Welcome to the final instalment of my Q&A answers. I’ve had some fab questions and I’ve loved answering them so thank you for taking the time to read my answers!

1. What’s your biggest inspiration? For both the blog an brand of course it’s Lamb. Without him I wouldn’t have either. I’m so excited to meet his baby brother and see what inspiration I take from having 2 children. I’m sure their personalities will differ and this is really exciting to me.
2. Which 3 famous people (dead or alive) would you invite to a dinner party? 100% I would invite Freddie Mercury. I love his music and to meet him would be an honour. I would also invite Alexander McQueen. He was a pioneer in British fashion history and his death was a shock. He was a huge talent and I’d love to learn from him. Finally, David Beckham, because, well, you know.
3. Who are your fave mummy bloggers? Really tough to narrow it down but so I’ll say the ones I’ve been reading the longest. Oh So Amelia because I learn so much from Kerry and Write Like No Ones Watching because Charlotte’s words are just stunning.
4. If you had £1000 to spend on yourself, what would you buy? Right now I’d treat myself to the most luxurious spa weekend I could find with a million treatments for me and my 2 besties who are also pregnant. There’s only 3 1/2 weeks between our due dates so we are all in the same boat. We deserve a bloody good massage!
5. Did you always want to design children’s clothes initially, or did that come from having Lamb? What’s funny about the way my career has gone is I seem to take a slightly wrong path which eventually leads to the correct one. When I was in school my textiles teacher asked me to choose textiles as a GCSE option because she could see my talent, but I wasn’t interested so I chose Grapic Design instead. When I was at college studying A Level Art & Design one of my final projects was a piece of fashion made from wire, tissue paper and feathers inspired by Alexander McQueen, but yet once again I wasn’t studying fashion at the time. When I was in my first year at University I did a project called ‘Child’s Play’ which was inspired by kids and I used kids fabric, but I continued with womenswear design. It wasn’t until Lamb came along that I realised I should of been a childrenswear designer all along. It definitely comes more naturally to me and I feel more passionate about it. I’m not sure I’d be doing it if I wasn’t a mother though. Lamb pushed me to where I am now.
6. How do you get exposure for your blog and what is your favourite social media site? Social media is the only way I get exposure at the moment, and is by far the best way. For exposure I think Facebook is the best. Sponsoring posts can be done for as little as £1 per day and you can reach a huge amount of people for this. Personally I love Instagram, and I’m finding a new love for Pinterest. Anything visual!
7. How do you find time to fit blogging around parenting? Well, first of all it’s almost 10pm and I’m writing this post! So lots of blogging in the evening. I find early morning really easy to get work done because it takes Lamb a while to come round after waking up and he will happily watch Milkshake or CBeebies with his breakfast for an hour. I also have 3 days a week where Lamb is at Grandmas and nursery, but I actually don’t get that much work done on these days because I usually have errands to run!
8. Do you find balancing work/blog/family a struggle? Who doesn’t! I’m the most unorganised person ever, so if I don’t fill up my Blogger Journal every week my days will fly by with nothing achieved. Planning is key in my life. I plan meals, plan days out, plan blog posts. If I don’t have plans I feel like I’m failing.
9. What’s next for you? Now and in 5 years time? Next for me now… well I’m busy planning Lambs 3rd birthday next month and then heading to the Suffolk Baby Show to sell my Lamb & Bear collection. Of course in May I will be concentrating on motherhood when baby number 2 arrives so between now and then I’ll be writing lots of blog posts to schedule while I’m busy with a newborn! In 5 years I hope to have a successful business, bigger house and a complete family unit (maybe baby 3 thrown in to that!)
10. What’s your biggest aspiration for your blog in 2016? To make it more of a career and to earn from it so I don’t have to think about getting a job after my maternity pay stops.
11. Will you ever return to YouTube? I wasn’t ever a proper vlogger so I wouldn’t call it a ‘return’, but I’d like to share a few videos with my followers every now and then. Right now I can’t see myself doing anything too serious on there as I find editing videos so time consuming and I’m happier writing blog posts.
12. What were your career aspirations when you were at school? Honestly, I have no idea. I was a bit of an all rounder and my 2 best subjects were Maths and Art so it was really hard to figure out what I could do as a career. Turns out fashion design is a pretty good mix of the two!
13. Finally, are you a feminist? I’m not anything. I’m just me. As long as people are treated fairly and are happy then that’s all that matters. I would never categorise myself into a group or other wise.

And done!

Some fab questions again. I hope you enjoyed my answers!

Ax

Time for the second part to my Q&A posts. Let’s get going…

1. What’s the one thing you would tell yourself when starting out blogging? Easy. Set up all of your social media accounts with the same name and avatar and make sure every blog post automatically shares to social media when it’s published.
2. Do you prefer designing or blogging? Ahhh tough question as they are both so different! Designing is definitely more stressful. I’m a perfectionist so fear criticism when I put my own designs into the world. I’m also seriously indecisive, so finalising a design panics me. I would have to say I prefer blogging on a regular basis, but love the feeling I get when I see my own designs in the flesh.
3. A stressed blogger in the city, or a happy blogger on a lonely island? Easy, stressed blogger in the city. I’m not me if I’m not stressed about something! And I love city life, and being around people always helps when I’m stressed.
4. Where do you see your business in 5 years time? By this point I hope to have expanded my range into more than just childrenswear and would love to have made it into a department store. One can dream big!
5. What do you do to help drive traffic to your blog? I actually just published a post on my top tips for increasing page views which you can read if you want to know in more detail. In brief I sponsor posts on Facebook (e.g pay to have them seen by more people), blog daily, run giveaways and take part in daily blogger threads.
6. Would you rather have no eyelashes or no eyebrows? Oh this is easy. No eyelashes. I’m a pro at putting fake ones on and no eyebrows is probably the worst look ever. Seriously ladies. Don’t pluck them all out, just to draw them back in with pencil!
7. What is the inspiration behind your clothing range? The first collection was inspired by days out with Lamb. The penguins and giraffes live at Colchester Zoo and the prints were created from photos I took on days out with him. The ducks live at Hall Farm in Dedham and were also created by photos I took on a day out with him.
8. How did you and your husband meet? Believe it or not we were set up by his sister who happened to be one of my best friends! My previous relationship was rocky and not going anywhere so she gave him my number and when I finally split up with my ex we went on a date. The rest is history!
9. Will you be expanding your Lamb & Bear range? Absolutely, but it will take time as I need to make enough sales to invest into the next collection. I have just ordered my second collection of leggings which I will (hopefully) be launching at the Suffolk Baby Show next month, and then launching online soon after. I have also begun development of printed bandana dribble bibs and printed muslin squares as we all love those for our little ones! SO watch this space for a few new things online.
10. How do you create your cool graphics for your posts? I use Picmonkey, which I know a lot of bloggers use. It’s so easy to use and you can really improve your blog posts with a few simple steps. I like to put a filter on my photos to make them look a little more professional and I use the text tools to add titles. I also love the college tool to help with shopping haul posts or wish lists.

Ok that’s it for this post! I have enough questions left to write part 3 which will be published very soon.

Thanks again to everyone who asked me a question! I hope you enjoyed my answers.

Ax

Thank you to everyone who asked me questions for my first ever Q&A blog post. Love reading these types of posts so thought after 2 years of blogging it was time I did one too!

I’ll get straight to it and answer your questions below. There were too many for one post so I’ve split them a few posts.

1. Who are your favourite vloggers to watch on YouTube? I go through phases of watching YouTube and at the moment I don’t watch much. I actually catch up with most of my fave mummy bloggers via the Channel Mum channel. Charlotte Louise Taylor has been a fave of mine for a long time, and of course I watch Mrs Meldrum’s videos. For make ups tips I watch Liza Prideaux.
2. What are you most looking forward to about having 2 children and what are you most worried about? The worried part is easy. PND. I struggled when Lamb was a baby. I wasn’t diagnosed, but I definitely had PND even if it was just mild. The thought of struggling with it when I’ve got 2 kids scares the hell out of me. I’m also worried about baby number 2 not eating like Lamb, but I’m sure he will be completely different. On the plus side, I’m really looking forward to having a newborn again, and using what I have learned with Lamb to raise a second child. I can’t wait to watch them grow together and form a brotherly bond.
3. What is the most important thing you’ve learned since blogging? Hmmm… I would have to say that blogging take time. Lots of time, so you must be patient with it. When I was only blogging 2 or 3 times a week because I also had a part time job I would get really frustrated when I struggled to get many page views etc, but since blogging daily I have noticed a huge increase in my page views. It’s important to stay organised, especially if you have a job alongside blogging.
4. Which has been your most popular blog post? My most popular blog post to date is my Joie Chrome review which I wrote over a year ago. It’s had over 1100 views and still is looked at weekly, if not daily. A close second, and one of my favourite posts is my gender reveal post for baby number 2. I wrote a poem announcing the gender so I love that it has been read over 1000 times.
5. Why did you start up a blog? When Lamb was a baby and I started to get a little more confident with being a mum I would spend hours chatting to the other mums at baby groups we attended. I constantly had an opinion/recommendation or advice to give and often I would be told I should have a website. That’s when my friend and I decided to start up Lamb & Bear. It turns out blogging wasn’t for her so after around 8 months she handed the reigns completely to me and I’ve been solo ever since, and even launched my Lamb & bear clothing line!
6. What’s your favourite thing about blogging? At the moment it’s when a complete stranger leaves you a comment, either on a blog post or on social media, and tells you a post you have written has helped them in some way. Whether that be advice, recommendation or a general rant that’s made them feel ‘normal’, it genuinely means so much to know what I’m writing is being appreciated.
7. Do you blog as a hobby or as a job? At first is was a hobby, and to be honest still is. Since losing my job I am trying to turn it into a job and I am registered self-employed as I’ve earned a little bit from sponsored posts etc. I’d love to say I’m a professional blogger but I’m a little bit far from that!
8. What’s your favourite food? Hardest question ever! Especially when pregnant! 😉 I love American style food. Burgers and fries that kind of thing. I also love Thai food, satay and teriyaki stir fries. And you can’t beat a traditional roast dinner!
9. What do you do to stop getting blogging burn out? This year I invested in a Blogger Journal and I plan my posts for the week. I don’t always stick to it but at least I have an idea for every day. There are of course days where I can’t be bothered, even when I do know what I want to write, and on those days I tend to create a gift list/wish list of shopping post as I find these are super easy and requite minimum effort, but are also well received by my readers.
10. Would you rather fight one horse sized duck, or a hundred duck sized horses? Ha this is hilarious! Definitely a hundred duck sized horses. I’d climb a tree or something to get away from them.

I hope you enjoyed my answers! Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow.

Ax