ON HABITS AND JOHN GREEN BOOKS

Hello there! I hope you all had a great first day of this week  and that those of you out there being on vacation like me enjoyed their time off! 

So yesterday I started reading ' Will Grayson, Will Grayson' by John Green. It's the forth book by him that I read. I already went through 'An Abundance Of Katherines' (I read the german translation), 'Looking For Alaska' and 'Papertowns' (that one I also read in german). I'm not the kind of girl that reads multiple books by the same author, unless they are part of a series. So coming back to Mr. Green for the forth (and probably not last) time made my think about habits and consistency. 

I think habits are the greatest and worst things in life at the same time. During daily life I'm often annoyed by habits since they make me feel like I'm stuck in this routine that is just totally dull and not inspiring at all. Like when I can't get myself to wake up early in the morning to work-out. Or when I come home and check literally all social networks possible (talked about that here). All those things are really just a matter of habit. And that is why they are so hard to get rid of. On the upside though, this is the great thing about habits. You can build them by training yourself. I think that it's such a great thought to actually be able to control your behaviour in such a way.

The training method is relativly easy. Get off your butt and do it. Over and over again - until you get off your butt automatically. Wow, I'm sure I just enlightend somebody. Hahah no, I'm kidding. But seriously, doing something over a longer time will turn into something you do without thinking. My tipps for making this method a bit easier are: 

Use a calendar and check off each day you did the thing you want to become a habit. Share what you do with friends, it's great to have someone else ask how you do or maybe even join you. I did write in my journal for years and it wasn't until last Christmas when I gave my best friend a journal that she started loving it, too, which encourages me even more to keep on going. Reward yourself. the first three to seven days are the hardst when starting something new I find, so I like to get myself a treat when having kept on track for that time. Especially when 'working-out more' is what you want to do, this is a true helper because the actual achievement of a dream body probably won't come until some time later. So eat that ice-cream cone! You deserve it! 

I already said, sometimes I just feel stuck with my life (who doesn't??), so over the course of the last 6 months I changed quite a bit about my habits. I became more serious about journaling again. Not only do I do it on a daily basis, but I also want to focus on emotions more. I was sick of writing the same things every week like 'Today in math we did this..', 'For lunch we had .. and after school the bus was late..' etc. You get the jist. So I really make an effort now to write about how I felt in certain situations. Sometimes it is hard being honest about these things when talking to people, but want to be honest with myself at least. 
Also I spent the month of january developing a work-out routine and for some reason - I'm still working out to this day without some coach kicking my butt. The magic of habits! 

I'm not saying this will work always and for everything. I was gonna get into the habit of art journaling with my 30 day art challenge. Technically I failed on that one already. I don't want to say I didn't have the time (worst excuse ever...) but for me there were thing to be done that had a higher priority. Also I feel like this 'do it on a daily basis' kinda kills my ideas from coming. Usually I work well under pressure but this time.. naah. I will still keep you updated on my journaling this month though. I hope to still get about 30 pages done. 

So yeah, to make a long story short, I love creating new habits and I think everybody should do so as well! It's your life, it's in your hands! Get that new routine going you imagened for so long! Work-out, write on a daily basis or start taking the time to fix yourself a healthy lunch every night to get you through the next day (BEST habit I ever started! I love food...)

Lots of love, Tabea ♥

P.S. Out of the four books I read, Will Grayson is the best - I haven't gotten to the end though and unfortunately those aren't always the best part about John Green books - sorry Mr. Green, love your characters but your ends are always a bit .. flat? Anyway, I just wanted to recommend this band mentioned in Will Grayson to you. They're called Neutral Milk Hotel  and their album In An Airplane Over The Sea is pure genius
! You should all go and check them out and dance and sing crazy to it like I did. I love it. 
If this whole post did not make any sense to you because you have no idea who John Green is... go check him (and his brother) out here!

HANG THEM!

Visualizing is probably one of the best things to do if you're stuck with a creative block. Or if you're a Pinterest hoarder like me. Whoever came up with that page must be a genius when it come to understanding the female mindset. I mean, collecting all kinds of cool things and tipps and whatnot without actually spending money, time to make them or having them clutter your apartment? I'd marry that man ... He just gets me, you know?

Because I felt like hundreds of pins still weren't helping me get inspired, I thought why not make them a bit more real.. Especially with fonts or pattern I feel like it's much easier to take inspiration from something printed than from a screen. So I printed some of my favorite pins (btw - I'm claiming any copyright on any of these). Since I wanted to have them up somewhere but still be able to take them off the wall and over to my desk anytime, I used these clips. I love the combination of red and white. One of my favs! I avoided drilling holes into my door to hang them, by using self-adhesive hangers from the bathroom section. Very simple, very handy!

I fell hard for this llama in a sweater. So adorable! I also love colorful watercolor paintings. So for me this  makes pretty much a perfect combination! I love the font used for the yes  - and being a huge fan of Jim Carrey's 'Yes man' I feel like 'yes' is one of those answers we all should give more often! 

So  - yes for hanging things without nails or tape! I'm excited to see my collection grow!

Lots of Love, Tabea

CHALLENGE 365 + INSTAGRAM WALL DIY

I'm really into all kinds of challenges this year! So much fun to see how the results get better over time, how one overcomes obstacles in terms of keeping up the dedication and then: Enjoying the memories you made. For 2013 I wanted to try the 'Challenge 365 - A Picture A Day' - challenge. There are so many little moments during everyday life that are worth capturing.  I've tried to take pictures everyday in late 2012, but I have to say especially as a student it is kinda hard to find interesting pictures on a daily basis. Phones are prohibited in my school and after school I usually spent my days at home. 

But then I came across this cool app called Project 365. You can set yourself a reminder which will pop up everyday at a set time and tell you to take a picture that day! I set mine for 4 pm, right when I would come home from school. Once you took a picture (via the app or just with your normal camera app) you can put it up in a calendar and add a description. So much fun to look back at the end of the month! 

These are some of my favorite pictures from January til May. I have to be honest with you though. There have been days when I cheated. Yepp my bad, but sometimes I just forget to take a photo. Then I used a picture taken earlier or later which kinda represents that day. Sorry to myself for cheating on me! Haha! 

Happily snaping away photos is great - but I even went a step farther and printed them out. Like for real - photos that you can actually touch! So retro maaan! Being a hispter like this I put them up on the wall over my bed as an 'Instagram wall' - can't get much more hipster than this! Okay let's leave the hispter alone - picture wall are great, whether the photos are squares or not! 

Here a quick tutorial on how I got the photos from my phone to the printer.  

Open Photoshop. 1) Open a new file, the size of the sheets you're planning on printing on. Mark a square and fill it with a light shade of grey (I recommend a light color, since some of it might come out when you print along the sides of the photos). 2) Copy and paste that square six times and drag all of the squares in place. 3) Open your picture and change its size so it'll fit the grey squares. You might have to experiment a bit. My pictures had to be 1007 by 1007 px. 4.) Drag and drop them into them right place. PS will automatically add a new layer to your file, so you can move around the pictures seperately later. Lastly - Print!

I adhered the pictures to the wall with double-sided tape. So far all of them stayed in place just fine. When taping them to the wall, take breaks to wash your hands. For some reason they get kinda dirty and you might leave small smears of grey around the photos. Just a tipp!

This inexpensive and relatively easy way to display photos really adds personality to a space I find. So nice waking up, looking at some great memories. 

We're kinda too far into the year to start a 365 challenge, but why not a 180-days challenge? Or a 3-months summer photos challenge? The possibilities are endless and making memories is always fun! So get out the cameras and phones and snap, snap, snap away! 

Lots of love, Tabea ♥ 

ADVENTURES WITH DYEING!

Hello you crafty ladies and gentlemen out there! Today I wanted to share one of my latest first-time-doing-something adventures with you! Last year during the summer months in the US everyone would wear tie-dye stuff all the time. Sadly I never got to do it myself - another project on my bucket list this summer! Some time ago I came across this blouse at my local thrift store. It was pretty huge, so I had resize it (hehe, I'm by no means a professional seamstress so this was quite the adventure, too!) and since it found white to be a bit boring it called for a cool gradient! Thought it'd be helpful to share my experience with you!

As you can see it didn't turn exactly black but more grey. I still think it's a cool color and this little experiment taught me some things about dyeing. 
So here are my non-professional, things-you-should-know-before-the -first-try tipps:
1) Wear GLOVES! Seriously! I didn't because it didn't have any at hand but still wanted t go        for it so bad. Just wait another day to get some - otherwise you'll regret it. And walk     around with fingers black as if you just dug up a dead body or something! Not fun!
2)  Don't have too high expectations - most likely the color will not come out as you      imagined it. But that's the fun! 
3) You can't dye nylon tights. Most people probably knew that. I didn't  - but I learned!
4) This might be a no-brainer , too, but if you're planning to alter the piece of clothing in     any way - do it before you dye it. Otherwise the thread you use to sew will probably     be awkward to match with the gradient...I'm in love with my new blouse and can't wait to style it with some other fun summer pieces! I will definitly try some tie dyeing this summer! Such unexpected and fun project! 
For now - happy dyeing, I'll see you soon!Lot of love, Tabea ♥

CRAFTY HAUL, SECOND PAGE

A wonderful evening to all of you my friends! Yepp it's been a very pleasant and relaxed weekend. I enjoyed some time with my dad and I went shoppng. Well I tried at least, you wouldn't think the mall would that packed on a sunny summer day, but hey, apparently people rather spent their precious weekend spending money than enjoying the nice weather. And yeah .. ranting about others, I'm not any better at all. I went to the craft store ... and got a bit too excited. Basicly I went like this: "BUY ALL THE THINGS!" Hahah! I had a great time digging through all the fun buttons, ribbons and other things they had.
And spending more money than I probably should have, I got inspired to create my second journal challenge page. I've never drawn with coal before, but this coal pen is really fun! 

Well as you can see, I had the best time with this. Getting creative with just a few new-bought supplies is always fun and so refreshing! 

On just a quick sidenote, I was actually at the mall to buy a pair of white Converse - they didn't have my size. Bummer. So instead of buying shoes I grabbed a horribly expensive drink to make myself feel better. It worked out great - Yeay for mango-orange-juice!! 

Lots of love, Tabea ♥

30 DAYS JOURNAL CHALLENGE - DANDELIONS & SWEET WORDS

I LOVE journaling. Hehe, I think I already said that in my last post. This year I really wanted to challenge myself to stretch my creative muscles when it comes to this hobby of mine. Just as much as I love journaling, I love making a list of goals at the beginning of the year. It's just so cool to dream up all these things you'll do during the coming year. This year one of my to-dos was: 'Do a 30 day journal-challenge'. Let me tell ya, I have been putting this off for months, since I think it is quite a big commitment to set aside an hour or so everyday to do some kind of art journaling. But hey, here I am going for it this months! Spring is awesome, May is one of my favs - so let's do it!

I was inspired to start my challenge by these wonderful dandelions which are growing outside my house. I'm always stunned by what nature gives us. To make them last longer than just a few weeks I dried some of them and pressed other between books. You know - just to see how different they turn out. The dryed ones obvioulsy shrunk quite a lot, while the pressed ones just flattened out. I liked both 'looks' though. Since over time all of them will drye out, I think it is cool so have smaller and bigge ones (pressing them = makes bigger).

I chose a really simple layout to create my page. I tried stampig with some of the dried flowers, which created a very light pattern. Over that I wrote all kinds of lovely things I connect with spring. It's always about the small things. Writing this made me so happy because I realized that I get to enjoy these things on a regular basis. I'm such a happy person these days! :)

I taped on some ribbon and some pictures which I took over the last weeks We had a beautiful spring so far this year! Having great natural lighting outside just calls for taking random snapshots all the time!

I'm so pleased with the outcome of this little starter page! It's colorful and springy and I get to keep those pretty pretty dandelions! As I said before - journaling is awesome! 

So excited to share my experience with this challenge with you over the next few weeks! I think there are some really cool things coming up. I'll keep you updatet!

Until next time, lots of love, Tabea ♥

NEW JOURNAL + PEEK INTO MY PAGES

Remember that little 'glue-incident' I talked about the other day? Here's the outcome of 
that little project! I finally got to sit down and create this small beauty. I always carry a journal in my purse to jot down ideas, things and dates I need to remember or just to doodle. I love hand-making journals, but this one just didn't really coorporate well. I swear not to use super-glue in large amounts again! I just keep using my good old Elmer's glue - can't go wrong with that. So ya, I had a bit of a struggle making this journal, but I'm just satisfied with how it turned out. I'm still in the process of learning so it's all good!

Since my old journal has retired now, I thought it'd be kinda fun to share my favorite pages and doodles with you. So enjoy and get inspired!

Yaaa, as you can see the poor thing had a rough time being carried around for months... but it did a great job. I still love the heart-design no matter how beat up it looks now.

I remember sitting in spanish class when I sketched out my room in it (Don't do this kids - always pay attention to your teacher! Hahah!). I had a blast coming up with all this cool decoration and you know what? I actually made some of this become reality. My parents got me a desk like the one in the middle for my birthday. I use it for all my crafting since sometimes I leave a mess and yeah .. cleaning up is so hard, isn't it? Better to have a seperate desk, so it won't bother me when I need to do homework etc. 

Also I made a jewelry holder like the one in the lower right corner. Might share that one with you soon! I hung pictures above my couch and my bed - so check those off the list, too!

I looove making lists! I always have shopping-lists, to-do-lists, wish-lists and so on. Is there a greater feeling than crossing off the last point on a mile-long to-do-list at the end of the day? I don't think so! Both of the lists above were really just born out of excitement about the upcoming summer. Maaan it's may and I can't wait to go camping with my pals soon! Summer is the best!

More fun doodling! Sometimes there isn't anything better than passing the time by drawing some hearts, birds and happy faces!

Hope you enjoyed that little peek into my journal! Keep journaling you guys, it's a great thing to do!

Lots of love, Tabea ♥