January

January was a tough old month for me. Starting 2018 with a funeral to organise whilst everyone else was talking about their new diets and resolutions was really hard. It was a whirlwind of grief which would end up lasting a lot longer than one month but it was a month that taught me a lot about myself. I am actually stronger than I thought.

February

I had my first major collaboration with Daniel Wellington watches which was scary but exciting at the same time. It was also a break away from interiors but I really enjoyed the challenge of product photography whilst still making it fit my feed.

March

The Beast from the East turned up and it snowed - A LOT! Manchester never looked so pretty!

April

I joined in with Sas Patherick’s Courage and Spice campaign and put myself in front of the camera on my feed. The social enterprise project was designed to support organisations that work with children and young people to build self-belief. By purchasing a t shirt, 100% of profits are shared between the Self-esteem Team in the UK, and the Graeme Dingle Foundation in New Zealand.

Freddies Flowers got in touch for a collaboration in exchange for free flowers - I can never say no to flowers and I loved creating shots with them. This is one of my favourites, inspired by Pinterest.

We took a trip to North Yorkshire for a couple of days and it was a really healing trip. I spent most of my childhood at caravan parks up in Scarborough - Blue Dolphin anyone?! Reliving some of my childhood memories was lovely and the gorgeous April weather also helped too!

May

May was a month of travelling based around my friends hen party and wedding. We partied hard in Budapest and I fell in love with Northern Ireland. I feel like I didn’t scratch the surface in Budapest and would love to go back again to dig deeper into the history and the culture. I soaked up every inch of Northern Ireland and even wrote a blog post about it. If you’re interested you can read it here.

June

I took the plunge and bought myself a Olympus Pen camera, meaning I could get better quality photos and start introducing myself into my feed more without having to ask Ben to take my picture! I love seeing people behind the Instagram accounts so I felt like it was time to put myself out there more.

I also managed to visit Pollen Bakery for the first time which was VERY exciting. This place is legendary in Manchester and has some of the best pastries ever!

July

We took advantage of Ben’s work benefits and stayed at the holiday apartment in Spain. Malaga was so enchanting and you can read about here.

July also saw Beautiful Homes in The North come to shoot my house for Christmas to publish in Home Style Magazine! Christmas in July is a term I’m very much familiar with having worked in retail for many years but having to pose in front of the camera was a little less natural!

August

August was about exploring local places such as Wine and Wallop in Knutsford. The roof terrace here is beautiful and the wine list was never ending.

August saw me win the Flower Lounge styling competition meaning I have been receiving a bunch of flowers every month. It’s nearly up and I don’t know what I’m going to do without the beautiful blooms in my house! Luckily Sian and co are doing the flowers for my upcoming wedding (spoiler alert) so I won’t have to wait too long!

September

Nothing much to note here - joke! We got ENGAGED! In the absolutely stunning Chania in Crete which was beyond perfect! After everything that happened in the beginning of 2018, this was such a happy moment and I actually became excited about the future again!

September was also a good month for collaborations and I got to work with King and McGaw who I’d admired for ages. I finally got my hands on THE Andy Warhol print and I love it.

I also secured my first paid collaboration which was a huge moment for me. All the hard work was finally paying off and it meant I was able to think about doing this professionally rather than just a hobby. I loved my shots from the Catherine Lansfield bedding and the stag print is perfect for winter.

October

Robert Welch got in touch and asked me to collaborate with their new cookware. Making a frying pan look sexy was a tough challenge but I always love creating these top down food flatlays.

I conquered one of my fears and took part in a live Q&A session at Arighi Bianchi in Macclesfield. I was terrified but everything was made better once I arrived and met some fabulous women who were also taking part. It was a real adrenaline rush and we were all on cloud 9 afterwards!

We set a date and celebrated with all our friends!

November

I headed to Hebden Bridge to meet the wondering Kathryn from Kos Home in real life! Kathryn and I have been talking on Instagram for years and it was great to actual meet in person and have a really good conversation. I’m hoping to head down to London soon to do it again!

I secured my biggest paid collaboration to date with Gousto cooking which required actual cooking and lots of scheduling. I loved creating this shot below, taking a pinterest image and making it my own was really fun.

I found the dress! I actually loved trying on wedding dresses despite being apprehensive about it in the beginning. Big thanks to the ladies at Cheshire Bridal Wear for helping me find THE ONE! I’m so excited to wear it!

Cheshire Bridal Wear, Goose Green, Altrincham

I got published! Home Style Magazine came out in the shops and it was lovely to see the photos in print! Autographed copies available on request!!!

December

I headed to Bulgaria with work for a weekend of adventure. It was my second time in Bulgaria and I think it’s such a beautiful country. It was lovely to see it in the snow too.

As a family we took ourselves away to Anglesey for Christmas. Last Christmas was so heartbreaking so it was lovely to do something out of the ordinary. Anglesey has a special place in our hearts so it was the best place to go and escape. Who knew Christmas on the beach could be amazing? I would highly recommend it to anyone struggling with that time of year. It was a great healer.

2018 started so badly that 2019 feels full of hope and I am looking forward to what it will bring! There’s lots of exciting adventures planned - number one being getting married to my love and starting a new chapter together! Bring it 2019! (inset flexed bicep emoji here!)

A few people have been in touch with me recently asking me how I've grown on Instagram and how I've found "my flow". Whilst I am by no means an expert, I thought I'd share a few tips I've learnt along the way.

When I first started out I was always reading up on Instagram, trying to find the magic secret. The truth is there isn't a magic secret, Instagram changes all the time and there are definitely peaks and troughs. It also takes work and time. I wouldn't recommend doing anything unless you actually enjoy it. For me, it's a hobby where I can express my passions for Interior styling which I live and breathe.

Most of what I learnt in the beginning came from Sara Tasker of 'Me & Orla' fame. I'm sure you've heard of Sara already but if you haven't go check her out. She has a beautiful Instagram account and an amazing blog where she shares all her tips and tricks of the trade. She even does Instagram courses for the more dedicated lot amongst us.

I did a styling workshop with her in 2016 and one of the things that stuck with me was the use of the app Mosaico. This has been a God send for me when it comes to planning my posts. Working the 9-5 as many of us do, especially in winter, makes it impossible to take daylight snaps as it's dark when we leave and dark when we come home - is it Summer yet?!? I'm also not a very impulsive person - I like to plan, and plus my house is not clean all the time! It's probably only clean for about 3 days of the week! Mosaico allows you to see what each image looks like on the grid and everything works together and flows. It also lets you save regularly used hashtags so you don't have to type them all in constantly.

Speaking of hashtags, I think they are still really relevant. In my opinion they are the best way for audiences to discover you. A great account I follow for Interior tags is Eclectic Street. Every week the lovely Sam rounds up the best hashtags in the Instagram world and posts them for people to use and share. It's really good for discovering new tags and accounts and some of them even involve prizes.

Eclectic Street's regular hashtag round up

If interiors isn't your thing, look at accounts you really admire. See what hashtags they are using, search those hashtags and see what other people are posting under it. This is great to collect inspiration and discover other awesome accounts.

My saved collections from all the amazing inspirational accounts I follow.

Another really important tip I learned is to post regularly and consistently. I post pretty much everyday at the same time - it's usually on my way into work on the train where I get ten minutes to chill before the madness of the day starts. It doesn't matter if you can't commit to everyday - all the experts say just being consistent is key. So if you can post once a week, every other day, whatever you can then do it, and stick to it. Obviously on weekends I'm not setting an alarm for 8am but I still post in the morning, a couple of hours difference won't hurt so don't stress about it.

My morning commute - on a good day! The rumours are true - it rains more than it shines here in Manchester.

Remember Instagram is a community and what you put in, you get back. Regularly interacting with people's accounts that you like and follow, whether that be commenting or liking or direct messaging and just generally having a chat - it pays off. You will appear on peoples radar and they are more likely to follow back and interact with you if they like what they see.

If you become stuck with what to post and run out of inspiration, don't worry you are in the right place. As well as following really inspirational accounts, there are plenty of people doing photo prompts. These prompts get the creative juices flowing and give you great content without even realising it. The 'My House This Month' is one I like to join in with when I can. I even wrote a blog post about my first attempt which you can read here. There are currently over 80,000 posts on there so you can imagine all the amazing accounts you will discover and all the possible people who can discover you by searching that particular hashtag.

My last tip is to use an editing app to take your photos from good to great. I personally use VSCO which has beautiful filters that are free and also really nice ones you can buy for a couple of pound. It also allows you to edit things like brightness/contrast, straighten those wonky angles and play with shadows and highlights. I tend to use the same one or two filters to create consistency with my images. See below for a before and after!

Before - raw photo taken with the iPhone

After! Using VSCO filter and editing features.

So that's it - like I said at the beginning I am no expert and I've pretty much self taught myself for about a year. It's trial and error but a lot of fun! I hope you found it useful, please feel free to message me with any questions and go check out those accounts I mentioned, you won't regret it!

2018 Year In Review