New Year's Eve Crafty Décor Inspiration

If you’re sick of seeing your Christmas decorations by now, you don’t have to spend a fortune decking out your home just for your New Year’s Eve party as you can get crafty and make some of your own for a fraction of the price. So, with everybody’s expectations soaring, let us help you to make the perfect decorations. 

All That Glitters

Image Source 

If you can’t go crazy with the glitter at New Years, then when can you? Set the ambiance with DIY mason jars by covering the inside of some old jars with a scattering of festive glitter and pop in a candle. Scatter them around the room, but the higher out of the way the better, as to avoid any accidents after a few too many glasses of champers!

If you have any leftover sparkles, then apply a little glue to your champagne bottles and bling them up too! 

Image Source 

The Backdrop 

If you’re tight on space but still looking to create an impact, then why not create your own party backdrop. It doesn’t have to engulf your entire room but rather highlight just a part of it. A great place to add a backdrop is always behind the food table.

A great idea that we spied on Pinterest was a simple star backdrop. All’s you need are a few sheets of sparkly card to cut into star shapes then simply join together with some clear string. Try different lengths of stars to make for a more interesting look when hung next to each other across the wall.   

Image Source 

Finally, no party décor is complete without a great centre piece amongst your delicious party spread. Stay thrifty and create something from what you already have. Take your champagne glasses that you’ll inevitably need for the countdown and fill with some festive baubles from your Christmas tree. Then simply arrange the glasses around a cake stand, and feel free to sprinkle with as much or little glitter as you like! 

The Centre Piece 

Image Source 

Finally, no party décor is complete without a great centre piece amongst your delicious party spread. Stay thrifty and create something from what you already have. Take your champagne glasses that you’ll inevitably need for the countdown and fill with some festive baubles from your Christmas tree. Then simply arrange the glasses around a cake stand, and feel free to sprinkle with as much or little glitter as you like!

Will you be creating some of your own New Year’s Eve decorations? We’d love to see, so why not tag us in your photos @nicahandbags on Instagram. 

Blogger Lets Strike A Pose Creates Nica Nail Art

We love seeing how some of our favourite bloggers are styling our latest beautiful #NicaHandbags, and when the fabulous Lets Strike A Pose blog offered to transform Nica’s unique pink tulip watercolour print in the form of nail art, we were beyond excited to see the results!

Using her bag as a guide, several nail varnishes, and a few brushes, she makes re-creating our print upon the nails look like a complete doddle! Check out her video below. 

You can read more about her tutorial here. Why not try it out for yourself and share your photos with us on Twitter or Instagram? We'd love to see your great results. Or if our gorgeous Isla pink tulip crossbody has caught your eye, you can snap up your own right here. 

#NicaBakes: How To Make Healthy Peanut Butter Brownies

Imagining all of the unhealthy chocolate that we could scoff this Easter got us thinking that maybe it was about time that we pulled out our oven mitts once more, and whipped up a healthy yet sweet alternative!

So, after a quick peruse around some of our favourite blogs, we were hooked on Blogger Deliciously Ella’s healthy take upon our regular naughty brownies, which switch the flour for sweet potatoes instead. So, we used her recipe as a guide and infused it with a peanut butter twist! Here's what you need:

Ingredients

2 small sweet potatoes
1/3 cup of raw cocoa powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/2 cup coconut cream
2 tablespoons raw honey
½ tsp salt
4 Tablespoons peanut butter
½ cup pitted dates 
½ tsp baking powder
Walnut oil to grease tray 

Instructions

1) Soak the dates in tepid water for ten minutes

2) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

3) Grease your baking tray with a little walnut oil

4) Peel and boil the sweet potatoes until they’re soft enough to mash

5) Place the soaked dates into a food processor and mix until they clump together in a small ball.

6) Add in all of the other ingredients, except the peanut butter and sea salt, and blend together until a smooth mixture forms.

7) Pour into the greased tray and cook for 20 minutes until the tip of a fork pulls clean.

8) Allow to cool before spreading on the peanut butter.

9) Finish with an optional sprinkle of sea salt and cut up into squares to serve. 

Et Voilà! Our delicious peanut brownies are a healthier take upon the traditional brownie, helping to make those naughty indulgences guilt free! 

Here at Nica, we love to try out new healthy recipes, so, please feel free to share your favourites with us and we may just try them out. Get in touch @Nica_Handbags on Twitter or @nicahandbags on Instagram. 

How To Style the Cara Back Pack with the It's Cohen Blog

It was hard not to notice all of the back packs upon the S/S 14 runways, and we've decided to introduce our own little take upon the trend here at NICA. Let us introduce our lovely new Cara back pack, finished in a uniquely designed print by Nica Kim.

It’s a great little hands-free bag to take along on your travels, and we wanted to show you just how easy it is to style too, so, we've asked the lovely It’s Cohen blog to do just that. 

We loved her smart-casual outfit of choice, and her beautiful floral blouse matches our Cara back-pack's design perfectly! What do you think? For more inspiration, check out her full review over at It's Cohen. 

How are you styling your own Nica Handbags? Please share your stylish photos with us via Twitter or Instagram. We'd love to see! 

How to Style the Scarlet Crossbody with the Temporary Secretary Blog

This week, we asked the fabulous blogger Temporary Secretary to show us how she’d style our small Scarlet crossbody, and we loved her choice of a smart yet casual outfit. 

Opting for chic cropped trousers, a cute jumper, heels and a statement necklace, our small Scarlet crossbody sat effortlessly alongside it. You can find out more about her outfit over on the Temporary Secretary blog. How would you style yours? 

And don't forget to show us how you're styling your own #NicaHandbags  by sharing your photos with us on Twitter or Instagram!

How To Style the Darcia Doctors Bag with the Bumpkin Betty Blog

Have you seen our beautiful new Darcia doctor’s bag yet? Available in a black or coral raffia finish, it’s a lot easier to style than you might initially think! So, in order to demonstrate, we asked the wonderful BumpkinBetty blog to show us just that.

She kept it smart casual with a matching monochrome sweater, texture contrast jacket, a pair of jeans, and a very cool pair of silver shoes. You can read her full review over on BumpkinBetty.

What do you think of her outfit? How would you style it? You can purchase your very own Darcia doctors bag here as to try it out for yourself.

If you’re looking for more outfit inspiration, don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest and check out our Bloggers How To Style board!

#NicaBakes: Discover Our Organic Cheese Cake Recipe

As you’re probably already quite aware by now, we love discovering new recipes online and getting some tips from our favourite bloggers but we never get around to sharing our own baking attempts with you. Well, as of today, that’s about to change!

Each month, we’ll be donning our oven mitts and getting our bake on just for you! And just to make ourselves feel a little bit better about all of the extra sweet treats that we’ll now be sampling, all of our recipes will have an healthy edge… But of course that doesn't mean that they'll taste any less delicious! 

We've derived recipe inspiration from various sources online, added in a few of our own ideas, and we’re kicking off our baking fest with a scrummy organic cheese cake for which you’ll need the following ingredients:

Filling:

1.5 cups raw cashews – soaked in water overnight or 4 hours +

1 lemon

1.5 cup coconut milk 

2 tbsp honey

Base:

1 cup pitted dates

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup raw brazil nuts

1/4 cup raw almonds

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

*Feel free to mix and match the seeds and nuts, you don't need to have a big selection – just add up the quantities.

Topping:

Blueberries (fresh or frozen)

*Other toppings can be used such as strawberries, peanut butter, or passion-fruit.

1. Add dates into the food processor and blend until they clump together into a sticky ball.

2. Empty the dates from the food processor and add the rest of the base ingredients, pulsing the food processor until the nuts and seeds form smaller crumbs, next add the dates back in and blend all together.

3. Empty the base mixture into a lightly greased tupperware container or tin and spread the mixture along the bottom evenly, set aside.

4. Drain the soaked cashews and add into the food processor along with the juice of the lemon, (watch out for pips!) and the rest of the filling ingredients, then, blend until a cream mixture forms.

5. Evenly spread the filling mixture over the base and decorate with the washed blueberries, now all is left is to pop the cheesecake into the freezer for 4+ to set.

Et Voilà! Cut the cheese cake up into slices, and enjoy with a nice cup of herbal tea! Why not test out our recipe for yourself, and share how you get along by tagging your bagging photos with #NicaBakes on Twitter or Instagram? 

And we’re always looking for some healthy baking inspiration, so, please share your own recipes with us too! 

#NicaDIY: Discover Our Organic Facial Masks

We love trying out DIYs or baking here at NICA HQ, and we've decided that we no longer want to keep our crafty trials to ourselves! So, we’re going to share them with you right here upon Nica's Notebook.

This week, we’re turning our hand to edible face masks. What could be better than creating a completely organic feast for the skin with leftovers that we can then scoff?!  

Image Source

So, we've rounded up some lovely assistants from the Nica team with different skin types, and popped along to our local shop to pick up some very basic and rather cheap ingredients in order to create two different facial masks. And of course, we turned to some of our favourite blogs for recipe inspiration beforehand.

Best for Oily Skin: Apple and Pear Facial Mask

Ingredients

1 x Green apple

1 x Pear

1 x tablespoon of organic, low fat yogurt

If you suffer from oily skin and what to balance out your pores, then, one of the most effective organic facial masks to turn to combines a mixture of apple and pears. We learnt from Facial-Homemade that the apple contains ursolic acid which helps to banish oil, as well as, alpha hydroxy acids that helps to clear up the pores and even make them smaller! The yoghurt imbues your skin cells with much needed protein, and the pear helps to smooth out its overall appearance.

We simply grated one apple, mashed up a pear and mixed together with a table spoon of organic, low fat yoghurt. We must admit that it didn't have the best smell after adding the yoghurt though! It was a bit messy to apply and bits did keep falling off too. We left it for 15 minutes before removing with warm water, followed by a splash of cold water as to close up the pores again. 

Our Results?

Our skin is still feeling soft and balanced the next day, and it definitely helped to smoothen out and remove any graininess from its surface, so, we'd be interested in seeing the effect after a few more applications. It also makes a great summertime mask as it creates a cooling effect upon the skin. The process was a bit messy though... So, we're not too sure if we'll actually go to the effort of doing it all over again. 

Best for Banishing Breakouts: Strawberry Facial Mask

Ingredients:

4 x Strawberries

1 x Tablespoon of Sour Cream

Inspired by Eco Beauty Secrets, our Strawberry facial mask is cheap yet effective, as this fruit of choice is packed with salicylic acid that is known to unblock pores and prevent breakouts. 

We simply took the four strawberries and mixed in the sour cream, and applied to the face for 15 minutes. 

Before testing out the mask, the complexion of our lovely NICA assistant was fairly mixed with some dry patches and a slightly oily T-zone, and hoped it'd even out her complexion.

Our Results?

The application of the mask was a bit tricky as the consistency was a mixture between runny and lumpy, so, parts of it kept sliding down the face. After washing the mixture off, the skin was left feeling quite soft, and also slightly more even the following morning– with less dry patches and oily spots!

Overall, we found the face mask quite messy but it did make a small difference after just the one use, so, it's definitely a good idea if you want a cheap and natural alternative to purchasing products from expensive brands.

Which natural facial masks do you recommend? Share them with us @Nica_Handbags on Twitter. Or try out our examples for yourself and let us know what you think!  

One Bag Three Outfits with the Judy Crossbody

We love seeing how some of our favourite bloggers style our handbags, and they often inspire our own outfit choices too. This week however, we thought that we’d return the favour and inspire your outfits instead!

Using our pretty Judy crossbody in bone, we’re going to show you just how versatile a style it is by styling it in three entirely different outfits.

Time for Tea 

Team with a Peter Pan collar tea dress and flats for a smart yet casual daytime look. 

Glam Rock 

Switch to a black leather skirt to infuse an edgier vibe into your style, which is great for a night time outfit. And a floral blouse is perfect for softening the look too. 

Super Flower

Here we've created another smart but casual look by teaming the crossbody with a pair of floral trousers and a simple white top. It's a really practical yet stylish outfit if you fancy indulging in a spot of shopping!

Our Judy flat crossbody is currently available at www.nica.co.uk, and if you're feeling inspired by our outfit suggestions, why not share some snaps of how you're styling your own Nica handbags with us  @Nica_Handbags on Twitter or @nicahandbags on Instagram. 

#NicaChristmas: Festive Craft Inspiration

There are so many fun things to do around this time of the year, from spending your evenings at home trying out traditional Christmas DIYs or baking, to venturing outdoors and enjoying those splendid Christmas markets or dabbling in a spot of festive ice skating.

As the Christmas songs are already playing in our office, we're looking for some festively crafty inspiration. Take a look what we've found so far upon our new Pinterest board #NicaChristmas Crafts.

Image Source 

One of our favourites has to also be one of the easiest too, and that's the jam jar turned candle holder. Simply pop a candle inside a jar and festively decorate as you please. Ribbons, fake snow, and berries are the usual choices but the possibilities are endless!

Why not share your Christmas DIYS with us using #NicaChristmas upon our social channels or tagging us directly on Facebook or Instagram? We can't wait to be inspired by what you've been creating.