Creative Every Day 2014

Hello Lovelies!

I'm a bit late in updating this but here goes: I'm renewing my pledge to daily creativity and I'm signing in CED 2014! You'l find the CED logo on the right column of this blog.

I like a challenge that is calling to add more creativity in our everyday lives, art-wise or otherwise. To learn more about this challenge, you can read here.

So... to get my creative juices flowing I got myself a notebook from MUJI and started doodling away. Here is a preview of I've done sone far:

 

I'll post a whole new series of drawings soon!

 

Isn't that notebook lovely? I'm a stationery junkie!

Alix of TeaButterfly.

Amateur of Design: An Ongoing Personal Journey (update part 3).

Hello Lovelies,

Shown above: my FAVORITE apartment therapy house tour, ever! Liz Fabry's Well-Edited Half of a Durham Duplex House Tour

Remember my personal journey through the world of design as an amateur? (You might to read here for a quick reminder).

So I wanted to tell you lovelies that I am doing this month's Style Cure, as hosted by the Apartement Therapy blog. One of the first assignmernts of the Cure is to fill out our personal style form (see link here). Actually,  using pinboards for the last few years helped me determine my own personal style quite easily. As i have stated on this blog before, here is what I am personally drawn to:

"My inspiration is mostly gathered here.  This main pinboard helps me define my style, a little "industriel", a little "wunderkammer" with a "masculine flair" twist, thogh none of these decor style pinboards are really realistic nor affordable. It's about dreaming (which is a necessary function, too).

Image above: In a petite living room, pairing a sofa boasting a sleek design and a low profile with a large artwork and a statement-making light fixture will give the room a bold sense of personality. Image source: here.

My general home decor pinboard presentation goes like this, and this sums it all up:

"

#10: Home Decor - general inspiration

my personal style tends to: Wunderkammer, Masculine Flair, Warm Industrial, Belgian Greys. I also love to use Botanical Charts and insect drawings as home decor.

And of course, I amdrawn to simple clean lines as shoiwn in Japanese and Scandinavian or Shakers' interiors.

To sum it up, i guess i really like it bold & dramtic, with a strong sense of personal style. (image below is from this post on the sfgirlbybay popular design blog).

Before actually starting to decorate, decluttering is in order. How timely! This month's ZenHabits simplicty challenge is all about decluttering your life!

Here is the ZH plan: zenhabits.net/declutter

"Decluttering" could mean a lot of different things to me, from getting rid of too many belongings, not-useful-to-me material things but also getting rid of unnecessary assignments that burden my day or even better yet, toxic relationships that simply bring me down.

what about you lovelies? What does "decluttering" mean to you?

-Alix.


Oh! and I almost forgot to mention I am also back on instagram with this August 2013 photo-a-day challenge,vie the ideas room blog:

I guess I am alive and well and bursting with new projects! Right? Right-O!

However Vast the Darkness: Thoughts on Simplifying One's Day & the Meaning of Life

Hello Lovelies,

One of my main goals in simplifying my day & life is this: "Do more of what makes you happy".

So... I have started to simplify my day and joined the June 2013 ZenHabits challenge. Part of my simplifying project consists in simplifying my online life, too.

I started emptying my email inbox, 35 emails at a time, 70 per day. My inbox currently has over 11 000 unsorted emails in it! I file away the important messages, answer immediately the really important and urgent ones, and toss the rest. I have subscribed to a gazillion newsletters over the years, as I surf the net daily since 1997... I unsuscribe from one newsletter a day. I still need to do the math as to know when exactly my inbox will be finally 100% clean & empty.

After that, I plan to go on a light media fast once i complete the June challenge, at the beginning of July 2013 (more on that later).

Simplifying my online life means that I started to clean and empty my email box, as I said before, but also cleaned my computer desktop icons - now I only have 10 of them, along with a new beautiful abstract painting desktop wallpaper from Ghostly, found via apartmenttherapy.com. It looks like this (you right-click the image in order to save it as a desktop wallpaper):

I also organized my many, many digital files, all the photos I have been taking digitally since 2003! While cleaning my photo files, I found this gem, and wanted to share the wisdom with you lovelies.

Excerpt from a Playboy interview with Stanley Kubrick:

Enjoy!
-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

On My WishList for June 2013: "Simplify your day" Zen Habits Program

Hello Lovelies!

original image from here + my added text on top.

Another post about my ongoing Simplicity Project. First I read this post about "9 rules for a simpler day". Then I read about next month's challenge. And I am...

this challenge!

Right now, this is very high on my wishlist for June 2013: I want to take part in the Zen Habits Program that will focus next month on "Simplifying your day". Excerpt from the Zen Habits site:

The Zen Habits Sea Change Program

• Stop procrastinating [January]
• Eat healthier [February]
• Meditate [March]
• Exercise [April]
• Write daily [May]
• Simplify your day [June]
• Get organized [July]
• Declutter [August]
• Be grateful [September]
• Reduce/eliminate debt [October]
• Read more [November]
• Let go [December]
  

Subscription is 10 dollars/month. 

Full details here : http://zenhabits.net/membership-signup/

Enjoy!

-Naomi of TeaButerfly.

Things A-Blooming

Hello Lovelies!

a flower (called "perce-neige" in French) in my mom's garden. Photo, my own. See more here.

I just spent a nice weekend with both my brothers in the lovely South of France. It gave me the opportunity to take a lot of photographs, including some for this "photo a day" challenge, some for this sfgirlbybay giveaway and some just for the pleasure of uploading pictures of things a-blooming in my mom's garden...

crocuses in my mom's garden. photo, my own.

Enjoy!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

Cold Spring

Hello Lovelies!

Snow in my small Southern town in France, 2010. Photo, my own.

I always thought March was the most difficult month to live through, going back and forth between warm, Spring-like weather and sudden returns to cold, harsh weather.

The last couple of days here in France have been snowy. Actually it snowed so heavily that individual cars and public transportation alike were stuck in the middle of the roads. Thousand of homes were left without electricity. A big French mess it was.

It is a cold, cold spring.

But, I am keeping on with my goals! Check out my Flickr photostream or Instagram account and you'll see what I've been up to, with my daily photo challenge....

Enjoy!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

A Fun Photo Challenge for March #FMSphotoaday

Hello Lovelies!

March has just started and I feel low and tired after a long winter. I need some fun! Happily enough, I stumbled upon a fun photo challenge... I just love photography and daily challenges that prompt you to be more creative. So here goes: check it out!

For this photo a day challenge, I will join the flickr group as "Teabutterfly", use the instagram hashtag #FMSphotoaday (I'm @teabutterfly on instagram) and be reminded by the lovely online calendar (also available as a cool app). I will also do a monthly recap here on this blog by the end of the month.

All the details about how to play along can be found here.

Enjoy!

Naomi of TeaButterfly.

It's that Time of Year Again!

Hello Lovelies!

Yes, January rolled upon us and it's New Year's Resolutions Time again!

What are your goals for this new year? I just want to stay creative, preferably every day.

That's why I take part, since 2010, in the challenge called "Creative Every Day". To get things rolling, I will share with you today the process of me, drawing.

Here's the first sketch:

And here's the final drawing (poorly scanned, sorry about that).

And a reminder for the weekend:

Enjoy!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

Oh, and Happy, Happy Friday!

Hello Lovelies!

"Sagra Species" - new insect ink drawing. Lipson (c) 2012.

Spring is just around the corner, at last! I've bought myself hyacinths and daffodils at the farmers' market. This week, I also painted quite a lot... I tried my hand at acrylic, this time, and came up with this little trio:

I also tried my hand at making homemade yogurts... They turned out to be super easy to make and simply delicious! I also snapped pictures everyday, so as to go on with my photography  "2012 - 366" challenge. And, I started spring cleaning.

Now I need to sip some tea, slow down and relax. I hope you do that, too, this last weekend of February.

Check out my latest "doodles" & Enjoy!

-Vic from TeaButterfly.

Unplanned Sharing

Hello Lovelies,

photo via OhOceane's blog

And Happy New Month! February is knocking at our doors, and I wanted to welcome it, just like Paula did, and beautifully, too. Especially as January has been tough and well, ugly.

Now I want February to be a winter wonderland of creativity and fun and warmth. After all, this is the time of year we got the first snow here in the south of France where I live.

My cold is still on... Since January the 18th. I'm seeing the doctor again this afternoon, because it just can't go on like this. I had plans for this blog this week, beautiful plans. On Tuesday, I wanted to share a new "Tuesday's butterfly" with you, via oeuf NYC.

"oeuf NYC"'s embroidered and framed butterflies.

On Wednesday, I wanted to welcome February's first day, sharing some exciting new photography challenges (challenge one & challenge two) that could let our creative juices flowing. I'm in!

contest photo via pinterest

On Thursday, I wanted  to share some February pleasures with you, along with some pics of corners of my house. I use fresh white flowers and a bowl of citruses for that punch of color in an otherwise neutral living-room.

bowl of fruit. photo, my own.

I believe February is meant for paper whites and other forced bulbs, to bring in some living, growing greenery inside.

via pinterest

 
February is extra cold and we all need everything to be extra warm and soft to soothen our bodies & souls. This is the time my cat's fur gets super soft and fluffy, I love stroking it! I drink lots of hot chocolate, too, while watching the snow falling... Winter pleasures!


Here, I did share after all... :-)

So what are your plans for this new month? Any news worth sharing?

Pray, tell!

-Vic from TeaButterfly.