Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party

I have always been a massive fan of fancy dress and themed parties - people seem to either love them or hate them, and I am firmly in the former camp. Therefore for my 21st birthday party, I decided to host a Alice In Wonderland party. I went all out with themed food and decorations and I wanted to share my efforts with you today:

I baked two different batches of cupcakes using one of my favourite cookery books The Hummingbird Bakery: Cake Days. It has a great selection of fun, different and easy cupcake recipes for every occasion and season. I decided to bake Earl Grey cupcakes and some Strawberry Daiquiri cupcakes too. I was worried that the Earl Grey would be too bland as I find it to be quite a subtle tea, but I was pleased to be able to taste the tea in the buttercream frosting. I was excited to try out the Strawberry Daiquiri cupcakes, mainly thanks to the rum element involved in the recipe. However, although yummy, you couldn't taste the rum which is a shame for a pretty expensive ingredient, and the strawberries placed in the bottom of the bun cases created a very soggy bottom - Mary Berry would not have been very impressed!

I also baked some heart-shaped jam tarts and created some rum jelly limes. I was heavily influenced by Pinterest with all my party planning and you can see my inspiration board here. I create my own 'eat me' cake toppers and 'drink me' labels using John Tenniel's Victorian illustrations and cut up playing cards to top the remaining cakes. I printed famous quotes alongside illustrations to cover the walls, created card bunting and 'this way/that way' arrows to direct my guests to the house. Yes I really went all out!

I'd like to think that it was a successful party. I felt almost like a real grown up as my friends tasted my cakes and drank wine. Obviously this was somewhat balanced out by the amount of wine they consumed, the fact that everyone was in fancy dress and the various shots involved! Overall, it was nice to have a proper house party, a surprising rarity in my student life, and spend some quality time with some great people.

What do you think of my Alice in Wonderland themed party? Look out tomorrow for what I wore!

<3

xx

DIY: Sequin Heart Shoe Clips

In one week's time, I will be 21 years old. It's a scary thought, which is starting to hit home when I look at all my current bio descriptions which I will soon need to update - the downside of including your age on your profiles! However, the exciting part of this milestone is the birthday party I have planned this weekend. I am a massive fan of fancy dress, as you may have now realised, and my favourite part is creating an effective costume on a very low budget. Therefore I wanted to share with you a few of my DIYs for my costume before you see the finished look. Perhaps they can offer some clues on my theme and character!

Today I made some simple heart-shaped shoe clips and I was surprised at how easy and effective they were. If you want to make some too, you will need:

Red felt (eBay)

Red sequins (eBay)

2 hair grips

Pen

Scissors

Fabric scissors (if possible)

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

I have linked the two eBay sellers where I bought my felt and sequins from because they were cheap and arrived quickly, meaning that I didn't need to brave the cold to make a trip to my local craft store (I'm that lazy!)

1. Print a template (I used a simply drawn heart shape on Word) and trace around it onto the felt:

2. Cut the shapes out of the felt using fabric scissors, if you have a pair. If not, normal scissors are fine:

3. Heat up your glue gun and start to glue the sequins from the outside into the centre of the heart:

4. When complete, cut the sequin strand and do the same with the other heart (can you tell which one I did first?)

5. Glue a hair grip onto the back of the heart, ensuring that it is the right way up! I clipped mine onto peep toe heels so I glued the hair grips with the opening at the top. They therefore slide from my toes up towards my ankles, which is far more comfortable.

And you are finished! I found the clips very cheap and easy to make and I feel that they add an extra touch to my outfit, clipped onto my Barratts shoes. I love the Melissa Vivienne Westwood vibe that they channel, without the price tag or need to buy a new pair of heels. I think that they are a really cute accessory that can be used in many different ways and for many different occasions; I have also seen them used as hair clips or on wedding shoes - adorable! How would you style yours?

What do you think of the DIY? Will you be giving them a go? Let me know how you get on!

<3

xx

OOTD: To the max

Today, I looked back over some of my recent posts and realised something quite obvious - I haven't posted an OOTD in a very long time! Thanks to a combination of terrible weather and moving house (it takes me a while to find a new spot to pose in,) I haven't managed to photograph my outfits for far too long. Today I wanted to begin to rectify this with a new OOTD featuring my new maxi dress:

Dress: H&M. Jumper: Urban Outfitters. Belt: Primark. Boots: Matalan. Necklace: c/o The Vintage Set.

I picked up this simple black maxi dress for a cheeky £12.99 last week in York's H&M. I have only recently started to appreciate quite how versatile maxi dresses really are, and have been on the look out for a simple black version to wear as the weather cools. This one is perfect - the elasticated waist means that I have some definition, but it isn't too tight to wear casually. My legs are kept warm and hidden away, and when I team it with a jumper, as I did today, I think it's the perfect Autumn outfit. Unlike some maxi dresses I have seen, this one is thick enough that I don't need to worry about any see-through wardrobe malfunctions and the material feels soft and comfortable. And most importantly (although I may just be kidding myself) I think it makes me look taller - hooray!

Tonight I am heading off to Coppergate Student Take Over in York. I'm hoping to bag myself some student-discounted bargains and hopefully a few freebies too. It's a busy shopping week for me, as I'm yet to decide whether to go to Vogue's Fashion Night Out in Manchester on Thursday or the Victorian Quarter's 'Big Apple' event in Leeds. I'm currently swaying towards FNO but have no knowledge of Manchester - are any other bloggers heading there on Thursday? Let me know if you are!

<3
xx