Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Simple gift ideas | 01

I believe one of the most beautiful things you can do for other people is to surprise them with presents. Go for small ones, for no particular reason, just to make them smile and feel good. For the past years I have gifted hundreds of small things, either DIY, post production or store bought 
and I would love to share some of them with you. 

 
Starting backwards and going on as far as I can remember I am sharing the latest simple gift I made: a simple painted shape on canvas. My choice was a heart covered in glitter painted on a 20x20 cm canvas. I made two pieces and I kept the gold one. It still looks beautiful on my bedroom, just a little punch of sparkle. 
What I love most about this is the infinite varieties you can create by changing the size and shape of the canvas, what you paint, multiply the same shape, use different colors and even make series or 3 or 4 small canvases. Other bloggers have made similar pieces of art by handwriting a quote or lyrics and it is lovely too. 
Here are the simple steps of my version, in case you would like to get a bit crafty and make someone smile :)


You will need :
  • blank canvas (mine is 20x20 cm) - small ones look good with a simple shape while bigger can be more crowded or altered
  • vinyl glue (or mod podge)
  • brush
  • pencil
  • glitter
On the clean canvas, I draw the shape of a heart with a soft pencil. With a clean brush I started filling the shape and getting a bit out of the border to cover the pencil mark. Then comes the fun part. Pouring glitter generously on the canvas, letting it lie flat aside for a few minutes and putting it still to drop all excessive glitter. If you think it is necessary, you can take a soft thick brush (like a powder make up brush) and lightly put it through the canvas to get rid of every little glitter to make the heart perfect. When I make clean craft like this, I prefer to collect the remaining sparkle and use it again.
That's all. Have fun!

| Love, Lisa |

Friday, October 26, 2012

10 Superior Friday links


Image by me (inspired by A Good Year)

You know something? What if we stop considering weekends as resting and extra sleeping days? How about calling them superior days? You know, we could do all those wonderful things and have a blast finally! Who knows, after that maybe we can slowly start looking at your whole life as an inspiring exclamation phrase!
Here are 10 superior links for you, my friends. All of them deserve the descriptive adjectives, it's not just a random trick. 
Because I am inspired by the most amazing things and I want to give you that pleasure too. 













Have a superior weekend all of you!
| Love, Lisa |

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The easiest tip to control yourself while online shopping

Everyone of you would agree that there are already thousands of great tips on smart shopping. Most of them consist on checking the material, the fit, if it pairs easily with what we already own, if it is versatile enough, if it can be layered, washable and lovable forever. But if you are anything like me, and let's be shamefully honest here, the "Aaaah"-s, "Woooow"-s and "Yaaaay"-s you say scream at the sight of a brand new item wins over all the above tips. 

With real cool weather yet to come, but strong ability to imagine myself in fall clothes, this period I am really struggling not to buy stuff online. Maybe my empty credit card is helping more than my self control, but last night a genius idea hit me. Sorry to all you who might have been hit first, but I am so excited. 



Except for tights, cardigans and other basic pieces I need to add or replace, every time my eyes sparkle to the sight of a piece, I will ask myself how many work hours is this piece's value. 
For example, if it costs 72 $ it means I need to work approximately 36 hours to buy this (calculating the salary of 2$ per hour in my country - sometimes it's lower - I know, a whole other story). 
Still worth it? Will it still be worth my 36 hours of work next season or next year? 
Knits or plaids probably will, but Baroque trend and velvet mostly no. 

So, to make it simpler, I would work 36 hours to buy a plaid shirt I'd wear every fall, but not for a midi velvet dress I will only wear 3-4 times this year and I am not sure if it can be still worn the next, no matter how beautiful it looks now.

Friends, I really hope this helps you. Do the math by your country's salary standards or better yet, your average income. Sometimes it might get shocking, but it is the reality. 
Do you have any clever tips to share with me? Frankly, I'm so curious to see how you keep yourself under control with so many online shopping options. Currently I am limited to a handful of sites as most of them don't offer shipping to my country or it is expensive. And I still struggle. Huh!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

What I love doing - Generating ideas

One thing I'm very good at is generating ideas, especially inspired by others. For example, when someone is showing me a half through project, I come up with dozens of ways how to finish it successfully. If I have a look at a friend designing a logo I immediately tell them a couple of things to change/improve/add. I guess I was born to be a consultant :) Funny because when it comes to my own projects I often get stuck and I lack ideas, but for the rest I'm a real champion. 
The most beautiful part of helping out friends or strangers with ideas is when you see the final result and find out they considered your advice. It's like you are contributing to the work too. 

 Photo credit—Sharon Beesley via Elizabeth Street

Last Friday, Sharon (a blogger whose posts I look forward to) was really upset because of how her first project at her new job went wrong and messy. Everyone was commenting and giving great ideas on how to save her black pumpkins and transform them to Halloween pieces of art. Of course I left a few simple ideas on the comment section, too. 
And guess what? Sharon picked my idea and implemented it to the final 5 pumpkins. 
Don't you love how "badass" all of them look? 
Hooray for Sharon and best of luck at Elizabeth Street :)

| Love, Lisa |

10 things to learn from blogs you don't like



 
[ The tasteless fashionista ]
In order to understand your style, what you like and what looks good on you, first of all you have to go through things you don't like. So switch your thinking into what you don't like about what you see on another fashion blogger, what things you don't like to pair together or stuff that don't compliment certain body types. Free fashion lessons anyone? I thought so. Don't pass that blog yet.

[ The children obsessed mother ]
She is great and her writing is fun but 4 out of 5 posts feature 100 pictures of her kids. Most people find children cute, but there are others that get bothered with many pictures and often repetitive. And of course there are those that would never put their family's pictures into public view.
Hard to find something here? Don't rush. Understand what the blogger posts about her children. Is it a certain topic or just random shoots? It's never too early to read helpful tips and experiences of a mother's life and of course it doesn't hurt to share issues with another mother if you already have children. Let me tell you a shameful secret. Blogs have made me love children, and seeing all those candied photos of little cute faces has actually shaken my interests and beliefs toward family. Oh, now I love reading about everything baby related too.

[ The rich teenagers ]
Yes, they are coming out of everywhere like mushrooms after rain. Usually tiny or petite, with half a wardrobe borrowed from their mothers, a few Hermes or Celine bags, Cartier and Rolex accessories and the same style over and over. Some people are just lucky, others have serious style. Even if these guys haven't yet built their signature style, observe their young attitude, how they rock leather pants or mini skirts, how they hold the famous bag, and how do expensive things look on them. Try to steal ideas for yourself, how to pair a high street brand with a classic one, or even attempt to remember what you like and maybe find a nice similar piece for 1/5 of the price. Not bad, huh? And who doesn't like to sneak peek where rich people go for dinner, for shopping and all the fancy trips they share?!

[ The perfect couple ]
Chances are they are newlywed and you are familiar to all their moles from the 1000 pictures posted daily. They never write something bad about each other and it seems like their life is perfect. And it makes you so mad, doesn't it? But don't fall for this. Remember everyone has their own struggles and no relationship is perfect, be it an affair, an engagement or a marriage. This couples are only sharing the highlights of their lives, the positive aspects. What you can learn is priceless. Blogging about your relationship forces you to find the good things and ignore anger, frustration or disappointment. It is a bless to see people being happy and love each other everyday, because that's what love is about, otherwise we would be perfectly comfortable alone. It is not bad to borrow their tips of happy relationships and implement to yours if they fit. So next time you make fun of these couples, go hug your man and make a promise to yourself to not yell at him all 7days of next week for leaving the toothbrush on the sink or the socks on the floor.

[ The complainer ]
I am sure you are thinking "Huh, let's see what you're gonna come up with now!". Because we all know the reason we read blogs is to get inspiration and to go through beautiful things that make our day, see how people can be easily happy and grateful. So what is there to learn from a blogger that complains about everything and everyone? Hey, it's like chatting with your friend and knowing you're not the only one that feels that way. Getting inspiration is great, but sometimes you might get into the trap of thinking everyone else is having wonderful jobs, families and friends and they live their dream everyday. But you know it's not true. Having a couple of these real blogs to read once in a while keeps you sane and even laugh with others struggles when they write in a beautiful humorous tone.

[ The "mother of coupons" ]
It might get very sad sometimes to go through all tips on saving, cutting back, making a budget about everything. You just get the feeling that this family or person is living a miserable life. Maybe they apply all the tips they share everyday but they might just be trying to live a better life and blogging about this topic forces them to get creative and save a lot. So don't rush to the next "Italy getaway" blog yet, but stand a little further. Even if you don't live in the same country or even continent with the "mother of coupons" blogger, steal some tips on how to cut back on unnecessary spending. Maybe this way you will appreciate what you have more and find joy in non material things.

[ The strange hobby ]
Some people have hobbies such as music, dancing, traveling, photography and some others like fishing or collecting matchboxes. Everyone is different and there is always a small group that shares interest even on the most strange thing you might ever imagine. I am not pretending I go through "playing handball" blogs everyday, but if you ever come to a blog about a certain hobby, try to see if these bloggers are passionate about what they do, how much time they spend developing it. It is interesting to see how people with a different day schedule manage to dedicate time to their interests. It is even greater if they share the process of starting as totally amateurs and growing into pros. Everyone needs advices and inspiration on how to be better at something and remind you to search for that old craft box remaining hidden at the back of your closet.

[ The million dollar baby ]
These people are not necessarily young, they have a job that requires running around and working a lot. But strangely they appear perfectly polished in every picture, always straight on heels, with full make up and gorgeous hair. You might wonder how they do it. This is a gift not everyone is blessed with. Most of us rush out of the door in a topknot and no make up, while others enjoy getting up early, getting ready and always look neat and beautiful. Instead of looking down on them and assuming they must be not working that hard, force yourself to think that you're never too busy to skip taking care of yourself. You can look great everyday, with a full time work, a lot of errands to do and of course without making the "duck face".

[ The foodie ]
The main thing you might not like about a food blog is the cravings you have every single time you look at the posts. You know what I am talking about, like scrolling through Pinterest at midnight and feeling the urge to visit the fridge. To avoid this, check the food blogs out only when you need beautiful pictures of food or styling and when you are planning your weekly menu and need meal ideas. Even if your taste or aesthetic do not match the blogger's you might find a new recipe or an interesting way to combine an unusual ingredient.

[ The devoted ]
Religion is a very personal thing and usually people keep it to themselves. It is not uncommon though to read a sentence or a short paragraph quoting the blogger's religious direction or beliefs. As long as it doesn't become repetitive, no one should feel bad about it, but when you find a blog with religious content and especially not the same as your beliefs, I'm sure you go away and never come back. I don't feel good either because as I said it is very personal, but sometimes it is so fascinating to see what other people think is important in life, to find out their behaviors and attitude. Also I always enjoy reading about nice acts. Most religions emphasize being a good person and helping other people and watching videos or pictures showing how some great gals come together to help a certain group or how someone provides free meals for a poor family is very mind opening and heart warming. At the end it's all about being humans, believing (or not) in something/someone/lots of things and bringing the best out of ourselves. Being shown and told how to be a better person and do better things never hurt anyone.

Are you convinced these tips are useful or do you still prefer to just "close window" and never come back to a blog you don't like? It would be very interesting to see your point of view.

| Love, Lisa |

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Frozen Fall Outfits || Red jeans

I don't remember ever having a pair of red jeans. Despite the big trend of colored denim bursting out of blogs this year, I never considered the red color, as blue, mint, yellow, pink, purple, green and white stole my heart. 
My attitude towards red changed only yesterday, when I randomly noticed a guy crossing the street wearing red jeans and a gray t-shirt. The combination seemed very cool and my wishlist just got another item added - a pair of skinny jeans in red. And that should have been the end of the story, until a couple of hours ago while I was searching online for a descent pair of them and suddenly many Fall combinations were coming to my mind. 
Oh my, I never imagines red in jeans would be such a versatile piece. Who knew?! The number of possibilities increased so much that I needed to separate the feature into daytime looks and nigh time looks 
(my biggest surprise).

























Here is the night time edition. Enjoy :)


















































Do you have red jeans? What do you pair it with usually? 
Am I the only one who is considering it for the evening or have you rocked this trend already? 
Feel free to enlighten me with any advices or experiences you might have for me, 
before I order them ;)

| Love, Lisa |

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

10 Things I have learned from my father




1. Let go of small things

2. Aim for better but don't be greedy

3. Don't pretend to be someone you're not

4. Help as many people as you can in any way that you can

5. Don't hold on anger with family members

6. Take challenges without fear

7. Never make others feel uncomfortable

8. Be easygoing, funny, warm to everyone

9. Follow up

10. Don't do things that will keep you sleepless at night


| Love, Lisa |

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Weekend Links for doing

Image by me

This weekend has been all rainy and I have noticed people already not doing the same things like a few days ago. They still make the traffic unbearable on Saturday evening, but I think they are secretly loving staying home. 
Fall is here and rain will continue to make us want to stay in, so we have to remind ourselves that we still need to do outdoor things, entertain, try something new and enjoy quality time beside sleeping, watching tv and being lazy. There will be enough time for it in Winter, I hope. 
Here you go, do any of these before Monday:










Have a happy doing weekend :)

| Love, Lisa |

Friday, October 12, 2012

10 things that help you feel confident everyday || Fall edition



1. Clean face, arms and legs (clean = no hair)
Don't rise your hairy eyebrow lady. Yes it's Fall, but going to the doctor, trying on shoes/boots, making out, going to the gym/swimming pool - none of these needs braids of body hair showing. 
Plus facial hair is such a turn off for your self confidence even if you stay at home all day.

2. Fresh hair
Whether it's freshly washed or second day hair or dry shampoo, make sure your hair looks fresh to your eyes and to all the mirrors of your house (light changes drastically from bedroom to hallway). Don't forget, the deal is for you to believe your hair looks fresh, otherwise you will spend all day thinking everyone is staring at your roots and the stress will make your hair oily indeed.

3. Spotless face
I am not the best example here, as I am often too late to put any make up before leaving home, but making sure to prepare your face for your needs will make everything go smoother later on. This might be anything that works for you, for example light make up or a touch of powder, a tinted moisturizer or drops of concealer. There's always a bathroom available to add mascara or gloss later, but having the overall base will save you from answering others' stupid questions like "Are you sick?" / "Did you have to work late?" / "Were you crying?" /"Is everything alright?" or just "Wow, I have never seen you like this before!". You get my point.

4. Weather surprises (umbrella + cardigan + waterproof flats)
They seem so obvious, but let me remind you how you feel without them when you are out of the house all day. Exactly, it sucks and you get pissed of.

5. A scarf
Whatever the weather or the season is, I always have one in my bag. I could have included it in no.4 but is is so important and versatile, it deserves a whole number. A scarf might replace a cardigan, cover a spot or torn piece, cover your head in rain, keeping hair in place when windy, add interest to a classic attire, cover your female parts if needed and protecting your white dress if you put it under you before sitting anywhere not clean. There must be more, but I guess I said enough to make you not underestimate the scarf.

6. Camera
No matter how old you are, what you do for living and whether you like taking pictures or not, there will always be a moment that requires a quick snap, to be remembered, shared, or for a totally odd reason. Not all of us can always carry a DSRL in the bag, but a simple digital one does the trick. And of course you can always rely on your phone's camera, just be sure to put it in a shortcut, so you know how to find it quickly when the moment arrives.

7. Pen and notebook
Again, we go back to basics, but it is really uncomfortable when you don't have a pair of these around and nobody can help you. Choose a nice A5 or A6 notebook that looks cute yet professional (you might love everything Hello Kitty, but imagine having to get it out of the bag in front of someone very important - that's what I thought - you better opt for a minimal pink one ).

8. Sunglasses
It might be cloudy or rainy in the morning, but you never know when the sun decides to shine up again and clouds reflect a very bad light in the morning and especially while driving. Also, using sunglasses to keep your hair up in place is so easy and stylish.

9. Tissues, wet paper, gum, mints (plus a hair tie and a small hair clip)
You might feel like you are back in middle school and your mum is checking your school bag while you read this, but ladies, hygiene comes first and you know how bad luck works - when you run out of tissues, you get a cold / when you have to go on a date you realize you have no mints / and / when your hair is behaving badly you never have something to keep it under control /. Asking your colleagues, university friends or other moms to lend you one of the above will actually make you feel like a middle school-er. So you better prepare like one.

10. Perfume and make up essentials
In order to complete no. 3 mission you need to always carry a small purse with the everyday make up essentials. Don't go crazy with this, as you probably won't need a while rainbow color palette for your eyes, nor glitter or more than 3 lip colors. Keep things simple with only what you use and only one of them. A little bottle of perfume or a few testing samples are always welcomed to retouch or for the days you forgot to spray your favorite scent at home.


That's it ladies. It might seem like too many things to care about, but once you make it a habit for a few days, it will be easy not to forget anything and to replace what you run out of. 
Feeling good, with no need to worry about little things and knowing you are prepared for unexpected bad luck strikes is priceless and allows you to focus to what is important and enjoy your every day.
If you do anything that helps you achieve confidence, be kind and share it please :)
| Love, Lisa |

Thursday, October 11, 2012

My Fall hair wishlist

Along with so many beautiful things Fall brought sadness to my hair. I dare to use this feeling to describe what is going on currently. While I have been cherishing healthy, long, thick, wavy, textured hair for the last few years and never had major problems maintaining or styling it, every passing year I notice changes when Spring or Fall comes by. It varies from season to season, with dandruff, oilier scalp, dry ends or lack of volume. 
For the moment my hair is suffering of a totally bad period with oily roots, dry ends, dullness, no volume, no life and what's left of an old color. So, what I am wishing right now is my kind of perfect hair, rich colors, careless tresses and texture. Until I go to the hair saloon to "pimp my hair" properly, I will keep on daydreaming and feeling jealous of these :




Images found via :  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

Do any of you feel the need do go through changes right now, like color or cut or something crazy you never had the guts to do? 
Is it the real first day of Fall just saying hello to our city or is it just me lusting for a change?
| Love, Lisa |


Wednesday, October 10, 2012

A(nother) little secret about me

After I read lovely Mara's post and left a long comment under it, I realized it was something worth sharing. It might be ordinary, small, big, personal or nothing special, 
but I am simply revealing a lesson of my late life.
To most of us relationships are difficult for a thousand different reasons, love, friendship and family ones. As much as I love the ones around me and want to surround them with affection, warm words, support and hugs and kisses, sometimes things get crazy, different to all I wish, often because of one's careless actions or words and more often because we take everything for granted 
(don't you dare call this a cliche - TEST : Did you do wonderful things to bring you joy today? 
I bet you didn't because you assume there is always a tomorrow you count on).


























The secret I want you to know today is a fairly simple one. When in debate's heat or on top of anger, when feeling misunderstood, ready to quit, or when hurt someone you love, just stop and think : 
What if something terrible happens to her/him/them tomorrow? 
How would I feel about this actual moment? Would it be still important? 
I am sure most of the time it won't be that important and all you want to do is ask for forgiveness or forgive the other one, give a hug and say "I love you".

I have always been very sensitive and I have ready tears for every occasion (anger, sadness, joy, sympathy, pity, death, a romantic movie, a dramatic movie, a children movie and the list goes on and on) but to push the above exercise to the limits, I often go extreme and if someone close to me has told me something that upsets or did something that hurt me, I imagine the day I won't have the person in my life, and along with the tears bursting in my eyes comes forgiveness, peace, and a need to return to basics, to what's more important. 

While all reactions are human and we have all the right to argue, to scream, to curse, to offend, to hurt someone or never forget and forgive, we also have the choice to focus on positive thoughts and behaviors. It might not work for serious cases or big decisions, but it certainly helps you understand what is more important to you, being proud and mean and short sighted or letting love conquer it all. Perhaps you can try it and tell me if it helps. 
I am not an expert, but I wish practice makes me one :)
| Love, Lisa |

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Friday, October 5, 2012

What I love doing

May you all have a nice and long weekend, full of things you enjoy doing! 
|  Love, Lisa  |

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Happy by...



Enjoy these days before they come to an end, before the rain starts and never seems to end, 
before the light goes away and darkness makes us blue. 
Enjoy everything while you have it, don't complain about what you are missing, more things 
are going to come but we never know for sure what they will be like.

Love, Lisa

I have a question || 2



You thought I was done with the dumb questions regarding blogging, didn't you? Oh no, not yet.
For many days (okay, from the first days I started writing) I was wondering when the right time to go serious with the blog design comes. Amongst the hundreds of blogging tips I have come across, the first one is - write write write - or - post post post - consistently! Of course this is obvious like "duh, who reads a blog refreshed once in a blue moon", but frankly I want people to understand my aesthetics reflected by my blog design, my writing and the visual content I create all at once.
Like many of you might have done, I selected a ready made theme, customized it, than I added a header I designed, some gadgets and basic features and that's all. Well, I don't know to do anything else, no coding, no html and I don't feel like digging into tutorials and make everything myself. 
 There will be a day when I will have someone redesign my blog and I am afraid that day is coming sooner that I had estimated. Because, let's face it, a good design is always welcomed. And running over so many great blog |RE|designs of my favorite blogs lately like here, here, here and here, it breaks my heart that I don't have a page to be very proud of. I am getting way too sentimental, but I guess I owe that to my blog, considering I belong to the design field in real life.

 |||   |||   |||

Now, for all you out there who have some months or years of blogging under your belt, can you please tell me how did you proceed with your blog? 
Did you focus on posting for a while and then switched to custom design or did you do it from start? 
Does it bother you coming back to blogs with great content but not so great design? 
Is aesthetic overestimated or do you believe it shows your taste and capabilities? 
Oh so many questions, but please let me know ladies and gentlemen, how soon did you take that step and was it worth it?

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

The people I admire

For as long as I remember myself, I never had an idol and I never was a crazy fan of a particular person. Because it is so hard to find someone perfect and too easy to get disappointed, isn't it?
With the years though, I notice I seek particular features and sides of character in people and I am attracted by certain little or big parts of who they are and what they do. 
The list is long and hopefully it with continue to grow, 
but for today, here they are:

You see, some things are big and some other not, but I know they matter for me. 
I am very curious to know, do you have an idol or do you love particular behaviors or attributes in many people like I do?
Isn't it beautiful when you focus on the positive ways others inspire you and let the dark side of humanity aside for a while?!




Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Frozen Fall Outfits || Leather skirt

It's time for another frozen Fall outfit post and this time I was better because I managed to create not 3, but 4 outfits with 1 new leather skirt, 4 tops I already have, 1 pair of shoes and 4 accessories. For some time now I have had my eye on leather skirts, I love how they look but I am not sure about they fit on me. From previous experience with a leather dress that used to come up and up revealing everything when I sat down, I know a short one is not for me, but this straight cut that hits above the knee with the beautiful gold zips stole my heart. Assuming it is good quality leather and in black color, I guess it will appear on me a lot this fall. 
Do you own one or are you planning to buy one this season? 
Enjoy the outfits I created and feel free to let me know how would you style this leather skirt.




Monday, October 1, 2012

Happy October

I would like to write about what I am looking forward this fall today and post pictures of golden leaves and cozy picnics, but let's be grateful for what we have. And for the moment we have 36 degrees, heat and sun. The highlight of it all was a beach day, right on the last day of September.
Some of us want more sun, some of us want rain to come and some can't wait for snow. 
I just want to be present to what's worth this month, be grateful for what I have and the experiences waiting for me. Most of all, I want to be inspired to create beautiful things. 
To all of you, may you have a happy, productive, inspiring October :)


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