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A little while ago I did a run down of creative and lifestyle YouTubers I love and you guys seemed to love them too. So I thought I’d add a few additions to the list because I’ve fallen in love with a few new creators since then and you know I’m all about sharing the creative love. If you haven’t read the old list please check that out too, it’s got 16 incredible creators in it, and it would be a shame if you missed them!

FURRY LITTLE PEACH

I mentioned Sha’an in my last list, but I had to mention her again because she’s posting regularly again and she’s my absolute favourite. Her studio vlogs are wonderfully put together and really give you a little insight into her world. She seems like the absolute loveliest person, and watching her work and create such amazing work has really inspired me to hone what I do. Also, if you didn’t know her watercolours are stunning!

BLOOM

Bloom is a little bit different to my picks last time. Libby and Brogan discuss pop culture and real world stuffs. Their mind mapped videos are some of my favourites out there. Libby talks through topics ranging from the gender pay gap to Stranger Things while Brogan illustrates their argument, they always get me thinking and really make me want to get into more animation. Whether you want to have a chuckle or learn something new head on over to their channel. PS – they’re also the loveliest ladies in real life too.

MARIE JACQUEMIN

In my last list I shared my love for New Age Creators, and if you haven’t checked them out already please please do. Marie is part of that team, and that’s where I first saw her. Now I’m a big fan. I love her blog, as I mentioned in my rundown of creative blogs, and her solo channel is pretty dang great. She’s documenting her time freelancing as well as her travels, and lots of beautifully shot insights into her life. Her recent (well when I’m writing this recent) postcard from France video was absolutely stunning and definitely worth a watch!

JORDAN CLARK

Jordan is a new addition to my subscriptions list. Her videos are arts and creativity based mainly. All of her videos are just so calming, I think it’s a mixture of her voice and the editing style but they always put me in such a chilled out mood. So if you’re on the hunt for a new evening time favourite look no further.

LUCY MOON

I can get a bit frustrated by vlogs that all look the same, but Lucy’s 168 hours is a wonderfully refreshing (and beautifully put together) antidote to that. Her videos are creative and just so honest. I love her style and her love of tea is something I can definitely get on board with. I’m personally really looking forward to seeing her Sunday Social series grow.

WHAT OLIVIA DID

In my last list, I included lifestyle and fashion favourites on the list, and I’m doing the same again here, because I love What Olivia Did. I took me a good while of reading Liv’s blog to realise she had a YouTube channel and I’m so glad that I did. If you like her blog you’ll love her videos, they’re created with the same aesthetic and even more personality. Liv is in my list of dream lady friends. Her videos are mainly style based, but she does some great travel and lifestyle bits too. I love that she’s started talking about ethical fashion now as well. Her “Inside the wardrobe of” series is so good that whenever she releases one I save it for Sunday breakfast, my prime YouTube spot.

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I knew I wanted to create some Halloween content again this year. But then I realised that I’m not really a Halloween person, and I wanted to make something that I would actually use. I won’t be going out, I’m unlikely the decorating my room (we never celebrated Halloween at home, okay?) and I’m not doing any Halloween baking. So I thought I’d share with you my perfect Halloween night in, featuring some great movie recommendations, a recipe and a free printable.

MOVIES TO WATCH

I’m not into scary movies so these are all family friendly, and suitable for all hours of night and day.

1. The Addams Family (Wednesday is one of my personal heroes)

2. Hocus Pocus (a classic)

3. Halloweentown (I mean it has Halloween in the name, and if you really want to make a night of it you can watch the sequels)

4. Beetlejuice (a childhood favourite)

5. Ghostbusters (new or original, they’re both fun)

HOMECRAFTS

I created a little Addams Family inspired colour in sheet to keep your idle hands busy as you watch a movie, to distract a child or relative or just to use as a festive background.

You can download a free pdf of the sheet here (and if you subscribe to my fortnightly newsletter in the sidebar there are loads more freebies to come)

RECIPE

Chilli is one of my favourite autumn time foods full stop. But this is a special Halloween version, ft. some pumpkin because if you can’t carve them you gotta eat them.

500g Mince (beef, turkey, or Quorn depending on your preference)

1 Onion, diced

2 Cloves, garlic crushed

1 Medium pumpkin or you can use a butternut squash if you can find one

1 Carton black beans

1 Tin kidney beans (plain or in chilli sauce)

2 TBSP Tomato Puree

1 TSP Cumin

1 TSP Coriander

1/2 TSP Smoked paprika

1/2 – 1 TSP Chilli flakes

Serve with rice, plus cheese and sour cream if you eat dairy and are feeling indulgent

  1. Open your pumpkin or half your butternut squash, scoop out the seeds, rub in oil and roast at 200 degrees for 45 minutes or until soft
  2. Fry your onion, garlic and spices
  3. Fry your mince
  4. Take your pumpkin/squash out of the oven, scoop out the flesh and give it a little mash
  5. Add the pumpkin/squash, tomato puree, and beans to the mix and leave to simmer for 10 minutes
  6. Serve (in the pumpkin if you’re feeling fancy)
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Celebrating your own achievements is so important. You have to recognise your own progress and acknowledge how far you’ve come. Not only is it nice to give yourself a little pat on the back, it’s essential to keep you growing and striving forward for the right reasons. Mini-celebrations are sometimes just as important as the big ones because every big project is made up of little steps and each one of those is a milestone and a learning opportunity in its own right.

You can’t just celebrate your own achievements. You need to recognise those of the people you love. For me, one of the best ways to see if someone truly cares about you is if they’re there for you when you’re winning as well as when you’re losing. It can be a lot harder to put your own problems to one side and celebrate someone else, especially if you feel they’ve done something you want to achieve. But if you love someone, that love should be the bigger feeling and you should share in their joy and help them remember how important it is to acknowledge their achievements too. Hopefully, they’ll do the same for you too.

Here are some of the best ways I’ve found to celebrate my wins and those of the people I value most…

A NIGHT OFF

Taking a night off, to do whatever you want (for me that means Netflix and a bar of Ritter Sport) is such a great, and simple, way to celebrate a small success. So many studies have shown that the thing that makes us feel happiest is having free time to spend doing something we love, so give yourself the luxury of some breathing space. I feel like a night off is also particularly great if you’ve been working on a project or spending a bit extra time to get something right.

TREAT YO SELF

I wrote a whole post about the importance of treating yo self, but I had to put it in this list. Everything here is essentially a variation on treat yo self, but I’m thinking specifically here of the Tom Haverford style of buy yourself something nice. If there’s been something you’ve been waiting to get or wanting for a while, use a small victory as an excuse to get it. Not only is it nice to get something nice, when you buy something as a bit of a self-reward the item itself gets caught up in the victory and will act as a reminder of your achievement in the future.

WRITE IT DOWN

If you don’t want to buy something but you still want to make sure you remember the little things, write it down. Again, so many studies have shown that writing things down makes them stick in your memory so much more. So, take the time to jot them down in a diary or journal or even write a letter to your future self.

The Story Behind: My Greeting Card Designs

SEND SOMETHING SPECIAL

Writing it down doesn’t just work for your own wins, if you want to celebrate a friend there is nothing better than sending a hand-written note, or even a little care package filled with victorious goodies. If you’re looking for a card to put your thoughts in and to express your joy there are two in my shop that I designed just for this kind of situation: my YAY card is great for all celebrations and is one of my bestsellers, and my Number 1 Fan card is perfect to tell someone you’re their, well, number 1 fan. Making that bit of extra effort to celebrate someone else’s success is one of the best ways to show that you care.

MINI PARTY

Or, there’s always the option of going all out and throwing yourself or your friend a mini party to celebrate. That doesn’t have to mean canapes and a band (unless you want it to), it can just be having a pizza night or going out to the cinema together. You can do whatever you want as long as you’re celebrating in style.

BREAK WITH ROUTINE

If you don’t want to do anything big, just break with routine. Have a special dinner. Take a more scenic route to work. Have a morning shower instead of an evening one. Call your mum a day early. Just do something to mark it as something a bit special. If you’re celebrating a loved one, take on a task they would normally do. Do they normally cook you dinner? Put the oven on. Do they always organise group gatherings? Take the reins. Acknowledge all they do for you, and all they’re doing for themselves at the same time.

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This blog is about design of all kinds. It’s about illustration and graphics, as well as designing your life to be something that works for you. And an area of my life I’ve been working to design over the last little while is fragrance. Seems strange? Well, let me get scientific for a moment.

Dr. Rachel Herz at Brown University in 2004 “found that a group of five women showed more brain activity when smelling a perfume with which they associated a positive memory than when smelling a control perfume they had never before smelled. The brain activity associated with the memorable perfume was also greater than that produced by the visual cue of seeing the bottle of perfume.”

– Sabrina Stierwalt, The Scientific American

Anecdotally, I whole heartedly agree. Certain perfumes take me back to very specific moments in my life, whether those scents were mine or someone around me. Estee Lauder Pleasures can’t help but make me feel like I’m 8 again following my mum around, and Elie Saab Le Parfum brings back terrifying memories of being 18 and on a gap year that I didn’t want.

As soon as I discovered that link between scent and memory, I’ve been trying to design scents around my life to make my memories more tangible. I’ve picked up new fragrances every time I’ve had a major change in my life, or at least when I’ve needed one.

So, I thought I’d share a few of the scents that I’ve used to define the past few years and some of the design that went into them, because so much of what makes a fragrance what it is the design that goes into turning it from a scent into a luxury.

Estee Lauder – Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia

This is my “signature fragrance” if I can be pretentious enough house a phrase like that. It’s the first fragrance that made me feel grown up. It was the scent that I wore on my first trip to America to visit some of the best friends I have ever, and will ever have. It was the fragrance that I wore when I started going out with my boyfriend. It’s what I wore when I graduated. It holds so many memories, it set the scene for me to define myself as a grown up. I changed an incredible amount through my time at university and my time wearing this perfume. It smells heavenly and the hammered gold cap on the bottle is supposedly inspired by jewellery given to Aerin Lauder by her grandmother, Estée Lauder, which makes it feel precious and that little bit grown up.

Jo Malone – Nectarine Blossom and Honey

This was my moving to London perfume. Peaches are my favourite summer fruit and this perfume gives me those summer feelings, it’s bright and fruity and sparkly. It’s a scent that smells like happiness and fresh starts and it helped lift my spirits in what was quite a tumultuous time.

Diptyque – O’Fresia

I bought this one when I needed to start over, at the beginning of this year. I wanted to feel like someone new when I stepped out of the door, so I moved from fruity to floral and it did the trick. This I think will be the scent that brings me back to my grad scheme. I, like pretty much every blogger in the world, love Diptyque’s packaging. Their typography and illustrated bottles feel really special, and really make you feel like you’re treating yourself when you wear it.

Diptyque – Do Son

This one is a more grown up (warmer, softer, a little more skin-like) version of the Estee Lauder. I got it in a roller ball to take on holiday and in my bag with me for special occasions. It makes me feel dressy because I mainly wear it for evenings out and like I’ve been out in the sun all day without all of the sun tiredness because of all of its holiday wear. It’s the perfect pocket pick me up.

Clean Reserve – Warm Cotton

My current daily fragrance is Clean Reserve’s Warm Cotton. It smells exactly like you would expect, like fresh sheets. I wanted something simpler for everyday and Warm Cotton the bill perfectly. It also puts me in a really productive and accomplished mindset, because I always feel on top of my life (rightly or wrongly) once I’ve done my laundry. When it comes to bottle design, I love Clean’s dedication to eco-friendly packaging, especially as I’m trying to be more conscious in my consumption and reduce the waste that I put into the world. So, it’s a fragrance that not only smells lovely but fits into the life I want to design for myself.

Is there a fragrance that takes you back to a specific time or place?

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Now that I’m very much done with uni, a lot of my friends live quite far away. There’s an ocean between a lot of us. Keeping those long-distance friendships going is a lot of work. But it’s so so worth it. I wouldn’t lose them for the world. I’ve been doing this long distance friendship thing for a long while I thought I’d share some of the ways we stay in touch and maintain relationships that (I think) will be lifelong.

TEXT THE LITTLE THINGS

Text/Messenger/Whatsapp is the ubiquitous way to keep in touch. But as well as the every day, the outfit questions, and the endless gifs don’t forget to share the little things. Imagine those people are with you as you’re walking around, what would you point out? Did you see a great dog? Did you meet their doppelganger in a lift? I mean don’t do it all of the time, but make sure they’re a part of your life rather than endlessly catching up on your latest meeting at work. It’s also fun to send one-liners on a postcard like this cheesy number.

SKYPE

If you can’t be with someone in person, Skype, when it’s working, is the second best thing. With time differences they can be hard to arrange, but they’re totally worth it. I’ve started to skype my best friend from uni while I’m cooking and it is honestly like double therapy.

The Story Behind: My Greeting Card Designs

LETTERS

There’s something very special about a hand written letter. Something you have touched and spent time crafting physically making its way to them, it’s almost like being there. It’s wonderful to receive a letter, a little surprise on your doorstep. It’s wonderful to send them too. Writing a letter gives you time to get your thoughts in order, to help you make your memories permanent, and to give you a chance to work on your handwriting. If you want to make your letter something extra special, put it in a greeting card. I have a range I illustrated just for that purpose because I made the cards I would want to send – you can pick them up over in my shiny new store!

CARE PACKAGES

One of the most important duties as a friend is looking after each other when times are tough. Sometimes that can be tricky if there’s an ocean getting in the way of a hug. That’s why I like to send “open in case of” packages every now and again – writing this post has reminded me to send some more. I fill boxes with cards and tea, and lovely things (think face mask samples, candles, mittens), wrap them up and send them across the sea.

VISIT

Making time to visit each other is the biggie, and it’s the one I’ve been particularly bad about. It’s something I want to change, but a mixture of money, work, and my anxiety is holding me back from another American adventure at the minute. But I am going to be making the effort to take (semi) regular trips up to Oxford, more than I have this past year. So, if you can, make sure you see the ones you love in person. Hugs just aren’t quite the same through a computer or a letter.