Birthday Card-Make it or Take it

I made very simple but very cute Birthday Card. I have been whole day in mood to make things and had to stop myself as nothing else would have been done:) If you want it, it can be yours. Just leave the comment and I may choose you :) If you want to know how I did it, here are instructions:

Cut a stripe  about 5 cm wide from the longer side of A4 paper. Fold it until you get eight same size sections. make a holes at the ends and put trough some pretty ribbon. Stick on Happy Birthday wish or you can print it directly on the card before you cut it out.

This is how the base of the "cake" should look standing.  

Add some candles. 

Cut out one big circle for the bottom of the cake and three circles, flowers or whatever you like, in three different size, for the "icing".

This is how the Birthday Card-Cake should look assembled.  When you post it, you just need to put  the pieces in an envelope. Also, you can personalize it with a name of the Birthday person on the top of the cake.


Good Luck!

Easter table decoration "Make it or take it"

I wanted to make an atypical Easter decoration and this is what I came up with. I chose the colors that are usually associated with Christmas and was curious would it still look Easterly or not. What do you think? I am giving this one away, so if you would like to have it, write it in the comment underneath. Or you can always make one yourself...This is what I used:

                                                 And this is how I did it:

Attach eggs to the sticks (use glue gun or very strong glue).

Cut oasis so it can fit tightly inside of flower pot.

Arrange your eggs as you wish. Number of eggs depend on size of  the pot  as well as size of the eggs.

Spray it all over (or you can paint it instead)

Only thing that is left, is to stick cut out flowers and arrange dried grass around your pot. 

Have a fun!

Welcome Spring

Here are five things you may do to welcome Spring (in addition to or instead of Spring Cleaning:))

1.Plant Happiness and Health

Some researches show, that people who plant something in spring and then follow it grow, have better picture of themselves, more optimism and confidence then people who do not engage in this nice hobby.

2. Get in tune with a change of time

Naturally we all feel more tired in spring. Reasons are many, but one of them can be additional day light that can affect a daily cycle of sleeping and waking. If your inside clock is not telling you when you should sleep and when to wake up, some suggest to take 3 mg of melatonin right after lunch. Small dosages of melatonin is said to successfully restore a biorhythm so you will be active during the day and sleepy when it is time to sleep.

                

              3. Get an energy levels up with the greens.

Market calling! Fresh varieties of spring vegetables make a welcome appearance after the winter. Not only for their vitamins, spring  vegetables have concentrated doses of chlorophyll, pigment that cleans our system and gives us energy.

                                  

                               4. Open windows wide

Every home looks nicer with the windows open! And there are more then esthetic reasons to open your windows. Did you know that air inside our homes can be 100% more harmful then outside? Reasons for this are chemicals we use in our homes for cleaning, as their smell can be dangerous for our health.

                                   

                                5. Get rid of old stuff

It is believed that trowing away old and unnecessary stuff will relive you from stress too. Clutter and untidy spice make you feel not so well, much slower and without enthusiasm. On contrary, view on emptied space inspires you on new ideas and possibilities. 

Be Here and Now IV

To conclude this subject, I wrote a list of the things that help me be more in the present. I hope you can find some of suggestions useful for yourself too.

•  Write down all situations where you are under the stress and decided if it is really necessary for you to spend your time on them.
•  Do what you can do lessen your "must do stuff".
• Try to spend less time indoors.
• Every day has a reason for celebration, celebrate it with something.
• Take brakes in between a work.
• Go in nature, even if it is just for a short walk, or just for a bit of fresh air.
• Meet friends more.
• Stop while your walk to observe your surroundings. 
• Be focus on the person you are at the moment with, show them that you care for what they have to say.
• Do not check your watch too often.
• Remember than in the stressed time we live in, relaxation is not luxury l but necessity.
• Discover small rituals that relax you or make you happy.
• When you wake up think of how many nice and new moments are waiting for you today.
• When you wake up do not think about problems that will only put a shadow on whatever you do and problem itself won't be solved.
• Do not think about what you do not have, think about what you do have.
• Try to exercise being present in the situations where you were doing things automatically so far.
• Decide on priorities.
• Find out what really brightens your days and do not give it up to something that is that you just "have" to do.
• We can't do always only things we like but we can do them more.
• Remember that everything is easy when YOU are happy.
• Write a list of the most important things in your life and think how much time you are giving to those people and activities. Give it to them more!

Be Here and Now III

Everybody knows saying that time is money. But time is much more then that. Money can be always earned, lost time we can't have. We need to stop, or at least pause and take time for ourselves to see where we are and where we are going. We need to try to escape routine and open ourselves to the life's little pleasures. Be a master of your time. That means, no every moment in the day needs to be planed and also that time should be used wisely. Keep time for enjoyment, leave always free space for anything that can surprisingly and spontaneously come your way. How many times we say no to meeting friends, even to playing with our children, and as a reason we state luck of time. There is no luck of time, there is only too many things that control our time and life. Be present in every moment and switch all your senses on. Think that you want to live and feel it all.  It sounds like natural thing to do. Why does it feel then like we are never really here and hardly ever see it and feel it all? Every day problems have a power to block our ability to feel in the present. Everyday problems are controlling our lives. If we can take back control of our lives that will ultimately mean that we can control our time too.
This is the only way to live and act in the present. We have to live fully, we have to live in every moment and not let the time pass us. Living now is the only time we have. This moment will pass and won't come back. 
If you walk, eat, work, love, even if you drive, do only that, and give yourself to only that activity. If you watch movie, meet friends, play with children, be hundred percent present and let the pleasure be seen on you. Think that this is the only thing you want to do in this moment. Focus on one thing at the time and when you do that one thing, make it the most important. In that way you will be present, you will have real pleasure from it and you will never do it just halfway. And do not hurry. Getting stressed and hurrying won't get things done faster or better. Forget about time and do things in your own speed and rhythm. Everybody has worries but they don't need to follow us everywhere. It is important to leave worries on the side sometimes and have different thoughts. Enjoy the daily rituals that makes you happy. In learning to live in present start with the small things. Many things we do, take too much energy from us unnecessary. Learn to recognize them and once you do, you may be able to replace them with the ones of your choice and naturally give you a pleasure...To be continued...:)

Be Here and Now II

We live in a time of technological and informative development, and 21. century  has gave birth to the new value - speed. Everything is available for us with much less of an effort but on the other hand it takes from us ability to enjoy it in the present. The information of need for something travels from our brain to our hands with such a speed, that the time of anticipation for something to happen its close to zero. Everything is available here and now.  We have solutions for everything, answers for all questions, spontaneity is gone from our life.  The more we hurry, the more we are late and meanwhile we miss so many things on the way. We run after dreams, and even if we reach them, we are so manipulated by the speed that prevent us from enjoying the little steps we make on our way to fulfill them. Or are there any little steps? Do we think, why to make five little steps when one big can take me there? I am not saying that we all should plant a garden and watch the whole process, food from the seed until it ends up on our tables. I am not saying lets forget about e-mails and go back to writing letters with pen and paper. I am saying, lets just slow down a bit and try to stay still,  instead of always racing with time. Do you remember time when you were child? One year was a long time. We were present in whatever we did. We had a memory of things that happened and we could recall it long after. We were making and filling our time with actions that came out of us. We were creating "time".  For an adult "time flies" not because  we are so busy but because we are not present. We have no feeling for time as we are not giving it a meaning. I will give you an example, imagine yourself walking from point A to B. You can feel the time passing differently depending on your presence in the time during the walk. You can be not present simply by only being preoccupied with whatever is on your mind at the moment and not letting any other information reach you. You reach your destination, you look back and you hardly have a memory of walk or time. Or, you can look around you, you can follow your steps, you can enjoy the air, smells and voices. You can let surroundings or feelings shape your thoughts and that all will give a quality to the time that passed, and with it, you will have real feeling of time. Imagine now your whole adult  life...Do you want to live it and see it as one long day only? Time doesn't fly. We only have that feeling when we are not giving a meaning to the time with our presence in it...To be continued...:)

Bracelet-From Me to You

I love making things out of wire. It is material that gives endless opportunities for creative work. You can make almost everything with it. I find it very meditative and interestingly, work with wire turns everything into surprise. I never know how the piece will turn out to be. Challenging part is, you must not make mistake, because if you do, it is very hard to correct it without  marks left after. It has kind of philosophical meaning too, don't you think?:) Anyway, my present for you today is a one of the bracelet of your choice. All you need to do is leave a comment underneath and choose the bracelet you like the best. And you have one week  from today to think about it:) And no worry, they are flexible and can fit any hand.

1. Yin-Yang 

2. Waves

2. Waves (back)

3. Lost Together

4. Serenity

Good Luck!