Secret Santa ideas

Have you got to do a secret santa and don't know what to buy them, well have no fear help is here!

Chocolate- everyone likes chocolate right?
Calendar
Slippers
festive/comedy mug
Christmas jumper
Electric Helicopter/car
Christmas tree decoration
Phone case
Portable charger- you charge it up and then if your phone starts to go out of battery just plug it into the           device and it charges it whilst your on the go
Candle
Bath set
Film

There you go, a few ideas if you are stuck. If you like my blog please follow me on bloglovin
http://www.bloglovin.com/lysette1996

Lysette :)

Winter nails

Here i just painted my nails in white and blue

Then using my nail decals (click link below to see my blog post on them) i printed snow flakes onto my white nail
http://lysette1996.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/nail-decals.html

Then using white nail varnish and a sponge i created a snow look on my thumb and one other nail. On the other two nails i used blue glitter

Hope you like my first set of christmas nails, keep an eye open for another post with another christmas nail theme. To do this you can follow my blog on bloglovin :)  http://www.bloglovin.com/lysette1996

Thanks for reading

Lysette :) 

Homesense and Tkmaxx Christmas haul

I may or may not have bought some more Christmas decorations but these ones are specifically from Homesense and Tkmaxx and are all around £15 and under so i thought i would share them with you :)

Gingerbread man Tree ornament TKmaxx £2.99

Penguin Homesense £5

Snowman ornament Homesense around £5

Small Rocking horse ornament Homesense £2.99

Robin/Bird toy ornament Homesense £4.99

Snowman nutcracker toy with 'days till Christmas' sign Homesense £9.99

Santa toy ornament Homesense around £10

Thanks for reading, i would love it if you follow my blog on bloglovin it would mean a lot to me

http://www.bloglovin.com/lysette1996

Lysette :) 

Make your own mince pies

Ingredients:

Approx. 4 ounces of salted butter

8 ounces of plain flower

Mincemeat (you can make your own but we used sainsbury's own)

Water 

Tools:

Rolling pin 

Mixing bowl

Tablespoon 

Two different size glasses one slightly bigger than the other

Cupcake tin 

Recipe:

(If your making your own pastry here are the steps if not ignore and go to the next section)

• Preheat oven to 180 or high 
• Put the flour into the mixing bowl and add a pinch of salt
• Then crumble the room temp butter into the flower and rub the butter into the flour with hands
• Whilst doing this lift the flour and butter up as it helps to make the pastry lighter

• When the butter is mixed into the flour add 2 tablespoons of water to the mixture and stir in.
• Whilst doing this try to press the mixture to the edge of the mixing bowl to help the ingredients bind together and start to get the pastry texture. 
• Add another table spoon of water and repeat the step before
• The mix should be starting to come together, then use you hands to try to combine the mixture

• If you feel like you need to add a tad more water then add a little bit at a time to test but the key to making pastry is to not add too much water as it can make the pastry hard but don't add to little as it will crumble and fall apart. 

• Once you are satisfied with the pastry and it has combined all together remove it from the bowl and rest it in the fridge for over 10 mins but you can keep it in there till your ready for the next step. 

• using butter or flower rub into the cupcake pan so that the pies don't stick when you want to take them out
• Sprinkle flour onto the surface your about roll on and section your pastry into two

• With the first section roll into out with a roller and damp hands (the damp hands help if the pastry is slightly dry)

• With your bigger glass cut out a circle with the top of the glass and place in your cupcake pan then repeat this to make as many as is in the cupcake pan and this will make the bottom of your mince pie. 

• Once you have cut them all out spoon some of your mincemeat mixture into the pie bottoms

• With the rest of the pastry your going to make the topper
• Roll out the pastry again with a rolling pin and damp hands and cut out circles again but with the smaller glass
• Cut out as many as you need and with water dab it onto the sides and place onto the pies to make them stick together

• Once all of the tops are on pierce the tops with a knife so that they don't explode and with a milk or egg mix wash onto the tops of the mince pies (this will make them golden brown)
• You can also sprinkle on some sugar if thats what you like 
• Now place them into the oven for approx. 20 mins or till they are cooked to your liking. 

Thanks for reading, i would love it if you follow my blog on bloglovinhttp://www.bloglovin.com/lysette1996

Lysette :) 

Make your own Christmas cards

This is one of my favourite things to do at the beginning of the christmas countdown as i think it's a nice personal thing to do for close family and friends. It is also incredibly easy to do so i thought i would share with you mine. First i bought some card, envelopes, acrylic white paint, sponge and stick on christmas decorations. All of these things together came to around £10. Here are the three easy steps:

-First i sponged some white acrylic paint onto my card to make it look like festive snow
-Next i used the stick on decorations to create a festive picture on the card (i used 3D ones)

-lastly write a message inside the card and send them of to your family and friends

Gift guide for Men

As soon as the Christmas season rolls round many of us find ourselves in the position of what the heck do we buy for the males in the family?! So i have decided to put together a gift guide on what gifts would be great for your type of guy :)

The traditional man:

Vintage shaving set- my brother got one of these a couple of years ago and absolutely loves it. It's one of those ones your grandad would have used before razors and i think for a traditional/ vintage lover kind of guy this would be a great present.

Clay pigeon shooting session- I recently saw this on the programme Made in Chelsea and thought this would be a great idea for a present for a male.

Wine tasting session- again my brother recently did this and really enjoyed himself so if you know of any budding wine connoisseurs this would be great for them

Vinyl Record player- for anyone looking for a music fanatic this could be a great present. I know that my dad and grandad have a lot of old vinyl that they can't play anymore and would get a lot of use out of one of these. Just as a note these are more on the expensive side so if your on a budget this may not be the option for you.

Car racing days- My brother told me about this one and i thought most males would love this. For this one you can drive expensive cars around a race track or hire out a car for the day. Knowing my dad and his obsession which James Bonds cars i bet he would be chuffed with this as a present.


The New man:

 Manicure/pedicure- as much as they don't want to admit it every man has a feminine side and i think that for a man that likes to be groomed this would be a prefer gift.

Massage- no one can resist a good massage

Aftershave- ahhh the trusty man perfume. I feel like this is the go to present for any female that doesn't have a clue what to get their man. Even if it is a bit of a last resort present many men now love their scents and would be pleased with getting this.


The Traveler: (great ideas for young men wanting to experience what the world has to offer)

Back pack- Every going traveling needs a good back pack and these are really easy to find as well

Hiking boots- depending on the type of travelling the male is doing these could come in handy

Journal- when my brother went travelling he took a journal with him and documented everyday so that if later on in life he wanted to remember a specific day of the trip he could look back and jog his memory of the amazing things he experienced.

Camcorder- another option to let them document their trip however this is more expensive and bigger to carry around

Sun glasses- every traveler needs a good pair of sunglasses


The Geek:

Ipad/Kindle/laptop ext- these are quite expensive objects so if your on a budget this isn't the one for you

Bag/case: this is a great gift that means they can store all of their expensive gadgets in a safe way

Remote control car/helicopter- this is one of the options I'm going with this year as you can get these everywhere and at a good price.

Books- Again this is a good present at a good price


The music man:

Concert tickets- may be a bit late to get tickets now but still a good idea


vinyls/ record player- again a great present for a music lover

Headphones- easy to get and at good prices (skull candy and beats are some good brands)


And last but not least the
Film buff: Box set, Camera
Newyorker: Coffee machine
Fashionesta: Clothes, Shoes, Watch, Cufflinks
Sportsman: sports clothes, equipment
Chef: cook books, cooking equipment

Hope that covers every type of man, if not then i tried :) Hope that gave you readers some inspiration and if you liked it then i would love it if you followed my blog on bloglovin.
http://www.bloglovin.com/lysette1996

Thanks for reading

Lysette :)

Christmas haul!

   It's officially the start of Christmas which means i can buy christmas decorations without being judged for getting too excited. The last couple of days i have been buying decs for my room and wanted to share with you my affordable buys :) 

Primark:

Novelty Christmas jumper from the mens section that i thought was an amusing jokey gift i could give to someone £12

Hot water bottle, can't remember how much exactly it was but i know it was about £4-£5 

1 of 3 tree ornaments that i have put on my door handles in my room £3

Medium sized pillow to put on my bed, £4

Wilkinson:

light up reindeer tea light, with a white bird cage case £2.50

Pound land:

light up santa, also came in snowman form £1

wooden Noel sign £1

small snowman wreath £1 

Hope you like what i have bought so far :) if you liked this post please follow me on bloglovin 

http://www.bloglovin.com/lysette1996

Thanks for reading, Lysette :)