What would my Dauntless (Divergent) Fears be...?

After absolutely adoring the books and the first movie of the Divergent series, this is a question I often wonder... Just casually.

If I had to pass the fear test, like Tris,Four and all the other dauntless initiates. Would I have many fears? And what would they be? I have a feeling my nickname, if based on the amount of fears like Tobias's (four) Would probably be too long a number to say quickly.
Then again, you might think you're afraid of something, but you may not be. The reverse could also be true.
I guess we will never really know what our fears would be in the "fear simulator" unless someone invents one. Even then, I doubt many people will be flinging up their hand,volunteering themselves to participate.

Instead, I took a dauntless fear test and I got "Fear of open water/ drowning". I'm almost certain that would be included in my portfolio of fears, most likely involving a shark as well. I don't really know where this fear comes from. Except one time when my Uncle and Aunt took me out on their boat and we were swimming in the ocean. Something brushed my foot and I was convinced it was a shark. I still to this day think that's the fastest i've moved in my entire life, diving at a lightening speed back into the boat to escape from the killer shark, which was probably just a rainbow fish.
 I used to also be afraid of baths growing up, I thought a shark would be able to come through the drain. and eat me. Well you never know!

What is your Dauntless fear? Is there a story behind your fear?

Hope your having a fabtastic day,

Infinite x's and o's,

Elena

Decorated Cakes I've made this year

This year was quite a year for decorated cakes. I usually love to make someone a cake as their birthday present instead of an actual gift. I'm still planning on doing a Christmasy themed one closer to the middle of December, maybe a christmas present box (ideas?). I thought I would share my cakes of 2014  with you all for inspiration and to just keep you up to date.

I made this cake for my brother's birthday. As you can see, he's a Lord of the rings fan. The base is a dark chocolate mud cake, covered in fondant and the piping is buttercream (if I were to do it again I would use royal icing as it is too thick)

This cake is in the shape of a monster hat which I made for a friend who constantly wears this identical hat. It is a white chocolate base, everything else is fondant except the white piping which is royal icing.

 This cake is my birthday cake, I had a neon lights birthday party, So i thought it suited the theme. Is it sad to make your own birthday cake? Pfffft no. The base is a dark chocolate mud cake, covered in black fondant and drizzled over the top is  royal icing coloured with neon food colours.

For my second brother's birthday this year I made him a glock cake, since he is a police officer. He thought it was pretty funny. The base is a chocolate mud cake and the icing is chocolate ganache coloured black (except for the white, which is white chocolate) 

 For a friend who is a Stargate fanatic I made him a Stargate cake. The base is a chocolate mud. The grey icing is butter cream and the details are fondant and royal icing.

This cake is a simple chocolate mud cake and I have just piped on a henna style pattern with royal icing.

Hopefully this inspired you! I hope you're all having a lovely week and good luck in your own cake decorating endeavours! 

Infinite x's and o's

Elena 

DIY Tumblr Inspired notebooks

I have a little bit of a confession to make. Actually it's probably not even that big of a secret anymore because If you have read some of my previous posts you'll know i'm slightly addicted to tumblr, and of course by slightly I mean utterly.
There is just something about re-blogging pretty pictures and quotes that's incredibly therapeutic.
I decided to plaster my addiction over some books and take them with me to broadcast it to the world. Though the people that don't have a tumblr or don't know what it is (aka muggles) will be non the wiser.  They will just probably think you like collages of pictures.

These are super easy to make, literally all you need is:
-some notebooks (lined or not lined it's completely up to you)
-spray on adhesive (you can find this from a craft store)
-white A4 thin card
-scissors
- and access to a computer and a colour printer.

To make the instructions on how to assemble them easier I decided to make a video:

Have fun customising your own Tumblr inspired notebooks and I hope you have an excellent week. If you do end up making some notebooks, make sure to comment, I would love to see your creation.

Infinite x's and o's,

Elena

My week in photos

Sometimes what you really need to do in certain points in your life is take a step back.
Take some time to explore a beautiful place, clear everything bad from your heart and head.
That has been my focus this week. 

Spent a day exploring a friends property.

Sometimes when you stop and look around, beautiful things are found

Found a friend

Aslan does this when you point at him. "away with you peasant."

 Aslan - "FOR NARNIA!"

Such a charmer.  Almost looks as if he's holding an imaginary weapon or about to start a jazz dance.

So that is my week in photos. I encourage you to take the time to look around and notice the small beautiful things.

Infinite x's and o's

Elena

30 day drawing challenge

The last few months I have been pretty slack with drawing and art, which is something I love doing but when I get stressed, the last thing I want to do is draw.
I don't know about you but I have to be "in the mood" to draw, hence why I haven't drawn in a quiet a while.

Although, after months of not drawing or creating anything, I've felt pretty bad and my creative side was screaming.  So, I have decided to do a 30 day drawing challenge.

I searched for quiet some time on pinterest, tumblr and all other places where one would find such a challenge. I found that on some I only liked a few challenges, some were eh and others I didn't like at all, so I decided to make my own and combine all the challenges I liked.

Tomorrow I start with my "self portrait" and I shall be posting more updates as I go through the challenge.
Let me know if you will also be doing this challenge, I would love to see your results! :)

Infinite x's and o's,

Elena 

Things I would tell my younger self

 Whenever I'm asked the question "If you could change anything in your past, what would it be?" I usually say nothing. The outcome of my life and who I am would be completely different to the way they are now, even if just one little thing were to change.

I could always pick a painful memory to remove from my history, but those lessons and painful experiences in my past have made me the person I am, even though I can't always see the reason why they happened, they changed me.

When I was tagged to do this blog post, I started thinking that maybe, If i could go back in time and change something. I would simply hand my younger self a letter of advice instead of trying to stop a particular incident from happening.

So, here is my letter of advice/tips to my younger self:

1. It's ok to feel.

In your diary you wrote " If I allowed myself to feel, everything that has happened will catch up with me and i'll drown in a sea of grief and pain".  How can you learn to swim if you're not in the water?  Don't be the grinch, stop denying your emotions, feel them! The longer you deny your emotions the harder it will be to deal with later. It's ok to cry, sometimes that's the best way to heal.  Even someone who seems like the strongest person emotionally, still has moments where they completely break down from grief. It's how you pick yourself up afterwards that matters. Always get back up again. 

2. Some things are just out of your control:

Don't dwell on the things that have happened if you can't fix it or change them, just stop. You'll save yourself a lot of anxiety, stress and sadness. Accept that they happened and focus on how you can improve yourself. Mistakes are part of life, and everyone makes them, they're how you learn.

3. Say what you're thinking, go on, do it!

Stop thinking about how you will be perceived and what people will think of you. Speak your mind, stand up for yourself and the things you believe in. Confront the people that have done you wrong, accept no shit! Don't be so easily defined.

4. Talk to someone, ask for help. 

Stubborn as rock, you never ask for help or tell anyone what your going through. Honestly, how much heart-ache can you have save yourself if you just tell someone. You're too afraid of getting judged or accused of being a lying attention seeker. Even though not everyone will believe you, someone will. Best to share these things, you could save yourself a lot of pain and anxiety down the track.

5. Someones inability to see your worth, does NOT mean you are worthless.

You're all you have, don't give up on yourself so easily. Life is hard, but there are so many beautiful moments that are worth staying alive for.  Just because some people can't see how worthy you are or treat you as you should be treated. That is not a reflection on who you are, it is a reflection on who they are. Ugly hearts do ugly things.

6. Ditch the toxic relationships

You know when you are compromising your morals and doing things you promised yourself would never do. If they were your real friends, they wouldn't ask you to compromise who you are. Even if you can't see now how toxic these relationships are, look at the person you have become, are you proud?

7. You can't have everything perfectly planned out and thats ok. 

You don't know who you are or what you want to be and that's ok. You don't need to, you have plenty of time to figure that out. Just follow something you love doing and if that doesn't work out, follow something else.  You are capable of doing anything you want if you set your mind to it. There is no blue-print to how you live your life. Not everything will always be perfect or go to plan.  It's also ok to do some things simply because you love and enjoy them.

8.Don't wish away your childhood and youth wishing you were older
Be a kid! Stop trying to grow up and act mature, it's not all it's cracked up to be.

9. Dont believe everything you think.
Your mind can be your own worst enemy. Don't believe every thought that comes into your head, the majority of them are complete lies.

10. Live your life, have fun, enjoy the small moments.

Stop worrying about how you'll look to the people around you.  You only have one life, don't live it fearing what other people will think of you. Have fun! Live a little. You will be filled with more regret from the things you didn't do, than the things you did.  Sometimes it's perfectly fine to look like a complete idiot when you're having fun.

There are so many more things I would tell my younger self if it were possible.  I read a quote on Tumblr the other day that said "Be the person you needed when you were younger"  that really spoke to me.  Even though it's not possible for us to go back in time and talk to our younger selves,  we can still try to help and be there for the younger generations.

Infinite x's and o's

Elena

1 minute Nutella brownie

Nutella.

Loved by many, hated by few. If you are one of those very few, then well... I don't really know what to say to you.

My Nutella obsession pretty much stems back from childhood. I used to look forward to the days when I would get a treat in my lunchbox in the form of a nutella white bread, with the crusts cut off sandwich, ahhhh those were the days. It was either that or rainbow sprinkles.

I made this quick and easy nutella brownie in a mug, which literally only takes one minute in the microwave and tastes AMAZEBALLS.

If you want to know how to make it, watch my tutorial below and prepare for a party in your mouth.

Hope you're all having an excellent day,

Infinite x's and o's,

Elena