escape the hustle and bustle

I'm sure you know that I flippin' love a good adventure. I also equally love a good adventure with my super handsome one, Alfie. As I work full time & have work to do outside of that, I rarely get a chance to escape the city of Cardiff. All around this city are fields, mountains, areas of spectacular beauty that we all forget is there. I tend to think about it too much instead of forget about it. I crave it.  The thought of walking through trees, getting my feet stuck in mud, finding little creatures, having a little picnic lunch, getting a chance to use my camera, being in the middle of nature, hearing nothing but chirps and the wind.. that's my idea of heaven on most days. I was so content. 

So, a little while back, Alfie & I had the same day off for once and decided it was about time he took me to Garth Mountain. It's literally just 10/15 minutes away on the train and then a good old trek to get to the top. As soon as you step off the train, you can see your destination and you just get this instant feeling of wanting to walk, walk, walk and walk some more until you're there. 

Needless to say, I loved the entire day. It wasn't bad weather, but it wasn't sunny either. There was this bizarre haze for the entire day and quite humid. I'm glad it didn't rain on us! We would defiantly have had soggy sandwiches. I got to see Cardiff from a very different angle and it made the city look teeny tiny and like I was on top of the world. So here's a few snaps from our little adventure. Enjoy! 

Have a wonderful Sunday - even if Mother Nature is angry today! -x 

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Maybelline: Super Stay 7 Days - Review #1

So, this is my very first beauty review - and it will be based on a beautiful nail colour! 

After seeing EssieButton use this nail colour 'Berry Stain' - when I walked past it in Boots, I just had to pick it up. I don't think I've ever actually had a colour like this before - it's not quite purple, not quite pink - it's a lovely plum/cherry colour. 

The other thing that drew me to this nail colour was the 'Super Stay 7 Days' aspect of the name. I don't feel normal without nail varnish on, however my nails generally chip only a few days after applying it. Especially in my job, I'm busy for my entire shift and that's where it usually chips. 

I put this nail colour to the test to see what it would look like after 7 days & to be perfectly honest, I was really rather impressed! Still some chips but I was quite clumsy that week. 

Here's the result! 

After 7 days of busy work plus my cleaning obsession - I think this is pretty good going considering what Maybelline are saying on the bottle. Minimal chipping!

Needless to say, as soon as I took this coat off at the end of the week, I then went ahead and re-painted them with the exact same colour. 

Beautiful! 

Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter Weekend! 

elfums x

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Gluten Free Banana & Choco Chip Loaf

Hello! It's almost Easter! So after I've slacked from my blog for a couple of weeks - here's one for you, and there'll be a few more to come in the very near future :) 

-x- 

If there's two things I really like in this world, it's banana's and chocolate. So, when I had a bunch of over ripe banana's from a family trip ready to be binned, I had a brain wave and decided to do something with them. One of my goals for this year was to cook more. So the day I got back from Somerset I had a group of friends over, and I thought this would be both a lovely snack for them to have over a bit of chit chat - but also, who doesn't love the smell of baking when they walk through the front door?! So here's the recipe I followed - it's also gluten free because of my poor tum tum! 

     

    

Ingredients

3oz of butter/margarine 

6oz of sugar

2 eggs, beaten 

450g of mashed banana's 

7oz of gluten free flour

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

4oz chocolate chips *the recipe said nuts, but i changed that quickly!

Steps 

1. Grease a 2lb loaf tin *i'm not sure what mine was, but it made 2 loaves!

2. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy

3. Add eggs one at a time, beating between each addition

4. Add banana's and beat again

5. Stir in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and chocolate chips

6. Put mixture into tin, bake for 1 & 1/4 hours at 180° until well risen and firm

It was probably one of the most simple recipes I've ever followed! 

It went down a storm, both loaves were demolished and I'll definitely be making it again. 

The original link to this recipe will be just here :) 

Hope you're all having a wonderful Good Friday! 

elfums x 

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'Being Little' Creative Prompts for March

Happy April 1st everybody! 

My oh my, this has come around quickly hasn't it.

Just a second ago, it feels like I was discovering Lyzi's post from 'Being Little' about the start of her Creative Prompts for March and now it's done and dusted! 

As it's the first of the month, and I'm at home with my parents for the week, meaning I have a lot more free time - I have decided to post this on time. Rather than have to 'wait until I have time'. 

This post is going to be a round up of my entries for #BLcreativeprompts. 

I have to be truthful on this - it was quite difficult to keep up with it. 

I absolutely loved doing it, but being in work full time, trying to get enough sleep, have a social life, spend time with Alfie blah blah blah - I just wasn't able to keep up. 

I had every post written down for each day, and there would only be a handful of entries I'd miss at a time - but I would ALWAYS find time to catch up on them. 

Even if that did mean having to draw 6 entries in one night. 

I think this was a really great idea and I'm glad I did it. 

Drawing has always been one of my favourite things and even though it's not something I'm pursuing as a career, I will never forget my love for it. It helps me relax, helps me wind down after a day in work and keeps my little creative head on the go. 

This has made me remember those things! 

So here are my entries - hope you enjoy! 

I had to miss out two entries - one because the 'Weather' was in fact mist, and I couldn't think of any way shape or form to draw that. Secondly, the collage I can't currently do as I'm not in my house with all of my usual creative things, so I will leave that until I get back. 

All these were posted on Instagram as well so if you wish to take a look you can find them here! 

Have a wonderful start to April everyone and I'll see you in my next post!

elfums x

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No Exceptions Made Launch

A new fashion brand was recently launched in Cardiff called ‘No Exceptions Made’ by Nem McCarthy - a 24 year old graduate from the University of South Wales. 

The concept behind ‘No Exceptions Made’ is to create a bohemian, quirky and fun clothing company that promotes unique and individual garments that make people feel special! N.E.M provides dresses, tops, t-shirts and bags that are all handmade & hand printed. The clothing is bold with colour and the fabrics on the made to order garments have a very unique and different look to them. The S/S ’14 collection features various prints such as Paco the Llama, a chameleon and Nem’s dog Fletcher. These garments are also available in unisex and ladies sizes from an online platform. 

Nem also brought out a Christmas range which she launched at the Cardiff Bay Christmas fair which was very successful and gave a feel of what was to come from the brand. 

So, on 23rd March, 2014 we saw Nem’s dream come to life where the Spring/Summer collection was debuted to the public, her family and her friends in Gwdihw - Cardiff. 

The launch was fun filled, from a stall with the new collection, musical acts, social media competitions and of course - llama snacks. 

As soon as you walked through the door, there was an area where you could enter the first competition of the night - whereby you write your name & twitter address down and you get picked out during the night to win some treats! You also had to resist the complementary cupcakes! 

After some meet and greets as the guests arrived, the brand was officially launched as Nem gave a lovely and humble speech around her journey through the beginnings of the brand, what the night will bring, some thank you’s and then a video which shows the brand come to life in the promotional photo shoot. 

After a little more socialising, the very talented Hayley Cowan took to the stage and performed some songs of her own and also a few covers. Personally, I hadn’t heard Hayley sing before and I was truly blown away and I’m sure that goes for everyone else in the room. You can also find her music on iTunes which I would for sure recommend you do. 

Then came the competition winners, and of course the treat prizes which looked very tasty. Nem also announced that throughout the next day, the best photo posted on social media would be picked to win an item of the new S/S range - can’t go wrong! The hash tagging soon started…

Then finally, the musical stylings of Ben Milburn & Alton Williams took to the DJ booth and started playing some truly incredible mixes. Those two together are genius, and sometimes trouble… 

Find Alton's music at http://www.mixcloud.com/kenburnseffect/

Find Ben's music at https://soundcloud.com/edocronian/

The night was a massive success and Nem should be extremely proud of herself. I’m very excited to see what’s to come - and also if Paco makes anymore appearances! The brand has got some plans to work with other illustrators and designers to create some more fantastic work. 

The 'No Exceptions Made' brand has been launched online at http://www.noexceptionsmade.com and will hopefully appear in craft fairs and boutiques in the very near future. You can also find N.E.M here:

https://www.facebook.com/noexceptionsmade

https://twitter.com/NEMclothing

http://instagram.com/noexceptionsmade

elfums x

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the birkett's go to the country

Hello everyone! 

I can't believe how quickly the last week has gone! I'm on my last day off before heading back to work tomorrow, sorting through unpacking, laundry, college work & of course a new blogpost. 

So, as I mentioned in my last post, this past week I have been in Somerset with my family staying at a very big house in the lovely country! So I thought I would share some photo's with you from the week and also if you would like to see my Instagram posts from the week I will link that here!

Above is the house that we stayed in and the surrounding area which is so lovely.

The tree is one of the best things about staying here. 

Thankfully, the weather was absolutely beautiful bar a couple of days where the mist and fog was so heavy! It still made the fields look incredible and creepy.

On one of the first few days the sun came out and we just couldn't not go for a walk down the lanes by the house and the farm. The owner of the area has two pigs by the entrance which the little one's were really excited to go and feed with all our leftover rubbish food. The pigs however were being lazy and were asleep, but the walk was so lovely. Oddly, there was a one eyed horse in the fields which I didn't know what to make of! Plus, Chloe & Kyle holding hands all the way was just one of the cutest things I've ever seen :) 

It was my Uncle Darren's birthday on the Wednesday, so as it was a nice day still we ventured out to a Cider Farm - there wasn't a huge amount to do, but we had a lovely lunch, wandered around the museum and a walk around the vineyards a little. The little ones also had a play in the park area. 

Overall it was a lovely week, we ate incredibly well, the weather was wonderful, I got to spend time with family who I rarely see & also met my new baby cousin. 

I can't believe the week is over but here's to the next Birkett trip away hopefully! 

I'm also heading to North Wales in about two weeks so family time is not over yet :) 

Hope you've enjoyed looking at these photo's! 

Talk to you soon! 

elfums x

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