What I've Learned from 1 Year of Blogging!

Well...HAPPY BIRTHDAY! A Little Space for Elphie has reached it's first birthday, and it's been a crazy year. I'm not going to lie, when I started writing this little blog I had no idea that a whole year later I'd still be creating content for it, for me this is a mini success! 

Writing a blog, albeit not an enormous one, has taught me a lot about work ethic, self-motivation, creativity and a lot about myself- it's been fabulous. Hard, but fabulous! So here's a few things that I have picked up so far...

•Constant creativity is blooming hard! This is one thing that I have struggled with time and time again. Thinking up fresh ideas, and more importantly how to turn an idea into a physical post is tiring. Even when you find the best idea ever, it's hard to find the words (and photos) to make it happen. But I find being constantly equipped with a notebook and pen is my best weapon for combatting 'writer's block', I can guarantee that the best ideas come along when you least expect them to.

•Time management is SO important! If you want to upload regular content you have to really consider when you're going to do everything. Taking pictures, writing the words, typing up, editing, redrafting and then uploading can get all mixed up with eating, sleeping, work, study, hobbies, socialising and breathing- it's a constant juggle. I'm not going to lie this is something that I'm still not great at (I refer to my recent 2 week break) but I've definitely learned a lot from it. 

•There's always more than what meets the eye. Put simply, blogging is more than just writing; it's writing, photography, web design, social media, replying to and talking with readers and so so much more...When I first started writing for ALSFE I didn't anticipate how much you actually have to do when creating for an online space, and I haven't even touched on the amount of work that goes into working with huge readerships and PRs. However this alone has taught me so much, with any job that you do there will be parts that you love, parts that you hate and bits that you really can't be bothered with. Anything you want to do, I'm taking about jobs here, has so much more to it than you first think, so the bit that you aspire to may only be a small part of the whole picture and learning to just get on with it is a great lesson to learn! 

Thank you for a whole year of support, you're the best! 

We did a bit of Shopping: Homeware Haul

I hate that once again I'm explaining why I didn't post earlier in the week, and for this there are two reasons. 1) I genuinely didn't know what to write about and 2) my wifi connection has been lacking! But I thought I'd come back with showing you what me and my bestie, Holly, found at The Range.

The Range is always one of those wonderous places that I can literally get lost in for hours! I love wandering through the aisles and aisles of cheap homeware and craft accessories. Of course I'm making it sound like some sort of fairytale right now (it's not that great) but I always manage to come out with a trolley full of things that I love. So here we go! 

First off we went to cushions! I've been wanting some more cushions for on my bed for a while and just never found any that I really like. (This was the moment when we realised that we were going to need a trolley and not just baskets!) Between us we actually picked up 4 cushions, I fell in love with the cerulean blue fluffy cushion and Holly loved the map cushion to fit with her vintage inspired bedroom decor. We both picked up one of the music stave cushions (because why the hell not? Matching cushions!) as we're both enormous fans of musical theatre, to the point of obsession, and we love anything remotely stagey. The cushions range from £3.99 for the smaller one and £5.99 for the bigger ones, in store there are still cushions that cost more but that's usually just because of the detailing on them, but £6 for a cushion isn't bad going.

I apologise that the picture above is a bit dark, but if I'm being totally honest this is probably the least exciting part of our little shopping trip. PLATES! A BOWL! Yes, really. I have wanted for a while to get a smaller side plate and bowl to eat my meals from to help me with portion control and when I saw these little blue and white ones I put them straight in the trolley, they are so me! And I think they were each about £2. 

I also picked up a Kilner Jar Mug, because...Pinterest. Honestly Pinterest is my bank account's worst enemy. I love the way these jars look and I think they are great for smoothies, milkshakes, juices and hot chocolate, so of course I picked one up! I think that one was £2.99, or at least somewhere around that ball part, you can also buy them in multi-packs which work out a little cheaper per mug. 

Holly then picked up some of these jam jars. Aren't they cute? They were the cheapest of the bits that we picked up and are so cute. When she found them, Holly knew exactly what she wanted them for and started to make a list of all of the other things that she would need. I'll show you the finished result at the end! 

Let's set this bit straight first. Saw the penguin. Fell in love with the penguin. Introduced the penguin to the trolley. Bought the penguin. His name is now Derek. So meet Derek. I am an absolute sucker for small cuddly toys and this one melted my heart. 

I was also looking for a jar to keep my cotton wool balls in and this one just looked perfect, for £1.99 it was a steal. If I was kitting out my whole house then I definitely would have bought three of these, one for sugar, for tea and for coffee. But I'm not kitting out my whole house, so cotton wool balls it will have to be. 

I said that I would show you what Holly did with the jars, and here they are. Just using some PVA glue, string, lace ribbon and some sweet little gift tags, she has turned those cute jars into adorable candle holders. Well done Hols. Pinterest-worthy pieces right there!