Meet Emma from Emma's Looking Glass

One thing that I love about blogging is connecting with other bloggers and the friendships that are formed. I was so excited when UK blogger Emma agreed to be featured on Teacups and Cake. Emma's Looking Glass is on my list of must read blogs and I am always excited to read about Emma's latest adventures. She is always friendly, down to earth and quite charming. To get to know Emma better, I had her answer some questions. Enjoy!

1. Tell me a little bit about Emma's Looking Glass

Emma's Looking Glass is a place for me to share adventures, personal style, recipes and anything else that I like or feel the need to express. I see it as a way of being creative and having fun. I also think it's a great way to document good things in my life.

2.Why did you decided to start blogging and how long have you been blogging for? 

My friend suggested I started blogging a few years ago after helping her out by modelling her costume designs for uni, she thought it could be a great way for me to have fun and share my style and photography, I thought it was a great idea so in 2011 I started my blog. Sadly at the time I was far too ill to commit to blogging. My health improved a little since and in May last year I felt confident that I could attempt to blog again, and since then I have been blogging regularly. 

3. What is your favourite thing about blogging/best experience with blogging so far?

I love how creative blogging is, from writing posts, photography, outfits, to planning outings, it's great seeing it all come together to create a post. I've also found that blogging has made me feel more like myself again. Long term illness made me feel like I lost some of my identity, and I feel that I've found that again, by blogging and interacting with like minded people. I've met a few lovely bloggers in the last few months, it's so nice meeting people who understand blogging! 

4. What influences your personal style? 

There's a few aspects that influence my style, mainly whatever I'm drawn to with a pinch of what's on trend. I love vintage, especially the 60's at the moment. I have a few dresses that I adore from this era. For a few years now I've been a hoarder of floral prints, I'm totally addicted, I think I need professional help! Right now I'm loving black with floral embroidery. 

5. Which post that you have written is your favourite? And why?

My favourite post is about my Christmas tree cupcakes. It's my favourite post as I'm so proud of the cakes and especially the photos I took. I've recently been taking photography classes to learn how to use my camera on manual, these photos were the first proper photos I took after learning the basics. 

6. Tell us about your cat, Alfie.

Alfie aka bag puss on account of his massive tummy, also called saggy knickers, is a very special cat indeed. He's been in my life for almost 11 years and without meaning to sound like a crazy cat lady I feel we have a deep bond. He came into my life when I was having a very difficult time with school and family and he's sat with me while I've been at my lowest with my illness. Unlike most cats it took him 10 years to learn to talk, now he won't stop! Last year I taught him to sit, it seems you can teach an old cat new tricks! 

7. You have some great DIYs and recipes on your blog. Where do you find your inspiration? 

I bake a lot, and I like adding things to recipes I've already tried. I get a lot of inspiration from Pinterest - one of the best sites for time wasting with the massive side effect of making you starving after seeing all the great photos of delicious food! 

8. Favourite places in the UK? Must visits for travellers?

I have a few favourite places in the uk. London is amazing, from tourest sites like the London eye, Hyde park, the V&A museum to vintage and unique shops in the east end area, Brick Lane, Portobello road, Spitalfelds. Everything is so close in London, when I studied at LCF I had lectures on oxford street - one of our main destinations for shopping in the heart of London and then less than 20 minutes later I'd be back on the main site in the east end.

I also love the countryside, one of my favourite places is cornwall, I go every summer, it's great to be out in the country and minutes from stunning coast. Also all the little seaside towns with their old buildings, Polperro is one of my favourites, there's a house there covered in seashells. St Ives, Port Isaac and Padstow are beautiful too.

9. You are quite the accomplished Cake Decorator. Any tips, for those like me, looking to start?

That's a massive compliment - thank you! I would say don't give up, if in doubt on how to do something look it up on YouTube - I learnt how to make fondant roses and other flowers that way. There's so many tutorials on there. Always take your time and practice as much as you can. 

To hear more from Emma check out her blog Emma's Looking Glass! 

Happy Valentines Day - Special Guest Blogger

Heyy Everyone,
Happy Valentine's Day! I was talking to my friend who blogs Say Pleats! and she was telling me a funny story of what happened to her, which inspired this story for one of her English class, where she had to write from the perspective of a middle schooler. I thought that I would share it with you all. Here it is:

So I like this guy.
But I don't know if he likes me back. I've gone out with like, oh I dunno, 15 guys in the past three months to get over him but I can't. I mean, he is the most adorable person on the planet! With his adorable smile and his multicolor braces, and the saggy pants and the Abercrombie polo, what's not to love about him? The best part is that he reeks of Axe. It's almost like he takes a bath in it. I sit next to him in science class, and I purposely forget to bring my notebook every day to class so that he has to give me a piece of paper. And every single day, his loose leaf paper smells just like him. It's great.
So anyways, I want him to ask me to the eighth grade dance, which is only four months away. So that means that I need to find out if he likes me or not soon so that way I know if he is going to ask me to the dance or if I need to find some other guy to ask me to the dance. Because we all know that I can't ask him to the dance it's like an unwritten law or something.
I wanted to hang out with him and show him that I am just as charming out of school as I am in, so I called my friend Kristin, who has social studies with him and knows that I am like head over heels for this guy, and I had her IM him and ask him to come to the movies on Friday with me and Kristin. In order for him not to feel cornered or anything like that, I invited my other friends Kasia, Samantha, Alexandra, and Lauren, and then Lauren was bringing her brothers friend who is really cute, so that way he wouldn't be, like, the only guy.
Last minute, he backed out. He said he had to babysit his brother or something. Which is really geeky but kind of cute cause he is such a nice guy. So we went to the movies anyway, and I ended up telling my other good friend, Samantha, that I really really like him and have liked him for like 6 months. And since Samantha is in English with him, I told her to tell him what I think about him and then tell me what he says about if he would ask me to the eighth grade dance or not. She told me later that day over IM that he isn't sure whether or not he likes me, so he has to think about it.
Now, listen. I have a secret for you. So like two weeks ago when I was taking a break for about 3 days from boyfriends (this was after breaking up with Cameron because he smelled funny and then going out with Michael because he was really cute and he did my homework for me), I wrote a love note to the guy I told you I have liked for forever. It was all, "when you walk into class you brighten the room and you are so sweet and nice and I've liked you or forever and even though I tell everyone that I broke up with Cameron because he smelled like eggs, I really did it because I like you too much" and on and on. When I finished it, it was eight pages long. I have really wanted to give it to him, but instead of doing that I called Samantha, you know, the girl who I had talk to him about liking me, and I read all eight pages of it to her over the phone. She was like, "AHMG that is sooooo cute do you want me to tell him?" And I was like, "yeah obvi, and then tell me what he says so that way I know whether or not to talk to him in Science the period after you two have English together.
So she told him and he was like, "Wow that's sweet. I didn't know she liked me that much. Maybe I will ask her to the eight grade dahhhnce."
So when she told me I totally felt like flipping out I was so happy! But instead of dancing in the hallway, I totes changed my facebook status using facebook mobile on my phone to, "Bianca is totes so happy right now!"
So when I went to science we flirted the entire time, and then the next day at lunch, Luke, who was told by Alex, who was told my Samantha, who was told by my crush, asked me to the dance for my crush! I was like, "yeah, I guess that'd be cool, " because I wanted to keep my excitement down, ya know?
So two weeks later, we like broke up. I decided that he was too intellectual for me. I mean, it was like talking to a dead stick, and who wants that? So now, I found this ahhhhdorable guy in the cluster next to mine that I think likes me back… we'll see what happens!


Hopefully you enjoyed her story as much as I did. I hope that everyone has a great Valentines Day.
Love
belle