Childminding = Cupcakes.

For the next few weeks I am childminding a lovely 8 year old girl. However she is very energetic so I have to come up with lots of things to "do" in order to keep her entertained!

Something simple and easy to do with children is baking, so we decided to make little cupcakes. Unfortunately we couldn't find a whisk... which meant all the mixing had to be done by hand. Despite an aching arm, they turned out very well and so I thought I'd share some photos and the recipe with you. 

Ingredients

200g Butter

200g Sugar

200g Flour

3 Eggs

Chocolate Chips

(plus Butter, Icing Sugar & Food Colouring for the butter icing)

Recipe

- Preheat oven at 180degrees

- Soften the butter and whisk until light and fluffy with the sugar

- Fold in the flour and the eggs until you have a smooth and creamy mixture

- Add the chocolate chips (this part is optional but we wanted as much chocolate as possible)

- Pour the mixture into cupcake cases... there was the perfect amount for 12 cupcakes

- Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes

Obviously our cupcakes were decorated by an 8 year old, so purple icing was a must, however if you wish to make more tasteful cupcakes then maybe leave out the food dye and chocolate toppings from the next part of the recipe!

Icing Recipe

- I actually normally just estimate measurements with icing and mix together butter and icing sugar until it looks creamy and smooth and tastes right, so I cant give precise measures for this! I did find that adding a splash of water helped my icing become smoother and stick together

- Add food colouring of any colour (we chose purple) and mix until the icing is fully dyed your chosen colour

- After the cakes have cooled, ice your cakes using a piping bag or spoons... we used spoons as it is a whole lot easier and we wanted to eat them as soon as possible!

- Add your toppings... we stuck Magic Stars and Smarties into the icing before it set

We actually left a couple of cakes without icing and for those we just stuck the chocolate toppings into the cakes themselves!

We didn't wait long before tucking in and they really were extremely good! I would recommend eating them fresh as I find cupcakes often taste best the day you make them. 

I would love to know what your favourite cupcake recipe is and also any ideas of fun things to make or do with an 8 year old girl!

xo

Statement Necklaces.

I never normally like wearing chunky jewellery as I feel like it often drowns me or doesn't suit me, so it took me a while to get on the "statement necklace" bandwagon...

However when my cousin came to stay she persuaded me to buy this necklace and I have fallen in love with it. I think it's the colour that makes me love it so much as it is so pretty! 

In the photos I paired it with the same blue/green/turquoise colour top from Topshop, however it looks amazing with white tops as well for a very summery vibe. I probably wouldn't pair it with certain high neck tops although obviously it depends on colour and style.

I really like how it can immediately brighten and add interest to an outfit and it is a very fun accessory. I'm glad I decided to try something different and I shall definitely be on the look out for another beautiful big piece of jewellery. I find that using the right accessories with an outfit can completely change your look and these big necklaces work really well with an otherwise plain outfit.

The necklace featured in this blog post is from New Look, however I couldn't find it on their website so this link is to the same necklace through ASOS!


What do you all think of statement necklaces? What is your favourite summer fashion trend?

xo

Benefit - World Famous Neutrals | Review.

I've never particularly been one for eyeshadow as I can never get smoky eyes to look quite right and I never really thought eyeshadow added anything to my face. However I recently re-discovered the eyeshadow set by Benefit called "World Famous Neutrals". I'm now slightly obsessed with it!

The thing I especially love about this palette is that it comes with two different bases (the round pots in the photo) and 4 different eyeshadows, meaning you can mix and match to create different looks. There's a little "Tips and Tricks" guide attached to the top of the box which gives you different ideas how to combine the eyeshadows to create different looks - for daytime or nighttime. Of course you can just combine them however you like to create your own effect.

For me this palette is the solution to my eyeshadow woes and I love how it can look very natural or can be slightly more smoky depending on occasion/time of day/mood! Obviously if you want a very dark eye this palette isn't the best for you, but I would really recommend it especially to those who are less inclined to the black eyeshadow but still want to define their eyes and add more interest with eyeshadow.

xo

Summer Goals.

I love making lists, and I thought what better excuse than to make a list of my summer goals! I have technically already had a month of summer, however we shall overlook that and pretend July is the beginning (as it is for most people anyway!)

1) Go swimming in the sea as often as possible 

2) Go surfing so I can get good(ish) again

3) Get fitter - do more exercise like swimming/running

4) Do sit ups every morning before breakfast 

5) Eat more healthily, i.e. get into eating salads and fruit more

6) See as many of my friends as possible as much as possible

7) Read more books... I really want to see The Fault in Our Stars but I feel like I cant until I've read the book!

8) Do a proper clear out of my room and throw away old things (this one will be hard for me as I'm a secret stasher/hoarder haha!)

9) Do something really spontaneous

10) Develop my blog and create some good posts I'm proud of

11) Build a massive sandcastle

12) Learn how to cook more dishes and bake lots of cakes - kind of undermines no.5 but thats life!

13) Make the longest daisy chain ever

14) Watch as many sunsets as I can

15) Have fish and chips on the beach

16) Drink 2 litres of water a day

17) Dance all night, to the best song ever...

18) Sort out my clothes/re-vamp my summer wardrobe

19) Spend as much time outside as possible (I really hope it stays this sunny and warm!)

20) Make the most of every second!

So these are my summer goals... some more likely to be achieved than others but I think its always a start to have good intentions! What are your summer goals? I would love to hear some other ideas!

xo

Beach Hopping and Sea Swimming.

Living on an island is not all bad - we have the most amazing beaches! Lately the weather in Guernsey has been lovely and warm and so we have been going to the beach a lot to make the most of it. Growing up close to so many beaches means it is easy to take for granted the ability to just go and sunbathe on the sand or have a swim in the sea. However after being at university in England for a year I have come to appreciate my beautiful island a whole lot more! 

Today I went down to a little beach called Petit Bot with my parents for a swim in the sea. It was very cold but I'm proud to say I put my head underwater and swam out to a rock and back!

We then went on to another gorgeous beach called L'eree where we sat with our backs against the hot granite wall.

The sunset was absolutely stunning this evening - the colours were amazing and the clouds just added interest to the sky. (Sorry this photo isn't better quality... I took it in the car as we were driving home!)

I am looking forward to spending lots of time on the beach with my friends and family this summer - having BBQs, eating fish and chips, building sandcastles (no you're never too old), going surfing, jumping off rocks/walls/groins into the sea, playing beach games, watching the sun set...

Hopefully we'll have the weather for it! 

xo

French Adventures and Beautiful Beads.

Last week I went on holiday to France with my family. We went to a beautiful island to the west of France called Ile de Re. I really love going to France as it's so close and the food especially is amazing! On our way there we stopped off in La Rochelle for lunch and I couldn't help but take photos of the old buildings which were truly beautiful.

To get to Ile de Re you have to cross a massive bridge from mainland France to the island which was super exciting. Even though there are proper roads in Ile de Re there is a strong emphasis on cycling, with many different cycling tracks taking you all over the island. Now cycling really isn't my favourite thing to do but as it is 'what you do' over there and my family were keen we hired bicycles for the week. It turned out to be so much fun (and also very tiring!) and you could see much more of the island by bicycle than you could by car which was cool. They have lots of amazing salt flats - where unsurprisingly they make salt! 

When we weren't cycling madly around or playing tennis on the courts we found, we went to the beach or relaxed by the pool at our house we were staying in. The pool was amazingly lovely and warm, as was the temperature! One of the days we didn't go out properly as it was 30 degrees! It was almost too hot to sunbathe properly...

On our way home we stopped off in Dinan which is probably one of my favourite places in France. It is a medieval town with lots of amazing old buildings and such a lovely vibe/feel to it. It also has incredible creperies!

In Dinan my mum and I found a bead shop and just HAD to go in and have a look, much to my dads dismay! We spent a very long time looking at all the beautiful and colourful beads and picking our favourites. There were so many colours and styles to choose from! I have never seen so many beads in my life and I loved it.

In the end I went for a simple silver charm with a black thread but I also got a coin charm as I am obsessed with old coins! We also bought lots of beads and different colour threads for various necklaces we want to make for ourselves and other people.

Au revoir France...

xo