Let it snow!

I hope everyone had a wonderfully HAPPY CHRISTMAS! :D

I'm extremely lucky, (or unlucky, you could say :P ) to have had a huuuuge amount of snow in the last few weeks! It got up to about 35cm where I live, which for London is pretty impressive! Me and my brother took out our dad's amaaazing SLR canon camera for some photos one evening, so here are a few we took.

This is the only one in the post I actually took myself, and I'm actually reasonably proud of it. It's taken out of my brother's window, looking through all the icicles and out over the trees.

Look at the snow deepness! :O

Hmm, strange facial expression here :P

I'm wearing, in case anyone's interested:
Wellies - Millets, I think

Tights - TopShop sale, £5 :D

Shorts - Republic, £22

Gloves - Accessorize, birthday present from the lovely Rachel

Jumper - Next. It was my mum's from years ago but I've sort of permanently borrowed it now :P

Snood - Primark, about £3?

Hat - Accessorize, birthday present a few years ago

And obviously, tops under my jumper as well, but I can't remember what I wore , sorry about that.

Fields near where I live. Lovely photo here taken by my brother.

Spectrespecs!

YAY BIRTHDAY! It was my birthday a few weeks back, and I had such an amazing and busy time :)

One of the ways I'm celebrating is having a Harry Potter themed party, and of course I'm going as Luna Lovegood :P And obviously, the best thing about Luna is her Spectrespecs, so I set abo

ut making some, and I thought I'd show you how, just in case you ever feel the need to make your own !

So I'm aiming to make a pair of those glasses --->

1. Firstly, you need this template. Copy it into Word and resize it to fit your face, and print two copies. If you can, print onto card, and skip to step 5. If not, print onto paper, and continue with step 2.

2. Put one paper copy of the template to one side. Find a cereal box or some cardboard which can fit the frame the sides

on it. Use double sided tape (like in my

photo) or glue each part onto the cardboard. This will make each piece stronger.

3. Cut out a piece of sticky back plastic to fit over

er each piece of the glasses. This will give the shiny effect on the frame.

4. Use a piece of cardboard to push the sticky back plastic flat over the glasses, peeling back the paper backing with the other hand. You will then need to cut out around each shape. At this stage, you should have the main frame, and the two sides, mounted on card and covered in shiny plastic.

5. To make the lenses, take some silvery paper, or paper with a special effect on it. Cut two circles to fit in your frames and colour one circle with a pink pen, the other with a blue pen.

6. Use a cutting knife to cut two small circles in the centre of each circle, so you can see through them. Then cover the back of the glasses in sticky back tape or glue, and attach the circles colour down on the back of the glasses frame.

7. Using blue and red wrappers from sweets, cut out a small square and attach this over the back of each circle.

8. Take the second template you put aside at the start, cut it out, and using glue or sticky back tape, attach the templates onto the backs of the cardboard pieces. This means that your glasses

have the pattern on both sides.

9. Bend the straight ends of the side supports, like hinges, then use glue or double sided tape to attach them behind the front frame.

And your glasses are finished!

I look incredibly cool, I think.

;)

Oh dear.

I'm sooo sorry everyone! I have not blogged in so long, and I'm incredibly sorry. I hope you can find it in you to forgive me :( I've been incredibly busy, I've been away, and then had a lot of work and revision and all sorts. So I hope this shall be the first in a series of much more regular blog posts! :)

Recently, I hit the beautiful TopShop midseason and emerged with this absolutely BEAUTIFUL, in my opinion anyway, pocketwatch. It was half price from £30 to £15 and, thanks to Tania, who worked out for me that it wasn't broken, but was actually a windup clockwork watch, it will never run out of batteries! Apologies for the bad quality on some of the photos.

I love all the pattern on the back, and I think it's amazing how you can just turn it over and see all the clock mechanism working away, and watch the ticking :D

I love it! What have you got in the sales recently? xxxx

BRACELETS :D

This has not been a particularly great week. I spent Wednesday getting gradually more ill throughout the day, ending up with a fever, aching all over my body and a headache... and the same on Thursday. It hurt just to move! But then had a great sleep thanks to some wonderful drowsy flu medicine and woke up Friday feeling fabulous! And then today I woke up with the worst headache I've ever had in my life, which hurrrrt so much whenever I moved at all... :'(

Fortunately, I seem better for the moment so lets hope it stays like that :) Anyway!

I LOVE bracelets. There's something about how you can just easily slip on a few to make an outfit a bit more exciting, and you've also got something to fiddle with if you're bored :P So over the years I've accumulated a fair few!

I've picked out a few to show you today, which are quite new to my collection.

These three were given to me from my brother, and I absolutely love them! He went to Costa Rica for a month, and brought these back from some of the local craftsmen. I love the homemade natural feel of them all!

I'm not entirely sure what this is made of, but you can just about see that is says 'Costa Rica' and has a lizard on it. I like wearing this so I can pretend I've been there, and lived out of a rucksack for a month :P I'm so glad my brother did that instead of me, there's no way I could pack a month's worth of my life into one rucksack xD

This one is quite clearly made of seeds from Costa Rican plants. I love how the seeds have such a bright orange colour on them, that really makes them contrast nicely. Out of all of them, I probably wear this one the most :P

I think this one is made of a seed which is painted, but I love how it's got a pattern a bit like a sun on it :)

This is often how I like wearing my bracelets - mixed up with a little bit of everything else. That way, each bracelet I have on is different and has a different story :) How do you like wearing yours?

A little bit of a lot

I am sooo sorry, its been quite a while since I've posted something :( I've been trying really hard this school year to keep up to date with work, so I've been doing lots of putting-into-folders, cutting-and-sticking and general sorting and of course, homework.... but in truth, and this might sound a bit strange, I'm actually sort of enjoying the satisfaction that I'm getting all my work done, and being organised! I feel like I'm actually achieving something, getting somewhere. Which, is great! Wonder how long its gonna last :P

So I think this is going to be a bit of a bits n bobs post, if that is okay :)

First things first, its Tania from forget me not's birthday on Sunday! So why not pop over and wish her a happy birthday on the 3rd :) I need to buy her a present... If you're reading this Tania, I'm not going to tell you what I'm thinking of so haaaaa ;)

Second,

its also Tania's sister's birthday party soonish as well, and I need to rustle up a fancy dress costume, on the theme of a 'fictional character'. Naturally, of course, I want to go as a princess :P So if anyone has any ideas or suggestions how I can become an Aurora or a Cinderella, but cheapishly, that would be wonderful!

Oh, and! I came across this amazing shoe website! It's called Discount Shoe Store, and they sell beautiful heels and other shoes for the cheapest prices ever - you can get heels for like, £10! So its definitely worth having a look, here's the link: Discount Shoe Store

I'm not sure how much they charge for postage though, I've never bought anything from there, I just admire how preeedy they are :P But I'd really recommend the 'Black Gardenia Satin Platform' shoe, I have them, but I bought them off the Barratts website a while back, and they are beautiful, and comfy too :)

And one last thing! I've been busy playing piano and singing a lot recently, which I actually LOVE! I normally learn chords or piano parts from songs I like and then sing along with them :D And, quite a lot of these are by Lady Gaga , whose music I absolutely adore (that's one of the things I put in my first blog post ever!) She has a lot of acousticky lovely music that isn't very publicised.

So one I came across about a month ago is You and I , and its going to be on her new album. (EXCITED!) I just thought I'd share it with you :) And maybe if you look out in the future I might post a clip of me singing it :P

There we go, quite a lengthy post in the end! I hope you enjoyed it!

I love all you lovely people x

Natural Beauty Treatments

We all know how many beauty products there are out there, claiming to have wonderful benefits, most with huuuuge price tags. So I've put together a few beauty treatments you can try out at home for a fraction of the price. :)

Problem: Dry, limp hair

Treatment: Olive oil

The first time I tried this, I was a little sceptical. I warmed up a small cup of olive oil in the microwave and used enough to cover all of my dry hair, using my fingers to ensure all my hair was covered. Then I left it for about 15 - 30 minutes, and washed it off afterwards thoroughly with shampoo. Make sure you thoroughly rinse it out, or your hair will be greasy, even once you've dried it. I blow-dried it and I have to say, I could REALLY feel the difference! My hair felt MUCH thicker, and very soft, and very shiny. The next day at school, several people commented on how nice it looked, even after I'd slept on it. And it wasn't at all greasy, either!

I tried it again the same week, and I didn't see the same effects, so I think its something that's best done about once a week, otherwise you overdose your hair a bit :P

RESULT: Softer, shinier, more volumised hair

Problem: Dry, chapped lips

Treatment: Sugar

Yes, believe it or not, sugar is just wonderful for this. Use some caster sugar, or any other sugar you happen to have (except icing sugar), and rub it against your lips, and it will gently scrape off dry skin. And even better, you can lick of any remaining sugar at the end! I have a posh version of this, from Lush, and its a lovely product of flavoured sugar scrub, but you really don't need to bother buying something when plain cheap sugar does just the same job. Just finish off with Vaseline, Carmex, gloss or whatever takes your fancy!

RESULT: Soft smooth lips

Problem: Spot scars

Treatment: Lemon juice

If you have ever had a horrible pimple or spot, and after time the redness and lump goes down, but you're still left with a teeny red dot? And while they are very small, once you have a few, they don't look so great? Well, I have read that applying a few drops of fresh lemon juice onto each scar and leaving for about 15 minutes, and washing off. If you do this every day for about a week, it should make them fade. I've only just started doing this, but after about two goes I think they have begun to fade a little.

RESULT: Hopefully, no more scars!

Problem: Tired eyes

Treatment: Cucumber

This works so wonderfully! It's best to chill the cucumber in the fridge beforehand, so it is very refreshing. Just cut two thin slices, lie back and relax for about 10 minutes, and afterwards, your eyes should be more awake and hopefully dark shadows should have faded. Really does make you feel better!

Result: Awakened, refreshed eyes

I hope you've learned some useful new tips! :) x

Holiday house

Regular readers will know that I recently went to France, and we stayed in a little woodland cottage the first week which which lovely, and the second week, an absolutely GORGEOUS place, done up by an extreeeemely artistic English lady. Everything in the house was wonderfully vintage and mismatched and just loverly loverly. I, of course, felt it was far too big an opportunity to miss out, so took some photos to share :)

Looking up from the stairs.

There were loads of vintagey hats and old books everywhere.

And a huuuge amount of pots, vases, glasses, ornaments, and general decoration.

I LOVE this mirror! Looks like its from a church or something :P And there were lots of those metal lantern all over the house.

Not to mention a MASSIVE collection of DVDs to keep me occupied! I just had such an amazing time :)

Someone has a new dress...

I have a story to tell. So here we go, enjoy!

I popped into Miss Selfridge the other day with my friend Rhiannon and had a look in the sale rail, and I found a lovely satin dress, that I quite liked, and it was in a size 4 too :D I tried it on, and really liked it, but it had a broken zip and I thought that it couldn't be mended. When I got home, I told my mum about it, and she said that she could really easily show me how to fix it, so I rushed back next day, and found the dress. But unfortunately, it wasn't there in a 4, a 6, or an 8. I found one in a 10 though, with a broken zip, but it was massive on me. I bought it anyway, but didn't feel too hopeful. When I took it home, my mum showed me how to fix the zip, then helped me sew in two darts which only took about five minutes, and then it fitted perfectly.

I'm so bad at taking pictures of myself xD

Its a lovely pale greeny colour, in satin. And its GORGEOUS! And the most amazingest wonderful bit of it all it the PRICE! Make a guess now... and see if you're right! You'll be surprised! It was ....

...

...

...

£3.50

I KNOW! Three pounds fifty for a beautiful prom dress! That's only 40p extra than the price of a Starbucks Vanilla Cream Frappucino (my favourite :P )

It was reduced from £50, in the sale! SOOOO happy about that! Ahh, bargains like this make life worth living :D

What bargains have any of you lovelies got recently? :) xx

(I've only just noticed I have quite obvious tan lines in this picture - you can see two white triangles where I was wearing a halterneck bikini all summer hahaha :P )

No more summer

And so, the summer comes to an end. :( And I'm back at school. I'm gonna miss just being able to sleep all the time and go out with all my friends up to London and round each others' houses... But the good news is I get to see them all at school EVERY DAY YAAY! So its not so bad.

I had another wonderful time at Tania's a few days ago, yes, the lovely Tania of forget me not . She is interested in photography, and I am always willing to offer my services as a model for her :P And she has given me all of the images, so I thought I might share some of them with you all. I've put most of them in black and white and sepia, I think they look better :)

Here's my lovely £14 New Look maxi from a few posts back, with Accessorize earrings (a present) and my bikini (we went swimming :P ) And the sunglasses are Tania's.

Wearing a Primark skater-type top, £6. With a Topshop £3 (in the sale :D ) necklace.

It was kinda windy xD

I wish everyone the best of luck for the new school year! xxxxxx

Body Shop

I have always lovvvved the Body Shop. I used to go in when I was younger and try out all the free samples with my mum :) And if I'm honest, not much has changed! I went in about a week ago with my friend to try out some of their lovely products, when I saw something AMAZING! By the door, there were little free plastic pots for you to fill with Body Shop samples and take home with you! As I'm sure you can imagine, I was insanely excited by this, and proceeded to fill as many as I could to try out at home :P In the end I left with this:

I've put together a few reviews of everything I've tried out :)

BODY SCRUB:

This is cherry body scrub (from cherries grown in Italy, the nice lady in the shop said), and it is really good. You can see some of the little black seeds in there that help to scrub off dry skin. It smells more of artificial cherry sweets than actual cherry, but I'm not complaining as I love both.

Even now as I type, I can still smell the sweet smell wafting up :P Such a lovely product :)

BODY LOTION:

These are really good, I have here satsuma on the left and strawberry on the right. The lotion is quite thin, but feels very soft and light to use. They both smell incredible, both sweet, fruity and fresh. The only thing I would say is that often they don't come out of the dispenser easily - you can see the satsuma tester is only half full. But otherwise, just wonderful.

BODY BUTTER:

I've always loved these. Much thicker than the body lotion, but incredibly moisturising. The scents aren't quite as intense, they all have a similar underlying smell, but they are very thick and feel luxurious. However they can leave your skin a little greasy if you use too much. Here I have satsuma on the left, then mango, then cherry.

SHOWER GEL:

I've never tried these before, but I have to say I'm impressed. They lather well, and the scents are great. Here I have, from left to right, strawberry, cherry and satsuma. They leave a very fruity smell in the air as well as on me :P Lovely :)

I never thought I'd like any of these products as much as I do now once I've tried them in place of other products at home, but I love them all! Whoever came up with such a great idea to take testers home is amazing! I definitely know now what I'm asking for for Christmas....

Summer

Now I'm back from holiday, my mum doesn't go back to work til I go back to school, so this is again the time of the summer when we do house projects, woo! This involves painting bedrooms (four years back), getting new wardrobes (last year), and relaying carpet (this year). So I've had eeever so much fun taking everything out of my room, and have only just put it all back. Which was kind of boring, but also really nice just to check through all my stuff, rediscover little presents or craft kits, and make everything tidy and pretty and exciting. I guess it's a good thing to have to have a bit of a clear out really. I really tried to make it look very personal so I've taken a few photos to show you all my hard work, and you can find out a bit more about me from them :)

I have a long line of all my books, in alphabetical order by author. A bit like my own little library :) I'm not particularly patriotic or anything, but I couldn't think where else to put a Union Flag and I thought here sort of worked :P

Lanyards from two concerts I won tickets for, Pixie Lott and JLS (which were both AMAZING), which I've hung here to make me look like a festivally type, haha :P You can also see the beginnings of my mini indoor jungle on the right. I love having plants in my room, makes it feel healthier :)

Here you can see my radio/tape/cd player, tuned, of course, to my favourite radio station ever, 95.8 Capital FM :D oh the love. That blue envelope under it has all my tickets of concerts I've been to in it, including the Jingle Bell Ball (I won tickets, yays! you can see a red confetti heart on the shelf above that I caught there, which I've kept just for a reminder of how wonderful it was), and Scouting for Girls :) Also a fresh rose in a vase on the far left, I love a little natural beauty.

An overall view :) I'm aiming for a warm, cosy comfy feel, but also very tidy. Haha, you can see all my cuddly toys at the top lined up in size order :P And of course my laptop so I can write to all you beautiful people :)

That's it, I hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit more about me! Also a HUGE thank you to everyone said such lovely things to me about my results :)