Organise Your Life

  Hello everybody!
  This week's blog post is something very different to anything I've ever done before so I hope you enjoy it! I'm doing an organisational post! For those of you who are unorganised I feel this may help you. I will be showing you three ways I organise my life! This blog post is inspired by a new app I downloaded recently that I am now obsessed with! If you want to know how I organise my life, carry on reading!  

   What needs organising?
 ▪️ Birthdays
 ▪️ Holidays
 ▪️ Appointments
 ▪️ Tests
 ▪️ Days Out
 ▪️ Sleepovers  

  How to do it?
 ▪️ Birthdays: I record all important birthdays at the beginning of the year to make sure I don't forget!
 ▪️ Holidays: I make the arrangements with my parents, jot it down and count down the days!
 ▪️ Appointments: Any days I have an appointment at a doctors or dentist I make sure to track!
 ▪️ Tests: Tests are very important to jot down, so you can be well prepared!
 ▪️ Days out: Shopping trips, family events and special occasions must not be double booked!
 ▪️ Sleepovers: These are fun to plan and having on a calendar, diary, or app helps with the details!      

  What do I use?
 ▪️ Calendars - Sugg Life Rewind Calendar 2017
 ▪️ Diaries- Deer Diary 2017 by Portico Designs
 ▪️ Apps- Vantage Calendar

   Pros & Cons
 ▪️ Calendars: Pros- Monthly view at a glance. Family friendly.  Cons- You can't carry around. You can only check it at home.
 ▪️ Diaries: Pros- Portable, instant access. Yearly Cost.  Cons- Limited writing space.
 ▪️ Apps: Pros- Customisation. Free or one off purchase.   Cons- If no battery on device, no accessibility.  

     

  That's all for this week's blog post! I hope you enjoyed getting organised with me! I think that time organisation is very important and also exciting when you are counting down to a big event. I got the app (Vantage) for free, this is because it is the free app of the week on the App Store. Love you all!   Byyeee!!!!      

Monthly Favourites

  Hello everybody!  
  This week's blog post is usually one of my most common themes, however last month I skipped it! So I'm glad to be back doing 'monthly favourites' today because I do have some great things to share with you! I won't delay this post any longer so let's get on with my monthly favourites...

 ▪️ Debenhams "Dream big & Shine bright" hanging decoration
 ▪️ Debenhams Sea foam green with gold polka dots jewellery box
 ▪️ Benefit Watts Up soft focus highlighter for face
 ▪️ Seventeen Easy On The Eye Birthday Suit eye palette
 ▪️ Zoella Beauty Snap Fizz Relax Bath fizzers
 ▪️ Hot water bottles for chilly nights
 ▪️ Tap Tap Fish app game
 ▪️ Paperchase rose gold HB pencils 

     

  That's all for this week! I hope you enjoyed reading what I've been loving this month! I'd really recommend trying the game Tap Tap Fish - it's incredible! I will see you next week for another blog post! Love you all!
  Byyeee!!!!    

February Playlist + Musical.lys

Hello everybody!
This week's blog post, as you can see by the title, is a "playlist and musical.ly compilation" I know I mention this in every blog with this theme, but, if you don't know what Musical.ly is, it is basically an app used for lip-syncing. You have a large variety of songs that you can lip-sync to and post them for all your friends to see.

 For this months post I am lip-syncing to the most popular songs on the app so here is the link which leads to the musical.ly on my YouTube channel:

 https://youtu.be/33nd8bWwQMw

 Now I move onto the playlist, I usually do my playlist on a website called Podsnack, but now I use Spotify which most of you will know. My Spotify username is @ISayBell.Blog if you want to follow me! The songs on the playlist are the songs that are in the video, but you can see the full versions! So... the songs that are on my playlist are:
 ▪️ Shape of You by Ed Sheeran
 ▪️ Kill Em With Kindness by Selena Gomez
 ▪️ Rockabye by Clean Bandit (feat. Sean Paul & Anne Marie)

 Here is the link for that:

https://open.spotify.com/user/isaybell.blog/playlist/4dTu9Rrj1tQIXcuKLoV2fV 

 

 That's all for this weeks blog post! I hope you enjoyed these amazing tunes! I know you love these blog posts and I do too so I was glad to do one again! If you have any song recommendations for next time leave them in the comments below! See you next week for another blog post! Love you all!   Byyeee!!!!

The Ultimate Valentines Cake

  Hello everybody!

  This weeks blog is a Valentine's bake! Since it is nearly Valentine's Day I thought I'd do a lovely bake for this special day! I call it the "Ultimate Valentines Cake" because it really is spectacular! It is a red velvet sponge with ... love and kisses decorations! If you want to find out how to bake this, carry on reading...

    

Serves: 12-15
Prep time: 10 minutes to prep the cake, 20 minutes to decorate
Cook time: 30-35 minutes   

  Ingredients:
 Betty Crocker Red Velvet cake mix
 Betty Crocker Vanilla Buttercream Style Icing
 4 packs White chocolate fingers
 Heart shape Haribo sweets (I picked mine out of 2 large packets of Haribo Starmix)
 Gummy lip sweets
 105ml vegetable oil (7 tbsp)
 200ml water
 3 medium free range eggs
 1 tub of Betty Crocker Rich Cream Cheese Style or Vanilla Icing
 1 large heart shaped baking pan or 2 x 8" well-greased cake tins or 2 x regular muffin trays & cupcake cases    

Method:   
The cake:
 1. Mix the eggs, oil, water and cake mix gently together and whisk (by hand or electric mixer) for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy.
 2. Pour the cake mixture evenly into your greased heart shape cake tin.
 3. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30-35 minutes or until a rounded knife inserted into centre of the cake comes out clean. Then cool on a wire rack.  

The buttercream:
 1. Pop the top - it's ready to use! Make sure it's at room temperature for the perfect finish.
 2. Stir the Icing with a rounded knife.
 3. Spread or pipe onto your cooled Betty Crocker cake or cupcakes for an instant beautifying treatment.     

Decorating:
 1. Cut the white chocolate fingers to a length slightly higher than the height of the cake and stick them around the edge of the cake.
 2. Randomly place the heart shaped Haribo sweets and the gummy lip sweets on the top of the cake.

    

That's all for this week's blog! Even if you don't celebrate Valentine's Day I still think it is a lovely cake to make! I was so happy with the final product! If you do celebrate Valentines I hope you have a wonderful and loving day! Love you all! <3
   Byyeee!!!!

This or That Tag

  Hello everybody!
  This week's blog is a tag! I did a tag in March (The TMI Tag), but for this one, I'm doing the 'This or That Tag'. If you don't know what it means, it's quite similar to 'would you rather'; you have two options and you have to make a choice. If you still don't understand, you soon will!  

   Questions:

  Makeup:
  Blush or bronzer - Blush
  Lip gloss or lipstick - Lipstick
  Eye liner or mascara - Mascara
  Foundation or concealer - Concealer
  Neutral or colour eye shadow - Neutral
  Pressed or loose eye shadows - Pressed
  Brushes or sponges - Brushes  

  Nails: 
  OPI or china glaze - OPI
  Long or short - Short
  Acrylic or natural - Natural
  Brights or darks - Brights
  Flower or no flower - No flower  

  Body: 
  Perfume or body mist - Perfume
  Lotion or body butter - Lotion
  Body wash or soap - Body Wash
  Lush or other bath company - Other bath company (Zoella Beauty)  

  Fashion: 
  Jeans or sweat pants - Jeans (Depends on the day, but generally jeans)
  Long sleeve or short - Short
  Dresses or skirts - Dresses
  Stripes or plaid - Stripes (Although, lately I have been wearing plaid)
  Flip flops or sandals - Flip Flops
  Scarves or hats - Scarves
  Studs or dangly earrings - Studs
  Necklaces or bracelets - Necklaces 
  Heels or flats - Flats
  Cowboy boots or riding boots - Riding Boots
  Jacket or hoodie - Hoodie  

  Hair:
  Curly or straight - Straight
  Bun or ponytail - Ponytail
  Bobby pins or butterfly clips - Bobby Pins
  Hair spray or gel - Hair spray (I barely use either)
  Long or short - Long (I'm considering cutting my hair into a long bob though)
  Light or dark - Dark
  Side sweep bangs or full bangs - Side sweep bangs
  Up or down - Down (I wear both a lot)  

  Random: 
  Rain or shine - Shine
  Summer or winter - Summer
  Autumn or spring - Spring (It's a hint of summer!)
  Chocolate or vanilla - Vanilla     

    

  That's all for this week's blog! I hope you enjoyed and perhaps made your choices  too! Let me know if you would like me to do any other tags since I really enjoy them! I will see you next week for another blog post! Love you all!
   Byyeee!!!!   

Sing | Movie Review

  Hello Everybody!
  This week I'm doing another movie review. Today I watched a great movie called Sing in 3D which made it even better! So, as it was an amazing movie I thought you might like to hear all about it! So let's get on with the review...

  

   Film: Sing  
   Starring: Scarlett Johansson (Ash), Taron Egerton (Johnny), Matthew McConaughey (Buster Moon), Reese Witherspoon (Rosita), Seth MacFarlane (Mike), Garth Jennings (Miss Crawly), Jennifer Hudson (Young Nana Noodleman),  John C. Reilly (Eddie), Nick Offerman (Norman), Jennifer Saunders (Miss Nana Noodleman), Peter Serafinowicz, Rhea Perlman, Laraine Newman, Bill Farmer
   Director: Garth Jennings   
   U.K. Release date: 27 January 2017 
   Rating: U   
   Genre: Animation, comedy, drama   
   Runtime: 1h 50min  

  Storyline: Dapper Koala Buster Moon presides over a once-grand theater that has fallen on hard times. An eternal optimist, and a bit of a scoundrel, he loves his theater above all and will do anything to preserve it. Facing the crumbling of his life's ambition, he takes one final chance to restore his fading jewel to its former glory by producing the world's greatest singing competition. Five contestants emerge: a mouse, a timid elephant, a pig, a gorilla and a punk-rock porcupine.

   My Star Rating: 4 stars out of 5

    Favourite character: Johnny - He's an amazing singer and he's family oriented
    Unlikeable character: The gang of bears - they were very mean to Mike
    Memorable moment: When Johnny's dad met him backstage
    Favourite songs: Hallelujah by Tori Kelly (Meena)                          
                                Shake It Off by Nick Kroll (Gunter) & Reese Witherspoon (Rosita)
                                 I'm Still Standing by Taron Egerton (Johnny)          

        

That's all for this week! I hope you enjoyed! I love doing these blog posts because they might help you and they're fun for me to read back and reminisce on all the amazing movies I've watched! Let me know what your favourite movie is in the comments below! See you next week! Love you all!
 Byyeee!!!!                                    

Chocolate and Marshmallow Cookies

  Hello everybody!
  This week's blog is a baking post! As you probably know already, I absolutely love baking because I find it fun to do and scrummy to eat! Today I baked... Chocolate and marshmallow cookies and they taste incredible! If you want to learn how to make these tasty cookies, carry on reading!

      

   Makes: 18-20
   Prep time: 20 mins
   Cook time: 12 mins  

  Ingredients:   
200g Softened Butter   
300g Soft Brown Sugar   
2tsp Vanilla Extract   
2 Eggs   
80g Cocoa Powder
1tsp Baking Powder  
300g Self Raising Flour
200g Chocolate Chips
100g Marshmallows   

  Method:   
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or gas mark 4.
2. Mix butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy.
3. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract then mix together until combined.
4. Using a separate bowl, sift the flour and cocoa powder together and add in baking powder.
5. Add the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder to the mixture and mix until combined.
6. Fold in the chocolate chips a bit at a time and then mix in the marshmallows.  
7. Using a baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper, use a tablespoon to spoon the mixture onto the tray, 1 tablespoon per cookie should be enough. Remember to leave enough space between the cookie mixture to allow them to spread.
8. Place the baking tray in the oven for 6 minutes and then turn the cookies around and place them back in for 6 minutes so that they are evenly baked.
9. After the 12 minutes of baking time is over, leave the baking tray for 5 minutes to cool before transferring the cookies onto a cooling rack (be careful as they could break) to allow them to cool down completely, this should take between 10 and 20 minutes.   
10. Enjoy the delicious cookies!

         

   That's all for this week's blog! I hope you enjoyed! If you make these please tag me on photos on Instagram, @ISayBell_blog I would love to see how your cookies turned out! I will see you next week for another blog post! Love you all!
    Byyeee!!!!