My newly decorated bedroom

I have recently decorated my bedroom - it needed a serious update from my previously clutter filled, childish bedroom. I decided to work my bedroom around a wallpaper I found in Next that I really liked. (In fact, everything I have used to decorate my room is from Next, they have some great homeware!) 

The wallpaper looked like a lilacy grey on its own so I decided to paint my walls lilac and have similar coloured curtains and bedding to bring out the colour, rather than it looking grey.

I also added some LED lights around my mirror. The lighting in my bedroom is pretty rubbish so the lights really brighten it up and make putting my makeup on a lot easier - no more leaving the house looking orange, hooray!

There's no excuses for an untidy room with this feature - I turned what was previously a desk in between my wardrobes into an extra wardrobe and storage space. This makes tidying my room so much easier and my clothes are no longer squashed together in drawers.

I thought the walls around my mirror were looking a little plain so I thought I would get creative rather than buying some wall art. Here is a draft version of a painting I have done. I am thinking about painting a larger version either on a canvas or as a framed picture for the wall. Let me know what you think!

Curtains: £45

Bed linen: £30

Cushion: £12

Wallpaper: £20 per roll

Paint in Thistle: £14 for 2.5litre

All from Next

All I want for Christmas is...

Here is my Christmas wish list. I have put together 5 items I would love to find under my Christmas tree this year. 

1. Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb, £68 for 50ml - I love the smell of this perfume, it's lovely and floral but not too light to wear in winter. 

2. Honey Blossom Yankee Candle, £16.99 for medium jar - Another beautifully scented product. This candle would also look great on display in my newly decorated bedroom.

3. DKNY Gansevoot black quilted shoulder bag, £224 - I absolutely love this bag, the quilted detail and chain handle make it great for dressing up and the size of the bag is perfect to use in the day as well. Black is a classic colour and the leather is really soft. (It also reminds me of the Chanel quilted bags and it's just a fraction of the price!) The key ring that comes with the bag is a bonus too.

4. Warehouse Jewel Jumper, £46 - The blue jewels on this jumper stood out to me when I first saw it, they really brighten it up and give it that festive feel without being too OTT. The jumper also looks great worn over a shirt so I will be able to wear this for work too.

5. Warehouse iPhone 5 case, £10 - I do enjoy a good phone case. I like the flower pattern and the colours on this one and the gold metal detail around the edge really sets it off. 

HOW TO: Make vanilla and cinnamon Christmas tree biscuits

This week I have been to my town's Christmas light switch on and have been Christmas shopping in Leeds. Seeing all the beautiful lights and decorations has got me in the Christmas spirit and with December just a day away I decided to spend my Sunday afternoon baking some Christmas treats. These biscuits are so easy to make and you can adapt the recipe to suit your taste buds. I decided to add cinnamon and vanilla to mine but you could leave either of these ingredients out and change the shapes of the biscuits as you need to suit any time of year!

You will need: 

• 5 and a half oz of butter
• 8 oz of plain flour
• 6 oz of sugar

Optional: 

• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• Icing to decorate

Method:

Step 1:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease a baking tray.

Step 2:

Chop the butter into small pieces and put in to a bowl. Sift the flour in to the bowl and rub the butter and flour together with your fingers until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. You may need to add additional flour to the mixture to achieve this.

Step 3:

Add the sugar, vanilla essence and cinnamon to the mixture. Add as much cinnamon as you wish, depending on how strong you want the biscuits to taste. You could also add other ingredients like chocolate chips at this stage if you wish.

Step 4:

Mix all the ingredients together to form a dough.

Step 5:

Spread flour over a clean work surface. Roll the dough on to the surface using a rolling pin until you reach the thickness you desire. I would recommend rolling it about an inch deep.

Step 6:

Cut the dough into Christmas tree shapes. You can do this either by buying a biscuit cutter or you can design your own by using a knife and cutting the dough into a shape of your choice. You can then use the shape you have cut as a template for the rest of the biscuits. 

Step 7:

Put the biscuits on to the baking tray and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until a light golden colour. 

Step 8:

Leave the biscuits on a wire rack to cool and decorate them as you wish!

Happy baking! 

HOW TO: Make Blueberry Clafoutis

I love baking and enjoy eating a good pudding. Lately when I have decided to bake I have found myself sticking to the same old victoria sponge cake recipe. This time I decided to mix it up a bit and try out a new recipe. During my flick through recipe books I came across blueberry clafoutis. I had never heard of it before but liked the look of it and fancied making something fruity. I went to the supermarket and bought the ingredients and this is how it went. The recipe is really simple and easy and it's quick to make (took me about 30 mins). It even got my mum's approval (and she is not a pudding person!)

You will need: 

• 2 tbsp butter
• 4 and a half oz of caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 and a quarter oz of plain flour
• 250ml single cream
• Half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 3 punnets of blueberries (about 350g-400g)

Optional: 

• Icing sugar to decorate
• Single cream or custard to serve

Method

Step 1:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease a 1 litre baking dish.

Step 2:

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and beat together with the sugar and butter.

Step 3:

Mix in the flour. Then gradually add in the cream and the cinnamon. Stir until smooth.

Step 4:

Put the blueberries in the bottom of the greased baking dish and then pour the mixture on top. Bake in the oven for around 45 minutes or until puffed and golden. 

Step 5:

Dust with icing sugar and serve with cream or custard. 

Ta-dar! A wonderfully tasty pudding. It's best served warm and tastes delicious with single cream. I've already been booked to make it for the next family party!

Piercings

Today I got my ears pierced after about three years of debating whether or not to get another and which part of my ear I should get pierced. (I am scared of needles and am very squeamish so piercings are a big deal to me.)

During a mad half hour wandering around town today I decided it was time to get it out of my system. I chose a 3mm 9 carat gold ball earring and decided to get it just above my other ear piercing.

Here is the result:

I got the exact same piercing on my other ear and I absolutely love it. It did not hurt at all and I did not have any problems with lightheadedness - result!

I'm already planning my next piercing. Here are a few photos I have been looking at for inspiration, I really like the idea of having three or four piercings in a row:

REVIEW: Smashbox photo finish colour correcting primer

Smashbox claims that this primer reduces the appearance of fine lines, pores and dark spots and evens out skin tone. The green colour is to reduce redness, therefore I decided to buy the product in hope to reduce my pinkish skin tone.

The product is easy to apply, it glides onto the skin really smoothly and instantly makes it feel soft and even. I can also see a slight difference in the colour of my skin after applying the product. It looks less patchy and the colour of my face looks much more even. I only needed to apply a small amount of the product to see a difference.

Because the primer does half the job of foundation, I didn't need to apply as much foundation afterwards. This meant my makeup looked less thick and heavy and more natural. My makeup also lasted longer than usual and my skin looked even and clear all day.

At £25 the product is expensive but it is certainly worth it. I only needed to use a small amount so I can tell it will last a long time.

I would rate the product 4 out of 5 - it definitely does what it says on the bottle but the price is a little bit steep.

HOW TO: Make a Victoria sponge cake

I love baking and trying out new recipes for cakes and treats but I always find myself returning to this classic Victoria sponge cake. The cake is so easy and simple to make, it's almost unbelievable how incredible it tastes. I often use this recipe to make celebration cakes for family and friends and it always receives lots of compliments.  

You will need: 

• 6oz Sugar
• 6oz Self raising flour
• 1tsp Baking powder
• 6oz Butter (plus extra for butter cream filling)
• 3 Eggs
• 3tbsp Raspberry jam
• Icing sugar

Step 1

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees and line two baking tins with butter.

Step 2

Sift the self raising flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the sugar, eggs and butter and mix together until smooth.

Step 3

Divide the mixture between the two tins and put in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and springy to touch.

Step 4

Leave the cakes in the tins for five minutes to cool. Then carefully remove the cakes from the tins and place on a wire rack to cool for around 15-20 minutes. 

Step 5

Add the jam to one side of the cake and mix together some butter and icing sugar to make butter cream to the other side. 

Step 6

Finally sandwich the cakes together and decorate as desired.

A month in Madrid

After finishing university in May I decided to do something different and spent a month working abroad. My aunty set me up with a Spanish family in Madrid so I would look after the children, help the family with their English and learn some Spanish and explore the city at the same time.

It all sounded great. My only worry was the children part (I have no experience with kids!) And with three boys aged four, eight and 12 I wondered how on earth I would keep them entertained. 

Luckily the nerves all stopped when I arrived. The mother greeted me at the airport with a warm smile and she had bought the two youngest with her who both seemed polite and friendly. They drove me to their apartment, which became my home for the next month. Here is what I got up to: 

Week One:

My first day of being nanny Abi was nerve wracking. The mum stayed with me for the morning to make sure I knew where everything was in the house and to tell me the children's routines and anything they were not allowed to do. I helped the eight year old with his homework (which became the daily challenge - he did not want to do his homework, ever!) and made lunch for the boys. 

Homework and making the lunch was part of the daily routine and the average day was breakfast, homework, play, lunch, play.

My working day ended when the mum came home at around 5, which meant I was completely free to explore the city and get some sun. On my first day Sol (the mother) gave me a driving tour of Madrid. I got to see a few sights and she drove me on a couple of the bus routes so I knew how to go on when I ventured in to the city on my own. We stopped and had a walk around and a Mahou (Madrid beer). I never thought I liked beer until I tried on of these!

 

Picture taken on the drive

Street art

On week one I also got introduced to my new best friend - the swimming pool! This is where I spent most of my first weekend, (apart from on Saturday when I went shopping.) I bought a skirt in the Mango sale. I also bought a cool holographic phone case from Tiger. Sol told me to go to Tiger and it was so much fun to look around, it was full of loads of cool household and creative products. 

 

The pool

 Tiger phone case 

Week 2:

Helping the boys with their homework in week two made me realise how bad I am at maths, I have completely forgotten everything I learnt at school! So helping them with long divisions was interesting to say the least. I also noticed that the boys were naughtier this week as they had got used to me being there and I discovered the beauty of bribery when trying to get them to do their homework. 

I gave them their daily speaking, reading and writing English lessons and managed to pick up some Spanish from the four year old (who couldn't speak much English). I learnt words for farmyard animals when I made masks with him and I learnt how to say 'I don't know how to say that in English.' The language barrier was amusing and the 12 year old ended up being a translator for us both. 

Making masks

On the Monday evening we went to the Bernabeu football stadium tour. We saw all the trophies the team had one and got to have a peak at where Ronaldo gets changed. 

Bernabeu stadium

The cups 

The changing room

I spent my other evenings in week two visiting the city centre and looking round the shops. I also discovered that Spanish people are not familiar with my name on my regular trips to Starbucks.

               

On the Saturday I visited the Royal Palace, which was very picturesque and surrounded by beautiful gardens. Just around the corner is the old part of Madrid with lots of little streets and shops. I was only visiting this part of Madrid for a couple of hours before we went to the family's house in the mountains so I made note to come back another day to explore the shops.

The Royal Palace and gardens

 The palace

Palace

Loved wandering around the small streets and looking up at the pretty buildings

After looking around the area of the Royal Palace I went to the family's house in the mountains to a town called Camorritos. You wouldn't think that after just a 50 minute drive you could go from being in an apartment in the centre of Madrid to a big family house in the mountains but that is exactly what we did on weekend number two. The house was beautiful and old fashioned. It was built in the 1940s and had a beautiful swimming pool and a huge garden with trees for the children to play. We spent the first day in the garden chatting with the family over drinks and snacks and the second day I took the children to a nearby farm and sat by the pool. The father also made a huge paella for us all to share - I was in heaven!

On the way to the farm

The farm house

The pool

The hammock in the garden 

Week three:

On Monday evening I visited Parque del Retiro, which was beautiful. It was nice to see big open spaces and places to relax after being in the city. 

Parque del Retiro

Brocolli trees

On the Tuesday I visited the Museo de Prado. It was a huge museum and was very interesting to see such old paintings. After that I went for a walk. I came across the mercado de San Miguel which was incredible. It was full of stalls selling food and drink and had plenty of tables and stools so you could sit down and eat your purchases. There were ice cream bars, cocktail bars, tapas bars and so much more.

Inside the San Miguel market

I spent my final saturday in Madrid at the pop art exhibition in the Thyssen museum. It was a great exhibition. I love pop art and it was exciting to see the original work of the likes of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein in the flesh.

The entrance to the exhibition

After the exhibition I learnt how to make my first ever paella and I am pleased to say it was very successful! I love Spanish food, particularly paella and I knew my mum would be delighted that I had learnt how to make a paella. 

My first attempt at paella

I spent my last Sunday at a market in the morning and the rest of the day by the pool.

Week 4:

My last week! I looked after the children every day, helping with homework, playing games and playing in the pool (the youngest was learning how to swim so wanted to be in it all the time). On the last night Sol took me to a typical Spanish market and we bought lots of seafood for my last supper. 

The last supper

 Sea snails

Barnacles (yes, I ate these!) 

The food may look weird but it all tasted really nice. The barnacles and sea snails were quite similar to muscles, and being a big fan of seafood, I really enjoyed trying all the different things.

During my stay I tried loads of new food and learnt a lot of new recipes. I ate raw meat for the first time, tried gazpacho (wasn't a fan), and I was introduced to jamon, a special Spanish ham which Sol absolutely loved. I also learnt how to make spanish tortilla and cous cous.

Jamon

I was sad to leave Madrid and wished I could have stayed for longer. I was originally supposed to be there for six weeks but had to leave after four for my graduation. I had a fantastic time in Madrid and would advise anyone who gets the opportunity to be an au pair to go for it.