Lady Bug Says ... The Post Christmas Post!

Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and are looking forward to New Year!

My Christmas Day was spent at my in laws and my Mum and Sister got to come too :) Anyone else find that once your in a long term relationship where to spend Christmas becomes so much more difficult?!

Luckily our families get on so it worked out well. The day was filled with lots of food, Christmas films, giving and receiving of gifts, playing on the Wii, more food, mulled wine and some of the dreaded Christmas lurgy!

I was pretty gutted to only be able to eat maybe a quarter of my Christmas dinner! But I am having a 2nd Christmas with my Dad and step family on Sunday so I am planning on fully indulging on dinner then!

I thought I would share with you some of the gifts I received for Christmas. I know some people hate these kind of posts, so sorry if this isn't your cup of tea! I personally love seeing what everyone got!

Key necklace from Temporary Secretary

Lots of Lush goodies! Snow Fairy gift set, 2x Ma Bar, 2x Comforter, Tisty Toasty & Avobath

Electric salt & pepper mills(loved these ever since seeing them on Come Dine With Me!), Jamie Oliver slate cheeseboard, hot chocolate gift set & winter recipes cookbook

Sewing basket, obligatory Hello Kitty goodies & cupcake socks

Heart print Filofax(I will become more organised this year!) Glee CD, Wild & Wolf purse

Sophie Kinsella books!

Hope you all have some great plans for New Years Eve. I think the Mr and I are just planning a quiet one, it's our 3 year anniversary on New Years Day so it will be nice to relax!

Lady Bug Says ... On The 12th Day Of Christmas

Just wanted to squeeze a little blog post in before the big day!

A little photo of my Christmas nails(sorry for the lack of editing, Picnik is not my friend tonight!)

Wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas! Hope you all have a fantastic day!

Lady Bug Says ... On The 11th Day Of Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve!

I am finally starting to feel Christmassy! All the presents are wrapped under the tree and tonight the Mr and I will be indulging in Domino's pizza and Christmas films(Love Actually and Four Christmas's)

Today I have baked presents for my grandparents, gingernuts and cranberry and white chocolate cookies!

The fantastic online sale has started at Next, skip on over their to grab yourself some bargains!

Lady Bug Says ... On The 10th Day Of Christmas

Evening Ladies

Sorry but it's just going to be another quick post tonight. The migraine from last week seems to have returned :( If anyone has any magical migraine/headache remedies then please share them with me!

Today Next are giving away 25 £100 gift vouchers, perfect for the January sales!

Click on the icon to enter!

Lady Bug Says ... On The 9th Day Of Christmas

Evening Lovelies.

I made it into work today! Well I got a lift, the Mr does not trust me to drive in the snow! Though I am not to fond of the idea of driving in it either to be honest! I'm a bit gutted to be missing out on meeting up with all my friends that are back from university tomorrow night, hopefully I can catch up with them over Christmas!

I thought I would share with you my Christmas wish list. If any of these items appear under the tree I would have a super big smile on my face!

Next

Next

Wild & Wolf

Lush

Temporary Secretary

Miso @ Republic

Today Next are giving away some swanky TVs, perfect for trashy TV watching on a hungover Sunday!

Click on the icon below to enter!

Lady Bug Says ... On The 8th Day Of Christmas

Evening Ladies!

Now you Northern lovelies are probably going to let out a moan of 'you call that snow!' but to us 'Southern Fairies' the merest sprinkling of snow gets us excited. So I was pretty happy when I pulled up the velux blind this morning to be greeted by a big old load of snow!

Though when it sunk in that the Mr would still be going to work, and I would be stuck at home on my lonesome all day I was slightly less pleased. Combine that with the fact that I was running to the front door every time I heard what possibly sounded like a car sliding towards our cars, it wasn't the greatest of days!

I ventured out into the garden briefly, before retreating back to the warm! 8 inch's of snow!

The Mr got sent home from work early so I finally had a snow buddy to play with! We built a pretty impressive snowman! Complete with salad spoon hands!

Snow angels!

Hope you all had fun in the snow(if you had some!) I am hoping to be able to make it to work tomorrow, I may face a small mutiny if I do not turn up and sort out everyone's wages!

Today Next are giving away a great sound a vision package! Perfect for the techy in your life!

Click on the icon below to enter!

Lady Bug Says ... On The 7th Day Of Christmas

Evening Ladies!

Well the migraine from the other day turned into a few days of headache/sickness hell! I am still feeling a bit rough but at least I am keeping food down and can face properly looking at the computer again!

Last week I decided it was about time to see what Eyeko is all about. They were running a great surprise party bag deal, £32.50 worth of items for £15. Plus a free Petite Polish with every order, seemed like a pretty good opportunity to give Eyeko a go!

So here is what I received.

Magic Bronzer Brush in Rio

London Lips in Shoreditch

Petite Polish

Cheeky Colour in My Coral Crush

Magic Mascara

Graffiti Eyeliner Pen in Purple

Not bad for £15! Let me know if you would like to see any swatches.

Today Next are giving away a £500 gift card! That could be a whole lot of January sale shopping for the lucky winner!

Click on the swan below to enter!

Lady Bug Says ... On The 6th Day Of Christmas

Evening ladies.

Sorry for the very short post tonight. I had planned something a little better but have got a beast of a migraine so that is on hold until tomorrow!

Today Next are giving away the opportunity to win a load of cookery prizes, something I personally would love!

Click on the swan below to enter!

Lady Bug Says ... On the 5th Day Of Christmas

I made red velvet cupcakes and they were damn tasty!

I used the Hummingbird Bakery recipe and definitely recommend that you give these a go!

Ingredients

60g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150g caster sugar
1 egg
10g cocoa powder
20ml red food colouring
½tsp vanilla extract
120ml buttermilk
150g plain flour
½tsp salt
½tsp bicarbonate of soda
1½tsp white wine vinegar

For the cream cheese frosting:
300g icing sugar, sifted
50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g cream cheese, cold

Method

1- Preheat oven to 170 degree C/325 degree F/gas mark 3

2-Cream together butter and sugar(seriously recommend using an electric whisk for this!) Once light and fluffy beat in the egg.

3- In a separate bowl mix together cocoa powder, vanilla essence and food colouring into a paste. Add to butter mixture and combine thoroughly.

4- Add half of the buttermilk and mix, then add half of the flour and mix until combined. Repeat with remaining buttermilk and flour.

5- Mix in salt, bicarbonate of soda and white wine vinegar. Mix everything well.

6- Spoon into muffin cases(makes around 12) and bake for 20-25 mins.

7-Whilst baking make the frosting. Beat butter and icing sugar together. Then add the cream cheese and whisk for a few minutes until fluffy. (I just topped with butter cream icing as I forgot to buy cream cheese!)

8- Once cakes are cool spread the frosting on top and finish with sprinkles/chocolate flakes/anything pretty that takes your fancy!

9- Enjoy!

Today Next are giving away His and Her pamper packs worth over £200, definitely something I could do with in the crazy run up to Christmas!

Click on the icon below to enter!

Lady Bug Says ... On The 4th Day Of Christmas

Evening Ladies!

Is anyone else finding it increasingly difficult to take decently lit outfit photos at the moment! It is dark when I leave for work and even darker when I get home! I am relying on the artificial light from my beloved chandelier(£10 Matalan bargain!) which casts some odd shadows, in my spare room(The Mr hates it and this is the only room it was allowed to go in!)

Today I wore a new dress that I picked up in H&M last weekend, I was supposed to be Christmas shopping but actually ended up spending more time and money getting things for myself! I still had birthday money burning a hole in my purse! It needed to be spent!

I was eyeing this dress up a month or so ago, but decided to give it a miss. So when I saw that it was marked down to £7 I knew it needed to be mine! Taupe and ruffles, two of my favourite things!

Boots(another of my favourite things), Birthday present from the Mr, Leggings, H&M £7, Taupe dress, H&M £7, Cardigan, Primark £7, Belt(came with a dress), Primark

£7 seems to be the magic price, outfit total £21

I seem to keep forgetting jewellery recently! I really have to try getting up just a little earlier so I have time to put some on!

Today on the Next site you can win £255 worth of bed linen! That is a lot of silky sheets and gorgeous cushions!

Click on the 4 Calling Birds below to enter!

Lady Bug Says ... On The 3rd Day Of Christmas

I bought myself a new handbag!

It was love at first sight when I spied this beauty hanging in the accessories section of H&M.

A number of things instantly attracted me...

- Leopard print, check!

- Tapestry, check!

- Alexa Mulberry similarities, check!

- Roomy enough for all my necessities(read rubbish I cart around!), check!

- 50% off tag, check!

It would of been rude not to take it home!

I have recently been putting a little thought into what my New Years resolution should be this year.I am determined to make one and actually stick to it!

I know what mine needs to be - to get fit!

The Mr finds it somewhat concerning that just running up the 2 flights of stairs in our house leaves me breathless! I will definitely be purchasing some trainers with my Christmas money, hopefully that will be the 1st step towards exercising!

I am also quite hoping to win today's Next giveaway, a great selection of gym accessories!

Click on today's icon to enter!

Lady Bug Says ... On The Second Day Of Christmas, I Gave You An Outfit Post!

Evening Lovelies!

I finally have my photo taking place back!! Well that is a slight exaggeration, I have a metre length of wall that is clear! To the left and right of me is a pile of Christmas boxes and other stuff that we are still to unpack!

Boots, birthday present from the Mr, Tights(2 pairs!) Primark £1 each, Body con skirt, H&M £3, Black vest, H&M £4, Sheer pussy bow blouse, Next Clearance £2, Cardigan, H&M £15

Outfit total - £26

I can't seem to make an ELF order recently without purchasing a nail varnish, and this beauty is the latest one to be added to my collection!

It goes from a very dark khaki/grey in some lights to a gunmetal grey with a hint of shimmer in others! Magic :)

Is it sad that I am kind of loving the fact that my blouse matches today's Next 2nd day of Christmas icon!

Today Next is giving away a fab prize of loads of gadgets! Perfect for the male in your life!

Now a little favour for all of you lovely people! As part of the Next 12 days of Christmas blogger challenge, they are offering prizes to the participating bloggers who generate traffic to their site, monitored by a blogger favourite, Google Analytics :)

So if you are checking out their fab daily giveaway(why wouldn't you?!) or going to a browse for that perfect Xmas gift to yourself then please go to the site by clicking on one of the 12 days icons on my blog!

Lady Bug Says ... Next 12 Days Of Christmas!

Evening Ladies!

I was a little disappointed with the amount of snow we had in Devon, definitely not enough to warrant a snow day!

I have been invited by Next to be one of their 12 days of Christmas bloggers :) They have designed some super cute icons to get us all in the festive mood and help count down to the big day itself!

So I thought I would kick my '1st day of Christmas' post off with my favourite party dresses from Next

Leather Embellished Shoulder Dress - £65

Lipsy Bustier Dress - £60

Velvet Diamond Burnout Dress - £55

Pleated Chiffon Dress - £45

Next are also currently running a Christmas giveaway, everyday up until the 22nd December they are giving away a different prize!

So hop on over and enter now, and maybe grab a party dress whilst you're there!

P.S. How cute is the partridge in the pear tree!!

Lady Bug Says ... My Attempt At Glitzy Nails!

Evening Ladies!

I was planning to write up lots of posts tonight for posting during the week, but as BT seem to be giving us the most appalling internet service at the moment I am doubting that I will have the patience to wait for the photos to upload. The Mr is currently on the phone having rather stern words with them! How they think they can fob off an IT engineer with their crap excuses I do not know! We are paying for up to 20 meg but we are currently getting 0.3 meg! Very frustrating!!

Anyways, as the internet is so shocking, I had a little time on my hands last night to have a little play with my new nail decorating kit I picked up in Primark the other day for £4

I have been wanting some tiny jewels and little sequiny things for a while, so this seemed like a pretty cheap way to give them a try! I think I will be giving the fake nails and questionable nails stickers a miss though!

And this is what I came up with!

The base is ELF Desert Haze, I used the Konad M57 plate and Barry M Mushroom for the stripes and then popped on a few pink glitzy jewels on my ring finger nail.

Any Konad experts got any tips for how to do a topcoat without streaking the Konad stamping?!

Lady Bug Says ... My Designer Lust!

Ok, so I am by no means a designer girl!

But ever since first seeing these Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2010 adverts I have become more than a little obsessed!

I feel like I need to own every piece, even the ski wear!

As actually owning any of this is completely out of the question I am just going to have to try and get a few fairisle/sheer/knitted/tailored pieces in my wardrobe!

Images courtesy of http://www.millionlooks.com/outfits/dg-fall-winter-2010-2011-ad-campaign/