Lets Get Inspired

I think we all come to a point in our lives where we lack inspiration and if your like me and are a creative type then you probably hit this point on a regular basis, maybe even too regular. Recently I have been lacking inspiration to blog which is funny in a way because now I'm doing a blog post on inspiration, the thing I have been lacking all this time, funny how things like that work. Inspiration is always there but we just need a little push in the right direction to find it so here are all the things I like to do to get my creative juices flowing again. How do you find inspiration?

Reading

Reading is always one of my go to ways to get inspired because you never know whats lurking inside the pages of a book and sometimes what you find is exactly what you were searching for. I highly recommend that you read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert which is all about creative living and anything by Lang Leav as her poetry is lovely and leaves me with goosebumps.

Quotes

If you didn't know already, I have a slight obsession with quotes. We Heart It is my go to app to find the best quotes and I use it on a daily basis. Feel free to follow me here and have fun scrolling through my all my hearts.

Talking

I think its safe to say that as technology and social media are evolving no body talks to one another anymore (me included). We're all caught up in whats happening on our phones and forget to have real life conversations. This can be detrimental for all creative people searching for ideas and inspiration. When I'm sitting on a train 95% of people are either listening to music, sleeping and reading and you rarely ever see two strangers having a conversation. This deeply saddens me and I think we all need to make the effort to interact with one another and share stories, life experiences, what we had for breakfast, anything because you never know that what someone might say to you could spark an idea or a wave of inspiration.

Music

Music is something that as of recently has become very close to me. I never had a huge interest in music growing up and I think that maybe be because I wasn't listening to the right music but now I am and I love it. The feeling of finding a new song to add to your never ending playlist is one of the best feeling out there and I yearn for it. As J.K. Rowling once said "If you don't like to read, you haven't found the right book," well this works the same for music "If you don't like music, you haven't found the right song."

Write in a journal

Ive had countless moments in my life where I have told myself that I would right in a journal every single day but I think we all know that it never lasts (but if it does for you then tell me your secret please). If you are feeling creatively blocked then journaling could be your saviour. Don't pressure yourself to write everyday because sometimes the pressure is what burdens you but leave a note book on your night stand, in your handbag, on your desk, in the kitchen and when ever you feel like writing or get a idea it will be there so you can jot down what ever you need to.

Other people

Finding inspiration in others can be a very win, lose situation. There are two paths that you could possibly take if you decide to find inspiration in others. One is the path that you will find inspiration and feel fantastic and the other will lead you to comparing yourself and will dig you into a deeper hole than when you started. This is actually believe it or not something that I struggle with on a daily basis and its a nasty habit, worse than chewing your nails. It destroys your self esteem and makes you feel like a failure. I am slowly trying to push the habit out the door and once I have, I will have a whole blog post on it. If you do decide to take this path of finding inspiration in others then remember that you are not them and you will never be them but that under no circumstances means that you can't be amazing like them.

Don't force it

Remember, don't force the inspiration, don't force the ideas because it won't work and it will only make you more annoyed and frustrated. Just relax and let the inspiration come to you naturally, it may take a while but be patient and always leave the door open for the opportunities.

Dark Chocolate & Almond Popcorn

Winter is rolling around so quickly here in Australia and I can feel the temperature dropping everyday. This means that sunny days outside are slowly fading and snuggled up in bed movie days are becoming more and more frequent which I am by no means complaining about because I love the cold. Popcorn has always been a go to movie snack but sometimes just plain classic popcorn can get a little boring and repetitive so why not throw in some melted chocolate and almonds too create this delicious bowl of goodness. Its super simple too make and doesn't take much time at all which I love. Its safe to say that its slowly becoming my go to movie snack and it might just become yours too.

You will need...

- Popcorn
- Chocolate of your choice (I used the Nestle Dark Chocolate bits as they are vegan)
- Almonds
- Salt (I used Pink Himalayan rock salt as it is more natural than regular salt)

Lets Begin...

1. The first thing you need to do is pop your popcorn. I just use the raw packeted popcorn (which has no salt or butter added) from the supermarket that I just pop in the microwave for 2 minutes. Although you could buy popcorn kernels and cook them in a saucepan or even one of those cheap popcorn makers which is what I do sometimes if I feel like putting in the extra effort.

2. Next I crushed up my almonds. I started by blending them in the Nutri bullet which I wouldn't recommend as is kind of crushes them too finely. So instead I popped them into a zip lock baggy and smashed them using some weird utensil that I found in the kitchen.

3. Once your popcorn is popped and your almonds are crushed, you can then go ahead and melt your chocolate, again I just melt mine in the microwave because I'm lazy but you can always melt it in a saucepan if you prefer that.

4. Lastly, drizzle the melted chocolate onto the popcorn, sprinkle your crushed almonds on top and add a little bit of salt. You can leave it like that if you prefer a more gooey, wet texture but I like to put mine in the fridge for a bit to let the chocolate harden.

5. Snuggle up with your movie and your delicious popcorn which I promise you will become addicted to and enjoy.

Whats your go to movie snack?

DIY // Make A Scrunchie

I don't know about you but I personally love scrunchies and I am super happy that they are back in fashion. I love just throwing one into a high messy ponytail to add some retro 80's vibes to any outfit. They are super easy to make and cost way less than if you went out and bought one. There are also so many different patterns and styles of material to choose from meaning that your scrunch options are endless.

You will need...

- Material of your choice (the size of the material is totally up to you and how you want your scrunchie to look. For mine I used material strips that were 10x50cm).

- Scissors 

- Sewing machine with chosen cotton threaded through

- Elastic (again the size of the elastic is totally up to you, my elastic pieces were about 15cm long).

- Dress making pins if you need them

Lets Begin!

1. If your material isn't already cut into 10x50cm (or what ever measurements your doing) then do that now. 

2. Fold the material strip long ways with the right sides facing each other and pin along the edge. (If you are confident with the sewing machine then you don't have to pin it down.)

3. With the sewing machine, sew along that edge leaving about a 4cm gap at each end and a 1cm seam allowance. 

4. Next turn the material right side out. 

5. This is where is gets a little confusing, with the right sides facing each other sew the open ends together. 

6. After thats done you should have a hollow tube with a gap in it. Thread the elastic piece into the gap using a safety pin at one end to help feed your way through. Tie the end of the elastic into a double knot.

7. Sew up the remaining gap in the scrunchie and voila you are done! 

Have fun scrunchie making!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

After testing and experimenting with many vegan cookie recipes I think I have finally found the perfect one. These cookies are crunchy on the outside, chewy in the middle and I promise that you won't even notice that their vegan. I also made this recipe into a youtube video so if you prefer to watch it in video form you can do so here.

You will need...

1/2 cup of vegan butter (I used Nuttelex)

1 cup of self raising flour

1/2 cup of caster sugar

1/2 cup of brown sugar 

1 tsp of vanilla essence

3/4 cup of vegan chocolate chips (I used the nestle dark melts because I had no nestle dark chocolate chips at the time)

Method

1. In an electric mixer you want to mix the room tempreture butter on a low setting.

2. Next you can add in your caster sugar, brown sugar and vanilla essence and until well combined.

3. After that you can sift in your flour gradually, stirring in between with a spatula.

4. Next you can pour in the chocolate chips and stir them in.

5. Use your fingers to mould the dough into balls and place them onto baking trays with 6 baking paper. (Remember that they will expand and spread out in the oven so be sure to leave generous gaps between each cookie ball.)

6. Next I use the palm of my hand to flatten out the cookies slightly, this is optional but it makes them look flatter in the end result.

7. You want to cook them in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for 10-15 minutes. I cooked mine for 12 minutes and that worked perfectly for me and made them crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle. 

8. Once there done cooking you can remove them from the oven and onto a cooling rack to cool and thats it. So easy and delicious!!

If you do end up trying this recipe, let me know what you think of them.