YOUTUBE

I have done it, my first ever Youtube video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_LQnXs1uYo

This video was so fun to film and so hard! I would love to see if any of you have attempted the blind fold make up challenge post the link below and Abbi and I will check it out. 

My week in Instagram pics

This week has been good, I have loved the sun. I can not wait for the this summer!

01. Mini Donuts yum yum! / 02. Enjoying the sun

03. New Zara bag I am in love / 04. Dispicable Me 2 poster so excited

05. New project very exciting / 06. That is one scary dark cloud

07. A nice cold Costa coffee / 08. Went to see OZ this week was a good movie

Follow me on Instagram @ElephantBum

Friends for life

Last night I met with my girlies for a quick drink in the pub and it turned into 2 bottles of wine (which is usually what happens when we get together). I don’t see my friends often due to us all having a “grown up working life” but when I do see them it is like we haven’t been apart.

I am lucky enough to of had the same friends for practically all my life with a few additions along the way. In total I have known my friends for 17 years of my life that is basically all of it, the only down fall for this is they know everything about me and my past, this means embarrassing stories will never stay hidden. 

I love my group of friends as we could not be more different from each other but it just works as we have all grown up together. Most people don’t understand why we are such a close group of people because we are all so different but that is what I love about us.

Sometimes friendships can be hard and you will go through some ups and downs but my motto on friendship is that “when you need them, true friends will be there”. When my friends left for university I wouldn’t see them for up to 6 months at a time, which was hard at first but when they came back for weekends it felt like we hadn’t been apart.

I love my girls more than most things in my life and I am so lucky to have them by my side when I need them. So my message to you all is find your true friends and keep hold of them and do not let them go. If you are finding it hard to find your true friends just be patient they will show themselves when you need them most. 

April's Glossy Box

It is that time again…. Glossy Box time! April is yet again a month full of great products. Pearl Lowe designed April’s Glossy Box and it is beautiful I am defiantly going to keep this box on display and fill it with goodies.  So what was inside this months box?

Beautiful!

Crabtree & Evelyn - Somerset Meadow Hand Therapy

This stuff smells amazing!! It feels nice a soft on your hands and doesn't leave them feeling greasy which is nice when using hand cream. I hate when they feel all greasy and like you cant pick anything up without it slipping away. The packaging is nice and travel size so it will fit perfectly in your handbag. 

Nip+Fab - Dry Skin Fox Body Butter

This body butter is unfortunately not my flavour. I have read other bloggers reviews on April's Glossy Box and some people received either pistachio or mango which I would of preferred. The smell is too sweet for me BUT saying this my fiance loves it. He has said that it makes his hands nice and soft and he loves the smell. As he has raved about it I now want to try it in a flavour I would prefer (probably mango). I think with body butters you have to really choose a flavour that you like, you don't want to walk around all summer smelling of something you don't like, so my advice is follow your nose.

Yves Rocher France - So Elixir Purple Yves Rocher Eau de Parfum

This perfume smells nice it has a nice flowery after smell to it and smells very grown up. I have preferred the last two scents that Glossy Box has offered but if i ever run out of perfume I will defiantly use it. 

Illamasqua - Medium Pencil

I am a little disappointed with this product, purely because I do not know how I can use a white pencil. So if you know nice ways to use a white pencil, please let me know as I do wish to try the product. 

Essie - Nail Lacquer

Last but by no means least a beautiful Essie nail polish. Who doesn't want to own every colour that Essie has to offer. I received 'Penny Talk' a nice shimmery pink/copper colour. I love how Essie nail polishes go over your fingers and they are so smooth. Love this! 

So yet again Glossy Box has given us a great range of products, some well known others not so much. The box is such a great way to explore new brands an beauty products. Looking forward to next months box. 

Abbi's Top Tips - HD Eyebrows

For some of us make-up and beauty is hard. I love looking good but its getting to look good which is the problem! I know what I want to look like but achieving it is a different ball game and I never end up how I wish to.

Well for all of us who like to look good but are unable to achieve it on our own, I have found the answer! It comes in the shape of my sister Abbi, a professional beautician extremely handy. Once a month Abbi will be posting on this blog a top tip in the world of beauty, if there is something you need help with please email me at elephantbum1@gmail.com with the subject ‘Abbi’s top tips’ and we will try and answer it to the best of our ability.

So I would now like to proudly introduce to you drum roll please……… my sister Abbi!

Hi!

As Danni said I am a professional beautician and have learnt a lot of top tips in the past couple of years and I cannot wait to share them with you.

April’s top tip is going to be all about HD eyebrows. If you have not heard of a HD brow it is when the brow is defined this involves; plucking, shaping and penciling. It defines the shape of the brow as well as giving the effect of lifting the brow and opening the eye.

So here are my top tips on getting the perfect HD brow.

The equipment you will need for this is:

Eyebrow brush

Eyebrow pencil (the colour that best matches you)

Tweezers

Make-up wipe

Step 1.

Wipe over the eyebrow with a makeup wipe to cleanse the eyebrow.

Step 2.

Comb the eyebrow hair upwards to see the shape of the brow underneath as this is the natural shape of your eyebrow.

Step 3.

Pluck stray hairs to help define the shape of your brow.

Step 4.

Repeat on other brow, trying your best to keep them symmetrical.

Step 5.

Use a pencil that best suits your eyebrow and sketch in the colour do not draw a line try to shade and blend.

Step 6.

Using the eyebrow brush style the hair into the HD shape.

I hope these tips have helped you get the result you desire, I would love to see your outcomes so please leave a link below so I can take a look. I am looking forward to sharing with you my next top tip!

See you next month! 

Whats next?

Why is growing up so hard? I doubt anybody knows the answer but I bet it would be eye opening and would change the world as we know it. Soon it will be a year since finishing university (where did that time go) and what have I achieved… I can safely say it doesn’t feel like much. I expected to be in a full time job that I love and earning enough money to save a nice chunk every month for the future.

But in reality in those 12 months I feel like I have not achieved much in my life, I have changed career plans 3 times and still don’t have a full time job and saved practically nothing.

Here comes another rhetorical question why is it so hard to decide what you want in life? It’s easy to say I want a house with a garden, a husband who loves me and 3 children I adore but when it comes to a career people often answer with “doing something I love” or “something that will bring in a lot of money”. That’s great if you can achieve that but in this world right now being a university graduate with a degree means nothing!

I have recently started to read ‘I Heart New York’ by Lindsey Kelk and I love it, it is so inspiring. It is about a girl who goes through a horrible break-up and just jets off to New York to get over the heartbreak, it is every girls dream (not the heart break section).

The book hasn’t inspired me to pack up and leave my Fiancé behind but it has inspired me too want to make a change in my life and not to over think everything, which is something I currently do.

Angela the main character in the book is a writer and wants to share with people her passions. She wakes up in the morning explores the city then sets up camp in a coffee shop and writes and she loves it. Prefect! This is the change I wish to make in my own life do something I love to do and not think to deeply into how it will affect my future. I am still young I should not be so stressed out about 20 years in the future. I want to get up in the morning explore London then write all about why I love this amazing city and design some amazing graphic t-shirts inspired by my surroundings for you guys! I want to do something I love in the city that I love and share that passion with all my readers.

I have already finished ‘I heart New York’ and downloading the second book in the series ‘I heart Hollywood’ onto my iPad as I type this. I have found a lot of inspiration from this book that is why I am telling every female (and male if they like a good girly story) I know to read this book if they are stuck, confused, frustrated, heart broken or just need a good read. Pick it up give it a go and please let me know if it inspires you in anyway.

So from today I am going to become the new Danni. The Danni that loves what she does, wants to get out of bed in the morning and starts putting her happiness first. The first step I am going to take on this new journey is ElephantBum the T-shirt brand. I previously wrote about this here but I have been a bit slow starting, no more. I am going to stop slacking and start moving, I promise by the end of May that ElephantBum will be up and running… promise. Watch this space!  

Graduation

Last week was my Graduation day, it was a fantastic day. I spent it with all my loved ones which was great, they got to share the last 3 years of hard work with me in one celebratory day.

University life didn't start great, I planned to go to Chichester to study Graphic Design which I was very excited about. New place, new home, new friends it was all very exciting when a few months before starting I received a letter from the university. The letter explained that the course had been cancelled due to lack of students. This devastated me, it felt like my world had come crashing down, everything I was looking forward to had now disappeared. 

At this point I no longer wanted to go to university. I was embarrassed to tell people that the course had been cancelled as I felt it was all my fault. UCAS offered me a substitute choice, this was in June which meant most if not all places had already been given away to students. There was about 10 Universities left to choose from, 9 of which were outside of London. I was no longer ready to move away from my parents as I was scared of failing again, due to this feeling I chose Kingston Fda in Graphic Communications. 

I was happy and ready for university again. Due to my birthday being in August I was still only 17 when I had my interview in July, I felt extremely young. At my interview the tutors told me that I would be at a lot lower level than everyone else on the course, which scared me a lot. When starting the course I had only just turned 18, a lot of the other students where at least 2 years older than me and had a lot more experience. 

Quite quickly I got into the flow of University life and I loved it. I made some great friends on my Fda course and ended up with some great projects. Being an Fda course means it is only a 2 year course, thankfully Kingston offer the opportunity to move onto the Ba. This means that we could move into the 3rd year of the Ba Graphics course. This is what I decided to do as I wanted to have a degree to show all my hard work.

6 of us moved over to the Ba degree course which meant the amount of students on the Ba 3rd year were now 106, which was a lot more than the 25 of us on the Fda. It was a very hard first term, trying to become part of a massive group who had been working together for 2 years was difficult. I didn't make many friends during the last year of the course as the last year of University is difficult on its own without trying to make friends. 

As hard as the last year was, I made it! I got my degree which I am extremely proud of. I am not going to say it was easy because it wasn't, there were a lot of long days, late nights and quite a few Red Bulls. One project my group and I stayed up till 4:00am, which killed me! Going to university was an experience it taught me lots and I did make a few good friends which I will now have forever.    

Me and the other half (Simon). He hates having his picture taken so he tends to avoid looking at the camera

 Me and my Madge! 

Me and Joe (my little brother) 

Me, Madge and Pup. Who knows what is happening in this photo but it defiantly sums up the day smiles and laughter.

What a busy week!

Apologies for the lack of blogging this week, it has been hectic! 

It all started with the Craft Fair at the Excel last Saturday which was a lot fun. It was very busy which meant it was rather hard to get to the stalls and see the products. Me and my Madge did get to have a free go at the Decopatch table (new hobby alert), this was great fun and so easy! There is defiantly going to be a blog post dedicated to Decopatch in the near future so watch this space.

Free Decopatch coaster at the Craft Show

On Monday it was my Graduation Day wohoooo! Me and my family had a lovely day, it was great to share the hard work of the past 3 years with them. We had such a great day full of laughs, we had the ceremony, took photos and then went out for a lovely dinner. I am glad that I went to university and gained loads of experience but I can not wait to start the rest of my life. 

Me and my brother on Graduation day

On Tuesday the 9th of April we welcomed baby Louis Leonard into this world. One of my best friends had her first baby and I can not be more excited!! She is the first of my friends to have a baby and I am so proud of her. I met baby Louis on Thursday and I am in love with him, he is tiny and cute and lovely!!! 

Auntie Danni and baby Louis' first cuddle

On Friday it was my baby brothers birthday! I say baby brother but firstly he turned 13 and secondly he is taller than me. I can not believe he has turned 13 it makes me feel so old, he has grown up so much in the last year he is officially a little (but tall) man. We had a great day we went BOWLING!! how awesome and I WON!!!!! bonus. 

The not so baby brother

Friday evening was spent with the other half at a friends private view exhibition very classy! The work is at the Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe it was a great night of wine and art. 

A piece of work from the exhibition inspired by Brunel

And finally to end the week of madness me and my madge ventured back to the Excel for the Cake International show! I was very excited as the special guests were...drum roll please.... Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry!! It was a great day there was cake and more cake who wants more? The one downfall of the day was that I could barely see the magic duo (sad face). I bought a whisky whisk, the most genius invention EVER. It is the lazy person whisk, you push down the whisk and it does the deed. No need to get a sore arm it is defiantly my kind of kitchen gadget.

This is as close as I could get to Paul and Mary... So sad!

I had a very busy week but it was full of love and laughter. I promise there will be more blog posts next week! 

Favourite Blogs!

I follow a lot of blogs on Blog Lovin and the general web but these are a few of my favourites, which I religiously check every day and are a little obsessed over.

  Ella Masters

This London girl who has an eye for all things creative is a great blog to follow. She has great illustration, fashion and lifestyle posts which are always an enjoyment to read. Her fashion posts defiantly inspire my own fashion choices. 

www.ellamasters.com 

I SPY DIY

This blog gets your creative juices flowing and defiantly makes me want to pick up a pair of scissors or paint brush. Jenni (the writer of  I SPY DIY) finds on point trends then makes her own interpretations, what a genius.

www.ispydiy.com

Milkteef

Emma is a fashion and beauty guru. If you need to know what makeup is on top at the moment check out this awesome blog, she gives regular reviews on all make up products. Her fashion posts also can make you very envious so beware. 

www.milkteef.com

She Wears Fashion

I love this blog 'Thrifty Thursday' is my favourite post, its all about favourite finds in charity shops or markets. I 90% of the time shop in charity shops and I love finding out other peoples special finds, so this blog is defiantly one of my favourites. 

www.shewearsfashion.com

Skunkboy

This lifestyle blog is amazing. WARNING you will fall in love with this little family. The posts on this blog makes you believe in happily ever after. This is officially what I want my family and house and style and hair colour to be! 

www.skunkboyblog.com

Sprinkle of Glitter

If you are in need of a giggle follow this blog, Louise the writer of this blog makes me laugh out loud in public places, which sometimes can be a little embarrassing! Her posts vary from beauty to baby and I love it. I also follow her on youtube which I can watch for hours. If this blog was not in my life I think I would be very sad! 

sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.co.uk

Zoella

Zoe's blog is great for beauty, I have tried a lot of new products due to this blog and I love them all. Zoe also has a youtube site and my favourite videos are the Primark Hauls, because I also love Primark so its nice to know what kind of stuff is in their at the moment. 

I can get very addicted to searching the web for new blogs so if you there are blogs that you love that you think I should check out please post them below. All images used in this post are taken from the blogs themselves. 

Easter

I had a great family Easter weekend; we made cakes, played games, ate food and had loads of fun. I thought that I would share with you all some of the cakes I made over the Easter weekend which was quite a few. 

The first cupcakes I made were with my lovely Madge, she is a cake decorating magician her cakes are amazing. So it was about time that I tried my hand at cake decorating (and if I do say so myself I am a piping wizard).   

Ingredients:

225g Unsalted Butter
225g Caster Sugar
225g Self-raising Flour
1tsp Baking Powder
4 Eggs
1tsp Vanilla Essence

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 175ºC (350ºF / Gas Mark 4).
2. Place 18 paper baking cases in muffin tins.
3. Place all the ingredients in a medium bowl and beat with an electric whisk until smooth and pale.
4. Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Remove tins from the oven and cool for 5 minutes 

It was so fun learning a new skill which defiantly can impress your friends. 

The second cake I made this Easter weekend was chocolate nests, who doesn't love a good chocolate nest and they are so simple to make. 

Ingredients:

1 Box of Shredded Wheat 
As much Chocolate as you wish to consume 
Mini Eggs (They can not be nests without the eggs) 

Recipe:

1. Melt Chocolate over the stove
2. Crush Shredded Wheat
3. Mix both ingredients together
4. Place in baking cases
5. Leave to cool

This recipe is so simple, there is no cooking involved. Its a great activity to do with kids or adults everyone loves a chocolate nest.

I hope you have all had a great Easter weekend, I would love to know if you baked or cooked anything special this weekend with friends or family.