Inspired By You: Brooke Styles

Hey Brooke, tell us a bit about yourself.

Hey I’m Brooke! A lover of all things crafty and the slower life. You’ll find me in my flower garden or thrifting for antiques. My perfect day would be waking up and filling the house with the smell of fresh bread, getting creative in my studio and then collecting flowers from my flowerbeds to decorate the table for hosting guests for dinner.

Tell us a bit about your career journey and how you fell intro your current line of work as a content creator.

I grew up on the internet. MySpace, Tumblr, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram all appeared in my schooling life. I’ve always found it creative and super fascinating. If it be learning how to customise your Tumblr, taking creative photos for Instagram or being inspired by the ideas on Pinterest. For me it’s always been an outlet for creating and I’ve always used it in the sense of being a creator.

Before the internet, I was introduced to the creative mindset by my grandma and dancing ballet. We would spend our school holidays together making crafts or I would be practicing in the afternoon for concerts where you would step into a character on stage. So when I left school my creative outlet continued online and in time it turned into creating for brands I love!

How does your personal style reflect your personality?

I'm a grandma at heart. Maybe from hanging around my grandma all my life I’ve still got a bit of old school living in me. So my personality reflects heavily on my style as digging in my garden, doing DIYs or baking usually involves me in a pair of overalls or a flowy puffy sleeve dress. You won’t see me in much else haha!

Talk us through your creative process when you start any DIY project.

Most of my projects are second-hand flips, so it mostly stems from the piece itself. I do a thrifty Thursday every week and I go in with the mindset of “not looking for anything in particular” because when you are looking for something second-hand, you can never find it. When I do come across something that catches my eye it usually sparks a creative thought! Going back to grandma, the crafts she would do with me would be on a budget, if that be collecting shells and turning them into a photo frame or reusing gift wrapping paper to decorate an item. I also carry that with me if I see something new that I love, how can I make this with stuff I have at home?

You recently got married, congratulations! The wedding looked beautiful. What are 3 easy tips which can help a new bride for a DIY wedding?

1. Think outside the box - our big flowers that the internet loved so much are actually made with watering can heads. While strolling the isles at bunnings trying to find a cheap alternative base I picked up a watering can head! You would never know! Our lanterns were also made out of hoola hoops!
2. Everyone will tell you this but don’t leave it to the last minute - we were still making DIYS the week of our wedding. I wish I had this time to relax, spend time with family who travelled to be with us and enjoy the special time with my future husband.
3. Thrift as much product and material as you can to help bring the cost down.

How do you practice sustainability in your everyday life?

We try our best to be as sustainable as we can. If that be thrifting, shopping on Facebook Marketplace or flipping furniture we already have. We have plans of making little differences when we renovate our house and garden, like making a compost water system in our duck coop to then water the veggie garden. All it takes is small steps but they make a big difference.

Brooke looks beautiful in our Jasmine Dress in Eden.