Hello and Happy Summer Solstice!

It’s officially the first day of Summer so I thought it’s about time I share my Spring Favourites.

This Spring has been quite different for me, and probably for you too, as the entire season has been during lockdown. Usually in the Spring me and my family will go into the city, to the beach or to other nature parks at the weekend to enjoy the weather, see the pretty spring flowers and do some photography. However, this year we’ve been stuck at home, I appreciate having a garden much more and I am so thankful to have an outside space to sit and read a book, see the flowers, and get some fresh air.

Baking

I mentioned baking in my last favourites post and I just love it so much! Throughout spring I’ve baked almost every other day and it just makes me feel so happy and relaxed and I love trying something new. I have a couple of new recipes I’m excited to share with you this summer so stay tuned for those!

Friendship Bracelets 

One of my favourite things during lockdown has been making friendship bracelets. I started making friendship bracelets with my best friend in primary school, but it had been almost 5 years since I’d last made one so I had to relearn from the beginning but I was surprised how fast I picked it up again and I’ve really been enjoying it. I challenged myself to learn how to read bracelet patterns and I’ve started designing my own too which I’ve been loving!! It’s almost like coding in a way, and I really like the challenge of figuring out which way to knot to change the path and create a new design. I’ve been posting some of my bracelets over on @lilacdaisiesdiy and you can find my patterns at LilacDaisy on The Bracelet Book.

Digital Art

I started making digital art over a year ago, but I’ve really gotten back into it the past few months. I’m currently using Adobe Fresco on my iPad which is free and has a range of brushes and tools to choose from. I’m really enjoying practicing my illustration skills and getting more creative and having a go at drawing my quotes by hand.

Photography

I’m loving getting outside and doing a little photography every now and then, even if it’s only to my garden or a short walk. At the moment we have pink poppies in the garden but after a day they’ve blown away, so you have to be quick and I’ve also seen a lot of birds about recently including a woodpecker! One of my favourite things about photography is how it helps me to notice all the little details around me, for example if I see a flower I might say ‘ooh that’s pretty!’ but if I get my camera out whilst I try to find the perfect angle I begin to study it and see all the little details I may not have noticed otherwise. I’ve also loved getting creative and trying out new photoshoot ideas and learning more about what my camera can do.

Colouring

One of the tasks I chose for Mindfulness Monday during The Positivity Project was colouring, and I’ve found it really relaxing even if it’s just for 15 minutes a day or once a week, it’s a great mood-boost. I really enjoyed working on the Positivity Project this Spring, and I have been following on with some of the daily themes and prompts after the project and it’s really helped me stay positive and connected.

Tiqets Culture Festival

This was a really fun week! Tiqets hosted a free online festival where you could join live-streams where a tour guide would show you around different attractions. My favourites were the ABBA Museum and Casa Batlló, it was really interesting being able to tour places from around the world from the comfort of my home. On another note I’ve also really enjoyed the fortnightly interviews/lectures on Crowdcast from Historic Royal Palaces, including History of Royal Fashion, and The Ravenmaster from The Tower of London.

TV Shows

Miss Scarlet and The Duke

I love a mystery and I really enjoyed watching this new series on Alibi this Spring. It’s set in Victorian London and is about a female private investigator which was really cool as it was uncommon at the time and showed her struggle/fight to win the acceptance of her male peers in the police force. I hope there will be a series two! I’m kinda excited to see the relationship develop between Miss Scarlet and The Duke and I think it would be really cool to see them work as private investigators together.

The Joy of Painting

I really recommend this TV series with Bob Ross if you’re interested in painting. I have honestly learnt so much from just 10 episodes! I don’t know why they don’t teach art this way in school? Everyone I’ve spoken to just says you should be born with the skills! But there are certain techniques for drawing and painting that really should be taught, centuries ago the art masters would take on apprentices so that they could pass on their techniques and teach the next generation. I don’t know if it’s just the schools I went to, but art has always been the teacher sets a task/hands out a worksheet and you’re just all expected to do it, which was fine and I do enjoy that, but there was never any teaching on how to use the different art mediums such as watercolours, like just from watching YouTube I’ve discovered wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry but I can’t understand why didn’t they teach that in school? Sorry for the rant 😂 but I really feel strongly about this, more should be taught in school, it shouldn’t just be taught by YouTube! I’ve also learnt a bunch of techniques from watching Portrait Artist of The Week and I’ve been noting them all down in my art notebook.

H2O Just Add Water

I love H20 Just Add Water, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen them in order, that is until now, as I used to just watch whatever episode was on Nickelodeon. I recently watched season 1 on Sky Kids and it was great, I hope they add season 2 soon!

Holly Hobbie

I’m currently on season 2 of Holly Hobbie and I’ve really enjoyed it so far. I heard about Holly Hobbie dolls from a book about collecting vintage toys which my mum won when I was little so I was surprised when I saw a program with the same name and I just had to find out more.

Malory Towers

I loved the Malory Towers and St Clere’s books by Enid Blyton when I was younger and I’m really enjoying watching this adaptation. It’s just so good and the acting is great! I’ve been watching it with my mum as she also read them as a child, and she’s been really enjoying it too so I would say it is suitable for all ages.

Music

Ilse Delange Changes

I love all of the songs on this album so much I’ve been listening to it on repeat on Spotify and I finally got the CD a couple of weeks ago. I think if I had to choose a favourite it would have to be Wrong Direction or Deep Sea.

Books

I’ve read a lot more than I expected this season, and I’ve really enjoyed having more time to read. I’ve somehow already completed my 2020 Reading Challenge on Goodreads! Two of my favourites I’ve read this season are The Children of Castle Rock by Natasha Farrant and White Boots by Noel Streatfeild. I found Harriet’s bravery to skate after her illness really inspiring in White Boots, and the mystery of The Children of Castle Rock was so well written it was awesome when all the clues started to come together, little bits that had just been hinted here and there suddenly made everything make sense.

 

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I’m currently working on a couple of projects, which I am really enjoying but it does mean that I have very little free time for the next 4-ish weeks, however I do have posts planned to write so I hopefully I’ll be back with another soon. I’m currently aiming to continue posting weekly, on Saturdays at 4pm GMT, with a mixture of craft, sewing and knitting tutorials, book reviews, baking recipes and more 💛

Follow my crafty adventures and for more updates on my posts check out my Instagram @lilacdaisiesdesigns and @princessemily_m

Stay safe and best wishes,

Emily M x