Maybe I should start blogging again...

I've been having thoughts lately that I think I was a bit premature in giving up blogging. I've had a really hard time this year completing my teacher training and blogging was something I decided to 'give up' as I wanted to focus solely on my teaching. I even gave up having driving lessons! However, now I'm close to completing my training year, I've toyed with the idea of coming back! Not sure how yet, or when but watch this space! 😊

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Hey everyone! I thought it about time that I did another recipe post, and what better recipe to do than a classic chocolate chip one! Now when I say these are the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever made, they really are. That's not down to my baking either, its all in the recipe! So without further ado, here it is!

Recipe: (from Be-Ro) Here is a link to their website
Yield: 12-18 depending on spoonfuls.

• 150g (5oz) Self Raising Flour
• 25g (1oz) Cocoa powder
• 110g (4oz) Butter or Margarine
• 75g (3oz) Soft dark brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp golden syrup
• 110g (4oz) Chocolate chips
• 2 Tbsp Milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160oc (fan), 180oc (conventional), 4 (Gas).
2. Grease 2 baking trays.
3. Sift the flour and Cocoa together.
4. Cream the fat and sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Stir in the syrup, flour, cocoa, chocolate chips and milk - mix well.
6. Place spoonfuls of the mixture on the prepared trays, flatten slightly and bake for 15-20 mins.
7. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes, then place cookies on a cooling rack to cool.

 

I found even though it said 15-20 mins, in my fan oven it took about 10 mins usually, also I wouldn't flatten too much before putting them in the oven as they will become too thin and crispy (unless you like it that way, then go ahead!). I also decided I didn't want to include the cocoa in mine so I just left it out, I suppose you could have added an extra oz of flour but I didn't bother.

I really hope you enjoy these cookies as much as I do! And don't forget serve with a glass of milk!

Charlotte x

My new brogues!

Good morning! Yes this is actually a post centred all around my new brogues! They are beautiful! I feel like I could just stare at them for ages, yep I'm still talking about shoes...

I had been wanting some shoes like these for a while and decided to skip the cheaper lookalikes and went for some (hopefully) long lasting clarkes brogues. They are so well made and designed to be really comfortable. The padding is amazing, it almost feels like slippers! And I'll be honest I love the little shoe heel they have, because it makes that really satisfying clipclop sound when I walk. You can get them from here. I'm thinking of acquiring some more of their beautiful designs, as they come in a range of colours and slightly altered designs, (perfect for a shoe fanatic like me!).  Anyway enough chatter from me, here are a few images, enjoy!

And so, here we come to the crux of the post the quick shoe review!

Style: Well these shoes are so versatile! I've worn them with so many different outfits already, I should really upload some pics in a new post about my favourite outfits I have centred around my brogues #inspiration.  I've worn these with a dress to get a cute girly look. I've worn them with green jeans, a striped top and blazer for a preppy look, and possibly my favourite outfit is the one I wore for work, the brogues, cropped patterned grey trousers, an oversized blue shirt and white jumper, this gave the shoes a really good tomboy style. If your wanting to make an impact with your style, these can do that, but they can also be toned down if your  not looking to do that, but still love the shoes.

Durability/wearability: These shoes are surprisingly durable, they haven't worn down and I haven't even needed to do a bit of shoe polishing yet! I found it has taken a while to get them broken into, but now they have they don't appear shabby like some shoes tend to go. If anything they just look like they have more character.

Comfort: As I have already mentioned, these shoes are very comfortable. Especially for people like me who tend to pull the padding of their feet. I have noticed though that if I wear these with thin socks they rub a bit, however if I wear no socks or thick socks they don't so that's not particularly an issue!

Compliments: These shoes get so many compliments from people I decided to add this as a new quick shoe review category. Even the students in the school I work at think they look great!

I hope this review may have helped anyone looking to get some women's brogues, thanks for reading!

Charlotte x

NB: All of these opinions are my own.

The improved cosmetic bag

As some people may know from reading yesterdays blog post, I made my first sewing machine project! A tiny cosmetic bag! (which I actually use to carry earphones,  but shhhhh...) you can find that post here. Well in that post I promised another about an improved bag (which will actually serve its purpose!) and here it is!

Basically the bag is just bigger and made with better fabrics, with slight improvements on stiches, it is still very much a beginners efforts though!

I chose the dog pattern fabric because it reminded me of the Radley pattern, so it made it look a bit more upmarket! ;) maybe... probably not! haha! but oh well! the dogs look really cute and maybe someone will believe its a Radley one!

Thanks for reading
Charlotte x

My first sewing machine project!

As you may know I have a sewing machine now, so immediately I started trolling pinterest for inspiration and projects I could do. I decided I really need a little cosmetic bag to carry around in my new work bag (which has no inside pockets to hide things), so that's what my first project was!

This was the tutorial I used, it was fairly easy to follow the images and I even managed to resize it to suit a zipper I had recycled from an old pair of jeans (I'll put the measurements I used on a separate post at some point and how I resized it in case anyone wants to know).

Hilariously the part that I find takes the longest when making something using a sewing machine is the preparations e.g. the cutting out templates and then marking and cutting the fabric. The sewing part was the easiest and quickest part!

When I was sewing the bag I found the hardest part was the zipper as I don't have a zipper foot yet, which meant that the teeth on the zipper would push the foot away and subsequently cause my sewing line to go a bit wonky from time to time, however as I used thread that matches the bag, you can't really notice. Thankfully you can pick up whole sets of sewing machine foot attachments from amazon really cheap (and most of them fit a variety of sewing machines which is useful). I have a Toyota machine and these are the ones I'm thinking of getting.

The pattern I chose because, it was the best one out of the fabric I had at the time! I was a bit short on supplies! hence the recycling of the zipper too. However the fabric does look rather nice anyway, I would have chosen a different lining fabric, but that was from an old t-shirt that I wanted to use up.
The bag itself ended up being too small to hold much more than lipsticks and stuff so I now use it to hold the earphones I got for my birthday, and it does a splendid job!

I have managed to make an improved version of this one and I shall be sharing it soon on the blog so look out for it :)

Thanks for reading!
Charlotte x

I have a sewing machine!!!

Whoop! I finally have a sewing machine! After so much time waiting for the right moment to get one, and finding the right machine for me (basically one that isn't too expensive) I finally found one and it only cost me £20!

It was one of those moments where you hear about someone selling something you want/need from a friend of a friends... relatives friend. In this instance I found out from my partners Grandma that her friends cleaner was trying to sell her machine after upgrading to a computerised model. So I immediately jumped on the opportunity and called the lady.

She was so helpful, I had told her I had never used a sewing machine before and very kindly offered to show me the basics. Which turned out to be very useful and happened to save me a lot of time, as I would have been sat watching YouTube tutorials for hours before I could even think about using the machine!

I'm so excited to share all the projects I will be working on, and it will be such a great journey to take together as I'm a complete beginner with a sewing machine so it will be interesting to document my progress and for other beginners to come along for the ride!

Anyway... thanks for reading!

Charlotte x

A week in bath - Day 5

Hey guys! It feels like its been ages! And I still haven't finished my a week in Bath posts! This is because I've been having some technical difficulties with blogger, and it hasn't been letting me publish any of my posts! Thankfully now though this issue has been resolved and I can get back to posting on a regular basis! Plus I've got loads of content backed up now so I shouldn't be running out of blogging material anytime soon!

So this is the last of my A week in Bath instalments, I hope you enjoy, Stourhead for me was tied with the Roman Baths as my favourite place during the holiday! The views were amazing as you shall be able to see for yourself in the photographs. I took so many pictures it took me ages to decide which ones to post. I did manage to whittle them down and I hope you enjoy them!

So there you have it! this is the beautiful grounds of Stourhead, they are unbelievably beautiful and I would definitely recommend visiting! I'm not a fan of national trust houses... as I think I've already mentioned in one of my previous posts so I wont go into a rant! But this was great because I could go around the grounds and skip the house all together, the grounds themselves too a couple of hours if not more to do fully so it was definitely worth it!

Charlotte x