May Favourites - 2020

Due to a certain crisis, I haven't really been able to leave the house much, so this months favourites is not the most exciting. It may be that way for the foreseeable future, but if there is one thing that Covid-19 is helping me with, its appreciating the little things in life! I hope that you are all staying safe, we will get through this! If you would like to see some more exciting Favourites posts, click on the links down below:

• January Favourites (2020) - Click Here
• February Favourites (2020) - Click Here
• March Favourites (2020) - Click Here
• April Favourites (2020) - Click Here
• Other Favourites posts - Click Here

Fairest of them All Mouse Ears

My absolute favourite design that I have added to my Etsy Shop so far! I cannot believe how amazing these ears look in comparison to the first pair that I made. I am very proud of these ears, they are inspired by one of my favourite Disney Princesses, Snow White. 

If you are interested, you can check out my Etsy Shop here.

Doughnut Mouse Ears

I also made these mouse ears in the month of May. They are another pair of ears that I am very proud of! I was inspired by the all the amazing food that you are able to get at Disney. I was hoping to find a Disney food printed fabric, but I was unable to find a print that was sold in the UK, and I think especially at the moment it is important to support small local businesses to ensure they will survive the current crisis (and also, postage is expensive!). These ears look fantastic, and they are definitley among my favourite designs.

I also made it so that these ears are available with any colour bow and trimming! Here is a light pink version of the ears that I made for another customer! 

Stitch Photo

I took this photo of Stitch to help promote my business on social media, and I just think that it is the most adorable thing! Stitch is definitley one of the cutest Disney Characters!

Cinderella Ears

One of my customers ordered some custom ears, and I was so happy with how they looked I decided to add them to my shop for other people to purchase. I absolutely love how these turned out, the fabric print is so beautiful! I seem to be building up a Princess Collection!

Logo 

Since lockdown has started, I decided that I was going to start taking my Etsy shop a little bit more seriously and revamp my shop and social media accounts. I started adding nicer backgrounds to my photos when taking pictures of my ears and edited my social media accounts, but I felt like my logo just didn't look right and needed a makeover. I then messaged an artist (@Orange.Glazed.Cupcake on Instagram - give them a follow!) about possibly doing a commission drawing for me and the result is absolutely fantastic!

I was sent a line drawing, a coloured version and the final version. Here are the different designs.

Line Drawing

First Colouring 

Final Drawing

They all look so beautiful! I thought that the first version of the drawing was it finished and I wasn't expecting anything else, but the final version is just so fantastic. I feel like this new logo has completely transformed how my accounts look and I am very proud of how far my shop has come!

Baking - Cookies and bread

Baking has been a thing everyone has been doing during lockdown, and I decided to join the party. I had never made bread or cookies before and I decided that I wanted to make an attempt this month. Two of the most random choices - yes - but don't judge me okay!

I made a plated loaf of bread and it looks absolutely amazing! I thought that I went really wrong when I first started making it but it really turned out great!

I had a few attempts at making cookies this month, the first few were more like mini cakes, but hey they still tasted nice! My final attempt was quite possibly the best batch of cookies I have ever made! They were double chocolate chip and were a different recipe to the first batch that I made, and I will definitely be making some more. But as of now...well I have used all of our baking supplies now...

New Stationary

I finished my second year at university, so what did I do? Buy more stationary so I can get a head start on my third year of course!
I ordered some pens and a fancy new notebook to get a head start on my dissertation. The book isn't too fancy, but it does have dividers in it and I really struggled to find a notebook like this so it made me happy enough!
If you know me, I always love getting new stationary!

The Sims 4 Realm of Magic

I haven't really been able to live my life while we have been in lockdown, so I have been living vicariously through my Sims. I decided I really wanted to add some witches and wizards to my game, so I caved and bought the Realm of Magic Game Pack. I have really enjoyed having this in my game, I absolutely love the new world and I really like how the magic system works.

Disney Calendar

I have had this Disney Calendar since the start of the year, but I really wanted to point out how nice the painting was for the month of May. I love Tangled, and I wasn't expecting to see the appearance of one of the newer Disney Movies in here, I thought it would only be the classic Disney Movies, so it was a nice little surprise!


And that is it for my favourites for the month of May! I hope you have all been staying safe whilst being in lockdown, wherever you may be! What have you been getting up to during lockdown? And what are your favourites for the month of may? Let me know! 

The Book Blogger Confession Tag

More book content! Exactly what you all were wanting! As you can see from the title, today's post will be The Book Blogger Confession tag. Although this blog is not exclusively for books, I do make my fair share of reading posts, so I believe that is justifiable enough to do this tag! I found this tag over on Booklovingnut.com, so be sure to check out their post! Without further ado, let's get into it!

1) Which book, most recently, did you not finish?

Photo Credit: @WeeReaderBlog

For me, the book that I haven't finished most recently is A Gentleman's guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. I was reading this book in October/November of 2019, but I had a lot going on at that time. I was working on a show for university, with show rehearsals going from 9am til 6pm atleast, I was also attending interviews for the Disney Cultural Exchange Program, so there was just a lot going on and it was not the right time to read that book. I didn't get too far into it and I am looking forward to being able to pick it up once again!

2) Which book is you guilty pleasure?

Photo Credit: @LostInPages

I would have to say my guilty pleasure book is A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J Maas. Although it was exciting that the ACOTAR Universe was getting an additional story, not much really happens in this book. I refer to it as the Christmas special of the series - not impacting the cannon story too much but letting you know what happened to the characters after the main book series. Still, I found this to be a very enjoyable read when I first read it and I would probably say it is one of my favourite books in the franchise. 

3) Which book do you love to hate?

Photo Credit: @Gramho

Hate is a very strong word, and I wouldn't necessarily like to say I love to hate a particular story as whether I like the book or not, the author has put serious work into it and many other readers have managed to enjoy something that I couldn't. However, I will say that I am just not a huge fan of the Divergent Series. I feel like the whole system they have in place doesn't work and that there are many flaws and plot holes within the story. If you like it, fair enough, but it is just not my cup of tea!

4) Which book would you throw into the sea?

Photo Credit: @LairOfBooksBlog

They Both Die in the End by Adam Silvera. This book as ridiculously sad and I never want to read it again! (In a good way, it is a very good read, but was unexpectedly sad! I recommend it if you need a good cry!)

5) Which book have you read the most?

Photo Credit: @Picuki

It would probably be Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. It is my favourite book in The Hunger Games Series, and I was OBSESSED with this series when I was a teenager. I was thirteen when the first movie came out, and I am one of those people who likes to read the book before watching the film, so I did just that. Eight years later and I still have the three books I originally bought, but there are pages falling out and sellotaped into the book. None of my other books are in this condition, and Catching Fire is the worst condition wise out of the three so that's how I can tell! (Also yes I was one of those people who went back to a series but just read my favourite book don't judge!)

6) Which book would you hate to receive as a present?

Photo Credit: @WeHeartIt

I am going to change this up to which book did I hate receiving as a present and I am going to say Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. I know that may sound crazy, especially as I have praised this series so much on my blog in the past but hear me out! Usually the people gifting me books are my parents and my mum hates hardback books. I love the hardback editions of the Throne of Glass series and am not so much a fan of the UK paper back editions, but when I got this book for Christmas I got the paperback version. Super grateful for the present, but I just prefer the art on the Hardback version, and it meant I had to get the rest of the series in paperback....although I imagine Kingdom of Ash would be awkward to read as a hardback just because of how big it is!

7) Which book could you not live without?

Photo Credit: @rachael_emma_89

The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven. I think that this story is so relevant to girls today and that everyone should read it at some point in their life. Go, read it! It will change you! 

8) Which book made you the angriest?

Photo Credit: @ToBorrowOrBuy

The whole book didn't necessarily make me angry. On the contrary, I think that this book is amazing and more people should read it, but I was really angry when reading Simon versus the Homo-sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. In particular was the scenes where Martin was blackmailing Simon and when Simon's friend discovered what was going on. It was all true to what could happen today with friends and coming out during high school ect, but they still made me mad. (Another great book, go read it!) 

9) Which book made you cry the most?

Photo Credit: @Gramho

I'm not really the type of person that cries when I am reading a book, but I have to say, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K Rowling hit me. I grew up with the Harry Potter movies, and I was really angry with the ending of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. My mum told me the book had a much better ending, so I read through the entire series and when I got to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I was shook. So many characters I grew up loving killed, characters I shipped not ending up together, and whatever the 19 years later scene is....I will never forget the first time I finished the Harry Potter Book Series.  

10) Which book cover do you hate the most?

Photo Credit: @Gramho

I have to say I am not the biggest fan of the cover of Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J Maas.

And there we go, The Book Blogger Confession Tag! Thank you so much for reading today's post! If you would like to read any more book related content, check out my Book Blog Posts page, which has all of the book related posts I have made linked! Be sure to check back next week for another post! 

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst - A Book Review

Photo Credit: @ThrityOfDarkClockwork

Betrothed since her childhood to the prince of Mynaria, Princess Dennaleia has always known what her future holds. This marriage will seal the alliance between Mynaria and her homeland, protecting people from other hostile lands. But Denna has a secret - she possesses and Affinity for fire, a dangerous gift for the future queen to have in a Kingdom where magic is forbidden. 

Denna must now learn the ways of her new home whilst hiding her magic, which grows stronger every day. To make matters worse, Princess Amaranthine - called Mare - is assigned to teaching her how to ride Mynaria's formidable warhorses; she is intimidating, prickly and unconventional. Worst of all, she is the sister of her betrothed.

Reluctantly, Mare and Denna join forces when a shocking assassination leaves the kingdom reeling. The two surprise each other as they become closer and soon their friendship is threatening to blossom into something more. Acting on their feelings could be deadly, and they are forced to choose between duty and their hearts. 

Of Fire and Stars treads over very familiar ground - a fantasy kingdom where magic is feared, a princess who mush hide her true powers the princess falling in love with a forbidden person. All of this would be an enjoyable read, but Coulthurst surprises us with a refreshing twist - the princess doesn't fall in love with a stable boy or the captain of the guard, she falls in love with another princess.

Here's the thing: their love is forbidden and could potentially tear the kingdom apart, but not because they are both women. Other same sex couples are casually mentioned in the book. It's Denna's sense of duty and self-doubt that stands between her and Mare. There are too many fantasy books out there in which the author falls back on existing prejudices rather than creating ones unique to their story. This book is bold enough to create a world that moves beyond the prejudices we are all fighting in our real world.

One thing that lets this book down is that most of the story is spent in a castle. It makes sense in terms of the subtext of the story, but I wanted to see Denna and Mare out on the road, free to explore more of this world. Hopefully we get to see this in the sequel! I definitley recommended this book if you are looking for a fantasy novel with LGBT+ Representation. The world's view of sexuality is extremely balances. The problem is never that there are two princesses in love, the issue is that one of these girls is betrothed to the other one's brother.

The magic system is incredibly developed for what was (at the time I read it) a stand alone fantasy novel. It was unique and well explained and I am looking forward to seeing how it expands in an extended series.

In conclusion, this is a very good book that I highly recommend. I am looking forward to reading the sequel (eventually), but if you are looking for a fantasy with a W/W romance, this is the book for you!