30 Post Ideas For Creative Bloggers

Like me, I'm sure that a lot of my fellow creative bloggers occasionally run a bit low on ideas about what to post. Even with the best will in the world, sometimes it all just seems to dry up. The good news though is that often, all it takes is a little nudge in the right direction to get the blogging juices flowing again, so I wanted to share a few 30 post ideas in the hopes of getting you going again if you’re feeling a bit uninspired lately. 

Summer 2015 Essential Exhibition Visits

(TOP LEFT) (TOP MIDDLE) (TOP RIGHT) (BOTTOM LEFT) (BOTTOM MIDDLE) (BOTTOM RIGHT)

With summer now on our doorsteps, and many of us looking forward to some better weather and even a little break away from school or work, a whole new wave of exhibitions are sweeping our way. From painting pioneers to parakeet shoes and even a helter-skelter, there's some really exciting stuff to look forward to over the coming season. So get your diary out - I'm doing a run down of my top UK exhibition picks for summer 2015.

Manchester School of Art Degree Show: The Private View

The Manchester School of Art Degree Show is now officially open to the public (13th-24th June 2015), showcasing the talent and achievements of final year degree and foundation students. But before the exhibition opened its doors at the weekend, there was the annual private viewing on Friday 12th June. It was such a lovely evening and felt like a real celebration of all the hard work of everyone from across the art school. It was a wonderful opportunity to finally relax and see the fruits of all the blood, sweat and tears over the past year!

DIY: Luggage Tag Business Cards

Today I've got a little DIY post where I'll be showing you how I made my own handmade luggage tag business cards. A business card is often your first opportunity to make a good impression, done right and it's a chance to show a little bit of what you're about and hopefully it might lead to something more. I am of the belief that there's no point in selling yourself as a creative person and then handing over a poor quality, boring, seen-it-a-million-times-before business card. Something out of the ordinary will show straight away that you're an innovative thinker, and there's also more chance that your card won't just get stuffed to the back of a pile, never to see the light of day again. Plus, who doesn't love something handmade right? 

2015 New Year's Resolutions: 6 Month Update

*insert compulsory statement wondering how it's already June*

So along with just about everybody who has a blog, my first post of this year was sharing my goals for the twelve months which stretched out ahead of me. Now, six months (i.e. half way?!) though that twelve, I thought I'd do a little update and see how good (or not so good...) I've been at making my new year's resolutions happen.

1) Draw LOTS more (starting with a drawing a day in January)
Ok. ermmm. well. This probably isn't a great place to start! Drawing is something I struggle massively with, and it's mostly down to my own confidence. When it comes to drawing, I always feel incredibly inadequate and as a result I just don't do it as often as I'd like to. There's not much point in me doing this update if I'm not going to be honest about it so I'm just going to go right ahead and say that this has been a massive fail so far. All is not lost though - there's still six more months to get my draw on right?

2) Stop wasting time by worrying about time all the time
This is a bit of a personal problem. I have this terrible habit where if something doesn't quite go to plan, I waste time by worrying about it, and then waste more time by worrying about the amount of time I've spent worrying... and so on. I actually think I've made good progress with this so far in 2015. Last year this episode would plague me at least once or twice a month, but I'd say it's only happened maybe twice since the new year. Thumbs up!

3) Blog (just do it!)
Easily my biggest success of the lot! Pre-2015, I was a very on-again off-again blogger. There were so many silly worries holding me back from blogging on a regular basis and in January I decided enough was enough and I needed to just do it because I enjoyed it and I wanted to. So far so good I'd say! I've blogged at least once a week in 2015 and I'm loving every minute of it.

4) Update my wardrobe 
Unfortunately, I haven't made as much progress as I would've liked with this resolution yet, and it's not through lack of trying. Money has simply been a bit tight and I haven't had a lot of extra cash to spend on clothes, however I have made progress where possible. When I have bought new clothes, I have made sure ONLY to make the purchase if it's something that fits in with what I WANT my wardrobe to look like. This method has allowed me to make slow but sure progress with perfecting my style. This summer I'm determined to clear out all of the junk lurking in my wardrobe too...

5) Shoot in film
This is a bit half-yes half-no. Have I shot in film? Yes. So technically, goal achieved. However, this was only on one occasion and I would like to do it more frequently. Again, money has been an issue since film is so much more expensive than digital but this summer I'm hoping to have another go. I am pleased that I got my film camera working and have learnt the basics though so not a complete failure here.

6) Learn how to better deal with anxiety and depression 
Again, something slightly more personal. In honestly, it's been a really tough year so far in regards to this but I won't go into too much detail here (mainly because it's largely not about myself). On a positive note though, I've felt pretty good 90% of the time and I actually feel like a happy person within myself even if I do still struggle with anxiety in a big way. 

So there we have it! I'd say I've got a 50% 50% success rate so far which isn't bad considering we're only half way through the year. It's great to check back up and see that I've achieved some of the things that were merely a goal six months ago. Publishing my resolutions in black grey and white on this little corner of the internet has made me feel much more accountable to actually sticking to what I set out to do. 

How are you getting on with your new year's resolutions? Have you raced ahead in achieving your goals or have they fallen by the wayside since January? I'd love to know, hopefully some of you are doing better than me with a few, or maybe this post will give you that extra boost you need to revisit the goals you set yourself six months ago. 

Art Foundation Final Exhibition (FMP #4)

So it's all over. One year (or 9 months if you want to get technical) of blood, sweat, tears, sweat, stress, hard work, sweat and late nights. Before I started my art foundation, I was something of a lost confused soul, watching all of my friends go off to uni but having little idea of which path in art and design I wanted to take myself. Twelve months on, I can now whole heartedly say that a foundation course was the best thing I could have possibly done for myself and my future. I have never worked so hard and created so much work in such a short space of time, or developed my creative capabilities in such a profound way. 

With the end of the year comes the final exhibition. This is the culmination of everything from the year, but in particular the ten week final major project. I've done a few posts on my FMP previously which I will link here, here and here. The foundation exhibition goes up alongside all of the degree shows at Manchester School of Art and is ultimately a big part of the final grade. 

On the surface, my FMP has stayed consistent to my original subject as experimenting with letterforms has been central throughout the ten weeks. However, discovering textiles was a defining turning point for me and what I initially intended to be a short research test turned into a change of direction. From that point onwards, the craft, process and materials became key. I taught myself how to knit and crochet and my focus changed from illustrating phrases with typography onto testing, exploring and developing the potential of traditional textiles crafts in the context of graphic design and typography.

After weeks of testing, developing, refining and many balls of wool later, I have created one piece to showcase what I have been working on in my FMP. I will insert a few photographs but as a general outline, my final show is a wall piece in which I have recreated the definition of 'TYPOGRAPHY' with crochet and knitted letters, replicating the links, fonts and punctuation of online dictionaries...

I am really genuinely happy with how my exhibition has turned out. As a huge perfectionist it was difficult to let go of the fact that this is a handmade piece of graphic design, and so imperfections are necessary to its character. The 'homemade' element is, I hope, a part of the charm. It's been a labour of love to bring this exhibition to life and I feel at a bit of a loss now that its all over!

On Monday I handed in all of my supporting work from the year, my portfolio, sketchbooks and artist research for marking over the next couple of weeks. After this time the Manchester School of Art degree show will open to the public (which I will do a little post on with more details), so essentially I am finished for the summer now. I have loved every single minute of being in a creative environment this year, I have met such amazingly talented friends and tutors and I truly wish I could do it all over again.

Now though, it's time for some chill time...