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? 

'Cause we got the fire, and we're burning one hell of a something

That part of the year where Summer and Autumn fade together and it's too hot for jeans but too cold for shorts is hard enough let alone having hot university classrooms shoved into the mix. I've gotten into the habit of surfing the Womens Fashion Pinterest boards and find myself pining over the Autumn/Winter outfits while lying on my bed with the fan on full blast in as little clothing as possible. It's not a secret that I hate summer, no matter how many years I spend in this country my body is not used to the heat, I am used to the pathetic glorious English weather and forever will be. I just really want to be able to wear proper shoes again, my wardrobe full of boots and my beloved converse are screaming at me to be worn again and I wont even start on the clothing that's more than a few millimeters thick. But in the meantime I'll just pin and pin until the fan can finally penetrate the heat and cool my body. Check out my board!