Sketches of a Life: February 2017

DIY Ice Crown

Be like snow: beautiful but cold.
- Unknown

Mardi Gras is tomorrow!

I am already super excited about this year's costume, which I've been working on for a few days now, and I can't wait to write a post on it. Looking at the photos above, do you have any idea what I am going to be? I bet you're wrong! :)

Still, I'm going to remain mysterious and let you live in suspense for a little while. For the time being, I'll show you how to easily and cheaply make a part of my super secret costume - an ice crown.

Supplies:
baking paper
hot glue gun
>5 hot glue gun sticks
white(ish) plastic hairband
glue stick
(silver) glitter
hairspray

Making an ice crown is actually quite simple if you know where to start. Now let's please all pretend I'm about to drop a brilliant, innovative idea instead of stating the obvious: use a glue gun! [Duh!] It dries transparent and allows you to make icicle-like structures perfect for the crown.

But how to achieve a 3D effect without having to use tons of glue for layering and without wasting excessive time on letting it dry? And how to make the process as least messy as possible? [Drum roll: an actual handy idea coming up] Use baking paper! Lay it out and make random, different-sized pointy structures with your glue gun. These should dry in about 2 minutes, allowing you to easily separate them from the paper. Now all you have to do is glue the pieces upward onto a plastic headband in as many layers as you like.

You can leave the crown as such (I think it’s really beautiful) or decorate it with glitter, rhinestones, pearls... This time I decided to keep it simple and to just use some regular glue stick and silver glitter for decoration (fixing it with hairspray). However, below are a few ideas to tickle the mind of the more skilful and artistic, so just give reins to your imagination!

As promised, here are some ideas for the more skilful:

Photo credit: Pinterest

Thanks for reading and a happy Mardi Gras!

8:46 pm
0 Comments

Wish for Love

travel and events

I am terrible at practicing self-discipline. That's all I have to say for myself.

Moving on.

Last night, a beautiful manifestation was held in Zadar. Under the motto of “wish for love”, five thousand lanterns lit up the night sky over the town, uniting the locals in helping a fellow citizen suffering from an extremely difficult and rare condition. A praiseworthy gesture, don’t you think?

As the manifestation is closely associated with the Valentine ’s Day, many attending were couples or families. It was wonderful to feel so much love and unity at one place. Especially as one who went – alone.

I don’t mean this in that “God, I’m so lonely” sense. Actually, it was more of a “I really enjoy my solitude and self-time” thing. As far as I can remember, I’ve always been a bit of a loner. I hate chit-chat, small-talks, gossip, and all sorts of unnecessary drama. That’s why I sometimes deliberately distance myself from people I genuinely care about, but need a time-out from. This applies to both friendly and romantic relationships.

As for romantic affairs, I have always adhered to three rules:

Never shed a tear over a guy. Not even when no one’s watching.
Never allow yourself to depend on a guy in any sense conceivable. Particularly financially.
Never say goodbye to someone more than once.

Ok, I broke the latter once or twice. But I can tell you this has in general saved me a lot of suffering. And time. I have an excellent control over my emotions. I could be dying on the inside, but I would never give anyone the pleasure of seeing it. I could go years without taking to someone just to prove my point. And I am great at convincing myself that no one is worth my peace. Just ask my exes :)

If you ask me how I do it, the answer is – I have no idea! I just do it.

My point is: love others, but love yourself first. And even more importantly, respect yourself. Here are some good reminders: Think positively. Avoid perfectionism. Do the things you enjoy. Reflect on your positive traits and repeat positive affirmations daily. And always bear in mind that you are awesome. You are limitless. You don't need anyone.

Come to think about it, maybe the introduction to this post wasn’t so true after all, huh?