tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62578250155339475122024-03-16T09:23:42.379+02:00Handmade Dreams of MineRock chic style, gluten-free food and cruelty-free beauty Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.comBlogger983125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-23384890342651835962023-01-10T11:05:00.002+02:002023-01-10T11:05:44.380+02:00Favorite Home Details - So Far<p>Hey my loves!</p><p>I’m hoping your year is starting off nicely, mine has been positively slow-paced, so I can really plan and set goals for the beginning of the year (at least). I’ve been mapping out things I want to post about (both here and on socials), listing some craft projects for the first part of the year, planning my thesis - and most of all adding some more or less finishing touches to our new home. </p><p>And as you can tell by the title, today I’m sharing some of my favorite things in our home (not in any particular order). I’ll also talk a little bit about each detail as we go along. I tried to do the pictures a bit artsy way instead of the typical oversaturated/bright neutral influencer way. These speak more to my Slytherin soul this way. </p><p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/52617907924/in/dateposted/" title="Home details"><img alt="Home details" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52617907924_7b4ee4cc91_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/52618074220/in/dateposted/" title="Home details"><img alt="Home details" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52618074220_83a28cf392_o.jpg" width="1620" /></a><br /></p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>First up is my Slytherin wall and somewhat matching lamp. The pictures on the wall are prints from <a href="https://archivesunday.com/">Archive Sunday</a>, and the lamp is Ikea's Galjon. I feel like these give a modern Slytherin vibe quite nicely, and they absolutely create an inspiring environment for me. I know the look is not for everyone, that's all good, but I really love this wall!<p></p><p> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/52618074270/in/dateposted/" title="Home details"><img alt="Home details" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52618074270_b6fe1d781c_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a><br /></p><p>My nail stash also got a bit of an update with shelves for the Holo Taco packages. I love how everything is now quite easy access, and I think this will inspire me to do more nail art this year and in the future. The shelves are actually painting shelves from Ikea, and in my opinion they house the nail polish very neatly.</p><p> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/52618074520/in/dateposted/" title="Home details"><img alt="Home details" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52618074520_8e21bf0703_o.jpg" width="1620" /></a><br /></p><p>Fireplace. I adore having our own fireplace, especially having grown up with one in the house. So you can imagine how to me, being able to stare into the fire is very nostalgic.</p><p> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/52617907874/in/dateposted/" title="Home details"><img alt="Home details" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52617907874_3f5d7b8ce6_o.jpg" width="1620" /></a><br /></p><p>Harry Potter is something that's very present in our home, even as Lego sets. Now I know some may think it's ridiculous for grown people to splurge on "toys", but personally, I love building with Legos and appreciating the design work that has gone into making small bricks build up into big recognizable strucktures.</p><p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/52618074145/in/dateposted/" title="Home details"><img alt="Home details" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52618074145_4f98816c44_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a> <br /></p><p>The Coffee Nook. This is something I didn't know I needed, but now that we have it, it's a must-have. The cabinet is (yet again) from Ikea, but I customized it a bit by leaving out one shelf and replacing it with a rod and hooks to hang up the mugs. It also acts as additional storage space for mugs and such, so that's a big bonus. </p><p> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/52617127717/in/dateposted/" title="Home details"><img alt="Home details" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52617127717_13614c26f8_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a><br /></p><p>In one of the closets, there were these wire baskets, and the first time I saw them, I knew I'd place my yarn there. The whole thing isn't yet fully organized, but I may show it later if I go around organizing it perfectly to my taste.</p><p> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/52617907864/in/dateposted/" title="Home details"><img alt="Home details" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52617907864_7d66a64d82_o.jpg" width="1620" /></a><br /></p><p>We don't own that many books (so far), as I prefer using library and my man doesn't read that much, but having a nice bookcase with glass doors lets me to have some of my witchy things displayed. I'm very positive these shelves will get an update at some point, when I have more vision on how to display it all, but I do like the starting point now.</p><p><img alt="Home details" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52617639231_dc7333701c_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><p>The bedroom lamp stayed the same, and while it's not a very expensive chandelier, I do love the vibe this lamp gives to the room - especially combined with the velvety curtains we have. </p><p> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/52618127283/in/dateposted/" title="Home details"><img alt="Home details" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52618127283_714ba70f2b_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a><br /></p><p>Now this might be one of my actual top things. The sewing desk. I found the foldable Norden desk from (can you guess?) Ikea, and the fact it's actual wood, has small storage space and can serve as three different sizes depending on your needs totally sold it to me. I haven't been sewing on 1,5 years, because it was so bothersome to make the space in the kitchen in the previous place. Now, when no guests are over, I can actually leave my things out in the open (cat-safe way, of course) and carry on the next day if I want to, and I'm postitive I'll be sewing way more in the future. </p><p><b>Which of these is your favorite?</b></p>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-46253672147134831012023-01-04T21:55:00.000+02:002023-01-04T21:55:09.486+02:00What 2022 Taught Me<p>Hey Lovelies!</p><p>It’s been a while, hasn’t it?</p><p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/52606602302/in/photostream/" title="Slytherin photoshoot 18"><img alt="Slytherin photoshoot 18" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52606602302_053a9b5159_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a></p><p>I was planning on coming back much earlier, but life got in the way - in the best way possible, I’d say. 2022 was in many ways a rollercoaster, but the latter half made me feel like I’m finally alive after the slump of the pandemic. Since the last updates, a lot has changed. So, let’s list some personal highs and lows of the year to start off this post:</p><span></span><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>The highs:</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I got engaged. You may know this if you follow my IG, but it hasn’t been a big focal point even there - even though it’s one of the happiest things in 2022. </li><li>I got to visit my bestie abroad, and have some much-needed girl talks with the best person I know. (I love and miss you so much girl!)</li><li>I got to go to concerts of a few of my favorite bands and some “bucket list” bands I’ve been wanting to see for a long time.</li><li>I bought an apartment. There’s finally a place to truly call home, and even the cat loves it so much.</li><li>The MCD is in check, and I’m not having the medication side effects anymore.</li><li>My BA is finally only missing the thesis, and I’ll be graduating in Spring after all these years.</li><li>I was MuggleNet’s volunteer of the month in July.</li><li>I got back into reading and working out.</li><li>I got to meet people I know through a mutual love for music.</li></ul><p></p><p><b>The lows:</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I’ve been battling with body image issues thanks to the medication's side effects.</li><li>I had a busy and stressful second half of the year and couldn’t have gotten through it all without music, knitting and my rock of a man.</li><li>I fell off my workout routine after the start of the Fall, and haven’t gotten back into it yet.</li></ul><p></p><p>I could probably hit even more points to both brackets, but those are the things I could think of when writing out this post. </p><p><b>What highs and lows did you have this year?</b> (If you’re willing to share.)</p><p><br /></p><p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/52606602122/in/photostream/" title="Slytherin photoshoot 5"><img alt="Slytherin photoshoot 5" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52606602122_6ed2fae153_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>So, </b><b>what did 2022 teach me, after all this and more?</b></p><p><b>I have to stand up for myself (and for others if needed)</b></p><p>Last year, I had several instances where I had to step up and advocate for myself, or for people in my life. I used to be the girl who’s too shy or too insecure to put my foot down and go against things, but at the ripe age of 32, I’m finally reaching the point where I don’t want to just take things as they are - if they go against the values I hold. </p><p><b>Being out of your comfort zone is not as scary as my anxiety makes me believe</b></p><p>Somehow, even with the body image struggles and all, I feel more confident in myself than in years (or maybe ever). I guess it must have something to do with me getting older (maybe even wiser), and learning to deal with my anxieties. My anxiety is the kind of beast that has a constant risk analysis mode on, so basically, whatever I do, my head goes over all the possible and impossible scenarios, maybe even a few times over, down to what people will say and what I will say back. Which sounds exhausting, because it is. Therefore, every situation out of my comfort zone is mentally rough for my psyche, no matter how trivial it may seem to a “normal” brain. </p><p>But, in 2022, I learned to process this better, somehow. I can laugh and joke about it, and then push through situations - and then see I didn’t die from them. I understand it may sound way easier said than done (I’ve been there), but at least for me, accepting my bit of a different brain function and lovingly joking about it with people has made it easier to live with it. It’s a part of me, but not a personality trait. </p><p><b>Walks outside keep me sane (but I truly love goal-oriented working out)</b></p><p>I think I’ve praised walking outside many times over in my posts before, but last year I truly noted how much nature, being outside, and simply walking actually does for me. But, as a naturally ambitious person, what does even more for me is having workout goals and working towards them. So this year, I’ll try to find some reasonable yet fun goals for my workouts, and stick to them to make myself feel somewhat accomplished (even more so than what working out, in general, makes a person feel).</p><p><b>Metal music is a home for me (and the metalhead family is the best one out there)</b></p><p>If you are a part of my circles in the metal community, I cherish and appreciate you so much. I may suck at showing it, but this community truly has kept me afloat through thick and thin. It’s not even an exaggeration that without metal, I wouldn’t probably be here writing this. Metal has kept me going even at times when everything feels like it’s falling apart. And I will forever love this genre for it. </p><p>Surely, there have been people from time and time again telling me how I should listen to “something happier” or “something lighter”. And that is simply dumb. Why does my taste in music bother someone else? I’m not force-feeding my playlists to anyone other than my fiance, but he has chosen this life (and luckily listens to the same bands as me) so there’s no need to save him, trust me</p><p><b>I need different creative outlets to feel happy and healthy</b></p><p>Like the name of the blog implies, I really love creating things myself. Last year, I leaned quite heavily into knitting, but with the new place, we have more space - which means more opportunities for creative projects. For this new year, I’ve already sewn pillowcases and a mattress case for our guest bed, and when you’re reading this, maybe even fixed curtains for the guest room. I’m thoroughly looking forward to sharing my projects with you during the year, and I hope you’ll enjoy seeing them.</p><p><b>I need to trust my intuition, as it is almost without a failure right every time</b></p><p>There were many times during the year I had a nagging from my intuition, whether it was about the people in my life or about buying a house. Each time my intuition had something to say, it ended up being correct. Now, I’m not claiming it’s some supernatural, magical psychic power that tells me the future, but probably that my consciousness pieces things together on the back burner even when I’m actively doing something else. Whatever it is, it’s definitely a skill I want to actively and mindfully train to be even better in the future.</p><p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/52607526800/in/photostream/" title="Slytherin photoshoot 12"><img alt="Slytherin photoshoot 12" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52607526800_e92aca4fb1_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a></p><p>And with that, this post comes to an end. Not sure if this post serves any other purpose than me reflecting on last year, but that’s good enough for me. This year, I have quite many small adventures planned and I hope I can share at least some of them with you. Also, I’m very eager to get back into nail art and hoping to be able to step my toes more into creating some videos here and there. Of course, my offline life comes first so I’m not promising schedules before I see how the year will start to roll out - but let me just say this; I missed writing. A lot. The blog used to kind of be my online journal, and to an extent, I want to get back to that. </p><p><b>What did you learn in 2022? Share your thoughts in the comments!</b></p><div><br /></div>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-23847178455770865032021-11-17T18:00:00.086+02:002021-11-18T10:41:04.622+02:00Having Minimal Change Disease as an Adult - My Experience So Far (3 Months After Diagnosis)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you’re coming from my IG there’s a high chance you know this, but about 3 months ago, I got diagnosed with a kidney disease called Minimal Change Disease. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f307d532-7fff-46d8-79f9-dc74e1df5661"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can go to <a href="https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/minimal-change-disease" target="_blank">this website</a> to read more in English, but I’m here today to tell my own story as an adult with MCD.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What happened to me?</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like I said, my journey started 3 months ago, when I first noticed one ankle swelling like a balloon. I thought nothing of it because apart from the ankle, nothing hurt. I thought I had just stepped wrong/had bad shoes on my walk and that’s it. We went to the summer cabin, all the while the swelling kept getting worse, and when I finally went to see a nurse a week and a half later, I had swelling on my lids, fingers and such.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/51687205422/" title="In hospital gown"><img alt="In hospital gown" height="1808" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51687205422_f29f995d5c_o.jpg" width="3216" /></a></span></span></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The nurse sent me to a doctor, saying I probably have something else than sprained ankle. The doctor examined me, then sent me to labs, ultrasound and all that jazz, and when I’m done, she calls me 20 mins after, telling me how I should get myself to the hospital the same day, because my kidney is messing up. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point, I thought they’d just slap me some medicine and that’s it. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I go to the hospital, stay for hours on tests, waiting responses, nurses and doctors in the emergency care chaos on a Friday afternoon. Finally a doctor comes to tell me that I indeed have a kidney flaw of some kind, but they have to run even more tests to know what to treat. Oh, and that I would have to stay few days in the hospital - or until I can be moved into the kidney ward. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point, I was not sure if I’m dying or not. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Later that day, I was admitted into a ward, where they told me I would be staying until kidney ward has an opening for me (hopefully in the beginning of the next week). I informed my boyfriend, who graciously brought me stuff to stay more comfortable in the ward (phone charger, book, knitting and such), and notify my parents - basically scaring my nearest and dearest. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next day, a kidney doctor tells me they suspect a disease called Minimal Change Disease, but they would ultimately have to get a diagnosis through biopsy to be sure. That would have to wait until they can take me into the right ward. They started treating my swelling and few other symptoms quite immediately, and my body starts feeling better every day. I’m hit with new stats, blood work and urine samples, and get to hear what all has gone wrong with my body so far. I learn that my weight gain due to the swelling has been around 8 kilos (so that’s what, 16 pounds?), and let me tell you, that was not only uncomfortable, but also a lot mentally, because that is the heaviest I’ve ever weighed so far. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And finally, few days after that, I get to the biopsy. To those who are unfamiliar, kidney biopsy is done (at least here) while you are awake, they numb your back and shoot a biopsy needle through the back muscle and into the kidney. It’s not a big deal, but requires a bit of healing after (few hours of bed rest, 24hr controlling in hospital, no heavy lifting for some time after). </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The biopsy conformed what the doctors had suspected, it was and is MCD. The good thing is, it’s treatable and my kidneys are still there and functional. The bad thing is, it’s still a kidney disease, so I will have it for the rest of my life. It might stay in remission, it might surface for some reason. But at least in the future, I know from symptoms and/or blood work, if it’s getting acute again. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/51688266703/in/photostream/" title="Minimal change disease swelling"><img alt="Minimal change disease swelling" height="1908" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51688266703_2a7d6d7e6e_o.jpg" width="4032" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what does this mean for the future?</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like I mentioned, I’m 3 months in on my journey, and for that time, I’ve been medicated with steroids, combined with something to prevent bacterial lung infection, cholesterol medicine and big dose of vitamin D (in addition to my previous thyroid medication) - and in the beginning, I had fluid removal, too.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So far, the absolute worst side effects have been overactive mind (causing little brain fog, dizziness and exhaustion as well as trouble concentrating) and bloating. I had to quit caffeine for weeks, because my restless mind went straight into panic attack if I added caffeine into the mix. (I don’t really have any dietary restrictions, but I chose to drop both caffeine and alcohol in order to give my mind an easier time.) As of this week, my head is finally starting to feel normal, and apart from caffeine boosts, it doesn't really go into overdrive anymore. The bloating, however, is a little more than few weeks ago - getting better on my face but still quite present in my neck and torso. This will get better as the dosage lowers and I keep up healthy habits (low-sodium, healthy diet and enough exercise).</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In time, the steroids are lowered more, and the supporting medicines will be dropped one by one as well as long as my blood work stays solid. So far, I’ve been doing quite well on that front, and just got to drop one of the medicines this week.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have to check my weight, my sugar levels and blood pressure all few times per week to see that they stay okay. I will have to check in with labs and doctor at given days so we can see the treatment goes as planned. But, it should be less and less within 6 months or so, and then, hopefully, the MCD will stay in check (remission). Next week, I have my next in-person check-in with the doctor, and I'm very hopeful that I'll get good news again, along with the next part of my treatment plan.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Basically I should be able to live my life completely normal, but I will be considered a risk group patient when it comes to influenza seasons and so on. That means, I need to take all sorts of flu shots to protect myself from getting badly sick, but that's totally okay by me. At least my kidneys are still okay.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/51688676494/in/photostream/" title="Kidney biopsy scar"><img alt="Kidney biopsy scar" height="1908" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51688676494_9eab621fa3_o.jpg" width="4032" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How am I doing now, really?</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have been back to work, and able to do most normal things quite well. The restless mind was the worst around 11am to 2pm for the longest time, after which it slowly calmed down, until around 8pm I felt somewhat normal. I felt a little anxious daily, due to the overdrive, and had to do breathing exercises to calm myself down at times. The solace on the situation were the positive words from the doctors, and the fact that I had the dates to lower the medication causing the overdrive. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">And currently, I mostly don't get anxious at all.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s been stressful, anxious, overwhelming and scary, but this story should be having a happy ending. So while I am still overwhelmed and exhausted by all of this, all the new info and new me, I’m hopeful and even quite happy. This does encourage me to live even happier, and I have made even more changes to my diet during this - to the healthier direction. I feel like this is something I could come out stronger than I went in.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the hardest parts is the monitoring I have to do at home, not that it is technically difficult, but seeing my blood pressure not be what the doctor wants or to see my weight every single day (and that it is more than I'm used to). It's mentally quite a lot, and quite honestly I've cried more than once over them. Which may seem silly to you as they are very small concerns, but especially when my mind was on overdrive, it was easy to fixate on the weirdest things and have few of them race around in my head until I got upset and broke down.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So while yes, this has been physically quite the trip with the weight changes and medications, I still think the harder part has been the mental side. Coming terms with the fact I have yet another long-term diagnosis and actually being considered as in "risk group" from now on has been a hard pill to swallow.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(I’m sorry if this post comes out rambling, or unorganized, I will blame the steroids that truly make it at times hard to use my brain like I’ve used to. I will get back to my calm self in coming months though.)</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/51688269493/in/photostream/" title="After fluid removals"><img alt="After fluid removals" height="1908" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51688269493_a222a84d03_o.jpg" width="4032" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is there anything you’d like to know about living with Minimal Change Disease, or what I’ve learned so far? Please leave a comment so I can answer you the best that I can!</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ll bring you another update in a month or so, when my dose is lowered and hopefully there are even more changes to better. I do plan on posting more of the casual stuff too here and there, but due to my head being like it is now I can’t promise a super regular posting pace yet. (Although if I get ahead of my planning game like I’ve done over on Instagram, it might be that you’ll see a more regular posting schedule in 2022!) </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Follow me on Instagram <b>@jolagerroos</b> for more regular, quick updates, I’ve been having fun posting actually daily there for a while now!</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m hoping you’re all having a wonderful day, and I can’t wait to talk to you again soon!</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-71989416710959342142021-03-02T18:00:00.001+02:002021-03-04T15:57:41.647+02:00Duping the Spring 2021 trends with things I already own<p style="text-align: justify;">Another season is starting really soon, and in the fashion world that means getting into new trends. I always highly encourage you to think style over fashion, and this is why today, I'm showing you how I would style my existing clothes to embrace the Spring 2021 mentioned in <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/gallery/spring-summer-2021-fashion-trends">this Vogue article</a>. There are couple that I didn't style, and I will let you know why when we get to them. The style names I used are more or less copied from the Vogue article just so you can compare them if you please.</p><p>Let's get straight into the looks:</p><img alt="monotone outfit" height="1439" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50996764618_ac1e9b8f3d_o.jpg" width="1080" /><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><b>Monochrome Magic</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This was pretty straightforward, the article showed simple but stylish black and white looks, and this is absolutely something anyone can copy at home. I paired black and white polkadot blouse with highwaisted black jeans, and I think the combo was cool.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I do want to apologize the not ideal lighting in the first few pics and the cat hair infested carpet in all of these, I know that's not aesthetic but keeping it real for you. Didn't necessarily want to vacuum before I pranced around in my outdoors shoes as I would have to clean afterwards nevertheless.</p><p><img alt="bralette look" height="1484" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50997579942_f2a3345300_o.jpg" width="1080" /></p><p><b>The New-Look Bralette</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Apparently bralettes are a thing again. I wish we had more opportunities to go out because that's where I would wear a look like this rather than at home or at the office. But I felt so confident in the combo of bralette, matching skirt and the blazer on top. I feel like the blazer made the look a whole lot more wearable, although for a party, I would consider the look without it and with massive jewelry.</p><img alt="harness outfit" height="1583" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50996764563_ed916c76e2_o.jpg" width="1080" /><p><b>Do The Floss</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Okay, so the trend is more about the around the waist string, but I find that inconvenient and possibly not so inclusive, so my take on it is wearing a thin harness, which is very metal/alternative, might I add. This look was also something I felt super badass in, so that's why I felt like including it in this post even though I didn't follow the trend literally. Can't make me a sheep, you know.</p><img alt="maxi skirt look" height="1539" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50997461826_ce31c3a992_o.jpg" width="1080" /><p><b>Take The Floor</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">A trend that would pair up so well with the bralette trend. Floor length, floaty maxi dresses and skirts. Not only does it sound comfortable and easily wearable, I also like how absolutely feminine that trend is. I don't own many maxi dresses or skirts due to my short body, because I don't find them super flattering. However, I do have this high-low skirt that has the best parts of both mini and maxi skirts, and it's flowy so isn't that more or less perfect? I liked pairing it with a band tee and corset belt, because that released the look's metal chic potential to the max.</p><img alt="baggy trousers outfit" height="1419" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50997579762_339474e6d8_o.jpg" width="1080" /><p><b>Wide Strides</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Another kind of a wearable and comfy trend, probably great for anyone working from home but wanting to dress up. Wide, baggy pants are in, but of course the trend is mainly concerning suit pant looking pairs so that the look is still chic. Well, in my opinion you can rock any flares you desire and embrace the boyfriend jeans you probably still have if you followed that trend not that many years ago. For me, this point meant styling my striped paperbag pants and pairing them with a well-fitting top to keep the look neat. You could, of course, go with the floaty aesthetic and have an oversized blazer or something as a top, but that's not my aesthetic.</p><img alt="scarf as a cape outfit" height="1406" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50997461736_03d540e92c_o.jpg" width="1080" /><p><b>Cape Blend</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Capes can come in many shapes, but my personal choice would be to take a big scarf and just belt it into a cape like you see in the picture. The mood of the look is probably very 2014 for some, but hey, all fashion goes around in circles so why not just wear this. Also this is a way to find multiple ways to rock existing pieces and not needing to buy new so that's good for both your wallet and the environment.</p><p><b>Living Room Disco</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Speaking of environment, I hate when fashion industry tries to make people buy unnecessary things like sequined pieces, especially in a time when no one really goes anywhere. If you do love and own sequined things, by all means rock them, but if you don't have them, I'd suggest you check the environmental effect of microplastics (sequins and glitter would in my understading go to that category, more or less), and reconsider this trend. So I don't encourage you to get sequins by styling any of them.</p><p><b>Cut Out And Keep</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Funny enough, the only piece I'd have for this was cut into a two-piece last year, so I literally had nothing exciting to style for you. But as the title suggests, cut outs are back, so if you have pieces that have them, they definitely are trendy right now.</p><img alt="corset top outfit" height="1443" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50997579652_46cb4a850c_o.jpg" width="1080" /><p><b>The Return Of The Corset</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">In my rock chic mind, corsets are always in, but it's nice to see them on trend because that means a) I can post very typical metal looks and they'll do better in algorithms, but also b) within a year the corset tops are easy to score second-hand because so many people will toss/sell theirs when the trend is over. Here I styled a denim corset with a girly pleated skirt, and added though boots to have a fun mixture of girly and edgy. There are so many ways to wear and style this corset trend without oversexualizing the look (unless that's what you prefer, we are all different in that regard). I've seen cool looks where corset tops are worn over t-shirts and blouses, and those are such a mood (I may have to jump in on that at some point!).</p><img alt="hoodie outfit" height="1433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50997579712_9bb3e5df67_o.jpg" width="1080" /><p><b>Lady, With A Twist</b> </p><p style="text-align: justify;">This seems like a fun trend where casual and feminine pieces are combined - think about pleated skirt with a hoodie, floaty maxi skirt with a sweatshirt etc. It's kind of an evolved version of the sporty chic vibe that was all the rage some years ago, where combining girly skirts with sneakers and sporty shoes was a thing. My take on it was to pair faux leather mini skirt with cute boots and thin hoodie, but in all honesty rocking this with an oversized hoodie/sweatshirt would have been quite an Ariana Grande vibed moment.</p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50997461641/in/dateposted/" title="fishnet tights"><img alt="fishnet tights" height="1416" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50997461641_820b889e2c_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a><p><b>Net Benefit</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is another trend my inner metal girl is excited about, because all sorts of layerable net fabrics seem to be a hit right now. I must say I prefer quite the traditional way to wear nets, which is slapping on a pair of fishnets and having them show in a look like in the pic above, but I'm also excited to see other possibilities of the fabrics from more creative dressers than I am.</p><img alt="bold stripes look" height="1480" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50997579752_f6c573b870_o.jpg" width="1080" /><p><b>Between The Lines</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">If you know me, you know I love my stripes. It's so much of a thing for me that my friends tease me for it. Therefore, it was only a matter of choosing one of the pieces to be styled here, and my choice was this shirt dress that I can't wait to wear more once the weather gets warmer. The dress looks so fun with the big necklace, corset belt and tall boots. 10/10 will wear this outside and take better pics later this year.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Which of these trends is your favorite?</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's all for today, I had so much fun with creating these looks and will consider similar posts with other remaining seasons of the year. When it comes to style content, I would love to hear if you have any requests on styling tips, inspiration or something else I could share with you. On Instagram, I will try to do more or less regular Reels for styling pieces 3 different ways, because that seemed to be taken well by you, but if there are other ideas for here or for Instagram, I'd gladly hear them! I'll see you later this week with another trend-related post, but that one will center around nails.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful day ♥</b></div>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-19238949801642720042021-02-24T18:00:00.173+02:002021-03-02T21:10:45.791+02:00Things 2020 has taught me<p style="text-align: justify;">I don’t usually get super deep and raw here, but today it felt like I kind of could. I’ve been listing things I have learned or re-learned during the past year, and if any of these points resonate with you, I would love to hear more (use dms or leave the comment anonymous if you don’t want to have anyone to have access to what you share, both are fine for me).</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="selfie" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50997461966_22abdf45d3_o.jpg" width="1576" /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>I’m way more lonely deep inside than I ever realized</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Not to concern anyone, because I bet so many others feel like this especially after last year. Not seeing others makes you lonely, in my case, it amplifies the feeling of being quite alone that I have normally anyway. Some days it truly accentuates the mental health struggles I have, other days it just feels like a natural part of me. I feel like not having as many external distractions as usual, I have reflected more about how and why I feel things and that had made me realize I actually do get quite lonely sometimes. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>There are not actually that many people who truly care how I am</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Again, not to concern people, but I think if people wanted to know how you are, they would reach out. I want to believe that the scarier times have made people to not as easily connect with others, but also I know I only have a handful of people who actually care, and for others it’s more or less a social courtesy to maybe ask and that’s it. For a younger me that would’ve been a tough realization, at this age it’s really not. Of course part of this is probably due to me not having the energy to reach out to some of the people I used to, and as they haven't been able to pour their problems on me, they have decided not to even bother asking how I am. And some take one look on my social media, where I naturally don't post every low moment I have and they decide I'm more fine than I maybe am. And all of that is okay, saddening at first, but also no one is obligated to care, if they don't/it doesn't work for them.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>I can handle loneliness/isolation - and it boosts my creativity in a way</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Even though it’s a sad realization that I am more lonely than I thought, I can truly utilize it to learn more, create more and reflect more. Whenever I have time just for myself, I enjoy doing things that develop my skills, my mind or my creativity. And before someone asks if I’m overcompensating the lack of people with too much to do - I really don’t. I do sometimes just watch endless amount of silly YouTube, just enjoy music or read guilty pleasures like the Twilight saga (speaking of which, I just bought the gender bend version and the Edward’s perspective version of the book and can’t wait to read them soon). I'm definitely the kind of person who could put everything dark inside them into art if the feelings got unbearable.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>You can get by with only very basic things</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Indeed, you don’t need much to get by, however you may need things to truly thrive. But for getting by, you just need the basic needs to get filled, and everything else is kind of extra that make the life more worth it. You need food, sleep and hygiene, but of course fancy treats, ergonomic pillows and good-smelling soap make that all better. I absolutely enjoy the little pampers in life, but also the year has made me be more thankful for them.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>The best asset a partner can have is being there for you, truly</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I keep my relationship private, because I don't need strangers thinking they are allowed to give their two cents about it. That being said, I only have the best things to say about the relationship I'm in now. My boyfriend is my best friend and my partner in crime, and there are days when I couldn't do that well without him. Knowing he has my back whenever the hectic schedule gets the best of my or my PMS makes me a wreck of a human is truly the most wonderful feeling there is. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>...and the second best is understanding your love language</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This 100%. If I had to give just one relationship advice to anyone, I think this would be it. Understanding your SO's love language is very big part of relationship communication, and in our household, we do quite a great job at understanding each other's languages, which thankfully are quite similar so no translations are needed. Not to mention we openly talk about these.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>I’m way more into psychology than I thought</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I've always been fascinated about humans and how they function and why they function the way they do. But in the past two years, much due to my bestie being in the field of psychology, I've gotten even deeper into it than ever. And I love everything I learn about psychology. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>...and won’t shut up about it if one makes the mistake that I can start talking about it</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">As my co-workers could tell you, I have a bad habit of inserting armchair psychology into convos. However, I try my best to remind people that the opinions are strictly my own, unprofessional and that for any further diagnosis or such, it's best to seek out a professional opinion. But if there's a change to talk about psychology, I always take it.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Knitting is a superior form of therapy for me, and I couldn’t do without it. </b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Absolutely nothing makes me more calm than knitting, so it's an essential hobby for me. It's something I make time for at least weekly, sometimes daily. And on weekends, when you can't always see me on social media, I'm most likely knitting. This is why I'm so happy to also share my crafts with you.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>While I love learning constantly, I’m so done with school for now once I graduate.</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Studying while having a full time job is a pain in the butt, and I do not recommend it to anyone. And having done that actively for a couple of years now, I'm pretty much done with studying for a few years now. Thank goodness my studies should be all done by this summer so I can finally have a breather from learning for school.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Staying home is actually kind of fun. Even in the long run.</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Even though the lockdown-like situation is sort of tiring in the long run, the actual staying home part isn't that bad. I'm very homebound person, so in most cases I would choose staying home regardless. And now I don't have to feel bad about it. It's how my introvert side loads its mental batteries, staying home and not seeing people.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>I miss concerts and seeing people more than I thought I would.</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">On contrary to the previous statement, I still miss seeing people, going out and especially going to concerts and festivals. I may not go out much, but the few outings do wonders for the herd animal side of my human mind. And the lack of music events is especially saddening, because live music is something I truly live for. I can't wait for the time we can start going to concerts again, and will gladly do a hardcore quarantine if that only could make concerts come back sooner.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>My psyche is stronger than I ever thought</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The best thing 2020 has taught me is that I'm incredibly strong as far as my psyche goes. I can tolerate stress, lack of sleep, anxiety, uncertainty, sadness, loneliness and frustration all at once, and still manage to push through and eventually make myself feel better. Not to discredit the people in my life who do make my bad days easier, but lot of things come down to me and how I myself handle situations. And that, my lovelies, are something I'm proud of in myself. I can handle difficulties. I'm strong.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>What's something you learned about yourself last year? Share thoughts in the comments!</b></p><div style="text-align: justify;">It's quite the post we have here today, but hopefully it was somewhat interesting of a read. I'm really looking forward to share a bit more of me in the social media and here in the blog as well, but in all honesty I do have to always think about it a little at first, because I also want to keep my privacy - not everything belongs on the internet. While this post may be a little heavy, the coming ones will be quite a bit lighter, I promise! I'm currently working on two trend posts, and I hope you will love them! I'll see you soon with another post!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a lovely day ♥</b></div>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-38956288937271128592021-02-24T18:00:00.167+02:002021-02-26T20:46:41.442+02:00Kaleidos x Angelica Nyqvist Club Nebula Palette First Impressions & 3 Looks (I tried every color in the palette for you!)<p style="text-align: justify;">I'm super excited to put today's post up, because today we're talking about one of my favorite beauty creators out there, and more specifically a palette she got to curate with one of her favorite brands - which is such a mood and I couldn't be happier for her. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Like the title says, I'm of course talking about the <b>Kaleidos x Angelica Nyqvist Club Nebula Palette</b>. If you follow me on Instagram you have seen me talk a little bit about this already, but today I'm giving you the whole first impressions scoop after testing each and every color in the palette at least once. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">So let's get straight to it:</p><img alt="club nebula palette" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966482736_d45d87e8af_o.jpg" width="1620" /><div><br /></div><div><span><a name='more'></a></span><span><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;">When I first saw Angelica talk about this palette I knew immediately I had to have it. Not only is it from a brand she constantly praises on the channel, but also the color scheme she curated here is such a perfection; you can do light, dark, colorful, neutral, monotone or multicolor, and without ever bringing another palette along. And yet, the palette will be easy to pair with many since the color scheme and especially the shimmers can be paired with endless other things.</div><div><br /><div><img alt="club nebula palette" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966482906_d8777e8742_o.jpg" width="1620" /><img alt="club nebula palette" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50965776128_55cc49c658_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I made the order for me and a friend the day this first launched, and around three weeks later the palettes arrived in this luxurious box. Getting the palettes in this was a mood in itself, and it felt very special to open up the whole thing. </div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="club nebula palette" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966591712_00ac4baa95_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The exterior of the palette is absolutely stunning, and the packaging as well as the box they arrived in totally line up to the intergalactic theme of the palette and the shade names, which we can dive in next.</div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="club nebula palette" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966591587_58ea5b0a63_o.jpg" width="1620" /><img alt="club nebula palette" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966591567_be88a351d2_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This 15-shade palette consists of 9 mattes and 6 more or less multichrome shimmers, and I would define the color scheme as colorful with a pop of neutral, which is absolutely so Angelica in my opinion. I like that it has few options for deepening up the looks because too many palettes either lack the depth or do the lazy thing and just put a plain black there, and I'm over that. But this palette, true to Angelica's makeup style, has so many possibilities for sultry but colorful looks. And I really love that.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I also like that all of the shade names have more or less nerdy meanings to them, without it being too thematic for those who just like pretty makeup. The shades themselves are something my head couldn't have put together in the same palette and make it look incredibly cohesive at the same time, but I think Angelica and Kaleidos nailed this color scheme absolutely stunningly.</div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="club nebula palette" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966482596_d852505615_o.jpg" width="1620" /><img alt="club nebula palette" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966482556_ea86865a65_o.jpg" width="1620" /><img alt="club nebula palette" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966591377_69f7ce79bf_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Above, you can see some swatches of the shades, and while the mattes there look as good as they do in real life (more or less, at least), the multichrome action barely shows here at all due to my amateur ways with photographing shifting colors. I think I should have used a flash, a ring light, or something to make the shift truly show but oh well.... If you want a multichrome swatch party on Instagram Story, let me know.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Below, however, I'll show you three looks I did with the palette, using all but three shades of the palette. Although, the title doesn't lie, I did do looks with every single shade but my busy head forgot to shoot one of them with the blog camera so... This is what studying alongside a full-time job does to you, haha.</div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="club nebula palette" height="1603" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50965776383_1970d911ff_o.jpg" width="1080" /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50965776313/in/dateposted/" title="club nebula palette"><img alt="club nebula palette" height="1492" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50965776313_b9c21de65e_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This first look was done with the shades <b>Celestial</b>, <b>Samus</b>, <b>Nebula</b>, <b>Red Giant</b> and <b>Cylon</b>. I wore this on Valentine's day for a night in with the boyfriend and loved the orange to red to purple color scheme, which was like a beautiful sunset. This was the first thing I created with the palette, and loved how creamy the shades felt, how easy they were to work with and how beautifully they both blended and layered, which definitely isn't given when it comes to eyeshadows.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After this look, I did a green to blue look with the first row of the palette and the shade <b>Astro</b> from the middle of the second row, from which you don't have photos here (again, my busy head apologizes), but I had a blast creating it, and again, the shades worked like a dream.</div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="_DSC6521 (Large)" height="1555" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50977024777_663a6ef3e5_o.jpg" width="1080" /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50976220643/in/dateposted/" title="_DSC6522 (Large)"><img alt="_DSC6522 (Large)" height="1584" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50976220643_7c2af49026_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Next, I wanted to try all the shades I hadn't put on my face before, which were <b>You're My Only Hope</b>, <b>Naaru </b>and <b>Rockhopper</b>. I added some Cylon to this look as well to make it a bit more purple and little more dark, and tied the look together with a lilac liner. This showed me a bit of the palette's neutral potential, and I was very impressed yet again.</div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="_DSC6530 (Large)" height="1538" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50976913026_58869950e6_o.jpg" width="1080" /><img alt="_DSC6538 (Large)" height="1567" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50976913016_c41c1c1dce_o.jpg" width="1080" /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last but not least, I did another take on the green look to take pics in my newly done blue hair (no more roots, lol), and used the shades <b>Firefly</b>, <b>Gravity</b> and <b>Queen of Blades</b> to do quite a simple green-toned look. So basically you're only missing pictures of me using <b>7 of 9</b>, <b>Astro </b>and <b>Void</b>, but take my (or anyone else's talking about this palette) word for it, the quality in every single shade of this palette is quite phenomenal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you like to play with colors when it comes to makeup and can splurge a little bit on a palette, I would highly recommend this one based on using it for a few times. This one feels more high quality than most of my shadows, even though I do love my JSC palettes to death. But I'm very interested to branch out on other brands and therefore I was so excited to try Kaleidos out for the first time ever. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Have you tried this palette? If so, what do you think about it?</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>And, do you have (cruelty-free) makeup brands you would like to hear my thoughts about?</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Sound off in the comments below!</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is all I have for you today, but I'll be back really soon with another one. I will try my best to prep the whole month of March of content during the next week, but if you have requests for future posts for Spring, send those to me either in the comment section or to any of my social media accounts. I'll see you in another post!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful day ♥</b></div><br /><span><br /></span></div></div></div>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-88449699492939220352021-02-19T18:00:00.071+02:002021-02-21T20:34:09.290+02:00Trying out MoYou London plates for the first time<p style="text-align: justify;">It’s not a secret I’ve been sort of in a creative funk for a hot minute, where coming up with makeup color schemes, let alone trying to put together nail design has felt next to impossible. I’m trying to get back into all things creative little by little, on makeup that has meant setting some challenges for myself, and in nail art it’s quite the same too. For years, I’ve been wanting to get better at stamping, so I’ve taken it as my mission to find the brands and plate styles I enjoy the most, and finding the fun of nail art again. Not really doing much in that regard has felt like a missing piece of myself, and I’d like it to not be missing anymore. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">So, today I’m sharing how my first experience with <b>MoYou London</b> has been. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="moyou london stamping" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966591937_32e278a9a1_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><p style="text-align: justify;">In December, I ordered this whole bunch of plates from MoYou, and even though it was the holiday time, the package only took a few days to arrive from the UK to Finland. Overall the whole purchasing and shipping was a positive experience, I have absolutely no complaints about it. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The plate designs looked just as nice in person as they did online, which I would’ve assumed taken I’ve seen quite reputable nail influencers say many good things about the brand. Below, I’m showing a bit more in detail the plates I purchased, and after that I’ll talk about actually stamping with these plates for the first time. Naturally, I won’t yet be trying absolutely all of them, but for the sake of this post I tried more than one to get a bit of an idea how compatible I am with these plates. </p></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="moyou london stamping" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966591897_ba79f6b122_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I couldn't resist getting these animal palettes, I think many super cute things could be done with these and especially they will make cute accent nails with the repetitive patterns! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="moyou london stamping" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966591887_e8a5fb25d4_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Christmas may be over, but I was still excited to get these Christmas sweater plates so that next holiday season I can create more nail art than I did last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="moyou london stamping" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50965776818_0415b655d2_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then the ones I was the most excited about, gothic, punk and Tumblr girl ones. These three are so me, and so fun, and the goth and punk ones are what I tested out for the sake of this post. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">All the plates look amazing, and they seem like the quality that lifts easily on the stamper. However, I need to do more testing than I did for this post to give a thorough opinion, so keep that in mind when reading my thoughts below.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="stamped nails" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966482316_dfb3bb9e90_o.jpg" width="1547" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here are the nails I came up with, I wanted to do something gothic yet cute, and I think that was quite well achieved here. All prints apart from the tiny crosses are from the gothic plate, and the tiny crosses are from the punk plate. I was pleasantly surprised how incredibly easy these plates were to work with, I didn't have to try that many times to get the pictures to lift and to get a beautiful stamp out of them. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I can't wait to try more designs with them, especially if the rest of them are as easy to work with as these seemed to be.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="rock nails" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50965776163_d2620a5912_o.jpg" width="1449" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I was actually very excited how these nails look, the lilac shimmer base is so soft and girly yet the black designs with the rock theme bring a nice edge to them. One of my friends liked these so much she asked me to do the same for her, and whenever the situation allows us to meet up, I totally will do that for her!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="moyou london stamping" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50965776283_4c1d639827_o.jpg" width="1639" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The polishes I used for these nails were <b>Long-Lasting Base</b> by <b>Holo Taco</b>, <b>Get It Right, Get It Bright </b>by <b>China Glaze</b>, <b>1 More Like 1am</b> by <b>Clear Jelly Stamper</b> and <b>Top Coat </b>by <b>Glisten & Glow</b>. I would like to test out MoYou stamping polishes at some point as well, but since I fairly recently got new ones from CJS, I used one of them here.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="gothic inspired nails" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50966591012_b02074b628_o.jpg" width="1603" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>What do you think about this mani? Let me know in the comments below!</b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's all for this post, but I will be back very soon with another one. In the coming week or so, we will be talking about a new eyeshadow palette, youtubers I'm into right now, and some thoughts I have after 2020 - and more, if I just have the time for it. For more content, follow me on Instagram @jolagerroos, where I post style, beauty and more almost daily. Lately I've been trying taking Wednesdays, Sundays and occasionally Saturdays off from posting to Instagram in order to bring more high quality content as well as to be able to do more offline. I hope you all are liking the change of pace, and I am trying to bring more Story content as the daily part of the content really soon. And as always, I'll see you soon in the next post!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a lovely day </b><b style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14px;">♥</b></div>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-17383202165389123512021-02-16T18:00:00.041+02:002021-02-21T19:37:17.530+02:00Witchy Winter Photoshoot<p style="text-align: justify;">One of the core topics in this blog has always been my style, and if you scroll through the old posts you can see it has evolved quite a bit over the years until me finally finding the darker, rock vibed style and more or less staying in that lane for quite a while now. I would love to post more style content, but quite honestly I don’t have a photographer to take my pics so that brings a challenge. Although, I could do the remote control route with my phone, and then try my best to up the quality in editing (the phone remote doesn’t support taking RAW format, so that takes a toll on the quality sometimes). </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Today’s outfit photos, however, are from a shoot I did with my mom as a photographer. She really knows how to work the camera, and made my witchy picture dreams come true. Below you’ll see some of my favorite photos from the shoot, as well as few new additions to my closet.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The dress in this post was graciously gifted to me by <b>Fantasmagoria</b>, but all the opinions are 100% my own.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50955925693/in/dateposted/" title="_DSC6162-2 (Large)"><img alt="_DSC6162-2 (Large)" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50955925693_2c8ab18111_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="text-align: justify;">Immediately when seeing the dress for the first time, I knew I wanted to style it into a witchy outfit, and I also had quite a clear vision of what kind of pictures I wanted to take with the look. And luckily I could translate that through a moodboard to my mom, so together we got these pictures to come to life.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">These pictures were taken around Christmas time in a place that’s dear to me from my childhood, and it was cool to see how it made the perfect background for these pictures so that the whole vibe stayed magical and witchy. If you follow me on Instagram you probably have seen some pictures already along the way</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50956733072/in/dateposted/" title="_DSC6124 (Large)"><img alt="_DSC6124 (Large)" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50956733072_5548973ee5_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50956733137/in/dateposted/" title="_DSC6111 (Large)"><img alt="_DSC6111 (Large)" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50956733137_05df173b47_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50956632161/in/dateposted/" title="_DSC6089-2 (Large)"><img alt="_DSC6089-2 (Large)" height="1400" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50956632161_42b6f8a4a9_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Dress:</b> Fantasmagoria <b>Belt:</b> Pieces <b>Boots:</b> KooKenkä? <b>Leggings:</b> H&M <b>Necklace:</b> MintMongoose <b>Rings:</b> MintMongoose, Coconut Lane, RegalRose</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I absolutely adore the way we were able to make this outfit look in the pictures, and can't wait to do more shoots with my mom once the pandemic situation gets better. Also I can't wait to shoot outside more once the weather gets warmer because quite frankly I'm tired of my trusty closet doors I have in the background of every single outfit pic I post on my Instagram, haha.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50955926413/in/dateposted/" title="_DSC6050-2 (Large)"><img alt="_DSC6050-2 (Large)" height="1571" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50955926413_075ce38cfa_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50956631731/in/dateposted/" title="_DSC6147-2 (Large)"><img alt="_DSC6147-2 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50956631731_44ca52f4b6_o.jpg" width="1640" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50956732792/in/dateposted/" title="_DSC6173 (Large)"><img alt="_DSC6173 (Large)" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50956732792_b0f77b4f61_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50956632101/in/dateposted/" title="_DSC6108 (Large)"><img alt="_DSC6108 (Large)" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50956632101_a9423fffaa_o.jpg" width="1080" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>What do you think about the witchy outfit? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Despite showing you a new piece here, the overall direction with me and my style/closet is definitely to buy less, and especially buy less new items - to overall make it more sustainable and my wallet way happier. I’m actually planning a post about how my fashion consumption has changed as an adult and about how I try to make more sustainable choices. I would love to know; What would you like me to specifically talk about in a post like that? Would you for example like shopping tips, tips on how to find better alternatives, info on where to find the information on sustainable brands…? This is definitely your time to give some input as the planning is still quite early on.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">That’s all for today, but I’ll have a new post up for you really soon, and then we’ll be talking a little about nail art and specifically about me trying a stamping brand I’ve never tried before - so stay tuned for that. And in the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram (@jolagerroos), where I post beauty and style content and then some almost every day. I’ll see you in the next post!</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful day ♥</b></p><div><br /></div>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-60716057026956156752021-02-15T18:00:00.029+02:002021-02-15T20:38:37.410+02:00Marble Nails With Gold Flakes<p style="text-align: justify;">Another day, another nail art post. (This was supposed to go up on Friday, but in all honestly I was not feeling well enough to take and edit my nail photos before today so… Forgive me for the slight delay lol) Before you ask, no, these won’t likely be a weekly thing, but I’ve been planning different kinds of nail related posts for almost every week from until the end of March, and we’ll see how we’ll do after that. I do enjoy the simple kind of posts where I just share my nails, but I’ve been thinking that maybe some of you out there would get more value from a variety of content, so that’s what I’m trying to do here as the spring goes forward.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">But today, you’re getting an old-fashioned nail art post, with this look that is more or less inspired by this year’s nail trends - which I’m planning to touch more on in a future post, stay tuned at the beginning of next month if that sounds interesting to you. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC6457 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50947243577_3bc63669e3_o.jpg" width="1627" /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="text-align: justify;">For this look, I had to learn a technique I’ve never really dabbled into that much, and that technique is dry marbling. I'll go more into detail about this under the next picture, but I can say now that it's truly a technique I'll gladly learn more about later on.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC6475 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50947243422_6a291f6860_o.jpg" width="1542" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">To create this, I started with <b>Holo Taco Long-Lasting Base</b>, and after that dried, added a coat of <b>China Glaze Blanc Out</b>. Then when the color was all dried, I went in with another coat of color, and let that dry before adding a layer of Glisten & Glow Top Coat. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Then it was time to do the dry marble using <b>acrylic paint</b>. You read that correctly, I didn’t use nail polish to do the design, but rather checked out some marbling tutorials for acrylic paint (some for nail art, some purely for art in general), and figured out my own way to do it. I found adding thick drops of colors, blending them in a little with a dotting tool (a toothpick works too if you don’t have tools), and then dabbing over the pattern with plastic wrap a good way to do this. Acrylic paint is quite an amazing medium to work with, because you can fix mistakes with water, without ruining your base color. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Lastly, I let the design dry, added gold flakes (mine are from <b>Born Pretty Store</b>) on the edge of the marble and color, and sealed it all in with the <b>Glisten & Glow Top Coat</b>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC6464 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50946442948_84ed92e45d_o.jpg" width="1555" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This was such a fun mani to do, and it made me try something a little different which is always a pleasure. Also, the end result is pretty cool, even though I say so myself. The inspiration pictures for this design I found from Pinterest <a href="https://fi.pinterest.com/pin/152207662396319321/">here</a> and <a href="https://fi.pinterest.com/pin/152207662396325578/">here</a> (click!), and they are also saved for my Nail art inspiration board <a href="https://fi.pinterest.com/jolagerroos/nail-art-inspiration/">here</a> (click!). I swear, trying out new things like these make me want to branch out even more with the nail art, so if you have a nail trend you want me to try out for you or a technique you’d rather I test out first, let me know and we can try to make that happen!</p><p><img alt="_DSC6480 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50946442943_56011777b5_o.jpg" width="1509" /></p><p>Now, all I have left here is to ask:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>What do you think about this mani? Let me know in the comments!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I have to say, trying out the acrylic paints here lit up a whole new art fire inside me, and I can’t wait to see what else I can do with the paint. I will definitely report back on it as a nail art paint once I do a little more trying out in different forms, but I’ve already scheduled a date when I will have more info on that for you all. Also, I’m hoping to do a marble tutorial once I experiment with the technique a little more and will be able to actually clearly explain the steps to you. If any of that sounds interesting to you, stay tuned with the blog by following it in Bloglovin’ or following my Instagram where I do update the latest posts on the link in my bio whenever new posts go live. I’m working on better announcing the posts on Facebook and Twitter too, so if those are more your kind of platforms you could keep up through them as well. I’ll see you very soon with another post!</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful week ♥</b></p><div><br /></div>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-62092077404104852202021-02-11T20:43:00.003+02:002021-02-16T12:52:45.300+02:00 Gluten-free Pizza - Fast and Easy Recipe<p style="text-align: justify;">Happy Thursday babes! Who else is so ready for the weekend? Because same, haha. It’s been quite the week of balancing all the different things, but I’m very motivated to pull through it all to get to the well-deserved weekend finally. I was planning on celebrating Valentine’s Day with a friend by having a coffee in a local place (for context, in Finland V-Day is more of a friendship day and I love that for us), but we found out today that won’t happen this year. But hey, that’s how things are for the foreseeable future with most meetings.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Today I figured I’d share one of my favorite recipes with you, and that is homemade pepperoni pizza. Now, I know some of you reading this are vegan or vegetarian, so when it comes to toppings, you can either swap them out to vegan alternatives or come up with a completely different set of toppings. </p><p><img alt="_DSC6377 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50933317046_7b5a80312b_o.jpg" width="1567" /></p><p><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b>Gluten-free pizza crust</b> (makes a whole baking pan)<p></p><p>4 dl of gluten-free flour of your choice</p><p>1 tsp salt</p><p>4 tsp baking powder</p><p>2 dl water</p><p>4 tbsp vegetable oil</p><p><br /></p><p>Mix all the dry ingredients together.</p><p>Add water, mix in.</p><p>Add vegetable oil, mix in, and work the dough for a minute or two to make it as one piece as possible.</p><p>Put the dough on a baking sheet, and roll put the dough into the desired shape - we usually try to do somewhat of a similar shape to the pan, you can do whatever you desire. </p><p>Add the toppings you like.</p><p>Bake in 250 degrees Celsius for 10-15 mins, until the pizza looks the way you prefer.</p><p><img alt="_DSC6363 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50933439842_d6c04aa4dd_o.jpg" width="1620" /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50933317131/in/dateposted/" title="_DSC6366 (Large)"><img alt="_DSC6366 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50933317131_7136676a0a_o.jpg" width="1628" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The combo we usually do is Dennis pizza sauce, Emmental-mozzarella shreds, pepperoni slices, mozzarella pieces, and tomato slices. Quite simple, but very good. If you don’t eat meat, there are vegan pepperoni alternatives, or you can use any veggie you desire and just add some pepper and spice to the pizza to get a very similar experience.</p><p><img alt="_DSC6368 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50932628293_ff649f12fd_o.jpg" width="1639" /></p><p>And on that note:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>What’s your favorite pizza topping combo? Let me know in the comments!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That’s it for today’s very short and sweet post, but I’ll be back soon tomorrow with another nail art post - and it’ll be a very fun one! Even though I say so myself. I know I said this last week, but I’m so, so excited to be back writing. Blogging is something I strongly identify with despite this blog never been majorly successful - but honestly, I’m not on the Internet to be the most popular person or to influence vast masses. I’ve always just enjoyed writing my thoughts out, and the best feeling is when a friend says they read the post and liked it. It’s the simple little things. Like this pizza. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a lovely day ♥</b></p><div><br /></div>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-46331318170208056522021-02-08T20:33:00.002+02:002021-02-16T12:54:45.411+02:00 My IG followers chose my makeup look, and this is what happened<p style="text-align: justify;">A little while back I made several polls throughout one week for my followers on IG to determine a look I should create with makeup. They definitely chose things I may have not gone for myself, but was excited to take on the challenge. In this post, I will be breaking down the look choice by choice and showing you the end result, and later this week (and this month) I will be posting more about this look on Instagram, based on the choices people made. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">So without further ado, let’s go into what people chose for me (these are all saved on a highlight on my Instagram @jolagerroos if you want to see the polls yourself). </p><p><img alt="winged liner look" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50923027696_3b37baeb3a_o.jpg" width="1080" /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>Multicolor or monotone</b></p><p>The big majority (62% to 38%) wanted to see a multicolor look, so making people choose a color palette wouldn’t be an issue as I could use many. This opens up a whole lot of possibilities, depending on other choices, of course.</p><p><b>Wing or Nah</b></p><p>Thankfully, people really wanted a wing (74% to 26%), now I would just have to see whether or not this said wing will be black or not.</p><p><b>Bold or subtle lashes</b></p><p>I was really hoping for bold, and luckily, the majority agreed on that (76% to 24%). So I get to play around with as massive lashes as the look needs.</p><p><b>Cool or warm colors</b></p><p>This would determine if we have a cool look which I prefer, or if I had to challenge my preferences. The people narrowly chose the route of challenge, and I’m up for it. (48% to 52%)</p><p><b>Nude lip or bold lip</b></p><p>As we are possibly going very bold with the eyes, seems like the audience felt like balancing it out with the nude lip, but only with a slight majority (56% to 44%). I’m totally up for that, it will go great with a warm eye look.</p><p><b>Black wing or colorful wing</b></p><p>Next, I wanted to know whether we go with the classic wing or do we do a twist with it, and with the narrowest or differences, the people chose a colorful wing. I’ve been quite into these lately, so let’s do it! (49% to 51%)</p><p><b>Dark and sultry or bright and fun color scheme</b></p><p>Since we know we’re doing a warm-toned, multicolored look, the last thing about colors is whether we go winter-appropriately dark and sultry, or do we set our sights to spring already and branch out to bright and fun. Here, the dark scheme won easily, so we’ll be doing more or less of a smokey eye. (69% to 31%).</p><p><b>Video or no </b></p><p>I also wanted to know about the form of the content, I do film things for my own entertainment, but here I wanted to know if anyone even wants a video. It was a 100% yes, so video it is. </p><p><b>Reels or IGTV</b></p><p>The next question was if people want a quick video or a longer one, and the big majority preferred to see a longer video format. I’m all for it, although editing this one will take a hot minute to make it worth watching. (24% to 76%)</p><p><b>Breakdown in stories yes or no</b></p><p>Lastly I was interested in whether or not people would want step-by-step pics of the look coming together, and based on results this was very much wanted from me. (92% to 8%)</p><p><img alt="makeup products" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50922341303_e94e104673_o.jpg" width="1500" /></p><p>Things I chose for the look, based on results: </p><p>Palettes:<b> Oden’s Eye</b> Älva II, <b>Colourpop</b> Uh-huh Honey and <b>Juvia’s Place</b> Saharan II</p><p>Eyeliner: <b>LA Girl </b>Pencil liner, <b>NYX Cosmetics</b> Epic Wear liquid liner in yellow</p><p>Lashes: A bold pair I got from my bestie when I saw her a year ago, don’t know the brand or the style, but it’s a kind of style you can definitely find from several brands.</p><p>Lipstick: <b>Liveglam</b> Kiss Me in Very Brewtiful</p><p>Lipgloss: <b>Liveglam</b> Kiss Me in Hot-Tea</p><p>Other products used:</p><p>Hydrating foundation and setting mist by <b>Colourpop</b></p><p>Magic Star concealer and powder by <b>Jeffree Star Cosmetics</b></p><p>Brow Pomade in Granite by <b>Anastasia Beverly Hills</b></p><p>HD eye primer, clear brow gel and glitter primer by <b>NYX Cosmetics</b></p><p>Mascara and pore minimizing primer by <b>GOSH</b></p><p>Blush and highlighter by <b>Juvia’s Place</b></p><p>Bronzer by <b>Benecos</b></p><p><img alt="colorful makeup look" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50922341288_5d33c21043_o.jpg" width="1080" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Here’s a quick preview of the look, more of which will follow on Instagram (closeups on Friday with a step-by-step Story/highlight to go along, IGTV hopefully a week from here on Monday). So to see more about this look, definitely follow me on Instagram to see all the things my followers made me do. Admittedly, I didn't go super dar with this, and one could definitely make this more smokey if desired, but the palettes I chose didn't have black in them so I kept the smokey side a touch lighter this time.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Hoping the Instagram crowd finds this acceptable too, in order to not use so many palettes for the look, haha.</p> <img alt="warm toned makeup" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50922341223_1aace51969_o.jpg" width="1080" /><p style="text-align: center;"><b>What do you think about this look? Let me know in the comments!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I hope you enjoyed this bit of a different kind of content, quite honestly I’m trying to experiment a little with things to see what will be well received and what not so popular, so please remember to show your love for the types of content you enjoy by commenting, sharing and tagging me, recreating things or leaving me a simple DM so I know what you’re all into. That will help me choose the kind of content not only fun for me but interesting for you as well. I’ll see you all in the next post, with one of my favorite recipes.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b>Have a wonderful day ♥</b></span></p><div><br /></div>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-40820198150456285592021-02-06T20:07:00.098+02:002021-02-07T20:58:31.955+02:00First DIYs of the year 2021<p style="text-align: justify;">Happy weekend dearies! Hope you’ll be having a relaxing one. I for one have various school tasks, some household chores and quite a bit of content preparing to do, but once all that is sorted out I plan on just relaxing the rest of the weekend. And as part of my relaxing ritual there will be some knitting/crafting. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Which is my sequeue into the topic today, which are my latest DIY projects. </p><img alt="_DSC6388 (Large)" height="1420" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50918804798_eb06446312_o.jpg" width="1080" /><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="text-align: justify;">First up, I want to show the thing I’m the most excited about, which are these Slytherin socks. These socks are made out of C<b>ascade Heritage</b> merino wool and nylon blend yarn, and I used the colors <b>5657 Hunter Green</b> and <b>5742 Silver Grey</b>, 2,5mm needles and “<b>Slytherin Pride Socks</b>” pattern by <b>Ann Kingstone</b>, which you can find <a href="http://ravelry.com/patterns/library/slytherin-pride-socks">here</a>. </p><img alt="_DSC6383 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50918804818_d5e3b7e866_o.jpg" width="1620" /><p style="text-align: justify;">This was a very fun project, I’m not huge on making socks, but admittedly I wholeheartedly enjoyed making these. These took several days to knit, as they have quite an intricate pattern, thin yarn and I had to follow instructions in a foreign language so I had to google a thing or two to be sure I understood everything correctly. From this project, I have quite a bit leftover yarn and so far no idea what to do with it, but maybe a shorter pair of socks could be the thing. You’ll see when I know.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="2021-02-07-084519069 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50919520686_ce89867821_o.jpg" width="1902" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The next project was a pair of fingerless gloves for both of my parents, from which I only have this picture of fitting my mom’s gloves on my hands, taken with my cellphone. However, you get the idea and the color scheme from it, so we’re good! For these, I used Novita 7 Veljestä wool blend yarn in shade <b>Ilotulitus</b> for mom’s gloves and shade <b>Tähdistö</b> for dad’s, 3,5mm needles and fingerless glove pattern <b>Point Edwards Mitts</b> by <b>Fairlight Fibers</b>, which you can find <a href="https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/point-edwards-mitts">here</a>. This pattern was super easy to follow and it would be a good choice for beginners as well, since it has very simple stitches and especially if you use a multicolored yarn, the result will still be very interesting looking.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC6378 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50919628247_a88c9bf1a0_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Next up is a scrap yarn project, where I tried to learn a bit of braid pattern knitting, which I’m not great at - but practice will make perfect. I made these in the size EU 38 (women’s size), and have yet to decide where their home will be since they aren’t perfect by any means, but still warm and cozy but a little bit big for me. I will most likely give these up to the first friend who’ll accept their imperfect being, or donate them to a charity where someone needs warming up for their feet. The pattern for these is from <b>Novita magazine Fall 2019</b>, called <b>Metsäpolku wool socks</b> by <b>Sari Nordlund</b>, but you can also find it in Finnish <a href="https://www.novitaknits.com/fi/metsapolku-villasukat-novita-venla">here</a>. The yarn I used is <b>Drops Nord</b> in the color <b>16 Jeans Blue</b>, which is a lovely wool blend yarn that feels soft to touch.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="IMG_20210111_144104_613 (Large)" height="1253" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50918827563_4f5db2c5e2_o.jpg" width="1080" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Lastly, I want to show you the finished look of the <b>Pohjolan Kutsu skirt</b> I finally finished in the beginning of this year. Now I have a full set of knitwear in this pattern, and I love both of the pieces so much. This pattern is also from the <b>Novita magazine Fall 2019,</b> and the pattern can also be found separately in Finnish <a href="https://www.novitaknits.com/fi/pohjolan-kutsu-kirjoneulehame-novita-venla-ja-baby-merino">here</a>. The photo I had for this was one I actually shared some while back on Instagram, and since it shows both pieces of the set, I thought it would represent the skirt here well.</p>
<img alt="_DSC6392 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50919628122_d8fb1fab4c_o.jpg" width="1620" /><p style="text-align: justify;">Currently, I have been starting a sweater I’ve been itching to knit for quite a while.This will take basically no time at all, but I really, really wanted to get this all done before the cold weather ends for the winter so I prioritized this one. I'll share more details on this once I finish it.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Next, I have one project requested by a friend coming up, after which I’m hoping to finish a blanket I’ve been knitting. I always have so many ideas I’m wanting to do, and honestly my only wish is that I would be even faster knitter than I am so I could do even more haha. As for these check-ins, I really hope to make these more or less monthly segments where you can see all the projects I’m doing or have done, and maybe you can get inspired to try some out too. And that’s also why I want to list things I use quite carefully, so you can have the access to the items as easily as possible.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Now, I’d love to hear from you; What are some DIY projects you’ve done lately? Doesn’t have to be with yarn, I want to know about any craft possible, so share yours in the comments!</b></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That’s it for today - and for this week - as far as the blog goes. Next week I’m planning to talk about makeup, cooking and nail art, so if any of those interests you at all, stay tuned for next week! In the meantime, follow me on Instagram where I share makeup looks, outfits and more nearly daily, and currently I’m trying to use the Stories to give you a bit of extra insight into my daily life (whenever my silly head remembers), so head over to <b>@jolagerroos</b> on Insta and follow the account if you haven’t already. I’ll see you here on Monday with another post!</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a lovely weekend ♥</b></p>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-42248892982853736322021-02-05T18:00:00.054+02:002021-02-07T20:07:35.511+02:00Celestial Nail Art<p style="text-align: justify;">Happy Fri-Yay! Let’s start this weekend off with some nail inspo, shall we? I haven’t been truly documenting my nail art in a while, and to be honest I missed it quite a bit. Nail art has been one of the things that pushed me into social media and blogging, so I think getting back to my roots in that sense makes sense. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I don’t really have much else to add here, so let’s just get into straight to the nails:</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="astrology nails" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50905769867_1167720bf1_o.jpg" width="1697" /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="text-align: justify;">These nails were inspired by alternative accounts I follow (the theme) as well as <b>Holo Taco</b> coming up with matte top coat (the color scheme and finish). So after seeing all sorts of inspiration out there, I came up with these witchy/celestial inspired nails, with multichrome base color and matte finish. And I really love them. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="Glisten & Glow nail polish" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50905769917_873cbfa0cd_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I started off the mani by applying <b>Holo Taco Long-Lasting Base</b>, to make a foundation that won’t budge for my manicure. Then I continued by adding one coat of <b>Holo Taco Multichrome Polish in Missed-Shift</b>, which is a gorgeous green with a teal to purple shift. After letting that first coat of color dry, I went in with another coat to achieve an opaque finish. I sealed the base color with <b>Glisten & Glow Top Coat</b>, which provides a fast-drying, shiny finish to the mani.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="celestial nails" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50905769812_94a1df833b_o.jpg" width="1601" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The next day, I created the pattern (I did my base little before going to bed the previous night, as I often do on weekdays since currently, I don’t have time to do an intricate mani in one night), using thin nail art brush, <b>Glisten & Glow Wedding Gown White</b> and some nail polish remover to thin out the polish, making painting easier. My goal was to do a nice celestial pattern that would compliment my metal chic looks, and I thought adding a matte top coat - <b>Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat</b>, to be exact - would give the mani a nice touch.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Otherwise I was quite happy with this, but I came to the conclusion I need to invest in acrylic paints for future nail art attempts. Which I actually did the next day, haha. Remains to be seen whether or not different substance improves my outcomes though. Stay tuned later this Spring to find out.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="holo taco nail polish" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50905643196_66c9fb7d21_o.jpg" width="1596" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">If you want to try these nails out, but free-hand painting is not for you, you can also either stamp or add stickers to get the same result. I researched a couple of links for you to shop the design, and these are not affiliated in any shape or form as of now. For example, <b>So Nailicous</b> offers absolutely stunning celestial stickers <a href="https://sonailiciousboutique.com/collections/interstellar">here</a> (click!), and <b>MoYou London</b> has this beautiful collab stamping plate with <b>Kelli Marissa</b> <a href="https://moyou.co.uk/collections/kelli-marissa/products/kelli-melissa-x-myl-04">here</a> (click!). Of course, there are many other possible options for designs like this, but the ones linked are some I’ve been eyeing lately, and would absolutely try them out myself.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>What do you think about the design here? Let me know in the comments!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That’s all for today, but another post will be up tomorrow, and in that I will be talking a little bit about crafts/DIYs I have been working on lately. Also, tomorrow I will be posting a tiny beauty tutorial on Instagram (<b>@jolagerroos</b>) for those who are into that, and I would appreciate it so much if you checked it out and maybe even left a comment if you like it - I know everyone and their mom wants people to engage with their posts, but if you want someone’s posts to do better than they do now, the best way to help out is engage beyond simply liking the post (comment, save, share). That’s what I try to do whenever a post truly caughts my eye because it’s a free way to help a creator out. But anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow in another blog post and hopefully on Instagram as well!</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful day ♥</b></p>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-84843368431835065722021-02-03T20:18:00.000+02:002021-02-03T20:18:17.414+02:00 What I Want To Achieve In 2021<div style="text-align: justify;">Hey my lovelies! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My few days’ hiatus turned into a month of blog silence, but it did good to my mental health. My work routine changed quite a bit, so finding extra energy was really tough. I’m trying to write posts beforehand now, so that we would have a backlog of few posts all the time in order to not have these long breaks. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;">Today, I wanted to start the year off with talking about the things I want to achieve this year - and if you’re willing to, I would love you to share your goals in the comments as well!
So, without further ado, let’s get to it!</div><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC5951 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50744663132_d9c7a4501c_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Better time management</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I’ve been trying to perfect how I use my time (whenever needing to be efficient, which of course is not all the time), and learn away from procrastination (which is freaking hard, let me tell you). And this year, I really want to get better at this, because I feel like I don’t use my time as smartly as I could. This doesn’t really mean I need to be achieving something with every minute I have, but rather that whenever I have a task to be done, I would know how to really do it well but fast. Not my strong suite yet, but hopefully at the end of the year.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>More organized home </b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">My boyfriend knows what an organization freak I can be when let loose, but as of now, we still have several things at our home that could be organized even better. And since I believe that at least the first half of the year will be quite tightly spent at home, organizing could definitely be in the cards for me. This also includes decluttering some of our stuff, which isn’t an issue because at least personally, I probably have way more things than I actually need.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Saving more</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I believe staying home and having less stuff around will definitely help to save more. We’re currently saving to buy our own place, and I would love to contribute more to that. Hence saving will be one of the key goals in the near future. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Creating more</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">There are many creative things I enjoy doing (which you know if you’ve been here for a moment), and this year I want to give those things more room instead of for example spending time on the computer - unless of course I’m creating on a computer, which is a possibility. But I’m more me when I do creative stuff, not to mention those creative things make quite good online content too, in my opinion.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Finally graduating</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I’m finally only a few courses and half a thesis away from getting my degree. This will be the year, if nothing goes wrong. And I’m excited.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Learning new things</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">To me, graduating definitely doesn’t mean I want to stop learning more. There are few things I hope to dive into at least after graduating, but maybe even before that:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="text-align: justify;">More knowledge of photography (to take better pictures both for the blog and the Instagram)</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Deeper knowledge of knitting and crochet (I’ve figured out few things I haven’t really mastered yet, and I want to get much better so I can create even more things with yarn)</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Basics of doing macrame crafts (this seems like an intriguing way of crafting and I’m eager to try it out this year - I have materials ready)</li></ul><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Less time online</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I still have online studies and no plans of ending my blog nor quitting my social medias, but I’m aiming to get rid of the mindless scrolling aspect of it even more. I don’t mind having YouTube videos in the background when I knit, craft or do something else, but the habit of aimlessly scrolling through Instagram feed like most of us probably do is something I don’t really want to have this year anymore. I have so many things I actually want to use my time on, so I can’t waste the precious asset of time to mindless things very often.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>More exercising</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is honestly long overdue, and as a 30-year old woman it’s something I should take more seriously. I will start including more and more workouts into my routine, and I’m hoping to achieve a balanced mix of biking, running, yoga and muscle training/home gym along this year. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Being more in the moment</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is something I don’t think I’m too bad at, but I really do want to be more “there”, whenever having a real contact with people, or just doing something I love, whatever that might be. Last year went in a blur, which I believe is the case for many, but instead of just waiting for the things to get better, I really just want to live each day and truly be in the moment as much as I can.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Connecting better with (the right) people</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This goes along with the previous point, if I’m more in the moment with people, I will automatically also have a better connection with them. In recent years I’ve had quite a bit of trouble with connecting with anyone, much due to my own struggles. But as I feel better now, I hope that translates to better connections with people too. However as the point suggest, I’m not looking forward to connecting with whoever, but rather with the people who truly have been there recently one way or another, because I truly want to give them the same courtesy.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Trying out manifesting</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I know there’s probably few of you who will absolutely slam the idea of manifesting completely, but personally I think it’s a harmless concept that just helps you focus on and connect with your goals. No harm in trying, and I truly believe you have to put the vibe out to the universe to ever be able to actually get it. This is something I want to touch on in a post later this year.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Having better diet and sleep</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Again, I'm a 30-year-old woman, so some things should be more in the focus. Eating right and sleeping enough are definitely some points to focus on along with the exercise, and the way I see it, these two need to come first in order to exercise actually do any good. I have implemented more veggies into my diet slowly but surely, and have also tried to replace most of my late night screen time with knitting instead, so I’m definitely on the right track - but there’s still a little room to do better. One thing I’m also interested in trying even better than before is intermittent fasting. I’ve been dabbling into it for a hot minute now and I feel it works for my body, and helps me sleep better as well. These are things I will be happy to report back to you later on once I lock down a routine that works for me - and maybe it’ll be something that’s helpful to at least one of you.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Now, it’s your turn; What do you want to accomplish this year? Share your thoughts in the comments!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That’s all for today’s post, but I’ll be back very soon with another post. This week, we’ll be talking about nails as well as crafts later on, and next week we’ll hop into a few more topics. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be blogging again, and moreover to have the energy to do “me”, which is writing, planning and creating. And before the next blog post, there will be things up on the Instagram (@jolagerroos), so if you haven’t already, I’d be very happy if you checked that out. I’ll see you on Friday with another post!</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful day ♥</b></p><div><br /></div>
</div>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-77943821925332869142020-12-23T18:00:00.002+02:002020-12-23T18:00:06.649+02:0012 Days of Christmas: Merry Christmas<p style="text-align: justify;">Not much to say for today, just wanting to wish you happy holidays with few cat pics. I hope you'll have a great time with your loved ones, even if that is the social distancing way that is all too familiar in 2020.</p><p><img alt="_DSC5933 (Large)" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50744554206_80102ac60a_o.jpg" width="1080" /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="text-align: justify;">I'm lucky enough to get to spend some time with my family for a few days, so I may not be as active everywhere as you are used to. It's a healthy break for me as well, because I do spend a lot of time looking at screens and working on posts, typing, planning and whatnot. So I'm giving myself a pass to do pretty much nothing over the holidays, and blogging-wise, I may only be back in January (unless I get super inspired). But in the meantime, you'll have these holiday posts to read, because I bet you haven't read them all yet (since someone dumbed half of them in the course of two days, oops). </p><p><img alt="_DSC5926 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50744663232_68a488066e_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>How are you spending your holidays? Let me know in the comments!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That's all for today, and the next post (I think) will be the yearly recap - and spoiler alert, my plans totally didn't come through, haha. But regardless, it's nice to sit down and reflect the year, and I will make a bucket list for the next year as well, although it might very different than my previous ones, who knows. I'll see you here on the blog next month - but in the meantime you can follow me on Instagram (@jolagerroos), where I will be posting quite many times this year still. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Happy holidays my loves ♥</b></p>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-43601160295611798162020-12-11T12:00:00.129+02:002020-12-21T21:11:21.634+02:0012 Days of Christmas: Holiday Nails, Two Ways<p style="text-align: justify;">It's been quite a while since the previous nail art post, not that I haven't done nail art, but I just haven't posted any. However today, I'm happy to share two designs that are fit for the holidays. Mine are done by stamping, you can use any technique you prefer - or just get inspiration for the color scheme here. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC5967 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50744554146_d4065450d3_o.jpg" width="1603" /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="text-align: justify;">First up is a mani that's thoroughly inspired by Christmas sweaters (as you can see). I stamped these with the Clear Jelly Stamper Better Not Pout stamping plate. Also, I decided to add the glitter accent nails to make them fancier. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128743479@N05/50743818718/in/dateposted/" title="_DSC5992 (Large)"><img alt="_DSC5992 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50743818718_4ddb2d70ae_o.jpg" width="1584" /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">To create the same, you first paint all nails but thumbs and ring fingers with white base color, let dry add top coat, let dry, and then stamp on the sweater pattern (or paint by hand, I didn't have time of patience for that). Then, dab on the gold glitter polish with a sponge (cover your cuticles with latex for easier cleanup!), and lastly seal in the design with top coat. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I swear to you, these were much easier to do than you'd think! </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC5982 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50743819248_4bf3fc1faa_o.jpg" width="1530" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The polishes I used here were <b>Wedding Gown White </b>by <b>Glisten & Glow</b>, <b>Big Hair and Bubbly </b>and <b>Baroque Jungle </b>by <b>China Glaze</b>, and <b>Wild Strawberry </b>by <b>Sally Hansen</b>. The base coat was <b>Long-lasting Base </b>by <b>Holo Taco</b> and top coat by <b>Glisten & Glow</b>. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC5976 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50743819298_cb7772d4fc_o.jpg" width="1562" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC5993 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50744554056_e47acca6e3_o.jpg" width="1606" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Second, I bring you my latest nails, with same sweater pattern but completely different color scheme. And one cat hair. I love this penguin inspired design, although I had the hardest time getting the stamps to lift so the end result isn't the neatest ever. Got to practice more, I guess.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC6016 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50744553921_7ed6ae24b9_o.jpg" width="1613" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">For these, I painted all but thumbs and ring fingers with light grey, let dry, added top coat, stamped the patterns (from the before-mentioned Clear Jelly Stamper Better Not Pout plate), painted the glitter nails in, let dry, added top coat to them, stamped the sweater pattern, and sealed in the whole design with top coat. Little more advanced due to the layered stamping, but still very doable. Trust me!</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC6011 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50744662882_749056371d_o.jpg" width="1533" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The polishes I used were <b>Street Style Princess </b>and <b>Free To Be Sesame </b>by <b>China Glaze</b>, <b>Wedding Gown White </b>and <b>Little Black Dress </b>by <b>Glisten & Glow</b>, and <b>You are my Sunshine</b>, <b>Dolla Dolla Bill</b> and <b>Gotta Be Blue </b>by <b>Clear Jelly Stamper</b>. Top coat and base coat here are the same as in the first mani.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC6003 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50744662972_27ebc81445_o.jpg" width="1733" /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>What do you think about these nails? Let me know in the comments!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">So here are the two holiday designs I actually had the time to do, I'll see if I possibly make matching ones with my mom over the Christmas break, if so I'll post them somewhere! I'm still catching on the Christmas posts, and if I didn't say this in the previous one, I'm sorry for getting so behind on them, life got in the way more than I ever imagined and it took a hot minute to get myself back on track. Anyway, for more content follow my Instagram @jolagerroos, where there's new post for you more or less daily, and where you can give your votes easily on future post topics - I make polls whenever I want to pitch new ideas for you! </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful day ♥</b></p>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-84327506673776526432020-12-09T18:00:00.030+02:002020-12-21T21:13:49.749+02:0012 Days of Christmas: Simple Gift Ideas That Will Fit Your Budget<p style="text-align: justify;">If 2020 has taught me something, it is to value things based on the thought that goes into them rather than what their monetary value is. Especially now that meeting people is tricky if not impossible, I truly appreciate the little things that are thoughtfully picked or made for me. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">And I'm sure many feel the same. So in this post, I'm listing few gift ideas that don't require big budget or can easily be adjusted to fit your budget. I'm sure these are ideas that are readily available in other sources too, but these are some I've tested out in recent years and people have really like them. I know this is probably a little late for this year, but save it for next year or for another occasion you need simple gifts for!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Ready? Let's go.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="_DSC5930 (Large)" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50744663192_d236ee46a6_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Date/motivation jars</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is very easy, you basically just need a jar (with lid), paper, pen and scissors - and whatever you will use to decorate the said jar so it looks cute. Basically, you just make little notes that will be placed inside the jar - make sure they can be folded so that the recipient can't cheat and read them without taking them out.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">For the date jar, you can put date ideas of all kinds (these can be friend dates too, if you're making one to someone you're not romantic with), affordable ones, ones easy to do on a whim, ones that require planning, seasonal ones, holiday-themed ones... Whatever you can think of. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">For the motivation jar, you can do any notes that will cheer up the one you're gifting it to on a day they feel low. It can be X amount of things you love and appreciate about them, motivational quotes, spiritual quotes, lines from their favorite songs or movies, things to do to lift their spirits - again, anything you can think of. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Gift cards</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Sure, you can do ones to someone's favorite store, but I was thinking more of the kinds that will gift the recipient your time or skill etc. For example, make a promise to buy someone a brunch at their favorite place, offer your time to do something they need to get done, and if you have something your good at, like knitting, drawing, crafting - you can offer your service for them.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>DIY jars (baking mix, hot chocolate mix etc.)</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">There are so many different ideas for these on the Internet (especially on Pinterest), so even if you are confused on how to make one, I guarantee you'll find fitting ones for you recipients! I've made, for example, peppermint hot chocolate mixes, where everything but water was in the jar, neatly layered, and attached was the instructions on how to make it (mix everything evenly, measure X amount for one portion and add hot water on top). So you just place dry ingredients in, and let the recipient know what wet ingredients are needed, preferably so that only water will be necessary but for baking ones one might need to add eggs or butter as well. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Three things to note though: You want to choose recipes where all the ingredients can be mixed up at once, so this stays low maintenance. And, these won't arrive cutely layered through the mail, so I'd prefer giving this kind of gift more or less in person (or you know, taking it behind a person's door or in their mailbox) so they look nicer when received. And most importantly, make sure you know possible allergies your recipient has!</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Homemade treats</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">If you know the one you're gifting to loves treats, but doesn't really bake/cook, why not consider making them something tasty? These are also a gift I'd prefer not to make travel too too long, because switching temperatures can be bad for them. But, depending on what you make, you can mail them if accordingly packed and not against your country's/the country's you're sending this to guidelines for mailing things. I've made cookies, rocky road, and other kinds of simple treats, and these are something that is easy to adjust to the season as well as to the person you're gifting these to.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Here, note the possible allergies too, we don't want to poison anyone, haha!</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Travel-sized cosmetics/skincare as pamper pack</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I know travel anything isn't really popping this year, but the reason why I mention travel-sized here is because you can find great offers on those and they are a great way to give products someone has been wanting to try, but yet keep this budget-friendly. Although, if you know the products you're gifting are something the recipient loves, go ahead and make the package from normal-sized items too, if that's in your budget. I was also thinking travel-sized (or maxi samples) can be made into a super cute gift set you can curate yourself and can consist of several different brands instead of being from just one. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Simple DIYs</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Here, the sky is your limit, but keeping it budget-friendly I would suggest going through your craft materials and seeing if you can make something without buying that much new. Using my stash as an example, I always have yarn, fabric, some cardboard, jewelry parts, and a miscellaneous assortment of craft supplies in hand, so often I wouldn't need that much new for smaller projects. And for ideas, I would search on YouTube and Pinterest, for example like "simple DIYs with yarn" or "simple DIY gifts sewing" or whatever it is you'd like to do. Or you can search with the product you want to make and with the material you plan on using, and I promise you'll find ideas.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Do you have any great gift ideas? Leave them in the comments below!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That's it for today's post - I'm sorry I'm behind in them (life update explaining that better will follow in January - and no, I'm not pregnant lol), but I thought I'd post them all anyways since I promised them to you. And most of you will have some time off around this time so you'll have time to read if you care about the subjects. Anyway, for more frequent updates, do follow me on Instagram (@jolagerroos), where I post more or less daily - so you get way more content there! The next blog post will be up right after this.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a lovely day ♥</b></p>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-69303505744788695032020-12-07T18:00:00.113+02:002020-12-07T21:53:20.350+02:0012 Days of Christmas: Battle of the Palettes - Blue Blood VS Blueberry Muffin<p style="text-align: justify;">Ever since I saw someone (and I believe that someone was Angelica Nyqvist) talk about the BH Cosmetics Blueberry Muffin palette, I immediately knew I wanted to get it and see how close the vibes of it are to Blue Blood by Jeffree Star Cosmetics. I know people really like the Blue Blood as a blue palette, but in the current climate many are shifting from JSC to other brands, preferably more affordable ones, so I'm thinking this post could be useful for you as well.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I also ran this through my bestie who thankfully approved so I didn't have to scrap the post, haha. (Love you Vita ♥)</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="blue blood vs blueberry muffin" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687064683_600fced8e7_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="text-align: justify;">Here are the palettes in question. As you can see, there are similar shades, but yet there are a ton of differences, too. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I've talked about Blue Blood in it's own post <a href="https://www.handmadedreamsofmine.com/2019/04/jeffree-star-blue-blood-palette-first.html">here</a> (click!), so in case you need further introduction with it, you can see that post for context. In short, I'd say it's a blue palette with a pop of neutral, I personally really live the color scheme and it is the trusty JSC quality (apart from Ocean Ice, that shade is the devil). I've gotten a ton of use from it especially when it was all new, and as a palette I have mostly good things to say about it. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="blue blood vs blueberry muffin 1" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687813746_f0197383f6_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">About BH Cosmetics Blueberry Muffin palette; In all honesty, I haven't had as much use with this as I should for a full review (the bish has been busy, don't blame the palette!), but what I can say is that the little I've used this, I've absolutely loved the quality! I can't wait to play with it more, and by what I've heard about it from other creators too, it's absolutely worth the money.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="blue blood vs blueberry muffin swatches" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687896117_9eaba94d76_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Here are swatched the shades that are quite similar if not the same between the two palettes: Cullinan, Crystal Flesh, Untouchable, Priceless, Ice Tray, Blue Monday, Ocean Ice and Undertaker from Blue Blood compared to Sugared, Hot & Fresh, So Good, Sweet, Crumble, Cravings, Yummy, Fluffy, Tempting and Stud Muffin from Blueberry Muffin. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="blue blood dupe shades etc" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687813616_0c5feb8041_o.jpg" width="1620" /> </p><p style="text-align: justify;">For more duping purposes, I used some shades from Ace Beaute Oceanic palette. I know they are not exact dupes, but you get the same vibe, and personally I think that's what counts.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="blue blood vs blueberry muffin swatches 1" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687894962_4c16a5e497_o.jpg" width="1620" /> </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Now, the differences are very very clear. Blue Blood has more teal, cool toned vibe, whereas Blueberry Muffin leans a bit warmer with blueberry-like lilacs and richer browns. Colorwise is totally up to you which you prefer. I don't even really know which one would give you more options, as while Blue Blood sure has very similarly toned blues, Blueberry Muffin on the other hand has four quite similar shimmers and it's yet again kind of up to you which you find more useful or versatile, whatever it is you want from a palette.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="battle of the blue palettes" height="1433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687895622_44d4d2a261_o.jpg" width="1080" /><img alt="blue blood vs blueberry muffin" height="1353" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687812521_e4bbd31619_o.jpg" width="1080" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Here's a comparison with both palettes, one side each (on your left, Blueberry Muffin, on your right, Blue Blood). I wanted to use dupe shades so you can see the similarities and differences in performance, and I tried my best to give each a similar shot here. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="blueberry muffin makeup look" height="1473" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687063983_4b99cb7d75_o.jpg" width="1080" /><img alt="blue eyelook" height="1574" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687063908_40362369e6_o.jpg" width="1080" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">You can see the Blueberry Muffin leaning more neutral or even warm, and the shimmers seem more potent than in Blue Blood. But again, it's up to you if those are pros or not. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Personally, I love the quality of Blueberry Muffin (the shades are so easy to work with), and the theme as well as the fact the shades fit the theme well. Also, the packaging is very compact despite the palette being a 16-shade one. Cons would be that from a blue palette, I'd love more options with blues and while the shimmers are gorgeous, there are very repetitive shimmer shades. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="blue blood makeup look" height="1503" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687895462_5143d4c238_o.jpg" width="1080" /><img alt="blue makeup" height="1404" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687063268_67a7e0e970_o.jpg" width="1080" /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">And on the Blue Blood side, the tone is more teal, the shimmers are a tad more toned down and the bright blue was admittedly harder to work with than on the other side. In comparison, the Blue Blood formula seems drier than the one on Blueberry Muffin, and since apparently both have vegan formulas, they are very comparable in that sense. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>So, are they dupes?</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Obviously not exactly, but if you are looking for more affordable option with more easily storable packaging, Blueberry Muffin might be the choice for you. However if you don't mind the price point and absolutely adore teals, I'd recommend Blue Blood more. But as we all know, there are many other blue palettes on the market too (see BH Cosmetics Sweet Shoppe Bubblegum, for example!), so if you are looking to buy an alternative to Blue Blood, there are options. Never let any brand tell you they're the only option out there because most times that's just not true at all. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Which one of these palettes would be your pick? Let me know in the comments!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I've been promising on my Instagram (@jolagerroos) that I will do a video tutorial with the Blueberry Muffin - and that's coming! I will get it up this week, although most likely more at the end of the week, since there's quite a bit going on at the moment. I hope it's at least somewhat worth the wait I've been putting you all through, haha. But anyway, in the meantime, follow me on said Instagram to keep up with all the latest shenanigans, and I'll see you all in the next post!</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful day! ♥</b></p>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-12715685446631483922020-12-05T18:00:00.050+02:002020-12-06T22:30:29.671+02:0012 Days of Christmas: My DIYs since the previous update<p style="text-align: justify;">What's up my loves? As promised, today's post is all about DIY things, although I haven't been up to as many things as I had in the previous DIY update <a href="https://www.handmadedreamsofmine.com/2020/09/latest-diy-projects.html">here</a> (click!). That's because I'm busy with studying and working all the darn time, and can't put as much time into DIY as I'd love to. However, that'll change once I graduate (which should be in June if all goes well). </p><p>But without further ado, let's talk about DIY!</p><p><img alt="knitted skirt" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687812921_ab253b8b6a_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">First I want to share my progress with this skirt I already mentioned in the previous post. It has come quite the way since that and I'm hoping to finish it before the year ends - wish me luck! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="slytherin mittens" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687812791_9d32c7b54a_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Next up are these Slytherin mittens I made for myself (the pattern can be bought from Ravelry in case you want to make these, or ones for your own house, whichever that may be!). The yarns here were bought from Lankamaailma, which is one of my go-to yarn shops because even these times, I love going into a physical store and see and feel the yarns before buying (taking all the necessary precautions, of course). These were such a fun projects, and inspired me to do a completely another one soon too - which I'll talk about later in this post.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="christmas cards" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687063198_2dd1e5c134_o.jpg" width="1658" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm usually so bad with sending, let alone making Christmas cards, but this year I had inspiration through one of the knitting groups I'm in and decided to do these simple ones with some yarn in them. I'm hoping the people I will give cards to will love them, so far I've gotten one good feedback from them as the first person received theirs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="sock yarn" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687895172_ca075ff5d9_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So, I mentioned above that I got inspired by the Slytherin mittens, and what I mean is that I bought a pattern for knee high Slytherin socks, and bought these yarns for them. Can't wait to get into knitting these!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And speaking of buying yarn... </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="new yarn" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687895097_252ff4167f_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here's my latest knitting haul. Yikes. No but seriously, I figured I want to have more options since many yarns I have are a tad thick and I've found many amazing patterns that require thinner yarn unless I want to do knitting math and I honestly hate that so I rather get the right thickness of yarn. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And bamboo sock needles because I may or may not have broken one from a previous set. Oops.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also I realized I haven't yet shared my yarn stashes so let's do that too today:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="yarn stash 2" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687895047_ab3abde7d2_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Next to my writing spot, I have this crochet basket full of goodies, showcasing some adorable yarns from Nurja (local yarn shop). I have made the basket myself, and am quite very proud of it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="yarn stash 1" height="1508" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687812636_aff9c75a0f_o.jpg" width="1080" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Inside one of the bedroom closets there's yarn on two shelves (oops), here's the first of them...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="yarn stash" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50687895002_ebc74243f4_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">...and here's the second of them.</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I also may or may not have a couple of more spots where I store the yarn but let's leave that for another time, haha.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>What are your latest DIYs? Share with me in the comments!</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's it for this post, but next week I'll have more posts coming your way. On Monday, we'll talk about makeup, on Wednesday I'll share some gift ideas, on Friday we'll have a nail talk and on Sunday I'll give you some recommendations for creators to follow right now. So it's going to be a full week, and I hope you'll like what I've planned for you! In the meantime, I recommend following me on Instagram @jolagerroos for the latest updates, most content and all that jazz. I'll see you again here on Monday!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful day ♥</b></div>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-49077807689894236262020-12-03T13:00:00.001+02:002020-12-03T13:00:07.806+02:0012 Days of Christmas: At Home Hot Beverage Bar for a Small Space<p style="text-align: justify;">Have you already gotten your home ready for the holidays? Because we sure have. There are some finishing touches I still want to do before I'm 100% happy with it all, but mostly we are done and can just enjoy the holiday vibes. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Before starting to decorate our place, I admittedly watched way too many "Decorate with me for Christmas" videos, and one of them showed this adorable holiday coffee station that was set on a side table with holiday mugs and all that jazz. That made me want to have a cute beverage bar too, however our space is super limited so a whole table for that is not currently an option (but a girl can dream, right?).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">So, I did a smaller version, and will happily share mine with you, so maybe you can also create your own. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Let's get right to it:</p><p><img alt="christmas beverage bar" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50673203597_c73dfba672_o.jpg" width="1494" /> <span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">For me, a station like this only needs two things: Peppermint canes and marshmallows (and you know, optionally some sort of a whipped cream but we all know that needs to stay in the fridge, haha). So for this year, all I needed was three dishes for them, one for marshmallows, one for bigger canes and one for smaller canes. Since the canes are individually wrapped, I didn't need dishes that have lids in them to protect the candy from moisture and such. And lucky from me, the (gluten-free) marshmallows I bought from <a href="https://www.suklaapuoti.net/">Suklaapuoti</a> already came in very neat jar so I didn't have to change that.</p><p><img alt="candy bar" height="954" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50672373738_cda82453d7_o.jpg" width="1920" /> </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The dish I have for the small canes is something that has been gifted for me years ago, but it's so fancy I never use it in my daily life. But it fits for the holidays so I happily placed it on the kitchen counter, where I built this little station (next to the coffee machine, of course). The glass that holds the bigger canes is a 3 € find from grocery store (Citymarket Pirkkala, to be exact for my Finnish readers). Next year I will consider also getting a cute crystal jar for the marshmallows, but for now I don't mind them being a different vibe from the other two.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">If this crystal-looking theme is not your vibe, or you just want to see more option before making yours, I would recommend checking out Rachel Norstrom's blog <a href="https://www.lovestylestories.com/post/my-christmas-d%C3%A9cor">here</a> (click!), where she shares her holiday decorations, but more importantly her version of a coffee center - and hers is way cuter and thought out than mine! </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="peppermint heart" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50672373438_3c5c2f8a65_o.jpg" style="text-align: left;" width="1568" /><img alt="peppermint and marshmallows" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50673203397_10b5c97086_o.jpg" style="text-align: left;" width="1555" /><img alt="marimekko mug" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50672373628_c5ae365633_o.jpg" style="text-align: left;" width="1620" /><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Can we take a moment to appreciate this cutest ever Marimekko mug my boyfriend got me? I felt it was the perfect match to this post (and it kinda matches our kitchen curtains too!). </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Okay, but to stay in the topic of hot beverages, in the perfect world (or, with more time thought put into the setup), I would have nicely matched jars for my currently owned teas (there are many, and currently in mismatched retro jars) next to the water boiler, the coffee items neatly displayed next to the coffee machine and then the add-ons (candies and whatnot) in their own rack or other cute display. And all these would be easy to update to current season/holiday by just switching up the flavors and colors of the ingredients a little. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Can you get my vision?</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="christmas drink" height="1552" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50673203277_11622c1a34_o.jpg" style="text-align: left;" width="1080" /><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Of course this wouldn't be a complete food-themed post without a couple of mood posts of a hot beverage, right? So here you have some pics I had so much fun taking and editing and making them as holiday vibed as I could. Are they necessary for this post to get across? Probably not. Were they still absolutely needed? Yes they were.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Oh, and the drink of choice here is dark roast coffee made into latte with (gluten-free) oat milk, topped with (lactose free) whipped cream, (gluten-free) marshmallows, couple of small peppermint canes and a bit of pumpkin spice sprinkled on top. Yes, pumpkin spice, I love it all year round and have a jar of home made stuff around at all times. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="christmas coffee" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50673203147_22bd338f00_o.jpg" style="text-align: left;" width="1603" /><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>What's one thing you really love about your holiday decor this year? Let me know in the comments and let's inspire one another!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That's all for today, but I'll be back on Saturday with another post that will be DIY themed and it will include at least one holiday themed idea you too can do at home. In the meantime I highly recommend you check my Instagram @jolagerroos, because that's my most active platform and you can reach me there the easiest especially if you have any post requests, I'm always open to hearing what you all want to see here or on the other platforms! See you in the next post!</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a lovely day ♥</b></p>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-87272186353548718922020-12-01T18:00:00.199+02:002020-12-01T19:17:31.336+02:0012 Days of Christmas 2020: Sleighing the Look<p style="text-align: justify;">Hey my loves, it's been a while since the last post. I've been insanely busy with work and school, and since posting on Instagram is ways more effortless than writing a full on blog post, I've really only been active there. However, at least for this month, we are back with new content (I don't know how my spring schedule will look like, so I can't make decisions for that quite yet, I'll keep you updated once I know more!). Like the title says, there will be 12 posts leading to Christmas, and they all have been planned out already. I'm very excited for you to see them all, I ran couple of the ideas through my bestie before locking them into my schedule and since she approved, you'll all get to see them. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">And to answer to potential question of why 12 December posts and not 24. Honestly, lack of time. I can't get through rest of the work and school tasks of the year and to be able to do daily content here that still stays relevant, informative and/or entertaining. I rather bring you quality, which is why I was on accidental hiatus instead of posting half-assed texts for you.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">To kick off this month, I wanted to share this outfit with you. It's my take on metal babe meets festive, and while I would wear this all year round, the shade of green here is, in my opinion, pretty perfect for the season.</p><p><img alt="how to style leather pants" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50668741651_8dc046d1da_o.jpg" width="1379" /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="text-align: justify;">I don't know if it shows in the pictures, but I was truly feeling myself in this outfit, with my hair freshly dyed, the Christmas tree as a prop and makeup on point. I felt like I was my true Slytherin self, to be completely honest. If you're not familiar with Harry Potter, or just know the Slytherin as bad guys because you're not that deep in the lore, here's a crash course to Slytherin mentality: Slytherin are high-achieving, cunning and resourceful people with quite a bit of pride and determination. All of which are attributes I have, some to a fault, if I'm completely honest. And for those who are totally lost on the HP fandom, the Slytherin colors and green and silver, which is why I feel so at home in tones of green - especially the jewel tones.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">If you are into Harry Potter, please share with me what your house is in the comments. Bonus points if yours is from another magic school besides Hogwarts!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Enough geeking out? Okay, let's get back to the outfit pictures. Below the next two pics, there are more detailed information on where all the items are from. Although I have to say, unlike quite many fashion bloggers, I can't most times link the exact items for you since for basic items I shop sales and secondhand, and try to keep the items as long as I can so chances for you finding them new is quite slim, unfortunately. If you'd like to have links to similar items in outfit posts going forward, let me know so in the comments so I can arrange that. For this post I didn't yet do it, because I wasn't sure if you care for it or if it's an unnecessary step for me - so your feedback would be more than welcome! I'm hoping to develop my content to meet your needs more, and therefore I need you to be active in telling what you want or don't want to see.</p><p><img alt="MintMongoose jewelry" height="1620" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50668741591_f6d5ba4698_o.jpg" width="1080" /><br /><img alt="killstar callista boots" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50668813912_76ebc3ea79_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Sweater:</b> New Look (secondhand find through Zadaa) <b>Pleather pants:</b> Gina Tricot <b>Boots:</b> Killstar (bought from <a href="https://www.fantasmagoria.eu/callista-vegan-boots-killstar">Fantasmagoria</a>) <b>Belt:</b> Veniz (secondhand find through Zadaa) <b>Necklace:</b> <a href="https://mintmongoose.com/">MintMongoose</a> <b>Bracelets: </b>MintMongoose (white one), H&M? (the others)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">True myself, this look is a mix of old and new, there are secondhand pieces, there are things I've owned for a while and completely new things (the necklace and honestly, the makeup). You know I believe in style over trends, which is why I've taken it as my mission to switch out some of the pieces from my closet to pieces that are more simple or more me, so that they will stand time better. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Also I have to give it's own little segment for the boots here, I love them to bits. They are pretty much everything I could hope from a shoe, edgy but comfortable, and they go together with so many different looks. If you love them too, Killstar still has them in stock <a href="https://www.killstar.com/collections/womens-boots/products/callista-boots-b?variant=13350247137339">here</a> (click! not affiliated in any shape or form, just want to make finding them easier for you).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">For other pieces, like mentioned earlier, I don't have shopping links, however simple sweaters, faux leather pants and accessories are not immensely difficult to find. You can definitely copy this look on budget, and most likely you already own pieces with which you get similarly vibed look. </p><p><img alt="styling killstar callista boots" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50667992358_80346db720_o.jpg" width="1620" /><img alt="MintMongoose necklace" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50668741556_73272ef230_o.jpg" width="1620" /><img alt="Jeffree Star Blood Money eyeshadow" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50668741531_6db1f62fcf_o.jpg" width="1620" /> </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Also I really had to include a picture of this makeup look because I loved wearing it a lot. If you follow me mainly on Insta, you may not be as familiar with my skin texture as you are if you've followed me here, but here we go. My skin is far from poreless and perfect, but taking pictures with phone from perfect angle in amazing lighting helps out a lot, and as I've told you in <a href="https://www.handmadedreamsofmine.com/2020/09/How-to-take-makeup-pics-for-instagram.html">this post</a> (click!), I do edit my makeup pics to keep the focus on the eye makeup because I find that the most interesting focal point.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>What are your thoughts about this whole look? Let me know in the comments!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That's all for today, but in the next post on Thursday we'll talk a bit about holiday vibed treats, so stay tuned for that! And for more content, follow me on Instagram (@jolagerroos), as I am posting there on most days and try to give you makeup inspiration, styling tips and more. See you in the next post!</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful day ♥</b></p>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-44913724942300880212020-09-19T18:00:00.088+03:002020-09-19T19:14:38.321+03:00Latest DIY Projects a.k.a My Stress Relief Outcomes<p style="text-align: justify;">I was supposed to post this a week ago, but am honestly so busy I'm happy we're getting this up only a week late. So, let that be said, posts may be a little more sparse for the time being as I am working, studying and living all at the same time, so Internet must wait at times. But once I get my studies out of the way, there'll be more time for blog posts and such. I will try my best to compensate the lack of quantity with quality, so that the few posts you get will then be better. But without any further ado, let's get into this post and to my latest DIY projects.</p><div><img alt="beanie" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50312667376_8b892e8b62_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">First up is this fluffy mint green beanie I actually made too big at first, ended up taking apart and knitting together again, so it took twice the time it should have, but hey, that's how you learn, right? I made this one from local yarn shop Nurja's yarns, and the yarns feel so nice I'll be definitely buying from them again for projects like this.</div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="novita sweater" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50295059151_d274cd8c5b_o.jpg" width="1660" /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Next up is a sweater that took forever partly because it has a lot going on but mostly because one part of the pattern was quite frustrating to me. The yarns I used here were Flora and Nord (both in several colors) by Drops, purchased from a local shop called Villa Pallo. I'm very proud of this sweater, and luckily it's soon chilly enough to start wearing this. It's very soft since the yarns are alpaca/wool blends.</div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="skirt to be" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50295212837_c9e519833d_o.jpg" width="1543" /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">From the same yarns, I'm currently making a matching skirt, which was in very early stages when I took these pics, but I'm already nearly halfway done with it. I'll be posting pics both here and on Insta once I'm all done!</div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="knitted blanket" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50294381363_19804a7fe8_o.jpg" width="1617" /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As a super easy, yet big project, I have this blanket-to-be from Novita yarn. This material is super soft (more or less acrylic though, if I'm not mistaken, I'll update that once you'll see the full blanket later on!) and pleasant to knit, and this is what I go back to whenever I want an easy knit I just want to have in my hands while focusing on something I'm watching/listening, because with this I don't have to think at all when knitting.</div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="wool yarn" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50294381608_0e3d665933_o.jpg" width="1603" /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then a bit about two things I've gotten yarns for but haven't started yet because I still have the skirt to finish. The yarns above are from Lankamaailma, 100% wool and nice petrol blue color, and they'll become a super simple sweater very soon. </div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="wool yarn" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50295212897_2d2121697d_o.jpg" width="1620" /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And lastly, these are my skull cardigan yarns for a cardigan very suited to a Slytherin heart like mine. Can't wait to start this one, and will definitely talk more about this project later on, when it gets started at some point. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Have you done any DIYs lately? Tell me in the comments!</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's all for today, but if you're itching for more content, I'm active more or less daily on Instagram, where I share outfits, makeup looks and more. So follow me on @jolagerroos on Insta, if that's something you care to see, and I'll see you here on the blog some day during the coming week, not entirely sure which day that'll be because of my schedule, but I'll sneak peek it on Instagram when I know, okay? See you in the next one!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful day ♥</b></div>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-14580594889201397092020-09-09T18:00:00.195+03:002020-09-10T21:11:03.423+03:00Wisdom Wednesday: Studying With a Full Time Job (My Experience)<p style="text-align: justify;">Today's post is half advice/tips, half a "what's going on with my life" post. I wanted to write this because I'm sure there are other people in similar situation or people who think about taking up a bit of studying while working full time. To be honest, it can be a hard thing to do, depending on what you do for a job and what and how much you want/need to study, but I'm here to tell you about things that make it all doable for me. If that's something you'd be interested in, keep on reading.</p><p><img alt="study supplies" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50326865223_3c5a172102_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>Why I'm studying while working</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is kind of something I didn't want to end up doing, but due to financial situations, working has made more sense than full time studying. Also there's the fact I want to be financially as independent as possible, and working makes that more easily possible than studying. Therefore, I've ended up postponing my graduation because before, I don't think I had the skills to manage working and studying at the same time. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Now, things are different. I'm in a better place mentally, I don't stress about grades as much, and I can better see what the school tasks are for (meaning, what they are meant to teach), all of which give more motivation for studying on my free time.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>How did I get in an arrangement like this</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">First, I contacted my school counselor about my missing courses and they helped me list out every little thing I'd need to pass in order to get my degree. Then, I had to give them an estimated schedule on how long I think it will take for me to get my degree. So far, I'm more or less on the schedule. I communicate with the counselor every few weeks to check on if I have all the necessary courses booked, but the rest is just up to me. </p><p><b>Communicating with school about studying methods</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">If there's something good about 2020, it's that this is truly the year when schools and workplaces have upped the possibilities to do things online/from home whenever possible. Therefore, I have had the chance to suggest teachers that because of my working situation, I could do most of my attending by interdependent studies, and in many cases, that's been acceptable. Also, I'm in a lucky position where I have a little flexibility on my working hours, so in case I need to tune in to an online lesson, I can make up for that time during the week by coming early or staying late. But whenever I can, I have been choosing essay writing, learning journals and whatnot over attending the classes so that I can keep the studying on my free time - the one exception being my thesis, which I'm doing in collaboration with my workplace and therefore can work on in at the office too. </p><p><b>Choosing the courses</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">While there are courses that are mandatory for me, few are to deepen my chosen expertise, and those I have had the pleasure to choose all by myself. Not to go in too too much detail, but they all surround the themes of sales and marketing and I've chosen so that they would be helpful for me now but also later in my career. Also, for some mandatory courses I have tried to look into how they best fit my schedule, and am choosing the courses by that. All in all choosing the courses has been one of the easiest parts, because I really know what I want out of the school.</p><p><img alt="pen_notebook" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50327707272_9d6148e3dd_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><p><b>Scheduling my tasks to not get overwhelmed</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">And this would be one of the hardest parts. Due to my overly curious nature, I have a ton of things I'd love to do every given day, and therefore focusing on studying when my mind really wants to, for example, knit is kind of challenging. However, writing down deadlines on my calendar and sticking to them so I can cross them off as I go is a method that works for me. This Autumn, every time a new class has started or a new task has been given, I have written school's definite deadline down and then have written my in-between goals down once the big deadlines were in place. Now, I have tasks to do most days, and can constantly feel like I'm furthering my education. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">But, like I said, I have things for <i>most days</i>, not all days. I do give my mind a little slack too, because overly stressed mind does not perform well. </p><p><b>Writing my thesis with busy schedule</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Another one I've been admittedly struggling with. However, currently I'm very much on track with this. It's sometimes hard to just sit down and read for the thesis, gather notes, let alone write sensible text for the thesis, but all in all you just have to schedule time and just do it so that you get on with the work. And there will be the time when you notice you're actually half-way done, and after that, there comes the day you're all the way done. You just sometimes have to take babysteps.</p><p><img alt="pusheen cup" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50327529946_1693f42703_o.jpg" width="1620" /></p><p><b>Making time for things that make me unwind</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Lastly, it's very important to give your mind and body time to rest, so scheduling relaxation and having enough time for sleep, unwinding and all that is in my opinion mandatory if you plan on having a lot on your plate. And also, listen to your body and mind so that you don't overwork or overly stress yourself. Nobody should drive themselves into burnout just for the sake of getting shit done.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Do you have experience from working and studying at the same time? Share your experiences below!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That's all I have for you today, but I'll be back with another post on Saturday, when we'll talk about my latest DIY projects. And in the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram for outfits, makeup looks and more, because I'm active daily on my account(@jolagerroos, in case you are new here). I'll see you in my next post!</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a lovely day ♥</b></p>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-28217516559099014772020-09-06T18:00:00.138+03:002020-09-06T20:41:09.013+03:00Support Sunday: Fashionistas to Follow on Instagram<p style="text-align: justify;">Today, I'm really wanting to share some love to ladies who inspire me, my style and my photography (last of those not yet so much since I'm a noob though) constantly. And since you are reading this, I assume you get inspired by more or less same things than I do. I believe all of the ladies I mention in this post have more than their Instagram, but links for everything you can find on their profiles so please just go check them out, give their posts some love and give them follows, too.</p><p><img alt="instagram" height="1080" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50312840312_3710217590_o.jpg" width="1545" /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/rachelnorstrom/">Rachel Norstrom</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Not only does she have a super cute style, but also she posts a lot of great tips on how to up your photo game. I'm always inspired by her feed, and she's very very nice and interactive with her followers so I would wholeheartedly say she's a very uplifting lady and absolutely worth following. She also has beautiful presets for sale in case you are looking for your perfect one to bring your feed to the next level.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/luanna/">Luanna</a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">If you've been to the fashion blogging scene in the past 10 years, I think you most likely know who Luanna is, especially if you're into grunge/rock vibed style. I have created recreations here on the blog and regularly pin her things on my Pinterest boards because I find her style highly inspiring. I feel like her looks can easily be achieved even on a budget (I mean of course you'd have to dupe a piece here and there but you would get the same vibe to the look), and her makeup and hair are always on point too. If I were the kind of girl who had a go-to makeup, her typical bold winged liner and red lips would be my things too. </p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/saskiabzn/">@saskiabzn</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Saskia is currently a blue-haired babe like me and has an amazing edgy style and she, like me, takes her photos inside, which in all honesty makes me feel very validated as that's how I roll too. But also, her wardrobe is to die for with so many amazing items I need to get in my closet at some point too. Her magic, to me, is that her outfits, much like Luanna's, are consisting of "basic" items (meaning, items you can find in almost any clothing store you prefer), but are styled and accessorized to look edgy and different. And that's honestly my style goals in every way. </p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/leatherandlacebyelyse/">Leather and Lace by Elyse</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">More high-end fashionista, but one of the sweetest souls I interact with regularly. She poses with such attitude, much like Rachel, and especially her sporty chic and casually chic looks give me so much inspo all the time. She switched her feed to more editorial a little while back, and her feed truly is like a mini fashion magazine on the internet. </p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/rightmew/">@rightmew</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Sara here is one of my absolute style idols with her cute but edgy outfits. Her shoe collection borderline makes me drool because I swear she owns all my shoe goals. I absolutely adore how she makes the edgy looks cute, girly and full of attitude without posing super provocatively - and that actually goes for all the ladies in my list. (Sidenote; I have no issues for anyone wanting to post sexy content on the internet, but admittedly when it comes to style inspo I actually want to see the outfits and not just skin.) Sara also has an Etsy store with adorable prints, so I highly recommend checking that out if you want to support her more than with a follow.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/shelly.curry/">Shelly Curry</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Last but not least, Shelly. Shelly has one of the cutest wardrobe backgrounds, meaning she has a beautifully organized display of clothes behind her on her outfit pics. Much like Saskia and Sara, Shelly's closet and collection of shoes are both absolutely drool-worthy. I always see pieces and looks I want to try and her looks make me want to up my outfit game so much more. If you ever see me copycatting a look from her, don't be surprised, haha. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>What are some style influencers you think are worth following? Share them in the comments!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That's all for today's post, but like I just said, feel free to continue the conversation on comments or even on my dms so we can all find more inspiration to our feed. The next post will probably come on Wednesday unless inspiration strikes and I have something for you on Tuesday, too, but most likely I'll be focusing on work and school for a couple of days and can't make enough time for an extra post. However, I will be active on Instagram so in addition to these ladies I mentioned above, I really hope you'll follow my tiny account @jolagerroos, where I post style, makeup and bits and pieces more. I'll see you in my next post!</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful day ♥</b></p>Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257825015533947512.post-65484866455005932012020-09-05T18:00:00.034+03:002020-09-05T18:00:08.936+03:00Mittens for Amaranthe<div style="text-align: justify;">
Today, I want to share the little DIY gifts I made for Amaranthe to give to them when I got to meet them before all the lockdowns and such. The band us full of amazing people whose music truly makes my life so much better - and has made me meet people who I want to have in my life for the rest of eternity. To thank the band for this amazing, magical music as well as the friendships I've got to build through the music, I figured I'd create a pair of mittens for each. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">All these patterns are at least based on ones I've found/bought on the internet, some of them I've only changed the color to, some are quite a bit modified. </div>
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Admittedly, this project took a while to complete but I enjoyed every step of the way. I tried to choose colors, patterns and sizes that would fit each band member well, and before handing these to them, I felt I did a decent job. After giving these to their rightful owners, I feel even more so. The feedback from the band was heart-warming, and it encourages me to DIY more for the people I care about. </div>
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Some might think why go through all that trouble since bands get a ton of presents anyway and I'm just a stranger to them, but I think a thoughtful gift is always appreciated and especially when it's a self-made one. Besides, in case the members themselves wouldn't have use for the mittens, I'm sure there are people willing to wear them. A well made mitten always finds a good home.</div>
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So, what did I make and for who?</div>
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Heart mittens for the lady in the band, Elize, since she is a girly girl and such a sweetheart. This pattern was originally inspired by the Yule god Jolnir, which apparently is another name for Odin, the major god of the old Norse mythology. I thought having Nordic mythology but also switching the colors into borderline unicorn ones would be quite cool. And that's how the mittens for Elize were created. I love this design quite a bit, and she seemed quite happy about receiving these as well. </div>
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The next design was pair of fingerless gloves with embroidered GG6 on them. For those unfamiliar with Amaranthe, GG6 is not only a song by them (and a really good one!), but also a nickname for their growler Henrik - who has a stage shirt with somewhat similar lettering on it, which was my inspiration for these. I hate embroidery to my core, so me going through making these shows actually quite the dedication for the band. The lettering itself took hours upon hours to make and I still feel it could've been done better. (Perfectionist in me has been awakened, haha)</div>
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The next pair were a creation for Olof, who plays mainly the guitar but can also master keyboards. Which is why his design has both of those Instruments in it. This pattern was an alteration from a very death metal looking one, but I simplified it down a bit to make it more Olof and make it more Amaranthe. Blue felt like the right color for him so that's why it was chosen to be the base color of it all. </div>
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The next design was a challenge not only for being an intricate one, but also because I tried to makw mittens out of fingerless gloves pattern. I'm still not too sure if the fit on these is quite right, but I'm hoping that if these need fixing, Nils lets me do that for him. (Hello, perfectionism speaking again here!) Why I chose these for the clean vocals man of the band was due to the fact he sings in two somewhat different bands, so he is massively talented in music to keep up with both projects. So basically the design stands for the two main band projects in his life, Amaranthe and Dynazty. Both of which you should check out in case you're unfamiliar with them.<br />
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Then there are the design for the bass player Johan. Since I know he's kind of a fellow Finn, it felt right to take inspiration for his mittens from the Finnish nature, more specifically from the "ruska" in Finnish Lapland, which is the time in Autumn when the nature turns all sorts of colorful and looks more stunning than ever. He seemed really pleased with these when I saw him, which truly warms my heart so much. For these, I used the same pattern as for Olof's ones, but altered it even more.</div>
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Last but so not least are drum mittens for the drummer of the band, Morten. Again, there was sort of embroidery involved, kind of not as tricky as in Henrik's gloves, but also kind of so much harder. For these, I had to combine 4 things, first a basic mitten pattern for measurements, then the guitar/bass one mentioned below, my own idea for the stripes and then the pattern of the drums that was originally designed for those craft pearls you melt together with iron. If it sounds like quite the project, it sounds like it was. These were probably the hardest pair to make but after seeing he truly liked them (enough to post them on his Instagram), I'm really proud of creating them.</div>
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<div style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">What's the last DIY you've done? Share with me in the comments!</div><div style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This post seems like the perfect opportunity to share that I'm thinking of sharing a bit more of my DIYs here in the blog as it suits the name, it suits the original idea behind me starting the blog and moreover, it suits me. I will continue having posts about whatever I feel like writing, so at least for now, this won't become a total DIY blog. But also knitting and all that makes my mind calm and helps me relax so I think sharing my latest works could be fun for all of us. If you're more into just style and makeup looks, those will be still found on my Instagram more or less daily, but over here on the blog I want to do a touch different things. So if you're coming from Insta to the blog, you get to know the person behind the pretty pics a little more. I'll see you soon in another post!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a wonderful weekend ♥</b></div><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>
<br /><br />Johanna L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11093450440532827411noreply@blogger.com0