12 days of Christmas | Day 3

On the third day of Christmas Stacey gave to me, three recipes, two cute doggies and a new blog post every day.

I've been doing a lot of baking recently, so I thought, what would be more fitting than three quick and easy recipes?!

 

Homemade Hot Chocolate

 

I'm currently sat at my computer sipping away at this recipe- it's quick, easy, and tasted delicious!

 

Ingredients:

A mug of milk

A chocolate bar of your choice

Squirty/fresh cream (optional)

 

1. Pour milk into your mug so you know how much you will need to heat for your hot chocolate.
2. Pour this into your pan and heat on a low heat so you don't burn the milk and stir often.
3. Add the chocolate of your choice (I went for Dairy Milk Caramel and it was amazing!) I added three squares of chocolate but you can add more or less depending on how milky or chocolaty you would like your hot chocolate. Continue to stir.
4. Once the chocolate has melted and the milk is hot, pour your hot chocolate back into your favourite mug, add fresh or squirty cream and decorate as you wish!

 

 

 





Fairy Cakes 

Ingredients:

100g margarine

100g caster sugar

100g self-raising flour

2 medium eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 180°.
2. Cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a little flour with each. Then fold in the remaining flour.
4. Place cupcake holders into the a tray and spoon in the mixture.
5. Leave in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
6. Once baked, leave to cool.

You can then decorate the cakes as you wish, but I decided to make butter icing (mixing butter and icing sugar) and covering them in pink sprinkles.

 

Shortbread Biscuits

Ingredients:

225g plain flour

110g caster sugar

110g margarine

1 medium egg

teaspoon of water

1. Preheat the oven to 180°.
2. Mix together the flour, sugar and chopped margarine using your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs
3. Add the egg and teaspoon of water. Mix together until it starts to form a ball. Use your hands towards the end.
4. Flour your surface and rolling pin. Roll out the dough to the thickness of approximately a pound coin.
5. Either cut the shapes yourself or use cookie cutters.
6. Place the biscuits on a baking tray and leave to bake for 10-15 minutes.
7. Take out the biscuits and leave to cool.
8. Decorate as you wish. I sprayed the stars with edible glitter and used coloured icing to decorate the teddy bears with a face and bow tie!

 



 

I hope you enjoyed this blog post as I realise it is something very different to what I normally do!

 

See you tomorrow!

 

Cheerio x

12 days of Christmas | Day 2

On the second day of Christmas, Stacey gave to me, two cute doggies and a new blog post every day.

These two are my absolute world. Obviously I'm going to be biased here, because they're mine, but they are quite possibly the loveliest dogs ever.

They drive me round the bend sometimes but they are always willing to have a cuddle, want to attack me with slobbery kisses and cheer me up when I am down. They even get excited when they hear us sing Happy Birthday!

When I leave in the summer I don't know what I'm going to do without them!

 

See you all tomorrow!

Cheerio x

12 days of Christmas | Day 1

Hello everyone!

Hope you are all having a lovely Christmas, it is honestly my favourite time of the year.

Today, the 25th of December marks a new project. Every day for the next 12 days I will be making a new blog post to the theme of the song '12 days of Christmas'.

On the first day of Christmas, Stacey gave to me, a new blog post every day.

 

See you all tomorrow!

Cheerio x

Deck The Halls | Christmas Decorations

Hello everyone!

Last Sunday we decorated our house ready for Christmas, and I thought I'd share it with you.

Obviously, Christmas would not be complete without the mandatory Christmas jumper.

I decorated my room with a few little Christmassy things. I bought the little bird wearing a Santa hat last week, I couldn't resist it's sooooo cute! I've also been burning Firewood Fig and Winter scented candles so my room smells AMAZING!

Even the dogs helped out decorating the living room.

I love our wicker reindeer which stands just by the door. Our hallway looks so festive!

Hello slightly creepy decorations.

Scout doesn't look too happy with her new collar... oops!

This year we finally got a real tree and it smells SO GOOD! I like how minimalistic the decorations are this year.

The more I stare at the angels face, the scarier it gets. Why is her face so small in comparison to her head?!

I hope you enjoyed looking at some of my favourite Christmas decorations and it has you in the festive spirit.

Cheerio x

YouTube sets sail a sea of opportunities

*I wrote this in the September of last year as part of my media production coursework, which is why it is very outdated. I'm posting it now because it won't look like copyright infringement and I am very proud of it!*

YouTube is becoming an ever-growing community. It allows people of all ages to express themselves in a variety of ways, giving them a voice which may not have been possible without YouTube. Carrie Hope Fletcher, a 20 year old from London, first used her YouTube channel  ‘ItsWayPastMyBedtime’ to upload song covers. It was later suggested she start video blogging. This started off a number of opportunities which Carrie later grabbed.

“It was my friend Alex Day (fellow YouTuber) that got me into Vlogging” she said. “At the time I had a manager who liked the idea of me doing web chats every week for an hour. I was talking to Alex about it and saying I didn’t have enough content for an hour every week, so Alex suggested doing a short video every week instead. I gave it a go, 8 months and 70 Vlogs later… Here I am!”

Today, Carrie makes videos about blue ribbons and how she wants to be a Disney Princess, all thanks to Alex.

Expressing her thoughts and opinions in a creative and interesting way, Carrie was given opportunities she may not have had otherwise. These included a visit to Scotland to see the premier of Disney Film ‘Brave’.

In Edinburgh, Carrie took part in Scottish activities such as caber tossing and highland dancing. But the highlight of her recent career was a trip to Belfast where she was given the opportunity to interview the Hollywood director of Titanic, James Cameron. This was an experience she isn’t likely to forget for the rest of her life.

“Being asked to interview James Cameron was really surreal. I had to keep making sure it was MY name on the list and not… Kerry Flatcher.” She said, “There are some steps in my life that have taken such hard work and gruelling effort to make happen, but then there are some that just fall into place with me not expecting it.” And interviewing James Cameron was one of those things. Carrie tells us “An e-mail came through from the YouTube company I’m with, ChannelFlip, saying ‘We’ve got 20^th Century Fox looking for a YouTuber to work with them on something to do with Titanic and James Cameron. We think its right up your street!” Suddenly, she found herself on a flight to Belfast to visit the Titanic Museum, watch the movie on a ship and then meet Mr Cameron himself. All whilst making a video for YouTube!

What Carrie likes about the opportunities she is given is that she knows she is helping them by making her videos. With her videos about Titanic, she helped spread the word to her age group who may have not seen the film before.

Carrie was also given the job of being the female vocalist for the London 2012 Olympic Mascot song, On a Rainbow, with her older brother, lead vocalist and guitarist of band McFly, Tom Fletcher. “Getting to sing the song was a total accident for me. My brother wrote the song and needed a female voice on the demo because the idea was to have a big group sing it, of both genders and all ages. The Olympic Committee loved having a boy and girl sing it, so all of a sudden I’m recording!

You’d think Carrie would be excited about the new found fame from being such a big part of the Olympics, but she states: “It was never about the fame. For me, it was being a part of history. The fact I got to be involved in such a cool way is pretty awesome! It’s just a shame it wasn’t played more.” To listen to the song, click here.

YouTube changed Carrie’s life in a huge way. Not only has it given her opportunities like interviewing James Cameron and Julie Fowliss (Gaelic singer for Brave), she now has a new group of friends. Carrie said “They’re the most open, honest and loving lot I’ve ever known, I couldn’t be more grateful to Alex for getting me started on Vlogging, because if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be surrounded by these amazing people today.”

If you’re thinking of a career in music, TV or theatre, maybe making YouTube videos is the way to kick-start it. It certainly worked for Carrie!

So what are you waiting for? Make a video about that book you read last week and you might get lucky. 

To check out Carrie’s channel, please click the link here.

*It's AMAZING how far Carrie is come since this interview last September. She is now playing Eponine in Les Miserablés at the West End, and will be playing Beth in the 2014 arena tour of The War of the Worlds. I really do wish her all the luck and success in the future.*

A Saunter On The Moors | The Reason I've Been Gone So Long

Hello Everyone!

Oh gosh, I haven't posted anything in almost two months.

For the last eight weeks, I devoted my life to six rehearsals a week for my school's senior drama production of Wuthering Heights.

Wuthering Heights... Wuthering being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather.

The demanding rehearsal schedule didn't put me off though. Although it seems like a hell of a lot of time to give up for a school play, they have been performed to such a high standard over years and built such a huge reputation that it would seem silly not to put so much time and effort in.

Now that it is all over, it doesn't seem like it was that much time at all. In fact, we've only been closed two days and I already feel as though I have too much spare time. 

Last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we brought April De Angelis', adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights to the Alnwick Playhouse stage.

This is the 5th school production I've been in, but only the first senior production, and my, what an experience it has been!

I was playing Frances, wife of Hindley Earnshaw who he randomly brought back to the Heights. I also died. 

Be warned Mr Lockwood, people have a habit of dying in this tale.

I'll admit at first I was apprehensive... I was nervous about looking silly, but being in a room full of actors it was a stupid thing to be worried about! I came out of my shell and had such a fantastic time. 

Being in a cast of less than twenty, we all grew so close. By the end were were like one big family!

The three performances were honestly the most fun I'd had in years, and I was so sad to see it all come to an end.

Before the last night of the show, people joked that I had a heart of stone because I was the only female member of the cast that hadn't cried during rehearsals, but I was a blubbering wreck on Friday. I do have a soul!

Eight weeks of blood, sweat and tears had finally come to an end. It was the last time we were all to be together as a cast, and for some of us, including myself, our last ever senior production. T'was emotional to say the least.

Performing Wuthering Heights has helped me understand the story so much better, and everyone did their character justice. I'm not just saying this because I was in it and I think we were amazing anyway, but it was 100 times better than your average school play. We put in 110% everytime we performed and it all payed off in the end. The praise we have been getting from peers, teachers and members of the public has been phenomenal.

I really must thank everyone who was involved, our director and assistant director, the people who made our costumes, which were FANTASTIC, the sound and lighting crew, the set designers and the backstage lot. None of this would've been possible without you.

Since I'm in my final year of school, its more than likely that I won't be acting with this amazing bunch again (unless I do Return to the Forbidden Planet haha!) so I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who made this experience as amazing as it was. I love you all.

Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.

Girt eedle seeght! xx

© Images by Amber Brown and Otello Calvert

Glitz and Glamour at the Student Film Oscars

Everyone looks for an excuse to get dolled and dressed up, and last night was no exception.  With tuxedos and beautiful dresses, students of Duchess's Community High School were dressed to impress for their first ever Student Film Oscars.

Hosted at The Alnwick Playhouse fitted with a red carpet and cocktails, films and documentaries created by film and media students were showcased in front of families and friends.

But not only that, those lucky enough to be shortlisted in the different categories were in the running to win an award: their very own Oscar.

The lovely Ian Mclaughlin, co-founder of Newcastle-based comedy group The Suggestibles hosted the evening, bringing light and laughter to the room with his quick-witted jokes brightening the mood between the dark and disturbing films. His joke about Harry Styles got his best laugh of the night. Film Club representative Ravnit Hunjan, film director Andy Simpson and local MP Alan Beith also attended the event, with Beith and Simpson presenting the awards.

Ravnit Hunjan and Andy Simpson.

Short films created by the Lower School Film Studies class kicked off the night, and I must say they were brilliant. Opening with Dr Renfield's House, a film about a girl from an asylum who has a dream where she is killed left the audience feeling chills. 

All of the films featured dark, haunting themes and were of a very high standard. It is amazing what the current Year 11's and 12's were capable of, with some of the films dealing with sensitive subjects,  such as Phantasmagoria, which deals with schizophrenia and alcohol addiction.

After a screening of the short films, the shortlist and the winners for the lower-school were announced with proper 'Oscar-style' suspense, presented to the winners by Alan Beith.

Best Actor was awarded to Kirsty Hensleigh for her excellent portrayal of the girl from the asylum in Dr Renfield's House. 

Kirsty Hensleigh with her 'Best Actor' award.

Kirsty said, "It was a little weird seeing my face on the big screen, but it's good to know that everyone's hard work payed off. It was very overwhelming but I thoroughly enjoyed the night."

Dr Renfield's House received another award in the form of Best Director, awarded to Daniel Thomassen.

Daniel Thomassen.

Best Cinematography and Best Film were awarded to the team behind the wonderfully shot Phantasmagoria.

Cast and crew of Phantasmagoria.

Matthew Walton, middle, said "I'm very proud and happy, but it was bizarre and a little embarrassing seeing our film. It got the reaction we hoped for."

There was also another award up for grabs for Best Documentary from current Year 11 Media Studies Students.

Clips from the documentaries were shown, with Fishing For Likes, a documentary about 'Facebook fame', and Awkward Moments, (rather self-explanatory) receiving the greatest reactions from the audiences. 

In the end, the hilarious Awkward Moments came out on top, rewarding us with the full length documentary- a light-hearted and funny ending to a dark first half.

Beth Lewington, who starred in the documentary thought no one would laugh and it would be seen as cliche, but she is glad it got the response it did. All the hard work payed off, and was praised throughout the interval.

After the interval, it was back to the awards, this time for current sixth form and former Year 13's. 

Again, the Gothic theme continued, however much darker this time. Especially the likes of Accentuate The Positive. Ben was another film with a serious message behind it, dealing with bullying and suicide.

To present the awards this time was Andy Simpson.

Best actor was awarded to Ben Kinloch for his portrayal in Ben. He said, "It was a really big surprise winning Best actor. I just did it as a favour, I didn't expect this at all."

Ben Kinloch with his Best Actor award.

Best Cinematography was awarded to Louis Burton and Tom Woollett, for their fantastic Western movie After The Heist which looked very professional and well edited and shot.

Barney Healy-Smith, former student was awarded Best Director for the rather disturbing film Accentuate The Positive, and seemed pretty chuffed with his award.

Barney Healy-Smith receiving his Oscar from Andy Simpson.

The final award of the night was awarded to Otello Calvert for Best Short Film, a film about thinking about ideas for a film, with acting from Matthew Slack that left the audience in stitches. 

Otello Calvert receiving his award.

The night was a huge success with everyone thoroughly enjoying themselves, laughing and smiling at seeing their friends on the big screen. Maurice Hall, Headteacher of Duchess's Community High School believed it was an amazing first for the school, showing so much talent, technical ability and wonderful acting.

Fingers crossed this will be an annual event, as it really did seem to be a very enjoyable evening for all involved.

It may not be the real thing, but you never know, maybe in ten years time these talented students will be attending huge award ceremonies for their work.

© Images by Stacey Turnbull