A few of my favourite things #113

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It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. In fact, I think this is the first proper instalment since Lockdown! I’ve already blogged about the little things I’ve come to appreciate in the last few weeks, as well as the things I’m looking forward to the most, so here’s a little photo diary of Life in Lockdown.

The great outdoors

I love going for our daily walks. Jenson was really into it initially, especially when it came to exploring the woods, but these days he’d rather be at home playing computer games or watching YouTube, so I have to practically drag him out. He’s four, not 14!

On a nice day, I love walking along the beach and dipping my toes in the sea. And feeding the squirrels in the park has genuinely become my favourite thing to do!

Lettering

Letting has been my major creative outlet through all of this, thanks in large part to Blink Lettering‘s Better Brush Letters. I’m an Ambassador for Blink and I genuinely can’t recommend these resources highly enough. New workbooks will be launched on Wednesday!

I recently completed the alphabet and felt such a sense of achievement.

 

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When I sat down to do tonight’s practice sheet I wasn’t happy with my letters and couldn’t figure out why. Was it because it felt unnatural to use three different strokes? Because it looked so different to the way I usually write the letter a? I don’t know… Doing a couple of extra pages of ovals last night helped but extra practice with these just seemed to make it worse. It probably didn’t help that I was lettering in bed. And things did improve when I slowed down and exaggerated my hand lifts. When I looked back at this sheet I spotted a couple I actually liked so gave them a little tick. It was strangely satisfying. How did you get on with today’s sheet?

A post shared by Emma Farley (@acornishgeek) on Apr 2, 2020 at 2:12pm PDT

 

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I’ve finished the alphabet! 🎉 I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the bonus sheets before the next workbook 🤓 #BetterBrushLetters

A post shared by Emma Farley (@acornishgeek) on Apr 29, 2020 at 12:31am PDT

 

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Holy crap, I am so proud of this! 💚 Do you see that freehanding? The top set is traced but the bottom two are all me 🎉 I’ve learned so much from @blinklettering’s #BetterBrushLetters and can’t wait for the next workbook 🤓

A post shared by Emma Farley (@acornishgeek) on Apr 29, 2020 at 12:31pm PDT

I treated myself to a pack of the Artline Stix brush pens because they looked like such fun. I wasn’t expecting much for £7.99 for a pack of 12, and I’ve written with better, but I really love them – as does Jenson. He ended up blagging the first pack that arrived so I ordered a second.

The Better Brush Letters workbook gave me the confidence to play more with lettering, so I started exploring my creative side a bit over the weekend.

Finding time to read

I was worried that I wouldn’t get a chance to read during Lockdown, as 99% of my reading is done on the commute, but I’ve found that you can actually manage a book a week if you keep a book by the sofa and avoid mindless scrolling! So far I’ve read Holly Bourne’s Pretending, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (I need to read The Night Circus), and The Switch by Beth O’Leary. Plus I just started Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan. Reviews coming soon.

I treated myself to a copy of Breathe magazine too.

New clothes

I rarely buy myself new clothes, largely because I’ve struggled a bit with my body image since having Jenson, and I didn’t see the point in buying ‘nice’ clothes until I lost weight. Lately I’ve come to accept my size and I’ve decided to start buying clothes which make me smile. Joanie is great for this as their clothes are quirky with a great fit. Recent treats include this rainbow dress, astronaut tee, and dinosaur top.

What does your ‘Life in Lockdown’ look like?