recent reads || may

Hello!

All The Bright Places - Jennifer Niven ★★★★★
It's been quite a journey with this book (urgh the feels.) I felt that the characters were well developed, and the story was well written except for the ending. The last few chapters of the book were quite rushed, and I felt that the ending did not quite resonate as it should have because of that. The book does touch on some sensitive topics, so be aware of that before you dive into reading it.

No Stars at the Circus - Mary Finn ★★★★☆
For those who have read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, this book is similar in the way that a young boy tells the story through his perspective, but the storyline is very different. I must say that the cover is BEAUTIFUL - I may have judged it by the cover when I picked it up in the bookshop (don't worry, I read the blurb as well).

If You Could See Me Now - Cecelia Ahern
This book was seemingly hard for me to read, mainly because of the style of writing and slow progression of the plot. To tell you the truth, I felt like I was reading a book written by child, but am reminded that it is a young adult book by the spontaneous curse words the author throws in ever so often. I have yet to finish the book (so my opinion probably will change) but so far, so-so.

Stay fantabulous!

~ Judy x

meet my little plant | introduction

Hello!

So I have been wanting another succulent or a cactus for a LOOONNGGG time now and I've finally bought a cute little Echeveria succulent! (I'm still planning on getting more to expand my little family of plants ^_^")

Ta-dah!

Save paper, save trees, save the environment!

I've also been experimenting with a DSLR camera (I borrowed it, not bought) instead of using my little Nikon point-and-shoot. I might be planning a future post on that, so make sure to keep up with future posts!

Stay awesome.

~ Judy x

how to shove aside a creative block

A handful of cupcakes :D

So you're about to draw something for fun, and as you are a millimetre from touching the tip of your pen to paper, you freeze. Because you're stuck. No, not from super gluing your arm to the desk (well, hopefully not)... from the lack of ideas.

Lately when it comes to making polymer clay charms, I've found that I've had

a) Much less free time to actually make stuff

b) No ideas on what to make

c) Felt unmotivated as I wasn't getting results I hoped for, even if I did start trying.

And so because of these reasons, I haven't really made a proper charm in months. And leaving a hobby or skill out of practice for too long leaves it rusty and old and horrible and that just uninspires you further and urgh. Yuck. One of the worst feelings ever for me is feeling uninspired!

But luckily for you, you have these few handy tips to get out of the creative rut and  motivate you to DO STUFF and polish your rusty old skills to perfection :D

Note: Creativity is not limited to only art, so I'm pretty sure these tips can be applied to anything to do with creating :)

Here I went from practicing eyeballs, to doodling a turtle, to procrastinating my maths homework by drawing what was in front of me...

1. Keep an outlet to let rouge ideas lose.

Okay, this sounds a bit weird and kind of reminds me of electrical plugs going haywire (see what I did there c; ) but lemme explain. I personally have a small notebook, with blank white pages and I'm able to carry it with everywhere (if I chose to of course. I mean, I wouldn't suggest bringing it to the toilet or whatever) and with a spiral bound, easy to slip a pen in. This notebook is what I doodle and draw in, and the great thing about it is that I've kind of made an agreement with myself to try and not show anyone the insides of this book. Other people's judgement is what we can thrive from... or why we shrink away.

2. Be on the lookout for inspirations, and record them!

I keep a Pinterest board for inspirations, and I'm able to pin any picture on the Internet to that board with a few clicks. I also keep a YouTube playlist for any polymer clay, art or DIY video I see, to be used on those days when I want to tear my brain out as it's not working. And on my phone, I keep a folder full of screenshots of images from Instagram that inspire me ^_^

Not only did the donuts get better, but the photography did as well! xD

3. If you fail, try again! And don't destroy the fails.

When you've tried something, like a drawing, and you aren't satisfied or it turns out HIDEOUS, I suggest you don't burn it like in the olden days, to be kept private from any human eyes ever again to save you from embarrassment and facepalming. But you know what they say, "Success is only from failures" (or something like that). If you don't keep your progress, you'll never really improve because you won't have anything to learn from. And it's also fun to laugh at your fails later on down the track. Maybe that's just me...

4. Use art as a way to destress and get away, not as a reason for stress.

Sometimes, it's okay to stab at paper a lot of paint and kaleidescopes of colours, because you're angry and want to fling stuff around. Sometimes it's okay to visualise your problems on a medium, and draw out what's bothering you. But what's not okay is for you to think art is a chore, and you need to pull together some amazing idea together in two seconds or your life will cease to have meaning. That got drastic pretty quickly.

5. Redo the old stuff.

When I'm stuck on what to make for charms, I tend to make old stuff again, because let's be real, coming up with original stuff these days is hard, when everything that could possibly be thought of has already been done. Almost everything. As seen in the picture above, when I don't know what to make, I tend to just make cupcakes over and over again, each with a different colour pattern, a new technique, a new topping or a slight variation.

So yeah! :)

Hopefully these tips help in some way, shape or form ^_^

Stay fabulous!

Lena xx