Pink Pops| How to make Popcakes

You may or may not have seen the posts about my Mum’s wedding in September. In that post you'll have seen pictures of the above Pop Cakes. My mum and I are both huge lovers of cake; any sort will do! So when I found the above book in TKMaxx I had to buy it. When flicking through the pages we came up with the idea of making pink Popcakes for her wedding as a gift for her guests.

At the time it seemed like a great idea; who wouldn’t love cute little pink cakes! However come 10.30pm the night before the wedding when we were still decorating the Popcakes, we were soon regretting it! Despite how stressful this idea became, the end result was amazing. The wedding guests were fascinated, and in awe when they discovered that my Mum had made them herself. So I thought I would show you how we did it.

Step 1- Firstly, a cake needs to be made. We used the recipe given in the book for a simple chocolate sponge cake. For the 100 popcakes that we made we had to bake 6 chocolate cakes and leave them to cool.

Step 2- To make the cake balls, the cakes were blitzed into crumbs then mixed with cream cheese, and icing sugar. This makes the cakes into a moist mouldable texture, that is quite similar to a ganache. We also added bashed up Crunchie to our mixture to add something special to half of the popcakes. We then moulded the mixture into 100 little balls, mounted them on sticks and popped them into the freezer for 15 minutes to allow them to solidify.

Step 3- The fun part; decorating! We ended up with 3 different looks for our popcakes. One was just pink icing with a pink icing rose on the top. The second was pink icing dipped into pink sugar.The third look was meant to resemble a flower, and involved pink and white swirls (as you can see above). The joy with popcakes is that you can be so creative with them, any colour, shape or design. I have seen little teacups and tea pots, dinosaurs, people, and food items such as hotdogs and slices of cake.

So that’s a short and sweet explanation on how we made our popcakes. It took a lot of time to make 100 of them, and it was a lot of hard work, but the final product was delicious and a big success with all the wedding guests. I think they are an excellent idea for wedding favours or even for Christmas presents!

So what do you think? Have you seen or tried popcakes before? Would you make any for Christmas presents or for your wedding or party?

Think Pink| Breast Cancer Awareness

As many of you know October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I am an advocate of Breast Cancer Awareness month, as it helps raise money for charities close to my heart. However I worry that the real, more significant aim of this campaign is sometimes forgotten. How many of you actually see the advertisements and think ‘Oh I should really check my breasts when I get home’. Breast Cancer Awareness is much more than buying pretty pink products, you can do that all year round. Breast Cancer Awareness month is making sure you take the time to be aware of your own breasts.

I decided to do this post as there are many popping up on people’s blogs at the moment, and even though they are meant with the best intentions  many do not ask you to take action. So I am asking you. I ask you to check your breast now; only if you are reading this in the private of your own home, I think checking them on the train to work would be a little inappropriate. But please remember my plea and do it when you get home.

I have seen and lived with the effects that the fight against Breast Cancer causes. As many of you know, my Mum fought it two years ago and my Grandma is currently fighting it. Both of them are the bravest and strongest women I know. My Mothers strength (and stubbornness) helped her fight and beat Cancer, and I know this same strength will help my Grandma win her battle. Thankfully I think strength and stubbornness is a family trait that although can have its downsides, helps the women in my family kick cancers arse!

I am not being a hypocrite I myself regularly check my breasts, I admit before my mother had breast cancer I didn't do it regularly, but when it happens to your family it soon shocks you into it. I am also going to visit my GP soon and advise them of the history of Breast Cancer in my family, so I can be checked regularly. Regular self checking, and regular mammograms are vital, a routine mammogram is how my grandma found her lump.

Below is an illustration of what to look for when checking your breasts. There is no right or wrong way to check them just make sure you do it. If you find anything irregular go to your GP right away. For more information click here.

Anyways enough of the lecturing, onto a more positive side to Breast Cancer Awareness month, and charity fundraising. Recently my mother got married and on the Friday before the wedding my Grandma was very brave and had her head shave by my mum in front of 100 guests. No one knew about it so it was a huge shock to everyone. However her bravery helped raised £400 for Cancer Care, the local charity that supported my Mum and will support my Grandma with her fight against cancer.

I hope this post inspires you to be aware of your own breasts, and I dedicate this post to my beautiful, strong and inspiring Mum and Grandma.

Weddings Days

Many of you will know after reading my blog that this past weekend has been the weekend of my Mum and her partner’s wedding. It was an amazing fun filled two day event, even if it was a little tiring. We are currently all sat around my mum and her new husbands house, eating Dominos in our PJ’s and looking through all the pictures, so I thought I would share some with you.

Friday night was an informal gathering and a chance for both sides of the family to meet and mingle. There was a lot of chatting, laughing and drinking going on, and with the help of my game of ‘Crazy Little Game Called Love’, a lot of scheming. The game is one I have come across through the hours I spend reading wedding blogs… I a woman obsessed. The game involves taking pictures of famous celebrity and royal bride and grooms and superimposing your own bride and grooms face in place of the famous star. The pictures turned out great, and were very humorous. The game itself brought out everyone’s competitive side especially when a drinks voucher was revealed as the prize, overall it proved a great ice breaker for everyone.

If the game itself didn’t break the ice, the sight of my Grandma having her head shaved by my mother, definitely did. My family has unfortunately been affected by breast cancer both now and in the past, so to help raise money for a cause both very close the our hearts and central to the wedding she decided she wanted to raise money by having her head shaved. No one was told beforehand, so it proved to be quite a shock to many, however she raised around £400 for charity, deeming it very successful. Everyone again did not know that Grandma has a beautiful wig that she wore for the Wedding day, so there was no bald bridesmaids running around, well at least not at the ceremony, it soon came off when the dancing started.

I only have a small selection of pictures of the ceremony, as I was too busy enjoying the day/carrying champagne and flowers around to take pictures, but you can see that pink was a strong theme in the wedding, as it is my mums favourite colour, and relates to the breast cancer charity. From the third picture you will see that shoes also played a big part, my mum wore hot pink stilettos on under her dress, and each bridesmaid had a different pair of sparkly shoes.

Many of the lovely guests who attended commented that it was the little details that made the day so spectacular, many of which were handmade by my mum and her willing helpers. Above are a selection of these little details along with the pictures I took while getting ready… seemingly the only free time I had.

*The hotel* *The view from my room* *Champers and cake for breakfast* *Hair clips* *OOTD-bridesmaid edition* *Curly bridesmaid hair* *Wedding favours* *Wedding Breakfast* *Assiette of deserts* *Wedding cake and flowers* Pink Wedding Popcakes* Curly hair 15 hours later*

I plan on posting another couple of wedding related posts, one with more of the wedding pictures, so you can gain a greater idea of the day. The other on the popcakes we baked and decorated for the guests. So keep checking back if you like cake or beautiful photographs.

Have any of you been to a wedding recently? What made the day extra special and stand out for you?

Burning a hole in my pocket| Haul

Well as the title suggest, I have been hauling my bum off recently, once while I was in Spain and the another last weekend, and lets just say I don’t really have the funds to be shopping like a crazy person. However as always, that never stops me! I have thankfully paid my overheads, so there will be no debt collectors on my doorstep, however I should be saving, not spending my money, but what is a girl to do. The items I have bought are needed… not urgently but still needed, so I’m not beating myself up too much.

My first haul was when I was in Spain on holiday. There was a few sales going on, and as I needed clothes for work I indulged and bought the blazer and two t-shirts above. Like many others I am obsessed with blazers, I have quite a little collection going on, and it’s still growing. I love how versatile they are, and how they instantly smarten up any outfit. This one is from Pull and Bear, which I’m not sure we have in the UK. It’s very high-street; key new styles mixed with essentials all at reasonable prices. The blazer was only 20 Euros, so a bargain really. My T-shirts like the blazer are bargains as well. They are both from Zara where there was a huge sale going on, which was more like a jumble sale; picture girls grabbing anything, clothes thrown everywhere, and girls trying things on in the middle of the shop. I got both t-shirts for 8 euros, and they should of been 45 euros collectively, so I was pretty pleased with that.

My second haul is from last Saturday, I only went into town for my bridesmaid dress fitting and to pick up a few things, but ended up with this lot and £120 down. Again, it is stuff I need, but maybe I shouldn’t of bought it all at once. I got the two bags from Tkmaxx, the large teal one is now my new work bag. I had been searching for one that was large enough for all my lunch and paperwork, as well as all the other crap I carry around, that was in a design I loved and would last me a while. This one turned out to be the winner, it’s teal coloured leather, has many pockets and compartments, zip fastening, and only cost me £60. The second more interesting bag is the clutch bag I am going to wear for my mums wedding. I needed a silver glittery one to match my shoes which I blogged about here, with it being only £15 I picked this one. The perfume again is from Tkmaxx, but thankfully my boyfriend was being a star and treated me. Overall I was pretty impressed with Tkmaxx, its not normally a place I shop, but it’s one of the few shops we have in Kendal so I don’t have much choice but to try it now.

The beauty products, are all form Boots, and I’m pleased to say they were discounted or on offer. However it seems that doesn’t stop me spend any less money, I just end up buying more! The Maybelline products were my best bargain as they had an offer on where all Maybelline products were 2 for £10, so I pretty much got an item free! I’ve never come across such a good offer before, and was hugely impressed. The 

Soap and Glory products are some that I have wanted to try for a while, and as it was buy one get one half price I indulged and added to my huge Soap and Glory collection at home. The Rimmel products were both reduced, the powder was just needed, and the primer is something I have been wanting to try. I have been struggling with my foundation recently; it hits about 3 o clock in the afternoon and my makeup has slid right off my face, so I’m going to try using a primer and see if it will help make my make up last at least till the end of the working day. I started with a cheap one, and if this doesn't work will venture into more expensive territory, but expect a review in a few weeks.

Have you been indulging recently? Did you take advantage of the Maybelline offer? Also if anyone has any primers they recommend let me know!

Heavenly Heels| Bridesmaid shoes

Firstly I apologise, I actually bought these shoes last weekend, but have been too busy to post about my weekend shopping. Yet I am still going to share it with you as I am in love with my new shoes! More shoes I hear you say… these ones, like my Graduation ones are essential as they are my bridesmaid shoes.

Last weekend, I visited Manchester with my Mum (the Bride) and the other 3 bridesmaids, of which I am the youngest. My mum has the most random bunch of bridesmaids in the world; her daughter, her mum, and her two friends. Not only do our ages vary, so does our body shape and fashion sense, so buying our outfits has been difficult. We have managed to settle for the same dress, however for shoes we decided that we would each have a different pair of shoes so we could reflect our our style. The only necessary being that they had to be sparkly.

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of everyone else shoes, but of course I have plenty of pictures of mine. I must of looked for a pair in every shop in Manchester, and the only pair I loved were a pair of £400 Jimmy Choos, which my budget did not stretch to! Finally I stumbled into Moda in Pelle and found the pair pictured; despite them not being a silver sparkle, more a grey shade, my mum approved. Although I think she just wanted me to settle upon a pair and not leave Manchester empty handed. They are very high, but I love them, I just prey I can last all day in them at the wedding.

While we were at Manchester we had afternoon tea in Marks and Spencers, which was an absolute bargain and very yummy. While in Marks and Spencer we found this display of DIY bra’s by their staff. They had been asked to decorate a bra for Breast Cancer, and the Bra with the highest votes wins; voting was done by putting money into a collection box. I voted fro the Percy Pug bra, as I think its simply amazing, but the whole idea was a great effort by the store to help raise money.

Overall we had a great girly day, and I am very happy with my purchase. I just can’t wait till September so I can finally wear them!

What do you think of my bridesmaid shoes? Do your prefer more traditional shoes for weddings of something fun?