April 29, 2013

I HAVE ISSUES: MY PHONE IS KILLING ME!

Well hello again! After a painful encouter with my super-glue this afternoon - this stuff is some serious glue, still cannot get it off of my fingertips, eek - I'm back with some thoughts on this modern, fast and always-changing world. Yeah, sometimes I like to be dramatic like that... Haha no, but this is an issue that has been bugging me for a while now and I thought I'd throw my thoughts out there. 

Multitasking and a decreasing ability to stay concentrated on one thing over a longer period of time. To me this sounds like out of a newspaper article. I feel like these days there are tons of articles written about this topic - or is that just me? Anyway, what inspired me to write this was in fact a newspaper article but more about that later.

Concentrating is hard, but for me is has become muuuch harder since last october -that's when I got my iPhone. I love my phone,  I truly do - but sometimes I curse it just as much as I love it. My phone is the reason why I can't watch TV anymore. For the last ten years or so twice a week my family would gather in front of the TV to watch 'Who wants to be a millionaire'. And as much as I enjoy that show, after 15 minutes of watching I catch myself being on my phone. Well watching TV or being on the phone, doesn't make much of a difference one might say. For me it actually does! While watching TV might not be a very stimulating activity, it is something I used to enjoy with my mom and dad. Family time becomes more rare the older I get and I get mad at myself when I'm wasting it online. 

The worst thing about the whole thing is that most of time I'm not even facebooking or whatsapping or what not - I'm looking at funny pictures on Pinterest. I can literally spend hours looking at funny cat pictures.. Pinning has become my new 'crafty' hobby. "Today I was creative because I pinned 30 new DIYs" - Oh really? No, but I mean that is my reality. Instead of sitting down to acually do something crafty, I jump from one app to the next collecting picture sof other people's crafts ... Gahh! 

But my saviour is on his way - well not really but I found an article about him in the newspaper and immediatly thought: That guy just solved all my problems! Kinda at least. I'm talking about Paolo Cardini. He's a product designer with a pretty impressive moustache. And he makes pretty rad things. Like the MONOtask Project (Check it out!). He came up with those blaze orange iPhone faces which cover up all 'unused' areas - you are only using your phone for thing at a time with them. No more Pinterest, no more Facebook - Just checking the time or checking where north is (doing that all the time, don't you?). I love the concept behind it. Not quite practical, but still a great invention. 

I could not come up with any revolutionary ideas on how to completely overcome this constant influence of media and social-networking. But hey - who cares? We love social media. Sometimes though there are really more important things like family and hobbies that happen offline. I'm really having a hard time doing this, but turning off my phone at least once a week for a couple hours would probabely be a step in the right direction. Also when being online I want to make an effort in the future to not waste my time jumping apps, pins and / or Youtube videos just to kill time. 

Wooof! Now that I got this off of my chest I feel better. Hope you could follw along and maybe I could inspire a little bit. I'm off now to watch some TV with my parents - without my phone. 

Until next time, lots of love, Tabea ♥




April 27, 2013

WELCOME! TEA TRAY MAKE-OVER

























Hello World! Aaaay! I've been super thrilled for this moment for quite some time now. Today is the release of 'Days in Lifetime'. I'm Tabea and with this little fun project I just wanna dive right into that whole big blogger world and share what's on my mind. I love everything craft related and spend waaaay to much time on Pinterest pinning all kinds of DIYs - and pictures of cats... I do love cats. Anyway, I really just want this to be a fun little outback for me and also a motivator to keep me on track with writing and creating. Because yeah, there's a little procrastinator in all of us, isn't it? 

Okay, so for my first post I wanted to share one of my recent projects with you. When it come to beverages I'm definitely on the just-a-water-please-side, but whenever I'm crafting, reading or doing homework I do love me a good ol' cup of tea. Peppermint please! This girl loves everything peppermint.

Because balancing a can of hot tea (I tend to have more than one cup at a time) + a cup up the stairs almost ended in tragic accidents multiple times in the past, I decided it was time to come up with a solution. I found this tray at my local thrift shop for about 1 Euro and gave it a little make-over. So grab an old tray and follow along! 

What's needed:
   • a tray (that can be painted with acrylic paint) 
   • black & white acrylic paint
   • brush & paint roller
   • masking tape
   • ruler
   • a sealer of any kind

Sooo this is really rather simple, but I'm in love with the bold stripe pattern. (1) Gather your supplies. (2) Give your tray 1-2 coats of white paint, depending how much the old color/pattern shows through. (3) Use your ruler to mark sections of  3-5 cm (1-2 inches) with a pencil, carefully tape them. (4) Use your black paint to fill untaped areas. Let it sit until the paint is dry. (5 - not pictured) Take off the tape and use your brush to seal the whole thing. I don't know about you, but spill tea all the time, so for me this step was a must!




Woohoo! With this easy DIY there won't anymore burned hands & you have classy way to serve tea to guests ... or just yourself. Feeling fancy is always a good thing! For me this little project was kind of a life saver - kind of, you know ;)

Hope you enjoyed it and check back with me some time for more fun and games and DIYs! 

Lots of Love, Tabea ♥