Curiouser and Curiouser

Calling All My Silent Readers

2011-05-15T08:00:00.001+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

I have been checking the site stats recently and they have dipped just a little, I am still getting regular page views (Thank you!) but the comments have not been there for me to read and respond to.

So firstly I must say, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE comment! I want to hear from you...yes you there behind the keyboard.

Tell me a bit about yourself, who are you, what defines you as a person, are you an artist? A mum? a bride to be? What do YOU do?

Not only will this mean that will all get to know each other but you may even get some blog hits back ;) The blog community is just that....a community. Just like I know the people living in my street, I want to know the people reading my words. Do you want to see more on a particular topic (please see my previous topic poll) or do you have any thoughts on what I have discussed?

Comments from all visitors are more than welcome.

New Blog Banner

2011-05-14T15:08:00.000+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

Just a quick little post, as you can see I have a new blog banner! After hours of researching images and trying to arrange them I finally came up with something I liked the look of!

I think it captures the essence of the site much more than the previous one which although served me well, always made me feel I wanted something a bit more individual to me and the site.

The main font is called Beyond Wonderland? Apt yes?

What do you all think?

To all the Mama's who read this blog

2011-05-14T01:10:00.001+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

Now before I start, this blog was never intended to be a personal documentation of my life, sure wedding planning was going to inevitably come up (DIY tasks to be documented etc etc) but NEVER EVER was I going to do the whole, this is my life day-to-day style blogging.

However, after not being able to post for ages (thank you blogger for that) I felt a need to reconnect with you, my readers and actually ask for some advice. This blog is about creating a wonderland and I guess that doesn't just mean the material stuff!

As you guys know, I am getting married next year, my fiance is totally amazing, I love him to bits and he is the ying to my yang. I am 22 (23 on the 26th of May) and he is 30 (31 on the 29th of May), as well as 8 years age difference our lives have been very different. He has done the partying in your twenties thing whereas I moved out at 18, moved in with him 6 months later and have since had varying degrees of financial difficulty, all of which have had a significant impact on my social life.
My life plan was always to have children and specifically to have them when I was 30, now I know it can't always be planned but as far as the grand plan went, 30 was the age I would become a mama. So when I am 30, my partner will be 38 and it turns out that not only is 38 TOO OLD but also he is definitely hearing his biological baby clock a'ticking.

This is the odd thing...I WANT kids but I guess I just want them on my terms!

After so many conversations about it, where I have stressed that my dad was 38 when they had me (although as he pointed out, I was their LAST child not their first) and 38 was not and still is not too old, I basically made the compromise to start trying to conceive at 27, that gives me 4 years (3 of which I will be married) to get a job, go somewhere within that job and most importantly to me to get ourselves on the housing ladder. I am sick of renting and I do not want to have a child while we are renting, I do not believe there is anything wrong in renting with kids but I know how unstable renting makes me feel and I do not want to have a child when I feel unstable.

But here is the problem....I feel like I made a big compromise slicing 3 years off my baby plan and I feel that I am the only one making the big compromises...not him. Now it isnt a case of "I made a compromise...now you HAVE to make one"...it's more of an issue that I am petrified I will somehow resent my child if I do not feel 100% financially ready and in a good place in my career

So have any of the mama's who read my blog had similar feelings? Any advice for me? I know no time is PERFECT for children but I guess I want some reassurance that these feelings are completely natural.

I Want To Hear From You!

2011-05-08T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

It has been a bit up and down here on the blog I know, I can only put it down to bank holiday weekends and having a rather pretty distraction in the form of my fiancé who has been off from work this week! For this I apologise, I can only promise that now he is back at work I will have a lot more free time to blog!

So before it all kicks off again this week, I want to know, what kind of posts do you like to read? Hopefully I can then tailor the site to more of you whilst maintaining the feeling of the site.

Please complete the poll, if you put other than please leave a suggestion in the comments box :)

www.skinnyscoop.com

Interior Design Showcase: What is your style?

2011-05-07T00:55:00.001+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

I think I have quite an interesting topic for my readers today and I hope you will agree. I would like to get to know you all better which will hopefully give me some ideas on what is popular so I can more efficiently give you all what YOU want to see (NOT just what I want to write! haha).

Today's post is about the basics of interior design, colour schemes, general styles etc etc, I am a big fan of bright palettes, vintage styling mixed with modern, let's just say I follow the eclectic path through most parts of my life and my interior design sense is no question!

**As these pictures have been found on flickr and there is the all important creative commons issues, I would firstly like to say that while I chose these pictures because I like them, I am not being endorsed by any of the artisans responsible for their creation. I have tried to give credit wherever possible but if I could not, please note I do not take credit for these images**

So firstly you have your rainbow style interiors:

I am actually doing this to one of the boy's horrid old bookcases he has had since he was a single guy on his own, seems fitting I get to spruce it up a bit!

Rainbow Books! I must do this! Courtesy of Flickr User Mind on Fire

I love the rainbow coloured kitchen cupboards! Courtesy of Flickr user Sterin

Then you have your minimalist neutral spaces:

Bit too clean and white for me, I create mess wherever I go!

Lots of gorgeous sunlight would be nice!

I actually really like the use of dark wood in this one!

Then you have your statement pieces/colours:

Not only are teal and pink my favourite colour combo but I love the bright pieces against white backgrounds!

I kid you not...I want a ceiling like this!

An otherwise neutral room is brought to life with this amazing wall mural

My favourite of all the above would actually have to be a mixture of the three! In my ultimate home, I want rooms to amaze people when they walk in, I want colourful pieces in neutral rooms and neutral pieces in colourful rooms! Anything that brings a bit of wonder to my wonderland is most welcome!

So how about you? What is your interior design style? Please answer the poll and also give extra comments below if there is anything you want to add.

www.skinnyscoop.com

DIY: Upcycled T-Shirt Scarf

2011-05-07T00:01:00.001+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

So it was just a typical evening here at Curious HQ, the boy was playing on the computer while I was vegging in front on my laptop with comedy shows (Two and a half men *cries*, Family Guy etc) playing on the tv in the background. The internet is a constant source of inspiration to me and it is always the first place I go to for advice when no one else is around, it is my doctor (probably a bad idea!), my confidant and my main source of communication with long distance friends. On awesome occasions, it provides me with good blog fodder and last night was no exception!

While poking around on Pinterest (my beloved pinterest!) I found the best DIY T-Shirt Scarf tutorial courtesy of the amazing people at Shwin&Shwin, I recommend you check them out!
So in the spirit of upcycling rather than buying new, here is my attempt at this tutorial, in typical step by step fashion of course!

Step 1: Get your unwanted t-shirt and lay it out flat. (I must admit I was rubbish at keeping it flat, consequently my scarf is a bit ragged but I like it!). Mine was an old fair trade t-shirt from Topshop...you know that t-shirt that, although nice, never seems to fit right? That's this t-shirt :)

Step 2: Starting at the bottom, cut 1-inch wide rings . I included the hem, otherwise it's just wasted material and according to Shwin&Shwin you should get approximately 16 rings...I got 13 but I think my problem was that the top was a V-Neck so I missed out on a lot of material there!

Ragged top (I am bad with scissors haha) and my first loop cut from the bottom.

Step 3: Stretch out each ring and wrap it around your hand 2-4 times. The more times you wrap, the shorter and thicker your scarf will be.

Creepy picture where apparently I have no thumb...I do but I was trying to keep the loop tight to my hand!

Step 4: Carefully remove the ring from your hand and repeat the process for each strip.

Step 5: Cut two inch long strips from the material and use these to tie the loops together, continue doing so until your scarf resembles a paper chain (remember making those as a kid?). You can either tie all the loops together to make a cowl-type scarf or leave it in one long chain so it is like a more traditional scarf.

Your final scarf should look something like this:

Told you mine was a bit raggedy!! Still, I have had people ask where I bought (?!) the scarf so I figure this can be counted as a success! It is great if you are like me and out of sewing supplies or if you just do not like sewing and that old t-shirt has been bugging the hell out of you ;)

Until tomorrow when I can finally upload another tutorial (computer problems mixed with camera problems are oh so much fun!), Please feel free to comment and even provide links to pictures of your own upcycled scarfs. If you want to email them to me then awesome, I will showcase all the pictures later in the week!

In Honour of Star Wars Day

2011-05-04T16:36:00.001+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

Thanks to my father and subsequently my Fiancé, Star Wars has had a massive impact in my life. I liken it to finding out Luke and Leia were brother and sister. You could see it happening yet when you realised (much like when I realised I was a bit of a Star Wars nerd) it still came as a complete surprise.

So Happy Star Wars day, say hello to this dog that looks like Chewbacca :)

I want this dog so badly! haha, if anyone has any idea on breed then please let me know, the boy would eat this up and it would be great camera fodder!

May The Fourth Be With You (excuse the awful pun!)

Loving Where You Live

2011-05-04T12:26:00.002+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

I have had a few emails from followers asking for a bit more information about me and where I live to get an idea of context when I talk about various topics, as I am one to follow the advice of my readers and in my way of saying thank you for reading the blog at all, here is a bit more information about where I live.

Firstly, I live in the County of Kent in South East England, see below for a map:

View Larger Map

So hopefully for all my international readers (which if blogger stats are anything to go by, are most of you!) you now have a bit more of an idea of where I am in the good old UK.

As you can see, Kent is quite near london, where I live is approximately 40 miles (or approximately 6.5 Km) from London, this makes it an excellent place to live in my honest opinion. I get to live in a rural area but if I want to travel to the capital it is an easy train journey and I am in the hustle and bustle of London!

That's it for now, but no worries, I will be Tweeting all day (please follow me on Twitter @SarahEliza_x) and later on this evening, once I get my kitchen back, I will be FINALLY finishing the homemade primer recipe :)

Until then, Happy Star Wars Day, we shall duel mentally with our lightsabers across the great expanse that is the internet :)

(Otherwise known as Darth Sarah...I am bad and you know it)

Royal Wedding Roundup: God Save McQueen

2011-05-03T00:08:00.001+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

It has been a few days since my last post and I must apologise for that, what with the royal wedding celebrations, my sister's impromptu visit and babysitting for my future brother and sister in law it has been a busy busy weekend.
So I thought I would just discuss the most lavish event of the year :)

Firslty, my most heartfelt congratulations to our new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Don't they look happy?

Photo courtesy of Geoff Pugh and The Daily Telegraph.

I hope they are not suffering from post wedding blues, I worry I will suffer from them after our wedding next year as it can be consuming planning a wedding and I know that from this June (the one year countdown mark), it is going to be hard to not let it completely take over!

The new Duchess of Cambridge, Kate (or do we call her Catherine now?) Middleton looked stunning in her Alexander McQueen gown, I have to say I had a funny feeling that she might pick McQueen, he was a fantastic designer and it was nice to honour him in this way.

Radiant brides make me smile and I am very impressed with her abilty to combine modesty with traditional and modern styles

Of course if it had been me I wouldn't have gone so simple, or at least I would have jazzed it up with McQueen's gorgeous Red Rose Bolero:

I want this for my wedding sooo badly but I fear it would cost more than my entire budget!

You can probably get an idea of my style from that comment, I bet an Alice in Wonderland themed wedding seems less surprising now!

So what did everyone think of Kate's Wedding dress? Please answer the poll below and as an extra challenge, please leave a comment about what you would or did (if you are already married) wear on your wedding day!

www.skinnyscoop.com

My First Blog Award!

2011-04-28T22:47:00.001+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

Big news today! I received a lovely email from Aimee at GirlTalk (please check out her site!) who has given me a Versatile Blogger award.

There are rules to the Versatile blogger award which are below:

Thank the person who gave you the aware by linking back to them in your post

Tell us seven things about yourself

Award Fifteen recently discovered new bloggers

I think this is a great way to spread a bit of wonder across the blogosphere and introduce you all to some new people so here we go:

Seven Things About Me

I am a makeup addict, I buy what I can't make and make my own makeup and eyeshadow primers
I am getting married in 2012 and having an alice in wonderland themed wedding
I have a degree in Applied Criminology with Psychology and would love to work for a crime based charity
I am addicted to films and own approximately 200 DVD's and probably have several from most genres known to man
I come from Italian/Irish heritage
I paint and my dream is to have a house big enough to display my paintings
I love to write and would do it professionally if I could.

Fifteen Newly Discovered Blogs

Congratulations to all those in the list! Thank you again to Aimee for giving me the award and I hope everyone has a good day tomorrow celebrating/avoiding the Royal Wedding!

Royal Wedding: I'll Have The Will & Kate Special Please

2011-04-27T12:12:00.001+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

The Royal wedding is now two days away, this time in 48 hours I shall be with fine friends eating fine food and drinking free champagne and watching the Royal wedding on a rather large screen at our nearby drinking establishment ;) In the excitement running up to the wedding I have a few posts related to the UK, Royals and Weddings to share with you so expect a few posts a day!

Firstly, I received an email today that I felt I just had to share with my UK based readers, Domino's the pizza monolith is doing possibly the best Royal wedding related deal I have heard of this week.

In celebration of the Royal wedding they are offering one free medium cheese and tomato pizza to any couple called William and Kate who go into their local domino's store. The offer is only available on Friday the 29th of April and before anyone has cheeky ideas of changing their names, you have to supply photographic proof and both William and Kate (not the real ones!) must be present!
Georgina Wald, Corporate Communications Manager of Domino's stated in the press release "The Marriage of PrinceWilliam to Kate Middleton is a national celebration and Domino's is delighted to be offering couples out there a chance to join in the excitement" and I have to say I agree, many of the deals I have seen relating to the wedding of the year have been fun but Domino's is the funniest one, I can just imagine William and Kate turning up at their local domino's and vetoing the standard wedding food at Buckingham Palace in favour of a pizza!

For those like me, who are not called Kate and are not in a couple with a man called William, we can still celebrate in our own way as Domino's is doing their buy one, get one free deal from Tuesday 26th of April to Sunday 1st of May! So get down there and celebrate a historical event with a free pizza!

What a Difference a week makes!

2011-04-26T22:13:00.002+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

Firstly I would like to say a big thank you to my followers, without you all I would just be talking to myself and as fun as that may be, it is not nearly as rewarding as knowing people are reading my posts!
It has been over a week (okay nearly two) since Curiouser and Curiouser went live to the world and already the stats are looking promising, I feel I have you, loyal reader, to thank for that.

To see for yourself, here is a stat screenshot, taken directly off blogger, below:

Click to enlarge the picture

It isn't mindblowing, YET, but it is getting there and I could not be happier. I want to say thank you to The Lady Bloggers Society for allowing me to promote my blog and the ladies as Skinnyscoop.com for featuring my post about "Retrocises" both on their main webpage and on Twitter.

Until tomorrow, where I will be adding a DIY Tutorial for you all to follow, goodnight from the UK!

Drink and Cupcakes? Yes Please

2011-04-25T23:42:00.001+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

With the royal wedding literally DAYS away, It has got me thinking about my own wedding next year. A key aspect of any wedding is the all important cake (okay, it isn't that important unless you like cake...but I like cake so therefore it is important!). Purely for ease of use, my desire to avoid the cake cutting ceremony and just because they are fabulous with a capital F, we are having cupcakes. Cue the insane hunt for cupcake recipes ,we are obviously baking and decorating our own, it wouldn't be our wedding without the obligatory DIY.

So in my quest for the perfect cupcake, I have noticed an odd trend on Pinterest this week which is "cocktail" or "drink themed" cupcakes and I just had to jump on the bandwagon. The Boy and myself have a BBQ coming up for our birthdays and I have a feeling I may have to try out some of these recipes!

What about some yummy margarita cupcakes?

Pina Colada Cupcakes! One of my favourite drinks in cake form!

Coca Cola Cupcakes...really not sure about this. Either completely amazing or really unpleasant

Sangria Cupcakes. I love the idea of these for a gorgeous summer day, perhaps served with the drink too?

Of course we need to have Champagne Cupcakes on this list!

And finally just for my dad..... The GUINNESS CUPCAKE

If you have the recipe for any of these or feel like making them yourself, please email me to show me how it went. Send pictures and I will happily add them to the site! Also if anyone has tried Coca Cola Cupcakes then please enlighten the rest of us! Are they any good?
All thanks go to the people who supplied these images as I cannot take credit for them, towards the end of the month I will hopefully have pictures of my own culinary creations!

Garden Fun

2011-04-24T23:37:00.001+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

It is Easter weekend and it has been very busy here at Curious HQ. From painting the walls (The Boy) to doing some gardening (me), we have been spending the weekend practicing what we preach and doing some most needed DIY!

While he was painting, I have been moving and re planting herbs and while I was doing it I was thinking, I have a "wishlist" of items that I want for my home but no pretty pieces of decor for the garden! That is what inspires this post, what would I want to put in my garden if I had the spare funds at the moment? Why do I not spend the same amount of cash on my garden that I do on my home interiors?

So here is my ten piece wishlist of what I want for my garden to make the task of maintaining it more fun and to make it more beautiful, with the all important links so you can buy it for yourselves!

Alice in Wonderland Teapot Planter
Amaonas Aruba Cayenne Hammock
Antique Three Tiered Garden Shelf
Spotty BirdHouse
Wooden Garden Croquet Set
English Rose Garden Secateurs
Pink Bunny Rabbit Watering Can
Union Jack and Rose Doormat
Blossom Outdoor Fairy Lights
Vintage Style Garden Bunting

All items are from Amazon, dotcomgiftshop or Bombay Duck. Possibly my three most favourite places on the internet to buy home furnishings!

If you buy any then please send me an email to show it in use in your home, I would love to have a reader showcase, showing your beautiful homes, DIY creations or recipes!

Until we meet again, Happy Easter and happy DIY!

Friday Freebie: Easter Bunny Post Pretty

2011-04-22T08:00:00.002+01:00

Happy Good Friday Curious Readers!

I have a present for you here on Curiouser and Curiouser! Something to make your own blog or website pretty and help inject a bit of wonder! It is a bunny themed Happy Easter Message for all your readers.

It is a post pretty that you can add to your own site and share with your own followers or just add to your site to help celebrate the season (please note that if you do add it to your site can you please credit me).

Just right click the image and click "save as" to download the file.

I hope you enjoy the first friday freebie, come back for more and to see what is happening here at Curiouser and Curiouser this week!

Feeling Fit? The New Workout of the 21st Century: Retrocises!

2011-04-20T08:30:00.003+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

I like to stay vintage here at Curiouser and Curiouser, do not get me wrong, I am all for modern equivalents to retro and vintage necessities. For example, I take my photos with a digital camera not film (although I do have a soft spot for film I must admit), I write these blog posts on a laptop not a typewriter and there certainly would not be a blog without the internet. But on the whole, unless it is a technological advantage, I have definite retro and vintage leanings!

I have a love/hate relationship with food, as the great grandaughter of an Italian women, the italian love of food courses through my veins, inevitably this love of food is not teamed with a super fast metabolism (is it ever?) so fitness is how I have to keep myself trim. I am definitely not as trim as I once was, letting myself go just a little bit when I met my Fiance but that is something I am working on with the help of salsacise dvd's and Wii Fit! So as you can see, when it comes to fitness I am definitely a modern girl!

But I did see something this week that is the perfect combination of my retro side and my desire to be fitter. I am an avid reader of The Guardian, a paper from the United Kingdom, I trawl through their website with an astonishing regularity and imagine my surprise when I found this article?

Entitled "Back to the Future Fitness", it lists the top ten nostalgic ways to get fit and I have to say, I loved some of their suggestions! In full support of their article, I hope they will not mind my reposting their top ten here, with my own thoughts and observations:

1. Raving

I am personally loving this idea! Too young for the raver scene in the 90's, I love the idea of dancing with glo sticks (yes they give you glo sticks!) in order to get fit. I love to dance and like the idea of a workout that does not feel like a workout! Gymbox is based in London and I can honestly say that if I lived in the capital I would be lining myself up for this one!

2. Hula Hooping

I actually do this! I have a weighted hula hoop and there really is nothing more fun (or more able to make you feel distinctly childlike!) than hula hooping! Great for those tricky stomach muscles, hula hooping can apparently burn over 200 calories an hour! I recommend playing some great music to get you into the mood for hooping.

3.Lindy Hop

Apparently developed in Harlem in the 20's and 30's, Lindy Hop is a form of swing dancing that sounds pretty complicated! Swings and throws sound fun though? Wonder if I can get The Boy involved?

4. Roller Disco

Awww I would love to try this but my history with rollerskates/blades is worrying to say the least! I think for this to work you would actually have to be able to move about a bit, I would be too busy concentrating on staying upright!

5. Jive

Originating from Lindy Hop, this is the ultimate in 40's and 50's style dancing for me. Sounds like great fun and I would love the chance to give it a go. I have a big soft spot for 50's music and seeing as my grandmother was the "Jitterbug Queen" maybe it is in the blood?

6.Vogueing

I have to admit, this just made me laugh when I read it. Based on the infamous "Vogue" dance where you adopt model like poses, apparently it is a testing work out, demanding angular shapes and high energy. I need to be a bit more free flowing with my dancing so I think I will give this one a miss!

7. Disco Health Club

Live DJ's where the workout turns into a club afterwards? Yes Please! Again, another one only the people living in London get to try, hopefully it will find it's way to my part of the country soon!

8.Rebounding

Another one I have tried! My mum is a HUGE fan of rebounding, she puts on some of her party tunes and bounces away the pounds. My only issue is that I need a very supportive sports bra before I start trying it!

9.The Retro Gym

A very back to basics approach with old style climbing frames, climbing ropes and beams. I remember this from when I was in school between the ages of 7 and 11, I enjoyed it then but not so sure I would like it now? At least I would avoid the climbing ropes for a while, my upper body strength is BAD. haha

10. Chap Olympiad

Lastly, this "retrocise" is less of a workout and more of a good old english annual event. Where egg and spoon races are the "workout" of the day. I also love that they do a cucumber-sandwich throwing event! This years Chap Olympiad is on 16th of July in London.

So those are the top ten "retrocises", what I want to know is which would you like to try the most if you could? Answer the poll and add additional comments as to why you chose what you did below! I had to pair up the Lindy Hop and Jive and the Roller Disco/Disco Health Club, I thought they were similar enough that you would forgive me for that one! But again, if you have a preference, feel free to comment!

www.skinnyscoop.com

Spotlight: The Blog Guidebook

2011-04-19T00:10:00.001+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

I am introducing a new topic onto Curiouser and Curiouser today. The "Spotlight" post is all about other people in the online community, whether it be a blog I particularly enjoy and would prompt you to look at, an interview with a fellow blogger or a person who is using social media, blogging, websites or the internet for a greater cause or to highlight their work in a positive way.

It is my way of giving back to this amazing community and sharing the wonderful people and stories I find throughout my adventures online.

Today's Spotlight is on the amazing people at The Blog Guidebook. As someone new to blogging, I can highly recommend their site. Their resources about blogging, providing valuable hints and tips to getting your blog out there, tutorials on bringing an extra bit of wonder to your blog or just for a supportive community are just what someone new to the blogosphere needs. Even if you are an old hand at blogging, I can guarantee there is something for everyone on the site so please make a visit to them.

Share the love, truer words were never spoken

DIY Tutorial: Homemade Sugar Scrub

2011-04-18T17:34:00.001+01:00

Hello Curious Readers!

Today I am sharing my incredibly easy/super low cost homemade sugar scrub. Great for clearing out those pores and making your skin feel silky and luxurious!

The Key Ingredients

A Carrier Oil (I used avocado oil however I have also used normal sunflower oil and Grape Seed Oil)- The important thing to remember is to use an oil with a fairly thin consistancy so it does not leave your skin looking/feeling greasy.

An Exfoliant (In this tutorial Natural Light Muscovado Sugar- I like to use sugar as it smells amazing and also tastes yummy if you accidently get some in your mouth!

A Fragrance (I used Vanilla Essence as it is exceptionally yummy with the brown sugar)- There are many different fragrances/essential oils that are great for face scrubs depending on your skin type and they can be combined to best suit your skin. There is an excellent book available called Feeding Your Skin which can be found here. It gives you the best combinations for your skin and so many other lovely recipes!

Now For the Recipe

First gather your ingredients and decide on what combinations you are going to use!
Put 1 Cup (or however much you feel you wish to make) of the muscovado sugar into a mixing bowl.

Pour approximately 1/3 of a cup of avocado oil (or a carrier oil of your choice) into the bowl.

Mix the oil and sugar together, adding more of either recipe until you reach something the consistancy of wet sand.

Next add your essential oils/essences, as this is just a simple all round scrub I am just using vanilla essence to make it smell yummy!

Lastly put all the lovely scrub into a purpose made jar or use an old jam jar. Put on your bathroom shelf and use whenever you want to feel extra wonderful!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, I personally LOVE this scrub, it is super simple, really cheap and leaves my skin feeling lovely. I especially like to use it before I go out for the evening as it leaves your skin so soft that any makeup you wear seems to go on so much better!

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UK Hit By DIY Easter Mania

2011-04-17T20:59:00.003+01:00

Hi Curious Readers,

It has been a gorgeous day today, a bad day to be stuck outside in jeans! (note to self: dig out the summer dresses and skirts NOW). Had a lovely BBQ with the family and got some more brilliant ideas on what I can contribute to the blog over the next few months, my mum's special secret recipe for low fat potato salad being one!
I have been reading what the web has to offer this evening and according to the DIY Juggernaut B&Q, Easter is the time for home improvement. Here at Curious HQ we are already eyeing up the boy's old black wooden furniture and picturing cream paint and Cath Kidston decoupage prints!

Apparently many Britons improve their homes with simple light changes, with over 900,000 lightblubs sold over the season!

Loving this vintage style porcelain lightbulbs from modern50.com!

As a B&Q spokesperson said "The Easter Break affords a long weekend opportunity to crack the first DIY projects of the year and the the country is a hive of innovation with new ideas springing into people's homes". For those who want to read the full article then please look here: http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=82677

I definitely agree that Easter is a time for change in the home, whether it be organising that stack of books that have been laying in the corner since Christmas, having a complete spring clean or actually getting dirty with some paint.

So I hope you too will grab your paintbrushes, arm yourself with feather dusters and do something to improve your own wonderland this festive season. Look out tomorrow for some homemade body/face scrub recipes, who says your home is the only thing that has to be beautiful!

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Picture of the Day (POTD): The Little Mouths I Have To Feed

2011-04-17T09:00:00.005+01:00

Hello Curious Readers,

Good Morning! Today I bring you, in my opinion, the cutest picture of the day I will ever post! This is a photo collage of my animals who I will inevitably be discussing in more detail throughout these pages in the future.

So here they are, the menagerie of animals owned by the boy and I.
Top Row from Left to Right: Roxy, Darcy
Bottom Row from Left to Right: Ranger, Keira ,Rufus

Ranger (the bunny) was our first addition to the family, including her sister Recon who sadly died two years ago. She was followed by Keira who suffers from a debilitating immunity disease, her health is carefully monitored and kept in check with the use of steroids.
Keira was quickly followed by Rufus who was a rescue cat who was abused as a kitten, due to this he can be rather nervous unless he is with us and like Keira, he can be a poorly boy at times and suffers from fits when frightened however he is a lovely boy and often likes to bring us "presents".
About a year after Rufus we obtained Darcy who despite being over two years old now is still a tiny little thing but the healthiest of the three! She is becoming a bit of a porker as all she does is lay in the sun or cause mischief.
Last but by no means least is Roxy, the puppy, who is about 18 months old. She is a Westie/Yorkie cross, full of beans who taught herself to beg on queue, much to the adoration of her many admirers!

We love them all for their many quirks and nuances and I can guarantee they will all feature on here, either together or apart haha.

Grab-A-Button and Be Curious!

2011-04-16T18:59:00.007+01:00

Hello Curious Readers,

For all my future followers, here is the grab button for Curiouser and Curiouser, I hope you will add it to the sidebar of your blogs or websites and mention me here.

For someone not very techy, I am definitely learning how to use html and CSS coding and I am actually quite proud of this, I may reward myself with a cookie later. I have posted it here however it is also in my sidebar for you to find.

DIY Tutorial: Make Your Own Sugarpaste Roses

2011-04-16T15:32:00.001+01:00

Hey Curious Readers,

In the spirit of getting this blog up and running I am going to be spending a few weeks blogging regularly (sometimes as often as several times a day), this will not be a regular event on the blog as hopefully I will get a job soon that keeps me busy but while I am not working I might as well add quality content to the site. However I will endeavorer to maintain a daily post even when I am busy.

This is the first of hopefully many DIY tutorials, this one in particular is about making sugarpaste roses for cakes/cupcakes however as the blog progresses I will add tutorials for a myriad of different things.

Firstly excuse the poor mobile phone pictures, I took them a while ago however I will attempt to replace them at a later date once I find my camera charger. I originally posted this on my page on the Offbeat Bride Tribe (for more info about Offbeat Bride see here)

I decided to teach myself how to make sugarpaste roses after realising that I wanted to make and decorate my own cupcakes for our wedding, my inspiration for out Alice In Wonderland cupcakes can be seen in the picture below:

Oooo the cupcake frosting, those whipped peaks of sugary goodness, I cannot wait till we make the trial cupcakes this summer (and trust me there will be a post on that!).

So without further ado:

HOW TO MAKE SUGARPASTE ROSES

Step One: Mould the sugarpaste (in the colour of your choice) into a conical shape. I actually made the tip of mine too think however at the end you will see a picture of one I made earlier where the appropriate thickness will be shown.

Step Two: Take a piece of paste and roll it into a small ball. Place the ball in between two layers of cling film.

Step Three: Thin out the petal edges ( I find using your thumb works best) and remove from the cling film. Wrap the petal around the cone, surrounding the entire tip of the cone. You can see in my picture where making the tip of the cone too big can stop the petal surrounding it, see my picture and make sure yours does NOT look like that haha.

Step Four: Place Two more petals around the cone in a similar way, I personally like the place them over areas where the previous petal joins the cone (or other petals). Continue the next row with three petals, applied in the same way.

Step Five: The next row contains four petals to finish your rose.

Here are the two roses I have made so far, the one to the left is the one shown step by step here. The right is my "perfect" one, also known as the one I am actually happy with! The left is the one shown in this tutorial and typically, I managed to mess it up haha. You can see the difference the size of the tip of the cone can make, it made the rose a lot better, personally I prefer to daintier one.

I hope you enjoyed my first DIY Tutorial and have fun making your own yummy sugarpaste roses for cakes and cupcakes!

Vintage Stylings Free from Shabby Blogs

2011-04-16T12:50:00.002+01:00

Hey Curious Readers! Before this blog really kicks off there is one site I have to thank for making this blog look the way it does. Shabbyblogs.com is an amazing resource for vintage style blog loveliness, from headers to buttons to page dividers, they do everything you could possibly want to add some glamour and wonder to your blog.

The amazing thing about Shabbyblogs.com is that everything available is free which is excellent for people like me who are starting out in the blogosphere, so please take a look at their site which I have linked here and also remember to check out their actual blog (link on the side) as they often add designs and other gorgeous vintage couture that do not appear on the site. They also have tutorials for those like me who are less in the know when it comes to website/blog design and will answer any questions you may have.

They have not asked me to discuss them on my blog, I am doing it out of sheer respect for the site so hopefully you will see just how much I love them!

Please feel free to comment and come back, lots of things to be adding later to improve content!

Pinterest Love: Picture of The Day (POTD)

2011-04-16T04:24:00.003+01:00

Hey Curious Readers!

This is the first official post at the ungodly hour of 4:13am, what can I say, I have been working on the blog for a few hours now and I am impatient to add the first post BUT I am exhausted so I figured I would do the first of many "Picture of The Day (POTD)" posts!

For those of you unfamiliar with Pinterest, it is an amazing site for storing all your images on virtual pin boards and also finding hundreds/thousands of inspirational pictures for whatever your purpose. My main two uses for the site are my six wedding boards (ranging from wedding decor to invite inspiration) and home inspiration, the latter evolved after seeing so many DIY/ interior design ideas I LOVED and having no where to pin them, the organiser in me (who doesn't pop her head up often) had an issue with posting a picture of some stairs on a wedding board.

I am hoping to maintain this as a daily post, so even if I haven't got time for a longer one, there will always be something new or interesting to look at.
So without further ado, the first of many many POTD pictures!

These cupcakes are nothing less than superb, they are from Flutterby Cakes in Gloucestershire, UK. As someone having an Alice in Wonderland Themed Wedding, I love the idea of cupcakes illustrating the idea of "painting the roses red"! As someone who will be attempting to decorate her own wedding cupcakes, I am making it my mission to learn how this was done.

I couldn't find the contact information for Flutterby Cakes however if you google them I can guarantee contact information will appear!

So there we go, some yummy cupcakes and I am off to bed for hopefully some cupcake dreams.

Let The Blogging Begin

2011-04-16T02:18:00.003+01:00

I am so excited to be starting this blog, not only am I learning some invaluable CSS and HTML skills but it also means I get to start talking about what I love the most! The basic shell is here and as more content is added I will be able to work on the necessary pages, making sure everything links together and is easily found.
So I hope to see you here again soon and help you to create your own personal wonderland!