For those of you who follow Daydream Lily, you know exactly what I mean. And for those of you who don’t yet follow, I’m thrilled to introduce you to what I consider to be one of my more fabulous discoveries of 2009.

About seven months ago, I found Liss, the creator of Daydream Lily, through Kit at That Unreliable Girl, who gave me loads of advice when I started Laura Reviews. Since then, I’ve strongly considered printing out every one of Liss’ posts and putting them up on my walls around my flat.

Daydream Lily also recently received the coveted “Blogs of Note” award from Google / Blogger – no small task, as those of you in the blogging world already know.

I’m so excited to feature my interview with Liss, her creative inspiration and a little advice for me as I try to become more artistically inclined.

Do you think it can happen? Let’s see what Liss has to say.

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Laura: I am constantly inspired by the images and words you share on Daydream Lily. Do you have a plan for what you include in your posts or do you go with what’s inspiring you at the time?

Liss: I do so much planning in my “real life,” that I’ve made Daydream Lily a place where I can express whatever is inspiring me or how I’m feeling at the time. I remember last year during a break up I was posting terribly depressing images with quotes like “welcome to the real world,” – so glad to have moved on from that!

Laura: I know that we both work day jobs in addition to our blogs. I like both, of course, but sometimes I struggle with keeping the balance between the two. Do you ever have the same experience and how do you manage it?

Liss: It can become hard, especially when my day job needs me to travel for days at a time! I guess I’ve kind of gotten into a routine, mornings are my blogging time and then I do my day’s work. If I have spare moments during the day I’ll use it to look through flickr or catch up on blogs.

I spend a bit of time each day just going through image sharing websites and bookmarking favourites. I’ve become a bit of an image junkie, always looking for pretty new things. Nights, I try to have some downtime, then get on the computer again before going to bed late. I probably work more like a 10 hour day, but I’ve never been afraid of hard work! Plus, it helps having a lovely guy who cooks and does housework!

Laura: I have to admit, I am not the most creative when it comes to anything related to art, photography and design. Do you have any words of advice for how I can become a bit better in this area?

Liss: Only a few years back before I started Daydream Lily I remember thinking to myself, “what happened to my creativity, I used to be so creative and now I just work and come home”. It was one of those moments when you realise something needs to change.

That’s when I started blogging and doing crafty things to spur my creativity, such as making mix CDs with collaged covers for friends. I found that this daily time spent being creative really helped improve my overall creativity.

So the advice? Find what inspires you, whether cooking or drawing or crafts. Then set yourself little projects to help yourself improve, such as learning a new photography technique or trying out a new recipe.

Laura: I’m sure you have many, but if you could pick one “inspiration” – whether artist, designer, etc. – who or what would it be?

Liss: This changes all the time, but someone who always inspires me is Natasha Khan aka Bat For Lashes.

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Many thanks to Liss for taking the time to share her insights – there’s no doubt in my mind that Daydream Lily is helping people – and our culture – see the world in a much more creative way.

I’m going to take Liss’ advice and keep taking my very professional Blackberry photos — who knows where it might lead? I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Image credit: Daydream Lily.