The ultimate child proof make up storage?

C: afternoon! A little DIY job (that I can’t take full credit for) today in the form of make up storage! Now Ivy is partial to a lipstick or ten. Eats them, covers her face on them, basically does everything a tiny human can to ruin my beautiful make up collection. So I made a plan to keep it all safe from her teeny evil hands!

So here we have my humble collection, saved from the beast (love her really) by basically being too high to reach. All I did was get two cheap wooden shelves from Homebase, paint them and add a piece of wood (L did it…) to one of the shelves with some door handles screwed in for scarf and bag hangage (not a word apparently).

Finally I used my acrylic storage and some cute jars that I had saved (that normally sit cluttering up my cupboard with no purpose) for a cheap and simple make up solution!

What do you think?!

Jessys Mum’s Chilli Jam Recipe!

C: if you saw our Summer plans post, you would know that making jams/chutneys is one of my aims for this Summer whilst on maternity leave. I don’t know why, but I find it very therapeutic and this is my all time favourite recipe! Jessy’s mum used to make this, and every time I went round we ate like a whole jar! With cheese, crackers, in sandwhiches… you name it, we couldn’t get enough! Eventually she gave me the recipe so I could have a go at making my own/so I didn’t keep eating all of hers probably! This isn’t a proper jam… as in you wouldn’t have it on toast (although I have tried it, and tbh I would totally eat it again!), but its amazing in sandwiches as a sweet chutney or with cheese and biscuits! It has a kick to it, but isn’t super duper spicy so don’t panic at the number of chilis in there!

Ingredients:

8 red peppers (deseeded and cut into chunks), 10 red chillies (roughly chopped), finger sized piece of fresh ginger, 8 peeled garlic cloves, 400g can of chopped tomatoes, 1lb 10z of golden caster sugar, 250ml red wine vinegar.

Method:

1. Tip peppers, chilis (including seeds), ginger and garlic into a food processor and blitz until finely chopped – scrape into a heavy bottomed pan.

2. Add chopped tomatoes, sugar and vinegar and then bring to the boil. Skim off any scum and then simmer for 50 minutes or until jam starts to go sticky – stirring throughout occasionally.

3. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes whilst stirring frequently and then allow to cool slightly.

4. Transfer to sterilised jars and then jam mixture will last 3 months.

Hope you guys have a go at this, as it is truly amazing! Let us know if you do (Annie loves it too, I obvs have to take her a jar whenever I make this badboy!) #twolittleowls

Chloe’s Mums Healthy Fruit & Nut Muffins!

C: I stole this recipe from my mother as last time I went round she had baked these and they smelt SO SO good! I had to eat one immediately (which I blame on being pregnant, not on just being greedy of course) and they are super yummy. My mum gave me the recipe to try at home, and trust me… although I love to bake and have some skills? These are the easiest thing to make ever! And the plus side? They are freezable! Meaning you can make a batch (the recipe makes 12), freeze them and then take one out each day for your breakfast – so good for those of us who are in a rush but want a healthy option for their breakfast!

Recipe:

Dry Ingredients: 225g plain flour, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 200g raisins, 200g chopped walnuts

Wet Ingredients: 250ml milk, 1 egg, 175g light brown sugar, 80ml olive oil

Instructions:

Combine all the dry ingredients together in one bowl and then separately combine the wet ingredients together in another.

Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Divide between 12 muffin cases and bake at 180C for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Seriously… its that easy! I know these aren’t 100% healthy, but they are certainly a better option when compared to a cheeky Starbucks muffin every morning! If you aren’t keen on nuts you could also swap them for some cranberries or other dried fruit! Hope you enjoy the recipe, and let me know if you try them! #twolittleowls

Fabric and Sewing Haul

C: so this morning we did our usual Saturday morning ting and went shopping! But instead of our usual sort of haul, we went fabric shopping instead! Annie is a super good sewer and I am super good at buying things ready made…. So we don’t normally do this sort of thing together! However, Annie found some amazing fabric that I NEEDED for curtains for my new house so we decided to go fabric shopping and then Annie is going to teach me to sew!

This is the material we bought! The bee material is for my curtains and I’m in love with it. I love it too much to risk ruining so my mum is making me curtains out of this, but Annie is teaching me to make a cushion today.

The rest of the material is Annie’s which she is using for various projects that she will be sharing with you all soon!

Here is the master at work! She is pro and just made a cushion in the 10 mins I have been writing this…. Mental! So anyway, let us know what you think of these prints and we will be posting the lovely things Annie has made soon, as well as my first attempt… Wish me luck! #twolittleowls

How To: Shabby Chic/Upcycle Vintage Furniture

C: now I hate the phrase shabby chic… my mum says “oh you like shabby chic stuff dont you?” NO THAT’S NEW STUFF THAT LOOKS OLD! I love vintage/antique stuff… so now that rant is over, let me show you how I updated some vintage bedside tables that my lovely auntie kindly gave to us for our new house! So here is what they originally looked like, nothing special/weird gold paint! What you need: Sandpaper, Paint Brushes 2 pots of paint, one in cream/white, the other in the accent colour to show through! Oak coloured wax 1. Sand the cupboards! You don’t need to remove all the original paint, just sand it enough to remove any bumps and to take the top layer of paint off. This will mean that when you go to paint it, the paint will stick/cover better. 2. Paint in your base/darker accent colour and then leave to dry – note to self do not leave cupboards open if you have weird cats like Annies, as they go and nap in them and get cat hair all in your nice paint. I went for an egg shell blue for this stage.

3. Paint over your accent colour with the paler colour, I chose Antique Cream for this stage, and then leave to dry. You may need a second coat of this colour. 4. Once completely dry, sand along the edges of your cabinet lightly until the accent colour shows through. Keep going until you are happy with the effect! 5. Rub in a layer of the oak effect wax! So here is our finished cabinets! L decided to sand his all over, whereas I just did the edges – I think mine looks way better on the left, but that is all down to personal preference! We are also going to buy some new door handles for these but we haven’t chose any yet! Let me know what you think, or if you decide to have a go at this yourself! Its the perfect way to update some old furniture rather than throwing it away! #twolittleowls

Real-Life Valentines Day Gift Ideas

C: I have seen so many Valentines Day gift idea posts floating around, that I decided to take a look and see what everyone is suggesting. Now, this might just be me as I am probs the only girl ever to not be that fussed about V-day (I told L off last year for wasting money on getting posh flowers delivered – I could have bought a dress with that?!) but does anyone really want horrid red/black underwear? Or beauty products/clothes in varying shades of pink that they wouldn’t wear any other time of year? No I think not. There’s nothing wrong with a nice M&S comfy floral set and neutral make up (starting to feel sorry for L here actually…). So here are my more realistic gift ideas, that I think are lovely for v-day but can be appreciated all year round.

1. The Lush Valentines Day range – I have already hinted (told) L that I want one of everything! Now clearly I will just end up having to buy these for myself, but seriously. Want to treat that beauty lover girlfriend? These will do the trick, plus they might share with you (if they are nicer than me). If Lush isn’t their cup of tea, have a little nose round and see what brands they like and get another bath time treat.

2. Flowers. Simple and yet effective. Now I know I already said I told L off for doing this for me, but only because I would have been just as happy if he had picked some out the garden for me. Find out what your loved ones fav flowers are (mine are peonies if you fancy treating me), or go for red roses if you aren’t sure.

3. Imperial Candles – I found these on facebook, and absolutely love the idea! You can get a beautiful candle (pick your flavour too, my fav is the sound of the English Pear & Vanilla) with a beautiful ring inside! You can even pick a ring size (or go for random if you aren’t sure!). For £28.99 I think these are such a clever idea – just make sure your girlfriend isn’t likely to think you are proposing. Although if that happens please do report back as I would find it very amusing.

4. Go on a couples spa day! Now this is a photo of the Imagine Spa in Kings Lynn that I have visited before and loved, but obviously you would have to pick one that’s closest to you. L would never do this with me, but I think its such a lovely idea and means you both get a treat!

Now obviously, some of these gift ideas are a little pricey (seriously, just go picking wild flowers) so if in doubt, go for home made. Cook a nice meal, or just think of something she has mentioned she likes and get it as a v-day gift. My favourite V-day present is still when L got me The Sims for the Xbox. Hours of entertainment, and although not typically romantic he knew I would love it, and this year we are going for a cheeky KFC with Annie and Jim (#livingthedream)! Let us know what you decide to go for (or if you share this as a hint) #twolittleowls

Blogmas 2014 Day 19 – Christmas Ornaments!

DIY Christmas ornament

C: I don’t really have any Christmas ornaments. And just as a side note, ornament is a strange word. I’ve written it 3 times now and it doesn’t seem like a word. But anyway… I just put up my Christmas tree, a bit of tinsel and some Christmas bunting!

A: I have made some Christmas decs this year (click here to see how to make them!) which I am super happy with. They were so easy to make and look really effective too. I also thought I’d share one of my fave new decorations with you.

Chloe has one of these too, and her lovely sister bought them for us.

They are SO cute and look perfect on our trees, thank you ❤

What’re your favourite Christmas decs? #twolittleowlsblog

Blogmas 2014 Day 6 – Share a Christmas Craft

Share a Christmas Craft

A: I try to make a few decorations to go on my tree each year because I think a homemade tree looks so lovely. I mix my own decorations in with shop bought ones too, but here’s a selection of the decorations I’ve made so far this year…

These are so simple and easy to make, and I think they look quite effective. Felt is perfect to make Christmas decorations with because it doesn’t fray and you can just leave it with a raw edge. The robin and holly are made with simple shapes and running stitches, and the heart was the easiest to make because the reindeer is a felt shape I bought from The Range and stitched on! You can buy loads of different bits to help you with Christmas decorations from craft shops, and there’s always lots of inspiration too! One tip though, remember to tuck string or ribbon to hang inside your shape before you’ve finished, they look much tidier on the inside rather than the outside. The eyes are made by using a French knot stitch and I used wadding to pad the heart and the robin out. I also used bells to embellish, because bells are compulsory at Christmas aren’t they?

What’re your favourite Christmas crafts? #twolittleowlsblog

Blogmas 2014 – Day 2!

A & C: Happy 2nd of December! We are so excited to be doing Blogmas this year, and it’s Day 2 already! (Click here to see the full schedule we have lined up for December).

Today, we will be sharing our favourite Christmas recipes with you.

A: Perfect Mince Pies ft. Jamie Oliver

I was watching Jamie Oliver’s Christmas series last year, which is one of my most favourite things to do whilst wrapping presents and drinking snowballs, and when he made these I knew I would have to give them a go. They are SO SO easy, and look really effective too! (Soz about the quality of the photo though, it’s from my instagram and it’s the only one I had!). You basically make (totally buy) your pasty, both filo and puff – line cupcake trays with the filo and then fill the rolled puff pastry with mincemeat (home-made or shop bought, who’s got time to make mincemeat when there’s Christmas films to watch), roll it into a sausage shape, cut into inch wide pieces and pop them into the filo cases, then bake for 25 minutes. Once they are cool, dust them with icing sugar and glitter to make them look super festive. I served them at my Christmas Eve party and my family really loved them, plus you get to eat the filling and the case – amazing and zero washing up! I don’t actually like mincemeat so I made some with homemade cherry jam, a perfect substitute, which went down equally as well as the mincemeat ones. Plus you can freeze them!

Click here to head to the Jamie Oliver website for the full recipe, if you want to make them properly and not cheat like me!

C: Millionaire Shortbread

Okay I’m gonna be honest, I will make Millionaire Shortbread for any excuse. It’s so so yummy, full of calories and is totally bad for you but if you can’t eat it at Christmas, when can you? I have actually written about it before on the blog, so just click here to see the full recipe – and trust me, you should go and check it out (Annie’s banned me from making it too much because it just tastes SO good).

What’re your favourite Christmas treats and recipes? We would love to know, and would love to have a go at making them ourselves! #twolittleowlsblog

Foodie Friday: Hello Fresh’s Undercover Ratatouille with Lemon Roasted Sea Bream

C: Hi guys! Happy Foodie Friday! Today I am going to share with you another Hello Fresh recipe which I really enjoyed making (and eating). If you have not heard of Hello Fresh then make sure you check out our previous posts here and here, where we explain what they do and introduce you all to some of the other recipes we received!

So here is a picture of the recipe card/what the Sea Bream is meant to look like when finished and underneath is my attempt!

I don’t think I did too badly really! All the ingredients were super fresh and lovely, and the cards make it simple to re-create a professional looking meal. I had to add in roasted new potatoes, as the boyfriend doesn’t seem to think a meal without carbs is an acceptable one. To be honest, I did think they were needed/maybe we both eat too much!

Overall the food was lovely and easy to do – it only took 30 minutes to create a healthy and different meal to what we would normally eat. Perfect for week days when you don’t have a lot of time to cook after finishing work.

Click here to head to the Hello Fresh website.

What do you guys think of Hello Fresh? Have you tried them before? #twolittleowls