'Make the most out of every situation'

I think it's so important to make the most out of every situation that life throws at you. This week I should be in Ibiza living my best life, but for obvious reasons that isn't happening. I wanted to do something to make a new memory for what should have been a full on party week. As we are allowed up to 6 people in our gardens now I decided to create a little at home garden party (Ibiza style of course) from myself and my best friend Charlotte.

If you know me well when it comes to planning things I always put 110% effort in. If I didn't work in fashion I think I'd love to be in events planning.

Here are 5 ways you can transform your garden for an Ibiza party

1.  Decide on an area in your garden you want to focus on. For me I wanted this to be our decking area. I moved some of our garden furniture from the decking to other areas of the garden so I could create a little dance floor. (The space needed to be large enough for dancing 2 metres apart of course!) I then set up a little drinks table and had two chairs for us to sit down on at the end of the decking.

2. Pick your colour theme. For me this had to be pink and silver, this was pretty easy to pick as those are my favourite colours! Once you have picked your colour theme you can then look for decorations to fit in with your theme.

3. Set yourself a budget of how much you want to spend on decorations. I think this is super important because it's otherwise really easy to just add loads of stuff to your basket that looks pretty but the total ends up being £££s. I set myself a £50 budget.

4. I searched online for a good website to buy some decorations, I can across Ginger Ray (Which I have fallen in love with and have since made another online order for my mum's birthday at the end of the month) I wanted some ballon's to give an 'instagram' affect. I loved the PARTY ballon...this was the first thing I found on the website which I added to my basket. Then from there I found the other little touches like the straws, napkins and cups.

I love adding personal touches to things so wanted a banner with a photograph added. I got this from Party Pieces. And again I made sure this fitted in with my colour scheme and Ibiza vibes.

5. Get yourself ready! I sent Charlotte a text telling her what time and date to come to my house and told her to get dressed up as if we are going on an Ibiza night out. It was so much fun getting dressed up! I had brought some new clothes for this holiday so it was nice to be able to wear them and feel as if I was going out somewhere.

This day was so much fun and made me realise even in tough times we can think outside of the box and still make happy memories to look back on.

I hope you all enjoyed this post.
Love
Nicole
xx

Before I start this post I just want to say YOU DO YOU! I've seen so many things across social media telling people what they should/shouldn't be doing during this time. People are being put down for being super productive and those who are watching Netflix all day and just using this time to relax are also being put down. Turns out you can never really win. However if you do want to use some of your time being productive and you want/have a creative career this post is for you! 

I decided at the beginning of lockdown that I want days to fully relax but I also really enjoy learning and want to add more to my CV. I feel after doing quite a few different creative learning related things over thee past few weeks I'm now in a position to share my experiences and give advice on the good things I've found. 

1. Create a vision board, this is a really fun and creative way to look at how you would like your future to be in terms of work. You can do this by printing images from the internet or using newspaper cuttings and gluing them onto card. Or like me you can do this on Pinterest. (Also remember with Pinterest you can create secret boards so no one else has to see them) When you have day's you're not feeling so inspired go back over and look at your vision board to get that boost of motivation again. 

2. Four weeks ago I joined Grow and Glow, which is a platform to help bloggers/small businesses grow their online channels. (Check the website out here.) I can honestly say without Grow and Glow I wouldn't have been about to do 1/4 of the things I've now done for my blog over the last month. Grow and Glow have different bundles/courses you can work your way through. So far I've upped my Pinterest game, really narrowed down my niche, worked on my SEO the thing we all love to hate and put off doing for ages yet it's so important. You pay a monthly fee of £15 which is 100% worth it. Think of it as one less London priced cocktail a week once things go back to normal. Once you join you also have access to their Facebook group where you can ask other members questions and advice. 

My blog/instagram channels have always come up in interviews and it's something that employees are so interested in when you apply for a creative job. Creativity is something that you are so passion about outside of your work life so it's good to show extra dedication and things you do on the side. 

3. BoF, I had access to some amazing websites during my university days at London College of Fashion. But once I left and no longer had access myself through university I didn't join any membership programs. However after a recommendation from my friend at work about BoF. I decided to join. It's free for the first month then £33 a month after that and you can cancel at any point. You can check the website out here.  Monday-Friday BoF have live talks via Zoom with industry experts which has been really interesting. I think it's super important not just now but all the time to keep up to date with industry news again something that will make you stand out at an interview as you will have more to talk about. They also have so many articles and reports on what's going on right now and changes within the beauty/fashion industry.  

4. Do an online course, I'm currently doing a course on BoF called build your dream career. They have 6 courses on BoF the others include styling, merchandising/buying, marketing, history of fashion and building a brand. If you are not sure if you would like a career in fashion and haven't yet been to university or want to change you career path this would be ideal for you to get a taster as to what some jobs would be like. Also I think it's so important to remember that whatever your job title is, it would look so good to have some knowledge on other key areas in your industry. As all departments have to work together and you will do a better job working with the marketing department for example if you're a stylist if you have a good understanding of marketing. 

5. Download skills share, (the first two months are free at the moment then it is £7 a month after that check the website out here.) This is something that I have only just discovered and think everyone should be apart of a the moment. Skill share has 100s of online lessons about a whole range of different creative topics. I've completed the lesson with Emma Gannon called unlocking your potential. Emma talks through 5 exercises to build creative confidence. The thing I found most helpful was identifying your patterns looking at a 24 hour period and what makes you feel motivated and what doesn't. It is particularly important when working in the creative industry or any in fact to take a step back from time to time and look at how you're working and if this is benefitting you. 

I hope you enjoyed this post, and please leave a comment if you have any other tips/advice! 

Thanks, 

Nicole

xx