I know, Self Love is a big deal these last years, and I am still not sure if people really understand it or acknowledge how important it is and because we are all different, it will mean something different to all of us.
Sometimes we are so busy with our lives that we do not see outside the box… We drown in guilt, pain, sorrow, stress and so much more….. Stress is today such a big factor that we literary forget about our self.
I wan to share with you how I build up Self Love…..and what I do to take care of my mental state, my body and personal growth.
Step One
Find your happy place.….Yes, find your happy place… This could be your walk in closet, or a place at the beach, even your special place in the garden…. wherever it might be, make it yours. Sit there and do not think about tomorrow, or the bills you need to pay. You need to connect with yourself and bills, worries, stress are not welcome in your happy place!
My happy place is the bathtub. I know how that sounds, but it;s true. It;s simple, available and comfortable at home. From the economic point of view it;s great as well. So this is what I do. My happy place starts with a hot bath, where I add bath salts, some with lavender infuse, fresh herbs like sage from the garden, lemons and orange slices if I have in the house as well as flowers…. Now to this I add crystals, like Agate, Rose Quartz and Amethyst, Himalayan salt.
Step Two- No Comparisons
It is very important that we stop to compare our self with others. This goes for your work, your marriage, your parent style, everything you can think of. Once you let go of this, you will feel much better, not only for yourself, but you will discover that the freedom to create, the freedom to think free is back in your life.
I have done this and so have you! It’s just inviting bad energy in your life. Get rid of it, now!
Step Three- Do something you are good at!
You need to find something you are good at. For me, it’s ART. It boosts the self -esteem and makes you feel great, productive and you gain a lot of positive energy when you do something you love. You are building self -love! If you are interested in this particular print to remind you the Self-Love is important click here. So if my thing is art, your might be pilates, cooking, or gardening. etc….
Step Four- Self Love Ritual
Yes, I know how that sounds, so do not roll your eyes , yet. This is what I do. It;s simple, and you might even laugh now. I give myself a hand / feet massage. It takes me about 20 minutes, where I unplug from social media, form radio, tv, etc… In total silence, I massage my hands and feet with oil or lotion. Once done, I treat myself to a spiky ball therapy. You can purchase them on ebay or in any sports store. I got mine from Aldi.
Step Five- Tackle your closet!
Yes, a clean self -love mind, starts with a clean organised closet. I am not the clean freak for sure, but I like my closet to be clean and organised so I can Organise and get rid off all the stuff that you do not need. Let go of it! It helps your closet and your mind. It will make you feel light and fresh. Shoes, Jewellery, clothes, etc… that reminds you of bad events or brings negative memories into your life, need to go!
I know we do not all have a Carry Bradshaw Closet, but we can make it all work with accessories and a good clean out! Make it work! You will see, how it will make you breath easy as soon as you are done!
I hope this helped you out that way it helps me to practice Self Love! How do you practice Self Love?
XO,
Lorena
All Images from Pinterest. Print image from the Etsy shop.
Have you ever asked yourself what attacks you to a colour? Me, always and every time it;s a different answer! Now I always liked Purple.
Not any kind of purple….. a dark deep, velvety purple…. and a touch of black….. I love purple and been always attracted to agate and amethyst. Purple Agate is one stone that I use on the regular in my designs. It calm the wearer, it hold on to good energy and creates a wonderful save environment for the one who wears it.
A reminder that I love Lavender, that I love creativity, luxury and royalty a colour that is a great representative for peace, dignity and mystery as well as magic, this is purple to me. It also represents the Crown Chakra ( head Chakra) it shows your connection to the universe and spiritual part in you. It;s your connection to creativity
How does purple make you feel? It makes me feel great. It makes me smile and creative. But how does black make you feel like?Elegant, classic, minimalist and timeless. This is how it makes me feel.
I also want to you check out the video below. Guo Pei a fantastic Haute Couture designer…. She is amazing. Almost all her designs remind me of Romanian Lace and this last collection was exceptional. The
Isn’t her style amazing? The inspiration of the dark ages architectural design is stunning. The structure is fantastic and is so detailed. We lace makers can easy get inspired and create stunning Romanian Point Lace.
Did a colour ever inspire you? If yes, comment below and let’s talk about!
It all started on a Thursday evening …. I wanted to dye some RPL pieces, and was not sure if I had all the right ingredients. The idea that I wanted to dye with natural items was logic to me from the start. From the beginning I was fixated on pink shades.
It’s Friday morning and once the little one went to take a nap it was time to start the dye process……
To dye doilies, lace, point lace is as old as time…. I am very much interested in natural dye and always experimented with it, from teas, to coffee dye…..
I had three white natural Romanian Point Lace doilies. You probably have seen them in one older post or on social media…
Here they are before, the dye adventure!
You do not need much for a natural dye. A few bowls, pots to bring it to a boil, and of course vinegar. I use the very cheap one dollar vinegar.
That’s about I guess and yes like with every dye, X fingers, that it comes out ok! LOL
Since I dye only 3 pieces to experiment with colours, I do not need much.
For the onion dye I used all the left over onion shells red and brown that we had left in the house. In this case it;s about 2 hands full. The more the better, but like I said it;s all left overs.
I used two hibiscus and one rose hip teabag to dye the second Romanian point lace doily. For the last doily I used two bags of Billy teabags. It;s Australian Bush tea. The colour is dark brown.
Step One!
I soaked all three doilies in cold water for at least 15 minutes.
Step Two!
After that I started to boil water and to get the pots ready.
You will need three posts and half a cup f vinegar in total. Add to each pot a bit of vinegar and let it boil. Make sure that the water is not over boiling. I add wooden spoons to each pot.
Step Three!
Bring it to a boil and make sure that the doily is deep in the hot water. Stir is a bit and also be careful when you turn it. It need to be in hot water and in the dye all the time. If edges of the doily is out, you will have a weak dye. Love how the dark red actually looks like.
The Billy Tea is fantastic , a gorgeous colour, very elegant
almost like cognac.It looks nice so far. I can imagine that it will turn way lighter of course. It’s never easy to say if you experiment and if you do it with Romanian Point Lace pieces. If you are not sure, I suggest to experiment with a simple Romanian Point Lace cord. Cut it in pieces and add into each colour. That way you will not loose or damage a doily if you need it later on. After all you were quite busy creating it. 🙂
Make sure that the stove is on medium to high but watch it all the time. While the doilies are wet, the dye looks darker, see images below. Once it;s dry they will lighten up!
Hibiscus, has a light colour once dry and a very soft smell. It will not smell once it;s dry. The onion dye is stronger in colour. The tea is quite faded but a good outcome. Soft, and delicate with a vintage touch!
Step four!
Once ready, you can hang them outside on the line to dry. But if you can’t wait, you can iron them dry. That way you are one step ahead and you do not need to block it, since you pressed them while wet.
E voila…. this is the result of this dye. Have you tried to dye your Romanian Point Lace? If yes, please let me know.
As you can see the hibiscus tea resulted into a very pale pink. It is gorgeous, but soft. If you would be interested in a deeper pink, you might need to add more hip rose tea bags, or avocado seeds and shells.
I enjoyed to dye all three, but I think I would be very interested to dive deeper into natural dye on the pink side. I hope you all had fun reading this blog post and please so share it, pin it, like it and comment!
I like the idea that I can do Romanian Point Lace in light or white colour, due to the fact that the fillings are easier to create on lighter thread. It also means that I have the freedom to experiment and change colours as much as I like by changing the dye. It’s easy if you look for a specific colour that you can;t find in the store.
Saturday I had another look at the result of pink and I was not really happy with it. Starring at it while eating blueberries gave me the idea to actually dye the same piece in blueberry.
Once finishing with making blueberry juice for Andrada, I used the left over and added vinegar. The doily was 30 minutes in the hot juice and this is the result….
The pink is darker, more into a purple note…. I love the result.
Today, I want to ask you simply, R U OK ? If you never heard of R U OK DAY, click here.
In today’s world it’s hard to reach out. I find that it;s even harder because everybody is hiding behind a device, Deep engaged into our phones, tablets and social media we forget to simply ask How are you today?or Are you Ok today? Asking face to face is sometimes hard we don;t reach out because we think it might not be our business to ask! And here we are wrong, we need to ask R U OK?
You ask what you can do? There is a lot you can do! First pay attention and listen! A friend might need you to simply take a moment and listen.
Always make sure, that you take time for yourself and when you feel you have dark days, always remember…..
There is a lot of ways to find out what to do, how to help!
Well, August is gone, can you believe it? Yup, me neither! But well a new month is waiting to be lived, conquered and discovered. I love September Down Under. It;s great, we start Spring and it;s not melting hot, where the wind is your great buddy! Very pleasant… Living in Brisbane is fabulous. Not toooo hot and not to cold….. But still when I think about September, I think of how September is in Europe. I grew up there so I guess it comes natural , a no brainer!
You are asking what September will bring when it comes to Romanian Lace, well a lot…. but to start the month easy, please check out the images below where you can see that Romanian Point Lace is actually not forgotten or rediscovered in the fashion world.
Dior latest collection is inspired by Romanian Lace….
Study the details and simple beauty that creates a complex field of creativity.
I am exited to see that such a big fashion house it discovering such an antique lace making craft.
Have a look at the details and image what you can make with this wonderful technique! Are you exited? I sure am, to see you make it happen!
I am simply in love with the possibilities…. the colours, the threads, that designs it;s all open for you!
Are you with me now?
Exited to try it?
I am preparing soon a simple project that you can make into an item or a larger piece!
But first things, I will take you to the steps on what you will need to make RPL ! So no stress , we get there!
Together we will make it happen, but for now we enjoy September!
Comment below and let me know how you feel! Are you interested in giving it a go? See the amazing pieces above, from Dior to Guo Pei….. lace is making a comeback!
XO,
Lorena
PS: It would be great to know if you tried Romanian Lace before! Please comment below and get in touch!
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You do not need much for a natural dye. A few bowls, pots to bring it to a boil, and of course vinegar. I use the very cheap one dollar vinegar.
Saturday I had another look at the result of pink and I was not really happy with it. Starring at it while eating blueberries gave me the idea to actually dye the same piece in blueberry.
Comment below and let me know how you feel! Are you interested in giving it a go? See the amazing pieces above, from Dior to Guo Pei….. lace is making a comeback!