Art Update: Creativi-tea

Hi Everyone! I Just wanted to share some artsy things I made in the past few days!
Whenever I'm out of inspiration/motivation I resort to the things I love most. Like tea :) 

I'm not necessarily the biggest Star Wars fan (I only just watched the movies this year!) but my boyfriend is and I guess his excitement for the new movie is contagious! I have a bunch of 'punny' Star Wars sketches lying around and this is one of them..

From there I randomly came up with this cute little Hot Crocolate. This is one of my personal favourites :)

And a panda doing yoga for good measure. I've been watching too many panda videos lately.

As usual these are available as prints and lots of other products in my Redbubble shop!

Hope you guys enjoyed these and have a lovely weekend! I'm looking forward to a vintage style 'kitschmas' party this weekend. I'll be blogging about it sometime next week!

Recent work: lots of tea, please!

All of you should know by now that I'm a huge tea lover, both drinking it and inspiration wise. I love to look at pretty tea sets and draw them.. or even 'paint' with tea! It should come as no surprise that my latest artworks are a complete tea overload.

Care for a cup of Cat Tea?

Sketch from my sketchbook

I kinda want one of those elephant tea pots...

As usual my designs are available on Redbubble on all kinds of products! I love the new hardcover note/sketchbooks they have. I've been feeling a little uninspired lately (hence the lack of new work) but I'm thinking of doing more fifties/retro themed things. It always helps me to stick to a theme when I'm stuck :)

Pinspiration: tea, rainbow hair, food, pink and pin ups

Things that will always inspire me: tea, rainbow hair, food, pink and pin ups. Thank heavens for Pinterest where there's a huge never ending collection of eyecandy. I love browsing through my recent likes and pins for inspiration. And yes, most of them have something to do with the main inspirations I just mentioned! Anyway, here's a little collage of some pictures inspiring me right now...

Sources can be found here and here

The other day I was thinking how cool it would be to be able to change up the frames of your glasses without having to get a new pair. Then I came across the picture above. How awesome are those interchangeable cateye frames?? And see that doilie in the tea cup? It's actually made of sugar. So cute! I also have some serious hair envy thanks to those ladies, and would die to have an amazing pink tea pot and couch like that.

How to deal with Anxiety

I was always the quiet, shy kid. I could spend hours playing by myself, crafting, drawing, going on 'adventures'. It wasn't considered as much of a big deal. As I grew older though, I felt more and more strange about me being so completely fine by myself and not feeling the need to talk and interact much. I felt an increasing pressure to be more outgoing which I think eventually really triggered my anxiety issues. In short: growing up sucks. As a little kid you can be as strange and unusual as you want and it's generally no big deal, but as an 'adult' things are expected of you, you have to act 'mature' and start caring more and more about what others think of you and your decisions. 

But I digress.. this post is all about tips and tricks on how to tackle anxiety that I've learned over the years through reading articles, watching youtubers with similar problems and personal experience. I hope they can be useful to some of you beautiful peopel!

1. Look around you!
Whenever an anxiety attack strikes me, I have the tendency to look down and turn into myself, but this will only make things worse! Instead, try to look up and just observe everything around you. Are your surroundings really that threatening? Listen to the music that is playing, look at the people that are really not looking at/judging you (trust me!) or feel the delightful sun on your face and just breathe. Maybe take a second to sit down and obeserve and then carry on. 

2. Pilates, Yoga and Meditation
Ever since I started doing these, I have definitely become more calm and aware of myself and my body. I've never been big on exercise, because it was always about competition and being better than someone else. With these practises however, it's all about your own journey and setting your own goals. Pilates and Yoga helped me better my posture and feel more confident and meditation helped me tackle anxiety attacks and stress in general. It can be as simple as just focusing on your breathing for a few minutes. Whenever everything gets a little too much for me, I just excuse myself and do some meditating in the washroom or whatever quiet place I can find. 

3. Tea!
Tea cleanses the body and the warmth relaxes it. There are a gazillion types of tea, each with their own special benefits. My favorite is plain green tea, but other great relaxing teas are chamomile, lavender, valerian or passionflower and if you have the luxury of a bath, then take a bath with your favorite bubbles while sipping your tea. Double the warmth! ♥ 

4. Know your patterns
Sometimes anxiety can just hit you out of nowhere, but you can probably also think of scenarios where an attack will be inevitable. Me for example, I get huge anxiety when I have to go out by myself, and usually spend about half an hour looking into the mirror to check if I look good enough for the outside world and saying encouraging things to myself. I also get anxiety when I have to make a phonecall or I have to pick up the phone,  or when I'm suddenly around a lot of people.
The trick is to find out these anxiety scenarios for yourself, think of what your brains does at that time, and turn those thoughts around. JUST DO IT is my 'mantra' right now, which includes not thinking too much and just jumping into whatever 'danger' is ahead. You will (most likely) survive ;)  

5. Talk
I've never been a big talker, especially not when it comes to all the thoughts swirling through my mind. I would just seclude myself and deal with it on my own. Since about a year though, I've been opening up more and told people about my anxiety issues and other troubles on my mind, and it's such a relief! Everyone is always very understanding and some even share their anxiety experiences with me which in turn makes me feel less alone and weird (and anyone who doesn't understand or thinks it's stupid doesn't deserve your time anyway). So whenever you're having an attack and whoever you're with looks at you questionly, just tell them what's up! Or go to a therapist, they're here to help you! 

6. Alter Ego
Think of your favorite kick ass lady from that one movie, or that awesome girl from youtube you watch every day, or the protagonist of the comic you just read and BE HER.Coming up with 'famous' alter ego's has helped me immensely. In case of emergency, I can just be a classy Dita von Teese, Caroline Wexler from Daydream Nation or Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop. Be anyone you want to be! 

7. Just live through it
Sometimes, there's just nothing you can do. That's just how it works. Those moments seem to last FOREVER, but really, it's only a few hours (if not less) of your entire lifetime (and what's a few hours in 100 years, right?). Good days are soon to come again, no worries :)

Do you have any tips for me? Please share!

Baby, it's cold outside.

Just when I decided to get back into the habit of taking photo's on a daily basis, my camera decides to die on me. I've had it for 4 years now though so it's not much of a surprise.. it has survived many vacations and seen so many things. I've been lusting over the newer version in pink for a while now, so now that's another thing to add to my list of things to save up for :) luckily until then, I still have my phone to take pictures with!

This morning I woke up to find a box filled with these pretty donuts! Even though I don't necessarily enjoy eating donuts, just the look of them makes me happy! Especially ones with rainbow sprinkles n.n

A few days earlier I woke to find something else that made me smile! My dear friend Alexandra from Spain sent me this! My first fun mail in Canada!

Zhe boyfriend got me these pretty new earrings c: pink and sparkly.. what more could I ask for?

My new favorite place to get tea is this place called Teavana. We recently got an amazing one called Sakura Allure (even the name alone is amazing). It's flowery green tea and there are actual little flower buds in there. It's really sweet, almost candy like and smells amazing! The other one is plain loose green tea, which will always be my go to tea.

After 2+ weeks I figured it was about time to clean up my Valentine's Day bouquet. I never like getting rid of flowers because then it's so empty again :( still can't bring myself to throw away these pretty dried roses haha.

Other sweetness... ♥ this interview with Kate Gabrielle from scathingly brilliant Especially love her answer on 'What are your dreams?' ♥ Cherry Dollface's new house tour can my future home look like this plz? So cute! ♥ The Great Gatsby movie finally got to watch it and I absolutely loved the sets, outfits, music... it was pure eye candy to me. ♥ The Mad Caddies - drinking for 11 ♥ Pinning on my tea Pinterest board.. it makes me want to collect tea sets! ♥

Today I did some cleaning, pilates and tea drinking and in a bit we're probably going to browse the bookstore and get some food! Sounds like a good start of the week to me. Hope your week is starting off good as well!

Random update with tea and cats.♥

You guys! It's already December! Can you believe it? Because I can't. So many things going on every day, it's crazy. Today I am the master of procrastination. I should we working on this research thing right now, but instead I blog, eat, shop and spend time with my iPhone. Because ummm... there's a christmas version of the Kitty Kawaii Game and it has to be played. Anyway, here are some pictures I snapped over the past few days :)

I changed up my usual morning green tea with a new one: Clipper Tea Zen Again. The packaging makes me smile every morning, and it tastes amazing! ♥

Last Saturday I went to The Flatliners concert! It was in an awesome tiny venue with a lot of people going nuts. They were awesome live and I got a pretty t-shirt n.n

Last Thursday we finally finished the mural I showed you in my last post! I absolutely love how it turned out. We hid some characters in there like Wally/Waldo, Stewie Griffin, Miley Cyrus, Harry Potter, this dude from One Direction, Voldemort and ourselves of course.

Here in the Netherlands, it's Sinterklaas time right now. It's like a dutch christmas. It means baking/eating kruidnoten and presents! Yesterday I celebrated it with some friends by exchanging gifts, eating baked goods, watching movies and eating take-out on the couch. ♥

My presents were the cute erasers and mini cupcake xmas cups below, a bunny iphone cover, red ribbon and some pink touchscreen gloves!

Like I said, today was procrastination day so instead of doing homework I went sweater shopping. Because I obviously need winter gear when I will be in Canada in freakin December. I got this awesome, super warm leopard print sweater at H&M. I also couldn't pass up this adorable cat purse.. MEOW.

Less than 4 weeks until the holidays and until my big trip! I'm sorry I keep bringing it up.. I'm just way too excited :) I hope you are all doing well and are getting into the christmas spirit already n.n

♥ Sunday's Little Things ♥

Little things that make me happy right now...

Changing up my iPhone backgrounds, adding back on some pearls that have fallen off and then suddenly seeing how pretty this all looks together n.n

Buying a little present for myself (at Claire's)

chai tea weather, giant oatmeal raisin cookies and finding chestnuts EVERYWHERE
(and the word 'chestnut' in general)

Walks in the park!

Buying a new watercolour sketchblock and brushes and squeezing in fun little paintings whenever I can (more later!!)

Mirror selfies! Because, why not?

And... this Black Long Sleeve Ghost Pattern Knit Sweater ♥ a dog swimming in the pond ♥ (watching videos of) baby bats ♥ a good phonecall with my sister ♥ watching Hocus Pocus ♥ Nature documentaries with David Attenborough. That man helps me sleep. Seriously. ♥ Getting shit done.

My life is about cake and cuteness.

Hi there! Just a fun, quick little update on life right now c: Still trying to stay sane. For some reason drawing still depresses me so I just try to work with collage for school assignments right now. I just try to keep surrounding myself with cute stuff and sweet people. Also, I decided this new place in town called 'the Tea Lab'. It's seriously amazing...

I got a mango green tea with mango pearls in it and a green tea cake. That cake. OMG. I almost died (in a good way) when I had my first bite. It's the greatest thing ever and I could eat just that for the rest of my life. The tea was SO good, too. New favorite place for sure!

That day I also picked up some cute things for school + other knick-knacks I couldn't resist.

Cute sticky tabs and memo notes, rilakkuma pen, Hello Kitty mechanical pencils, bright notebooks and some random deco stuff!

Oh the perks of my roommate working at Lush... today she gave me this originally Japanese Lush FUN product which is basically a soap you can mould into all kinds of shapes and smells like ice cream and freshly baked cake (aka vanilla :P)! I've been tempted to eat it more than once already.

I also got these super cute purple bat lights today! So excited at least some shops over here have Halloween stuff.

I also want to share this wonderful short documentary on Lolita fashion with you: Sugar Coated. It's incredibly inspiring and seriously made me cry.

'I think you should be allowed to enjoy and love whatever you like, despite what you look like, how old you are or how small or big you may be. It doesn't matter. If you love it... just be true to yourself and forget about those who hate it'

Cardboard Cats and the Cutest Cookies.

Hi guys! School has started again and omg, it's harder on my than I thought it would be. With preperations for the possible exchange going on it's hard to focus on another 3/4 months of assignments. And my confidence in my illustrative abilities also dropped down to near zero. All in all, this week has been kinda heavy on me, but luckily there were also plenty of things to keep me positive, which I will share with you right now!

This picture of my friend and I at Lowlands makes me smile! Giant cats made out of cardboard? Ummm yesplz!

My  other friend (who's name coincidentally is Sarah as well!) went to England in the summer and gave me some of these goodies! Omnomnom! I think Jammie Dodgers are some of the cutest cookies ever, especially when they're MINI SIZED! And they're delicious too. And isn't that tea packaging the cutest?

I got some super sweet mail from a reader from Russia the other day! She basically included everything I love : tea, Halloween, cats, Hello Kitty, foreign tickets and coins. Thank you so much! A reply is on its way c:

A random picture I took of my desk the other day while decorating my new depressingly black sketchbook with gems and stickers. Much better.

I'm the absolute worst at shopping for bags/purses. I don't like about 80% of all bags out there. I don't know why. And when I do find one I like, it's usually too obnoxious to use on a daily basis, so then I end up using cheap old tote bags with holes in it (to great dismay of my mom..) BUT, I really needed a new backpack for school, and after browsing the interwebs for weeks on end I decided on this one.

It has Hello Kitty on it (with a pink bow!), it's by Vans and I had a discount coupon for it so I was like 'whatever!' and ordered it. It also came with a cute little coin purse. It can easily hold all of my stuff and in the end I'm really glad I got it!

I do have to admit that sometimes I feel a little ridiculous when I get another Hello Kitty item (and this time was no exception) but she just makes me so happy. No matter how down I feel, she will always cheer me up and I think it's amazing that such a simple character can has such a powerful, positive effect on me! So I'm just gonna keep buying Hello Kitty stuff and live happily ever after n.n

Finally, I wanted to share this beautiful quote:

"One of my philosophy professors lectured wildly about love once, yelling: “When you’re in love with someone, that person is the lighthouse of your universe.” (I scrawled it inside Science and Poetry in pencil—lighthouse of your universe—as if I would ever forget that phrase.) He was a delightful caricature of his position. I could swear he literally tore his hair out while howling at us. He went on, “Nothing means as much without that person.” One of the men in the class repeated, incredulous, half-laughing, “So you’re saying you can’t enjoy, like, a vacation, without someone if you’re really in love with them?” “Of course not.” the professor replied. “Not completely. You recognize beauty, but beauty means less if they don’t witness it with you. Beauty is less. You see something sublime and your first thought is that they should be there with you. It’s not as good without them. They illuminate. They make everything more." 

— [via nightmarebrunette.wordpress.com]

Thank you so much for reading my blog. It just wouldn't be the same without your sweet messages ♥