Hey daydreamers! Welcome back to another episode of the Emmie Show/another Bonus Wednesday Post! If you’re new, in this series, I talk with different bloggers all about their blogging journey, advice, and fun questions about them. (If you missed the first episode, you can check it out using the link above!)
In today’s interview, Diamond and I chatted all about blogging, as well as bullet journaling, the MCU, photostory and photography tips, Taylor Swift, and more! Let’s get right into it. My questions will be in bold font, and Diamond’s answers will be in regular.
Hey daydreamers! A new blogger, Soumya Thomas Mathew, reached out to me a few weeks ago requesting a blog spotlight. I thought it would be super fun for me to interview her for today’s Blogmas post! Pretend that we’re at a coffee shop together, sipping peppermint hot cocoas and chatting about blogging, and you’re listening to our conversation. XD Let’s get to the interview! My questions will be in bold, and Soumya’s answers will be in regular font!
Just FYI: some of this interview has been edited for grammar, clarity, and length 🙂 And all photos are from Soumya’s blog!
Click to visit her blog!
Hey! First off, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your blog?
My name is Soumya Thomas Mathew. I am a 12 year old, studying in 8th grade; living in Kerala, India. I love everything creative. I am the happiest person in the world when I am dancing or writing. My blog is largely based on inspiration, my songs, poems, writings, and reviews.
I can definitely relate to that – I also love writing and dancing! What kinds of things do you post about?
On my blog, I share inspiration for my songs, poems and writings, tips, book reviews, DIYs, and some moments of my life. I also share my monthly bullet journal spreads.
On your blog, a major topic you’re passionate about is doing what you love. Why do you think this is so important?
Yes, I believe that we can live our life to the fullest only if we follow our hearts, and do the things that we love. When we grow old, we can’t live the rest of our lives regretting about certain opportunities, dreams or ideas that we just let go…we have the full authority to chase the dream of our choice, no matter what others will think about it. In the end, it is not about money or status, it’s about being happy and satisfied with the life that we lived.
When did you start blogging, and why did you start blogging?
I started blogging during October this year. I began blogging after realizing that I needed a place where I could share my writings, rather than keeping them all to myself.
Blogging is a great creative outlet! What is your main goal for your blog?
At present, the main goal for my blog is to have the story of at least one person whom I could influence or help in some way. Having a large number of followers is a dream of every blogger, me included.
Helping people is probably the best thing about blogging. In your poem, Animal, you wrote about being your best self. What is your favourite part of inspiring others through poetry?
Yes. I would love to hear stories of people whom I have helped in some way through my writings. But that hasn’t happened yet. But I hope it will. I also like it when people give me feedback because it gives me the inspiration to never give up on writing.
What is your favorite thing about dance?
My favorite thing about dance is that whenever I dance I am very satisfied with myself that day. I started dancing just this year. I am self-taught and not very experienced, but I can see myself improving. I hope to join a dance class when the COVID problem minimizes.
How would your friends describe you in 3 words?
Approachable, crazy, best-est friend (That’s not a word, but that’s what my best friends said. Hehe!)
What kinds of things inspire you to write songs or poetry?
My best songs and poems come out when I am feeling a strong rush of some emotion. My diary assists me a lot too as I write in it as soon as I feel angry, sad or disappointed. I also make sure to note down some ideas, words or phrases which I find interesting, and take inspiration from them later.
Lastly, (since it’s Blogmas, after all!) how do you celebrate Christmas? What’s your favorite tradition?
Yes! I do celebrate Christmas! My favorite thing about Christmas season is that we, my cousins and relatives, all have a get together at my mother’s place. We have bonfires, barbecue nights, carols, and good food! Sadly, it’s not possible this year due to covid.
And that’s it for the interview! If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out Soumya’s blog and give her a follow! Let me know if you know any bloggers you think I should spotlight sometime, and I’ll see ya tomorrow!
How do you celebrate Christmas? What are you happiest doing? Have you checked out Soumya’s blog?
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AHH GUYS I’M SO EXCITED THAT CHRISTMAS IS FINALLY HERE! For me, Christmas is Amy Grant music, decorating the Christmas tree, making wishlists, and dancing in the Nutcracker. I love love love the Nutcracker ballet – it’s my favorite of all time and I love watching other ballet companies versions of it on YouTube, and performing in it is such a huge part of my Christmas!
So I thought for December it would be perfect to do a Nutcracker spread! A few months ago, I posted a bullet journal monthly spread for September, and I was really happy with how it turned out! But the problem is, I never actually ended up using it! And none of the ideas were my own – I copied everything from AmandaRachLee. And there’s definitely nothing wrong with recreating spreads, but this month I decided that I would try to create my own spread ideas. And I’m really glad I did! I think it turned out pretty well. (Most of it, at least…)
And if you recreate this spread, I would LOVE to see it! Shoot me an email at emeraldphoenix[at]icloud[com], and you’ll be featured in my next post! I wonder how many people would actually recreate this lol
I think my opening page is my absolute favorite out of all the spreads! The quote is from the Nutcracker and the Four Realms (which I’ve only watched 30 minutes of, haha), and I drew the snowflakes from a bunch of different tutorials I found online. The drawing of Clara and the Nutcracker prince I copied from an image I found on Google, and I really love how the drawing looks! I liked drawing both of their outfits.
This next spread is my calendar spread, and the theme for this one was the Land of Sweets! I drew the Sugar Plum fairy with tons of candy and treats, and I colored her in so she would pop off the page. I also wrote “DECEMBER” in a tall thin font and the months at the top in a cursive calligraphy font!
On the next pages, I have my habit tracker spread that’s battle-scene themed, and a mood tracker. The mood tracker was supposed to be like the party scene, with the Nutcracker doll under the tree and Clara walking by, but it almost looks like Clara is watching the tree grow the way she’s positioned. What do you think?
My habit tracker is my second favorite! Although Clara’s face looks really strange…I drew the Nutcracker and Rat King fighting off of images I found on Google. Each of the mini-calendars has one of the habits that I want to keep up every day this month, and each day I’ll color in the boxes that I complete the task!
And this side has my mood tracker from the party/transformation scene! On each day, I’ll color in an ornament/star/present/light/Nutcracker hat according to what my mood is that day, based on the key.
My next spreads are my playlist and brain dump! The playlist represents the scene where Clara and the Nutcracker are traveling to the Land of Sweets and they pass through the clouds. The angels light the way with their candles and announce their arrival with trumpets. On the right is my brain dump page, which is based on one of the dances from the Land of Sweets with Mother Ginger and the Polchinelles. Mother Ginger opens her giant skirt to reveal her little gingerbread clown children, who cartwheel and dance for Clara.
On the playlist page, I drew two angels and wrote out some of my favorite Christmas songs and albums. My favorites on this page are “Like It’s Christmas” by the Jonas Brothers and “Hallelujah” By Pentatonix!”
(Sorry there’s a weird line of White-Out in the middle of the page…) This page looked really great until I colored it, and then everything looked really messy…Oh well. The idea is to write random thoughts, ideas, lines, lyrics, and to-dos inside the skirt.
Moving on to my weekly spreads! I decided to draw all of my weekly spreads out before the month this time, since last month I forgot to draw my other weekly spreads and didn’t end up using it.
For the first week, I drew a Spanish dancer! She looks very full of herself and above everyone, haha. The Spanish dance for Clara with fans to represent chocolate.
Next I drew a Chinese dancer, and oof…she looked WAY better before I colored her! Everything got really messy and weird colors, plus her hair looks blonde for some reason because my light was reflecting the pen? IDK. But the Chinese dance with a parasol and represent tea.
This one might be my favorite weekly spread drawing! I love how her skirt and pointe shoes turned out, and her little lamb is so cute! The mirlitons are Danish shepherdesses that represent either marzipan or mirliton candies, depending on the version of the Nutcracker.
The Russian dancer was a little harder to draw, since the Russian dance doesn’t really have a distinctive costume, but the song is probably the most recognizable in the whole ballet. The Russians dance a trepak to represent candy canes.
Finally, I drew an Arabian dancer! I think she turned out pretty well and her costume is pretty accurate, but I just realized I forgot to color the banners on the Russian and Arabian dancers…oh well! The Arabian dancers are supposed to represent coffee.
If you recreate this spread, don’t forgot to send it to me! Shoot me an email at emeraldphoenix[at]icloud[com], and you’ll be featured in my next post! Merry Christmas, guys! (AHH I CAN FINALLY SAY THAT)
P.S. – If you share this post by reblogging, pinning on Pinterest, sharing on social media, or sending the link to a friend, you’ll get three FREE desktop wallpapers sent straight to your inbox! Just leave a comment telling me how you shared this post!
Hey daydreamers! Today I’m going to be doing something a little different than what I usually do – I’m going to be showing you guys this month’s spread for my bullet journal!
If you don’t know what a bullet journal is, it’s basically a dotted notebook where you track your mood, habits, calendar, to-do lists, and it’s basically a productivity tool. A lot of YouTubers (like AmandaRachLee) take a more artistic approach to bullet journaling (or BuJo) and make this really cute, creative spreads!
I got my bullet journal like forever ago, and I would always make a whole complicated watercolor spread I found on YouTube, never use it, decide to start over, rip it out…and repeat that cycle over and over again. But, then I found the YouTube channel AmandaRachLee, and I was super inspired by her fun and creative bullet journal ideas that I decided to give them a try!
A few months ago, I made…um…whatever this is. I tried to do Amanda’s June bubble tea theme, and it didn’t turn out that well! I had a hard time keeping the doodles from getting messy, the spacing was all over the place, it looked really weird…overall, I just wasn’t that happy with it.
*apologies in advance for the cringey-ness* This was my attempt at her June calendar…yikes! That weird sheet of paper was glued in there in attempt to cover up some horrid mistake. As you can tell, I didn’t exactly use it that much!
(This is actually the only spread from that month that I actually sort of liked…The only thing that bothers me is the wonky boxes and weird shading, but these songs are all so amazing! Plus, I love all the pictures in here!)
The next month, I tried again. I actually like this page from one of Amanda’s old videos, but I didn’t ever finish the rest of the month. I do like the travel-themed doodles on this one, though! In August, I pretty much just gave up.
(If you want to compare Amanda’s spreads to mine, don’t forget to watch her video!)
But a few days ago, this lovely little video popped up in my notifications! I really liked the adorable stationery theme, and it seemed pretty easy to me. I was feeling pretty artistic, so I decided, why not give it a try?
ALL CREDIT TO THESE IDEAS GO TO AMANDARACHLEE!
And I’m SO GLAD I did! This probably turned out to be one of my favorite drawings EVER – I’m not even kidding, I’m that happy how this turned out! I decided to use a different color scheme from Amanda, and I decided to make the opening page a little different, adding my own colors and designs. On the left page, I continued the design from the right to make it more interesting! This is one of my favorite pages from this month!
On the left page, I wrote “SEPTEMBER” in bubble letters that kind of bounce around the page. Above that, I drew some markers and wash tape! Below, there’s some pens, a ruler, paperclip, more washiest tape, a little notebook, a pencil, and an eraser.
On this side, I used a lowercase typewriter font along with the bubble one to write “You can never have too much STATIONERY!” (I always thought it was spelled stationARY, but turns out, I’m wrong. ¯\_(ツ)_/) Then I drew binder clips, washiest tape, a paperclip, ruler, gluestick, pencils, eraser, and then added some ACTUAL washi tape strips to the page.
My next page is my calendar spread! This one took a long time to do – it took awhile to figure out spacing and stuff, plus at first I made a 6-day week. 😂 Once I got that all straightened out, I added a little box on the side for tasks and some more stationary! (As you can see, I’m pretty busy this month!)
At the top, I also wrote “SEPTEMBER” in the same way as the last spread. I also wrote abbreviations for each day at the top in the same font from the last spread also, but this time in uppercase. I traced the letters with a gel pen from each color in my palate.
I drew a bunch of washi tape at the top (by tracing actual washi tape, lol). I wrote “TASKS” in a smaller version of the bubble font, and then I added a little pushpin/tack drawing to my task box. In the tasks box, I’ll write the overall stuff that I need to get done this month.
Yes, I am aware that September has 30 days. 😂 I didn’t add a whole other row for two reasons: 1) I thought it would look weird and 2) I forgot. Oh, and I also drew a pencil, pencil eraser, and pen cap at the bottom.
On the next page, I have my Habit Tracker and Mood Tracker spreads! A habit tracker is exactly what it sounds like: you track your habits using mini-calendars for each category. If I complete a task that day, I’ll color in one of the dates. At the end of the month I can look back at my productivity!
I have six categories that I want to keep up with this month: reading my Bible every night, stretching every day, either writing or blogging each day, writing daily entries in my diary, and keeping up with my skincare routine and brushing my teeth twice a day. 🙂
For the header, I wrote “HABIT” in bubble letters and wrote “tracker” in the typewriter font. I also drew a little highlighter and colored over the word “tracker” like the highlighter was highlighting it!
A mood tracker is pretty much the same idea: depending on my mood, I’ll color in the bubble letters with a certain color. I pretty much did the same header as my habit tracker, and drew the calendar like it was on a sticky note.
My key is a little different from Amanda’s, since I’m using different colors! Sad is a bright teal, frustrated/annoyed is grey, neutral/bored is just left white, happy is pink, and excited/joyful is golden!
My second to last spread is my brain dump page! A brain dump is a place where you can literally dump all of your ideas. I drew a bunch of stationery around the page – I think the pink gel pen at the top looks the best for some reason! I totally agree with Amanda – this page was super meta to draw a notebook…inside of a notebook!
Why is it so hilarious that a binder clip drawing and a REAL binder clip are right next to each other 🤣🤣🤣🤣
And now, for my final page, my first weekly spread for this month! (Each week, I’ll draw a new weekly spread similar to this one). This spread I kept very minimal and simple, since I wanted to leave as much room as possible for the actual bullet journaling part.
I wrote each day similar to how it is on the calendar, and in the eighth box I added a little space for notes. Right now it looks pretty boring, but hopefully once I fill it up with to-do lists and such it’ll look better!
If you made it to the end of this post, I applaud you! 👏👏👏 If you want to learn more about bullet journaling, head over to the official BuJo website for more info and tips! And for more bullet journal ideas, tips, and inspiration, check out Amanda’s channel, AmandaRachLee! You also can buy the bullet journal I have here!
This isn’t sponsored, I swear 😂
Now, it’s your turn! Do you have a bullet journal? Do you have way too much stationery (like me)? Do you like art? Pushpins or tacks? Should I share my BuJo spreads every month? What are your favorite bullet journal YouTube channels and blogs?
P.S. – If you share this post by reblogging, pinning on Pinterest, sharing on social media, or sending the link to a friend, you’ll get three FREE desktop wallpapers sent straight to your inbox! Just leave a comment telling me how you shared this post!
Diary of a Daydreamer 