Three Cliffs Bay

To celebrate mine and my friend Eli's birthdays this year we decided to go on a day trip to Three Cliffs Bay in The Gower. We had it planned for ages but as it got closer to the date we realised the weather wasn't going to be on our side. But, we bit the bullet and went anyway and I am so glad we did. 

When we arrived into swansea it was absolutely hammering down with rain and we thought we had made a big mistake dragging all of our fiends on a soggy day trip. However, luck was on our side and once we got out of the cars the rain stopped and we got to enjoy a lovely few hours on the beach. 

I had never been to The Gower before but it has now become one of my favourite places in the UK and I will definitely be going back this summer when the weather is a little nicer. It was so peaceful and beautiful and I came away feeling so relaxed and happy. 

Bluebells in the Woods

So I haven't blogged for a while... to say the last few months have been hectic is a bit of an understatement! But I am back and I have a new camera so I expect there will be a lot more content on here from now on. 

These are some photos we took on a walk around Randwick Woods on a sunny day about a month ago. I am so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the country. 

PHOTOBOOTH

Something that has become really popular at parties in recent years is having a photo booth. I absolutely LOVE taking photos and having them as memories so I really wanted to set one up for my Mum's party. 

I spent a long time researching how to do it on YouTube and Pinterest and in the end it was super easy. We have a small front porch so using a white sheet, I covered all of the walls up to create a plain background and decorated it using a gold foil curtain and string lights. I also printed the word photo booth out and stuck it above the door which I thought really added to the effect. I set the camera up on a tripod and then all that was left to do was for people to grab a prop and snap away. 

It was definitely one of the highlights of the night and now we have all of the photos of everyone who came to the party to keep. My mum actually printed a bunch of the pictures off and has included them in her Thank You cards which I thought was a really nice idea. Anyway here are a few of my favourite pictures from the night.

Cute Carrot Cake

No Birthday is complete without cake and a special birthday deserves a special cake. My Mum can't eat chocolate so I wanted to make something that looked pretty but also tasted amazing which is why I went for an ultimate carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and cake bunting! 

The cake bunting was made using paper straws, string, patterned card and letter stamps and was unbelievably easy to make. My friends and I cut out all of the flags and glued them to the string, we when tied the string to the paper straws and it was done! It was so simple to do but it made the cake the centre piece on the night.

For the cake you will need:

150g self-raising flour

100g wholemeal self-raising flour

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp mixed spice

zest 1 orange

400g caster sugar 

(this is A LOT of sugar and could easily be reduced or swapped for light brown sugar)

350 ml vegetable oil

4 eggs

350g grated carrots

This recipe will make a large two layered sponge. My original idea was to do four layers so I made two batches of mixture but when my first sponges came out of the oven they were so huge I ended up with three layers and a whole tray of cupcakes.

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 4 and grease/line your cake tins with baking paper.

In a mixing bowl stir together the flours, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, mixed spice and orange zest.

Mix in the eggs and oil until fully combined.

Stir in the grated carrot.

Spoon half of the mixture into each of your cake tins and place in the oven for up to 50 minutes until a skewer in the centre of the cake comes out clean. 

For the icing you will need:

170g icing sugar, sifted

60g unsalted butter, softened

240g full fat cream cheese (Waitrose full fat)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Whisk the butter and icing sugar together on a low speed until it forms a sandy consistency.

 Add a little cream cheese at at time while continuing to mix.

 Add the vanilla extract and then turn up the speed and beat until light and fluffy.

This is the best cream cheese frosting recipe I have come across so far. All of the other recipes I have used in the past used Philadelphia cream cheese and I found that as soon as I started to mix it it went runny and horrible. The Waitrose cream cheese didn't do this at all, it held it's shape and was really easy to spread on the cake.

To finish the cake off I crushed some walnuts and sprinkled them in a circle on top and obviously decorated it with birthday candles and the cake bunting.

I was so pleased with how this recipe turned out and I got nothing but good feedback on the night. The cake was so moist and delicious, I just wish I had got a picture of the inside but it was demolished so quickly I didn't get a chance!!

DIY Paper Pom Poms

My Mum turned 50 this month and what was originally going to be a very low key gathering at the house, very quickly turned into a huge party when I became involved. I love organising parties and one of the first things I knew I wanted was paper pom poms and a lot of bunting. I had seen these pom poms all over pinterest and a friend of mine told me how easy they were to make so I decided to give it a go myself. They really are so easy and look so effective. There are tons of video tutorials on Youtube about how to make them but I thought i would do my own step by step guide in pictures.

You will need lots of sheets of coloured tissue paper, some thin metal wire, some string and a pair of scissors. I experimented with various amounts of tissue paper and for the large pom poms shown in the picture above I used about 6 sheets of tissue paper. some of the videos recommend you use up to 15 sheets of paper but this gave a much denser effect and I liked how mine looked slightly more floral.

Next you need to line all of your sheets of tissue paper up and start folding them in a concertina. It is important that all of your sheets of tissue paper stay in line because it makes it easier when you come to cut them later on.

One you have finished folding, you need to find the middle point and pull each side out to make a double ended fan. 

Next, take the wire and wrap this around the middle. 

My wire was pre cut and was quite long so I twisted it together and then wrapped it around again to make sure it was extra secure.

After this you will need to attach the string. It is best to do this now because it is quite tricky to tie it on once the pom pom is finished. All I did was thread the piece of string under the wire and tie it in a loop. 

The next step is to cut the edges of your fan to the shape you would like. I went for a scalloped edge because I wanted my pom poms to look like flowers. I have seen some with pointy edges that look equally as good. I found it easier to cut a few layers at a time because my scissors weren't good enough to go through all of the layers at once.

This is what it should look like once you have finished cutting the edges. You need to pull it out so that it looks like a double ended fan again. You can also see how I have tied the strong on a little bit better in this photo.

All that is left to do is start lifting each layer of the tissue paper. You will quickly start to see the shape of the pom pom come together. You need to be quite careful when doing this because the tissue paper can rip quite easily (I had a few casualties!) Luckily it doesn't matter if they aren't perfectly formed because it adds to the quirkiness of them. 

Once you have finished lifting about half of the layers, flip the pom pom over and start lifting the layers on the other side, This creates the sphere effect you are looking for and also makes the pom pom look more even.

Here is a cheesy picture of my holding the finished product!

I hope this post is helpful to anyone who is planning party decorations or just likes a good old DIY.

I have a few more blog posts on the way from the party including a DIY Photobooth and the Birthday Cake so keep your eyes peeled. 

Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes

Today's bake was very much spring inspired. It has felt so warm recently and definitely not like winter at all. The daffodils have started blooming two months early and there was some definite frog movement in our pond this afternoon! 

I have always been a huge fan of lemon drizzle cake but it is never a cake I have attempted to make myself. It is traditionally made in a loaf tin and cut into slices however I do enjoy mixing things up a bit when I bake so I decided to try making them cupcake style. 

Ingredients

for the cake:

8oz margarine or butter

8oz caster sugar

4 eggs

8oz flour

zest of 2 lemons

for the drizzle:

5oz caster sugar

juice of one lemon

for the icing:

4 tablespoons icing sugar

enough lemon juice to mix to the consistency you want

lemon zest to decorate

Method

for the cake:

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees c/gas mark 5

Cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy

Crack in the eggs and beat until the mixture is smooth

Mix in the flour until fully combined

Stir in the lemon zest

Spoon into cake cases and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown

for the drizzle:

Mix your caster sugar with the lemon juice and stir until combined

While the cakes are still hot poke small holes all over with a skewer

Spoon some of the drizzle over each of your cakes

for the icing:

Once the cakes are completely cool you can ice them (this step is optional)

Mix your icing sugar with lemon juice until it is a pourable consistency

Using a spoon, drizzle the icing over each cupcake to create the line effect

Sprinkle a little lemon zest on top for decoration

Then all you need to do is grab a cup of tea, put your feet up and enjoy!

My Year In Photos

I probably should have written this post before the new year, but I have been feeling a little low this week so I decided to have a look back at my photos from 2015 and count my blessings...

January

(top left) I started 2015 off surrounded by my absolute favourite people which was perfect!

February

(top right)I cooked a huge vegetarian feast for my Mum's Birthday.

March

(bottom left & right) I got promoted at work and bought myself a red Mini which I have wanted for as long as I have been able to drive.

April

(top left & right) I went to Scotland with my mum and dad to visit family that I haven't seen for a very long time and Phil and I celebrated 4 years together.

May

(bottom left & right) I went to see S Club 7 in Cardiff with my Mum and it was a childhood dream come true, I never got to go when I was younger. I also celebrated by 23rd Birthday and spent a long weekend away in Paris with Phil. This was probably the highlight of my whole year!

June

(top left)We welcomed our new fur babies Alfie and Milo to the family. Sadly we lost Ruby in February and our house just wasn't the same without any pets. 

July

(top right) Phil won tickets to go to WOMAD festival from his work. It rained pretty much the entire time but this photo was taken during the few hours of glorious sunshine that we did get!

August

(bottom left) I went for on holiday with my parents to Turkey for a week. I love this photo so much it makes me instantly feel relaxed when I look at it.

September

(bottom right) This was a quiet month but we did have a huge get together with all of my best friends from school and their parents. 

October

(top left & right) We did very last minute halloween makeup and went to a party at a pub which was very fun. I also came third in my works bake off competition (still very proud of this cake!)

November

(bottom left) Phil and I went to Center Parcs for a week and had a relaxing time away.

December

(bottom right) I enjoyed a very quiet and relaxing christmas at home with my lovely family.

I was starting to feel like 2015 had been a bit of a non-year for me but looking back so much has happened. It is funny how quickly a year goes but I think I made it count. 

Happy New Year!

I don't usually make new years resolutions because I think they are a bit silly and I never end up keeping to them but this year I have decided to set myself a few challenges. These things might not seem very challenging to some people but I tend to overthink things and worry a lot which often results in me saying no to things or missing out. I think it will be interesting to look back at this post at the end of 2016 and see how much of it I have actually achieved. 

1. Run 10k & cycle 50 miles

When I told my Dad I was setting myself this challenge he was very excited because he thought I meant I wanted to run a 10k race. This isn't my goal. I would just like to be in a place by the end of the year where I am fit and healthy enough to be able to run that far, I don't care how long it takes me. My Mum also turns 50 this year and she would like to cycle 50 miles to raise money for charity so I have said that I will do this with her. Hopefully this should mean I lose a bit of weight which is something I am very keen to do after all of the cheese I have eaten over Christmas. Last year I was exercising regularly and making a lot of progress but I'm not sure what happened and I just kind of stopped. I went to the gym with the girls once to do a Zumba class and I really enjoyed it but for some reason my anxiety kicked in and I didn't go back. I think I am going to try and go again this week. I don't want to be one of those annoying people that joins in the gym in January and never goes again but I think it will be really good for me to go and step outside of my comfort zone. 

2. Move out

I have been living back at home with my parents for a good year and a half now and I am so ready to have my own space and be more independent again. I have been saving up for a while and this year is definitely going to be the year I do it. I am really excited for this one, it will definitely be a challenge because I am a very homey person but I am very ready to take this next step. 

3. Listen to more music & go to more gigs

This is something I had totally stopped doing last year. I listen to the radio on my way to and from work but it isn't music a particularly like, it was just easier than choosing something myself. I signed up to Spotify premium on New Years Eve and I have used it so much already. At least one night a week I am going to try and have an evening of listening to music and reading or colouring (I got another colouring book for grown ups for christmas) instead of watching Tv or Netflix. I spend my whole day at work staring at the computer screen and then I come home and spend the whole evening staring at my laptop. I don't think it is good for my eyesight and I definitely think it would be nice to switch off more. I also haven't been to a gig for a long time because I don't enjoy being in crowds. This is a recent development and not something that ever bothered me before. Going to see live music is something I used to love to do and I would hate to not be able to enjoy that anymore. 

I will be very proud of myself if i have managed to achieve all of this by the end of 2016. Fingers crossed!

Mince Pies

I have had a very productive christmassy baking day today. I am planning on giving a few homemade baked gifts this christmas so I wanted to try out a few recipes before hand to see how successful they were. First on my list was obviously mince pies, these ones were super easy to make because I cheated and used jus-rol pastry. I always remember hearing Jamie Oliver say that there was no point making your own pastry because the stuff you buy from the supermarket is just as good. If it's good enough for him then it is definitely good enough for me! 

You will need:

1 Roll of Jus-Rol Pastry

1 Jar of Mince Meat

1 Egg Whisked or Some Milk (to brush over the top)

Sugar to Sprinkle

All you have to do is cut your pastry cases out using a round cutter

Pop them into a shallow cupcake tin (I made 12)

Put a small spoonful of mincemeat into the centre of each pastry case

Cut out stars from your pastry

Place your lids onto each of your mince pies

brush on the whisked egg or milk and then sprinkle with sugar

Place in the over for 10-15 mins at around 180 degrees c or until golden brown.

After my mince pies came out of the oven I dusted them with icing sugar, I think this really finished them off and made them look like they had been sprinkled with snow.

Christmas Crafting

It is that time of year again when I absolutely love to get my craft on and do all things christmassy! I decided to make my own christmas cards again this year and took my inspiration from Pinterest (my absolute favourite website at the moment!!) 

This year I decided to go with a 3D Christmas Tree design using twigs and ribbon and a gold glittery deer head design. I knew I was going to need a lot of ribbon and a lot of glitter but I didn't want to spend a fortune so I was advised to head to The Range, somewhere I had never thought to shop before, and it was crafting heaven. I did end up spending quite a bit but I got so much stuff so it was worth it. Plus I have really enjoyed spending my evenings chilling out and making my cards. 

I feel really proud of my cards this year and I hope the people I am sending them too enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed making them! 

If you would like to see my Christmas Pinterest board click here!