Teacup candle

Easter is over, and I'm still struggling to eat the remainder of my chocolate eggs. Either I've got older, or the eggs have got bigger. It's just too much!

I've been trying my best to get all my work done, one of which was creating a teacup candle for Polly Magazine. It's a publication created with my two significant others, Emily and Emma. We like to dream a lot, and live a lifestyle that takes us away. It's cheesy as hell - but we love it. Think of it as a magazine selling a lifestyle which encompasses all things tea and antiques. So as you'll see above, I had a go at making my first teacup candle, which is surprisingly easy and only a few pennies to make. My little tip is instead of purchasing the wax in a ready made bag, just get all destructive and pull apart old candles you already have, such as tealights, that are perfect for the job. Only the wicks need to be purchased! If you'd like to know how I made them, let me know and I will happily create a recipe post!

I've also got some exciting news to share. I managed to secure a Freelance position with Housetohome, where I helped out in February. Now I get to upload and edit online features about beautiful houses and get kindly paid for it - what's not to love?

Whilst in conversation with the lovely people at Cox & Cox - they reminded me about some pretty little items they have on their website and I couldn't resist showing you. Everyone, including myself has gone a little cupcake mad lately - but these sweet treat bags are a good alternative as a gift rather than a cupcake box. Filling with all yours or your friends favourite treats would be so nice to receive! I like to send my friends little bags of sweets when times are tough, such as exams. Sugar cures all worry!

I also adore their candle lanterns. As we approach the festival season, it's a cute way of incorporating some personality into your garden. Both scattered around the lawn and around the garden table is a soft and gentle light perfect for late night BBQ's. I would pray for the sun to come back - but I do enjoy just as much throwing on lots of jumpers for this type of occasion.

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Easter tea party in the garden

It's Easter and I'm home from university, although I've brought all work with me too! But I was looking forward to a much planned tea party, especially as my friends are such good bakers. I'm always surprised what delicious recipes they quickly create! Yesterday we had carrot cake, meringue and strawberries, rocky road and my own strawberry cupcakes taken from a new recipe book, Marian Keyes - Saved by Cakes. Tea parties are such a good excuse to sample some delicious desserts and nibbles, with the accompanying tea to wash it all down with!

I really enjoyed setting up the table in the garden for this occasion, which meant using all Cath Kidston bowls and teapots, whilst uncovering pastel tablecloths and napkins. I also managed to use these new placemats I purchased whilst working in London. They are really fab A3 paper sheets with a vintage design of a bowl and cutlery printed on it.

Other great ideas is using doilies for placemats, or using a cupcake stand as the centerpiece for your creative output. If you don't have a cupcake stand, balancing small plates on bigger dinner plates with a sherry glass as a support will look great! I decorated mine with cupcake cases filled with mini eggs with little craft chicks on it! Mixing different cutlery and crockery together will add to the vintage tea party look.

I also had a furry guest who came over for the tea party, so I decided to make her own special cupcake which involved a lot less sugar and more peas!

But it is important to provide guests with savoury options as all the cake can fill them up quickly! So we enjoyed some chicken satay sticks and scotch eggs with iced tea to break it up a little. Tea parties are a great way of making the most of the sun, especially if you prefer a sweet treat to a BBQ.

I'm looking forward to a friends birthday in a few weeks time as last year the heat wave brought us to Virginia Waters to celebrate by the huge lake with a picnic and outdoor games. Fingers crossed this beautiful sunny weather stays for the rest of Easter!

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#cupcakes #tea party #cake recipes #tea #party supplies #party ideas #cake decorating #dog cupcakes

One hundred!

And Happy Birthday to Sugarlips! This is officially my 100th post! You may begin to applaud...

Blogging may seem like an easy task, but on top on everything else going on in my life, I'm often posting late at night, on lunch breaks or during evenings with friends - and for that I'm pretty impressed with myself! One hundred posts about fashion, lifestyle, travel, food and thought provoking posts, I hope you've been enjoying my ramblings as much as I've enjoyed battling with Photoshop to create them.

So as it seems Sugarlips has reached adulthood - I've decided to make some changes. Firstly, it's no longer the main portal for my career, I'm currently in the process of creating a web domain for my professional side. If you would still like to see my portfolio of published work, then keep your little eyes open for my next post to re-direct you there!

Sugarlips is still going to continue to be my source of outburst and expression, through pastimes I enjoy such as fashion, food or tea rooms. See it is the brand to my world, and I'll be sure to share my stories.

In only a few months I'll be working (fingers crossed) and this blog will be ever more so an outlet for me to express and be creative, although expect them weekly. A busy bee I shall be!

I hope you can take the time to have a little wonder around my past posts and let me know what your favourite may be? Remember I've got a Facebook page just for you!

Oh and also I send you a big fat kiss for reading and posting such lovely comments. Most people don't enjoy this - the red tends to stain - so enjoy!

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#100th post #birthday #blogger #sugarlips #birthdaycake #millies cookie

Waterloo walks to work

Here is a round up of my week in three photos. It’s been pretty busy, going to work in London and coming home to complete more work. But I definitely enjoyed it. I really hope to go back to IPC in the near future. But for now, it’s time to take that experience and continue on applying for more jobs. Although I feel I’m getting the balance wrong as I spend more time looking for jobs than I actually do completing uni work.

Although I had one of those moments looking through my final project, as I realised I’ve actually done a bit more than I first thought. Massive sigh of relief.

I can’t wait to share my final project with you – but for now it stays fully under wraps! If you want a hint, it involves looking at magazines from over 90 years ago.

I’m only 10 weeks away from the big hand in here. It’s quite daunting but altogether exciting at the same time. I already feel bad for the neglect Sugarlips might have in these few last weeks, but then I’m going to make a radical change to it so it’s worth looking out for.

As Sugarlips has been the forefront blog of an aspiring journalist, it’s only fair that the blog receives the same upheaval as my own life, as I finally step onto the career ladder. Will keep you informed… obviously!

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Busy bee & lazy tea

How'd you like that image for a productive five minutes? My housemate and I decided it was far to unnecessary and cold to tiptoe downstairs for a tea so decide our tea making facilities needed to be within 3ft of our bedrooms. So this is now our new tea station. Lazy or genius? I don't mind. My house my rules don't they say?

I've also got some exciting news to share about my next couple of weeks. It corresponds to the delicious shabby image above from www.housetohome.co.uk. I really do enjoy looking at house magazines and decorating ideas, even partaking in a few decorating hobbies at home, but little did I think one of the magazines I've enjoyed reading lately would be my next destination for work experience! House to home is the place for all their home consumer titles. I convinced myself that my last placement would be - my last placement - but I cannot resist such a great opportunity, especially since it's at IPC Media which I haven't been to before.

I bloody hope the weather sorts itself out by then though - walking around London with a numb nose can't be a good look for my first day. But I'm quite excited to help out and get the ball rolling more with my university work also, since I'll be at living at home with hopefully less distractions.

Oh and this last image has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that I purely want to brag about the length of my hair lately. (Cue the girly clap and jumping up and down)

I've always been obsessive about the length, wishing it would be waist length but never convinced it could grow far past my shoulders. Although a regular trim and using Redken's Extreme Anti-Snap leave it treatment seems to be paying off!

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Jack and Sarah

If ever there was a film to take you right back to your childhood then this would definitely have to be one of them. Not because I could relate to Richard E Grant's characters high flying city job - but because of the texture and ambiance of London back in 1995.

Coming to terms with the 90's becoming an era within itself has been a subject on my mind recently. Seeing something so familiar and attached to me in film is going to take some time to get used to. It's easy to point out the strange - the different - when looking at images from the 50's for example, mainly because I never was there - but it's feels different to really look back at things that you can actually remember. I suppose this is rather ignorant of me, because I'm sure my parents for example feel the same way looking at back at all things related to their childhood. However as this is my first experience, I enjoyed becoming immersed in this film that included all the angluir and mis-matched patterns that the 90's so joyfully portrayed.

One of the easiest ways to recognise this era is to look at their wardrobe. Most outfits worn in the film are ones that I remember adults wearing when I was little. Dungarees, oversized jumpers, leggings, shoulder pads and bomber jackets all made an appearance. The small things I could relate to having was what the baby in the film adorned. Even silly things like the pram made me daydream and remember my early years. Probably quite apt then, that I have just won this beauty of a jumper from eBay. Definitely looks like it came straight out the film - 90's grunge at its best.

These reasons alone I think I enjoyed this film more than I thought I would. And anyway, the relationship of the Father and Daughter is far too endearing to make this film a flop. It might be over 15 years old now - but to me it feels just like yesterday.

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Dead roses

There's nothing I like more than waiting for roses to die. Wait, that's probably the wrong word I should be using, but waiting for that bright red to slowly change into the crunchy purples and browns gives me a weird satisfaction. And I think it's the right level of spooky and pretty. I've got into a bit of a routine of making roses last on my windowsill for well over a year. Normally Valentines ushers in the next victim.