My week of uploads has unfortunately come to an end :(. I thought to wrap up the week I would talk about something I love to do which is resetting. On Sunday’s, I take a day off from everything else and give myself time to recollect my life and sort everything out. I you like the idea you can do it today and any other day you want. I prefer to do it on Sunday’s so I’m all ready for the next week. Here are a few things I like to do, not in any specific order:
physical declutter ~
The first thing I like to do is to make the environment around me a little nicer and pleasant for the week ahead. this could be clearing away your things, lighting a candle, spraying some air freshener or changing your bed sheets. Small changes around you can uptick our mood and motvate you to get stuff done.
digital declutter ~
Just like your room you may want to declutter your phone or laptop. This could mean responding to messages, decluttering your gallery or deleting apps you no longer use. This is also great for freeing up some storage space.
plan out the week ahead ~
A very important task on Sunday’s for me is to plan out my week and my content in my bullet journal. This means writing down roughly when I will do assignments, jotting down dates for online classes and writing out when content needs to be uploaded. For you this could mean adding events in your Google Calendar or writing a weekly to-do list in the notes app or your planner.
self-care sunday ~
Another thing I like to do is a bit of self-care. Normally for this is putting on a face mask, watching f.r.i.e.n.d.s and lighting a few scented candles. For more self-care check out my blog post: ‘15 self-care ideas.’
And that wraps up this blog post and my week of uploads. It’s sad that it’s over but maybe I’ll do another one during the summer! Comment below your favourite post from this week! Like and follow for more content! Links and stuff below…
Happy Saturday! As you all know I am a stationery addict! It’s like one of my five a day out of sleep, Instagram, bullet journaling and eating fish fingers. So of course I had to include a stationery-themed post in my week of uploads! It goes without saying really. A couple weeks ago I did a stationery haul over on my IGTV and did a little first impressions of the stationery set featured today. After using this set for a couple weeks now I have decided to properly review it over here as my opinions have changed a little bit as I have been experimenting with these products.
a little bit about the set ~
There are seven pieces included in the set: the pencil case, mechanical pencil, retractable pen, regular pen, ruler, highlighter and eraser. It’s a Japanese stationery set so I really like the design and simplicity. It is almost identical to the famous Muji set, today we will be deciding if it’s a good dupe!
0.5mm pen ~
This is one of the pieces which is a complete replica of the Muji pen. As you may know if you read Monday’s blog post, I love a good inky black pen. This pen does just the trick. I really love the pointy nib, which makes it really easy to be precise and make neat notes. The ‘casing’ I guess is so cute and minimalistic, it unscrews very easily too.
0.5mm retractable pen ~
This pen was one of my favourite pieces in the set because it writes so smoothly. When I saw this pen, I thought it would be just an average Biro pen. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find another beautiful inky pen, very similar to the other pen. A fault with this pen is that after a while the ink became quite patchy and I was finding myself having to write over things I’d written to make it show up.
mechanical pencil 0.5mm ~
The casing (I clearly don’t know the really word) of this mechanical pencil is so cute and sleek, I especially love that it is clear! The lead that came with is very strong and sturdy, I can press down firmly without it snapping. You can also really easily control how pigmented the pencil looks. Something else I love about it, is that it has it’s own little eraser, so small I didn’t realise it after a while!
neon yellow highlighter ~
This is another favourite of mine. The pigment of the yellow is so bright and lovely. What I really love about this is that it is very sturdy and easy to control, sometimes highlighters can slip and smudge ink. Talking about smudging, this highlighter is against it! The best thing about this highlighter is that it will not smudge, not even fresh ink! My inky black pens that I mentioned in Monday’s blog post almost always smudge when I use highlighters, but with this one they don’t smudge at all! Another feature of this pen is that it is double-ended, like the Zebra Mildliners.
double-sided 15cm ruler ~
As you can imagine the ruler, is just a standard ruler. But I do really like the white colour… it’s so cute and minimalistic! I also like the slightly slanted edges, which gives me more control when drawing straight lines.
the eraser ~
Honestly not that much to say about the rubber… it’s a rubber… it rubs out!
I hope you enjoyed my little review of the Navita Stationery Set… click here to purchase it! Like and comment below your favourite stationery piece from the set! Follow for more content! Links and stuff below 🙂
Hey guys welcome back to my blog! Today is day FIVE of my week of uploads which is crazy! Today’s post is a collab with Daisy from Daisy’s Corner and I am so excited! Last week she interviewed me over on her blog so if you want to find out more about my blogging journey, my fave creators, plans for the future and the BTS of blogging, click here. But for now enjoy me interviewing Daisy… we are talking all things to do with starting a YT channel, becoming confident on the internet & more!
Thank you so much for having me Imaan! I’m so happy to be taking part in this interview. Hey everyone! My name is Daisy and I am the fourteen year old blogger behind Daisy’s Corner. I am based in the UK and I joined the blogosphere back in August 2019. I was originally known as ‘Sophie Amara’ which is my pen name but I recently revealed my real name which I’ll talk about a little more later on. I’ve had a passion for writing since a young age and I’ve always enjoyed sharing my thoughts with people. I am very strong-minded and impelled with what I believe is right so I often use my platform to stand up for what I believe in and to get my voice heard. In my little corner of the internet, I discuss all things positivity, productivity, wellness, fashion, lifestyle, food… I like to think that this is a little safe space for people to read my rambles & fully be themselves and I’m able to connect with people I’d never come across in my day to day life.
What is The Happy Hour? What inspired you to start it?
The Happy Hour is a series on my blog where I interview bloggers, YouTubers, content creators and influencers. Each Wednesday, a new interview will go up and each one will cover completely different topics to the one before it! The aim of the series is to inspire and reach out to as many accounts as I possibly can in this lovely community.
Whenever I talk to other people within the blogosphere or on Instagram I feel so inspired and motivated by their driven, ambitious mindsets. I want to share that inspiration that I get with my readers so that they, too, feel encouraged to be the best version of themselves and are able to discover like-minded people on the platform. I was actually inspired to start it by my dear friend Erin, the blogger behind Kitty Jade, as we were doing a collab in which we both interviewed each other and that’s where the idea started. That’s one of my favourite things about this community – people aren’t competitive and envious of others’ achievements, we all support & inspire one another.
Yes I totally agree! I love how supportive everyone is in our community, it’s not about numbers it’s about values.
What made you want to start a YouTube Channel?
It honestly just happened. My Instagram account was initially an inspirational quotes account so each day I would share a motivational quote with my followers, then I began taking photos of nature and uploading them now & again. My account slowly morphed into a photography account over time but I would still post the quotes on my Instagram story. I started a blog early last year but didn’t stick with it and ended up deleted the site altogether. I then did lots of research & planning which enabled me to start the blog which I have now in August last year. I think the support & encouragement I get from all of my followers really has just boosted my confidence and I never dreamt that I’d be where I am now this time last year!
I did a name reveal a couple of weeks ago and following that post, I received so many lovely comments & messages from everyone so that’s mainly when I decided to do a face reveal and a YouTube channel. But I wouldn’t say that there was a specific moment when I decided I was definitely doing it; a YouTube channel is something I’ve been debating for a while now so when the idea came to me a couple of weeks ago I just grabbed the opportunity and did lots of research. I put a post on announcing what I was doing and within twenty four hours I had almost fifty people subscribed, then the following day I filmed my first ever video which was a Q&A. It really has just gone from there though, it was all very spontaneous!!
I’m so excited to see you videos! Everyone go and subscribe about this, links at the end hehe!
Will your niches on your blog and your YouTube channel be similar?
Yes, I’m hoping that they’ll compliment each other and be very similar. My YouTube is going to cover all-things positivity, lifestyle & productivity but I’ll also be doing some fashion, wellness, routines and food content alongside this so I will hopefully have a very wide range of topics covered.
All topics I love and I know my audience does too!
What are the steps you are taking to start off your channel?
First of all, I did lots of research and watched plenty of videos on starting a channel. I’m a huge planner which really does contradict my spontaneity but I really looked into what the role of a YouTuber involves and I read lots of tips/advice for beginners. I then set up my channel, made my channel banner & set up my ‘About Me’ page. After this, I made the intro for all of my videos which was so much fun to do and I’m super happy with how it turned out. On Saturday 20th June, I announced on my Instagram that I was going to be starting a YouTube channel and added the link to my bio so that people could start subscribing, I also posted a question sticker on my story so that my followers could ask my questions for the Q&A video. The following day I filmed this video and edited it all. It was all such a quick process and happened in the space of a week. My video is actually up on my channel now if you’d like to check it out!! I chat about a whole range of things, from blogging to whether my friends & family know about my YouTube channel to my favourite animals to toxic productivity. There really is a huge variety of topics covered!
Your first video was so fun to watch… the premiere was so exciting aaah! You heard her check it out! Aside from that, the process is so interesting and I love how much thought you are putting into everything!
What are your tips for growing an Instagram?
My main tips would be: use hashtags effectively and engage with other people’s content. I read Liv Grace’s strategy blog post about how to double your reach & grow your following using hashtags and it has helped me so much. That post was a game changer!! My engagement went from seven people accessing my account through hashtags to over three hundred which is incredible! I’d advise that you use the maximum amount of hashtags available to your advantage, so just keep adding more until you get a notification saying you’ve reached the maximum. And then, in terms of engaging with others’ content, it is so important that you support other people. I love the quote ‘When you give and don’t expect anything back, that’s love. But if you give and expect a return, it’s an investment’. I think helping other people’s engagement will certainly help your own because lots of people will return this support but it’s so important to remember that this may not be the case so don’t let your pure intention of doing this to be benefiting yourself.
Thanksfor the tips!
What are your tips for creating a cohesive Instagram theme?
If I’m being honest, this is still something that I’m trying to figure out myself. I have a super exciting, cohesive theme planned for the next couple of weeks but my main tip would just be to pick one colour and focus on this colour so that you can base your photos on this. I’ve also just started using a preset which I am IN LOVE with, it is so cute and I can’t wait for you all to see more photos using it!! But other than that, I really don’t know – if anyone else has any tips, I’d be happy to hear them haha!
Can’t wait for your new theme!
How did you decide to do your face reveal?
Like I said earlier, it really just happened. I never planned on revealing my face but all of the support I received just made me feel so much more confident! I didn’t really decide to be fair, it was just a thought and then I posted it before I could change my mind; I was so so nervous & scared but the comments and messages I received following it were so lovely and overwhelming! I’m so grateful for every single follower on my account who continuously supports and believes in me ❤
Support can definitely boost your confidence.
Why did you hide your real name?
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Daisy, you won’t know that she recently revealed her real name! Before she was Daisy she was Sophie!
I joined Instagram with no knowledge of social media and how it worked. I was so new to it all and didn’t just want to use my name straight away. I’ve always loved the name Sophie Amara and I think Soph will always be such a huge part of me but I just think it was the right time to reveal my name. I had gotten to the point where I felt I couldn’t fully accept supportive comments I was getting because they weren’t meant for me, they were for Sophie and so on. I also felt that I was hiding behind Soph and when I’m constantly promoting positive messages like ‘be yourself’ I felt like I was sort of contradicting myself.
I am so proud of you for doing it!
Did anyone make you feel bad about your face reveal?
No, I didn’t get one bad comment. My little corner of the internet is honestly such a lovely, positive place and I’ve never received any hate comments, in all the time I’ve had the account (touch wood haha)!! I just love it! Every single person was so kind and I was inundated with wonderful messages from people!
That’s great, I love that you have had no bad experiences, especially with a bigger following than some!
Other than content creation what other interests/hobbies do you have?
Oooh, I like this question! I attend lots of dance classes each week as well as musical theatre. I’m also a huge book worm and enjoy writing my own creative fiction stories. I like baking and bullet journaling… there are so many things I like to do in my free time!!
That’s amazing, books are great & bullet journaling is so fun!
I hope you all enjoyed that interview! Daisy is a really interesting and entertaining gal! Here are her link if you would like to check this sweetheart out:
Come back tomorrow for a review on something I bought recently, hehe! Like and follow for more content! Comment below what you liked to find out about Daisy the most! Links and stuff below!
Throughout my blogging journey I have made so many wonderful friends! I’ve been a part of so many group chats and had my fair share of collabs. By having these wonderful encounters with new people I have learnt how to make meaningful, supportive connections with my fellow creators and I want to share with you how to do it to. I broke this blog post down into steps but just to clarify sometimes you will just click with people and not much effort with have to be made but other times you may want to refer to these steps, especially if you are newer creator.
step one: support them ~
To start making connections with other creator you should genuinely be interested in what they are about and what they do. You should be supportive of them too otherwise it will be tricky to become friends. If they are a YouTuber, subscribe to their channel and watch their videos. If they are a blogger read and comment authentic not generic things on their post. If they are an Instagrammer be really active on their account, like and comment on their posts. You must have good intentions before interacting with people. It can’t be just to take advantage of them and get a good collab deal, it shouldn’t be that shallow.
step two: interact individually
Start messaging them on a platform you have in common, for me this is usually Instagram. If you also use Instagram quite a lot, here are a few ways you can start off by talking to people:
replying to stories – being active on someone’s account also means watching their stories, which can mean replying to them. Some ways to do this are: congratulating them on a milestone, talking about something they have shown an interest in etc.
responding to polls & question boxes – very similar to replying to their stories, make sure you leave answers in their question boxes and voting on their polls. also if they are doing a story q&a and they answer your question try to spark a conversation about it.
Once you have established a small interaction, try to develop it further by asking them questions about them or speaking about something that interests them.
try to join a support group ~
I’ve spoken about this in my ‘how i used instagram to triple my blog following‘ blog post, so if you want more tips check that out! Support groups are basically collective group chats filled with different but similar creators to you where they all come together to give eachother advice and support. This can mean liking and commenting in eachothers post (pencilling back to my first step) to giving eachother help. This way you automatically have a list of people you are already loosely connected with. A bonus is that you will also have a more engaged following on whichever platform you create a group chat on.
asking for a collab ~
Before asking for any type of collab you will need to sure that you haven’t just been following them for five minutes and asking straight away, hence the other steps. Here is a message example of what I would say:
Hey (insert name here), as you know may know I’ve been following you for a while and I really admire your work. I was wondering if you would ever like to collab! I have a few ideas prepared if you agree. Thank You – (insert your name)
Depending on what type of collaboration you are interested (I might do another post on the different types of collabs), you should have a few ideas prepared. Of course ask them if they have any ideas to but most of the time them will vibe with your ideas and you won’t have to have an awkward brainstorming pause. If they agree of course thank them and you could arrange a date, but it is not always necessary straight away!
Collabs are a great way to get closer to influencers who have similar and niches to you. They are great for getting more exposure to your platforms too. I have made some incredible friends via collabs!
my last tips ~
I just wanted to share some final DON’TS when it comes to this type of stuff:
Don’t copy and paste irritating, generic messages to a bunch of people hoping they will be supportive. I’ve gotten messages of people asking if we can support eachothers YouTube channels – and I don’t even have a YouTube channel!
Don’t go for accounts way beyond your following, they will most likely say no or not even see the message.
Don’t ask the question, ‘Can we be friends?,’ this automatically puts a lot of people off and just sounds cringey to be honest.
Lastly, Don’t ask for collabs in the comment sections or comment things like ‘Follow for Follow’ or ‘Do you want to support eachother… our accounts are so similar…blah, blah, blah?’
If you are guilty of any of these things, don’t be offended and don’t worry, just learn from your mistakes.
I also asked my girls Liv & Abby to give y’all their tips too:
My biggest tip for connecting with other creators is to utilize dms. Dms are the perfect way to have meaningful conversations and even start friendships with other creators. Messaging people doesn’t have to be scary. If you like a creators content don’t be afraid to dm them and tell them that. Message people asking to collab. Reply to instagram stories. Whatever you decide to do works to start a conversation that will only grow. – Abby
Hello! I’m Liv from @livv.gracee- thankyou so much Imaan for letting me on here! I always get asked how I made the friends I have and how to properly involve yourself in the online community. Firstly I would say to PROPERLY engage in others content that you enjoy- instead of commenting “love this” comment something that sparks conversation or shows your personality! Secondly I would say to try and get involved with community pages or groupchats! These are an excellent way to network and meet new creators! – Liv
And that wraps up today’s blog post… come back tomorrow for a fun collab with a really interesting gal! Like and follow for more content! Comment below some of your favourites creators, let’s spread positivity in the comments ❤ Links and stuff below.
Welcome back to my week of uploads! Since it is the first of July I thought I would do one of my monthly setups! This month I chose the theme of Gilmore Girls – one of my favourite shows ever! Let’s just get into it…
quote page ~
I love the start off every month off with a new quote with a nice reminder. I decided to not only do a lovely Rory Gilmore quote but also one related to books – one of my biggest quarantine obsession. The quote I chose was, ‘I live in two worlds, one is a world of books.’ For this little spread, I alternated between a few blue marker to write out the quote. Then I drew a few cute stars around it because light is a huge factor in Stars Hollow. To complete it I did a drawing of a book in a couple green fineliners.
mini calendar ~
For the next spread, I tried to replicate the Stars Hollow entrance sign. I used a pastel blue marker to fill in the board and a light brown crayon for the borders. I also tried to display the same font style in the word July as the same one on the original sign. Another touch was the line that says ‘Founded in 1779,’ just like Stars Hollow. To finish this spread off I added the classic Stars Hollow fairy lights.
big calendar spread ~
I decided to finally do a proper calendar spread because I thought it would be useful for scheduling blog posts, igtvs and my online classes. I did 6×6 boxes for each day and wrote the date in the corner of each one. To ‘Gilmore Girlify’ the spread I did a Goals coffee cup, like the style of the Luke’s logo. Then I added another quote funny quote in the corner, which says: ‘how many cups of coffee have you had?’….’none… plus five!’
monthly highlights ~
This is my equivalent to ‘one line a day’ where I basically just write out a quick highlight from my day. I decided to bring these back because the other day I was reading through my old ones and it was really fun. For this spread, I drew a big yellow cup of coffee (Lorelai Gilmore’s obsession), a few cute hearts and a cursive font that says: ‘I need coffee in a I.V.’ I then wrote numbers down the page up to thirty-one for every day of the month.
brain dump ~
I love to have a place to just dump all my content ideas, which is why I always have a brain dump for each month. For this page, I did a little sketch of Rory Gilmore in her Chilton uniform. I chose Rory because she is a very brainy character. I then wrote, in a nice cursive font, ‘brain dump.’
And that wraps up day three of my week of uploads! Come back tomorrow for some tips on making connections with creators! Like and follow for more content. Comment below if you bullet journal or not! Links and stuff below…
Hey loves, welcome back to my week of uploads! Today is day two, which is all about shows. I’m sure we’ve all binged at least one series during quarantine and I thought it would be fun to quickly share a few shows I’ve been binging in self-isolation.
f.r.i.e.n.d.s
I’m sure you have all at least heard of this hilarious series. It follows six friends: Monica, Phoebe, Chandler, Rachel, Ross and Joey. This show never never fails to make me laugh and smile. I am currently on season ten; I have watched it once before. The journey of their lives together and their individual highs and lows is so wholesome to watch.
never have i ever
This show was popping off on Netflix and was the first ranked in a whole bunch of countries! This series follows a young South-Asian girl called Devi who really comes of age and discovers her morals through her upsetting past and puzzling future. This probably sounds really vague but I don’t want to give anything away!! It is really great to see a South-Asian women feature in this series for teenagers to see, which is not that common unfortunately. There is only one short season out and I need the next one because they left it on a complete cliffhanger!
downton abbey
This brilliant series is about a grand house and its inhabitants. It is set from 1912 onwards. We see the drama this high class family and their help endures. It is so interesting to see how life for different people was like back then and how the characters can constantly switch up. This has quickly become one of my favourite series because everything is shown in such a clever way and you definitely will get attached to the characters! This is available on Amazon Prime if you are interested!
And that wraps up day two of my week of uploads! I hope you liked this shorter-than-usual post! Come back tomorrow for a very July themed blog post! Like and follow for more content! Links and stuff below 🙂
Hi guys welcome back to my blog or welcome if you’re new! Today is a very exciting post because it kicks off my week of uploads! I’m so excited for all the content I’ve prepared for you guys! Monday is when my productive mode really kicks in, it is all about getting stuff done! So I thought I would start off this week with something to do with working at home like we all have been!
Something really important for me if I want to get stuff done is a nice working environment. Somewhere that reduces distractions and increases focus. For me it is my desk, j=but just the tabel by itself isn’t enough, I need all my essentials too. That’s what I’m going to be sharing with you guys today… let’s get into it…
something inspirational ~
During quarantine, I have definitely been lacking motivation to do lots of my work. To combat this I created my own little vision board with images and quotes that inspire me. I clipped this little board on my whiteboard directly in front of my desk so I can just look at before I work. This way I find it easier to manifest and think about the bigger picture when I am feeling unmotivated.
If this inspiration idea appeals to you here are a few more ideas if you can’t make a vision board:
any photograph of someone who inspires you e.g your mum, a celebrity, something spiritual
a quote that inspires you – you can find loads of these of pinterest and you can just write them down if you don’t have a printer
talking about pinterest, you could create a digital vision board on there of images/quotes that inspire you
a stack of my work ~
Of course to get my work done I need to have it with me! This includes my laptop and whole lot of books. I like to pre-plan what work I want to do in my bullet journal or wherever I write my to do list, so gathering all my books together is easy. This also reduces the likeliness of having to get up and away from my desk to get more books. Thus creating minimal distractions and interferences.
my favourite pieces of stationery ~
these would be:
my inky black pens – these are my favourite pens they are so easy and pleasant to write with and make my notes look really neat. I’m not exactly sure about the brand that makes these, but they are linked if you would like to purchase them!
a4 notebooks – obviously I need somewhere to actually write my notes so a4 notebooks and exercise books are the most efficient for my note-taking. My favourites are some pastel books from Amazon linked here, clearly don’t know what they are actually lol!! Other options could be typing out your notes if you prefer doing your work online.
water ~
To keep my energy up and make sure my throat doesn’t dry during the summer I always have a cup of water sitting on my desk. Also working for long periods of time can produce headaches and migraines, so drinking water definitely prevents that.
other bits and bobs ~
There are a few small things that I like to keep on my desk to keep me comfortable and decrease distractions even more. Hand cream is a huge essential for me because after a while of flipping through textbooks my hands can get dry and uncomfortable. Another lil’ knick knack I love to have is a little lip balm to keep my lips moisturised.
And that wraps the first post of this week! Come back tomorrow for a post all about TV shows hehe! Like and follow for more content from me! Comment below something you need when you are working! Links and stuff below…
