Back to School #2 - School Hacks

Hey everyone, 

So today I have a list of 4 school hacks that are really going to help you get through the school year smoothly. I sourced these hacks from the Internet and YouTube and here they are.

Are you always waking up late so you don't have time for breakfast? Worry no more, I've got you covered. Before you go to bed make sure you have your breakfast planned. A really good way of doing this is to buy some breakfast biscuits or make your own breakfast bars. Both breakfast biscuits and breakfast bars are fantastic because they are easy to eat on the go. Breakfast biscuits can be bought from all supermarkets and breakfast bars are easy to make. All you have to do is grease a mixing bowl and then mix together some Cheerios and mini marshmallows and put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds. Then mold into bars and leave in the fridge overnight. Voila!

Hack number 2 is super simple and really helpful. Does your timetable always seem to go missing just when you need it? Here's the simple solution, take a picture and save it as your home screen. Then when you need to see your timetable all you have to do is whip out your phone, you don't have to  rummage through your bag for a flimsy piece of paper, problem solved!

Most teenagers including myself find revising and homework a chore so give yourself an incentive. Your incentive could be that you put a gummy bear or sweet at the end of each paragraph or page you have to read. Or you could give yourself 10 minutes of instagram/snapchat time for every hour of work you do. Having a study incentive is a really good idea because it motivates you to complete your work quicker therefore giving you more time to do other things.

This helpful hack is probably something you already do, maybe without realizing! This hack is to have an emergency kit in your bag, emergency kits are a really good idea because they prevent awkward situations from happening. Here is a list of things I would recommend to include in your emergency kit: deodorant, body spray, powder, hair grips, hair bands, hair brush, concealer, plasters, toothbrush, toothpaste, sanitary products, lip balm and hand cream. What things do you have in your emergency kit that I have forgotten? (tell me down below)

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I hope this post helps you, I will definitely be using some of these hacks ( most probably the first oner seeing as I'm not a morning person)! I want to apologize for the messiness of my posts in the past two weeks I went on holiday so my posting schedule sort of disappeared, I'm definitely back on schedule now though so don't worry! See you next time,

Ella x

Netflix Top 5

So today I have a really helpful post for you guys. It's getting to that point in the holidays where you just want to get back to school or you have run out of things to do. So what do we all turn to? Netflix. Today I wanted to share with you my top 5 favourite films and series to watch on Netflix. I'm going to talk about them in reverse order.

5. Material Girls



Material Girls is a good film, it's nothing amazing but its good enough to entertain you on a boring summer afternoon. I really like the fact that this film includes both the Duff sisters, it makes their relationship in the film even more realistic. What I do like about this film is that it has a more unusual story line which is unique and different to most other films. It is about 2 sisters who go from super rich to extremely poor really quickly. It is really entertaining to watch them struggle without money, the only thing I would say is that the film is very predictable.

 4. Clueless

Clueless is a chick flick classic that pretty much every teenage girl has seen. I love re-watching it on the days when you feel a bit down in the dumps, it is definitely a feel good film. 


3. Just Go With It

I really love this film its so funny and really entertaining, the fact that it is set on a summer holiday resort it definitely has those summer vibes. This film has a great cast including: Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler, Brooklyn Decker and Nicole Kidman.

2. Fired Up 

Fired up is my favourite film on Netflix, it is super funny and really entertaining. It's about 2 players who decide to join the cheer team so they can go on cheer camp. Why would they want to go on cheer camp I hear you ask, well at cheer camp there are 200 girls and about 3 straight guys. See their logic? It's a really funny light hearted film that you should definitely watch. I actually did an in depth review of it which you can see here.

1. Once upon a time 

Asbjcgfls! Where do I start? Once upon a time is my favourite TV series ever! It is so so so clever how everything fits together. It is a series where all the fairytale characters are stuck in our world due to and evil curse, it is amazing! It includes all the fairytale characters, Snow White, Mulan, Aroura, Belle, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, the Mad Hatter, Captain Hook, Rumplestiltskin, Elsa, Anna, I could go on for ages. What I really love about this series is the fact that it all fits together so well and how it shows the past as well as the present. This series is so clever and brilliant, I could gush about it forever but all I can say is that you HAVE TO WATCH IT!

I really hope this helps you cure your end of summer boredom, what are your favourite films on Netflix?

Ella x

Healthy Eats #4 - Smoothies and Juices

Hey Everyone, today is another episode in my healthy eats series. After the fifth episode I am going to continue the healthy eats series monthly instead of weekly. Today I thought I would give you a list of links for the best smoothie and juice recipes and give you some of my own favourite combinations. I personally love juices and smoothies because they're so delicious and healthy. Here are my favourite recipes for you to try:

Niomi Smart - What I eat in a day

This blog post includes 3 Fruit Juices which all look absolutely delicious, all with vibrant colours.

Native Juicer - Recipes

A fantastic website that has so many brilliant recipes that specialize in different health aspects.

 

BBC Good Food - Smoothie Recipes

I love the BBC Good Food website for recipes including their smoothie recipes, their recipes all have vibrant exotic flavours.

My Juice Recipe - Link here

I love my own recipe because although the colour is not very appealing the fruitiness is unreal! 

 Hope you enjoyed this post, see you next time!

Ella x

Summer Fashion // Stripes

Hey Everyone, today's post is something slightly different from usual. Today's post is a fashion post and I wanted to show you my favourite clothing pattern of the summer, navy and white stripes. Before I start I would just like a to say a huge thank you to my brother who was the photographer for me, it is hugely appreciated.

Outfit 1 → Beachy Vibes

Sunglasses // Primark // £1.50

Top // Newlook // 

Shorts // Primark // £3

Shoes // USC // £35

Outfit 2 → Floral Fun

Flower Crown // Claire's //

Top // H&M // 

Skirt // Primark //

Outfit 3 → Funk it Up

Sunglasses // Primark // £2

Denim Jacket // Primark // £15

Top // Primark // £4

Leggings // Primark // £4

Outfit 4 → A Walk in the Park

Top // Newlook // £4

Short // Primark // 

Jeans // F&F //

Outfit 5 → Just Chillin'

Top // Primark // £6

I'm really sorry but I don't know the prices for everything and the only makeup I'm wearing is lipstick hence why my face looks a bit bare. The lipstick I'm wearing in all of the pictures is Natural Collections Raspberry. I really hope you have enjoyed this different style of post see you next time.

Ella x

Adding Social Media Buttons to your Blog

I'm ok using HTML to design and code my blog but I do have to read tutorials made by other bloggers most of the time. I think the main difficulty with designing your blog and using HTML is that the slightest mistake could mean that what you're trying to do wont work. Today I decided to share with you a tutorial for adding social media buttons to your blog, I hope it helps!

First you need to get your buttons, the website I used is Icons DB it is really easy to use. If you want to get your icon in the colour that matches your blog go on to Template and click on customize and find the colour you want. so i wanted the colour of my social media buttons to match the colour of my links. e.g.

You can see that the colour I picked is circled in red, you have to have the colour you want in the form of a hashtag. I then copied this colour and pasted it in the colour bar on the Icons DB website:

After you have picked your colour you need to pick your company/website (instagram, bloglovin, pinterest). To do this you search for the company/website in the search bar on the right of the screen.

The search results should come up with a few possible options click on the one you want.
NOW LEAVE THIS WINDOW OPEN BUT OPEN A NEW TAB, GO TO BLOGGER AND OPEN THE THE LAYOUT OPTION. Click on add gadget in the side bar and scroll down until you find the text widget.

 Open the text widget, click edit HTMl in the top right hand corner and copy and paste this code:

<a href="SOCIAL MEDIA WEB ADDRESS"><img border="0" height="48" src="LINK TO ICON IMAGE" width="48" / /></a>

The parts you need to change are in red for your social media web address you need to put the web address for the page that you want your icon to link to. For example if it were an instagram button you would have the web address: instagram.com/YOUR INSTAGRAM USER NAME


The link to the Icon image is the harder part, this is where we go back to the icons db website. All you have to do is right click on the image you picked earlier and click View image info.

 You should then get a list of addresses that looks something like this:

They will be one address highlighted and that is the address you need to copy and paste into your html code. Repeat the same steps for any other icons you want to add, save your text widget and you're done!

I hope you found this useful, if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask!

Ella x

Healthy Eats #3 - Satisfying the Cravings

Hey Everyone, (I need to change up my intros!) today is the 3rd installment of my healthy eats series and today I'm going to talk about cravings and how to sort them out. I read a post on The Sunday Chapter which inspired this post, because we all get cravings and I want to help you guys put an end to them. When we crave food we always crave unhealthy food and I know that my cravings really do affect my diet.

Source Pinterest

I did some research and found an article on ELLE which was really useful and helpful and I also found the blog post on The Sunday Chapter really helpful. I always always get Chocolate Cravings, all the time, fortunately I do a lot of sport so it doesn't affect me very much physically but it certainly doesn't have a good affect on me (obviously). When I do give in to the cravings and eat chocolate it just makes me want more and it doesn't make me feel good. It gives me no energy, makes me feel lazy and it doesn't make me feel very positive. This is why I (probably just like you) want to stop eating chocolate to satisfy my cravings and eat more healthier things instead.

Here's a food chart to show you what you should be eating instead, I think that this chart is super helpful to prevent the cravings in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: ELLE

If you search and look around on the internet you will find lots of tips and advice as how to stop and solve your craving problems. Cravings are killer because they're so easy to give in t, you tell yourself 'I will only have one square" and ten minutes later you're well into your second bar! Being able to say no to your cravings is the only way to stop them.

Source: Buzz Quotes

I hope this post helps!

See you soon,

Ella x

Back to School #1 - School bags for September 2015

Hey Everyone, today's post is a start to my new series, a back to school series! I'm super excited for this new series because I really think it will help some of you guys. The first post of this series is a back to school bags ideas to help give you guys some inspiration if you are yet to get a bag for September. Here are some of my favourite school bag picks.

1. Backpacks

My favourite pack backs are the mi pacs and hype ones, I particularly like the floral patterned ones, they are also the perfect size for school. My school bag is actually pictured above, it is the one in the middle on the bottom row, I got it part way through the last school year so I wont need a new one for a while. My favourite of the ones pictured is probably the floral hype one (top middle).

2. Handbags

My favorite types of handbags are the style pictured above, I really like the bags that are shaped like an upside down trapezium. The only thing with handbags is that I'm not sure if they would be big enough for me personally. The bags pictured above are from Topshop and Newlook but you can buy cheaper very similar versions from Primark. My favourite out of the above is probably the bottom middle or the bottom right.

I hope this has given you some inspiration or some ideas, what do you prefer backpacks or handbags? Which is your favourite of the ones pictured?

Ella x