75 Things To Do This Easter

Happy Easter, guys!

What are your plans for the weekend? Providing we don't wake up to deep snow, I'll be taking a rare trip away overnight for some concert adventures, returning home for our annual Easter meal tomorrow afternoon, and no doubt spending Easter Monday (and the rest of the week) in bed trying to recover. I'm really looking forward to it all, having some fun for a change, and eating lots of delicious food, and can't wait for it to get started. It's going to be a great weekend!

If you haven't made plans yet and are looking for things to do this Easter weekend, never fear; I've put together a list of 75 things to do this Easter to give you a little inspiration. I hope you find it helpful.

1. Make an Easter hamper for a friend or a loved one.

2. Create an Easter egg hunt for your kids, friends, or partner.

3. Take your kids to an Easter egg hunt in your community.

4. Sit down to an Easter meal with your family and friends.

5. Make Easter crackers to enjoy during your Easter meal.

6. Make Easter table favours for your loved ones to enjoy.

7. Decorate your home for Easter.

8. Go shopping for new Easter decorations.

9. Make your own Easter tree using branches and white spray paint.

10. Try some Easter nail art.

11. Make Easter birds nest Cornflake / Rice Krispies cakes.

12. Bake your own hot cross buns.

13. Learn about the Easter story.

14. Treat yourself to a bunch of daffodils or tulips.

15. Watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

16. Read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.

17. Make an Easter wreath.

18. Make some Easter hoop art.

19. Go out for an Easter meal.

20. Throw an Easter party.

21. Watch Steel Magnolias- the best Easter movie ever. Fact!

22. Indulge in a chocolate Easter egg or two.

23. Watch The Vicar of Dibley's Easter Bunny episode.

24. Have an Easter carpet picnic with all your favourite Easter snacks.

25. Have an Easter movie marathon.

26. Read an Easter themed book.

27. Do some Easter colouring-in.

28. Dress in an Easter-themed outfit.

29. Visit a farm to see some cute baby farm animals.

30. Go for an Easter walk, and enjoy the fresh air, blossom, Spring flowers, and longer hours of daylight.

31. Create Easter blog content.

32. Blog about what you get / got up to over Easter.

33. Make and decorate Easter cupcakes.

34. Create an Easter make up look.

35. Sew an Easter cross stitch.

36. Make a pom pom garland in pastel colours.

37. Throw an Easter craft party for your crafty friends.

38. Host an Easter afternoon tea party.

39. Go out for Easter afternoon tea.

40. Take an Easter holiday or mini break.

41. Visit family and friends.

42. Go for a walk in a woods carpeted with bluebells.

43. If it's warm, go on a picnic.

44. Go to the zoo.

45. Take lots of photos of all your Easter adventures.

46. Plant spring flowers in your garden.

47. Make your own Easter cards.

48. Dye Easter eggs to make colourful Easter decorations and to use for egg hunts.

49. Make your own Easter bunting.

50. Set up an Easter photo booth, with a fun Easter backdrop and a camera on a tripod, and take photos with silly Easter props.

51. Make an Easter bonnet.

52. Go to Easter mass.

53. Bake Creme Egg brownies.

54. Take photos in a field of flowers.

55. Make an Easter table centre-piece.

56. Light some Easter Yankee Candles.

57. Paint Easter eggs in all kinds of weird and wonderful designs.

58. Enjoy your favourite eggs for breakfast. 

59. Give Easter eggs to your loved ones.

60. Donate some Easter treats to a food bank.

61. Do some Easter art journaling.

62. Bake and decorate Easter cookies.

63. Watch The Sound of Music.

64. Go to an Easter fair or market.

65. If it snows, build a snow bunny.

66. If it's warm, have a barbecue.

67. Donate food and bedding for rabbits to an animal rescue centre- too many bunnies are abandoned at this time of year after being bought as Easter presents on impulse.

68. Have a Spring clean, and donate anything you can't sell to a charity shop.

69. Make an Easter milkshake or hot chocolate using your favourite Easter treats.

70. Make your own Easter eggs.

71. Create a pretty Easter tablescape for your Easter meal.

72. Fold napkins in to Easter bunnies.

73. Make an Easter bandana or bowtie for your dog or cat.

74. Do some Easter flower arranging.

75. Rest, relax, and enjoy your Easter weekend!

Have a lovely Easter!

What are your plans for the Easter weekend?

Colourful Easter Crackers

I've been having another crafting binge over the last few weeks. I've made some polka dot hoop art, been working on some spring wreaths, made some bandannas for my dog, and a couple of days ago, I put together some Easter crackers for our Easter meal on Sunday. I'm really pleased with how they turned out, so I'm here to give you a peek at them today.

My family and I always sit down to an Easter meal together on Easter Sunday, and this year I decided I wanted to make some Easter crackers for us to enjoy during our meal for the very first time to make Easter lunch that little bit lovelier. It's something I've wanted to do for years, so I knew I had to finally give it a go.

When I began thinking about making Easter crackers, I originally thought about making Easter crackers entirely from scratch, but knowing that would probably end in disaster, I began looking in to Easter cracker kits online instead. I soon discovered an online shop called Little Crafty Bugs, who stock a wide variety of craft supplies and an extensive selection of cracker kits for every occasion imaginable, and found exactly what I was looking for. 

While they do offer a range of Easter cracker kits, I actually found myself drawn to their plain coloured crackers, and decided to buy six of their single standard-sized crackers in six different colours- rose pink, sea blue, yellow, emerald green, lime green, and pastel yellow- to make our Easter table as colourful as possible. Well, you guys know how much I love colour!

My order arrived within a week, and I'm pleased to say, I wasn't disappointed. They were perfect for what I had in mind.

As I discovered, the crackers are all made from reasonably thick, good-quality card, and the colours are lovely and vibrant. Like traditional Christmas crackers, each cracker kit comes with a paper crown and a joke, as well as a cracker snap to give each cracker that satisfying pop when you pull them over the dinner table. I was surprised to find that they didn't come with ribbon or string to tie the ends of the crackers with, but as I was already planning to use colourful ribbons from my stash, it wasn't a problem for me. Just be aware that you'll need to source your own ribbon, twine, or raffia in order to make these crackers.

I was finally able to make my crackers this week, and it really couldn't have been easier. I had all six crackers made within fifteen minutes. I had originally hoped to blog a tutorial in advance with step-by-step photos, but I've been so under-the-weather lately, it's been left to the last minute again, and a tutorial won't be much use to you now. I only managed to snap photos of before and after, because my pain levels were too high, and I had to rush through it to get back to bed, but they were super easy to make, and I'll try to talk you through the process instead. Of course, it's probably too late to order these cracker kits in time for Easter now, but you could still make your own crackers from scratch by downloading a cracker template from the net and using some colourful card.

How To Make These Crackers

What You'll Need

1 cracker kit per person.

2 lengths of ribbon per cracker. (I used satin ribbons from Hobbycraft).

Scissors.

Mini Easter eggs, or whatever contents you desire. (I used a selection of mini Lindt eggs).

Confetti (optional).

What To Do

1. First, take your flat-packed cracker, and stick a cracker snap in place with Selotape length-ways down the centre of the cracker.

2. Push out all of the diamond card pieces from the diamond cut-outs.

3. Roll the card in to a cylinder shape, and slot the three tabs in to the three slots.

4. Take a length of ribbon, and positioning it under the diamond cut outs, cinch it in and tightly tie it in place. This will pull in the end of the cracker and create the traditional cracker shape. Cut the ends of the ribbon diagonally to prevent it from fraying.

5. Place a paper crown and a joke in to the cracker, and drop in your confetti and contents. I used a selection of mini Lindt eggs for mine, but you could add in whatever small treats you like.

6. Tie up the other end of the cracker by repeating step 3, and voila, you're done!

You could also decorate your crackers any way you desire. I was originally intending to embellish mine with some Easter fabric, pom poms, ribbons, and silk flowers, but once I made them, I decided I liked the bold colours with the contrasting coloured ribbons I used as they were, and chose to keep them simple. I think the colours make a great statement on their own, and they'll go perfectly with our colourful new Easter placemats and napkins we recently picked up from John Lewis. (I'm still hoping to source the matching table runner, but it's currently out of stock online).

If you like the look of these crackers but not the colours I chose, don't worry; the Little Crafty Bugs crackers come in lots of other colours and sizes, too, and you can also buy them in multi-packs of up to 1000! With so many different options, you should have no problem finding exactly what you need to match your table decor, and cater to your guests / family no matter the occasion. You can find Little Crafty Bugs' selection of cracker kits here.

I couldn't recommend them more. I love how great my crackers turned out, and I'm looking forward to surprising my family with them on Sunday. Here's hoping they go down well with everyone.

Will you be making your own crackers for your Easter meal or party this Easter?

P.S. Apologies for how atrocious today's photos are. I took them in low light, and just cannot make them look good. I'm hoping I'll be able to replace them with better ones over the weekend.

Wednesday Wish List

Here are a few things I've been lusting after this week...

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I'm loving these new novelty bags from Betsey Johnson, especially the cherry and the pineapple.

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I'd love to get my hands on all of these embroidered and applique motif cardigans from Collectif for pairing with dresses, and swing skirts.

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I'm head over heels for this gorgeous pink gingham Strawberry Shortcake dress and skirt from Hell Bunny. They'd be so perfect for summer picnics, and afternoon tea in English country gardens. The links will lead you to the plus size versions, but you can find separate listings for the straight sizes on their website.

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Hell Bunny's cactus print and motif pieces are also drop dead gorgeous.

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I'm obsessed with Kate Spade's amazing 'Shore Thing' collection of crab and lobster shaped bags and purses, especially the lobster cross body bag. Seriously, how incredible are these?! 

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I've just discovered a fantastic collection of acrylic jewellery in the shape of carousel animals from an Australian brand called Curious Carousel, and I've fallen pretty hard for them. I think my favourite is the white and gold carousel rabbit brooch, although all of the designs, which come in a range of colours, are amazing. Shipping from their Etsy shop is expensive to the UK, but a selection of their designs is also available from a UK stockist called Lottie & Lu here.

If you'd like to see more of the fashion pieces on my wish list, check out my style wish list boards on Pinterest. You can also find all previous Wednesday Wish List posts here.

Which pieces do you like best this week?

Polka Spots and Freckle Dots Turns Six

I can't believe my little space on the Internet turned six yesterday!

How did that happen, and where has the time gone? It only feels like two minutes since I signed up to Blogger, created my blog with a generic blog design, and nervously posted my first blog post- an introductory post with a grainy, headless mirror-shot of myself in my favourite black polka dot dress.

When I published that first post all those years ago, I never imagined that I would still be blogging here regularly six years later. To be honest, I expected it to keep my interest for a couple of months at most, until I gradually lost interest and moved on to the next big thing like I had with past ventures like Livejournal and an old Tumblr blog. I had no long-term plans or expectations from starting a blog; I simply wanted a distraction and something to fill my time while I was on bed rest with chronic pain (or "disc injuries" as I knew them back then). 

After six months of being house bound and bed ridden from excruciating constant back pain, I was bored and going stir crazy; there's only so much reading, watching daytime TV, and surfing the net you can do day after day without losing the will to live. I had been reading plus size fashion blogs for six months after discovering the wonderful world of body positivity and fat acceptance on Tumblr soon after becoming ill, and it was through reading those blogs that I found the confidence to begin my own, and start sharing my outfits and love of fashion. Reading those fatshion blogs had gradually helped me to start accepting myself, after a lifetime of hating my body and truly believing I was an enormous, hideous fat freak nobody could ever find attractive, and I hoped that through blogging my outfits, I could work towards self-acceptance, and perhaps even show other plus size people that they could enjoy fashion, too.

If you're a relatively new reader, you might be confused by the mention of outfits, but at the beginning, Polka Spots was actually a plus size fashion blog, with a few beauty posts thrown in for good measure. I shared my outfits, fashion I was loving, fashion and beauty hauls, manicures I had created, and beauty products I had been using. Over time, as my health deteriorated further and I had less money to spend, outfits became less frequent, and it morphed in to an everything blog. I added in lifestyle posts, book reviews, travel posts, health updates, lists, crafts, day in the life posts, home, puppy posts, and more. Posts became more sporadic and less exciting for reasons out of my control, and sharing my outfits fizzled out.

Although it's been a couple of years since I last blogged the kind of content I was truly passionate about and could be proud of on a regular basis, I've continued to blog regularly for six whole years. I've never committed myself to any other hobby, interest, or project on an almost-daily basis with such dedication for this long before, and I'm proud of myself for applying myself to my blog. I'm proud of myself for all the time and effort I've sunk in to this little blog of mine, and for all I've achieved over the years.

Sure, I'm not the best blogger in the world. I'm not the best writer or the best photographer; I don't always write the most interesting posts, or post every day of the week. I don't have a large following, and I'm not a famous blogger making millions from my blog, but I appreciate my small following- every one of you, my readers, even if it doesn't appear that way when I'm slow to reply to comments and messages. I promise I'll get better at that. I always put 110% in to every post I create, and I enjoy blogging, and that's really what matters at the end of the day. 

All I wanted from this blog was a distraction from living life on bed rest with chronic pain, and I've managed to give myself that for six whole years. My blog has kept me occupied while I've been house bound and given me something to aim for and fill my time with every day. I've rarely been bored in six years because there are always posts to write, edit, and promote, flatlays to create, photographs to take, things to tweak, messages to answer, social media to engage in, and so much more. Without this blog to work on, I know these six years would have been much harder to cope with because I would've been bored out of my brain without the distraction. Having something to do every day has given me something to get up for every day, taken my mind off the constant fiery sting of chronic back pain, and provided me with an outlet through diagnosis, treatments, bad experiences with doctors and physiotherapists, and the moments I've been at my lowest. I don't even want to imagine how much harder the last six years of my life with chronic pain and chronic illness would've been without this blog to keep me going, but I'm certain the experience would have been very different and that I wouldn't be the same person I am today. Starting this blog when I did was without a doubt the best decision I could've made.

Over the last six years, I've published 1324 blog posts. That's a whole lot of posts about fashion, beauty, lifestyle, travel, chronic illness, crafts, lists, books, and more. This post makes 1325. I've worked with some wonderful brands, and created work that I am proud of. I've worked hard to improve the quality of my writing and photography, but there's a lot of room for improvement and I doubt I'll ever stop working on that. I've also gained some wonderful readers and made some lovely friends through blogging I would never have had the pleasure of 'knowing' otherwise, and I'm so grateful for that. I love being part of this fantastic community of such talented and inspiring people.

I may have been blogging here for six years now, but I have no intention of stopping just yet. I intend to keep going as long as possible. A week ago, I gave the blog a whole new look with a beautiful new Pipdig blog design, and I'm working on making Polka Spots and Freckle Dots better than ever. I want to do my best to bring better content back to the blog, with more fashion, beauty, and lifestyle posts again; more reviews of products I've been buying and enjoying, books I've been reading, manicures I've been wearing, and when I'm feeling up to it, the odd outfit post here and there. It's time to get back to blogging the way I used to... but better. At some point I'm also hoping to rebrand because I've hated my blog name for about, oh, I don't know, five years, eleven months, and it makes me cringe every time I see it, but one thing at a time...

I don't know where the future will take Polka Spots or myself as a blogger, but I genuinely look forward to finding out, and working on creating lots of new content for you guys. I hope you'll join me for the ride.

Thanks for all of your support over the last six years; it means more to me than you'll ever know.  You guys are amazing.

Here's to the next six!

Sunday Favourites Easter Special #320

As we're just a week away from Easter Sunday, this week's Sunday Favourites is an Easter special- the first of two I'll be bringing you this year- packed full of Easter inspiration to give you some last minute ideas. I hope you enjoy them!

These cute Easter bunny and bunny in an egg brooches from Daisy Jean Designs.

I love Sarah Hearts' idea for a DIY Easter 'Advent' calendar to help you count down the days 'til the Easter bunny arrives.

These awesome DIY monstera leaf Easter eggs, also from Sarah Hearts.

These DIY Palm Springs Easter eggs from Studio DIY have got to be the most creative Easter egg designs I've ever seen.

Want to make this adorable rainbow Easter basket? Lovely Indeed can show you how.

These funky DIY pastel Memphis Easter eggs from A Kailo Chic Life.

This DIY felt ball bunny Easter garland, also from A Kailo Chic Life, would make such a cute Easter decoration.

I love these sweet floral rabbit, chick, and cat cross stitch patterns from Red Bear Designs. I might have to get one or two of them to make for next Easter.

How cute is this easy coconut bunny cake hack from Aww Sam?!

These frozen Easter egg ice cubes from A Subtle Revelry are so cool!

I want to make some DIY gradient bunny napkin rings, like these awesome ones from A Kailo Chic Life.

I'm completely smitten with this adorable pastel perspex Easter bunny jewellery range from I Love Crafty.  I want to adopt them all!

Papershape show you how to make a 3D paper egg for Easter, that can also be fashioned in to the perfect Easter gift box.

These modern gold painted Easter eggs from Lovely Indeed are so pretty.

Sitting down for an Easter meal with the family this year? Oh Happy Day's Easter bunny place cards DIY will make a cute and helpful addition to your dinner table.

These DIY glitter Easter eggs from Oh Joy look like so much fun to make.

These creme egg brownies from The Hels Project look sooooo delicious.

Dot Com Gift Shop have the cutest Easter decorations this year. I couldn't resist the three eggs and the chick in the shell and snapped them up a couple of weeks ago, and I can tell you, they really are lovely. I'll be reviewing them for you later this week.

And last but not least, I'm obsessed with this amazing ombre Easter egg centrepiece from Oh Happy Day.

If you're looking for more Easter ideas and inspiration, check out my Easter board on Pinterest. You can also find all previous Sunday Favourites Easter Specials posts here.

I'll be back next Sunday with another batch of Easter inspiration.

Which bits did you enjoy most this week?

A Brand New Look + Pipdig 'Nineteen' Blogger Template Review

If you've visited my blog over the last few days or if you're a returning reader reading this post right now, you'll probably have noticed that Polka Spots and Freckle Dots has been given a brand new look this week. If you haven't, then, ta-da! Look at my pretty new blog design!

I'm so excited to officially show it to you guys!

I've been dying to overhaul my blog design to something more colourful and professional-looking for years, as the old design, which I created myself, was outdated and far from perfect. To be honest, it was a big hot mess. I didn't feel like it represented me or my content anymore, and it was time for a change. The problem was, apart from colourful, I couldn't work out how I wanted my blog to look, so it's taken me all this time to decide, take the plunge and revamp my little place on the Internet.

Last Sunday, I decided it was time to bite the bullet, and finally chose a blog template from Pipdig after umming and ahhing over which design to choose for months. Towards the end, I was torn between 'Glam Romantic' and 'Nineteen', and in the end, I went with the latter. I'm so very glad I did. I'm so in love with my new blog design! The colourful look is a lot more "me", and I can't stop clicking on to my blog to take another look at it. It's so pretty! I think it's making me fall back in love with my blog all over again.

The new design is so different to my old one. Aside from being more colourful to match my content, the template allows for larger photos, and I think it's a lot more user-friendly. There's now a 'pin it' button on my images so you can pin anything that inspires you to your Pinterest boards, and there are buttons for sharing my posts at the bottom of each post. You'll find all the pages and topic categories, including how to contact me, along the menu bar at the top of the web page, instead of in the sidebar like they used to be, and it moves with the page, so you no longer have to keep scrolling to find everything. I also have new social media icons, Pinterest and Instagram widgets in the sidebar, and an Instagram widget running along the bottom of the site to display my latest photos and help you find me on social media. If you read my posts on your mobile devices, you should also find that the blog is finally much more mobile friendly, which I'll admit is a long over due improvement!

I've also created a new header, which is something I've been sitting on for over a year, but it may change again as I figure out the perfect look for my blog.

I still have more work to do before the blog design is perfect, including realigning text, and resizing photos for over 1300 old posts, and updating the pages in the menu bar, but please bare with me on that. It could take a while- especially as I'm currently having difficulty using my laptop as the electricity current is sending my tachycardic heart in to overdrive at the mo. Once I'm finished, though, I know Polka Spots and Freckle Dots will be better than ever. 

I'm so happy with my new look, and I only wish I'd taken the plunge sooner. I can't believe I was so worried about changing the design in case I didn't like it. What was I worried about?! It's the best decision I've made all year! 

I'd definitely recommend Pipdig if you're looking to revamp your blog with a high-quality template.

Purchasing and installing my new blog design from Pipdig was so quick and easy. I purchased the template from their website using Paypal, and instantly received an email containing a zipped download of the template, along with an installation guide to help me install it, which I then downloaded to my desktop and extracted the files from.

I chose to install my new template myself, but Pipdig do offer a free installation service with all of their blog templates, which you might prefer if you're not so confident with computers or the technical side of blogging. Personally, I'd recommend installing it yourself, even if you're not so tech savvy, because it is so easy with their installation guide, and I think it's important to get to know you blog inside out so you can fix, tweak, and change things if and when you need to. Plus, it's all part of the fun of giving your blog a makeover (or starting a blog for the first time)!

Following the instructions, I had my new template installed in seconds. It is that easy to do! Of course, it then took a couple of hours to modify the blog design to make it my own- removing my old sidebar images, adding new social media widgets and icons, tweaking fonts and colours, installing a new header, adding pages to the menu bar, etc.- but I had everything in place in just two or three hours. It probably helped that I know my way around Blogger like the back of my hand, but honestly, installing my blog design could not have been more straight-forward. Anyone could install it to their blog; it's practically fool-proof. I mean, my blog's living proof of that- look how great it looks now! I couldn't be happier with it.

I'm thrilled with my new look, and I can't wait to start blogging lots of fun new content again. It's time to bring this blog back to life!

To find out more about what Pipdig have to offer, check out their website here.

What do you think of Polka Spots and Freckle Dots' new look?

Wednesday Wish List

Here are a few things I've been coveting this week...

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Australian fashion brands Erstwilder and Dangerfield have teamed up and created an amazing collection of pirate-themed brooches, and I'm loving them! I particularly adore The Cunning Captain Fox (#1), and Anne Bunny (#5) brooches, although the Charlotte of the Sea Pirate brooch (#4) is pretty awesome, too.

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Lady Vintage have released a new range of Lady Voluptuous Lyra dresses in sixteen gorgeous new prints in sizes 14-30/32, and these are just a few of my favourites. I'm especially lusting after the floral print cobalt blue Summer Cherish dress (#4); it looks so pretty. 

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How cute are Cath Kidston's 25th anniversary Cath Kidston shop clutch and purse? The designs even feature Billie the dog in a party hat!

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This week's latest Lindy Bop crushes. That red crab-print Matilda shirt dress is everything!

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I'm in love with these laser cut wooden brooches from Ginger Pickle Shop, especially the sloth (#1) and koala (#10). They also have matching necklaces, earrings, and rings, if brooches aren't your thing.

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I also discovered another great accessory brand this week called Animal Hair Stuff, and I'm all over their laser cut acrylic jewellery like these awesome brontosaurus and brachiosaurus brooches and earrings.

Animal Hair Stuff Panda Necklace

And I'm completely smitten with this laser cut acrylic panda necklace. Isn't it beautiful?

If you'd like to see more of the fashion pieces on my wish list this week, check out my style wish list boards on Pinterest. You can also find all previous Wednesday Wish List posts here.

What's on your wish list this week?