Happy New Year & What's To Come On The Blog In 2017

And just like that 2016 is finally over and done with and it's been a funny old year, hasn't it? I think we've all felt the strain of world events more than ever and felt the need to fight for positive change. I'm not normally one who feels all that differently when it comes to the start of a new year. And typically I feel a little more excited about the start of September more than anything but this year is different. I'm itching for the start of January and to leave 2016 in the past. So to ease us in here are some of the things that are going to come in the new year on From Roses. 

EXPLORING DIFFERENT GENRES

One of the best things blogging has given to me is an online diary of what I was into at a certain point in my life. However, being predominately in the beauty genre has often lead to me feeling trapped and stifled which isn't something I ever want to feel. Of course, there will still be plenty of beauty bumf coming your way but I want to try and explore new genres with what I'm putting out. There are so many things that I absolutely love but I always worry about sharing them online in case people think they're boring. But really that whole point of lifestyle blogging is to share things that you're passionate about, even if they are a little obscure at times. 

A FRESH NEW LOOK

I'm always tinkering around with my layout but I'm planning on having a new redesign soon [I had planned to have it done before this post went live but let's be real I got caught up with family festivities and enjoying my time off]. It's not going to be anything too huge but I want to play around with some different features and post layouts. I've already made a start which you'll already be able to see by changing the size of my images. This might be something so small to a lot of people but I've never ever switched up my image style in nearly 6 years but I've been feeling the itch. Mainly because I want to be able to have more space and explore a new style and work with more typography in my photographs. 

PLAY TO MY STRENGTHS

Way back when I first started blogging I was always wary of being repetitive when it comes to the photographs as how many ways can you photograph the same lipstick without it becoming monotonous? But taking into consideration that taking and planning photographs is my all time favourite thing to do it seems silly to be restrictive. So I want to make a conscious effort to create content that's more visually-led over anything else. My boyfriend was kind enough to treat me to a new lens for Christmas as I've been shooting with my 50mm lens for over 7 years. So it's become pretty tired and the excitement of being able to explore a new lens has got me itching to shoot more and the macro feature will be a dream for beauty shots. 

WRITE,WRITE AND WRITE SOME MORE

Right from talking about my strengths let's talk about my weaknesses. Last year I worked really hard on my writing skills and it goes without saying that I'm by no means an incredible writer. But from when I very first started this blog I've made leaps and bounds. I've spoken so many times about the fact that I don't find the writing part of running a blog easy. But reading more has helped me so much as well as broadening what I'm listening too as well. Before I used to really struggle to write a solid paragraph but now I find that I write too much and have to edit myself down as I know that people don't always want to read incredibly lengthy posts. So this year will be another year of really working on my writing and exploring my style a lot more. 

LET THE FEAR GO

Sometimes feeling scared can be a huge motivation to work towards something and push you towards your goals. But more often than not I find myself bypassing the motivating part of fear and landing straight at the part where it cripples me from doing anything. And 99 times out of a 100 I know it's silly to be so fearful when I know nothing bad will happen from taking a leap and trying something new. But I still can't quite push past it and riding the wave of fear can be incredibly difficult as it's a tricky emotion to navigate for anyone. 2017 is the year that I really want to let fear go, be bolder and to generally stop being so scared of things that I really don't need to fear. 

THE NEWSLETTER

Last year when I launched the From Roses Stock Shop I also launched a newsletter alongside it which was to support the store. But the more I explored the path of having a newsletter I realised how fun it was to create content with it. This year I'm going to be sending biweekly newsletters as well as any store news. There is something so sacred about the newsletter to me as the audience are the ones that took the time to sign up and it feels almost free from judgement. Which makes it a lot easier to be more vulnerable in the content as I can see who is reading it and exactly where that content is going whereas it's very difficult to do that with a blog. You can sign up the newsletter here:

NEW FREE IMAGES

As well as sending out bi-weekly newsletters there are 4 new images available when you sign up to the From Roses newsletter. I wanted to give something back to thank everyone for the support that's been shown to me this year and this is one of the best ways I could think to do it by giving you 8 free stock photographs to do whatever you please with. If you're already signed up to the newsletter not to worry in the first newsletter of 2017 it will include a link where you can get the images so you're not missing out on anything. 

HAVE AN AWESOME 2017! 

Of course, I couldn't write this post without wishing everyone a truly wonderful new year. Even though it's a huge cliche I hope everyone achieves everything that they want and it's a truly great year for you whatever you choose to do with your time. I'd love to know what you're going to do with your 2017 and what plans you have so be sure to share them in the comments. 

R x

Check out: The Gilded Teapot