Song Of The Week

Hey Guys,

'Islands' by The XX is one of my favourite songs and recently I have been listening to it a lot. It is from their debut self titled studio album, it was released in 2009 and is a song about faithfulness in love. The lyrics are clever and I think without music it reads like a poem, it is angelic.

'Islands'   The XX

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PElhV8z7I60

Love Holly x

16 things I wish I knew at 16

Hey Guys,

As a lot of my friends are turning 17, I've been thinking of all the things I would love to have known when I turned 16 so I could enjoy the next year of my life more.

Credit to Polly Vadaz and Signedalice.wordpress.com who gave me inspiration to do this post.

1. First and most important - DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY! There is always going to be those people who judge you, but who cares. School is meant to test you. All those people who take the mic out of the things you like aren't your friends and after year 11/Sixth form you never have to see them again, and you don't necessarily have to talk to them while you're still at school.
2. You'll lose friends - and that's absolutely fine. You'll change and your friends will change and sometimes you won't be able to make each other happy anymore. It's not the end of the world, you'll make new friends who will obviously be better for you; but it's important to remember your friendship didn't fail, it was successful, it just had to stop - which leads nicely onto number 3.
3. Make friends! For God sake stop hanging around with the same people and meet new amazing people. It's obviously nice to have a group of friends that'll always be there for you, but while you're young and while you're surrounded by all these weird and wonderful people you might as well take advantage of them - you'll meet people with different hobbies and passions and you can learn from them, they'll learn things from you and you'll be shaped into a more well rounded person who can appreciate other people's views. 
4. Party. Go outside. While you can, go out, drink and dance. You'll have more fun going out to party's than watching a film. In 20 years you might not have the time to go as often or be able to climb onto a table and dance, but in 20 years time you can still sit on a sofa and watch a film. 
5. Forget about love. At 16 you don't need to be in a relationship, you just need to surround yourself with the people you love. And I don't want to sound too cynical but at 16 you have no idea what it means to be 'in love' - I doubt 30 year olds really know what it means - so stop trying to find your 'true' love, you'll just be disappointed.
6. Just do your work. We all know homework, tests and exams suck but tough, everybody has to do them, it's a part of life. In the long run you'll be grateful that you missed one of your favourite tv shows to get 90% in an exam.
7. You don't know everything. Yes you're smart, yes you do know somethings, but not everything, so learn to shut up.
8. Accept help. No matter how independent you are everybody needs help, so just be grateful there's somebody who cares enough to help you.
9. Relax. You don't need to be busy 24/7. Take a Sunday off, forget about seeing your friends and have some 'me time'.
10. Don't try and please everybody. Don't do something for somebody if it doesn't make you happy, don't let people use you, you're stronger than you think. 
11. Don't let your parents decide for you. It's much easier than you think. They don't always know what is best for you, so if they're forcing you to do something you don't want to do put your foot down. They're not in control of you, no matter how many times they say "you live under my roof, so you follow my rules". 
12. Do something! If there's something you don't like about your body do something about it. If you've fancied somebody for a while do something about it. Don't sit there and feel sorry for yourself.
13. Be spontaneous! Whether that means kissing somebody or running into the sea, if you don't do it then and there you'll probably never do it.
14. Don't regret anything. Every silly, stupid and bad thing you do makes you into a better person. Make mistakes. You'll look back the next day or in a year, and you'll be so happy you did it.
15. Bad things happen. Whether you have to move school, or there's a family crisis you'll have to go through bad things, but they can be made easier if you confide in friends.
16. Everything will change. It's just something you're going to have to deal with, don't try and stop it from happening. 

Well that's that. There are still loads of things I don't know about life and how to grow up but I guess I'll just have to figure things out for myself. 

Love Daisy x

Song of the Week

Hey Guys,

The song I have chosen this week is 'You Always Make Me Smile' by Kyle Andrews from his EP 'Kangaroo'. Kyle Andrews, 32, is an American songwriter and performer. I love this song purely for its upbeat tune, which is the reason for many of the songs I've previously posted about, and just in general the really cute lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grnkCPxdTdU

Love Daisy x

B - Black & White

Hey Guys,

Welcome to the second of my Inspiration from the Alphabet posts, we are onto B and I have chosen Black & White.



I have long been a fan Black & White clothing as it looks simple but effortlessly well put together. Monochrome style, whether it be full of pattern or block colours, makes for a timeless look that has been loved for a long time, really beginning with the first 'Little Black Dress' by Coco Chanel.

This dress changed how the world saw black clothing, it was no longer only for mourning. The dress was published in a 1926 edition of Vogue and it was stated that it would become 'a sort of uniform for all women of taste'.

Monochrome had a revival in the 60s, taking over the fashion industry. It was minimalist and very 'mod', perfect for the bold look that the 60s craved. It was in the 60s that Twiggy arose as one of the first international supermodels and Audrey Hepburn filmed Breakfast at Tiffany's in the black Givenchy dress.

Nowadays monochrome is still in and for SS14 was fully revived. I dug out my Vogue SS14 guide and found this double spread on monochrome clothing. It outlines the versatility of the monochrome style, with subtitles such as 'Intelligent Design' and 'Pattern Play'.
The SS14 catwalks were certainly full of black & white, from tailoring to tassels, it was time to brave wearing black in the summer (something I have been known to do anyway).

*click pictures to enlarge*

Kirsten Dunst's printed Dress by Rodarte (featured in the above Vogue article) proves monchrome can be fun by adding a sheer mid-section and asymmetric gridded frills. It is a geometric and stripe patterned quirky design, which she pulls off amazingly well, ruffles certainly don't suit everyone! 

Taylor Swift works this simple monochrome two-piece by J.Mendel beautifully, pairing it with red lips for an elegant red-carpet worthy look. This two-piece uses cut-outs on the shoulders, and a slash up the side of the skirt to enhance what would otherwise be a rather dull outfit. (pictures from Glamour's website)

Monochrome is a style that transcends time, as Karl Lagerfeld once said...
'Black and white always looks modern, whatever that word means'

Love Holly x

Song of the Week

Hey Guys,

'Daffodils' by Charlene Soria is my Song of the Week. This is from Charlene's debut album, 'Moonchild, which was released in 2011; this album featured a bonus track, a cover of The Calling's 'Wherever You Will Go' that was used in Twining's 2011 advert. 'Daffodils' is an enchanting song and I often listen to it when I want to relax after a busy day at school.

'Daffodils'    Charlene Soria

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7QdPJngCOg

Love Holly x

Halloween Treats: Cupcakes

Hey Guys,

This is a follow on from my Halloween Treats: Cookies post. I'm now going to show you how to make some halloween inspired cupcakes. As you have seen on my cookie post things didn't really go to plan so I didn't make these but if things go to plan they could look really cool.

Cupcakes

I'll be making very simple vanilla cupcakes. Again this is a very simple recipe, a similar one to the one I'm using can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cupcakes_93722
The recipe I am using is from M&S 'Easy Baking': Chocolate chip cupcakes

Makes 28                                 My recipe
3oz butter, softened               Butter
3 1/2 oz caster sugar             Caster Sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten           Eggs
2oz chocolate chips             Chocolate chips 
8oz of self raising flour       Flour
1oz cocoa powder               Vanilla Extract
2 tbsp of milk                      Icing Sugar
                                             Food colouring, black 

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius/Gas mark 6
• Beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy
• Add eggs
• Add little flour if curdling 
• Add milk, fold in chocolate chips
• Sift flour (and cocoa powder) fold into mixture 
• Place in cupcake holders
• BAKE FOR 20 MINUTES

Icing

Make normal runny icing. 

I will telling you how to make a 'mummy' cupcake, but follow the cookie icing recipe to make a pumpkin and eye cupcake.

• Separate the icing into 2 separate bowls
• Add black food colouring to 1 of the bowls
• Pipe a white base on the cupcake
• Then pipe 2 black eyes and a stitched mouth

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

ENJOY!

Love Daisy x

Halloween Treats: Cookies

Hey Guys,

This halloween I am staying at my friends house and I thought it would be nice to make some halloween food.

I'm not the best cook so all of the recipes are very simple, the only interesting thing about them is their icing.

Cookies

I'm making some basic round vanilla cookies which I will hopefully be able to turn into some eyes. There is a simple recipe on this website - http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/607380
but the one I used is a M&S 'easy baking' book: White Chocolate Cookies

You'll soon find out that I don't follow recipes very easily and the first thing I'm going to change it the white chocolate, I'll be adding milk chocolate chips.

Makes 24                                                         My Recipe

4oz butter, softened (extra for greasing)                Butter

4oz soft light brown sugar                                Sugar

1 egg, beaten                                              Egg

9oz of self-raising flour                                   Self-raising flour

4 1/2 oz of white chocolate, chopped                     Chocolate Chips (no measurement)

Salt                                                        Salt

1 3/4 oz of Brazil nuts, chopped                           Vanilla extract  

                                                                    Icing sugar

                                                                   Food colouring (Red, Blue, Orange, Green, Black) 

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees celcius/Gas mark 5
• Cream together butter and sugar
• Add egg
• Sift flour and add salt, stir in chocolate (and nuts) 
• Place evenly sized dough balls on a baking tray 
• BAKE FOR 10-12 MINUTES

Icing

Make normal runny icing

• Separate into different bowls and add colour to individual bowl; remember to save some white
• To pipe these colours use a piping bag or a plastic bag with a hole cut at the bottom

Eyes

• Cover each cookie with a layer of white icing
• In the centre of the cookie with your blue create a small circle
• With the red make thin lines coming from the blue, this will create a blood shot effect
• Finally, either with the black (or with a spare chocolate chip) add a dot in the centre of the blue

Pumpkin (easier)

• Cover the majority of the cookie with orange icing - a smaller circle 
• Add a green line and the top to act as the straw

So as you can see mine really failed, I didn't have many food colour options so I tried my best - but it doesn't really matter as long as they taste nice. 

                         

Hopefully they'll look more like this. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN
ENJOY!

Love Daisy x

A - Autumn Accessories

Hey Guys,

This is the first post in a new series of posts I will be doing called Inspiration from the Alphabet. Each post will start with a different letter of the alphabet, starting today with the letter A.

Autumn Accessories are everywhere at the moment and so they seemed like a perfect place to start. I have chosen 12 of my favourite Autumn Accessories in the shops at the moment to prove that dressing for cold weather can still be stylish!

If, like me, you tend to veer towards darker colours, such as black and burgundy, as the nights draw in, then the accessories below will be perfect for you....

top left to right...

- Absolutely Chelsea Boots £75 (Topshop)

- Flat Brim Bowler Hat in Black £22 (Urban Outfitters)

- Dr. Martens Scarf in Black Stewart £25 (Dr. Martens)

bottom left to right...

- Recycled Brown Leather and Suede Boxy Backpack £75 (Rokit)

- Cape with Burgundy Stripe £25 (ASOS)

- Leather Belt in Brown £7.99 (H&M)

 

Alternatively if you love the colour Summer brings to your wardrobe and don't want to loose that going into Autumn, then the accessories below should keep your wardrobe bright ...

 

 

 

 

top left to right ...

- Classic Wool Bowler Hat in Blue £9.50 (Forever 21)

- Small Purse in Orange £7.99 (H&M)

- Ribbed Fur Pom Beanie in Yellow £16 (Urban Outfitters)

 

bottom left to right ...

- Pieces New Eira Wool Scarf £20 (ASOS)

- Two- Tone Leather Shopper £69.99 (Zara)

- Marvel Double Buckle Boot in Pink Leather £45 (reduced price) (Office)



 

My favourite of all these accessories has to be the Flat Brim Bowler Hat from Urban Outfitters. Bowler hats and fedoras have both become more popular as cold weather hats, with many people choosing them as a more stylish alternative to the traditional bobble hat. Both fedoras and bowler hats can smarten up a winter outfit and still keep your head warm at the same time.

 

Love Holly x