“Creative Lifestyle Blogger, me?”
There’s nothing better than discovering new bloggers in the world, especially when they fit in with your own graphic design and illustrative vibe. We all love a spot of design inspiration and new discoveries, don’t we? It took me quite a while to find others doing this very special thang, but once I found one, others came shining through within the community.
In my opinion, the creative lifestyle bloggers are some of the most unique voices in the industry. They rule the roost when it comes to uncovering new talent, finding the best independents and creating beautiful visuals to accompany their blog posts. Most of them are pretty wacky too. It’s a lot of work on their part, but boy do these guys have a continual stream of creative juice. I’ve picked ten of my favourites below. Add ’em to your bloglovin‘ and show them some love.
P.S Forgive the photo of me above, but I’d also like to think that I’m worth a follow too so I thought I’d smack myself at the top of the page – promise I’m more modest in real life.
Natasha Nuttall // Graphique Fantastique
I know I bang on about Miss Nuttall all the time, but this lass is so good that I had no choice but to include her. Graphique Fantastique started while Natasha was at Lincoln University and has grown with her, from her struggle to get a job after graduation to her freelance work now. The blog culminates a mixture of graphic design, interiors with a design twist and fashion with geometric elements – a graphique view of the world if you’d like a brief descriptive sentence. If you’re into honest, thoughtful and engaging words, accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations and the occasional vlog, this is the blog for you.
Emily Beeson // Young Gold Teeth
When I first discovered YGT, I jumped with joy at the editorial style and refreshing content. Founder, Emily Beeson has a way with words, a ton of experience and a very strong design eye when it comes to selecting artists and designers to feature. Emily constantly focuses on the true narrative of a brand, bringing their story to light and backing them wholeheartedly. Her own tagline reads ‘celebrating creative lifestyles’ and that’s exactly what you can expect from a ten-minute read of Young Gold Teeth – engaging, exciting and uplifting text with beautiful imagery to accompany.
Fab // Snail Mail Love
Fab of Snail Mail Love embraces a slow creative lifestyle, championing stationery and a good old fashioned celebration of traditional letter writing. Her beautiful illustrations accompany her posts and you can expect to find her latest notebook finds, discovered greeting card brands or tips and tricks for making the most out of your letter writing. This is a blog with a unique niche and a lovely lady behind it – get inspired to create and take on Fab’s original ideas. Penpals NEVER get old, believe me.
Ella // Ella Masters
Ella Masters – whatta babe! While this lady is smokin’, she’s also one of the most open and honest bloggers I know, constantly addressing real life problems and helping others along the way. Her blog is a mixture of her daily life as an illustrator, her style and her London adventures – the perfect culmination of everything creative. Everyday is different over on Ella’s blog. Expect to find her latest artwork, latest purchases or a heartwarming open letter about the struggles of being a creative in a big city. Her words read just like a journal, one of the beautiful things about blogging fo’ sure.
Uli Schulz // Found Some Paper
While Found Some Paper might be on a little bit of a back burner this year (due to another very exciting botanical project), there’s still plenty of talent to discover within the archives of the blogroll. Founder Uli takes hard-working to another level with her business savvy and extensive set of marketing and creative skills. You can follow her journey as a freelancer, picking up real-life tips here and there, while also immersing yourself in the artists and designers she meets on the way.
Zabby // Zabby Allen
Just like the above photo suggests, Zabby is like a little ray of sunshine in the blogging world, sharing colourful photos and amazing doodles on a daily basis. Her blog showcases here unique illustrative process as well as those that inspire her – you’d be mad not to check out her series with designers and their pets – now that’s my kinda series, plus her pooch George is a serious cutie. Zabby’s blog is also the place for DIYs and free downloadables, so don’t be shy and go say hi!
Laura Redburn // Cardboard Cities
Laura shares snippets of her daily life as an illustrator as well as beautiful visuals of her journey whether that be on a walk, in her home or via a sketchbook. Cardboard Cities regularly features her collages, her work for other bloggers and the occasional fashion and home decor post too – all with a geometric and pretty pastel vibe of course! Note: her Sunday links blog post is a rather great round-up of the internet, so get following!
Lauren Alexa // Naked Fashions
While Lauren may not describe herself as a creative lifestyle blogger directly, I feel like her blog is firmly going more and more down this route with cute illustrations and animations becoming the focus of her posts and her newly opened shop. I love a site that combines creativity with culture in a casual and cool way – Naked Fashions is exactly that and shows that there is more to us creative lot than just a little bit of craft and a hefty stationery obsession (while of course that is also very important). Empowering, full of real-life and a pretty insane ever-changing wishlist, Naked Fashions is fast becoming one of my favourite pitstops.
nakedfashions.com
@itslaurenalexa
Verity Inett // Inspire and Enjoy
Not only is Verity an extremely talented writer (for the likes of The Holborn and 91 Magazine), she’s also an extremely big supporter of the designer-maker industry and has been known to spend her weekends on a market stall or two. While juggling her job as a full-time teacher with her wisdom for words, Verity also manages to write a gorgeous blog that really focuses on independents and which she describes as ‘inspiration for an independent life’. I’ve been known to get lost in her ‘top ten’ posts and I’m sure you’ll be taking out your wallet in no time too…
Lizzie Evans // The Smuggler
I love a good business blog and Lizzie Evans of Smug gets it exactly right when putting a fact to her brand and showing off the incredible designers of her Islington-based creative lifestyle store. In The Smuggler, Lizzie shares her own behind the scenes design process, DIY’s and some of her design favourites. It’s easily digestible and not updated too frequently, perfect for those who find it hard to keep up with the blogging world but like a chunk of well-written design every so often, with the chance to shop most things directly from the shop too!
WHAT a selection – 10 of the best… 11 including yourself, obvs. Thanks for making me your first port of call! Creative Lifestylers unite, we really need some well deserved loving <3
Ooh love posts like these, especially as I'm new to the creative community! Some I was already following (I think it's impossible to avoid Natasha's name in this community, haha), but I'm off to check out the others (Young Gold Teeth, The Smuggler, Zabby Allen) now! 🙂
Asti || bit.ly/atypicalnarrative
Thanks Asti – they're always a pleasure to do! I tried to give it a little bit of variety so hopefully anyone completely new will find some goodun's. I'd like to think everyone in it is doing their own thing. Natasha is of course the queen, hence her being at the top of the list! Glad you found some new ones to explore – I'm off for a read of yours now x
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Of course, never forget it! X
Thanks