12 days of Christmas: Day 1, The Pintertest

WHY DID I THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA? I am currently covered in hot wax... and so is my phone... and my jeans... and my carpet (sorry mum!) Why? Because I decided to 'customise' a candle - something that I'd seen on Pinterest.

After deciding to blog '12 days of Christmas' and seeing a number of DIY Christmas Crafts pinned all over the internet, I thought I would try one for myself and share my (non-existent) success. The first craft I clicked on - a snowman 'countdown to Christmas' decoration was apparently NOT A CRAFT but thrown in the crafts section to advertise someone's Etsy page (rolling eyes emoji). Moving on, the second craft I thought I'd try my hand at was a rustic-looking hanging Christmas-tree decoration and it was beauuuutiful. "How pretty is this Christmas tree?" It said in the description. "Very" I said to my iPad as I began to sing "oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree..." receiving bemused looks from my dog. "Get the instructions here" *clicks* WHAT? The instructions to make this lovely lovely decoration were GERMAN. Although I studied a little German at school, my proficiency is somewhat elementary - definitely not good enough to follow a set of instructions. Disappointed and ready to give up, I trudged on with the thought "third time lucky" running circles round my head...

Indeed, the third click was a lucky one and I found a set of instructions to create a 'personalised' candle - something I had a lot of! The post originated from hometalk.com and my final craft was promised to look something like this:

I think you already know it didn't quite turn out as planned...

The instructions seemed pretty easy:

You first have to print your pattern onto some tissue paper (I chose a Christmas tree - in loving memory of click number two). To do this you need to Sellotape the tissue paper to a sheet of regular paper to carry it through the printer... so far so good!

Once it has printed you cut out your pattern and position it onto the candle. Then over the top of the tissue paper, wrap some greaseproof paper round the candle before heating. Still so far so good!

I chose to heat mine with a hair-dryer and put it on the highest heat... It burnt my fingers, ouch ouch ouch! So I put it on my knee - protected by a pair of jeans - and held the paper in place between my legs. Before long the wax started to melt... and it got EVERYWHERE. Persevering, despite the state of my room, I continued to burn myself (and the image onto the candle). 

The final outcome looked like this: 

basically it looked like a picture that a child has Pritt-Stick-ed onto the candle...

If I wasn't so frustrated I would have maybe attempted to heat it further - I also think it would look better on a candle that is pure white but I'm going to rule today's Pintertest as a FAIL.

Think you could do better? Try it for yourself:

http://www.hometalk.com/5992638/how-to-add-images-to-candles?utm_source=editor&utm_source=editor&utm_medium=pinterest&utm_medium=pinterest&utm_campaign=featured&utm_campaign=featured&crlt.pid=camp.wxR0oW6UvNOp

Hoping tomorrow's blog is one of success - a Christmas bake!

Ciao for now xo

Halloween Bake on a Budget: Blood-filled Cupcakes

Having a Halloween party tonight? Don't worry, there's still a little time for a last minute bake! Taking inspiration from Tanya Burr's chocolate cupcakes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49WvunWX7mc) I decided to try my very own blood-filled bake and have written it down which will hopefully make it easy for you to follow. Having done pretty bank-breaking-bakes previously, I tried to make this as cheap as possible and have also added a few 'cheats' for a quicker process and less washing up...smiles all round! Disclaimer: The spider is not edible. 

Here are the photos from this weeks bake:

 The finished product! The spiders are from Hobby Craft and are £1 for 50.

 CHEAT! for less washing up, use an apple corer for your 'blood'.

 Oops... Maybe there was more washing up than I first thought!

Ingredients:
Cakes:
225 g butter (softened)
225 g brown caster sugar
225 g plain flour
4 eggs
2 caps vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk

Filling:
12 tsp Raspberry Jam

Icing:
200 g butter (softened)
400 g icing sugar
2 caps marshmallow flavouring
1 pea sized scoop of orange food colouring

Method: 
Cakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 C (170 C fan oven). Place cupcake cases into tin.
2. Stir together the butter and sugar to create a soft mixture. Add the flour and the eggs.
3. Mix in the vanilla extract and milk and stir out any lumps leftover.
4. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Leave to cool for about an hour.
6. (This is the cheaty bit) Following the pictures above, take an apple corer and 'de-core' your cake - be careful not to hit the bottom or the blood will fall out the other end! Spoon some blood (raspberry jam) into the hole and place the top back on to hide the spook-tacular surprise! Alternatively, if you don't have an apple corer, place the jam in a piping bag and pipe the jam inside the cakes.

Icing: 
1. Place the butter in a bowl and stir until smooth. 
2. Sift the icing sugar into the bowl and mix together. If you're adapting the recipe in any way, make sure you always have twice as much icing sugar than butter - this will keep the shape when it comes to piping!
3. Add the food colouring and stir until evenly covered and a smooth texture.
3. Pipe on your icing in a circular motion and top with spooky decoration!

Trying this recipe yourself? Don't forget to tag me in your photos! Happy Halloween.

8 Benefits of a Long Distance Relationship

After spending weeks - sometimes months at a time moping around feeling sorry for myself because my boyfriend lives 132 miles away and I can't spend every moment with him, I decided last week that enough is enough. We actually have it better than a lot of long-distance couples: at least we're in the same country! Being happy for the things I have, rather than uber mardy for the things I don't, I have taken it upon myself to write a list of benefits to cheer up both myself and any readers in the same boat as me by reminding ourselves that it's not that pants.

1. There is ALWAYS something to look forward to. 
Working in retail, I have recently seen customers get excitable over Christmas and parents telling their children 'put it on your Christmas list for Santa' - we even had our Christmas card and wrap items delivered earlier this week! Of course, Christmas is exciting but it's August - by the time Christmas gets here you will all be very very bored. Not me. Every day I see Adam feels like 1,000,000,000 christmasses in one day. I always have something to count down to and get excited about... other than Christmas.

2. Travelling. 
This doesn't mean travelling the world. In my circumstance, it means travelling 132 miles. Nevertheless, it means there are new sights to see and at 'just' 132 miles apart, new foods to try and different activities. Adam probably thinks Henderson's Relish is really gross and I'd probably want to whack that big stick thing over his head after going 'punting' in Cambridge but they're both something that without each other, we would never experience.

3. More time for 'me time' - guilt free!
As much as I love to spend time with my boyfriend, time alone is also fabulous. With Adam being so far away it means I can have girly nights in and paint my nails and pamper myself and watch Frozen without anyone telling me to shut up for singing 'For the First Time in Forever' at the top of my voice for the next few days.

4. 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'.
The realest thing anyone ever said. Our relationship remains in the 'honeymoon period' thanks to the distance - do you think I'd be writing this post outside the honeymoon period? Probably not.

5. There is less pressure to constantly look after yourself.
This can be a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand I eat so much junk food because I'm comfort eating when he's so far away and 'Adam won't see if I get fat'... on the other hand if I don't see him every day, I don't have to shave my legs every day either! 

6. There are no awkward moments with the in-laws.
If you don't see your partner very often, you don't see their parents very often either - which is 100% a good thing even if they like you (unless they're reading this in which case it totally sucks!)

7. You treasure every moment.
Not seeing your partner so much makes you appreciate it so much more when you do. I know I went off on a tangent about Christmas earlier and silly people getting excited because X Factor is back on and that means it's Christmas - but even the little things like shopping are so much more exciting when Adam is carrying my purchases.

8. The sex.
I'm sorry to be so crude (and right now praying that his parents will never see this) but even those who aren't in a long-distance relationship know the sex is better when you go a while without it. Although it's frustrating, the distance between you keeps that lustful spark you had on the first date with late night skype sessions and suggestive text messages to keep things interesting  - about half an hour ago Adam texted to ask 'what's the new blog post about?' - I told him 'something pants' - to which he replied  'your pants or mine?' I won't tell you how the conversation continued...

                         

          


    














I once attended a wedding where the best man's speech included some advice for us all: 'treat every night as though it's your first and every day as though it is your last'. I'm proud to say that despite the distance, me and Adam do just that. My darling, I love you beyond the stars xxxx