Feeling Autumnal!

So this weekend my boyfriend and I did the most autumnal thing I've done so far this year - we carved pumpkins! (Actually, that's not the MOST autumnal thing I've done as I had a pumpkin spice latte today in Starbucks..) Anyway, I wanted to share with you some photos of our creations!

These little orange beauties were only £1 from Lidl! What a bargain! Bigger ones are available from the supermarket but I thought these were just so cute!

Pumpkin carving tips:

• Use SHARP knifes
• Be super careful!
• Lines are much easier to cut than curves
• Draw an outline in pen first (this is the first year I've done this and my design looks so much more in proportion to previous years!)
• Get as much of the stringy stuff out before you start
• Make sure you have tea lights to put in (this is a major disappointment if you carve a fantastic pumpkin then cant find any candles)
• Cut quite a lot of the 'face' out - you're going to need oxygen to get to the flame in the candle and in my boyfriend's one you can see that the mouth is just a narrow line - this meant that not enough oxygen could get to the flame and so the candle kept going out
• Enjoy - and tag me in any photos you put up of your pumpkins this season on instagram, facebook, pinterest, tumblr or twitter #sophiespotlights

Enjoy! And happy autumn!

Sophie xxx

Uni room advice! :)

Hey Guys!

So, if you watch my YouTube videos you will know that I recently moved back to uni and into a new house! (p.s. if you don’t watch my videos then please check them out :p). I ended up with the biggest room (woohoo) but sometimes I think bigger rooms can be harder to decorate than smaller ones! Anyway, my parents came up and helped me organise my room (and do a lot of the heavy lifting) and I thought I would share some of my ideas for decorating uni rooms!

1) Storage is a biggie!! I’ve found the more storage space the better – also, the more stuff you can put away, the tidier your room looks! The best ‘storage’ buy I’ve made was this Kilby bookcase from IKEA. It was £25 and holds so much stuff! I mainly needed it for my textbooks but I’ve tried to make it pretty with some candles, stuffed toys and fairy lights. ------>

2) Think practicality! In 1^st year I bought a chest of drawers as we hardly had any space for clothes and I’ve kept it with me. This year though my room already had drawers and rather than take up more floor space, I stacked the drawers on top of each other! They aren’t completely matching but I think it kind of works and putting a couple of photo frames on top makes it more homely! (I have blocked out the photos as there are multiple people in them that may not want themselves on the internet)

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3) Cleanliness! I love clear, clean surfaces so keep most of my stuff in drawers or on my bookcase so my desk and windowsill are pretty much clear. This makes it easier to wipe clean without having to move everything and also makes your room appear tidier when everything is packed away.

4) Home comforts! Whether it’s a rug, photo frames, stuffed toys or posters I think its important to make your room comforting and maybe a reminder of home too. My room has accents of red because that’s the theme of our living space at home J

Ok, so to make sure this post isn’t super duper long, I’m gonna stop there however check back again for the next post in this area (about bathroom storage). Thanks for reading – write in the comments if you have any hints or tips for anyone else 

Have a great day,

Sophie xx