Time to take a trip..

Hey everyone, happy Friday and Happy Valentines day!!

I've decided to take a trip back home. Being away for 5 months has made me realise just how homesick I am, having never lived away before let alone abroad! I'm also flying alone for the first time which is a tad scary but also exciting! Ahhhh I can't wait to get back on English soil ^_^ .

Anyhu posts may be less regular or random over the next few weeks so bare with me!

Big love,

Kat

Xxx

The Liebster Award 2014!

It's that time again- The Liebster Award! I have been lucky enough to be nominated twice this year by the lovely Ellis from Ellis Tuesday and gorgeous Lucy from From Lucy With Love.

This is a great way to find new and exciting bloggers in the blogging community whilst finding out a bit about them too. I think everyone should give it a go! Here are the rules:

1. You must link back to the person that nominated you.
2. You must answer the 11 questions given by the nominee before you.
3. You pick nominees with under 200 followers to answer your questions.
4. You cannot nominate the person who nominated you.
5. You must tell the nominees that they have been nominated by you.

So starting with Ellis' questions...

1. What is the best bargain you have ever found?

Ooh I'd say a vintage suitcase for £5 which I'm using as a prop for my wedding in July!

2. What is your favourite movie?

My mind always goes blank when I get asked this so I'm going to say... The Holiday. Cheesy I know.

3. What was the first makeup item that you bought?

I think it was probably pressed powder. I had oily skin as a teenager! I still do but this was ridiculous..

4. If you could switch with anyone for a day who would it be?

Hmm... Probably Lisa Eldridge. She has such a cool job.

5. What is the most played song on your Ipod?

Apparentyy its Bastille- Of The Night. Did not expect that!

6. What is your favourite nail polish brand?

Barry M every time. Long lasting and love the glitter polishes.

7. Where would you like to live if you could live anywhere in the world?

I'd like to live on the island of Maui for a while but I'd love to settle down somewhere like Dorset. A nice oldy weldy type house with a beautiful garden where I could grow my own veg. Oh I can dream!

8. What celebrity would you most like to be best friends with?

Beyoncé. I bet she's so wise and great for girlfriend talk haha.

9. What is your favourite beauty brand?

Probably Body Shop. I like natural products and their seaweed range works great on my oily skin!

10. What is your favourite book?

One Day by David Nicholls or the Harry Potter series. I'm so cool!

11. You only have £20 to spend on beauty items, what would you buy?

Stuff from Collection 2000 or natural collections to get my moneys worth! Concealer, lipstick, blusher and mascara.

And now onto Lucy's questions!

1. Why did you decide to start blogging?

I've been a Youtuber for almost two years now which I love to do and that's how I discovered blogs too. I checked out my favourite Youtubers' blogs and felt so inspired I decided to create my own!

2. What are your favourite things about keeping your blog and why?

In a nutshell- I like what I like and I post what I like! It's my own little space to talk about things that interest me and hopefully other people too.

3. Do you watch and /or make YouTube videos? If so, why did you start/who is your favourite YouTuber?

Kind of a giveaway from question 1, yes I do make videos as well as watching them. I started by watching Youtubers like Lisa Eldridge who is one of my idols and a lovely channel called Lookastar13 who has some great videos on hair! From there I discovered lots of other "beauty gurus" and again felt inspired to make my own videos!

4. What are your 'top 5' all time favourite make up products?

I would have to say... Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer, Kate Moss Lipstick in shade 103, Body Shop Hemp hand cream, Clarins Beauty Flash Balm and Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara. I'm a drugstore loverrrrrrrr..

5. Who is your style icon and why?

I would have to say Lily Melrose from the blog LLYMLRS which may sound cheesy as she's a blogger but I don't care! She always looks stylish in a smart casual grunge kinda way. Love the dresses and boots but also love the band tees too!

6. Who is your current favourite blogger and why?

I'd say that would be.. Sprinkle of Glitter! She's so inspiring and motivating and really cheers me up when I'm feeling crap. I'm new to her blog and me laaarves it!

7. What do you do to find inspiration for your blog?

Look at other bloggers photographs if I'm completely honest! I love blogs with lots of photo content and I've just recently got a fancy new camera so they give me ideas on composition, lighting etc.

8. Describe your perfect Sunday...

Breakfast in bed consisting of poached eggs on toast and tea, a good box set, knitting, warm cosy winter food, a hot bubble bath with candles and ofcourse- a glass of wine ;-). Ahhh bliss!

9. What are your goals for 2014, blogging or otherwise!

I did a blog post on this back in January but from memory I want to: blog on a regular basis (so far so good), make youtube videos on a regular basis (going okay), loose weight and be content with the way I am (going good!), not give a f*ck what people think of me (working on it) aaaaand... I dunno, be happy I guess!

10. What are your top three high-street clothes stores?

Easy! Ranking highest will always be Topshop, then Miss Selfridge aaaaand then probably Primark!

11. What is your guilty pleasure?

Don't judge me okay... Chinese beef curry and egg friend rice. In my pyjamas... on a Saturday night...Sometimes it just has to be done! Chris still loves me so it's fiiiine! 

So those are my questions answered. Now onto my nominations!

• Natalie from http://www.tallienat.blogspot.com/ @TallieNat
• Kirsty from http://www.face4theradio.co.uk/ @Face4_TheRadio

11 Questions For My Nominees

1. What made you start up your own blog?
2. What is your go-to beauty product and why?
3. Can you describe your style in three words?
4. How would you sum up what your blog is about?
5. What's your favourite thing in your wardrobe?
6. What products do you use for a pamper session?
7. What's your top beauty / fashion tip?
8. How many lipsticks do you own?
9. What inspires you?
10. What's your favourite foodie treat?
11. What do you do on a bad hair day?

I hope you enjoyed finding out a little bit more abou me and make sure you check out my nominees and the bloggers who nominated me!

Kat

xxx

Weekly Weigh In

Hey everyone, it's that time again! I would have done a post last week but the internet died a death until Monday. It was a tragic time..

Anyway I'll update you with last weeks weight loss- I stayed the same weight. To be honest I wasn't surprised as the week before I had family staying so was a little bit cheeky with what I ate. I generally stuck to eating healthy but may have had a few extras on top and slightly oversized portions in restaurants. I didn't go totally mad though hence why I didn't gain weight so I'm happy with that! Onto this week...

I am shocked but also thrilled to announce that I lost a whacking 4.8 lb this week!!!! I had to step on the scales many many times to believe it, even turning the scales on and off and moving them to different areas of the bathroom just to check I wasn't dreaming but no, it's true!

I was expecting to loose 1-2 lbs a week on my dieting journey as this is a healthy loss so was almost concerned at my loss this week but I can put it down to two things:

• New Job
• Jazzercise

I have started my new job (whoop), working in a very busy environment and being on my feet 4 to 5 hours at a time. It can be quite tiring but makes the shift go quickly. For the past few months I've been used to getting up leisurely and pottering around the house, (a right little lady of leisure) so I think my body has had a slight shock to the system with early starts and go go go for the enitre work shift!

Jazzercise.. I bloody love this class. Like, so much! The instructor has changed up the routines again this month which happens every month but this time I fee like I'm really working my butt off. I've upped my weights, only to 2 . 3 g but it really makes a difference and the exercises we're doing I can really feel working muscles I didn't even know existed! This is definitely a major weight loss culprit this week and I love it! Cant even explain, just.. gah! Amazing :-)

Now onto my weekly top tip for weight loss, this week being a foodie thing!

Smoothies!

If like me you're not a morning fan and the thought of breakfast first thing makes you want to hurl- have no fear! Smoothies are here! These are my go-to breakfast choice as I usually don't get hungry until mid-morning which is when I will now eat breakfast. Smoothies are seriously filling and keep me going for hours, sometimes even til lunchtime! They're also a great way of getting some of your five a day into your system first thing. I tend to choose two different types of fruit to use which leaves me three more fruit and veg portions to tackle throughout the rest of the day. 

My favourite combination at the moment is bananas and peaches. I use tinned peaches (draining off the juice) which are great to use as they won't perish like fresh fruit. I also make my own Greek yoghurt (I'm so cool) which is low in fat and helps to mush everything together in the blender. I've invested in a smoothie maker but have used a hand blender in the past which is perfectly adequate and less bulky if you don't fancy a smoothie maker.

The great thing with smoothies is you can mix up your flavours! When it's strawberry season I can't beat strawberry and banana flavour. I'm also a fan of blueberries, kiwis and guavas in smoothies. Anything that'll blend and tastes good- chuck it in!

So that's my weigh in and weight loss tip for the week. Let me know your tips and tricks!

Kat

xxx

Wedding edition: DIY Rustic Wedding Invites

Aaah hello there lovely people! Apologies for the MIA last week. Our internet was down from Wednesday hence the non existent posting. I've had major internet withdrawal symptoms so without furthur ado, here's my latest post: DIY Rustic Wedding Invites!

WARNING: Photo heavy content!!

So for any long-term readers of my blog you will know that my wedding is this July and coming around very very quickly. Being a crafter at heart I couldn’t bare the idea of manufactured wedding invites or worse- someone else hand making them for me! I’d researched various ideas but finally settled with these.

I wanted to keep with the rustic theme as detailed in our wedding and our save the dates I made (see blog post here) so came up with this simple and effective design. I think the brown card gives the rustic bohemian feel with the paper doilies giving a pretty “lace” effect to the invites.  Anyway onto the making!

You will need:

• Card with printed invitation detail
• Scissors
• Double sided sticky tape
• Paper doilies
• Ribbon

Step 1

Take your card of choice and place in the centre of your doily.

Make two folds either side of the card so that the doily folds and meets in the centre of your card.

Note: When choosing your size card, ensure that the doilies you choose are twice the width to ensure they meet in the middle of your card.

Step 2

Using double sided sticky tape, apply pieces to each corner of the centre section of the doily. 

Next place your card in the centre and smooth down over the doily to secure.

Trim any excess edges off of the doily if necessary.

Step 3

Next take a length of ribbon. I didn't measure an exact length, just enough to go around the entire width of the card and enough excess to tie a bow. 

Take a small piece of double sided sticky tape and place on the back on the card in the centre.

Secure the centre of the ribbon to the sticky tape.

Step 4

Turn the invitation over and cut another two small pieces of double sided sticky tape. 

Place at the edges of the doily folds and secure ribbon over the top.

Step 5

Finally, tie the ends of the ribbon into a bow in the centre of the invitation. Cut off any excess ribbon as required.

And voila! You have a rustic wedding invitation. It's super easy but they look so cute!

As you can see below I have made many many many invitations, 120 to be precise! The great thing is they were so simple which meant I could get them made in a reasonable time frame to send to guests.

I also made matching RSVP cards using a template I made on a word document and simple mounted them onto brown card to fit in the mini envelopes- how cute!?

I hope you enjoyed this post. Please let me know if you decide to make these yourself! Much cheaper more fun and also more personal than having manufactured wedding invites. Stay tuned for wedding place cards and wedding favours in the future on my blog!

UPDATE 23^rd March 2015: I am extremely chuffed that so many of you love this template and I have received increasing requests for the template I created in Word. Due to the number of requests I am happy to continue sharing the template but I am asking for a small fee of £2 to cover my time which can be paid via Paypal. If you would like the Word template I created, please leave a message in the comments below or email me at laydey_katabella@hotmail.co.uk

I also have templates for the following:

-      Rustic Save the Dates

-      Thank you cards

-      RSVP Cards

Each template is £2 each or to purchase the entire package (including extra images) it’s £6.

Please note: My ‘DIY guide and template’ are for individual, private use and not to be used for distribution or resale. Many thanks

Don't forget to check out the video to see me making these too!

My other wedding Videos:

DIY Rustic Bohemian Save The Dates: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0bm-yLCe6A&index=3&list=PLynVz0sWjU8wqwN-gi46760T0e1FagQ5J

DIY Rustic Bohemian Thank You Cards: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZH9oQ5TBHw&list=PLynVz0sWjU8wqwN-gi46760T0e1FagQ5J&index=3

DIY Rustic Bohmeian Wedding Place Cards: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bR6cCDZXPA&index=4&list=PLynVz0sWjU8wqwN-gi46760T0e1FagQ5J

Kat

xxx