12 days of Christmas | Day 5

On the fifth day of Christmas, Stacey gave to me, five favourite blogs, four best friends, three recipes, two cute doggies and a new blog post every day.

Before making my own blog I read quite a few which got me 'into' the whole blogging thing, and today's 12 days of Christmas blog post is dedicated to my favourite blogs which I think you should all check out!

The first is the first blog I came across was sprinkleofglitter. Louise's blog is mainly beauty,baby and lifestyle. It's such a happy blog, the photo's she puts up are so colourful and beautiful, and you can't help but smile when you read it, especially the posts about her daughter- what a cutie! She also has a YouTube channel under the same name which has over 1 million subscribers.

To check out sprinkleofglitter, click here. 

Another of my favourite blogs is Tanya's Burr's beauty, style and lifestyle blog. Tanya is a makeup artist and I first came across her on YouTube with her makeup tutorials. Girls watching this, I highly recommend them! Her blog is brilliant as she writes posts about her favourite products, which helps, for example, if you don't know which foundation to go for. She also posts about her life, again, with lovely photos.

To check out Tanya's blog, click here.

Again, there is a running theme with this blog post, as I found out about Zoe Sugg's blog through her YouTube channel which has over 3 million subscribers. Zoe's blog, Zoella is also a beauty and lifestyle blog. I love her writing style and her posts are also helpful, especially her DIY ombre post.

To check out Zoe's blog, click here.

Carrie Fletcher is another person I found about through YouTube,  she started her blog 'alliknownow' back in April and I've been loving it. She posts about her thoughts and feelings. They are so well written and leave you thinking for a long time- very inspiring and I urge you to check it out.

To check out Carrie's blog, click here.

Last but not least is 'a-small-islander'. She is one of my nearest and dearest friends and began her blog in the beginning of December. So far, her posts have been lifestyle, posting about her birthday and Christmas- they are really cute and think you should go have a look at her blog because it will make both of us very happy.

To check out Kirsty's blog, click here.

*Disclaimer* I do not own any of the photo's used in today's post.

See you tomorrow!

Cheerio x

12 days of Christmas | Day 4

On the fourth day of Christmas Stacey gave to me, four amazing people, three recipes, two cute doggies and a new post every day.

Now this isn't me being soppy here, but these people mean a lot to me! Okay, maybe a little bit soppy...

Stateside diner back in 2012- yum!

Prom 2012

Holly Ball Dec 2013

This girl is a character! Back in year 2009 we both auditioned for the school musical, Jesus Christ Superstar and became inseperable! I can't help but laugh when I'm around her. We're going to the West End one day.

Grease back in March 2012

Flashmob August 2012

Last day in lower school 2012

We used to dance together, back in the day, and for around three years I honestly thought she was in the same year as me until I moved to high school. The 2 years between us is invisible, she's my little bundle of joy and going to miss her oodles when I go to university. *gets emotional* I had to restrain myself from putting some photo's on from 2008, hilarious, but I don't want those monstrosities on the internet!

Grease back in March 2012

Slaughterhouse Spring 2013

Evolution Festival Summer 2013

There seems to be a running theme of meeting these girls during something artsy. We met during one of the youth theater productions many moons ago, but it wasn't until Grease in 2012 that we became close. I love our little girly dates and inside jokes *i'm having a breakdown* and I can speak to her about anything and everything.

Opening night of Les Misérables December 2010

March 2013

One Direction Concert April 2013

Last but certainly not least is my fellow concert goer. We became close during Les Misérables (surprise surprise) when we realised how alike we were. Since then we've had so many laughs, I've been so close to peeing myself on a number of occasions! 

See you all tomorrow!

Cheerio x

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.*