NEW YEAR NEW ME..

Hello!
First off I'd better say 'Happy New Year' to you all. Despite the optimistic title of today's post, I doubt a 'new me' will really kick off this year. I've already broken my New Years 'diet' resolution - the nearest to which will be me drinking a can of diet Pepsi (sorry, not sorry). Oh and my wish to study even harder this year has already been distracted by TV and shopping sprees, oh and reading into history books that have nothing to do with my course topics..

My new year was spent with friends and family, with our traditional 'eat too much, drink too much' motto, so we never fail to have a good time! New Years day was along similar lines, though I was in bed before 10 last night! Anyhow today's post is a little glimpse at what myself and my sister wore for New Years - as we were being a bit lazy to do a proper post - he he!

So I wore a New Look Midi Dress, which I'd been saving to wear for a special occasion. I just love the pattern and the colours in the dress! It was £10 in the sale, and I'm sure will get plenty more use in the new year! I paired it up with a pair of heels from Dotty P and a chunky necklace from Primark! Lydia opted for her new peplum top (also from New Look) and black leggings! She probably had the best idea in terms of outfit choice, as playing Twister in a midi skirt is quite a challenge...

 

I hope you too had a lovely New Year - lets make 2014 a good'un!

Lots of Love,

Fun in the Kitchen - Halloween themed cupcake ideas...

It's officially half term holiday - hooray!
If you know me well, you'll understand why so many people would be shocked to hear I've been baking (and managed not to set the house of fire). However, with the kind assistance of my (not so) little sister and a kind gift of icing supplies, which I'll be reviewing from Baking Mad, I've taken my cooking experience a step further with some Halloween themed cupcakes!

Placing myself as head decorator, I let my sister work her magic with the cake mixture, using this recipe (part of which is below) from the Baking Mad website. It was easy to follow and definitely suitable for baking with younger children too. 

The website also had great inspiration for Halloween Baking Recipe's and designs, which were really helpful when deciding how to decorate our cupcakes. My favourite gift was the chocolate icing pen, as it had a number of different shaped funnels, which I enjoyed experimenting with. First there was a larger piping tube, which was effective in creating a base for decoration, a thin tube which added detail and a lined tube which created interesting patterns. The purple colour of colour creator particularly stood out as it worked really well in contrast with the chocolate icing. 

The Recipe we used:

150 grams - Butter
150 grams - Golden Caster Sugar
3 - Free Range Eggs
150 grams - Self Raising White Flour
0.50 tsp - Baking Powder + Lemon Zest

1. Heat the oven to 180°C, 160°C fan, gas 4. Line a cup cake tin with 12 paper cupcake cases.
2. Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs a little at a time until smooth, adding a little flour if the mixture curdles. 
3. Stir in the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract until smooth
4. Place heaped dessertspoon full in each cupcake case and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and just firm to the touch. 
5. Leave in the tins for 5 minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool

For the all important decoration, we decided to use the supplies of icing from Baking Mad, to add the Halloween touch to our cakes. This included two icing pens, that came with various sized ends for different areas of decoration, three colour creators used to add colour to icing, and almond flavouring, to add flavour to the cake.

I'm off now to demolish the lovely cupcakes that I hear calling my name. If you fancy making your own cakes, for Halloween or another occasion I definitely recommend taking a look at the Baking Mad website - I particularly like their cheesecake recipes.

 Get Baking!
Lots of Love...

Living like Royalty, Buckingham Palace...

Hello! So apart from being swallowed up by collage work in the last week, I took the chance to join a coach load of friends on an annual visit to London! 

For the trip, I wore my super comfy new boots from Clarks! It really pays of to have a great quality pair of shoes when your walking all day, and my boots didn't let me down! As we seem to have finally lost the summer sunshine, I opted for a denim jacket with my new tartan skirt to keep me warm and some thick socks too!

 I love London (but then again, who doesn't) and this time we planned a picnic in the park, to visit a few art gallery's for my art coursework and an all important trip to Buckingham palace. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to use my camera in the palace (boo) but it was definitely worth the visit, as the state rooms are truly beautiful! It's hard not to be drawn into the golden magnificence of the palace with the decorative crystal chandeliers hanging overhead and I have to admit the audio guide background music even had me waving like a queen...

The history of the British monarchy is fascinating, and this is clearly a strong influence in the rooms open for public viewing, and the family portraits on show tell the story of generations of royals. 

I'd also recommend checking out the gardens and the all important gift shop - though I wasn't keen on the £10 pens.. When you arrive at the palace, there's lots of air port style security before your handed an audio guide, which you use through most of the rooms, it's also handy to know that if you accidentally loose your place on the audio guide each room has numbers which you can type in to refresh your guide. We were also treated to a fab view of the 'changing of the guards' along with hundreds of others hoping to see the parade. It's fab to see the guards in there swanky red uniforms and made me quite envious of their epic sense of rhythm!

As you already know my love of history is touch obsession, so I also visited the Imperial War Museum which although under construction, was fab! I'd strongly recommend the Holocaust exhibition and the Horrible History Spies area looks great too. One thing I would recommend is bringing your own food as museum cafe's are never cheap and getting the tube rather than warning as it's situated quite a way from the buzz of Westminster.

As for the rest of the day we caught a quick tube ride to Oxford Street, as every London trip requires a small dosage of shopping! We found a gem of a place to eat called 'st. Christopher's place' which was a little area just off Oxford Street which had loads of little eateries and boutique shops. I'd definitely recommend visiting during a intense shopping trip as it's not far from Oxford Street. After a gentle stroke through the designer handbags in Selfridges, we were soon back in the bus wishing we could have stayed a bit longer!

What Were Wearing:

Charlotte (left): Skirt/Boots - Top Shop, Jumper - Miss Selfridge.Myself (left in right photo): Jacket/Satchel - OASAP, Boots - Clarks, Skirt - Primark.
Lydia (right, in second photo down): Jeans - Primark, Military Jacket - H&M.
Sarah (middle in above photo): Playsuit - New Look, Shoes - Dorothy Perkins.
 So that's how I've been spending the weekend. If only every weekend was exciting, as my usually Saturdays consist of piles of homework and plodding around the house in pyjamas! 

Anybody else do anything interesting with their weekend? 

Lots of Love,

Guest Shoot #3 - From behind the camera lens...

It was back to school today - and didn't the world know about it! My sister yelling 'WAKE UP GRACE' at 6:30 this morning was not the best way to role out of bed - but I'm glad she did, or I would have been going to school in my Pyjamas! (not that I'd complain).

 

Today's post is a slightly delayed guest post of my darling sister! As she's usually behind the lens, it was great to let me have a go at snapping away (as it's what I love doing). I have to admit, I'm completely obsessed with the use of light in photos, particularly sun set - it always looks so beautiful! These photos were originally a little experiment, so please ignore the fact she has no shoes ;)

 Okay, so sister's aren't supposed to pay each other compliments regularly (and it's certainly a rarity in our house) but I love this Jumper from Republic. There was a huge sale at Republic, due to rumours of it closing down. This meant of course, that my sister was first to snap up a bargain! The wool is thick and amazing quality and I love the knitting work on the front and arms.

This satchel is becoming a favourite of ours this Spring, since we snapped it up at a local charity shop! Pastels are a classic for Spring, and well, this satchel is a classic. She's also sporting her ONE DIRECTION wrist band, from the concert she went to last month. Yes, she's a little obsessed. And yes, I can now sing every lyric, to every song, since she plays the 1D album on full blast, in her bedroom....

The sun glasses (which are MINE) are from Primark, and look effortless for summer! Lydia's style is mainly a relaxed casual look. Not like her sister... But, it's great that we can wear each others clothes in such different ways! 

To complete the 'Saturday shopper' classic look, Lydia styles her hair effortlessly, by simply pulling some of her hair into a pony tail, and leaving a bit half in/half out. Spring is all about an effortless "up-do's" so I'll definitely be trying this look out...

What Lydia Wears: Jumper - Republic, Bag - Charity Shop, Glasses/Jeans - Primark.

So, you've officially met my camera wizard! 

One thing thing that bugs me about blogging is that people may think 'it's all about me'. But it's really not! One of my favourite aspects of blogging, is to take photos of people's style which inspires me (and I hope to do more of this too). So look out! ;)

 

Lots of Love,