitors’ stalls, reading a book in the reading area, tweeting and checking their tweet on the twitterfall, and chatting over coffee & cake.

P was based in the Green Room, and when I popped there during my lunch break for a sneak peek this was the view that greeted me:

Cupcakes from the Chipping Norton Tea-Set (you got to love the book & feather in the topping!)

and brownies from Bluebasil – I was drooling after seeing the orange ones… I also noticed some organic tea from Pure Fresh Tea, and I’ll sure check it at some stage -  they say it was delicious.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my virtual tour of the Town Hall during the first Chipping Norton Literary Festival; I enjoyed making the decorations, planning the layout and styling the Hall, and visitors seemed to like the decorations and to have fun.

In the children’s corner I found the best feedback I could have ever hoped for:

How sweet is this?

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All photos by Cristina Colli, except photos no. 1, 10 & 12, courtesy of Shaun Fagan – Black Dog New Media

Hello my friends, how is your week going? I’m afraid I have neglected this blog lately, but it’s for a good cause: I’m helping with the organisation of Chipping Norton Literary Festival, and I’ve been working on the decorations and styling of the Town Hall.

I spent the weekend working on the decorations, with the much welcome help of a couple of lovely ladies and two adorable little girls; this is just a sneak peek of what we’ve been doing:

I still have loads to do, so it will be quiet here for a few days…the Festival is this weekend,  if you live anywhere near Oxfordshire make sure to put the dates on your diary – it’ll be a fantastic event!

I’ll  take lots of photos of the Town Hall and share them with you – probably next week, when the buzz is over and I’ll have some free time!

Have a wonderful week, and I hope to see you at the Festival!

A couple of weeks ago, when the sun was shining and Spring had sprung  (much the opposite of the freezing weather we’re having now!), P and I went for long walks in the countryside almost every day.

One day, while we were strolling through Adelstrop on our way to Chastleton, I spotted a gorgeous magnolia tree in full bloom; the flowers were so gorgeous that the following day I went back with my camera and tripod to take a few shots.

Today Positively Beauty turns 2, and as a way of celebrating I’m giving you the opportunity to download the first photo of the magnolia flower and use it as a desktop wallpaper. The photo has also one of my favourite quotes by Roald Dahl:

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

Thank you for reading, my dear friends, and may you find magic in your life!

To download the photo, click here.

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