I’m an artist and I LOVE colour, so this brights trend makes me go all weak at the knees.

It also makes me think… “Im 3o’something,  a size 12 and 5 ft 4…” urm maybe not for me then ; )

But you can’t argue with the pretty, just loooook….

And one thing I noticed was if you can’t go day-glow all over, you can add it to almost anything….

Nudes, navy or black are the best pairings I’ve seen. The high street stores  have some perfect pieces.  Below are my faves, as well as a few gasp worthy designer options.

( I’ve  linked every picture for you, took me ages, but I’m kind that way ; ))

Neon Satchel lust…I die! ….

Just gorg….

The stars who get the brights right…

And a few who got it woefully wrong, sorry ladies….

but please…. no!!!!!

So what do you think lovelies, will you be donning the neon?

So this week I had a dream about the lost boys, it may have been the spicy cheese I’d been eating or the fact that Me and Teen Ellie had been talking about our school girl  crushes ( hers are currently Drake, Drake aaaand Drake, she has it bad people, anyway…) .

Mine were Christian Slatter from the movie Heathers ( can you say seeee-wooooon) and Jason Patrick from The Lost Boys ( and also Morten Harket who incidentally , reminds me a little of Josh Hartnett ? and the super cute Corey Haim…;)

In the dream I was Jamie Gertz ( don’t be laughing now! ) , I always wanted  to be her .   She was so , well, beautifully lost , just waiting for someone to come save her from those nasty vampire types.  Yes I know technically she was a vampire, but not a * proper* blood sucking evil one.

Looking over old pictures of her now ( yes, this IS what I do in my spare time ) I think she is bang on trend too…

Come on, let me show you the evidence…

The jingly jangle arm candy ( no not Kieffer…I mean the stacked bracelets… love! ) fash blogger uniform,  Honestly WTF would be proud ….

Red Lippy, long hair, long gypsy skirts, cool milatarty jackets, black eyes….

Okay..stil not convinced?

Looky at these Pictures of  Georgia May Jagger For Elle France… Lost Boys Esque ?

Or,  This from Free People …

Loving this girls eye make-up! …

And this From Winter Kate ( Nichole Richie’s clothing Line) , I can soo see Star ( Jamie Gertz ) rocking this chain headdress and purple sheer maxi, which I kinda love! ….

{ Winter Kate Spring Look Book Via }

So thats it, proof that A… Im getting old ( I remember my Mum telling me, fashion always comes back again)

…and B)…oh sod it, I don’t really have a B… Im just old  :  ) But I still Love the whole Boho Lost girl Vibe !  ….

I will leave you with this, I think If Michael ( Jason Patrick) and Star had ever had a love child, she would look like this gorgeous creature, 10 year old model, Thylane Lena-Rose Blondeau. She  is the Giselle Bundchen of  children’s high fashion, and a total boho baby! CUTE!

{ Thy-Lane Via }

1) Patterned Jeans -

I must say the first thing I’m in love with this week, I really wasn’t at all enamoured with when I first saw,  but I’m warming to them now.  Do you ever find that with fashion trends?  first of all you hate it, then you love it! I guess you just have to get used to some things, Patterned jeans are one of those moments I think .  But I LOVE these, will you be giving them a go, or a wide berth?

{ thanks to Fora MTV, Via Mother }

{ Capri Style at Alice & Olivia }

{ Slightly more affordable from good old ASOS  ; ) }

2) Pin- Up Girls Before & After , circa 1950 -

This Makes me smile ever so much! Lovely to see the artists first stills and also that these ladies were all proper curvy, love it!

{ More over at  retronaut }

3) This Song! -

Lastly is this ,  love this song,  love the album,  love this girl!!!!

If you havent heard of her yet her name is Alex Winston, I think she’s set for big things, if there’s any justice anyhow ; )

Have A very Happy Weekend folks, and don’t forget The Voice is on Saturday & Sunday this week, I am hooked are you? Just in love with all the Judges, especally will-i am, what a total sweetheart he is!

See you soon xxxx

I first came up with the idea for these burgers out of necessity,  I swear  (swear!) I ordered Burger buns from Mr Tesco, but sadly none were delivered.  So on monday when it was raining cats and dogs outside and I could  convince no man, beast (or teenager)  to go to the shops for me, the healthy burger in the  chip *bun* was born.

But this is no ordinary chip,  noooo , this is a  perfectly crisp, slightly spicy, baked sweet potato chip ( French Fries to any lovely readers from the US ) .

As well as being just divine with the burger they are also super healthy too, sweet potatoes are low in calories, very high in beta-carotene and they also raise our blood levels of vitamin A ( great for good skin and vision, bonus! ) . Obviously a thousand times better than any soggy olde’bun!

And when I tweeted & Instagramed the picture that same day, I thought I must be onto something, because a record amount of you asked me for the recipe. So here it is…Healthy food should’nt taste this good im sure, but hay… if it is, im not gonna argue ; ). Hope you give it a go to, I’d love to know what you think.

( Oh and by the way, I am working on a veggie burger too, but not just any veggie burger…THE best veggie burger ever, one that even Big *Monster Meat Eating* J will scoff and say “By Jingo Thats Good” ( he never actually says By Jingo, ever, but you’ know,  it sounds kind of good when I write it )  … Anyway, wish me luck and stay tuned for the results ; )  )

Makes 6 large Burgers ( I froze 2)

• For the burger :
• olive oil
•  1 large red onion ( or 2 small)  peeled and finely chopped ( I chopped  in the mixer)
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 slices of white bread
•  500g good-quality lean minced beef
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
•  1 heaped teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
•  1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic, beaten
• A handful of fresh grated Parmesan cheese
• pinch of chilli flakes

• For Sweet Potato *Bun*
• ( Makes 4 *buns*)
• 4 medium sweet potato’s
• a good few pinches of sea salt
• a pinch of chilli flakes
• olive oil ( 1 and a half tablespoons approx)

Firstly start by making the burgers. Fry the red onion and the garlic in a little olive oil for about ten mins on med-low until they are translucent and soft, but not brown. Put aside to cool. Then put the bread in a food processor and pulse until you have pretty fine bread crumbs ( this is strangly fun! but that might just be me ). Then put all the ingredients ( including bread crumbs and cooled red onion) into a big bowl and mix. Scrunch together ( clean hand please) really well ( also fun, honest) until evenly combined. Then form into six burger shapes. Put on a oiled baking tray and refridgerate for at least an hour so they set well. ( Me and milly made them in the morning, refrigerated them and then  brought them out to cook for tea ) .

For the chip/bun,  chop up the sweet potato’s into chunky, square chip shapes, discarding  the top and bottoms ( remember we are going to place the burger ontop of the chips and then chips on top so regular shapes are good, but they dont need to be perfect ) .

Place chips on a big baking tray and toss with the oil, salt and chilli. Place in a pre heated oven at around 200oc for 25-30 mins until crisp and golden ( sweet potato cooks a little faster than regular potato’s so when they are brown they are done ).

Whilst they are cooking fry the burgers, they are quite thick so I put them in a oiled pan for around 25 mins on med/low , top with chesse at the end and bung them under the grill for a min.

Now just plate up, I used three or four chunky chips on the bottom, then burger then topped with the same amount of fries and maybe a pickle? (optional of course) .  Serve with giant salad drizzled with a little olive oil lemon and sea salt…YUM!

The only downside is you do need a knife and fork, but heck its worth the cutlery, honestly!

See u soon soon lovelies, I will leave you with a very wet image from this week,  strangely I’m discoving that April showers are actually fun, with a little person in tow ; )

have a really fab weekend! xxx

First is this,  its not new but I literally can’t stop playing it, and The Milsta is obssesed with watching the video. Hope she’s not getting ideas of painting herself from head to toe in make up ..Hmmm..

 
Next up is a girl crush, a major one. Did you see how wonderful Kate Winslet looked in Jenny Packham  at the Titanic 3D premier ? Amazeballs! I have always thought she was fabulous but I think she just keeps getting better. I love the fact that I can see wrinkles too, I am so sick of seeing faces on TV botox’ ed into oblivion, its NOT pretty, or young.. .its just weird and waxwork- alien – like  okay  ??

Go Kate, I think your Fabulous! Crushing!!! ….

Last up is nail polish, but a totally dreamy one ….

Deborah Lippmann’s Across the Universe Nail Lacquer is a deep, inky navy blue jelly base with electric blue glitter and teal and green hexagonal glitter .  Deborah’s worked with Sarah Jessica Parker, Zac Posen and Rodarte, to name a few, which is a pretty good track record i think. This is SUCH a pretty polish, I’m adding it to my birthday wish list ; )

She also does a gold one called Shake your Grove Thing and a iridescent one called  Stairway to Heaven, which ones you fave? And what have been the highlights of your week lovelies? xxx

How was your Easter weekend folks?  It was a bit of a grey rainy one here in the shire.
We still made it to the woods for our much promised picnic,  but we had to race back to the car after, to beat the pouring rain.

On the way home as the rain pounded the windscreen  I decided to dig out a recipe I cooked at Christmas time for chicken tortilla soup.  This is THE best soup I’ve ever ever ever made.  In fact the word soup doesn’t cover it’s brilliance in the least, I think it should be called sou-wonderful ! It’s THAT good ; )
I have changed a few bits of the original ( fab) recipe, mainly just to English-ify things up a bit ( measurements, and things I can’t get in UK ) .
But it’s pretty similar, I hope you’ll give it a go too,  on a rainy day or otherwise ; )

Super fresh and easy peasy chicken tortilla soup

(Makes roughly five bowls)

1 litre/1¾ pints chicken stock (home-made or bought)
1 pack of boneless chicken thighs ( about 8 – 10 in a pack I think ) Roasted ( see below) and chopped  OR 1 small cooked rotisserie chicken
1 medium green chilli, diced , seeds included
1 clove of garlic, diced
1/2 a jar of salsa ( hot or mild)
1 /2 a can of sweetcorn, rinsed & drained
1 /2 a can of black beans, rinsed & drained
1/2 a bunch of coriander, chopped
A half a can of plum tomatoes, drained and crushed ( I crushed mine a bit with my fingers and then bunged them in )
A good few shakes of bottled lime juice… If its good enough for Nigella ; ) ( or fresh if you have it)
And if you like things hot ( we do) a little pinch of red chilli flakes, if not, just leave it out.

For the topping-
fresh cubes  of avocado ( a must in my opinion )
a dollop of sour cream ( omit if like me, your watching your fat bits ; ) you won’t miss it , but it is a nice luxury extra )
grated cheddar cheese
crushed tortilla chips

Start out by cooking the thighs, you can do this in advance if you like. I just roasted them in the oven ( around 190oc ) for 25 mins . Or use a shop small bought rotisserie chicken.  Chop up into chunks (not to small otherwise it will just disappear into the soup )
Then put all the ingredients  ( not the toppings though obviously  : )  )  in a big pot and cook on the stove top for about 25 mins.
Serve with yummy toppings, enjoy!!! X

Other recipes you may like :

Greek Chicken Tray Bake

Easiest yummiest jam ever

Chocolate Caramel Banana Bread

So this week was my first Instagram birthday, and I could still spend hours a day on there ( and sometimes do!  ; )) .

It has a very real family feel about it and although my first love will always, always be twitter I think IG beats it for genuine friendships and community right now.  Twitter has become more of a place for *selling* stuff,  your products,  your blog,  your views…  It just sometimes feels more hard going, although I have made and continue to make real lasting friendships on there, its just harder.  I think anybody who has been part of twitter for a long time will agree, its just got slightly jaded with time.

Instagram on the other hand is just people sharing their memories, loves and art, I may sound like a bit of a Pollyanna but I honestly feel it there.  I think it helps too that a lot of times you are seeing captures of peoples lives which you make instant  connection’s too. They do say a pictures says a thousand words, that’s a lot more than you get on twitter ; ) .

Im not sure what the new FaceBook buy out means for us or the new influx of Android users, but I really hope it doesn’t change things too much. Not that I don’t welcome new people, its lovely getting new Twitter friends popping up on my Instagram feed,  its just that Instagram felt like a great up and coming neighbourhood  that nobody knew about.  Now its really *out there* I just hope it remains the same.

Any how, the real purpose of this post is a few tips and tricks ive learnt along the way, freinds often ask about apps and stuff so I thought it would be nice to put it down on *paper* here.  Not that I am in any way an expert but I do edit a lot and ask a lot of ( maybe cheeky) questions from others so I have some really good apps to share…

Here goes..

The Basics – The very best for basic edits that look like a natural (none edited) picture are from the photo shop app PS Express.  I don’t think its more than a few pounds from app store but its fabulous for sharpening things up, and blending things out.  The Reduce Noise is great for portrait shots ( evens out skin tone, makes you look younger , like touche eclat for your entire face *wink ) and the basic shapen and exposure features are perfect for food or product shots. Or for when you just want to make a candid natural shot more striking.

Also Camera+ is perfect for basic editing like cropping, but it also has a lovely selection of filters, my fave’s are Depth of field,  Tailfins, Ansel, Sunkiss’ed and Nostalgia. 

My friend ( @sheckamecka) recently told me about another one called PhotoStudio too, I haven’t had chance to properly discover that one yet, but if you already have the others it might be worth a look for a change up. Filter Mania is also good for certain shots but the effects are sometimes a bit to obvious looking to me, still fun to play around with though.

{ The food shot above was edited in PS Express and then  *tear drop* framed using the plop frame on the Pixlromatic app, both super easy and found on app store }

Fun for Effects – when you want to add a little twinkle or a rainbow flare or two, both  LensLight and Xiamen App ( look for the red dragon icon at app store search) are brilliant! And great to play around with.

{ The above shot of Milly was edited with Camera+ and LensLight app, spectrum ring and text was added using a great app called easyTITLER } 

{ Above montage of Milly was made with picframe,  camera+ and Xiamen apps }

Frames and Lettering –  You can get a photo montage picture that’s great for all kinds of shots from nature to cute kids pictures with an app called PicFrame, this lets you add lots of pictures to one square, creating pretty collage’s.  Two great apps for adding text ( in many different fonts and colours) to your pictures are Phonto and easyTITLER , text gives an extra dimension and character to your pictures. If every picture tells a story, the text can help to give it personality !

The Square Ready app is for creating a perfect sqaure ready for Instagram and also great for making a square picture ready for frameing like this circle frame below, made using Super Retro ( if you don’t start with a perfect square you wont get a circle )

Other great apps for  when you get more accomplished are ColorSplash ( for adding dramatic splashes of colour to your black and white shots), Juxtaposer  ( for laying multi pictures on top of each other ) and SigNote ( for adding your cute doodles and writing right on top of your pictures )

And finally, Instagram itself of course has its own filters, my favorite are Rise and the new Sierra, both add a nice glow and light to your edited or none edited pictures.

Also If your just starting out on IG and you want to make instant connections (and follows)  with people you can always try entering other popular  ( and super nice) IG’ers challenges. I  like @OwlBolt’s weekly challenge ( she has a new one every Tuesday) , @thisisjules rolling weekly Collage challenge and @joshjohnson’s nightly and weekly challenges.  All will get you out there and seen by like minded folk and will make you instant friends.  All you do is add the challenge hash tag to your pictures and you will appear on Instagram searches of each challenge : ) Oh, and don’t forget to like and comment on lots of other peoples pictures too, that really helps.

A few more random IG pictures….

Finally… If your already an IG addict like me, Ive found some fun products to feed your adiction too.

Like this , make your own pillows out of your instagram pictures, a little bit naff maybe, but also a lot fun! Great for wedding or baby photo’s perhaps too?

Or how about this? for your next phone case?

So that’s it, I’m off to get dressed now ( yes it is nealy 11 am, oh the joys of school hols ! hehe )

Anyway, its pretty fair to say,  I Heart Instagram ! … don’t you? ; ) xxx

 Happy Feet!….

 My Muma Artwork….

 Celebrity Mummy’s ..

The tough times….

Erm… Now that looks painful! …hehe

 Glam Mummy’s  I ADORE! And visit, well daily to be honest!  for Glamorous mummy inspiration  ; ) …

Cup of Jo- Formerly the relationships blogger for Glamour Magazine, Jo is a New York blogger who blogs about her life in the city, as well as fashion, food and life as a mummy. Her Motherhood Monday posts are ALWAYS fab ….

Also i LOVE Jordan over at Oh Happy Day, she writes about fashion and travel and living in Paris, but also about her sweet family. Gorgeous photography too .

This is just wonderful!  just like this ladies blog Oh Joy .  Its full of really pretty fashion, interiors and of course cute babies / kids stuff!

Be warned though, her baby Ruby WILL make you broody….

…. And in the words of Teen Ellie ( My eldest, yes, I did have my children far apart. But you know, I needed a looong break in between ; ) )

“Oh no mum, not AGAIN! …Milly (3) is a good one, what if the next is evil…like Jack!???”  ( her twelve year old brother )  ..

Hehe, oh the joy of  sibling rivalry ;D

Anyway, Happy Friday folks!

Have a great one, hope you get spoiled , you deserve it!

xxx

But rather than have her sat in front of the telly for days on end (although we did that too, with blankets ; )) I thought it’d be fun to try a few new projects. We started with the sensory box, I’ve been bookmarking blogs about them for ages but never actually got around to doing it. Its a bit like when you pin a load of things to pinterest, you know you want to give them all a go and then you don’t have time. And then you have pinterest guilt, you know when you think everybody in the whole world is building lifesize rocket ships out of toliet roll tubes with their kids?,  except you.

You can drown in that sort of mummy guilt, let me tell you ; )

Anyway… sensory boxes are great fun to make and play with, you can find out lots more about them here, but basically you choose a theme ( we went fairy tea party, because, well,  we have fairies and tea party stuff ) but you can choose anything. Farmyard, zoo, baking.  And the great thing is you can use the *play sand* you make for the next box.  This week fairies,  next week pirates maybe?! : )

So if you want to make one this is what you’ll need ( or rather what I used when I raided my cupboards, but you can use any combination or just one, although I think the different textures are fun and probably more educational, but what’d I know! ; ) hehe…

1 bag or box of Risotto Rice

1 bag of Semolina (for the sandy bit)

1 bag of quinoa

1 bag of buckwheat

1 bag of yellow lentils

Food colouring ( i used blue and red)

( you can also use pasta, but it takes a lot longer to dry, maybe a day)

Put the quinoa in a baking tin and drop a few spots of food colouring in, then get your hands in and toss around until evenly coated (mily loved to do this)

Do the same with the rissotto rice

I kept the buckwheat plain.

Then just leave for a few mins to dry, while you go wash your hands.

Then take a big plasic box, we used a shallow long one, like the ones you put under your bed. And fill it with the buckwheat,  quinoa, yellow lentils, rice and semolina.

Mix it all up and hey presto, you have the ground work on a little world, in which to create. We added fairies, toadstools, alphabet letters from an old scrabble set and a few bits from a tea set to create ours. We also filled a little bowl with old beads, vintage (or  grandma’s ) buttons, and  broken / junk necklaces  from ebay to use as fairy * treasure* .

There you go, hours of fun! I can honestly say out of all the toys Milly has she has already played with this the most. I think its important to change it up every few weeks though, before boredom sets in. She wants a construction site next. Thats my girl ;D

Yes, I know she STILL has her dummy ( even our waiter at the chinese restaurant at the weekend mentioned it ; /  ) ..we are working on it, but I believe in the gentle softly softly ideal  : ) I’m hoping she’s just going to give it up on her own, someday….really soon!

We also did some leaf painting. I fogot how much fun simple things like that are, as well as the leaves we used toliet roll tubes and foam balls for making patterns. You can uses anything, cars are good, and its great fun getting a big bowl of soapy water for a car wash afterwards … I really want to try this too, party blower painting, messy fun!

but nothing a long play in the bath can’t sort out ; )

What have you been up to this week lovelies?  Will you be tring out a sensory box of your own? hope so!

Also, do you have an words of wisdom about our dummy situation? i would be very appreciative ; )

See you Friday folks XXX