Red hot petals with leopard skin

Subtle but strong - zebra with a splash of colour

Here at VV Amore’s handbag HQ we’re sick to death of grey skies and dark colours. Now, thankfully a few buds are poking out of the ground and the mornings are getting brighter.

This means that summer is not really so far off. And to celebrate we have come up with a couple of bright new bag colourways.

Our favourite Townie Flower has proved she’s no shrinking violet with some zingy combinations of exotic animal and bright flowers.

And this month’s London Fashion Week showed that we are bang on trend with many designers showing ranges with bold blotches of red and orange. There were also florals popping up but not in a girly way.

It seems the flower has grown up and got some attitude at least for spring and summer 2012.

I hope you’ll agree that the new Townie Flower additions are perfect for taking you from the gloom of winter to the – hopefully – warm, bright days that are just around the corner.

If you’d like a bit of petal power to push you over the hump from one season to the next, then have a look at what we’ve created.

Dancing Round the Handbags could change your life.

No, we don’t mean putting on your lipstick and trotting down to the disco. Life coach Lynne Copp has written a book called Dancing Round the Handbags that aims to help hard-working women.

As I don’t know any women who don’t work hard, that must be all of us.

Lynne’s book compares life to a handbag and uses different aspects to see what’s holding you back and how you might reach your goals.

She said: “By reviewing your dances and de-cluttering your handbag, you will return to the dance floor of life, to dance to the tunes that you want to dance to.”

In the chapters of the book, she looks at all aspects of life, including health, work, the masks you put on in public, how others see you and what you really want to achieve.

Over the years Lynne held several high-powered positions before running her own business called The Worklife Company.

Alongside the book, Lynne runs workshops, retreats and special coaching for women.

She said:  “Women are always juggling. They are the ones that have to buy the birthday card, remember to feed the cat and do a million and one things.

“But nurturing themselves always comes at the bottom of the list. Yet when you ask women who is to blame when one of the plates drops they say they are. Women believe they should be seen to do it all.’’

Dancing Round The Handbags by Lynne Copp is published by Ecademy Press and is available from Amazon.co.uk.