Preparing for Christmas... Tips!

I know, I know "Its only NOVEMBER!" but - I like to be prepared for Christmas, and not have to panic at the last minute like hundreds of other people! So here are a few of my tips for Christmas, not only for this year but for future years.

1. Make a List!
I'm not saying make a list just for other people  for what to get you - make a list for yourself!
Normally around mid-late September I start planning for Christmas. What I'm doing for dessert for Christmas day (as I'm normally the one who does dessert), presents, Christmas Cards, Candles, decoration themes & plan. Everything! I normally have a list of presents compiled by mid-October for everyone and have a budget set on how much I'm spending.

2. Spending
Now I have heard countless times of the shock bills we get in January and the impending doom of debt... However I completely avoid this and don't normally have a panic attack of lack of money by 10th January.
What I do, and is one of the best things I do, is put money away for Christmas presents every week of the year, starting the first week of the New Year. This year I saved up just over £300 which was more then enough for my presents and more! It makes things so much easier and less stressful too!

3. Plan Ahead 
Overall the key thing to Christmas is to plan ahead - don't leave anything to chance. Don't wait for the rush of the 1st December to start getting things in. The earlier you start planning and buying things the less panic and rush December seems. I normally go for a waltz around the shops in December after I've done all my shopping for look for myself.

4. Buying after Christmas
So, normally after Christmas is over, everything goes on sale. Last year Balsam Hill had a huge sale and we got an 8ft Christmas tree with lights for £299 when the original RRP was £650. We finally took the plunge and bought a fake tree as we found we could shape them better and have the tree up for much longer!
I normally buy my wrapping paper, cards and other bits and bobs just after Christmas for the next year.

5. Enjoy the Season!
Its one thing I find that so many people are stressing out - that they can't enjoy the time! Which makes me so super sad!!! I love Christmas with all my heart - I love the fake snow, the joyous songs and little children getting excited for St Nick! 

So please enjoy the time, have a cheeky little Baileys, watch a few Christmas episodes on TV while wrapping up presents and writing cards, go out to the local town which has all the beautiful decorations alight at night! (I love going to Oxford Street and Winter Wonderland every year in London, especially at night!)

(P.S I normally love going to see the Choccywoccydoodah Christmas displays in Brighton, and now also London. They are so phenomenally amazing - definitely a recommended visit!)

Emma Victoria

xoxox

Betty the Sewing Machine! (Quick Post!)

Today's post is just a quick bonus post, I thought I'd just give you all a little update on my sewing machine, this is my 'Completed List' so far!

1. I've named my Sewing Machine - Betty-Sue, but Betty for Short!

2. I've already fixed a pair of knickers and 2 cushions using several different stitches (and backstitching!)

3. I finally learnt after about an hour of getting confused that the bobbin thread doesn't go through the needle, but the needle picks the thread up and loops (rookie mistake...)

4. I've learn't that I'm impossible at trying to get the thread through the needle.

5. I've got an itch to keep using Betty, even if it's just to practice. 

6. I think I might already be becoming obsessed with Betty...

I got Betty for Christmas and I've finally had the chance to start using her now after setting her all up! If in the future once I've had some practice, for some tutorials, then it'd be good to know if you would like them!

Much Love

Emma Victoria & Betty Sue

xoxoxox

Blogmas Day 9: Make Your Own Snow!

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So today I thought I'd finally try out the 'Make Your Own Snow' I bought last year at Christmas but never actually used... I thought that I'd use this snow to put in my vases on my big chest of draws! Its a super simple thing to do - I bought my snow powder from my local Garden Centre for £4. All you have to do is add as much powder as you want into a bowl and then add (I think) it said about 1/5 of water from the amount of powder you have added. Me being not scientific me - I  just added the water to the point where it all just begun to start expanding....

You will need water, snow powder, and a bowl.

Then add your powder into your bowl... and add the water!!

I found it grew about 5 times bigger from the powder
 form after adding about 30ml of water!

Overall I think this is super handy if you want a 'realistic' snow effect on a window display or in a vase... The only thing I will say that this has a major chemical/plastic sort of smell if you are quite close to it - and it really does not feel like snow, it feels more like polystyrene has been crushed into a sort of maybe watery powder form? But for visual purposes this is perfect for a Christmas display!!

16 days till Christmas!!

Lots of Love

Emma Victoria

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Blogmas Day 6: Christmas Wishlist!

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I had a cute little idea which I did for my 18th birthday and I thought I'd do the same and do a Christmas Wishlist!

1. Sewing Machine - I've wanted a sewing machine for a while as I really want to start getting crafty and making things again, and this one from Next is just adorable & affordable!

2. Lady Million Perfume - I'm running low on perfume again, my D&G One perfume is getting to the littlest it can get (insert sad face here), I can never decide what perfume's I actually like, but I definitely like Lady Million and Black XS by Paco Rabanne - Okay I just like Paco Rabanne

3. Despicable Me 2 - I just LOVE the minions, and I still haven't seen this, and I really want to see it, and I really want to own it!! Yeah... I just really like the minions.

4. Collectif Mina Bag - You may have noticed a re-occurrence  I still actually haven't bought this bag yet, and I really still love it - you never know I guess?

5. Hell Bunny Pink Olive Dress - My god do I love this dress, I know I have loads of dresses but I really like this one! :(

6. SkullKandy Headphones - My babies broke a couple of months back and now I'm stuck with little ear bud ones, I really badly want some more Skullkandy headphones as they were the best headphones I ever owned!

7. iPad Mini White - Technological items aren't normally on my Christmas list, but a little iPad would be helpful with organising things and taking to places instead of caring a load of heavy stuff like my laptop.

Well I hope you enjoyed!

19 Days till Christmas!

Lots of Love

Emma Victoria

xoxoxox

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Blogmas Day 3: My Christmas Tree!

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Today I thought I would share some images of my Christmas tree this year - As you can see above my style has completely changed from last year. 2012 tree was very mix and match and all about crystal white and mix and match, this year is much more rich and traditional with themed colours of  Gold, Red, Green, White & Silver. Below are some pictures of my decorations that are on my tree this year... 

I also have this as a star - I just super love the Nordic Christmas theme!

This heart was bought for me from my ex-boyfriend the Christmas
before we broke up & he went back to New Zealand

I have 2 of these super adorable doves on my tree - my mum has robins on
the tree downstairs but I just love my doves!

This year I FINALLY decided to replace my old star which was
falling to bits. This is from Sainsbury's and is a Gold/Silver Ribbon star.

Isn't St. Nick just too cute on his little swing here?

I have 2 of these reindeer but my other one is red with a white heart
and white stitching. I bought these from Haskins last year... Again the nordic theme.

I have 2 of these super cute baubles in similar designs they were all different price ranges from
£2.90 - £3.95  

I couldn't not buy this, its too freaking cute! I got this in Sainsburys I think
for £2

Another nordic theme decoration - this has jingle bells on it and
a festive little dove!

Super simple post today I guess, but I thought it would just be a nice little post for you guys! 

22 days till Christmas!

Mistletoe Kisses

Emma Victoria

xoxox

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Blogmas Day 2 - The 2013 Christmas Tag!

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So my lovely friend Steff from Stephanie Maverick tagged me in this way back in November but I 
decided I would do this for my first post of Blogmas! I will be scheduling posts seeing as I'm so busy over this time of the year! 

1.  Do you prefer a real Christmas tree or synthetic?

In my house we kind of have a real and a synthetic - in my room I have a slimline 6ft synthetic tree which I put up on the 1st November (I don't care what anyone thinks - I just love Christmas so much!!). However, downstairs we have a real tree because my dad always insists on having a real tree. This year we have got to decide whether we are going to get a real one because of the puppy - but its likely we will still have one!

2.  You're in a coffee shop, it's December, what do you pick?

Hmm - I'm currently really loving the Chocolate & Orange Mocha Latte at Costa from the Autumn (I go to costa pretty much every day when I'm at college!) 

3.  Whats your favourite colour scheme for decorating the tree?

I used to be very different to my mum I always used to have just white decorations with crystal white lights and white doves but I've now kind of grown up over the years and become more traditional, much like my mum. My mum decorates our tree very rich as we believe more is less on the tree as we always get a 6ft tall tree which is very wide and bushy! This year my colour scheme for my tree is Red, Green, Gold and White.

4.  Giving or receiving?

I absolutely love giving presents no doubt about it - I do need to start making my presents for close friends and putting their bags together!

5.  To mince pie or not to?

 I had my first mince pie around mid October already - I adore mince pies and I need to make some in December for my family!

6.  What's your traditional Sunday lunch?

We kind of have a huge table full of food for Christmas, our traditional Sunday lunch we have is very boring so I'll tell you about my families Christmas dinner instead - ready for the list?...: Turkey, Ham, Pigs in Blankets (Sausages wrapped in bacon), roasted Chestnuts, Sprouts, French Beans, Peas, Carrots, sweetcorn, Roasted potatoes, mash potato, homemade Yorkshire puddings, bread sauce, gravy (2 different gravy's) and a few other things too... We are fatties at Christmas.

7.  Christmas day fashion

 Every year my mum makes me buy a new dress for Christmas - I have no say whether its a dress or not. I haven't actually got my dress yet, I haven't really seen one I've fallen in love with. We all dress up really smart and in nice clothes but this year I'm debating whether to just re-wear a new dress because of Alice as she keeps putting her muddy paws all over me and my clothes.

8.  What's your favourite Christmas song?

I have a favourite Album at the moment and that's Alexander Rybak's 'Christmas Tales' album - it had such beautiful covers on it as well. He is probably my favourite violinist - ever.

9.  What's your favourite Christmas film?

I watch around 30 christmas films per year staring on the 1st November - but my favourite Christmas film has to be ROBBIE THE REINDEER!!!!!!!

10.  Open presents before or after lunch?

Me and my mum believe Christmas is for children so we always open our presents first thing in the morning because when we were younger it meant we had all day to play with our presents until Christmas dinner at 5pm (we have our dinner in the evening so we go to bed all sleepy and our afternoon isn't wasted as we always play a family game!).

Oh this is getting me SOOOO excited for Christmas!! Not long - ONLY 23 DAYS! 

Lots of Love

Emma Victoria

xoxox

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Blogmas Day 1: Glad Tidings!

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Welcome all to BLOGMAS - I have never before done nearly a whole month of blogging every single day. The prospect is worrying about how I'm going to fit everything in, but obviously if something completely disastrous comes up then I will probably do 2 posts in one day (but hopefully that never happens!)

I'm going to do an array of Christmasy things on my blog and some posts may be videos too as well as picture posts for when I go to Winter Wonderland in London (there is going to be more then 1 trip!)

Today I just want to share some of the pictures from last Christmas with my family and pictures I had taken through December!

Christmas Photoshoot 2012

Christmas Dinner Table 2012 (Decorated by me)

The Christmas tree & Bi-Folding doors mum and me decorated last year!

Panoramic view of my Garden December 2012

Finland Holiday - Walk in Ylöjärvi!

Look out for tomorrow's post which is a Christmas Tag!!

24 Days till Christmas!

Lots of Love

Emma Victoria

xoxoxox

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YouTube - Day in the Life: Halloween

I have posted my first Day in the Life video on YouTube! I filmed this on Halloween and I have finally figured out how to edit it (a huge accomplishment for someone who is terrible with technology).

Make sure you watch, subscribe and like!

Lots of Love

Emma Victoria

xoxox

Pumpkin Carving Part 1 (100th Post!)

I thought before I carve my pumpkins on Wednesday ready for Thursday I would show you the pumpkins I carved last year with my Mum, Brother and his carer. On Wednesday I will also be blogging this years Pumpkins which will be part 2 of this post! Below will be the three links to my three carvings from last year. I'd probably say the hardest one to carve was the Smiling Jack O'Lantern which took me and Tor an hour and 45 mins to carve because, well we are beginners and we didn't have the right tools. I carved the Shocked Pumpkin face on my own and this only took me around 40 minutes. My mum carved the ghost by herself and cause I'm pretty sure she is like an art pro it only took her 20 minutes. I can't find a stencil for the shocked pumpkin but its really quite simple you could probably just draw it freehand!

Smiling Jack Stencil

Ghost Stencil

Happy Carving! I will show you my stencils which I have used on Wednesday Evening! 

Love Emma

xoxo

(P.S - I cant believe I've reached 100 posts - and this month I also reached 10,000 views! Super love that you appreciate my blog!!)

The First Time Tag!

Hello! Its that time of the week for my weekly post on anything that I feel like posting - today's post is going to be 'The First Time' Tag which my lovely friend and fellow blogger Amna from ASQGenerates alerted me of on Twitter!  

1. First Best Friend? 

My 1st Best Friend is still my best friend now! My friend Sophie and me have been friends since we were around 2 -3 years old! Now we are both 18! We have been through so many ups and downs through the years, and our greatest memory has to be the Easter egg being thrown against my wardrobe cause I couldn't open it! I really hope that we have many more memories together in the future and that we never ever lose touch! We are 15 years strong!




2. First Kiss?

Oh sugar, I can't remember this far back *blush*... If I'm correct (which I really hope I am) it was with my first boyfriend Jason - we had been together for 3 months and it was just a simple little peck on the cheeks, nothing more, very sweet and very innocent. After him I've only ever kissed 1 other guy... and that was my longest relationship (10 months) but he left to move to New Zealand.

3. First Concert?

Oh crickey, I'm super proud to have said my first concert was My Chemical Romance (15th November 2007) - I know the date because this was the best day in my life EVER! Seeing my favourite band ever, and they were the first band I ever got to see! Their set was amazing, it was part of the Black Parade Tour, and I wore my Black Parade jacket, black tights, black boots, military style dress/top and my BP make-up. Oh the good old days!

4. First Celebrity Crush?

I know (and I hope) that I'm not the only person to say Duncan and Anthony from Blue! I was absolutely in love with them when I was younger. Everytime I went to stagecoach and we did our little exam pieces I guarantee it was always either a Blue song or a Steps song. I'm still not afraid to say that Duncan still isn't bad looking...

5. First Word?

My first word was Dad... I've always been a daddy's girl so that's no real surprise! 

6. First Pet?

I'm gonna say my nan's dog Coco - Coco wasn't my dog but when I was younger I spent a lot of time at my nan's when my brother was born due to his complexity of his disability then. Coco was a chocolate minature poodle, who tragically died very quickly due to Cancer. Then it was my nan's cats who I also spent a lot of time with, Holston and Cosmic. Who also died due to Cancer (trend here?). Then I got my dog Freddie who is a beautiful Yellow Labrador!

7. First job?

My first job was with Brighton and Hove Albion football club (queue the abuse) - I am a Blackpool fan, I always have been, however I started working and training as a wheelchair football coach and did my Duke of Edinburgh with the club. I joined back in March 2009, and left in March 2012 after many disagreements over how things were being ran and how some children were being pushed to the side.

8. First Phone?

My first phone was the Motorola L6 in Blue! I blooming loved that phone, however I was on Pay as you Go with Orange (this phone was given on the contract). However, Orange screwed us over big time and virtually stole our money. 

9. First Tweet?

I have absolutely no idea! This was 22,849 tweets ago. It was probably along the lines of 'how do you use twitter?'...

10. First make-up?

It was the Miss Sporty 'Spot On' Foundation - I've always had really bad spots on my face, when I get them, I get them badly. (I have some seriously sore ones right now, and they hurt like hell!) I still buy this now, as it does help a bit to reduce redness and the duration of them!


Now I shall tag some people I think might want to do this cheeky little tag!

Stephanie
Georgina
Emily

P.S Next week will be another tag that Stephanie tagged me in (check hers out before you see mine!) 

Love 

Emma Victoria

xoxo

Guest Post - Anja from The Ramblings of an Honorary Rascal

Good day my lovelies! Today I have my lovely friend Anja doing a guest post for me! If you are interested in doing a guest post then drop me an email on anchorsawaybeauty@hotmail.com (P.S I have also updated my Summer To-Do List - I will be doing a post on some of the things I have done soon as well!)

xoxo

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Hello lovely people! So I am Anja from 'The Ramblings of an Honorary Rascal', a blog based on my love for all things historical and literary. But seeing as this is Emma's blog and it is a beauty blog, I thought I should try my hand at something 'beauty' for this guest post!

Now I know that a lot of girls want to wear a bit of make-up  as I do, to have a variety of effects, such as evening out your skin tone. But if you're also like me and on a beauty budget, it's hard to find products that give the same effects as 'professional' make-up brands that your favourite beauty gurus may use, without them costing you the earth. So, I thought I would share with you the products that I have found work the best, but on a budget. Each item costs less than £10 each, with the total products adding up to just under £30.

1. Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Night Treatment Gel - £2.99 and Simple Replenishing Rich Moisturiser - £3.89

2. MUA Eyeshadow (Shade 19 Matte)- £1.00, Collection No Clumps Mascara (Black) - £2.99, Essence Eyeliner Pen (available online), and  MUA Eyeliner (Rich Brown) - £1.00

3. Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation (Shade 100 Ivory) - £6.99

4. MUA Lipstick (Shade 11)- £1.00

And these are just some photos to show you how versatile they are!

By far my favourite thing about me is my hair. I usually tend to wear it the way it naturally falls, like in the picture, but sometimes I like to make myself feel a bit more groomed and actually do something with my hair. But as I am the kind of person who takes forever to get out of bed, leaving no time for hair and makeup, I've found these kinds of hairstyles are super easy to do, and each of them take less than 20 minutes to perfect.

So, thank you for bearing with me and reading to the end of this post, if you have, and if you have, well done! If you think you'd like to hear more from me then feel free to check out my blog, or if you have any post requests or just want to say hello then drop me a comment or tweet me at @thenewestenemy. Thanks for reading! :)

Strange and New Proposals!

Sorry for the super duper late post, and I will still be posting my OOTW tomorrow, so don't panic! However this evening, I was asked by someone, if I was going to be selling any of my photo shoot pictures. Never in my life had it occurred to me that people would actually be interested in buying photo shoot pictures! I've tipped my nose into a little bit of modelling and recently have been doing paid shoots, but I never thought that people would want to buy pictures of me, ME! 

I am looking into doing small 6" x 4" photo's (normal size), small posters, and large posters! I will probably be printing these via the company Photobox, unless I find another company who does it cheaper and for the same quality! They will all be in a gloss finish. I need to figure out the pricing yet and decide on the photo's that will be up for sale, and I will probably advertise them through a shop on my blog, as this will be the easiest way for people to buy/order them off me!

In the coming few weeks, I am working a lot, and I currently only have 1 shoot, possibly 2 booked in for (busy little bee I am) and I will post on here the final photos which will be sold. You will also be able to buy a selection pack of either: -

• 1 (30"x20") Poster and 6 (6"x4") photo's 
• 10 (6"x4") and 1 (21"x16") poster
• 2 (30"x20") posters and 6 (6"x4") photos.

I will also be having other offers coming up as well, and the posters I will also sign, because its always a nice little personal touch I think!

I will keep you all updated on my new little adventure, and maybe one day, I may be one of those well known pin-up girls?

Well a girl can dream can't she!

Emma Victoria

xoxo