Cute Overload: A Typo Haul!

All of the cute!

I'm a huge sucker for cute stationery, and wanted to share some pics of my recent Typo haul, from an online sale they were having. I think it was 40% off, or something around that figure. And when I say recent, I actually mean June/July. This year, at least! Anyway, I saved a lot.

So the box arrives, and look what's printed on the top!

Hello, yourself!

I couldn't pass up this cheeky Campus A4 notebook. It's really thick and there are brown paper pocket dividers throughout that are interesting. But obviously I got it for the saying on the front!

Type your favourite F word in the comments below!

I'm going to use this fancy Collage manilla folder to hold recipes I've cut out of magazines or printed off the interwebz. Are you dying of cute yet?

I'll never cook any of these recipes, though!

The only item I'm disappointed with is this iPhone case. I like the pink and orange ombre design, however the photograph and product description on the Typo site did not reflect its..... reflectiveness! I really don't like being scared by my own face every time I grab my phone, although I guess I could use it to touch up my lipstick. This is a crap photo because nearly every angle reflected our ceiling fan in the case, so I had to do gymnastics until nothing reflected.

Looks pretty until you pick it up & see your chins!

Love this little notepad with three different designs; a shopping list, days of the week, and general note design. It's called Make A List and comprises 60 sheets, 20 of each of the 3 designs. It says 10 of each on the back but that's a mistake. Here are two of the designs....

I sincerely hope I get around to using this Make & Create Album. It's full of blank pages, perfect for scrapbooking photos and the like, but I'm yet to decide on a theme.

Come to me, inspiration!

My 2014/15 Planner is getting quite the workout in my efforts to be a proper, organised person. Who doesn't love a gold lining?

By now, you're probably aware that I love pink. I use my pink flamingo (or Summer Collage as Typo like to call it) A5 spinout (what?) notebook every day. It's awesome (and cute)!

This reminds me of the John Waters film 'Pink Flamingos'. :-/

Where's your favourite place to buy stationery?

Three Layers of Chocolatey Goodness!

The finished product!

Twice a year I'll actually go to some effort to bake a nice cake; once for my Dad's Birthday and the other time for my son's Birthday. On the weekend, I baked this Chocolate Birthday Cake for my Dad. I combined four different recipes (all from the Taste website), because I don't like to make things easy for myself. I made the Icing that goes with this Chocolate Layer Cake because the comments underneath were positive (I always read the comments from people who've made the dishes, they're rife with useful nuggets of information).

Chocolate Mousse-like Icing. So yummy!

The white chocolate-dipped strawberry idea came from this Double-Choc Strawberries recipe, but I couldn't be arsed double dipping, and I thought white chocolate alone would complement the cake better anyway.

These were a big hit!

The Chocolate Ganache scared me to be honest, and I'm amazed I didn't screw it up. This is where reading the tips/comments under each recipe comes in handy, for I already had a quick fix for if the mixture curdled! Apparently, whisking through more cold cream will smooth out curdled ganache. Thank Christ it didn't come to that. Although I probably waited too long to ice the top, because the ganache was starting to set towards the end and it became difficult to spread, forcing me to be super-speedy!

Straight after I'd dipped the strawberries in melted white chocolate I had the genius idea to kind of drizzle the leftover chocolate over the top of the cake. I'm so glad I did this! It made the cake look way more professional and 'finished' and the contrasting colour lightened it up aesthetically. I didn't pipe it or anything, I just used a teaspoon to drizzle it from side to side. You have to work fairly quickly, because it doesn't take long for melted chocolate to set, rendering it completely useless!

Err, yeah. You can tell I didn't pipe it!

My cakes (yes, I baked two) didn't rise enough for four layers, so I happily settled for three. The cake is very rich and definitely needs to be served with cream or icecream. I'm so happy everyone loved it. It took me an entire anxiety-filled day to make, but it was worth it.

A slice of heaven!

What a poser

Happy Birthday Dad :)

OPI Austin-Tatious Turquoise Manicure

I took a bit of a blogging break after a terrible July, but now I'm back with this shimmery turquoise OPI manicure. I'll be up front; I don't really like it. I'm not even sure why, either. I normally love this type of shade. Anything blue, green, teal or turquoise looks so pretty to me, plus I'm a sucker for glitter in all its forms, so it remains a mystery why I want to remove this so quickly after putting it on. Weirdly, I think it actually photographed better than it looks in real life.

Product Used:
OPI Nail Lacquer in Austin-Tatious Turquoise

The lacquer didn't apply easily, appearing see-through in some areas and thick in others, and it took some fancy brushwork to smooth it out on the second coat. The day after I applied it, I decided to give myself a pedicure, and used nail polish remover to dissolve 27 layers of red polish from my toenails (who has the time to remove it and start afresh every fucking time, I just paint over the top). Needless to say, the remover also dissolved half my fingernail polish! Oh and I also got little bits of remover-soaked cotton wool balls stuck to my mani. Job well done. This gives me a great excuse to fix up this unholy disaster and hopefully pick a colour I like this time.

What's your favourite OPI shade? I never have much luck with the brand!