**GUEST BLOG**

(a super kawaii guest blog from the lovely Shell @ http://www.senselessstyle.blogspot.com)

How to dress Kawaii...

The art of dressing Kawaii is simple. It has to be bright, it has to be colourful, and most importantly it has to be cute!

I can only imagine how long it must take these girls to get ready in the morning! The key is to accessorise! So if you think you have too many bracelets on... then add a few more :)

Hair is covered in pretty bows, and cute slides. And cute characters such as Hello Kitty, and Rilakkuma are prominent. 

These streets shots from Japan look far more fun and colourful then any streets i've been on lately...

And to get the look, or just a touch of cuteness why not look here:

www.tokyojazzpanda.co.uk

www.asiajam.com

www.artbox.co.uk

www.cybercandy.com.uk

www.japancentre.com

www.chicki.com

   

Shell (^_^)

cooking kawaii

Here is treat one from my kawaii cooking series. I think they could genuinely be the best  cupcakes i have ever made... Sometimes when I make a cake, you can forgive a maybe not quite right frosting or a mildly bland crumb because it looks so good but these tiny monsters have both. They have the good looks and amazing taste to back it up! When I decided i wanted to take on the rainbow cakes, i was thinking about design and what would really compliment them and for some reason coconut came along and would not budge...I just had this vision of the tops looking like heavenly little clouds and then cutting into the cake to reveal this amazing rainbow interior. I am beyond proud of them so please, sit back and enjoy...dum,da,da,dum (that was ment to be a drumroll, kinda thing...But you got that yes??!!) 

Dreamy Rainbow Cupcakes.....

 makes 16

• for the cupcakes:
• 340g of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 cups of vanilla sugar
• 6 medium eggs at room temperature
• 2tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups of plain flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt, crushed fine. (if you only have free flowing table salt then 1/4 tsp please!)
• 1 cup of milk
• 150g of desiccated coconut
• red, pink, yellow, green, blue and violet gel food colourings. (please invest in the gel ones the runny watery ones are bad and the gel ones will last you ten times longer too!) 

• for the frosting:
• 110g of cream cheese
• 85g of butter at room temperature
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 170g of icing sugar

• to decorate:
• 200g bag of desiccated coconut
• pearl lustre dust and candy stars (these are both optional)

1. pre heat your oven to 160 centigrade 
2. line your cupcake tray with the paper liners and put to one side
3. cream your butter and vanilla sugar together until they are fluffy and pale
4. into a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. pretty please, sift twice,  it really helps to remove any lumps and gives you dreamy light flour
5. mix together your eggs, milk and vanilla extract in a jug
6. in 3 stages, add the egg and milk mixture and the the dry flour mix into your butter. adding them in these little stages stops the mixture from splitting and makes your batter more manageable. after each addition, give the bowl a good scraping down to really combine any lurking clumps of flour at the bottom
7. congratulate yourself on a job well done!
8. now fold in the desiccated coconut
9. now comes the slightly fiddly bit but stick with it its easy enough just only a little repetitive
10. split the mixture between six bowls, with the first bowl having the most batter then slowly getting slightly and slightly less in each bowl you fill
11. with the handle of a teaspoon (this being my weapon of choice) take a small amount of your red gel and mix it into the largest bowl of batter. Mix in your colour well until you have achieved a shade of red your happy with. Remember you can always add more gel colour but you can't take it away so be subtle with your additions
12. repeat stage 11 with each further colour till you have six different pots of coloured mix from red to violet
13. take your red batter and with a spoon, put a blob of the mix into the centre of you liner. it should come maybe a quarter of a way up the case. next move onto you pink. take just slightly less mix and drop this into the centre of the red. you need to be able to see a ring of red around the pink (its not an exact art and you don't get perfect circles but it all comes together when baked) continue with each colour using less and less batter with each addition 
14. bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes. test they are cooked by sinking a cocktail stick into the middle. if it comes out clean, there done. if it's still wet, pop them back in for a few minutes. when the cakes are finished, take them out of the oven and leave them in the pan for 15 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely
15. while the cakes are baking you can get on with the icing
16. the butter needs to be at room temperature and you need to cream it until it is very smooth, as light as you can get it
17. add the vanilla and cream cheese to the butter and combine. I think the best way to do this is to push the cheese and butter through a mesh sieve. it gets rid of any lumps of butter and really amalgamates the mixture. it only takes a few minutes and is so worth doing. you should be left with a runny "icing"
18. sieve in the icing sugar and fold everything together
19. by now your cupcakes should be thoroughly cooled and resemble glorious rainbow hills
20. take your coconut and lustre dust and mix them together on a large plate so that the strands of coconut are gleaming with powder - a teaspoon of dust should be enough to cover this much coconut
21. dip the exposed part of your cupcake into the icing, as you bring it out, hold it above the bowl for a few seconds to allow most of the excess to drip off
22. roll the icing covered peak into the coconut, stick as much of the coconut to it as you can and set aside. pop a star in the top and voila! 

your done! now all you need to do is finish off the rest of your cupcakes. I know its a long recipe and there is a bit of fiddling involved but come on!! look at them!! so worth it!! also hope you like the gratuitous cupcake eating pics- especially the one of Baby Winnie being a sink dwelling batter thief! The cheek!!

xoxox

If I had babies I would SO be kitting them out with this amazing Totoro diaper cake! Is it acceptable to buy one for a pug?? 

xoxox

Becoming slightly obsessed by Deco Nails! I could never in a million years be able to function with them on and I imagine they weigh a ton but still- super kawaii!! 

xoxox

So, hello, what are possibly two of my most favourite things ever...like ever ever??? Yummy food and tattoos I hear you say? Yes correct! 10 points! Have some sweets in celebration! I have found a simply wonderfluff website that is about these 2 very things. Win for me!! (and you, its www.yummytattoos.com) a few of my favourites have to be: 

Which is your favourite?

xoxox

maybe one day..

I think, when I grow up, I want to be a Blythe Doll... Im already the right height... 

xoxox

I want I want I want!

 Love a bit of kawaii jewellery action. In major big squishy love with the panda necklace.

find them at www.punkypins.co.uk

xoxoxo

hello new favourite thing!!

Give me a deer, a unicorn or cute food and you know that I'm in... While having a little trawl through my beloved ETSY this morning (original Babycham glasses with ornamental deer, you will be mine!!!) I stumbled across the cutest site that provided me with all 3, victory in epic proportions! 

Beyond excited about some of these babies!

 (click to enlarge)

They come from

http://www.etsy.com/shop/RusticRainbow

Go there, Love them, Buy them!! 

xoxoxo

Have Bento's not Mento's.....

Sundays are a good day for cooking and generally messing about, doing things you don't ever seem to be able to muster the time for midweek. I've got through a big wodge of cooking today, things that are a bit long winded and time consuming but I don't know if I would ever have the time to create a Bento box as amazing as any of these gorgeous little beasts. If I did somehow find the time, I don't ever think I could eat them. Just beyond cute!

Piplup

Totoro

Hello Kitty

xoxox

Totoro Nails it!

Im completely rubbish when it comes to painting my nails but oh how I wish I could master these beauties...

They have everything you need in a nail! Totoro and Pink Glitter!! Perfection much??? 

xoxox

cutest cake ever????

It doesn't even need words!! I just love it so much!! Needless to say, this will be made at some point! 

xoxox

Is this the best shop ever???

I am in actual shopping hell. Well technically heaven but I have to now save all my money for this wedding business and I don't think the man friend would deem any of these items as essentials... he is wrong...but I just don't see it happening. If you had to write up a list of my favourite things in life, it would easily include:

• french bulldogs (my most favourite dogs in the world)
• toadstools
• anything kawaii
• cats
• kitchenwares
• panda's

That's just for starters. So I am now in shoppers limbo after finding all of these treasures on Modcloth. Why oh why are you not in the UK? Gaaah! If anyone wants to buy me any of these I would be most grateful and I send you a massive smile as payment- and you can take that to the bank my friends..... I think I make a valid case. See exhibits 1-9:

I rest my case! ....Send me your money..please... :) 

xoxox

fairytale kitchenware

Little Red Riding Hood was always my most favourite fairytale when I was a child. I think it was her bold use of colour, her choice in furs and a picknik basket that hooked me! Now however it is her kitchenware. 

(all from modcloth.com)

xoxox