BLOGMAS DAY FIFTEEN: DECK THE HALLS

Hey guys, i hope you all had an amazing weekend and welcome to blogmas day fifteen! Yesterday was my sister's birthday and our family tradition is that we don't decorate our house for Christmas until after her birthday. So now that it's past the 14th we began to "deck the halls" with everything but boughs of holly ha ha! 

♥

BLOGMAS DAY NINE: CHRISTMAS HOME DECOR

Hey guys, i hope you are all having an amazing day and welcome to day nine of blogmas! A huge part of getting yourself in the Christmas spirit is "decking the halls" so to speak aka decorating your home for the holiday's. There is so many different ways to decorate your home more than just putting up the Christmas tree, you could add a festive touch to your sofa/chair by adding a festive cushion or adding candles and different festive scents...

Jingle Heart - £2.99 Homebase

Christmas Craft Cushion - £9 Very

Pot Pourri - £4 Asda

Silver Glittered Willow Star - £2.99 Dunelm Mill

Gold Christmas Tree Candle - £5 John Lewis

Stag Tea Light Holder - £9.99 Dunelm Mill

Gingerbread Jar Holder - £14.99 Yankee Candle

Joyeux Noel Luxury Fragrance Diffuser - £15 Next

2 Mercury Glass Tea Light Holders - £6 M&S

Scented Flower Decorations with Clips - £6 M&S

Red Christmas Past Berry Votive Candle - £10 John Lewis

♥ 

HALLOWEEN WEEK: CREEPY CUPCAKES

Hey guys, i hope you all had a great weekend and welcome to Halloween Week! For today's post i thought i would share with you these cool yet creepy cupcakes perfect for any Halloween party or just to recreate for fun. I also want to share with you a few cool ways you could decorate for this holiday in a very inexpensive way...

To make the cupcakes you will need:

175g Self Raising Flour (Sifted)

1 tsp Baking Powder (Sifted)

175g Caster Sugar

175g Soft Unsalted Butter or Light Baking Spread

3 Eggs (Whisked) 

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

12 Cupcake Cases

To make the frosting you will need:

250g Mascarpone Cheese

25g Icing Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Decorations of your choice 

Method:

First things first you are going to want to pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 4/180c or 350f and then line your cupcake tin with your paper cases. You are going to want to take your sifted flour and baking powder and place them in your mixing bowl, next you are going to want to add the caster sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and begin to mix them in your mixer. (Make sure you start your mixer on a slow speed and then gradually increase your speed) Mix until combined.

Next you are going to want to place your mixture into your pre lined cases allowing room to rise and then place them in the oven for 25 minutes. Once cooked and take them out of the oven and place on a cooling wrack to cool completely before decorating. Once cool you can begin decorating... 

So once the cupcakes have cooled you are going to want to make your topping. Take your mascarpone, caster sugar, vanilla extract and mix together until combined. Once the mixture is all combined you are going to either want to pipe the topping onto the cupcake or if you prefer just spoon on the topping and smooth with a knife. All that if left to do then is to decorate the cupcakes with a design of your choice.

Now here is a few cool yet inexpensive ways to decorate for Halloween...

Table Place Settings.

You can get hold of a lot of different items to dress your table for Halloween so easily like these ones i picked up from my local supermarket.  

Candles.

Candles are a great way to add to the whole Halloween/Spooky vibe, these Sampler candles from Yankee Candle are perfect as they come in their limited edition Halloween scents. These two scents are my particular favourites and they are so inexpensive at just over £1.

My mum got this ghost tea light holder which was just too cute not to show you all. 

♥

ROOM TOUR: NEW BEDDING

For a while now i have been wanting to change up my bedroom and the way it looks and i am finally really happy with the way it looks and has turned out. So here is what i did with my room and where i got everything from..

1. I am really into floral prints and that hasn't changed from when i last updated my room but this time i have opted for a really pretty purple floral duvet bedding. - £35 double duvet and two pillowcases and £15 for a double fitted sheet and two pillowcases for the underneath. - Both from Next.
2. Dark purple silk effect cushions really coordinate with the darker purples in the bedding, i bought two of these one for each outer sides of the bed. - £5.99 Each from Dunelm Mill.
3/4. For two statement cushions to feature in the center of the bed i opted for this creamy white faux fur effect cushion - £7.99 from Dunelm Mill and then a darker cream quote pillow which says "always kiss me goodnight" which i thought was so cute. - £9 from Next (last season).
5/6. For accessories i went for this white and purple ornament which says "relax, revive, rejuvenate" - £3.59 from Dunelm Mill and then seeing as i am a complete Yankee Candle junkie to tie in with the purple theme i have a medium jar in "beach flowers" which smells amazing - £16.99 from House of Fraser.
7. I have been wanting a really cute white makeup brush holder for a while now and haven't been able to find one that i really like and i finally did. It's a vase which had a tea light holder inside but i just took that out and replaced it with my brushes - £10 Rocha John Rocha at Debemhams.

Katie ♥

BLOGMAS DAY TWENTY-FOUR: A THROWBACK CHRISTMAS

Yesterday i was looking through some old photos with my mum and quiet a few of them were from myself and my sisters when we were growing up. So for the final day of blogmas i thought i would share a few past Christmas photos of me with you...

Me probably opening my stocking in my mum and dad's bed, i look rather thrilled NOT haha. I am more than likely around 2/3 years old. On the bottom me and one of my sisters building a snowman.

Me about age 5 on Christmas morning with my huge Tigger toy, i also had a Winnie the Pooh to match. On the bottom me channeling my inner Spock clearly such a weird child, also i am pretty sure i am wearing clothes here which look more like pyjamas.

I am not too sure whether this is a picture from Christmas but it was definitely in the winter time. Feeding the ducks but apparently i used to just eat the bread instead.

So we have come to the end of blogmas, it's been quiet a challenge doing a post everyday but i have enjoyed it at the same time...

Katie ♥  

BLOGMAS DAY SEVENTEEN AND EIGHTEEN: CHOCOLATE CANDY CANE CUPCAKES

Today's blog post is combined from yesterday and today, as yesterday i didn't feel too good when i got home from catching up with a friend and doing some shopping. So here is an extra special recipe for the third and final installment of my Christmas Baking blog posts i have been doing on Wednesday's. Christmas is just a week away now, exciting much!! 

So here is a recipe i used to create chocolate candy cane cupcakes...

To make the cupcakes you will need:

125g soft butter

125g caster sugar

150g self raising flour

2 large eggs

2tbsp cocoa powder

25g melted chocolate 

Cupcake cases (12 as the recipe makes 12 cupcakes)

To make the butter-icing you will need:

100g unsalted butter (Softened)

225g icing sugar (Sifted)

1tsp vanilla paste

1tbsp milk

Candy canes (12) or Decorations of your choice

Pre-heat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4. Place 12 paper cupcake cases in to a shallow bun tin. Place the butter, caster sugar, flour, eggs and cocoa powder into a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until the mixture is just smooth and then beat in the melted chocolate.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases filling them 3/4's full. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes or until springy to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

To make the butter icing, place softened butter into a mixing bowl. Gradually beat in the sifted icing sugar with the vanilla paste and the milk. Beat until fully combined. Spoon or pipe the mixture onto the cupcakes and decorate them with candy canes or as you desire.

 If you're like me and love chocolate, cupcakes and candy canes you will love this. 

Hope you are all having a Happy Wednesday...

Katie ♥ 

BLOGMAS DAY FIFTEEN: RELAXING SUNDAY

Sunday's are definitely one of my favourite days of the week. You can have a nice lay in bed, chill and catch up on some TV shows and watch movies. Or you can go out for a lovely Sunday Roast...

My sister and i headed out to lunch at a lovely pub called The Elm Tree in Heath, Derbyshire and it was so yummy...

They have decked the halls inside with decorations and a real christmas tree which was so beautiful.

There is nothing like a pre-christmas lunch and after eight cheesecake for dessert.

Now all there is left to do is relax, feel festive and watch The Polar Express on TV.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend...

Katie ♥