2015

Happy New Year.

I hope you had a nice time. Are you ready for a whole new year?!

I personally feel weird about it. I usually love starting fresh and planning my goals, thinking of everything that could happen in a year... But this year, I'm less excited. Maybe it's because I was sick around New Year's Eve or that I have a lot of work to finish for the beginning of this year, but I'm not feeling that usual energy. Anyway, I am a very positive person by nature so I know the feeling will come. But, I still have thought about what I want to achieve this year. Here are my resolutions and goals:

- Get better at drawing. I have been drawing a lot since November and making progress and it's super motivating. I also got a bunch of pencils for Christmas (F, 2B, 4B, 6B, 8B and graphite) so I'm excited.

- Get a vague idea of what I want to do. I still have one year and a half until I graduate from high-school so I do want to find out what I want and learn not to be afraid of admitting it. I am currently doing the scientific option (the other options are literature+languages and economics) because I like maths but I can only imagine myself doing an artistic job so it can be a bit scary.

- Style-wise, I'm pretty happy with myself. I might try to experiment with more of an edgy side. (I'm more of a pastel floral kind of gal). BTW, I was thinking of maybe trying some style posts?? Tell me what you think.

- Keep blogging. I think my blog is around 1 year old now which is exciting! I want to try and be more regular with my posting but I will have a lot of work and exams so I won't make any promises. So, like I said, I might try and do some style posts and maybe a regular feature of links to posts from other bloggers that I liked or DIYs I want to try.

- It's always been a dream of mine to get the splits. I used to be quite flexible because I did gymnastics from ages 6 to 12 but I stopped so I lost it all. I have started yoga with youtube videos during the summer but I want to try and stretch every day until I'm Elastigirl!

The Christmas Tag

Hello everyone!
Today I am doing the Christmas Tag. I was tagged by the awesome Fran from Elevator Brain. I feel very cool doing a tag because I've never done any. So, let's go right into it:

1. What are your favourite Christmas films?
I really like "Love actually" and the Barbie version of "Nutcracker".

2. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
Christmas morning.

3. Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?
Not really. But I enjoy Christmas every year.

4. Favourite festive food?
Hot chocolate! Although I drink it all year round so I'm not sure if that counts as "festive". I like salmon too.

5. Favourite Christmas gift?
A Totoro plush hand-sewn by my brother.

6. Favourite Christmas scent?
I'm not a fan of spices like cinnamon or other typically Christmas-y scents. But I like chocolate so smelling it is almost as good as eating it.

7. Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?
I watch Barbie Nutcracker with my sister because we used to watch it every year as kids with my parents and my brother. We carried on the tradition.

8. What tops your tree?
A golden bow and a star.

9. As a kid what was the one (crazy) gift you always asked for but never received?
I don't remember asking for really crazy things but I probably asked at least once to have lots of bunnies.

10. What's the best part about Christmas for you?
I love seeing people's reactions to the gifts I chose for them (if it's a surprise). And of course, I enjoey spending time with my family.

So here it is! Thank you Fran for tagging me.
I tag Bela from A Bit Amusing and Marie from Rainbows and Unicorns. It's your turn ladies!
Love, Elsa

Christmas Collab! DIY Felt Stocking Ornament

 Hello everyone!

I am very excited today because I am collaborating for the first time. I'm very happy because this collaboration is with the lovely Fran from Elevator Brain (even her blog title is cool!). On her blog, she posts sketches and paintings made by her talented self, inspirational posts and some tips. You should definitively check it out because it's awesome! We decided to do Christmas DIYs. She made a Christmas tree out of magazines!

I chose to do a felt ornament. I made this little monogrammed sock. It's very easy and takes a bit of time if you decide to hand-stitch it like I did, but I did it while watching a movie with my family so it was really nice. Fabric glue or hot glue are fine though, since you normally shouldn't have to wash it.
 You'll need: felt in two colors, ribbon, scissors, a needle and thread in two colors (or glue), paper and a pen.

Cut out 2 socks in one color. Then, in your other color, cut out little embellishments like two heel patches or that band that goes at the top. (be careful: if there is a right and a wrong side to your felt, you should cut one and then reverse it to cut the second one) To make the letter, I first drew out a few 'J's on paper until I was happy with how it looked. Then I cut it out of the paper and used it as a pattern to cut it out of the felt.

Sew the letter on one of the sock shapes. After it's done, sew the two sock shapes together.

Sew the little heel patches on both sides of the sock.

Put the white band at the top of the sock on each side, and put your ribbon in between. Sew it all together and you're done!

I hope you liked this tutorial and will use it. I made this little ornament for my class's Secret Santa. The guy whose name I had picked is allergic to lots of things, including chocolate so anything edible wasn't an option. I decided to make this because it's personalized and everyone loves hand-made gifts, don't they?

Don't forget to check out Fran's DIY and have a nice day!

Love, Elsa

DIY: Snowflake Candle Holder

Penguin candle: PRIMARK

Hi friends!

Today I want to show you this simple candle holder I made. I used a glass yogurt jar, white acrylic paint and a tiny paintbrush. It was quite simple but also a bit long. It took me a bit less than an hour to cover the entire jar with snowflakes. You also have to hold your brush as still as humanly possible if you want thin lines. Once I was done, I waited for it to dry completely and put a small candle inside. If you make this, you could also use it to store pens, make-up brushes, or anything else you can put in a jar! This could make a cute small gift. I really hope you'll try this out.

Love, Elsa

Fall nail art: Plaid!

 

Hi friends!

Today I wanted to show you this really nice nail art inspired by plaid. I did not come up with this design. I have no idea who got the idea first but it was a genius! This look is super cool especially for the colder month. What's nice too is that you can do it in any color combination you like. What colors would you choose?

Love, Elsa

Taking a break

Hi friends!

As some of you may have noticed, I haven't posted in a while. I've been really busy with schoolwork and just wasn't feeling like posting. Anyways, I want to improve on my drawing skills and I've gone through tones of magazines to rip out pages that interested me. I like to draw from pictures so magazines are a great source for pretty faces with interesting features. This is a little something I made to practice. I hope you're having an awesome day and bye!

Love, Elsa

My favorites: Halloween Nail Art

Hi everybody!

Halloween is only 2 days away and I decided to do a little round-up of my favorite halloween themed nails. This first one is from Chalkboard Nails is from 2012! I was going trough the archives of her blog because I admire her so much and I can't get enough and I found these! Beautiful, aren't they?

These adorable ghosts are from Emma over at Dahlia Nails.

And these are from Coewless Polish for the 29th day of the 31 Day Challenge "Inspired by the Supernatural". Perfect for Halloween then!

This nail art is a bit more spooky: eyeballs! You can find a tutorial on burkatron.

These look super elegant and can be worn all year long! But they also work for Halloween. There's a tutorial at Chalkboard Nails. I hope you find this list useful and you'll feel as inspired as I am by these talented ladies.

Love, Elsa.

Nail Art Tutorial: Black Cat

Hi friends!

Today I wanted to show you how I made this little cat on my nails for last year's Halloween mani. It's not that hard and looks really cute! What I like about this is that you could also wear it on any day.

First, paint your nails with base coat and the color of your choice. I went with a very light lilac (444 by HEMA). Let dry.

Once it's dry, paint a half circle in black. You can use the brush that comes with the polish for this. Then, use a striper or a thin brush with black polish and make two triangles on each side for the ears. Wait for it to dry completely and after that, make small white ovals for the eyes. They should be opaque so two coats might be necessary. Once the white dried add some green or yellow polish over the eyes. Finally, draw the pupils with some black. This is the hardest part I think. Take your time so they are approximately the same size. The colors I used are from HEMA too (851 Black and 809 white).

Finish with some top coat and you're done! I think this little cat would look great as an accent nail but you could also make a cute kitty on each nail by changing the size and shape of the ears each time so it's not boring! I really hope you give this a try. Tell me if you do!

Love, Elsa