Last week, with imaginings of lounging in the warm sunshine and sipping crisp white wine whilst listening to the gentle roll of the surf; strolling down chic Corsican boulevards and picking out the perfect bikini, I packed my jewellery more carefully than my clothes.

Pictured above: Gatsby pearl rope (£129), Margarita necklace (£69), Sadie hoops (£55.50), Silver Starfish pendant (£67.50) and River Diamond necklace (£93)

However, as we all know, best laid plans and all... due to the lack of sunshine, the first three days morphed into a hiking trip with really rather stunning long walks along the coast and into the snow capped mountains, where we discovered beautiful hidden waterfalls and swimming pools. In solidarity with my imaginings, I turned to my silver starfish necklace to lend a sense of occasion.

If you would like to purchase our lovely amazonite and sterling silver Starfish pendant, please email sarah@claudiabradby.com or call +44 (0)1264 811091.

Luckily, (or there may have been tantrums!) the sun shone on day four so I could get down to some serious poolside ‘resting’ (and after all that hiking it was very well deserved), reading (joy, oh joy, we scored a pre-publication copy of Sophie Kinsella’s’ Wedding Night’ - a must have holiday read!), strolling and sightseeing.

I loved layering my light Gatsby rope (a perfect weight for summer) to build up a casual look, and my much-loved River Diamond pendant worked a treat when I shortened it to suit my dress’ neckline. The turquoise Margarita necklace just felt right on a hot sunny day, and I also doubled it up to wear as a bracelet add a shot of colour to the layered/grey tee look.

The hiking was an unexpected turn of events, but allowed indulgence in the addictive carambars!

Happy holiday plotting, and remember to stay flexible to all eventualities, there is always a (carambar) silver lining!

 Our #summerself competition on Twitter received so many wonderful entries all about your summer selves - they have certainly made us hopeful for long sunny days ahead! Here are ten of our favourite entries, paired with some of our summer jewellery. Click on the image to be directed to the relevant product page. 

Celeste earrings, £63

Cerulean hoops, £59

River Diamond bracelet, £72

Celeste necklace, £69

Margarita earrings, £51

River Diamond earrings, £39

Margarita necklace, £69

Hvar hoops, £76

River Diamond necklace, £93

Raspberry hoops - £59

Our summer 'Festival' collection launches online today, and we have paired some of our favourite pieces with different outfits to get into the summer spirit! 

Our gorgeous gold and blue chalcedony Celeste necklace will see you through all of your summer adventures: wear with a bikini and kaftan at the beach, pair with bold printed trousers for lunch with girlfriends and wear with a bright wrap dress to complete an effortlessly stylish look.

Mix and match our River Diamond set (necklace, earrings and bracelet) will transform your look from day to night. Dress up a simple blouse and denim shorts for daytime and add some extra sparkle to a summery dress to twinkle through the night!

You don't have to reserve your turquoise pieces for the beach or the pool - our Margarita necklace and earrings will add the finishing touches to outfits for both work and play. Wear with a colour block dress for the office and contrast with bright jeans at home.

Our simple textured silver Hvar hoops effortlessly complete any summer look - wear with a casual cotton dress, light and flowy fabrics or pair with the height of summer chic - a bold maxi dress.

 With the Wedding season fast approaching, we have matched our jewellery to some of our favourite gowns and dresses from our favourite designers. Whether you are a bride looking for jewellery for the Big Day or gifts for bridesmaids, in the bridal party, or a guest wanting the finishing touches to their outfit, we’ve got the wedding season covered. 

Jenny Packham's beautiful 'Azalea' gown is perfect for the bride wanting to emulate the effortless style of the 1920s and 30s. Finish off your 'Great Gatsby' bridal look with our simple Peregrina drop earrings and Charleston bracelet.

Brides who prefer more classic wedding dresses (like the beautiful Rosa Clara 'Java' gown, pictured below) can update their look with our contemporary pyrite and pearl Lucia necklace and matching earrings.

We love these versatile and stylish dresses from Twobirds for bridesmaids - add the finishing touches with our delicate rose quartz and pearl Thalia pendant and our Audrey earrings in pink. 

The mother of the bride (or groom!) won't have to sacrifice on style with our contemporary yet classic Ines silver pearl necklace and Alexandra silver earrings, paired with this gorgeous dress from Coast.

Not in the bridal party? You don't have to miss out! Compliment a dress with a bold print (pictured below, from Coast) with our classic Wallis bracelet and fun Trapeze peacock earrings.

The Oscars are always a fantastic celebration of huge talent, great film-making, and, (of course!), beautiful gowns. We have picked some of the most striking outfits from this year and have paired them with our jewellery - a perfect match for SS13.

Adele embraced her signature style in a beautiful Jenny Packham dress, which we have paired with an ever-classic Biography bracelet.

Naomi Watts's glamourous shimmering Armani Privé gown ties in perfectly with our cool-toned silver pearls: our Alexandra earrings and Ines bracelet.

Jennifer Lawrence wore a stunning Dior Haute Couture ivory gown and accessorised with a simple long necklace. Get the look with our Gatsby pearl rope, worn long.

We love the simplicity of Jennifer Aniston's red Valentino gown - she wore it with beautiful long earrings and a layered bracelet. You can get her look with our Twiggy hoops and our Charleston bracelet.

Finally, we think Halle Berry's bold Versace Art Deco-styled dress matches our Charleston necklace perfectly.

As London Fashion Week draws to a close, we have picked our top looks from the runway for Autumn/Winter 2013 and paired them with our favourite pieces from Claudia Bradby jewellery:

We love this beautiful Temperley London dress with black leather statement gloves - take this look to the next level by pairing with chunky pearl bracelets, pictured below. (Top to bottom: Biography bracelet, Weekend bracelet and Wallis (available online mid-March) bracelet)

Mulberry have also used statement elbow-length leather gloves with a high-necked fur jacket. We would wear our Audrey earrings with this striking look to add a touch of everyday glamour.
 

We love these autumnal tones from Issa London, especially paired with a 70s-style over-sized fedora hat. Wear this look with our fine beaded Lucia bracelet for subtle shine 

Finally, we adore the bold print and structured shape of this gorgeous Mary Katrantzou dress. Wear this style with our Trapeze peacock earrings to add a striking yet delicate finishing touch. 

All runway images taken by GoRunway

The Evening Standard Film awards 2013 started slightly inauspiciously as my last minute dress choice had to be washed and dried (in the office!) on the morning of the event. Oh, the glamour of it all!

Swooping into the entrance to the Marriot Hotel with the banks of paps in the early evening soon upped the glamour stakes, however, although of course they weren’t interested in either of us in the face of Hayley Atwell arriving at the same time... and the fact that, really, who were we?

 It was a properly glamorous evening, sponsored by Moët and Chandon (they’d written the winners' names in Swarovski crystals on bottles of champagne  – very cute!), with acres of red carpet to walk to get to the London Film Museum for a drink, and then on to the awards ceremony itself, where we all sat in the old GLC council chamber: a rather amazing circular room with individual speakers in each padded red leather seat.

Stephen Mangan (star of the brilliant Episodes with Tamsin Greig and Matt le Blanc) was our host for the evening and along with Sarah Sands, the editor of The Evening Standard, and gave a very funny speech. 

 The gorgeous Helen McCrory (loved her as ‘Julie’ in the recent TV series Leaving), was also there to present an award and was sitting right behind us with her husband Damian Lewis.

But the cherry on the top of the icing, on top of the large cake that has been the exhilarating thrill of Tom’s film Shadow Dancer, was seeing Andrea Riseborough looking completely stunning in her Jenny Packham dress, going up to get her best actress award from Terence Stamp for her portrayal of ‘Colette’ in the film. Terence said she had “the ability to tether her performances to the best of herself” to which Andrea replied “that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me, or my work.” She is (and I know I am biased, but am sure you will agree!) a brilliant actress who I sincerely hope will win the ‘Rising Star’ award at the BAFTAs on Sunday. There was quite a teary moment when she thanked Tom for writing such a strong female lead role.  

The whole evening was a great celebration of British Film, and a very relaxed, upbeat event -  I’m really inspired to go and watch the other two award-winning films, Sightseers and The Imposter.

And one last thing, although the event was also supported by Chopard, I felt a million dollars in my CB 'Charleston' jewellery.

I paired my Charleston necklace and earrings (from our new 1920s-inspired 'Deco' collection, coming soon!) with a simple metallic dress.

I love a good read, so I was particularly thrilled to be able to go to the Costa book of the Year awards this week at Quaglinos’s with its very enticing range of books.  One of the joys of the Costa awards is its breadth of categories, so you get poetry, novels, biographies (produced in a graphic style this year), first novels, and children’s novels - there is a winner for each category and all five winners go forward to be considered for the prestigious prize ‘Book of the Year’. Poetry won in 2009, and this year Hilary Mantel won with Bring up the Bodies .  So I’m off to buy Wolf Hall and start the trilogy – hope she finishes the third by the time I’ve finished Bring up the Bodies…I’m told that Wolf Hall is quite hard work, but worth the rewards.  

  It was a great treat of an evening, if only to see so many high profile people supporting books – Patricia Hodge (‘such fun’!), Hermione Norris, Anneke Rice, Jenni Murray (chair of judges), Katie Derham, Mark Watson and Vanessa Feltz were all there - and to hear Jenni Murray claim she would not read such brilliant literature on her Kindle as actually reading from a book was an altogether superior and more satisfying experience. Long live books!

I paired a black velvet jacket and a white shirt with my classic Biography pearls and River Diamond necklace from our Summer collection (coming soon!) Be sure to have a look at some of our favourites from the upcoming Summer collection on our Facebook page!