“Sometimes the memories are worth the pain.”

Sorry to be soppy, but recently while being in Italy my boyfriend Rob & I have decided to separate unfortunately after 2 years together. Being on ERASMUS has been hard for the both of us and we were just making each other unhappy, Its not easy for me to visit him and as he is in his last most important year at university and has no time either. Its all quite complicated for our young ages and hopefully we can stay friends as he was the perfect boyfriend and I can only describe this situation a shame.
   

Blog layouts that stand out

This space is not for the best blog layouts, but the ones that have really stood out to me during my blogging time. Many people ask me about my layout and for me it is one of the most fun aspects of blogging, I have never studied web design but I have always practised it and even did it as work experience whilst at school, this lead to studying photography at college and now media at University, they all connect in their own way. There are some obvious candidates that we can all think of, I want to include the obvious and the less obvious. Layouts that really impress me are the simple ones with no advertisements, I believe advertisements can really ruin a layout and when choosing bloggers for this post I really kept that in mind. 

ShiniParkandcube.com

Shini from Park&Cube has to be the master of all graphics design and fashion blogs, an influence to us all… Her blog is known for the amazing photography and organisation. It shows how she takes pride in the appearance and layout. I love black & white layouts and you can’t get better than this one.

LillyLlymlrs.com

Lilly from LLYMLRS is another obvious contender, her layout is always perfect. Clean and unique an her posts are always so well layered out. Lilly does include advertisements but very tastefully and I applaud how she hasn’t let her advertisements ruin the look/

breaneflattery.com

Flattery is a blog that I always remember and it is always immaculate, I spoke with Breane and she told me that the inspiration was from a random photograph she saw on the website. She loves how delicate and pretty paper cranes are, so she decided to add some in to the photo as well as some watercolour techniques because she says watercolour is her art style :) She did this all using a tablet, illustrator and Photoshop.

carriewishwishwish.net

Carrie is the 19 year old behind the majorly sucessful WishWishWish.net. She says “i’ve been creating “websites” for myself since I was about 13 years old. It’s something i’ve always loved, having my own little piece of the internet.” She uses photoshop to edit her pictures. However her blog theme was designed by: http://www.estudiocabron.com.ar/

ShariAviatorshades.blogspot.com

Shari is a 21 year old Management student from the Philippines, It was her blog that actually inspired me to do this post and research some other great simple layouts that I envy. Shari’s is another clean monochrome layout and I love nothing more than black & white layout with a flash over colour that is consistent throughout the blog.

lissdaydreamlily.com

Liss’s new blog design, was created by blogger That Unreliable Girl, and her sister created the banner.

Jesswildtortoise.blogspot.com

Jess from Canada’s layout is my favourite of them all.. I have always loved visiting the cleanness and simpleness and based around typography with some fantastic fonts.

financial consequences of the fashion blog

My posts are usually all photos, colleges and clothes, I talk about fashion but rarely go into detail on the financial consequences of being a shopaholic. I have been thinking lately (or panicking) about the amount of money I have been spending on realistically unneeded luxuries in recent weeks. Unfortunately we aren’t all ridiculously rich and can afford numerous amounts of Chanels, realistically the majority of us can’t.. so how do we do it?
What is the real cost of being a fashion blogger? We have to firstly think about how it effects the rise in personal consumption and not forgetting how this is effected by the competitiveness to keep up with other bloggers. As i mentioned earlier the majority of us can’t afford the designer items so it is crazy and unhealthy for bloggers to feel like they must compete with these.



I am a university student, student loans are how I live, last year I had a part time job which helped with money pressure and I had that little bit more freedom. However I had to stop work when I moved back home and haven’t been able to get another due to the fact I’m leaving the country in 2 weeks. Which leaves me in my current predicament.
Once I get my loan it has to last me three months which includes money for rent, food etc. But for some reason my brain incapable in helping me realise this, and suddenly most of my loan has disappeared on unnecessary home ware and closet fillers.  My Mom & my Boyfriend get ridiculously angry with me.. it has got to the point where I sneak into town or make sure packages arrive when everyone is out just to avoid the confrontation… maybe its a problem!

“It is just always at the back of my mind… I could be saving this for a car!”

SO! This post is that start of my non spending. I am going to start a non-spending diary on here, a journal of how I cope with not being about to spend with all the mishaps on the way. Here are some things that I must remember if I want to succeed:

• Labels are no longer important.
• Get over Primark & New Look phobia.
• If bored turn laptop off… avoid Topshop ASOS websites etc…
• Post about old items that haven’t yet been featured.
• PASSWORD BLOCK EBAY & ETSY.
• Learn how to vintage and thrift shopping works.
• Take advantage of sponsors and advertisement offers.
• More photography & editorial posts.
• Create lots of wishlists

Wish me luck!
P.S I am going to the Bullring tomorrow with Claire @ Jazzpad… so this starts on Friday :p

Images courtesy of http://weheartit.com