Arayha's Boutique Christmas Range - PHONE POUCH PHOTO ADDED

Welcome to our Christmas post featuring some of our lovely festive items!

These would make gorgeous gifts and are all made to order, so you'll need to order quick so they can be posted on time.

Message me HERE to order.

New items will be added to this post instead of a separate post.

EARRINGS:

***Special Christmas price***

£5 per pair (inclusive of post & packaging to UK - if you live outside the UK please get in touch for a postage quote, as this will affect the price).

'Christmas Wishes'

Grey faux fur stud earrings with a sparkly frosted effect, like magical snow stuck to the fur.

Specially commissioned fish hook version - this style can be applied to any of the faux fur earrings

'Gilded Snow'

White faux fur stud earrings with glittering golden tips (please note, the image above appears to show blue sparkles, this is just a light reflection from my TV - there are no blue sparkles, only gold).

'Deadly Nightshade'

While the name isn't as festive, these would be amazing on a night out, very mysterious. Black faux fur stud earrings with a deep purple sparkle.

*******

PHONE POUCHES:

We also have this wonderful faux crocodile skin leather in a pearly white that we'll be making into soft phone pouches.

Hand sewn phone pouches are £10 plus post & packaging (please message for a postage quote).

There is a limited supply of this, so get your orders in quick to avoid disappointment - please message me HERE and specify your phone model so I can make the right size pouch for you.

We also have lots of silver leather that can be made into phone pouches or anything you would like commissioned - please get in touch.

Latest Recommended Posting Dates for Christmas 2012

UK:

Thursday 13th December - Standard and Mail Order Return Parcels
Tuesday 18th December - Second Class and Recorded Signed For
Thursday 20th December - First Class and Recorded Signed For

INTERNATIONAL - Airmail:

Wednesday 5th December - Asia, Australia, Far East (including Japan), New Zealand
Friday 7th December - Africa, Caribbean, Central & South America, Middle East
Monday 10th December - Eastern Europe, Canada and USA
Wednesday 12th December - Western Europe

Have a wonderful evening!

xx

Kale Breakfast Smoothie - How To Make Your Own

Today I had a very strange yet surprisingly delicious breakfast; a kale smoothie. It was green, it had no sweeteners added to it and most of all, it wasn't my usual coffee.

I decided to try it for the vitamin boosting and energy giving elements, rather than the it'll-make-you-lose-weight gimmick. I like my desserts so trust me, I'll gain weight before losing it with a drink.

 Nutritional info:

Kale - what is it? and what's in it?
Spinach - what is it? and what's in it?
Banana - what is it? and what's in it?
Blueberries - what are they? and what's in them?
Goji Berries (also known as Wolf Berries) - what are they and what's in them?
Coconut Milk - what is it? and what's in it?
Yogurt - what is it? and what's in it?

Shopping for smoothie goodies (ignore the hot chocolate ha ha ha)

So, do you want to try it? Keep reading...

Each batch as listed below makes about 2-3 normal cups (like a medium mug size)

You'll need:

Blueberries - about a handful, washed
Spinach - a handful and washed. Remove the stems
A banana
Coconut milk - about 250-300ml
Yogurt - about 2tbsp
Kale (I used curly leaf as it was the only one available to me) - a handful and washed. Remove the stems
Goji berries (I used dried) - about a handful

Here's what you do:

After washing the kale, spinach and blueberries and chopping up the banana, add everything to a blender and blend until smooth.

Put everything into the blender

Blend!

Ready to pour

If your smoothie looks too thick, add more coconut milk OR only add half a banana and see if that's better for you. I change mine day to day.

If your smoothie 'sets' like mine sometimes does, just mix it up again. Also if you're like me and leave it standing a little too long while you're busy doing something else and it looks like it's starting to separate, don't panic and throw it away. It's still fine, it's just the blueberry juice reacting with the yogurt and making it split. It's still fine, just mix it up.

The result? A rather green smoothie that tastes to me of bananas and a little of yoghurt. Nothing even remotely herb tasting or bitter! You can always change its taste by adding other berries or a flavouring like vanilla.

Mmmmmm!

You can add the following too, but I couldn't get hold of these this time. The Acai berries should turn the smoothie from a green to more of a purple colour and it should taste a bit different.

* Acai berries / pulp / powder / liquid
* Protein powder
* I'm also looking at possibly adding Matcha tea to it in the future for an extra boost.

Have you tried this smoothie before?
What did / do you think of it?
What do you usually have for breakfast?
And have you seen any other foods that would make great additions?

Enjoy!

Love, your little health nut

xx

Forever 21, I have my eye on you

I have to write this quickly before I'm due out to meet my mum.

While my cat Tim slept on my freshly washed bath towel I've been dreaming of payday and looking at lots of pretty things online.

I've been wanting to makeover my bedroom for ages (and as anyone who's ever shared with a guy will know, it isn't pretty!) and it needs a more feminine feel. As it is now it has three off white walls, a deep red feature wall, black floor and white ceiling. Not very inspirational or relaxing.

I'd LOVE a floor like THIS but I'm not sure it would work over the black floor tiles we can't get off, so we're having laminate instead.

To replace the red feature wall I'd like to do THIS:

(P.S.- I made this.com)

And I'm planning to spray paint my black metal bed with a bright, light aqua with vanilla coloured bed knobs and a very subtle glitter glaze. Add a few black and white accessories and a few mirrored and hot pink items here and there and you get the general idea of how the room should look.

We're also getting blackout blinds but I hope to customise these too.

I've also been looking at lots of pretty things on Forever 21's website as I happen to live close-ish to one (lucky me!).

Here are a few items I'm drooling over right now:

* Studded Shoulder Moto Jacket £35.75 (although I'd prefer a real leather one)

http://www.forever21.com/UK/Product/Product.aspx?BR=f21&Category=outerwear_leatherpu&ProductID=2027706023&VariantID=

* Fitted Animal Patterned Sweater £19.75 

http://www.forever21.com/UK/Product/Product.aspx?BR=f21&Category=sweater_other&ProductID=2015711432&VariantID= 

AND

* Suede Moccasin Slippers £16.00

http://www.forever21.com/UK/Product/Product.aspx?BR=f21&Category=shoes_slippers&ProductID=2027706120&VariantID=

Right, I have to run out to go meet mum, have a nice night.

xx

Update: a peek into my day, sort of.

I didn't really take any pictures today. Well, apart from my attempt at the hair bow that's all over Pinterest. I've been growing my hair for what seems like ages and I finally have enough of it to do that style. Yes, I know it's very wispy and not that great but my hair isn't that long really and to get a bow out of it at all is amazing for me. I'll post a better picture when my hair's a lot longer and I can do the bow properly, it's not quite there yet.

Want to see it?

While I was on Pinterest today I saw this hairstyle and thought it would make a great alternative way to keep my hair up for work (I'm a christmas temp at a well known frozen food store - they have a new tv ad featuring Willy Wonka music... guess where haha) obviously minus the giant hair clip, I don't think we're allowed those, as pretty as they are. Here it is, I repinned it onto my 'Hair Ideas' board:

(Source: Pinterest)

I tried to track down where it's originally from and I *think* it's from www.7y7.com but I'm not really sure (if you know, please tell me!)

Isn't the style really cute and easy to do. I had a go myself and it's do-able even without a mirror, even for me, although I did have wispy bits sticking out - I'll put that down to hair length and not my lack of hairdressing skills haha.

 You may have noticed that the Twitter feed has gone from the right --->
Apparently it's faulty so I had to delete it. When it's fixed I will add it again, until then you can follow me and see what I'm up to on @Arayha

On another note, how autumnal is the blog's new look! I love the leaf colours during autumn, so pretty. It's a shame most of them are now no longer on the trees but all wet and soggy on the floor, trodden and ground into the pavement. Most of them are brown now. At least the blog has everlasting fiery leaves.

Since it's getting colder and the weather's going all British on us, have a snuggly evening / night from my cup of hot chocolate and comfy duvet, to yours.

x

PS- want to see how my hair dried naturally today?

(Just like Medusa haha)