The September Edition
A New Season: Ready, Set, Go...
Welcome to September, how has it been for you so far?
The new school start feeling still stays with me now, and in many ways, September feels like a new year reboot. The shock of back-to-school and back-to-work has hit hard in our household this year - I am missing my boys and our carefree summer days, long evenings and slow mornings. But there is a feeling of excitement too - new experiences and lots to look forward to. I am also craving more structure, time to create and space to think… and some new stationery, bulb orders to think about and dahlias to play with!
In this edition, we look at The September Garden - again, everything is earlier this year so we still have Dahlia Mania (thank heavens for that to cheer up those missing their school starters!) and this edition I’ve revisited a wedding I did in a green and white theme incorporating masses of white cosmos and mini green apples.
For Willow Loves this month, I’ve picked some cheery pick-me-ups for home and wardrobe; and there’s more in our 6 extra’s for our paid community including a discount code for my favourite new beauty machine. In our Red Edit, we round up fashion, make up and homewares to give us some oomph in September, from pillar box to claret red, there’s so much around right now.
Wellbeing editor and artist, Susannah Taylor shares her Wellness, My Way (some brilliant advice and products) and more about her new exhibition, FLOWER POWER later this month in London.
Our Recipe is a healthy snack idea, a Banickers Date Bar (a Snickers and Bannoffee pie fusion). Plus, we show just how easy it is to create beautiful decorations with shells collected over the summer, share my Autumn Fashion edit, and round up things to do this month…
This is my Monthly Free Edition, but every week, I send out emails to my paid subscribers with flowery, fashion, food and wellness content - ideas to inspire, create and nurture - with my goal being to share as much as I can so we can all find joy everyday. I hope you will join our growing community, we have so much planned and I’m so excited to connect with you all.
With Love,
Willow
PS. this is a long read so might be best to read in app/web browser (just in case it cuts off in your email).
PPS. A note on our edits - all brands are lovingly chosen or approved by me. For some, we may receive a small affiliate commission if you purchase an item.
Willow Loves
What I’m loving this month…
Top row, left to right
These are not slippers, oh no, the’ll go everywhere this season!
A perfect splatter side plate from H&M
Clover wall lights from Matilda Goad for happiness at home
A nod to 70s chic with these patch-pocket Mother high-rise flares
My kind of back-to-school scissors!
Navy + Corduroy is my soundtrack to the season
Willow Loves… (6 more!)
(scroll to the end for paid subscribers)
The September Garden -
Flower wise, September for me tends to look one of two ways; it’s either filled with full on mad colour in the shape of dahlias, cosmos and zinnias or it’s the complete other end of the energy spectrum; a much calmer, softer green and white palette that I get with purity cosmos, gaura, geranium leaf and green apple boughs.
Given the choice, I’ll always go full colour. Unless I’m weary and then I need nice and gentle and soft please. I’m sharing some of my favourite gentle mixes with you here. Lots of cosmos, sweetpeas, hydrangeas, phlox, pittosporum, variegated weigela and the last of the garden roses (Margaret Merrill is a fave).
Edit - Seeing Red
There is so much sartorial red in this new Autuman/Winter season. I am being drawn to it for clothes, a pop (or punch) of it in my interiors and for lipstick when I’m feeling I need a little oomph! Here are 10 of our faves…
Top row, left to right
Sezane The Tote in Patent Red
Guerlain Rouge G The Refill-510 Le Rogue Vibrant Velvet
Oka Rander Ceramic Stool in Red/White
Sezane Emile Carigan in Red
Me+Em Retro Runner Trainer in Red
Alix of Bohemia Francis Poppy Embroidered Jacket
Daals Minley 2-in-1 Dining Chair, Red High Gloss
Alice Palmer Tangier Red Stripe Waste Paper Bin
Boden Covered Whipstitch Belt in Oxblood
Sabre Salad Servers in Red & Cream, Willow Crossley
Nurture - Wellness, My Way
With Susannah Taylor
Susannah Taylor has been a beauty and wellbeing editor for the past 25 years - formerly at British Vogue, Glamour, and Grazia; and she also started one of the first digital beauty platforms, Get The Gloss. She now has a newsletter called The Glow Gazette and a podcast, Ways To Feel More Human and so naturally, we wanted to ask her all about her approach to wellbeing.
When not writing, speaking or podcasting about wellness, Susannah loves to create - she is a lifelong artist and illustrator. She is drawn to nature for much of the inspiration for her art and in her quest for wellbeing too. Her debut art exhibition FLOWER POWER at Edward Bulmer Natural Paint in their new London showroom runs from 15th - 27th September and explores the power of nature, the symbolism of each flower and its associated remedy. (On Tuesday 23rd September, she is also hosting a Botanical Painting and Creative Mindfulness workshop - more details at the end of this article).
Here we chat with Susannah about her attitude to wellness and the rituals that make her happy, inside and out, providing the wellbeing canvas for her to create her art…
Wellness, My Way
Susannah Taylor has been a beauty and wellbeing editor for the past 25 years - formerly at British Vogue, Glamour, and Grazia; and she also started one of the first digital beauty platforms, Get The Gloss. She now has a newsletter called The Glow Gazette
Create - Shell Projects
When I was ten years old I remember going to visit Lucy Dorrien Smith while she was in the middle of making a shell grotto for the Tresco Abbey Gardens, in the Scilly Isles. She had huge black bins brimming over with every sort of shell imaginable. It felt like I’d found the pots of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Twenty-ish years later I spent a week covering my mantlepiece in shells. The whole process was so enjoyable, I’m trying to work out what to do next.
I thought that I would be able to use all the shells that I’d collected over the years, but it turns out that you need a lot of shells. Last year, I needed to make lots of shell crowns for a commission, and had ordered a huge number of shells for that, so luckily, I used all the leftovers. I then added lots of the smaller babies we’ve collected to fill in the gaps.
I was tempted to make some sort of template so it would be slightly more ‘paint by numbers’ and I’d know for sure that they’d all fit in, but impatience won, and I just started in the middle and worked my way outwards. Luckily, it worked - I wasn’t really fussed about it being symmetrical so it didn’t matter.
There are no limits to what you can decorate: another friend of mine is a designer who lives in Corfu. She covered her bathroom walls in shells and my head nearly blew off with the beauty of it. However, it certainly doesn’t have to be on as large a scale as that. On a smaller scale, think about covering photo or picture frames, jewellery boxes, match boxes, napkin rings, lamp bases or plant pots.
Even seriously strong superglues don’t work on shells long term - the best thing is to use a glue gun with a long lead (or you can use an extension cable).
Notes: Make sure your shells are derived from sustainable sources and are gathered with the permission of the local fishery authority. It’s important that the shells are sourced with due care in order to protect the environment and ecology. Visit www.cities.org. Be careful with the hot glue - it is not advisable for children to handle the glue gun without you there.
Extract from The Wild Journal - A Year of Nurturing Yourself Through Nature by Willow Crossley, available to purchase here.
Create - Bannickers Date Bar Recipe
by Jacqueline Alwill from Brown Paper Nutrition
This healthy snack is like a snickers and Bannoffee pie fusion - delicious for Autumn-on-the-go. A treat that hits the sweet spot and gives your body something back.
A base of dates, layers of almond/chocolate almond butter, toasted coconut, banana, and peanuts, finished with dark chocolate and more crunch factor from the peanuts. So many amazing ingredients packed into one slice.
Fibre-rich from dates + banana to support your gut microbiome
Magnesium & Vitamin E from almonds for energy + healthy skin
Antioxidants in dark chocolate to support mood + cognition
Plant protein from peanuts to improve satiety
Serves 20-30
Gluten free / Dairy free / Vegetarian / Vegan
Ingredients
300 fresh medjool dates, pitted
2/3 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup almond butter
1/4 cup chocolate almond butter (or use all almond butter if you do not have this variety)
2 bananas
1/3 cup whole, dry roasted peanuts
180g dark chocolate
1/4 cup finely chopped peanuts
Method
Line a large freezer proof container or baking tray with greaseproof paper. Open up each date and press out flat onto the paper, slightly overlapping the dates, so they hold and ‘glue’ to each other to form the base of this slice.
Heat a large frypan on medium heat and add the shredded coconut and cook until lightly golden, tossing throughout. It will cook quickly so don’t turn away from it or it may burn.
Turn heat down to low then stir through the almond butter and chocolate almond butter.
Once these ingredients have come together spread them over the dates.
Slice banana into 5mm thick pieces and layer over the top of the almond butters. Sprinkle it with the whole peanuts.
Melt the dark chocolate and pour over the top of the banana peanut layer. Finish by sprinkling the chopped peanuts over the top.
Place in the freezer to set for 2-3 hours.
Slice and Enjoy.
Store in the freezer, up to 3 weeks.
Recipe from Brown Paper Nutrition. Follow for more @brownpapernutrition
Autumn Wish List
What I’m fall-ing for this new season. Of course I’m sad that summer holidays are ending and the light is fading, but I also am excited about the softness of autumn and new wardrobe thoughts for the months ahead. Packing away the linen and pulling out the cashmere…
September Arts & Culture
What to see, visit & plan this month…
Matilda Goad is opening a London shop! Stay tuned for updates…
Go to the cinema to see Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumerbatch in The Roses with friends
Visit FLOWER POWER, Susannah Taylor’s art exhibition (& workshop) at Edward Bulmer’s London Showroom 15-27 September
Meri Meri opens it’s first ever London pop up store later this month at 19 Kensington Park Road, Notting Hill, W11
Go and see Party Girls - The Sensational Story of the Mitford Sisters at the Oxford Playhouse starting 30 September
For the last of longer evenings, visit Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre (until 20 September)
Artist Georgia Beaumont is exhibiting at Thyme in the Cotswolds until 30 September
Book ahead for Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery starting 9 October
Don’t miss the summer opening of Buckingham Palace (until 28 September)
Watch my Advanced Floral Design course with Create Academy from the comfort of home
PS. Willow Loves (6 more!)
6 more Willow Loves just for our paid subscribers…