White Chocolate and Raspberry Brownies

You will need:

• Before you start, chop the white chocolate and raspberries into small chunks.
• Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C and line your baking tin with baking paper.
• Put the butter/margarine in a bowl and add half of the white chocolate chunks. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering hot water until the mixture has melted. Leave this on the side to cool.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and the sugar to a pale, creamy consistency.
• In to this, fold the melted butter mixture and then the sifted flour.
• When mixed, add in the rest of the white chocolate chunks and chopped raspberries.
• Pour the mixture into the baking tray and spread evenly, making sure all the corners are filled.
• Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until the brownies are golden on top.
• Cut into small pieces and serve with fresh raspberries.

Monthly Round-up #2

In June...

• I got a job! After four lesson observations and interviews at different schools I finally secured a full-time teaching job for September. I'll be teaching year 5 (9 and 10 year olds) in the school I actually completed my fourth year teaching placement in. I feel so lucky, relieved and very excited to get decorating my classroom (suggestions welcome)!
• I visited my boyfriend and went to the Cotswolds. Last weekend I travelled down to Cheltenham and had an amazing weekend with James. He took me on a surprise trip to Bourton-on-the-Water which was beautiful and lots of fun. I'm planning a post on this trip so stay tuned!
• I had my graduation ball. On the 14th my whole teaching course met up in Manchester and we had our graduation ball. It was a lovely event spent with my best friends and we had fun dressing up and talking about our futures as qualified teachers!

Next Month...

• I will be very excited to officially graduate on the 28th
• On the 14th I will have my new class for the first time
• I want to make time for some more DIY posts!

What makes you happy? #2

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Classic pieces of clothing

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Pastel colours

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Finding Art challenges to give to my class

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Peonies

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IKEA cushions

What makes you happy?

Wish List | Excel Clothing

After spotting The Blogger Programme's competition with Excel Clothing over on Twitter (the fountain of all knowledge) I decided to get involved and create my own Wish List. These types of posts are one of my absolute favourites to read despite giving me complete wardrobe envy. I think a wish list can be a great way of remembering items you are interested in and you can also pair them up with other items to make desired outfits. Above are my top 3 favourite items from Excel Clothing.

Sugarhill Boutique : Bike Stripe Short Sleeve Dress

I don't know where to start...the dusky blue stripes, the flattering skater fit, the beautiful bike illustrations. I just love everything about this dress. Plus it's in the sale! I'm so sorry bank account.

Tommy Hilfiger : Dalmance Short Sleeve Stripe Blouse

Yes I know i've picked stripes again, but I just can't help it. I am addicted to navy and white stripes and paired with a peter pan collar is just perfection.

Michael Kors : Selam Long Saffiano Satchel Bag

At £315 it's pretty obvious that I can't afford this bag but hey...this wish list doesn't have to be achievable right? I've never spent a lot of money on a bag before but if I ever do, this might just be the one.

This is my competition entry to The Blogger Programme's competition . Anyone can enter so get your wishlist posted soon to be able to win £500 to spend at Excel Clothing. 

IKEA Haul

Last week I took a cheeky trip to IKEA leading to this Friday Favourite (on a Sunday) and home ware haul post. Like the majority of people in this world I love an IKEA trip and always come back with a basket full of goodies. I can never quite get over how cheap things are for good quality. When I move in with my boyfriend later on this year, I think I might aswell just have my paycheque forwarded to IKEA. 

Anyway, let's stop rambling so you can look at what I have recently bought :) 

The candle holder/plant pot/makeup brush holder that nearly every blogger has. And I don't ever care because it's pretty and the perfect size and has taken pride of place on top of my MUJI storage.

The tray (underneath) is from the new PS 2014 collection and is one of my favourite purchases because it's the perfect size for two cups of tea and a plate of toast for breakfast in bed with the boyfriend. When it's not acting as a breakfast tray it occasionally sits on top of my drawers housing my every growing candle collection. These candle holders are also from IKEA and are a lovely and safe way to display my DIY washi tape candles.

IKEA have really stepped up their bowl game and their PS 2014 collection has again made me happy. These bowls came in a set of two but there were other colours available (mint green bowl you will be mine soon).

To be honest i'm not sure what to do with these. They come as a set of three and I thought I could store rings etc in them but it turns out I don't actually have many. Who'd have thought it! They might be hiding away until I start my teaching job in September and I can use them for storing paper clips etc. 

Oops another bowl. For some reason this colour just jumped out at me and they actually had a larger one on display but I couldn't find them anywhere on the shelves. It broke my heart but this little one will do nicely for now. He's happily storing my washi tapes for me and doing a very good job. 

My absolute favourite find was this pillow from the PS 2014 collection. I bought two of these and another two in a brighter pink colour. I think this peachy pink is just the perfect shade and I adore the pattern. Also, it matches my bowls which just makes me too happy.

A bit of a boring one but this jar was something like 75p (crazy I know) and has ended up storing all my bobble, pins and elastic bands. Not very pretty but useful. 

 Can we all just take a moment and appreciate how cute that flamingo glass is! Again I think it was about 75p for one so I stocked up with 4 of them. I'm sure my other half isn't going to be a big fan but ah well. I bought two of the tall glasses with the intention of using them for hot chocolates with marshmallows...of course.  

For some reason I went a bit glassware crazy on this trip and got these pink cups to add to my fast growing collection. I can imagine sitting in the sunshine with a pink cup filled with a fresh strawberry smoothie and a matching pink straw. Am I sad? And no IKEA trip is complete without picking up a pack of their straws. What girl doesn't want pastel straws?

What are your favourite IKEA finds?

Tips on getting a job

If you follow my twitter feed, you will know that last Friday I was offered a full-time job. That means that in September I will be a fully qualified teacher and have my very own year 5 class. Even though I now have the job of my dreams, this definitely wasn't an easy experience and I had plenty of interviews and lesson observations before I was accepted somewhere. Over the past few weeks I have learnt a lot about applying for jobs and the interview process so I thought i'd share some of these tips with you.

Keep your CV short and concise 
One mistake people tend to make is to include every bit of information about themselves in their CV. Having a list of interests as long as your arm is great but doesn't always look good on a CV. Limit your list of interests to the ones that are relevant to the job. For example, does your potential employer really need to know that you went horse riding when you were 10 or you had a couple of flute lessons in primary school? Probably not. My list of interests tends to be reading, learning, ICT and blogging, art, running and tennis. These interests all support my application for a teaching job and may be something the employer is specifically looking for

Be prepared
Being prepared is one of the most important tips when getting a job. When applying for any job, it is important to do your research. Find out as much as you can about the role or company. Learn the names of your potential employers and look on the companies website for their 'ethos' or 'vision'. Don't just read their website back to them but use some of the key words to show you have a shared vision. 

Make yourself stand out
It is likely the interviewers will see a lot of candidates so you need to get yourself remembered. How? Offer them something they don't have. Every interviewee will say they are 'hardworking, work well in a team and they are organised' so you need to skip the obvious and offer something different. What employers want most is for you to be committed to the role and the company. People who see a job as more than just a job are much more appealing. 

The interview
This tip I got from my mum as she interviews people at her work quite regularly. She said that an interviewer will often be listening out for key words in your answers and you will often see them being written down. It means that if you have a question like "what behaviour management strategies do you find effective", the interviewer will be listening for key words like 'behaviour policy, high expectations, promoting intrinsic behaviour'.

Seem interested but don't overdo the questions
When I was visiting a school a few months ago, there was another teacher there who did exactly this. Obviously we were asking questions about the school and were all interested in the answers but there was one lady who was relentlessly drilling the head teacher on the tiniest details about the school. You do want to appear interested but only ask questions you actually want to know the answers to. Asking about things you can easily find on the companies website will not make you sound interested, just unprepared.

Be grateful
Even if you don't get the job, be very grateful for the chance you were given. Employers really appreciate a thank you and in the past I have even complimented a school on the way they ran the interviews and they were delighted. You never know what is going to happen (the person who was offered the job may decline) and you want to be remembered in a positive way.

Keep going
The hardest part of applying for jobs is bouncing back after rejection. If you have been unsuccessful, ring up and ask for feedback. Most companies will be happy to let you know how you did and any tips to improve. Use what you have learnt and apply it next time. I know better than anyone how relentless applying for jobs and interviews can be but you just have to realise that if you didn't get a job then it wasn't meant to be. You will get what you want in the end.

Freebies | Travel Checklist

Whether you love or hate it, packing for a holiday is always a stressful task. That dreaded feeling of thinking you have forgotten something is just the worse. Therefore I've decided to create a printable 'Travel Checklist' for you to use to ensure you have packed everything you need. 

This checklist is aimed towards females (sorry boys) and is ideal for a 7 day summer holiday. If you would like me to make something similar for a city break or a winter holiday, just leave a comment and I will. 

You can alternatively download this as a printable PDF here.

DIY | Pressed Flower Frame

Hello lovlies. This is a post I've been incredibly excited to share with you since starting the project a couple of weeks ago. Pressed flowers have always been such a dreamy thing for me and after spotting gorgeous handmade framed pressed flowers on Pinterest (where else?), I knew I had to give it a go).

• A flower press (if you don't have one a large book under something heavy also works)
• Fresh flowers
• A photo frame
• Paint and a paintbrush (optional - I found an old frame and wanted to change the colour)
• Glue

Step 1

Choose your flowers. I picked my flowers from my garden so they're all fairly green but that's the look I wanted. I picked the purple flowers from a bunch that my mum bought (thanks mum!) to add a pop of colour.

Step 2

Lay your flowers out on your press and tighten the lid. Make sure you don't put too many flowers in at once or they can get stuck together. If you're using a book, close it and put something very heavy on top. There is lots of different advice on how long you should leave the flowers for so it depends on how good your press is, whether the weight on your book is heavy or not and whether your flowers have any moisture on before being pressed. I left mine for about five days and they turned out fine.

Step 3

If you've got an old frame you'd like to use (like me), you can paint it to make it more up to date. As i'm planning on hanging my finished piece on the wall, I wanted the colour of the flowers to pop so I painted my frame a light duck egg blue. It ended up needing a few coats of paint with an hour of drying time inbetween layers.

Step 4

You now need to arrange your flowers in a setup you like. I put the large green piece in the middle and arranged the more delicate flowers around it. When you are happy with the arrangement place the back on the frame. I needed to put a piece of white paper behind the arrangement so you may need to done. If you're worried about the flowers moving, you can glue the flowers to the background paper.

Step 5

Sit back and enjoy your beautiful handmade frame. It cost me nothing (maybe £5 for a frame if you don't have one) and could easily be sold on Etsy for £20-£30. You're welcome. 

Freebies | Monthly Round-up Banners

Hi all. Today I have put my creative hat on and made some Monthly Round-up images that I am going to use on my posts. The good news is, you can use them too! You can save the images and use them on any monthly review/favourites/round-up posts you may have scheduled. The only rule is you have to credit my blog (littlejen1.blogspot.co.uk) somewhere in the post so others can use my freebies too.

* Please note: All of the backgrounds to the images were found on Pinterest so I can't credit the original creator directly. If any of these images are yours please let me know and I will credit you :)