I talk a lot about what inspires me on this blog; from my inspiration toolbox to my favourite blogs, I love surrounding myself with the awesome work and words other creatives are sharing. A huge thing I've learned about inspiration though is that first and foremost, you must inspire yourself. If you're always creating in response to someone else's work, you'll never tap into your true creative potential (I've spoke about taking inspiration too far before here). 

We are the sum of what inspires us and what we consume, there's no denying that, but that doesn't mean that we can't and shouldn't inspire ourselves first. But how do we do that? I'm sure it's different for everyone, but today I thought I'd share three ways I seek and find inspiration:

This post is actually first and foremost a reminder to myself to slow down a little this festive season; I've been so work focused that I almost completely even forgot to build in some time off to spend with family and friends. For any of us who work within the online world, you'll know how hard it is to actually switch off from social media and the internet. I've made a little pact with myself though to take a few days away, enjoy the awesome people in my life, and finally make my way through my 'to read, watch, and listen' list. If you struggle to unwind and relax too, I thought today I'd round up 10 ways I'm planning on relaxing a little over Christmas and hopefully encourage you to do the same! 

This has been the year where I've really started to find my creative feet. It's without a doubt a lifelong journey, but these past twelve months or so is when I've really discovered what feeds me creatively and what the work is that I truly want to be creating. Here are just five little things I've learned about creativity this year:

After you've been blogging for a while you'll probably find yourself with an awesome backlog of posts and previous content, and one of the biggest mistakes we can make is not making the most out of all the awesome previous content we've created and shared with our readers. You are way more than just your latest blog post, so today I wanted to talk you through 10 different ways you can make the most out of your blog archives and not let your previous awesome content get lost in the crowd:

With the end of the year in sight now, I've been reflecting a little on the past twelve months and what I can take away from this year and with me into 2015. I started this year feeling so lost, disheartened, and completely broken and I can't quite believe how far I've come and how much I've learned and grown this year. This year has been a big one in terms of developing who I am as a person and finding my way, and I wanted to share today five of the biggest things that changed my life this year:

Whether you run a blog alongside a day job, freelance alongside a 9-5, or maybe you're a creative entrepreneur balancing multiple projects and workloads; keeping on top of everything and managing your time can be quite the juggling act. As a multi-passionate creative entrepreneur, I spread my work week between running an online lifestyle magazine, blogging, and building a freelance career consulting for other creatives. Alongside that I'm also working on some side projects (and trying to have a life in the process) so finding ways to stay organised and manage multiple projects has been super important for me lately. I think I'm finally feeling on top of things though, and today I want to share four steps I've found to make all the difference when it comes to staying on top of various workloads:

I've shared in the past Five Awesome Ways To Stay Inspired and where I turn to for morning and evening inspiration, but today I wanted to talk in more depth about some specific sources of inspiration that have really shaped the creative I am today. I like to think of these as my inspiration toolbox, and I turn to them whenever I need to stay focused and on track on this big old creative journey of mine.

Every now and again I like to share with you guys what I've been working on over at the online lifestyle magazine I run, A Little Opulent. Since launching back in April, pouring myself into this new challenge and adventure has pushed me so much as a creative and continues to do so every day. Working alongside Rebecca and our awesome team is a dream come true, and I'm so excited to see what 2015 brings for us. 

A few of you mentioned in my recent Reader Q&A that you'd love to find out more about my creative process and an insight into behind the scenes of running an online magazine so hopefully in the New Year I can share with you guys a little more about my work over there. The best thing for me when it comes to running ALO is the awesome partnership I have with Rebecca. Not only is she one of my best friends, she's the person who can bring out the best in me and my work and our strengths really compliment each others. Creating content for over there really pushes me to conceptualise new ideas and try different things, which I love as I think it's pushing me every day to really create the best work I can. I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by such an awesome team, which makes my job as editor super enjoyable, and more than anything each and every one of them and the awesome work they create just pushes me to be better with my own.