christmas trees and snowflakes

A short-winded post this Sunday evening as I share with you some of my latest festive accessories. All bits and bobs are from The Bead Gallery, a shop in my home town that's made for all your beading needs. With the bracelet, I was foolish enough to not buy the right amount of red and green beads so, like all totally creative people do (har har), I improvised. Does it look stupid? I think it looks kind of stupid. Oh well, let's call it 'quirky'. I hope you are all had a fabulous weekend!! x

On the playlist

 HAIM Don't Save Me 

Ms Mr Hurricane

Caggie Dunlop and Billy Lockett Beneath Your Beautiful

sequins and stars.

Wow, who is this female I can sort of see in these photographs? Yes, I know. It's been ages since I've last produced a blog post with me actually in it but literally nothing has happened in my life worth blogging about! Yesterday Tasnim and I spent the day traipsing around shops before meeting up with some of our besties for an Italian meal. I brought some presents and some earrings, ate my first mince pie of December and fell in love with the Lego store. Tasnim brought a beautiful outfit for the evening, ate a not-so-hot 'hot chocolate' cupcake and fell in love with the Disney store. (just in case you can't tell, we are eighteen years of age)

Every year, a new festive customisation takes place. Last year it was a top with a penguin in a Christmas hat and the year before it was a snowman cardigan. This year it's the turn of the denim shirt and, unlike the previous years, I decided to do something a little more subtle. I added my own Christmasy twist to the much-seen collar tips, using red sequined fabric, and sewed on the mini felt stars after spotting them in Paperchase and thinking 'hey, these may come in handy!' At first glance though, they do kind of look like cat paws in the middle. hmm...

otoño ya está aquí

Myself and the cold are not the closest of friends. I tend to resent its harshness through gritted teeth and wish to myself how pleasant it would be if its company was not present. Having said that, I believe there isn't anything much more satisfying than sitting with a hot chocolate by a chimney lit fire, or snuggling under the bed covers with a hot water bottle, or lounging about in a cosy jumper, or hypnotically staring out the window at snow falling from the sky, or Christmas time. But they are the only exceptions.

I also believe that Autumn is the most picturesque of seasons with the merge of orange, yellow and browns, the image of the occasional squirrel darting through piles of leaves, and the sun peaking through scenic trees during early evenings. So despite how much I hate the nippy temperatures I have to endure during my early morning walks to the bus stop, I made this headband (out of leaves and a conker) as a way of welcoming the new season.

Let's bake! Poppy and sesame seed crackers

Every Tuesday evening, after watching the Great British Bake Off, I get that compulsion to bake (ok, eat) whatever it is they've been producing on the show and this week, because it's so simplistic, I went ahead and made some crackers. I chose poppy and sesame seeds for my flavouring and had them for lunch the next day with cheese and tomato and a sprinkle of oregano. If you're interested in doing same, then here's what to do...

Ingredients: 125g plain flour, 1tsp baking powder, 1 and a half tsp sea salt, 2 tbsp poppy seeds, 2 tbsp sesame seeds, 1tbsp black pepper 30g unsalted butter.

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees,
• combine the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and stir in the seeds and pepper. Then rub in the butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Mix in a bit of water, enough to make a dough-like mixture and then roll into a ball and wrap in clingfilm, leaving it to chill in the fridge for twenty minutes.
• Take out the dough and roll it out into a thin sheet. Then using a round cutter, cut out and place them on a lined baking tray. 
• Bake for about 20- 30 minutes.

If you do make some, it will be lovely to know what topping you choose :-)

Happy baking!

la devolución de las mariquitas

A long time ago now (back in the beginning of June), I showed you all my ladybird earrings which I found whilst tidying my draws. Despite how excited I was, I never wore them again. I don't know about you but I am one of those people who brakes and loses stuff far too easily and, because of this, paranoia of them coming lose and disappearing forever got the better of me. However, the loved-up pair can now return as I chopped off the wire and glued their bottoms onto rings. And, if they do come off, it will be obviously noticeable and I can just glue 'em back on again. Simples.

on the playlist
Palma Violets- Best of Friends

CUPCAKES

Hola! This afternoon I baked up these for my friend Heather (that's her next to Elmo) as it's her eighteenth birthday on Sunday and sadly I cannot make it to her party. I hope she likes them and my commendable artistic skills (har har) The sponge is coco with chocolate chips and the decorations are made from butter icing.

winter headband

You may have read about my fondness for this season's florals in a previous blog post. Well while I was at a local car boot sale a few weeks ago, I spotted these purple and blue artificial flowers and immediately pictured them placed on my head. There are so many tutorials scattered about the internet on how to make your own headband but I believe that this way is the simplest and most efficient- plus all you need is a headband, flowers and a glue gun. To complete your flowered creation, secure the stemless flowers onto a blob of glue, making your way along the headband with as little space in between as possible. Really, I can't think of anything easier :-)

simply F

Please may somebody give me modelling lessons because I really need them. If only you were to see the other attempts my mother took trying to capture me in this newly customised Jil Sander style cardigan. I was a soldier about to battle with the wind. With my posture completely straight and stern and my eyes (squinting in the sunlight) making me look incredibly moody, it was not a good look. To add to the pessimism, I am beginning to regret doing the 'F' so large. What do you think?

Some may believe that having your initial printed on an item of clothing is egotistical, while others may consider it preppy. I like how designers have been going for this look as a way of making their knitwear recognisably their own and, naturally, I followed their lead.

Kenzo; Marni; Karl; Jil Sander; House of Holland

chocolate and biscuit rock buns

200g self-raising flour, 100g margarine, 75 sugar (or, as I used, the wondrous sugar substitute that is  Stevia), 1 egg, chocolate, biscuits. Combine flour, sugar and margarine and form breadcrumbs. Add your chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate and biscuits. Then mix in the egg. Form it to ball-like shapes and place into oven for 20-ish minutes. 

I don't know, baking seems to be appearing a lot on my blog recently. Do you all like reading about my attempted efforts of making food? I'm still unsure on what my blog is about so perhaps it could be a regular theme.
Anyway, I was competing in a tennis tournament on Tuesday and the lovely organisers handed each competitor a goody bag containing a packet of locally baked gingerbread (which taste surprisingly pleasant as they melt in my mouth like shortbread) I decided to use them in a rock bun recipe with chopped up chocolate as a way of stopping myself from munching on them all afternoon, afterwards realising there was no logic in that as the rock buns probably contain double the amount of fattiness..

I'd also like to take this moment to say, if any of you received your exam results today, I hope you are pleased and did as well/better than you expected. If like me you didn't (I got my AS)  then don't worry, it will all turn out the way you hope as long as you believe in yourself!

 xo

On the playlist
Mumford and Sons- I Will Wait
Lucy Rose- Bikes
Suki Waterhouse- Stoned

Once upon a time...

I know  it doesn't feel right to be plunging into next season's trends (although it's hard to avoid them) when there's still some weeks of 'summer' left but I've fallen in love with the winter florals. To me they conjure up images of a dark fairytale, as there is something mysterious but magical about them. As a result, I decided to interpret my new liking onto a sleeveless T-shirt using fabric pens brought from New Look. I'm not totally sure what to make of it though as I know I'm not the greatest of artists!

chocolate surprise!

Once your desired cupcake mixture is prepared, begin to transfer into your prettiest cases. Put in half the amount, add chopped up chocolate to the centre and the other half over it. Repeat for all. Once out of the oven, cooled and smelling delicious, whip up icing and squirt on top of each. I then used white chocolate and caramel icing pens for extra decoration and finished off the remaining icing. (How could I resist?)

Today was a fairly laid back Saturday. As well as doing what I've been doing every day this week, getting sucked into all the olympic action (Go Jessica Ennice! Go Andy Murray! Go Andy Murray and Laura Robson! Go the obsession for my new favourite sport, beach volleyball! Go Team GB!!!), I tuned into baking mode and made some cupcakes for Carol, a colleague at the charity shop I volunteer in on Sunday mornings, for her birthday celebrations tomorrow. I hope she likes them because they turned out way messier than I imagined them to look.

Anyway, I hope you have all had a lovely weekend!
xx

going for gold with gingerbread men

Sat solemnly at the bottom of a small bag, colourless, worn and neglected. I don't like to see things treated in this way and I knew that, come my next sort out, they would probably be thrown in the bin. But then, off a diving board of creativity, an idea sprung into my mind and shortly after the above was born: Two gold rings made from two old buttons, a short amount of wire, and gold paint.

Yesterday I also delved into some baking fun and made my very own Team GB gingerbread men. I'm not actually too keen on gingerbread but I became deeply inspired after coming across the adorable 'sporty gingers' available at biscuiteers.com  As you can see, my baking is no better than a six year old's but my mother was hugely grateful for the diver, badminton player, and sprinter (the middle one could actually be anything) I gave her that afternoon.

make me a milkshake

250ml milk, one sliced banana, two teaspoons of coco powder. Mix in a smoothie maker (or any kind of mixer, I guess). Transfer into a glass with ice cubes. 

This is a perfect refreshing lunch time treat which is well-suited for the summer and oh so simple to make.
Alternatively, you can exchange the banana for any type of fruit as I imagine it would work just as tastily. 

I drank it in a long floral summer dress from Debenhams and really unattractive sunburnt arms.

liven up your wrists DIY style

This is what the last couple of days resulted in whilst my eyes were fixed firmly to many exciting tennis matches on my television screen.
I would like to take this moment to say how sorry I feel for Andy Murray. After everybody intensified his semi-final victory, speculated how this was 'Andy's year' and how 'his moment had come' and put tons of pressure on him, I can't bare to imagine his emotions now. Especially after he played exceptionally well and put in admirable amounts of effort.
 However, I am really happy for Roger Federer. At the age his is, he deserved to win another title, break another record and retrieve his number one spot. He's such an incredible player (as today proved) with a lovely personality to match.
Back to the bracelets though, I got the instructions on how to make them from here and I advise anyone who enjoys the occasional DIY to go visit the website!! Your boredom will forever be cured.

I could bore you with a truth about an uneventful youth

Hello!
You know you're lacking imagination when all you can think of for a blog post title is Vaccines lyrics. Hopefully the following makes up for it.
This top began its life as a plain white t-shirt living with no excitement and a reputation of being ignored. That's no fun, which is why I took inspiration from Emma Mulholland and gave it an all over fashion fix.

Equipment needed:

> a  white t-shirt
> blue fabric dye
> screen printing kit (alternatively, you could do it by hand but screen printing ink is essential)
> mesh fabric for strips on the sleeves.

Difícil? I think not!

numéro deux sac

Hey folks,

Above is the latest addition to my home-made bag collection. It was sports day at my school yesterday. I wasn't taking part, nor did I stay to watch it, but it did get me reminiscing about how great sports day was at primary school. I miss the race where I had to run carrying a tray containing loads of random things, and the water race, and the obstacle race where I had to crawl through tunnels. One year this boy (he was fairly large, bless him) got stuck in one of the pop up tunnels and two of the teachers had to get him out. You don't get that at secondary school.

xo

The checked skirt

Afternoon everyone!

Above is a skirt I finished making yesterday. It's lightweight and perfect for warmer days. I always find it hard buying skirts because I'm quite small in height and so they always look much longer than intended to be and I have to spend time taking them up. But the beauty of making your own is you don't have to worry about that and they can look however you want them to! So stay tuned as there may be more to come ;-)

xo