Q&A – Part 3

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