Playing the guitar whilst roller skating?

Learn a new skill.
The 8 days we have left is plenty enough time to learn a new skill or start a hobby. If you are stuck for ideas, I have listed a load of cool things I would like to do or have started already.

Learn to play an instrument
    I can play the piano and have recently started guitar which is surprisingly easy. Once you have learnt the basics of any instrument, you can adapted pop songs to play and don't have to stick to Mozart if you don't want to! Try some Christina Perri or One Republic!

Roller Skating
    I have wanted to have a go at this for ages!

Mend some clothes or make something new
    It is so easy to make a simple bag but if you a feeling more adventurous, shift dresses are pretty easy as well.

Try painting or drawing
    Loads of people give up at the first hurdle when their girls nose is too big, or the house they were drawing looks like a roof on sticks, but if you keep on trying you will get there in the end! Try reading books on how to draw and show your drawing to people, who can tell you what is wrong with them and how to make it better. You could even join a class if you have one nearby.

Millie x

Sleepovers and movies

Soooo....you suddenly have 9 whole days of freedom before you, yay! And then you realise you have nothing to do. You text all your friends, but catching up with them isn't going to take 9 days. So what do you do? This series is going to hopefully give you some ideas - a few for each day!

1. Invite some friends over for a sleepover and movie night

Movie ideas

• Have a Harry Potter-athon and watch all eight movies in a row! Ahh sounds amazing!         You could have a Star Wars-athon or a Hobbit/Lord of the rings-athon instead if you prefer!
• Pop your own popcorn in a massive pan and then cover it in sugar/salt/butter/golden syrup....
• Watch some old movies if you want something a bit different. I love Audrey Hepburn films, especially Breakfast at Tiffany's! I have the movie poster on my wall....
• Snuggle up on the sofa in sleeping bags with hot chocolates.
• If you have younger siblings and need a film that doesn't involve possessed dwarfs, teenage wizards or wookies wielding blasters, try Big Hero Six or Paddington, since you will enjoy them too!

Or....

2. Go and see a movie at the cinema, with your family or a bunch of friends. My family went to see Dads Army today and it was frankly awesome! So many famous faces and they each fitted their character perfectly. This movie is hilarious and the kinda film you can't stop quoting!!

Have fun, see you guys tomorrow x

Cheesy straws - Salsa optional....

Hey!

These are the cutest lil snack and insanely simple! x

You need:

Cheese Straws

Left over puff pastry

Cheese

Seeds op.

Olives op.

Salsa

Tomato

Basil

Lemon juice

Salt

How to:

Next time you're making something with puff pastry save the leftovers. Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle, then cut slices about an inch thick. Put on a tray and sprinkle with cheese and any other topping you like. Cook for about 15 mins at 180 or until they go nice and golden brown.

    Serve with humus or salsa. Salsa is really easy to make, just chop up some tomatoes, add basil, lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Simples.

Fridge cake Fridays

Hi. Ahh fridge cake....

So simple to make + there is hardly any waiting time! Happy Millie.

You can chuck in any extra left over bits of chocolate from Christmas as well!
 

1. Just melt some butter, chocolate, golden syryp and those left over chocolates in a pan on the hob.

2. Put some digestive biscuits in a bag, seal it, then smash the biscuits with a rolling pin.

3. Mix the biscuits into the melted stuff, adding little bit by little bit until the mixture goes all thick and crunchy.

4. Pour into a tin and put in the fridge or freezer to set.

Dadah!! I did all the quantity's by eye, so just experiment adding different chocolate or marshmallows or even crunchie bars! x

An interesting idea for old Hama beads

Hi guys, just a quick lil craft post today, admittedly this idea isn't originally mine - I stumbled across it on the internet - but I tried it and it was just too good not to post, so here we are!
   
Now, you probably don't have a load of old Hama beads around your house, unless you live with someone under 10, but I do and I used to use them as well, so we have 2 whole boxes of the things.

All you need:
Hama beads or any other plastic beads with holes in the centre....
Headphones or earphones
Penknife or craft knife
A sensible, safety head

How to make:
Basically all you do is - very carefully - cut a slit in one side of the bead. Always be careful to keep your fingers out the way and if you are not sure you can be trusted to cut safely ask someone who can to do it for you! Then slide the bead onto the wire that connects the headphones to the jack!
    There are so many different colour combinations your could try, you could even go all the way up the wire to the top in one crazy rainbow of beads!! I went for a more sedate (!) approach just using my absolute favourite colours and some greys and whites.

 

....and yep that is a cake stand in the photo before you ask! Millie X

Lip scrub DIY and review

Don't you just hate January weather? Rain, getting up in the morning and get this: it's still dark, Rain, having tea and guess what: it's dark again, Rain, not wanting to go running because: it's dark.... Winter is not in my good books (unless there is snow or you are inside by the fire with movies).

Another thing that I am having trouble with at the moment is dry lips. Anyone else get this?
It is insanely annoying, not to mention painful and looks hideous! To help fight against the evils of dry lips, I use a ton of lip cream and such but this only really helps prevent more happening. What has already invaded my personal space is harder to get rid of. To get rid of flaky bits I use a lip scrub and THEN apply a layer of gloss or protective cream. I don't recommend using a scrub regularly in case of damaging your mouth with constant rubbing but when in need this is a good way of stopping
flaky-ness and making perfectly smooth lips. Wait does smooth lips sound weird?

I never used to use lip scrub until I was given one. It was a LUSH bubble gum lip scrub and I tried it, not because I needed to but because it smelled SO nice!! I didn't use it again though, it basically just sat on my shelf for a while until I actually needed it! Now I use it and it is amazing! I will recommend to anyone in need of a lip scrub and don't trust my advice below on making your own!

 

All opinions and pictures are my own.

 

You can just make a cheap one for yourself using ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen cupboard + it is so easy + works just as well as a shop bought one!

You will need:

Sugar
Olive Oil
Honey

How to make:

1. Put a tablespoon of sugar in a bowl. This is the grainy bit that will scrub your lips.
2. Cover with Olive Oil, this is to moisturise your lips and stop them from drying out, so don't add to much, just enough to cover the sugar. The mixture should not be too liquidy.
3. Now add a dribble of honey  to stick the mixture together.
4. If you want now  is the time to add flavouring. Peppermint extract, lemon, vanilla extract are all cool ideas but my favourite one by far is adding a small bit of coco powder. This will smell gorgeous!

Change the quantity's of ingredients you use by how much you want to make. I think doing it by eye is sometimes the best. It will keep in a cold place for a fairly long time, so you could make one big batch to last until spring comes once again and thaws our flaking lips.... drama queen!

Pouring into small containers and giving away as presents is a cute idea and people will certainly be grateful at this time of year! Tie a little ribbon round the top or create a personalised sticky label!

 

Now hopefully we can fight a bit better against the evil of dry lips (forever the drama queen!)!

Millie X

Keeping those New Year resolutions

So many people make resolutions at the beginning of the year and then forget/give up by June.
I for one am guilty of this! Mainly we set ourselves too hard, seemingly impossible tasks to achieve. Here are some tips to help them seem more achievable:

1. Don't set yourself too hard challenges in the first place!

2. If there is one really big thing you want to do, like getting fitter or quitting something, then just focus on that one thing and don't make loads of other resolutions in case you get side-tracked.

3. Believe you can do it. That sounds cheesy but a lot of the time the reason why people give up is because they start off thinking it is impossible and they will never be able to do it. If you follow the advice of the first 2 tips and then believe you will be able to do it.

4. Break it down into smaller steps working up to the original resolution. If you said you would workout everyday, then start of by working out three times a week, adding on another day each fortnight? Within 10 weeks you will have reached your goal.

5. To make you keep to this smaller steps method, write down on your calendar each day you are going to do it, then stick a gold star or something next to each day you manage. Adapt this method to what ever your resolution is.

6. Don't give up at small things

7. Tell friends and family so they can help you to achieve this.

8. Obviously this isn't going to work with everybody but I hope it helps somebody! Remember, you have to really want it and stick to it. Good luck!

7 days till Christmas - Ice Cream Cake

Ice cream cake

 

You will need:

Ice cream

Chocolate bars

Chocolate drops

Sweeties

Caramel

Any kind of thing like this

 

How to make:

Put the ice cream in the mixer. Break up the chocolate bars and caramel and put in the mixer with the ice cream. Pour in the sweeties and chocolate drops then put the mixer on slowly. You might have to stop and un-gunk the mixer blade once in a while. Pour back into the ice cream pot and put the remaining sweeties on the top or in your mouth.

I know the pictures don't make it look that yummy but it really is. Once you get past the fact that it is practically solid sugar. This recipe is coming to you from me and my little sister. SHOUT OUT.

P.S Oh my gosh, oh my gosh I am going to see Star Wars The Force Awakens tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!
Expect a review some time tomorrow.... x

8 days till Christmas - Glittery nails and American diner tales

Hello again, I am seeing rather alot of this blog the past few days and if I am to keep my promise, then I am to see a whole lot more! This is a good thing because in the past I have neglected to look and post on my little bit of internet, so after Christmas and this series is up, I hope to keep up the regular blogging and post at least once a week - but I am hoping to average at two posts a week "woah don't knock yourself out Millie!" -. I know this isn't actually v much and some bloggers post multiple times a day, but in my crazy busy timetable, I think that would be a good achievement!!
    And now onward with the festive stuff for today....

Like the stars in the night sky - Glittery nail art

You will need:
Nail polish
Glitter

How to do:
Paint your nails like normal, it doesn't matter what colour but if you are going for a starry night theme then use a dark purple or black. Before they dry sprinkle glitter on the top of them. If you are really patient it could be a cool idea if you put more glitter at the top of your nail then the base, so it sort of cascades downwards. If you have a clear nail polish then painting over the top so you don't trail glitter everywhere might be a good idea!
    I used Barry M Speed dry nail polish in Sprint Finish. I really love the dark shade of this, it is one of my favourite colours and now I can wear it on my nails!!

Here are just a few cute photos that I took at the diner today:

This evening my choir are going to sing at a carol concert in a nearby church and on Sunday we are singing in our own carol service at our church! These are really nice events to attend and totally get you in the Christmas mood, so how about looking out for one going on near you? x

16 days till Christmas - Continuous as the stars that shine, and twinkle on the milky way....

 

You will need:

4oz butter or margarine

2oz sugar

6oz plain flour

Icing sugar

Water

Bowl

Spoons

Sieve

Measuring thing

Oven....

How to make:

Cream the butter and sugar then sieve in the flour. Bring together into a mix with or without your hands. Just remember not to handle the mixture too much as this will melt the fat and it will become all sticky and you won't be able to roll it out. I speak from experience. Roll out on a board dusted with flour, cut little star shapes. Stick in the oven and cook for 15 minutes. When they have cooled down, mix up a paste of icing sugar and water and pipe it on the top. Voila.

 

 

See you tomorrow x

17 days till Christmas - Silhouette's, donkeys and masterpieces

We are now starting making our Christmas cards! They are going to be a silhouette of a stable cut out of black card with a star above it on a background of blue? This was all going well drawing it out on a piece of paper until my siblings came in and a space ship, a wizard and a donkey entered the scene.... do not ask. I am currently typing this with the intention of adding photos and a little how to do it yourself later, after I have made the prototype.

Woah, fast-forward, I wrote that about an hour ago. It sounds so hopeful "hey guys I'm gonna produce a masterpiece"!! Yeah right.... this is the prototype I came up with.

It isn't exactly worthy of the Tate. But I will put on instructions on how I did it if anyone wants to have ago and make some proper ones.

To make one card, you will need:
Paper
White card
Pencil
Paintbrush
Scissors
Black paint
Some idea of how to draw

How to make:
On the piece of paper draw a stable outline. You could also draw a star, donkey, palm tree, camels....
Cut out the drawing around the top edge to make a silhouette. Arrange your templates on a piece of folded white card. Paint over the top with black paint. You could do this lightly to show the brush strokes or block out the entire thing in black. Simples.

I will probably never get round to making the 50 odd of these that we need.... but it was fun making this one and if any of you get the chance to have a go, then please tell me how it went!!

21 days til Christmas

It seems obvious that within this lil' Christmas build-up there should be some recipes, so I'm kick starting it off, with an amazingly simple to make recipe. It also uses cheap ingredients and is perfect for a gift (plus you can sneak ingredients, whilst your making it - hey, it's not stealing if you call it chefs perks!). I'm calling them Chocolate ball, circles, round, spherical like puddles/splats. I had a bit of a problem with what to call them, as you can see, but basically they're a flat, chocolate, circle. It feels like a bit of a rubbish way to describe them after all the build-up, but hey ho, they taste nice.

You will need:

Milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate

Cranberries/Raisins

Almonds

-judge how much you use by how many you want to make

How to make:

Melt the milk chocolate in a pan on the hob.

 Pour onto a tray covered with baking paper. I am pouring it into little circles but I have also poured it into one big sheet before and smashed it up later.

Chop up the cranberries/raisins/almonds and sprinkle them on the top of the chocolate before it sets. Then put the tray into the fridge to set.

   When the milk chocolate is solid, melt the white chocolate in another pan and drizzle it in zig-zag's over the milk chocolate circles. When the white chocolate has set, repeat the process with the dark chocolate!

 If you did one big sheet when everything has set smash it up into shards.

 If you are going to give them away, put in a paper bag or glass jar and tie with some ribbon!

22 days till Christmas - Candle holders and Candy Cane nails

Another crafty gifts one today, but BONUS POINT, there’s a cute nail art idea at the bottom

Candle holders

  

You will need:

A jam jar or something of that sort

Candle stubs

Sweet wrappers or cellophane

Glue, scissors, stuff like that….

How to do:

Cut the sweet wrappers or cellophane into little shapes of strips. If you have cellophane, cool, I want your art cupboard, but if not, then, oh poor you, you’re going to have to break into the Christmas sweeties! Stick them around the jar in any pattern you want, just don’t layer it too much because the light won’t shine through as well. Stripes of different colours looks cool, or little hearts and stars in Christmassy colours! Put the candle stub inside the jar. When you light it, all the light will shine through the paper and throw pretty light shapes over the room.

Candy cane nails

So the idea of this is that it looks like the red and green stripes of a candy cane (hence the name).
They are also going to be slightly glittery to Christmasifie it even more!

You will need:
Sticky tape
A pencil
Red nail polish
Green nail polish
Clear polish
Glitter

How to do:
Cut some thin stripes of sticky tape - about a few mm wide - and stick them firmly in a diagonal line across your fingernails with a space in between each stripe. You should be able to fit about 3 on each nail. Paint your nails as you would normally with the red polish. When they have dried gently pull off the sticky tape and you should hopefully have perfect red stripes. Make sure the red stripes are completely dry before sticking more tape BACK OVER the red stripes. Press down as hard as you can so the next colour doesn't leak through. Paint 1 or 2 of the gaps with green nail polish, leaving a few blank to represent the white. Again when these have dried, carefully peel off the tape. You should know have a few red stripes a few green and a few blank/white. Now paint all your nails with clear polish and sprinkle glitter over the top before it dries. You might want to put another layer of clear over the top of the entire lot, to keep the glitter in place.

For my red nail polish I used Rimmel London Double Decker Red 60 Seconds Super Shine.
This comes out in a gorgeously bright and shiny red, that really captures the Christmassy feel!
This range comes in so many cool colours but this was my favourite. Also featured in the pictures is Colin/Roger the cuddly reindeer. We're not entirely sure which to call him, so for now he is both!
Of course this is my own opinions and pictures.

23 days till Christmas - Photo albums

Hello, seems like I only posted this morning.... Oh wait I did....Sorry about that....I honestly did forget to post it yesterday, Mr Darcy and Lizzie Bennet were just too distracting....

This afternoon I've got one of those "how to's" and true to what I said earlier, it is perfect for a Christmas gift. Photo albums. So simple, so effective. Great for relatives or fill one full of selfies of you and your friends!

You will need:

A plain notebook with a hard cover (no ring-binder because you’ll just make things difficult for yourself)

Glue

Scissors

Wrapping paper/pictures from magazines/tissue paper

Ribbon/buttons/stickers/glitter

Pictures of you, your friends or family

How to make:

Step 1: Lay your wrapping paper, or whatever you choose to use as your base pattern, pattern side down on a flat surface and put the notebook open on top of it. Make sure there is enough to cover the pad, then stick glue over both covers of the book. Lay it down on the paper, then open the pad making sure the paper sticks to the spine before you stick the front down.

Step 2: Either cut off the excess or fold it down on the inside. If you cut it off, then you could maybe stick the edges with pretty sticky tape.

Step 3: Now for the fun bit. Decorating! If you could hear me, then you would know I said that in a squeaky/excited/weird voice….yeah,I’m sad…. You could maybe use a favourite photo on the front, or stick strips of ribbon on the front. Cut pictures out of magazines and make a collage or use patterned paper to cut out shapes. You could outline the pictures with buttons or ribbons. Really go wild, make it special and totally unique!

Fill it with pictures of you, your family and friends. You could decorate each page especially with stickers, buttons, pretty, patterned tape or doodle silver stars and rainbow coloured hearts in the corners of the pages. You could make more than one and give them to grandparents or all your friends. Make them unique for each person, changing the pictures or amount of glitter.

I’m sure whoever you give them to, they will absolutely love it!

24 days till Christmas

Okay, so I do know that as of today there is 23 days till Christmas, but I forgot to post yesterday, because of a few things, namely; adventy excitement, pride and prejudice, biology, the great wall of China, dancing and a piano. Don't ask.
So anyway, lucky you guys, there is 2 Christmas posts coming your way today!! 

*********************************************************************************

Yay, it’s that time of the year again!! And to really get everyone into the spirit of things, I am starting a new series of posts, one on each day up until Christmas eve, each with a different Christmassy activity, to make, do, bake, or see. I might post a few normal posts as well to break things up a little, (don’t wait on it though, chances are I will be way busy – at least in my head -), but from now on expect to see mainly snowmen and snowflakes, jingle bells and jam tarts, winter woollies and wonderlands, I’ve run out of alliterations so I think I will leave it at that!

This first one is on gift giving. Sorting out who you’re going to give gifts to and which you’re going to buy and which you’re going to make.

Sorting out who you are going to give gifts to

It’s sometimes hard to buy gifts for all your friends and family, but if you sort out who you are going to BUY things for and who you are going to MAKE things for, then you can give everyone something lovely but not bust out your savings! It might be helpful to start a Christmas gifts savings pot, so you don’t “accidentally” spend your designated gift money on something that you don’t actually need (I am guilty of this). Here’s a link to a post I did an AGE ago, on making your own Pencil pots which could alternatively be used as a money pot!

Step 1: Write a list of all the people you want to give things to.

Step 2: Divide the list into two parts, BUY and MAKE. For example, say a sibling has asked for a CD. Well you can’t really make that, so put them under the buy heading. Another example, you have an auntie who you don’t know what to get, so put her under the make section and look out for my next posts, to decide what to make her. Keep going like this until all the people on your list are under one column or another.

Step 3: Now write next to each person, what you are going to buy or make them.

Step 4: Add prices or things you need to make the gifts. If you don’t have enough money, then move a few people off the buy list and away to the making party!!

Step 5: Go shopping – always a good plan

Step 6: Now all you have to do is make the homemade gifts and frankly that’s the fun bit!

And remember to always make the wrapping up look beautiful as well, just adding a ribbon or some of that curly wurly, sparkly, string stuff, can make all the difference!

Watch out for my next few posts, because they will be full of sparkly, Christmassy fun, glittery and most probably red, green and gold, homemade Christmas gifts, how to do’s!

Until then sing some “dreamin’ of a white Christmas” and hopefully it will come true!!

Children in Need - Pudsey bear cookies

Not donated yet? What are you waiting for, people, its tonight!! If you really want to donate, but haven't had the time to do your bake sale/sponsored silence/sponsored run/sponsored bathe in custard (bathing in custard, sounds soo fun, doesn't it!) then now's most defiantly the time

There are so many different things you can do to raise money for Children in Need and it is not only REALLY EASY it is also REALLY FUN and on top of that could there be a better cause??

Me and my family made some Pudsey cookies and some spotty cupcakes, which we sold to various friends and neighbours and I have to say, they were DELICIOUS and very, very CUTE!

We asked for donations and guess how much we got!!

Roughly £65!! All for Children in Need!!

A few years ago we did this and got about £40. We bought a special kit, with a Pudsey cutter and bunting and a tea towel and a recipe and what not.... So, we used the cutter again and these came out! The recipe is really simple, just, butter, sugar, flour and cornflour, in a bowl, turn into breadcrumbs, then squish together, roll out and cut out the shapes. The bandanna is ready roll icing with Smarties for the spots! Even if you don't have a bear cookie cutter you could print out a bear picture and cut around it, to make the shape. We made the cupcakes with just a simple plain cake mixture e.g. sugar, butter, flour and eggs with a icing sugar and water icing, again decorated with Smarties! The facial features, for the cookies are just black food dye applied with a cocktail stick or if you have a food pen, that's perfect.

Because children in need is tonight, you might have a bit of problem selling them if everyone has already donated, but you can only try!! Ask your neighbours for donations, you will hopefully get more than asking for a fixed price. Obviously make sure you know the people you are asking!!

Good luck with the cookies and remember even if you don't get much money from the cookies, donate something to children in need, which starts tonight at 7:30!!

When you realise tomorrows that Halloween party and you’ve nothing to wear

If you look at that title and say “yep, that’s me” then yeah keep reading!
I hope this helps all of you out there that are panicking, running around the kitchen dreading that moment when you turn up in a room full of ghosts, wearing jeans and a bright pink tee. Chances are if you’re in that situation you won’t be looking at my lil’ blog but anyways…. it might help someone, somewhere at some point. Today I was planning to do a vampire face-paint tutorial, but then that sorta spiraled and now I have tons of Halloween ideas so you got this instead! Hopefully after reading this, you will look dead gorgeous tomorrow (excuse the feeble pun….I just couldn’t resist).

For the ghost look:

Using a white blusher, foundation or sponge with white face paint on, cover your entire face with a light coat. Now use a light grey colour and make a sweeping motion up your cheekbones. Using a finger blend with the white, until it looks like your cheeks are hollowed out. You may need to put another dusting of white over the top for it to look fully natural. Do the same around the eyes, being very careful. Take a black eyeshadow and apply just to the eyelids. Above this put on a thin layer of grey eyeshadow, using the black eyeshadow brush to blend together creating a smoky look. Apply thick black mascara, eyeliner and a dark burgundy lipstick to complete the look! It might be cool to put some white streaks in your hair (make sure whatever you use can be washed off!!) then scoop half of your hair into a messy bun then twist the other half up and around it, in separate strands, bulking it out and crazifying it. You could attach some long strips of netting to a skirt and wear with long gloves and a little veil.

To make a skirt:

Take the biggest piece of white netting you can find and do a running stitch along the whole of the longest side. Make sure you use one entire length of thread because we are now going to gather it all up by pulling on one end of the thread and scrunching it up to the other end. Arrange the gathers so that there is enough material left to go around your waist. Attach the gathered side to an already existing skirt then sew up the sides.

To make a veil:

Scrunch up a piece of white material into a flower shape and put a few stitches through it. Cut out a square of white netting and fold one edge around a metal headband, stitch or glue to secure. Glue the flower on to the headband off to one side along with a bow made of lace scraps. You could make more than one flower and have a whole cluster of them, or alternately you could use fake flowers.

Off-duty vampire

Layer black and grey eyeshadow, like I did for the ghost look, but make it darker than before. Apply a thick layer of black eyeliner with decent sized flicks and mascara. Wear with dark lips in burgundy, red or if you’re feeling brave try black. If you want to go that tiny bit over the top use grey blusher along your cheekbones to hollow them out. Wear with “Just-woke-up hair” with a few strands plaited and pinned at the back of your head and a black-on-black outfit.

China doll

Cover your entire face with a thick layer of white blusher. Using a thin brush with black face paint on it or a black eyeliner draw lots of little cracks coming out of your hairline and along your cheeks like you’ve been dropped several times but always not quite broken. Apply white lipstick then using a stand-out pink lip-liner draw a lil’ rosebud heart in the middle of your mouth that goes over both lips. Using the black again draw two cracks going out sideways on each side of your mouth. Pale blue eyeshadow and black lashes. Do neat bunches with ribbons tied around in loopy bows. Wear with several full skirts layered underneath a dress, preferably in a pastel colour. Sew strips of lace around the hem of the skirts so they peek out from underneath the dress to look like petticoats. Lace sleeves or puffed sleeves could really complete the whole Miss Perfect thing.

Go out and kill the party (*cringe* I'm so not funny!) with your awesome outfit tomorrow.

Rainbow cous-cous

This gorgeous, easy to make, healthy dish is perfect for munching on at a picnic, soaking up the last of the sun and if your family is anything like mine and try to kiss you whenever anyone says cous-cous (kiss-kiss, get it?) it will provide endless entertainment!

You will need:

Just add water plain cous- cous

Cucumber

Tomato

Colourful peppers

Onion

Olive oil

Lemon juice

Top tip: You can use whatever vegetables you find knocking around your fridge, the more the merrier! Whole olives might be nice.

How to make:

1. Pour boiling water over the cous-cous following the instructions on the back of the packet.

2. While the cous-cous is soaking up the water, cut up all the vegatables (minus the lemon)

    into tiny pieces.

 3.Put all the chopped up veg in with the cous-cous and mix with a drizzle of olive oil and lemon.

 Serve with a smile (cheesy I know, but hey!)!

Cropped trousers and how to wear

Hey, so I’ve noticed a lot (I mean a lot) of cropped trousers on the street recently, which is kinda cool, ‘cause they are amazing, real chic when worn the right way. When worn the wrong way…. Well…. Don’t even go there…. But, below I’ve put some ideas and tips ‘n’ tricks on how to

do it right!

The casual "just threw this on and still look amazing"

Try frayed jeans with a wide fold-up paired with a white button down shirt that's half tucked in. For

a more "laid-back" feel throw on a brightly coloured oversize sweater. Have a go at a messy up-do to finish it off, Messy ballerina bun This link goes to my instructions. Not self-promotion or anything, but, it does look pretty awesome so have a go. Tell me how it went if you like, ‘cause I love reading comments :D

One of those office days

Neat pastel colours with perfect creases and a pair of black or nude heels make this style great for work as well as play – well not play as such, ‘cause for 1. You can’t really do the monkey bars in heels and 2. When you fall off you’d uncrease your trousers (and we wouldn’t want that now would we).  An open blazer in a darker colour adds to this appeal.

Classic mademoiselle

A one-size too big white shirt that has neat creases, tucked into a pair of - practically any colour as long as its pale - chino style trousers with a scarf tied at the side around your neck, is just the picture of classic French style. Top it off – French (Dutch, whatever) braid your hair or even better, twist the braids round your head, traditional milkmaid girl.

Sorry about the distinct lack of photos everyone *sheepish grin* will try to get some for next time.

Autumn Days smoothie

Both a warming, by-the-fire drink and a sunny autumn days smoothie!

You will need:
A blender

1 banana

1 large apple

Blackberries 

Apple juice

Ground Cinnamon

How to make:

Cut the apple into small chunks and boil to soften. Put in the blender with the banana,
blackberries, and a small pinch of ground cinnamon depending on how strong you want it.
Cover with a good slosh of apple juice. Stick on the lid (always important!) and give it a 30
second whizz until it is smooth. Lumpy smoothies are disgusting!