Wednesday, 3 December 2014

Blogmas Day Three: A Cosy Christmas Night In



Hey guys!

Today I thought i'd share some ideas for a cosy Christmas night in! There's nothing better when it's cold outside, the ground is all frosty and maybe even covered in snow, and you're cuddled up on the sofa in your pjs or comfy clothes with a blanket, the fire is burning, you've got christmas snacks, and a christmas film on your tv!


I'm a real child at heart, I love sitting down with a chocolate biscuit and a mug of milk, and so this photo just makes me want to have this little snack bar so bad!

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Setting up bean bags and having a projector or tv on the wall like this would make it so cosy! Everyone could get into their christmas PJs and snuggle up together to watch their favourite christmas films, all that's missing is christmas blankets. The tree is up, the lights and on and the fire is burning away, I wish I could be here right now!

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If there's just two of you, or you're on your own you could go one step further into the cosiness and build yourself a den to watch your films in and snuggle up with your hot chocolates. This one looks so cute, who doesn't love making dens?!

And of course, you need christmas snacks!

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You could set up a hot chocolate bar so you can put all different toppings on!

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You could even make Christmas pizzas to eat whilst you watch your films!

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How good does that christmas tree pizza look?! Think I might have to make one of these this year!

I love the idea of the whole family coming together to watch Christmas films and spend time together, you could even turn it into a Christmas Eve tradition! In your Christmas Eve box you could all get new Christmas PJs, a blanket, some chocolates and a new Christmas film. Sounds like the perfect night to me!

Do you like to have cosy nights in during december, or do you prefer to go out and see the lights?

Love Amylou x

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Tuesday, 2 December 2014

Blogmas Day Two: Christmas Nail Art



Hey guys!

I love nail art, especially around christmas time, there are so many different designs to take inspiration from, and they look so good!

Here are a few of my favourites i've come across on Pinterest:

I love how beautiful this is, simple just red and white and so pretty! 

This one is a bit more complicated, and so cute! The snowman is adorable, and I absolutely love that colour blue. I'll definitely be trying this one, though I can pretty much guarantee it won't look as good as this!

This one is so simple and I love it! So christmassy, and is a lot easier than the others, only having to redo one nail if it doesn't look quite right!

How cute are these glittery lights?! I love designs that just build over a french manicure, so pretty! Great for those who just want a little bit extra without painting all of their nails, subtle but gorgeous.

This is the most complicated one, and my favourite of all of them! I wish I was creative enough to be able to do this! One day! haha :)

Which of these is your favourite? Do you use nail art at christmas time?

Love Amylou x

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Monday, 1 December 2014

Blogmas Day One: 24 Christmas Activities for Kids


Hey guys!

So it's officially the first of December and I thought i'd give Blogmas a go! (Basically posting everyday in December) I don't know how long i'll manage to keep it up, but i'm going to give it a good go! :)

I thought i'd start off with some activities that are suitable to do with kids, christmas is a family time after-all! As it's colder, most of the ideas are for indoor activities and you might need to help set-up or do the activities with younger children, but that's all part of the fun!

There are 24 ideas, enough for each day until christmas!


1. Making Christmas Cards


2. Bake and Decorate a Gingerbread House/Cookies

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3. Write Letters to Santa

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4. Build a Snowman
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5. Make Christmas Tags
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6. Christmas Face Painting/Dress Up
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7. Visit Santa's Grotto
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8. Make Christmas Tree Decorations
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9. Bake and Decorate Christmas Cake Pops
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10. Make Christmas Wreaths
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11. A Christmas Treasure Hunt!
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12. Make Pinecone Christmas Trees
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13. Make Chocolate Crispy Buns/Wreaths

14. Make a Felt Christmas Tree for Younger Children to Decorate
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15. Christmas Movie Night!
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Personally, my favourite is Elf, so i'd be watching that everytime! Get some blankets together and have a cosy night in!

16. Make Christmas Hats
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17. Decorate the Tree!
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18. Track Santa!

If you didn't know about this, there are a few websites you can use to see where in the world santa is! I used to love looking at it on christmas eve to see where santa was and it got me so excited before I went to bed as a kid! (and now if i'm being completely honest haha) I always used NORAD but it looks like google maps does their own version too! Definitely something exciting to do with those with a lot of christmas spirit! :)

19. Make Christmas Games
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20. Go See the Christmas Lights/Trees
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21. Make Christmas Crackers
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22. Visit a Christmas Market
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23. Decorate the Table/Make Placecards
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24. Bake Mince Pies for Santa!
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 If you're still with me after me bombarding you with collages, thank you! I promise the rest of my blogmas posts won't have quite so many, there's just so much inspiration! haha. Hope you find some of the ideas useful! :)



Let me know if you do any of them! :)

Love Amylou x



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Sunday, 23 November 2014

Homemade Advent Calendars

Hey guys!

As it's nearly December everyone is getting their advent calendars sorted whether that be a chocolate one, a beauty one, a nativity scene one or even a toy based one, and so I thought it would be nice to share some ideas about homemade calendars :)

I heard the cutest story the other day about a guy who made his girlfriend an advent calendar of all her favourite things, and then on day 25 she opened her little box and there was an engagement ring inside. Is that not the cutest thing ever? Melted my little romantic heart.

There are so many different ways you can make an advent calendar:

You could buy the little houses with 24 doors like this one from Next:



These are so cute and you can fill each door with something you love. The only issue with these is it that the boxes are quite small, so you'd have to think really hard about what you could fit inside! But if you want to fill them with little chocolates or something like that, they are perfect! 

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I love the idea of getting 24 little presents and wrapping one up for each day, though they can get quite pricey! I had a friend in high school whose grandparents would make her one of these each year and they would wrap up jumpers, shoes, make-up, chocolate, everything, it looked so good! You could buy different beauty products, or your favourite sweets or anything you wanted!

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I was inspired to find a photo of this after my friend Siobhan had her birthday a few weeks ago. She used to live with her boyfriend but they had to move apart for uni and now they only get to see each other at weekends, so for her birthday he got a jar and wrapped up 52 date ideas, one for each weekend until her next birthday. Is that not the cutest thing?! 

You could do something similar for an advent calendar, whether it be for a partner, a child or a friend. You could do so much with it! Something to do or somewhere to go each day until christmas, if you love lego it could be a challenge to build something every day until christmas, if you love photography it could be a challenge to take a photo of something everyday until christmas, for beauty it could be to try a different look each day, so many options! Such a good idea, and it can be as easy or as hard or as fun as you like!

What do you think, would you want to use one of these or would you buy an advent calendar ready made? (I've got a lego one this year, and I could not be more excited haha)

Love Amylou x

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Sunday, 16 November 2014

Christmas Jumpers

Hey guys!

So it's the middle of November (ish) and if you haven't already found your christmas jumpers for this year, there are still so many to choose from! I've got 2 so far this year and I can't wait to wear them. I'll be wearing mine from december first all the way until new year no doubt!

As you can never have too many I thought i'd have a little look around and then show you some of my favourites, maybe it will even inspire you to go and look at them! :) All links will be under the photos!

If you're looking for understated then I think this is a gorgeous one, it's from Marks and Spencers and just has little bows with bells on (the bells aren't loud as I think they're plastic) and it's just really cute!

Personally, I think christmas jumpers should be VERY christmassy. I'm not a fan of subtle christmas jumpers, purely because I just think bright, or garish jumpers just bring out more smiles, and around christmas you should make as many people smile or feel christmassy as possible, because as well as being a wonderful time of year, it's also a very sad and lonely time of year for a lot of people, so spread that christmas cheer!


I love this jumper, I've actually saved it on Boohoo.com ready for when I next get paid, it's a lot more christmassy than the last, but it's not too much. Plus long jumpers are so much cosier!

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Now this is definitely my kind of christmas jumper. I want this one too! Also from Boohoo, there is no mistaking that this is indeed a christmas jumper and is perfect if you're feeling as festive as I do in December! It has that classic christmas pattern without looking cheap or tacky, and it's another slightly longer jumper. Perfect!


I actually bought this jumper to wear on Christmas eve this year. My family are heading off to a pub in the village this year on Christmas eve to celebrate with our neighbours and just enjoy being in the christmas spirit! This jumper is from Next and so fluffy and cosy! I got swept up by their whole christmas collection and ended up getting christmas pudding mittens and a hat too! Which are so cute i'll have to link those for you too!
How adorable, so cosy and the hat is actually wool on the outside but fleece on the inside so it keeps you so warm!

This one is from Joe Browns at Debenhams and is a little less of a crazy pattern but still very christmassy, and those snowmen are just adorable.

Finally, if you're buying for children, John Lewis has some excellent christmas jumpers, and I couldn't pick my favourite so I'll leave a link HERE to all of their christmas jumpers and put a few pics of a couple below!
I wish they came in my size!!

I was shopping for some childrens and toddlers clothes for christmas presents yesterday, and there are so many shops with adorable outfits to dress your babies/toddlers up like santa or a snowman or elves and honestly I just wanted to buy them all. Adorable. 

So that's it! There are obviously so many more shops to get jumpers, it was so difficult to find them last year but this year they seem to be everywhere! I love it!

And as if you needed another reason to buy a christmas jumper, the 12th December is Christmas Jumper Day in the UK in aid of Save The Children

So you get to wear your christmas jumpers to work, and help a good cause :) link here if you want to find out more :)

Do you have a christmas jumper already? Do you even get one? Where do you like to get them from?

Love Amylou x

*Disclaimer, I wasn't asked to promote Christmas Jumper Day, I just think it's a really good idea

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