Wheelingalong24

blogging, random

So I was nominated by Vicky at around & around & upside down for the Liebster Award. It is an award for bloggers with less than 200 followers on bloglovin. The Liebster award is one of those things that is really more a meme than an award but I thought that it might be nice to see out the year by doing the meme anyway. Plus, I am really flattered to have been nominated.

There are a few 'rules' to follow. I need to do 11 facts about me, answer 11 questions & then (depending on the version of the meme) nominate 3-15 other blogs with less than 200 followers on bloglovin'.

So 11 random facts about me - not ones that I did in the 50 random things about me post.

Apparently when I was 2 I described someone as having "a face like an armadillo with hairs on it".
I spent the last 2 days unable to leave my room
I met the Archbishop of York - he came to my school.
I am going to the world con in London with my brother.

Friday 27 December 2013

Best of the Sales

beauty, fashion, makeup

My favourite bit of Christmas - after the buying, wrapping & giving of presents is the Boxing Day sales. I always feel like they are the best way to see out a year, even when I don't buy anything....this year however I have bought LOTS of things & so that I'm not the only one with an awesome haul & no cash I thought I'd share what I think the best deals are this year - including some I have already taken advantage of.

Karen Millen Boyfriend Jeans: I love the appearance of distressed boyfriend jeans - I think they just look fabulous - & as I said in my Capsule Wardrobe post I am trying to improve the over all quality of the pieces in my wardrobe. These jeans - at a £40 discount (£59) - may be the start of that improvement.

Too Faced Joy To the Girls Palette: Too Faced make some of the best palettes on the market

Thursday 26 December 2013

Coffee-Free Chocolate & Amaretto Tiramisu

baking, food, lifestyle, New Year

Now Christmas is over it is time to turn our attention to New Year. I'm not a big partier - I never was, even before I had M.E. - so I have never really experienced a new years party. I hope that excuses the image I have in my head, which is heavily inspired by Hollywood. I don't know where this image came from but when I think of New Years party I see a lot of silver & gold glitter, crazy elegant 'finger food' & copious quantities of champagne. So when I decided to come up with a recipe for New Year it was into to that, entirely delusional image I went. You guys are going to LOVE this recipe!

What I came up with is this incredibly sumptuous, opulent tiramisu. Seriously, this stuff is....you know when people say something is better than sex? Well this is better than that, it is better than sleep or shopping or nice clothes. This is better than that feeling when you look in the mirror & realise that you look crazy hot.

The reason this works so well is, I think, the custard, and the Disaronno.

Tuesday 24 December 2013

beauty, Christmas, makeup, youtube

I swear, this is my last christmas post for this year & it's a fun one. A glittery brown smokey eye, minimal face makeup & a bare lip....perfect for a family christmas day

I hope you all have the best possible Christmas & that I'll see you again soon.

Monday 23 December 2013

Star Chain - Christmas Card Recycling

You have been inundated with Christmas cards, every surface is 6 cards deep & yes they are very nice but it seems a shame to just bin them as soon as Christmas is over. Sound familiar? This really easy & pretty alternative to paper chains could be the answer to your problems.

This is actually a really pretty Christmas decoration & kept my foster brother - who has been known to use every scrap of wrapping paper in the house making paper chains - busy for hours. Plus it taught him the basics of sewing, recycling & focus....this is a magic project.

So, what you need is:

Friday 20 December 2013

Christmas Round up

4 comments

baking, beauty, Christmas, crafting, DIY, Favourites, food, lifestyle, list, makeup, winter, youtube

Usually I would do a 'Weekly obsessions' post on a Friday but I thought I would sum up my favourite posts from this months Christmas craziness.

I think I got a good range of posts in this list, maybe even one or two you missed or haven't had time to check out yet.

Turkey, Cranberry Sausage Rolls: Christmas flavours always inspire some amazing recipes & I am so proud of this, it is one of the best savoury things I have ever made!

Thursday 19 December 2013

Fruity Mincemeat Frangipane Tart

baking, Christmas, food, lifestyle

I wasn't going to post any more recipes - & then we ran out of mincemeat whilst I was making a mincemeat, frangipane tart. Necessity is the mother of invention & this is one of the best inventions! Mincemeat has never been this good! Oh yeah...I substituted the missing mincemeat with blueberry jam!

You could probably use marmalade but we didn't have any. You could probably use cranberry sauce but we didn't have any. We had blueberry jam & it was incredible!!! You have to try this - it brightens up the taste of the mincemeat & makes it sparkle!

Trying to replicate this was tricky, it wasn't exactly an exact formula in the first place. I think I've got it down now so see what you think.

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Christmas Party Smokey Eye

beauty, Christmas, makeup, winter, youtube

I've been doing a Christmas Get Ready With Me series over on my YouTube channel, the last one was a cool, classic vintage look & this one is a Cranberry & Gold/Champagne smokey eye. I even broke out my false lashes!

The concept for this look was a look for a work Christmas party....I have never been to a work Christmas party however so I may have completely missed the mark. You'll have to let me know :)

Tuesday 17 December 2013

DIY Jam Jar Snowglobe

These things are so cute & really great use of old Christmas cake decorations & jars. They are also a GREAT way to keep little brothers entertained - or even for doing with older kids....they are lots of fun. Plus you can use anything, as you can see, for the figure in the middle. One of these is a lego mini figure for the snow globe that's going to be my brother's Christmas present from my foster brother.

This is the kind of craft that was being done in my primary school for as long as I can remember...these are way cuter though....

Monday 16 December 2013

Last Minute DIY Gifts

baking, beauty, Christmas, DIY, food, lifestyle, makeup

My family is having a DIY Christmas, the concept being that everyone in the immediate family makes the gifts for everyone else...it's turning out to be a lot of fun. You guys should try it.
Even if you aren't having a DIY Christmas, I know you can agree, DIY gifts are the most special...even if you are making them for yourself!
These are my favourite, quick, inexpensive DIY gifts, yours too...as soon as you try them.

So, the options are: DIY tinted lip gloss, Marbled Hot Chocolate Melts & Pink Grapefruit Bath Salts.
The lip gloss is crazy simple:

Friday 13 December 2013

Weekly Obsessions Post 5: Erm....so, not much to talk about

lifestyle, random

I feel weird but this week I've not been obsessed with much.....this is such an anomaly for me I had never foreseen this occurring....however that is how this week has turned out.
Mostly I've been obsessing over my bodies cravings for carbs (I've been on my time of the month) and the fact that I've bloated up half a dress size without putting on a lick of weight (I actually lost a pound).
There have, however, been a few things...

My favourite has to be the everyday sexism responses that have been being tweeted recently....some of them are really clever. This is my favourite, but this article collects some of the best of them...be warned though, some of them are kind of rude.
The others are small things..

Thursday 12 December 2013

Christmas Recipies: Mini Stollen

6 comments

baking, Christmas, food, lifestyle, winter

I am 3/8ths German (don't ask, it gets complicated) & so German Christmas biscuits & Stollen are part of the Christmases I grew up with. Stollen, when made right, is moist, buttery, crumbly & crazy flavourful. They are, however a bind to bake because the enriched dough burns before the bread is fully baked (hence the traditional dusting of icing sugar). I was talking to my mum about this & we both agreed that making mini Stollen would eliminate this problem - plus what isn't improved by an extreme of size? (Cake sized cup cakes, mini layer cakes...you see my point?)
Now you have no excuse NOT to make stollen!

There are two schools of thought about Stollen, those pro-marzipan & those against. The Stollen my dad remembers his Grandma making (& that my mum has been trying to replicate for as long as I can remember) is firmly in the anti-marzipan camp. I love marzipan though so I grated a little into the mixture.
This is mostly my mum's recipe so all praise goes out to her & there is always a lot of praise cause it is the best Stollen ever.

Tuesday 10 December 2013

DIY Shabby Chic Clay Christmas Ornament

So these are my favourite DIY ornaments. They are classy, minimal & a great use of cookie cutters that have been hanging around the back of your cupboards. They are also very, very fashionable this year, I mean look at these ones.

You could create the texture with anything - hand print, buttons, doilies or - like I did - some spare lace. Then use cookie cutters to create the shape you want, a skewer to create a hole & once they're dry some string or wool to string them.

Monday 9 December 2013

Christmas Gift Guide: Fashion

3 comments

accessories, Christmas, fashion

So, fashion is a difficult thing to gift. You can't really buy people clothes or shoes & this time of year a lot of accessories are nauseating/crap. But there are still those people in your life where fashion is always the right thing to gift. So here are a few fool proof items...or at least that's what I think....

Fashion & Random Christmas Gift Guide by wheelingalong24 on polyvore.com

Lily Snowflake Charm Necklace. My brother got me a necklace from this brand & I love it (I wear it everyday).

Saturday 7 December 2013

Christmas Tag

Christmas, lifestyle

You would not believe that Christmas isn't my favourite time of year when you've seen my all the blog posts I've been doing. But it really isn't. I don't like Christmas that much, well other than the prep stuff & the gifts....

As you'll see I guess, with this Christmas Tag that I borrowed off of h)ttp://aroundandaroundandupsidedown.blogspot.co.uk/.

Friday 6 December 2013

October/November Favourites Video

beauty, Favourites, youtube

Hey guys, my favourites & my obsessions all in one day....I am clearly very, very shallow. Okay, well this includes some pretty awesome products including the best brush cleaner ever.

Weekly Obsessions Post 4: Warehouse 13

lifestyle

I feel really weird doing this post today with Nelson Mandela having died....it feels so weird to do something so unbelievably shallow when someone who's done so much & who means so much to so many people has just died...
So if this is an awkward, clunky post bear with me...

This week the overwhelming obsession has to be Warehouse 13. I think I managed to watch 3 whole series in about 4 days & I spent all of yesterday (whilst season 4 was in the post) feeling on edge & a little ratty...I wish I was joking...
I CANNOT believe that season 5 is the last one....Syfy is shitting me.

Thursday 5 December 2013

Christmas Recipies: Orange Spiced Marshmallows

baking, Christmas, food, lifestyle

OMG! I love making marshmallows but usually they aren't especially appealing to me....I just don't like them. These however are THE BOMB!!!!!

I made some candied orange peel a while ago with all these warm spices & it was the best flavour combination. So when my foster brother asked me to make him some marshmallows for school I thought of making some that were similarly flavoured. They are SO GOOD!!!!

Tuesday 3 December 2013

DIY Christmas Decorations: Button Wreath

My foster brother get's mental about Christmas as soon as Halloween is over & as soon as the advent calendar goes up he needs to be kept busy otherwise Christmas ends up being cancelled. So this year I thought I'd test kid friendly Christmas decorations on him so I can confirm that all of these are kid friendly (he may be technically 15 but an 8 year old would run circles round him).
Anyway, this one was his favourite so I thought I'd start with it....

There are tutorials for these all over the internet so I won't go into too much detail. All the tutorials I saw did however use wire & wire cutters which aren't exactly kid friendly....or easy for anyone to use.

Monday 2 December 2013

Christmas Gift Guide: Beauty