Your 2020 Free Calendar has arrived

Hope you like the new Italy inspired calendar. It comes in two sizes - the A4 version, to pin on your wall and the A5 version for your planner. Once you download it, cut along the guideline, then hole punch. Don't forget to write your wish at the bottom of the page. 😊

Weekly Water Tracker printable

How important is to drink water most of us know! However, many of us forget to drink enough glasses of water as the day goes by. Therefore, you may be pleased to know that I have created this 'weekly water tracker' gift especially for you.
Just, print and stick it somewhere, near your water jug in the kitchen and tick all the glasses of water you drink on a day/week. All you need to do, is to drink 1 glass of water every hour, that's 8 glasses per day. If 8 is too much for you, you can start with less and then build it up from there, week by week.

Rain

Let the rain shower your spirit and water your soul. 🌂     

Hello Cambridge 🇬🇧

I didn't think I would say this but it does feel like I'm on holiday in Cambridge now. Even though I have lived here 15+ years and it feels like home. This city is so beautiful that whenever I am here, I feel like sitting at the backs of the colleges by the river, with a book..

If you have never been to Cambridge, you might want to add it to your list. You will feel like you have just stepped back in time, right back to the 19th century.. Be sure to go punting, as it is a lot of fun and so enjoyable, not mentioning the views.

I am leaving you with some beautiful photos of Cambridge.

till next time
Pati x

Coffee Time ☕️

Happy Birthday Sophia!

'Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.'

Happy Birthday Sophia Loren, who is 85 today ❤️🇮🇹🍝

Chocolate Mood 🍫

Today, I have created this little collage because Cambridge is such a chic city and I feel really happy to be living here at the moment. I love this mint colour of the Chocolate shop on St Andrews street.

Visit Cannes in September..

September.., the best month to be in Cannes. The heat is gone, the crowd is smaller. Soak up the sun during the day, then stroll along the Croisette late afternoon. In the evening enjoy a meal and a drink in one of the local restaurants. 

Travelling from London is pretty easy, with a quick change in Paris for the TGV train to Cannes. Just a couple of hours later the scenery changes and you begin hearing:

La mer..
Des reflets changeants
Sous la pluie
La mer..
Au ciel d'été.. 🎧⛱🌞

Read more about Cannes on my Mediterranean Travels blog. This illustration is available as a planner dashboard and an art print from my Etsy shop Patricia Atelier.

Villefranche, France - strolling and market shopping

Villefranche-sur-Mer is a beautiful little French town. It is located between Monaco and Nice. We used to take the bus No 100 to Villefranche, and then after spending some time there, we would walk to the Cap Ferrat peninsula and make a little picnic on the beach. We love coming back here.

If you like this illustration, it is now available in my Etsy shop as a planner dashboard and wall art. I will soon write more about this beautiful, little village on my Mediterranean Travels blog, so hop over there if interested.

Dear Diary.. 🌸

This beautiful page in mint green is available as a set of three - plain, lined and dot grid, in size A5 and Personal in my Etsy Patricia Atelier. However, if you would like to create your own, it is very easy to do.
Just take three pages (blank, lined and dot grid) and cut to your preferred size. Then stick washi tape around each page, or create your own eg mint with white dots, then glue on to the pages. Create three separate bows, flowers or other decoration, cut out and glue to the top of all of your pages. You can also scan them in and print to create multiple copies. :)

Time away in Poland 🇵🇱 (with stops in Spain and UK)

strolling in Denia, Spain

It's been a while, I know..., with two children life can get very busy 🙃 but I'm happy to be back!

We left Portugal and beautiful Esposende, after 2 years of living there. We have fallen in love with the people and the country and made some wonderful new friends. I write about my experiences in Portugal and later in Spain on my Mediterranean Travels Blog, so hop over there if you are interested. 😊

My notebooks collection

Introducing the new, limited edition notebooks collection, with motivational, illustrated covers, inspired mostly by the Mediterranean lifestyle as well as London, Paris, Porto, New York and more..

Memories of Nice, South France

Today, I am taking you to my beloved city of Nice, where I lived for some time. It was here where, I discovered lots of beautiful hideaways ideal for relaxing, all around Nice, from Monaco to St Tropez. 

Nice will always be close to my heart, as will all the wonderful places I have fallen in love with.
Not only Nice is a fantastic, sunny destination but the views and the beauty of this whole region is like nowhere else. 

What I'm loving

Hi loves, how are you doing? I've been visiting some beautiful places with my family, doing a bit of shopping and gathering inspiration for future illustrations.

I have definitely been loving travelling along the coast to Javea (or Xabia). The views were spectacular and the weather beautiful! I'll blog about this trip later on, on my travel blog.

Shirring

Hi Girls, I hope you had a fabulous weekend. :) The weather has been amazing recently (on Sunday the thermometer was showing 30 degrees) so we decided to go to Javea, a little town not far from where we now live. We chose a charming, mountain road, with spectacular views over the Mediterranean Sea.

Soon, I will tell you more about this little town, but today I want to talk to you about - shirring! Is a very beautiful technique of gathering fabric with an elastic thread.

There can be any number of rows and shirring can be applied in various places on a garment eg around the waist, chest, arms, ankles and other. Shirring can be lovely decorated with embroidery and embellishments on top. This technique makes a garment very fitted and feminine, with shirred styles to be found in both women and girls fashions.

I wore this green dress with a beautiful shirred back last summer in Kraków..

Below, few more examples found around the web.

1 | 2 | 3

source: You Tube - Geneva Vanderzeil

For the creative ones, here is a great tutorial by Geneva Vanderzeil on how to do shirring yourself. Just look at that beautiful top. She has more fabulous diy's on her website, including this amazing pink shirred dress. I'm in love and definitely want to give this technique a try and make something beautiful. How about and you?

Have a fantastic new week Darlings!

love
Pati x

Happy Weekend in Altea

It's finally weekend girls, yay! Here is a little highlight from this week. We went to this Spanish little town called Altea in the Province of Alicante.

It is charming, beautiful and very atmospheric, with whitewashed houses and cobbled streets, right up on the hill. There is a beautiful view over the Mediterranean as you reach the top. You can then wander around the little streets and enjoy a meal at one of the quaint restaurants.

There is also a beach with long promenade, cycle path, restaurants and boutiques at the foot of the hill. It is said, that many artists were inspired by this place.

What I'm loving this week

I'm loving this trend in the blogosphere going around 'What I'm loving Wednesday' reading about everyones' loves. So what have I been loving this week?

Basket love

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen I mentioned in my stories about my love for wicker baskets. Yes this is true. I so wish I could just carry one the whole year but somehow they just fit in with the spring/summer styles only.

There are so many to choose from: big, small, round, small handles, long handles.. they lift my mood instantly.

Throwback Thursday

Hope you are having a great day All. Weekend is almost here. :)

Today's throwback is back to my uni days at the Cambridge School of Art. I seriously had a blast there. I loved this school so much, the amazing tutor we had Dr Wendy Moody and all the assignments we had to do.

I am still not much of a sewer.., the course I studied was about fashion design not really perfecting sewing skills, although it gave me the confidence to tackle anything. It made us work very hard and opened our eyes to so many things in fashion, design and many other. It was also there, that I first learned how to use professional programs such as Photoshop or Illustrator and for this I am forever grateful as it allows me to take my illustrations that much further.

Hope you liked today's Throwback Thursday, till next time guys. :)

Pati x

First weeks in Spain

It has been a while since I last posted here, as things got pretty busy here. I was so lucky my mum came all the way over from Cambridge, to help me with children and the weather was beautiful. Sitting on the terrace was such a joy. 

It has gone a bit windy and cloudy the past few days but in Spain any weather is good, cloudy or not. Here you see me standing by the port in Denia, where many boats moor and there is a direct boat to Ibiza, Mallorca and Formentera. How fabulous is that?

Hola España! 🇪🇸

I am writing to you from Costa Blanca in Spain, my new home for a couple of months. We have arrived yesterday on a plane from Porto to Valencia, a very short 60 mins flight, that included take off and landing. Then, over an hour car journey to Denia, a small port city by the sea.
First impressions? It is very warm, the sun is shining, it's 28C in the shade and it's only end of February!

Bullet Journal inspired | New Year Spread 2019

I am excited to welcome the New Year in my BuJu (Bullet Journal). Do you recognise this free calendar I published on my blog recently? If you missed it, you can still find it here. View more on my Insta Stories. :)