It's time to get personal

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6  ~ All images from Pinterest.

So for lucky people like me who don't have exams at university, we have six weeks off in the middle of the year. While we could spend it sitting on our arses watching episode after episode of Game of Thrones for the fifth time, which I probably will end up doing despite this post, we could also use it as a time for personal projects. Doing a design degree you're often restricted throughout term time to specific briefs and while you can stretch them to suit your style most often they're not really what you had in mind when you wanted to become a designer. So I've done the Game of Thrones arse sitting for the first week but I've also been scrolling Pinterest which has given me so much motivation and creativity to start some projects over the rest of the holidays. 

Create some greeting cards. 
and also hopefully start selling them. I need to work on my watercolour typography to digital skills a wee bit more first but keep your eyes peeled. 

Put up a print wall. 
I have prints, I have frames for them, I have a blank wall... now all I need are nails to put them up. Of course they'll have to be arranged nicely and all but it's simple right? 

Do some freelance. 
Make some fancy new logos for someone, or blog banners, or blog sidebar icons, or anything. Wink wink readers. 

Paint more watercolour. 
Just do more, practice makes perfect and I'm far from perfect. Maybe we'll start with flowers, I found a great tutorial for flowers so let's start there and practice my flower arranging. 

Spend more time on the blog. 
Tweaking background things, changing images, upgrading things. Sorting out things I'm not happy with and frankly just giving Sofilly some attention it hasn't really gotten these past few months while I've been working on uni projects. 

Technically if you want to get picky I could do most of these while doing the Game of Thrones arse sitting but you get the idea. Let's just spend some time with my craft and creativity and hopefully make myself even better for next semester! 

Scandi Ampersand

All images via Pinterest

Before University starts next week I've been trying to use as much time as possible just to chill and relax before the havoc of late nights and constant sketching, 'photoshopping' and analysing starts. Lately this has involved scrolling through pages and pages of blogposts and pinterest pages huddled up under a blanket (yes even though it is the height of summer it still gets cold in the Wellington evenings) with the kitten. Either that or playing hours and hours of Pokemon but we don't need to talk about that. The one thing this teaches me is that I need ALL the Pokemon and that I need my own little house that I can do what I want. There's only so much I can do with the yellowy/cream walls I have now although I love my little house so much I would love it with white walls. Ah white walls... Ah white floorboards... Yes I may have a thing for scandinavian interior design (along with the entire blogging world). 

I really really want that light up ampersand, maybe as an S although I really do like the ampersand design. But there's just something about these interiors that make you want to get out of bed and do things! Is that just me or does someone else feel that too? As I have a lack of white walls and floorboards I may have to take inspiration from the other items in the room. I really want a sheepskin rug however I know this will not go with our current house nor will it probably survive the kitten who occasionally still has toilet accidents. However with my current white desk, and fairy lights I think a few additional pieces shall suffice, for my desk area anyway... the rest of the house will have to wait! We are students remember. I may invest in a chair very much similar to the one in the bottom photo as they have come available at The Warehouse and Kmart for my lovely NZ followers and my teal leather office chair is on its last legs. 

Are there things you dream of changing in your home or a specific area of your home you really want to upgrade? 

Instaluvin

So that thing I mentioned about posting lots due to the fact that I've finished uni is a lie. I still currently have two projects to finish even though classes have finished and one is a quick finish and the other is around 2 weeks away. However that's not the main reason, the fact that I'm moving house on Saturday is. I've mentioned this before so I wont go into it but I'm really excited and all the packing, sorting and getting rid of my room in my present apartment is taking up so much time. On with the post!I've recently gotten back into the habit of using Instagram for more than just posting photos and craving likes and follows. I'm actually following more and more people and enjoying all their posts at least like 10 times a day, it's getting a bit of an addiction. [in order from left to right, top to bottom.]

jasminedowling: Jasmine was one of the first blogs I started to follow after my return to Instagram. I really love her style and designs, especially her work with the gold foil lettering gimme all that! Her other lifestyle type photos are composed really well and pretty. 

dinotomic: I've been following him for quite a while and can I just say go there right now and look at his flippin' amazing drawings, thats just promarkers and pencil crayons right there look! (and then come back here after following him please).

alittleopulent: Being an online magazine A Little Opulent posts photos of their latest articles and reviews and although I don't read the magazine I follow a few of their illustrators and writers as well. They post a nice mix of things from decor and design to make up and fashion. 

emmabone3: Now Emma actually goes to my uni and I found through Facebook page surfing. Her lettering style is amazing and I want it so much - I've even had planned an artist review blog post on her because I love her work so much. 

talesatsea: Sarah's Instagram I also found through her type but she posts so much more than just type; she posts lots of everyday lifestyle posts including photos of her newly gorgeous pink hair. 

nectarandstone: Yay baking and food! Caroline makes the best desserts and chocolate you could only dream about - unless you live in Australia you lucky buggers! She does everything from chocolate pyramids and macarons to cookies and cake. I actually almost forgot to include this after not being able to decide what photo to put on as they're all so amazing. 

abbysy: I only came across Abby's Instagram a few days ago but after scrolling through her page for hours I concluded it was now one of my favourite accounts. All of her photos are beautifully presented and she features a lot of her watercolour work which I pray that I can get as good as her some day.

nikkimcwilliams: Holy crap I have an Instagram that's not type? Wow! Nikki's Instagram is full of her fabulous creations - biscuit themed home accessories, mainly pillows which I want one of each please Santa. She also recently got a new little cat Frankie who is just adorable and I crave a kitten every time I see him. 

fromrosesxo: The editor of A Little Opulent, Rebecca, has a gorgeous Instagram. Mainly filled with lifestyle sort of photos filled with design, fashion, food and her gorgeous pup Bella. If I can get my instagram to this level I would be so flipping happy! 

Pretty ideas, bits, and bobs

There's just something so exciting about moving into a new place in that you can pick up all your old stuff and shove it into a new environment and it all looks like 10x more amazing! Of course with the addition of a whole bunch more stuff you bought beforehand cuz it would 'look good in the new house'. Now with the idea of packing boxes being a month away my heads just brimming with ideas about how I (and the boyfriend but mainly I) will make the place look fabby. I've been browsing Tumblr and Pintrest for some basic ideas at the moment and not allowing myself to get too involved in ideas until we've moved in and seen where everything we already have is going to fit. Especially as I'm probably only going to be living there for around 2 weeks before I move back home for the summer until January when the real work kicks in and I'm, as my boyfriend puts it, 'allowed to put all the girly shit everywhere'. Until then the scrolling will continue, mood boards will be created in my head and probably some minor things might be bought oops...

Pinning the future

A few months ago I signed up to Pintrest but having browsed that first time I didn't understand the addictions some people have (including my mum). But a couple of days ago I returned specifically to browse the home decor pins as Tumblr didn't have enough inspiration for my liking. Oh how I was a naive child turning away from Pintrest those many months ago it's now become one of my favourite website under Tumblr and others of course, it can't take over that easily. What's a lousy 64 pins compared to 19,000 reblogs.. If you want to follow me the link to my boards is below. 

I personally love interior decorating and can't wait to design my own house, I'm not sure if I want to pursue a career into it as I really didn't like the spacial classes I took this year. It's fun to browse though and get ideas for when I do finally get my own home x

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