Folded Paper Foxes

The other day I was feeling making something tasty and effortless for me and my little brother when we had a day stuck in the house waiting for deliveries. Neither of us wanted to go out (read - change out of our pyjamas) so I went a-searching online for what I could whip up with what he had hanging about in our kitchen cupboards to keep us going through our grueling day of video-game playing, movie watching, (Gladiator with Russell Crowe, NOM) and halfheartedly doing chores our parents had set us (one of the down sides of being home for Easter).
I came across this little recipe for salted caramel popcorn bars and it was just the ticket! It was pretty easy and only took about 35 minutes from start to ready to eat. I made some changes to adapt it to a UK recipe, e.g swapping corn syrup for golden syrup but there was no problem and they came out wonderfully and really tasty! I also don't have a candy thermometer like the original recipe calls for but there are ways around that which I'll get to. Definitely give these a try if you like the sound of them, they were really delicious, even for my picky little brother!

Ingredients

4 cups popped popcorn
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup golden syrup

2 tbs flour (any kind)

1 tbs Vanilla extract

Chocolate chips to taste

Coarse salt to taste

01. Heat the butter, syrup, sugar and flour in a pan over medium heat stirring occasionally. You want it to get to something called hard ball stage. To figure this out without a thermometer I had a mug of ice cold water and, every few minutes dropped a tiny amount of the mixture into it. You want it to form a ball that is hard but mouldable with your fingers (be VERY careful, unless it's cooled it will burn you and it will be horrible) for me this took about eight minutes. This picture was taken just after it reached the perfect consistency.

02. Drop in the vanilla essence and some of the salt and give it a quick stir before adding the popcorn and mixing thoroughly making sure all the pieces are nicely coated in the mixture.

03. Into a tray lined with baking paper tip the mixture out and pat down evenly. I sprinkled on a little more salt at this stage, then let it start to cool until you can sprinkle over the chocolate chips without them melting.

04. Pop it in the fridge for a while and let it cool and harden before cutting into slices. Then keep an eye on them if, like me, you have a little gannet for a brother because they might just start disappearing.

So that's the recipe, not hard at all! Let me know if you give these a try or if you've got any similar recipes to recommend.

>> On Repeat . Oh Darling - Plug In Stereo <<

Recipe | Salted Caramel Popcorn Bars

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A friendly reminder from the glorious Iris Apfel to us mere mortals that our individuality is more

important than acceptance.

The unbelievable feathers of this parakeet photographed for National Geographic.
I sometimes feel that human attempts at art and beauty are a little bit pathetic when

we look at what is created by nature.

On a far less 'deep' note. Need this. Now please.

And these nifty little ceramic tumblers, given a revamp with a bit of DIY graphic

printing. Would be really cute for pen/makeup brush pots OR to plant teeny tiny

flowers or cacti for a windowsill. Naww.

Sammy's amazing girly Game of Thrones nail art. These are freaking glorious. If I had any

nail skills whatsoever I would be on that. But I don't so I'll just praise hers.

This handy guide to pulling off the harshest pastel colours this summer.

9 Practical Party tips for the Unpopular and Awkward. Also known as an article I

have bookmarked in my 'Will Definitely Need' folder.

.Blogs I've Loved This Week.

Aunt Peaches - Miaou or Never - Pixie and Pixier

>> On Repeat . Pyramids - Frank Ocean <<

Friday Finds . 002

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Bracelet - Necklace - Dress - Book - Flats - Clutch - Heels

I have a vague memory of saying that I wasn't particularly bothered with summery colours in my last wishlist post where I showcased a palette of greys, blues and tans translated onto floaty fabrics and summery prints... well I lied.

I always do that. I get comfortable in my Autumn/Winter colours and when the summer clothes first start coming out I'm still in that mindset, but then a few weeks go by and my eyes start wandering to the brights and pastels and before you know it my wishlist looks like a fight at a fruit factory. This season I'm particularly drawn to fluro shades, which are those weird pastelly-neons that are cropping up. I love how they look as Accessories paired with whites, washed out denim, simple makeup and hair scraped into a messy bun, I think they're fun, inoffensive and really flattering.

I also just have to include this book as well. I absolutely love Terry Pratchett, his Discworld books especially are a joy to read, wonderfully written with brilliant characters and just so much fun. So imagine my delight when I was browsing through Waterstones and found these amazing special editions! I have a serious soft spot for beautifully covered books and just couldn't resist. Straight away I bought Good Omens (which he wrote with Neil Gaiman) and this one, Mort, is next on my list followed by several others... A long row of these have already materialised on the fantasy section of my future dream bookshelf.

Let me know if you like anything from this list and what's been on your wishlist recently!

>> On Repeat . Neon Tiger - The Killers <<

Wishlist || Summer Style

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At the beginning of February my friend, the lovely Beth, owner of Beth Tinkerbell organised a blogger book swap in which we were each paired up with another blogger, exchanged a few emails about our favourite types of books and went on the hunt with a £10 budget for some books to send to our swap partner. I was paired with Toni over at The Left of Perfect.

Yesterday I received Toni's half of the swap and thought I'd show you what she chose for me. I did have to chase the postman down the street with my jeans on back to front to get them as when he rang the doorbell I was still snuggled up in bed in my pyjamas... it wasn't noon yet it was fine.

The three titles Toni sent me are perfect. I love things that are dark and a little twisted and I love a good fantasy series to sink my teeth into so I can't wait to curl up with these reads

The Gunslinger - Stephen King The first in a long running fantasy series that Toni tells me has a similarity to Game of Thrones (which we both love.) I love Stephen King's horror books but have never tried out his fantasy stuff so I'm looking forward to enjoying this and hopefully finding a new series to start obsessively devouring.

The Shining Girls - Lauren Beukes Toni loves crime fiction and said that she ordered a copy of this for me and one for herself too! It looks like a gripping thriller in a similar vein to Gillian Flynn and John Grisham, both authors that come very highly recommended so I'm hoping to be both impressed and slightly creeped out by it.

Wool - Hugh Howey Another in the seemingly endless flow of dystopian fiction. I usually get bored of book 'trends' really quickly but this one looks different from anything I've read yet. From what I gather it tells the story of a community of people living in an underground silo protected from the uninhabitable outside world, but things are not as simple as they seem. I've already read a few chapters and am really enjoying it. My mouth dropped open at one point and we're only a few chapters in!

Really excited to get through these now I've got a bit of time over Easter so a big thank you to Toni for some fab additions to my bookshelves! Look out for reviews once I've read these and I'll let you know how I get on with them.

Thankyou for reading!

>> On Repeat . Dreams - Wet <<

Blogger Book Swap With Toni

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Hello lovely people! Things are finally getting warm and sunny here in the UK and that means I get to start revamping my makeup and skincare for the summertime... something that makes me embarrassingly excited. Having had a browse through my collection and pulled out everything I've been gravitating towards recently and lain them out I've noticed a theme emerging, and that's brights.

Summer always sees me going for bright colourful polishes, my favourite currently being recent purchase Barry M's Green Berry and old favourite Essie's Cute As A Button, glossy shades of turquoise and coral that look great on fingers and toes and complement any skin tone, tanned or not (usually not in my case).

Lips have gone a similar route, I've been pairing a bare lid and plenty of mascara or a clean flick of liner with a lovely bright lip making a nice change from the nudes and tinted balms I've worn all winter. Revlon's Strawberry Shortcake is a glossy pink that's comfortable to wear and perfect for a flattering everyday look. I love the classic look of a red lip and Strawberry Suede by Revlon is a wonderful creamy matte red that's bright and, unlike a lot of reds, actually looks really cute with freckles (which usually invade my face in the summer) MAC's Flamingo is a bright, satin coral that can be lightly dabbed on for everyday or layered for a more glamorous lips that screams warm summer evenings.

For cheeks I've been favoring a very effortless approach. Sculpting and mixing shades are things that belong to my AW winter routine. as the weather warms up I just want to dust a bit of a glow over my cheeks and get out in the warmth. I've mainly been reaching for either MAC's Pink Swoon, a bright pink flush that is perfect on the apples of the cheeks or this Soft Lights Blush by Smashbox, a gorgeous creamy powder that can be used in sections, or swirled together and dusted over the high points of the face for a glowing bronze sheen.

So those are my picks for SS14. I'll definitely be doing a skincare section for this as well, as my skin changes dramatically season to season.

Thankyou for reading, let me know what your summer staples are.