Browsing Tag

inspire

Design Your Life

Finding Energy in the Dead of Winter

01/20/2011
Wanwan loves her satin pillow~

Why is it so tough? Why do I feel the need to gulp down glass after glass of coffee all day and night long just to stay awake? Is it me? My medication? The season? The amount of close family and friends experiencing the same this time of the year leads me to believe it’s not just me. Everyone feels exhausted.

One way to instantly feel better is to do something. Anything. It will improve your mood and might just inspire you to continue or to try something else. This is one I hear again and again and it’s almost the hardest one to do… just get up and make myself work? When I feel like sleeping? When I feel like pulling the blinds and hiding in bed all day? Yes, even today.

A great way to naturally produce energy is by exercising. No matter how strange this sounds, exercise actually does give you more energy and produces endorphins. I feel like I preach this to myself all day.. exercise and eat well! I’m pretty bad at going for the sweets and caffeine without hesitation. This is why I feel so great one second and like absolute shit the next. These cause you to crash and then it’s even harder to stay awake and energized.

My heart sweets for you~

Take a nap. I know it sounds silly. Even a 30 minute power nap. Tell yourself you’re really exhausted now but when you wake up at (set your alarm now) __:__ you’ll be ready to work on whatever task you’d like to complete.

Don’t make your tasks sound large, break them down. Instead of ‘clean up kitchen’ how about ‘wash dishes’ and later ‘sweep kitchen floor’ and finally ‘clean counters’ ? It makes it a lot easier to get things done when you make them sound manageable. At your MOST LIFELESS you’ll still feel like you can accomplish wiping the counters.

Take in the small things. Light a candle and relax while you breathe the warmly scented aroma it creates. (try mint or eucalyptus scents for energy!) Slowly enjoy and experience a cold, refreshing iced drink. Put an energizing scented lotion on and take in the whole experience as you smooth it into your hands and smell the fresh mint.

One of my absolute favorite ways to find energy is to drink coffee and tea. However be careful because as I said before, caffeine causes a later crash. Have a cup of Earl Grey when you feel like going to bed. Enjoy the tea as you drink it and take in the aroma. You should feel more energized after you’ve had your tea. I know everyone knows this but I feel like we often forget or don’t take time to experience an afternoon tea.

Do you have some more ways to stay energized in the dead winter that don’t involve cold showers? 😉

Crafts DIY

Crafts from Around the Web Vol 2

01/14/2011


Recycle cute containers to make kitschy magnets.
Create a MiuMiu style collar with Audrey.

Create individual cupcake stands with Goldiloks.
Sew bows onto ankle socks for instant cuteness.

Thank you again to each of the authors for your lovely craft tutorials! I’m very interested in featuring other creative blogs as well, there is so much talent on the web that shouldn’t be missed!

Now let’s get creating…

Design Your Life

Positive and Inspiring Blog Articles You Should Read

05/22/2010

These are some delicious articles to inspire you to live positively and enjoy what’s really important.

Often times I’m asked what’s really important to me in my life. I would have to say love and relationships, art and design. What about you?

Ten Things You Should Already Know By Now

“What’s important today won’t matter tomorrow.”

Things I Love Thursday

“Do you like New York?”
“Yes. It’s my favourite kind of planet.”

Get Confident

“When I meet someone with quiet, real confidence, I can feel it from about a block away. Their confidence does not intimidate, but inspires.

Handbook for Life

Now, is there any handbook that can be a guide to every single person? Of course not. This is just a list of tips that I think will help many people in life — some of them common-sense tips that we often forget about. Consider this guide a reminder. (ZenHabits)

Inspiring Offices

Whether you work at home or in an office, you can surely take some of these delicious designs to your own personal space. My environment affects my mood quite a lot — making sure it’s comfortable and clean is always inspiring!

tbwa2

Get Motivated When You’re in a Slump

“Recognize negative self-talk, which is really what’s causing your slump.”

Diary

Miseducated Scrapbook: Online Art Journaling

04/12/2010

Yikes! I’ve missed you so much lately and getting to be creative in both work and play. This past week was entirely draining but I left it feeling much more enlightened (..and slow ..and tired .. and pregnant).

I have never experienced happiness like this, absolute fulfillment.. Colette opened a new book of endless inspiration and motivation to create the world we want.

Did I tell you she’s kicking now?

So anyway, as of recently I’ve been getting back into keeping my sketch/idea book up to date and I’ve found out that still the craft of art journaling is still so fun and addicting. I decided to share it with you and inspire you to do your own journal, letters or scrapbooks! Big plans for these so if you’re interested in contributing please let me know!

So I’ve written you a little letter..

As for inspiration.. hit up your local thrift store and flip through the vintage magazines. When I feel uninspired I take a break with my magazine collection and then I imagine ways to translate home decor into web design and graphic art. It’s even great for inspiration to just relax and read as I’ve said before. Remember, a 20 minute break can help tremendously!

Until later, stay sweet, inspired and colorful.

letter

Visual Splendor

Rainbow Inspiration and Spreading Color Online

03/29/2010

I was recently interviewed by a fellow blogger and was specifically asked about my obsession with color and rainbows. This got me thinking about how much rainbows really mean to me (if i see a correctly hued rainbow anything, chances are I have to have it) and also how beautiful they are. Am I being totally cheesy? Probably, but one thing is for sure, they inspire me endlessly and they seem to inspire others as well. Namely 80s cartoon creators which wove for us magical tales of color and care.

rbow

Looking back on some of the toys and cartoons I enjoyed as a child, it’s very obvious to me why I love many of the things I love. They bring me to a simpler, happier time when my imagination could spin a web of adventure. I suppose in my situation all of this cuteness and color created an artist with an adoration for femininity, color and whimsical art.

Did the rainbow days of the 80s inspire who you are today? How so?


Picture 2

Do you love rainbows?


pst! If you’re a rainbow fan, feel free to place this on your blog or website — spread the color.
Design Your Life

Book Review: ‘The Secret’ Starts Motivation

01/21/2010
thesecret

For the past few weeks, my life hasn’t really been what I’ve wanted. I was starting to feel distant from my friends, unmotivated in my classes, and just generally down in the dumps. The end of the semester left me drained, and I was looking for something that would turn my mood around. When I heard The Secret(by Rhonda Byrne) mentioned on a talk show, I became instantly intrigued. From how it was described, this book talked about how thinking positively can bring about instantaneous changes in your life. If you live your life based on The Secret, you can have whatever you want, whether that is love, money, health, or opportunity.

So I thought to myself: Love? Money? Happiness? Just by thinking? Count me in! I picked up a copy of The Secret from the bookstore on campus and started reading it right away. It starts with introducing what the secret is. According to this book, the secret to living is the law of attraction. Thoughts attract like thoughts. If you are thinking about being sad, the Universe will think you want MORE sad things to think about, so those will be delivered to you. Well, that made sense to me, so I kept reading. It then proceeded to explain how thanking the Universe in advance will bring things into existence. For example, if you are sick, say to the Universe “Thank you for making me healthy.” The Universe will see that you are grateful and deliver on that health. Also, if you pretend you have what you want, you will soon have it in real life. If you visualize the life you want to have, that will be the life you WILL have. Sounds easy enough right?

Well I decided to put the secret to the test. I figured I would just aim for small things, since those come into existence quicker. For my first test, I wanted to see if I could get attention from a boy I have been interested in. I visualized myself with him for a few minutes then went back to my day. About ten minutes later, I got a text from said boy. Coincidence? Maybe. But wait, there’s more. Over the past few days, he has been paying a lot of attention to me. More texts, hanging out, instant messaging. Other than the visualization, I haven’t done anything to attract this attention. So for test one, I declared success.

My other test was incredibly small. I was having some pain in my foot as I went to sleep last night, and the pain was keeping me awake. I began thanking the universe for keeping my body pain-free. Almost instantly, the pain in my foot went away. By this point, my faith in the secret was definitely building.

I plan on utilizing this secret more and more, and I’m interested to see how things turn out. If you believe in the power of positive thinking, I would recommend picking up a copy and trying it for yourself. And if you have any interesting stories about how the secret worked for you, I would love to hear them!

Crafts DIY

Create an Owl to be your Pal

09/24/2009

So you want to create a ‘fuggly’ owl to be your pal? Though yours doesn’t have to be fuggly, that’s just the way I sew! (hehe)

1. Cut out two triangles (one small one, one bigger one) with slightly curved edges as seen.

note: it’s not an exact science, so you may like to experiment with longer, shorter, wider, thinner, curvier triangles.

2. Face the fabric inwards and sew up one side. As you sew, pull the two fabric edges so that they are together. There will be a gap where the ‘A’ triangle ends. Continue sewing up along the side of B triangle, then back down along the other side.

3. Sew around the bottom opening so that you can pull on the thread and draw the bottom closed like a drawstring bag. Fill it with filling and pull the bottom closed.

note: I use grain but wool or polyester stuffing is also good. Do not fill it up too much!

4. Fold the top down and secure it. This makes the beak.

note: This is why you don’t want to fill it too much because you wont be able to pull the beak far down, though some people like very small beaks. If so then fill it up lots!

5. Add eyes.

note: Beads work well. Fabric has a tendency to fray when cut too small. Don’t learn this the hard way!