"Natural Beauty" opening and "Fantastico" exhibition - Groningen Museum

Yesterday I attended the opening for the "Natural beauty" exhibition at the Groningen Museum, in The Netherlands. I received an invitation from my art teacher at school and was very excited when I was given it! The invitation said I was allowed to bring a plus one, so of course I brought my mum! It also allowed us to walk around another exhibition which is on at the moment, called Fantastico. 

The weather was traitorous yesterday, so I ran from the bus all the way to museum! When I got there I was very happy because it was warm and dry and I could not wait to see the exhibitions! My full outfit will be at the end of the blog post!

Throughout this blog post I am not posting any photos directly of the art because it is an exhibition you have to pay for. There are only photos of my mum and I and parts that are outside of the exhibition front door. 

We got there a little before the Natural Beauty exhibition opened, so my mum and I went to see the "Fantasica" exhibition, which I very much enjoyed! The art that was displayed was by an artist from Madrid called Jaime Hayon, who has been claimed to be one of the most acclaimed designer of his generation. I was so excited about the exhibition when I left it that I purchased the official "Fantastica" souvenir book to look at when I got home! 

The exhibition was a mix of canvas paintings, ceramics, life size sculptures and interior design. It gave me a elegant feeling because of the skilled craftsmanship of the work but also a feeling that I had entered a world flu of childlike like dreams. The art work was very quirky and fun, and reminded me of some of my work and ideas. It was full of pastel colours and each from had a different colour wall. Not just the art, but also how the work was displayed deserves a roux of applause. If you are in the area, or this exhibition comes to you, I highly advice it! 

The exhibition "Natural Beauty" is sponsored by Unicef, a global organisation that supports children's rights and helps protect them. Lots of children that were taking part in the Unicef section of the exhibition were there. Some children presented their support for Unicef and the exhibition which was interested to listen to. The museum offered places for the children to draw and had nibbles and refreshments. My mum and I had no idea what this exhibition was going to be like until we walked in. It was a mix of renaissance art and impressionism, something my mum and I enjoy which was a lovely sup prise! I was lucky enough to see work by Monet so I was very pleased! If you are in the area, this exhibition is a nice quick activity to do! 

What I wore

❯ Trousers from Topshop

❯ Black peplum top from Topshop

❯ Chelsea Boots from Topshop

❯ Necklace from Accessorize

❯ Black hand bag from River Island

❯ Jacket is second hand

Cooking Blog • Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 325g butter (125g for batter, 200g for icing)
• 125g granulated suger
• 125g self raising flour
• 2 tabelspoons milk
• 2 eggs
• 200g Icing sugar
• Mini marshmallows (or normal marshmallows cut into halves)

Preparation Instructions 
Before you start making your cupcakes, preheat your oven to 170 degrees. Also, take a baking tin and fill each socket with a cupcake case, ready for when you need it. Make sure your butter is melted, so it's easier to stir into the batter and icing, by heating it in the microwave for 30 seconds. To make the process faster, measure all your ingredients correctly before hand so you bake with ease!

Instructions 

To begin we are going to start with the batter, so add 125g of the pre-melted butter to a large bowl. Next add the sugar a little at time. Make sure the butter and sugar and mixed together well so they look fluffy, before moving on. To follow, add the eggs one by one mixing each one in well before adding the next one. After that, add the flour little by little mixing it well using a whisk or if possible an electric mixer. Lastly, add the milk a bit at a time beating it into the batter. Once all the ingredients are together mix the batter until it's smooth and fluffy!

Once your batter is complete, it's time to get your ready organised cupcake cases. Using two spoons, fill each case a third of the way, leaving space for a marshmallow and another layer of batter. Once you have finished, place the marshmallow to the middle batter in the cupcake case. Now all the cases have marshmallows, grab your two spoons and place batter over the top of the marshmallow, so they are hidden.

Put your tray with the cupcakes into the preheated oven for twenty minutes at 170 degrees. After twenty minutes have passed, pierce a cupcake with a toothpick to see if the cupcake is fully cooked. If your toothpick comes out wet, your cupcakes still need a little time, if the toothpick comes out dry, your cupcakes are ready! Note: while your cupcakes are cooking, the marshmallows might rise so they are visible. This is normal, so there is no need to worry!

While your cupcakes are in the oven, you can make your decorative icing! To do so, first place the rest of your pre-melted butter in a bowl. Gradually, while stirring, add your powder sugar to the butter. Mixed these together until you are left with a smooth and delicious smelling icing butter!

When your cupcakes are ready, take them out of the oven with a pair off oven gloves because they will be very hot! Leave them to cool in the baking tin for a minute as they will be to hot to handle. Once they are cool enough to touch take each cupcake case and place them on a cooling rack to cool further.

Once the cupcakes are cool, you can decorate your cupcakes with the icing! You can do this in a number of different ways, one of which is taking a generous amount of icing and smoothing it onto the top of the cupcake using a spoon. If you have an icing tube however, you can make your cupcakes look very professional. When I decorated the cupcakes I made them Valentine's Day styled and added little pink and purple hearts to top of the icing for even more decoration. Decorating is personal so do whatever you think will look great!

Winter Wonderland!

When I walked out of my front door this morning into a winter wonderland! I heard that it was going to snow during the night, however I did not expect it to snow this much. As we are well into December now, our house is starting to look very festive; Christmas tree, decorations, lights. The snow has given me that comforting feeling that Christmas is well on its way! 

I bike to school because where I live it is very flat and near to my school, so it is the most officiant way to get around. Even though it snowed, it did not stop me from biking to school, and I have to say it was not the easiest trip I had. I went at what felt like the speed of a snail, as I really did not want to fall into the slushy snow on the road. I saw two of three people fall of and they did not look all that happy! 

With snow comes snow ball fights, and at my school that is pretty big so I spent the say trying to protect my self whenever I went outside! I do love snow balls fights, however I am not that warming to having freezing cold ice fall down my spine!

I am glad it is snowing now, because it makes the outside look really Christmasy. When there is enough I am definitely going to build a snowman, because you are NEVER too old to build a snowman! The best part though I have too say is that if you are lucky enough, school even might decide to close, and we all love that don't we!

The Fashtag Launch Party!

Hey everyone! Last week Friday I came back from a wonderful art trip to the beautiful city of London! I have had problems with my internet so I have not been able to upload anything to my blog, but now that it is better I am uploading something that I really want to share. 

On the 22nd of November, I was invited to the Fashtag Launch Party, in Carnaby street, and what an experience it was! Having a fairly underground YouTube channel and Blog, it was great to get out there and meet many big names in the fashion blogging world. I was lucky enough to me Lexi from sototallyvlog and BeautybyJJ. As I am a huge fan of Lexi, it was amazing to meet her in person. From afar I saw Made In Chelsea's Rosie Fortescue and Shingai Shoniwa from the Noisettes. It was amazing to meet everyone in personal actually  Lots of famous faces that you never thought you would see in flesh are with you in the same room is very overwhelming. 

I was there for just over an hour and half, and in that time I got my make up done by a lovely lady who is make up artist for the Illamasqua makeup brand. She created an amazing smokey eye on me that looked fantastic. Whenever I do it myself, it always looks a little messy, but with her it looked fab! Once my make up was done, I had a little photo shoot. This was really fun! Afterwards I was interviewed by Goldyrocks for a while which was a lovely experience. A small part of the interview has been put into their official launch video which I am really chuffed about! Be sure to check out the video down below! 

I had a limited amount of time, so I am very grateful for being able to have attended to launch! Thanks Fashtag for letting me come down! I can not wait to see what happens to the channel!

British Fashion Awards 2012 • Awards and Cat Walk

The British Fashion Awards - 2012

This years “British Fashion Awards” was held at The Savoy Hotel and Theatre in London, yesterday on the 27^th of November. Gemma Arterton, a British actress, and Nick Grimshar, a British television and radio presenter, were the hosts of the night.

A total of 14 awards were given out to 13 people, as Stella McCartney left with a whopping two awards, Designer of the Year and Designer Brand. 


For the third time running, Alexa Chung picked up the British Style Award. It isn’t surprising as she dresses fashionably, classy, yet brings her personality into what she wears. 

The Emerging Talent Award – Ready to Wear, was given to J.W. Anderson. Not long ago he did a collection for Topshop, and many of the pieces were fresh and inviting.

 

Sophie Hulme went home with the Emerging Talent Award – Accessories. She is best known for her bag designs.

 The award for the Outstanding Achievement in Fashion, was taken away by Manlo Blahnik CBE. During Manol’s career he has influence the fashion industry of today, and deserves to be recognised for his work.

The Red Carpet Award was given to Roksanda Ilincic. Inconic figures like, the Ducess of Campbridge and MIchelle Obama have been seen her designs, so it was a well earned award. 

A British designer, Nicholas Kirtwood, won the Accessories award. He has come up with many fabulous shoes, jewellery and accessories over some time.

 

Emerging Talent Award – Menswear, was won by Jonathan Sauders. Over this year, he has broken into the design world creating many lovely pieces.

The chairman of the British Fashion Council, Harold Tillman CBE, was privileged enough to be awarded the Special Recognition award, for his contributions towards British fashion.

The Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator, was picked up Professor Louise Wilson OBE. This year she celebrated her twentieth year at the Course Director for Fashion MA at the prestige art school, Central Saint Martins. She has been praised for bringing up the biggest names in the fashion world, like, Louise Gray, Christopher Kane and Simone Rocha.

The New Establishment Award was picked up by Erdem. Fairly new in the fashion world, Erdem’s most recent two seasons have hoisted his audience and praise.   

When Cara Delevingne was awarded Best Model, I was in total agreement. Cara is very fresh and over the past year she has given us a taste of her distinctive style. Her Victoria Secret show and Burberry modelling, she has proved her self to the modelling world.

For the second year in a row, Kim Jones received the Menswear Designer award. He is praised for his creations for the Louis Vuitton’s ready to wear line, so this award was earned. 

Designer of the Year: Stella McCartney

Designer Brand: Stella McCartney

New Establishment: Erdem

Menswear Designer: Kim Jones for Louis Vuitton

Emerging Talent Award - Ready-To-Wear: JW Anderson

Emerging Talent Award - Accessories: Sophie Hulme

Emerging Talent Award - Menswear: Jonathan Saunders

Accessory Designer: Nicholas Kirkwood

Red Carpet Award: Roksanda Ilincic

Model: Cara Delevingne

Outstanding Achievement in Fashion: Manolo Blahnik CBE

Special Recognition: Harold Tillman CBE

Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator: Louise Wilson OBE

British Style brought to you by Vodafone: Alexa Chung

One of the best parts of the night is the Red Carpet! Celebrities, designers, and fashion icons, all dress up for the glamorous night. My all time favourite outfit of the night was definitely Gemma Arterton’s, with her Stella McCartney jumpsuit and gorgeous rainbow metallic pumps. This was very closely followed by both of Rita Ora’s outfits. She didn’t disappoint with her first, Vivienne Westwood aqua blue strapless gown, and her second, cream Stella trousers, a knitted top, and rainbow metallic shoes and bag.

What did you think of the ceremony? Did you favourites win?