Final Exam Survival Tips

Finals are really stressful for many of us. The preparations are one thing - making a check-list of what to learn, planning when and in the end actually learning it all. But when the exam is actually taking place, there are a few additional challenges to face which no one really thinks about beforehand. 

1. Get up early the day before the exam, too. If you have to get up at 7 am, it could be a good idea to get up at half past six the day before to be prepared to go to bed earlier that evening. 

2. Don't learn too much one day before the exam. It's okay to do a few quick exercises, but you should be done with all the topics up to this point and therefore should not have to learn anything new anymore. Instead, just repeat what you've already learned and take a bath before bedtime if you like. Do something relaxing. Thinking you will have that one essential realisation is probably an illusion anyway, so you should concentrate on not worrying too much instead. 

3. Don't let the others get you nervous. When you're having your final exams, you're usually asked to come a bit earlier than you're officially required to. Chances are that you'll stand in front of the room you'll be taking the test in, together with some of your fellow students. Try not to talk about the subject of the exam and if someone does, don't worry if you don't understand what they're talking about - you probably won't need that anyway and even if so, you'll understand it a lot better when you read it during the exam. 

4. Take a safe item with you. Exams can be extremely stressful and frustrating at times. That's why I'd suggest taking something nice with you, such as a lucky charm or a small plush toy. Just make sure that it's something that is allowed to be brought with you. 

5. Take some candy with you. Of course you shouldn't forget something "normal" to eat and a bottle of water either, but candy really helps calming down and thinking more clearly. And it'll treat you quite a bit, most of all if you choose chocolate. But get rid of any loud wrappers before you leave the house and just put the candy into a small lunchbox so that you won't disturb your fellow students during the exam.

6. Check how much time you needed for each assignment. In exams like this, you'll have a lot of time and a ton of assignments. If you're just a tiny bit too slow, the time loss could build up throughout the exam and you might not be able to finish all the assignments on time. So be careful to check the clock after at least every other assignment and adjust your pace accordingly.

Bonus tip: Use a biro for writing. What has been written with a biro can't be washed away by water (in contrast to ink). So if you accidentally spill your water over the paper, the thing can still be read and you won't have to start all over again. And you won't have any trouble with a leaking pen cartridge either. I suggest taking at least three biros with you, just to be sure. 

So those are my tips for final exams. Do you have any additional tips or did something different? Let me know in the comments. And for those who haven't had their exams yet: good luck and don't panic!

Graduation - the Beginning of the Real Life?

As a child, I never really thought about life; I knew I was alive and I was thinking that life would always be that way. I didn't have a lot of trouble, I was just having fun with other children, everyone around me was happy and no one seemed to have any problem that was more serious than losing a toy at the playground. 
That was until I went to elementary school. I had really been looking forward to going to school, being one of the "big kids" who know a lot of things. I hated elementary from the first day on. I hated having to spend time at school on things I already knew. There were quite a few interesting things we learned at elementary school though and that were the days when I came home and was simply happy. I spent my whole time at elementary thinking that life would be better once I'm done with school because working couldn't be worse than this, could it?
When the time had come for me to go to fifth grade, to another school, I was really excited. The holidays didn't seem to go by and my pleasant anticipation grew with every day. Then, when the holidays were finally over, secondary school turned out to be even worse than elementary. My new classmates seemed to hate me, I didn't have that one class teacher that held most lessons but for each subject I got a different teacher. And the surprise tests started. We hadn't had any surprise tests at elementary. We had known exactly when the next test would be. But in secondary, that calming feeling of security was simply wiped out. So I spent years at secondary, wondering how long it would take to get to 11th grade and finally being able to decide what I want to learn. During this period of my life, I thought that the real life would begin once I'll have retired in about half a century. To me, "life" meant to be able to do whatever I want to with the time I have. I can't remember the time before I went to kindergarten. So my real life would come when I'm old. 
11th grade came just as fifth grade has come; I was excited, I couldn't wait to finally be allowed to choose the subjects I want to take. Well, there wasn't much to choose; out of 14ish subjects I used to have, I had to pick 10, but there were strict rules concerning what can be chosen in which combinations. So in the end I was stuck with 4 subjects I absolutely hated, 2 I didn't care about and 4 I actually wanted. Turned out later that one of the subjects I wanted simply wasn't a good choice, but it's fine, I hate it but I'll get through it. In a good two weeks I'll never have to worry about it anymore, so that's great. I just remembered the saying on our graduation pullovers; it says "start life", as if life would start right after graduation. But if my life starts in a few weeks, what has this all been? What has all the time spent laughing, crying, dreaming, creating.. what has this all been if not life? It won't magically get better. We won't be happier just because we graduated. Life won't get easier. Life won't simply begin after graduation. It'll be different of course, it'll be difficult, it'll be easier at times. But we've already experienced major changes in our lives, so that's not a concept that's new to us.
Nevertheless, there's a bit of truth in this saying; it'll be the first major decision that only we alone can make. We'll decide where to go, how to get there and at which pace. We'll decide on our occupation, whether we want to study or do an internship first. We will have the power to decide, on our own, what we'll turn our life into. May it be getting famous, earning lots of money or doing what we really want to do against all odds - it will be us who decide. 

Happy New Year 2018!

Time for New Year's resolutions! As we probably all know, people are more likely to stick to their resolutions if they share them. So I'll start doing that right away!

For this year, I decided on a few managable New Year's resolutions which I will actually try to manage.
So, on the one hand I will continue learning for my Abitur exams tomorrow and I will keep repeating everything until the exams are over in about a month.
I'll be nicer and more understanding towards everyone around me and will also help more people. I also plan on spending more time with the people I like because when the exams are over, I'll have some more time to relax and hang out with friends and family.
Talking about time, I'm also keen on spending more time on sewing and maybe learning a few more skills to be able to make better plushies and clothing that actually fits. I'll start pretty soon since I definitely decided on sewing my dress for the graduation ball myself (since I couldn't find one I really liked anywhere in a store or online; you can find the prototype I made for my doll here).
I want to do more sports and eat more slowly and maybe I'll finally lose some weight this year.

So that's my list of good resolutions for 2018. What New Year's resolutions do you have? Let me know in the comments and I wish you all a happy and healthy new year!

Holiday Season Traditions

Hey guys!

So, with New Year's Eve approaching, I want to share a few of my family's holiday traditions with you! 

I personally think that traditions are great - they're the part of a holiday that make it recognizable every year. Apart from all the obvious Christmas traditions such as exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve (in Germany that's more common than on Christmas Day), there are many smaller traditions that developed throughout the years in my family.

Raclette on Christmas Eve or Day, Fondue on New Year's Eve. Or the other way around.

I don't know where that tradition came from, we somehow happen to always have that, every year :D

Singing together at my aunt's place.

We - all my cousins, my parents, brother and me - used to gather my aunt's house every Christmas Eve because it's her birthday and then we would sit in the kitchen, singing Christmas carols and pretending not to see our parents placing the presents under the tree. It was really nice, but I can understand that now that all the cousins are too old to believe in Santa, my aunt wants a less stressful day and instead we now meet at Christmas Day. But we're usually still singing and this year, I played a few carols on the flute together with my cousin who recently started playing the piano. Music's the best!

Putting up the Christmas tree no earlier than a week before Christmas.

I don't know exactly why my parents don't want to put it up earlier, maybe because it takes a bit of space or something like that, but we never put up the tree until a few days before Christmas. 

Lead-Pouring! 

Well, it's not really a family tradition since I seem to be the only one in the house who always does that on New Year's Eve :D I love pouring molten lead into cold water because I think it's fascinating to watch it harden instantly. 

Midnight snack on New Year's Eve

Uhm, we call it midnight, but we actually do that at elevenish. My mother always makes some sandwiches (but with bread rolls instead of sandwich toast). 

Sparkling wine for New Year

I think that's pretty usual but yeah, we do that too :D 

So, what holiday traditions does your family have? Are there any unusual, weird or funny ones? Let me know ^^

Dec 24th: Snowflakes for Christmas!

While some of you might actually find snow outside during the holidays, most probably won't. For those of you who aren't as lucky, I've got you covered. Today, we'll be making snowflakes! The snowflakes I mean aren't that cold though and won't turn back to liquid water when touched. But they'll melt in your mouth.
By now, you might have guessed what snowflakes are. For those of you who don't know, the snowflakes I'm talking about are a sort of cookies that are traditionally made for Christmas.
During Christmas time, a lot of cookies were and are being baked. That's why there are many recipes like the one for snowflakes that don't contain any eggs. So don't worry if you've run out of eggs lately!

You will need:

250g butter
100g powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanillin sugar
a pinch of salt
100g flour
250g starch
An electric whisk
A bowl with a lid..with a hole in the middle :D

How it's done:

Whisk butter, sugars and salt in the bowl with the lid until foamy (Note: the butter should be soft, so take it out of the fridge about an hour before starting; do not pop it into the microwave, this will ruin the consistency; it's completely normal if it simply looks like weird crumbs that will never ever combine after the first five minutes, it'll be alright).
In a separate bowl, mix flour and starch and gradually add it to the butter mixture while whisking. It's right when the mixture looks like small crumbles. Kneed the crumbles together (they'll stick to each other).
Take small pieces (about hazelnut-sized) of the dough and roll them in your palms. Place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper (leave enough space between the dots, they will expand). Take a fork to press them down a little and give them some texture. If you happen to have a cookie stamp with a snowflake design, even better! If you think the dough is too sticky to get your fork or stamp out again, press the fork/stamp into flour first.
While handling the dough, don't get it too warm, it'll get stickier the longer you touch it.
Preheat the oven to 160°C (320 Fahrenheit) and bake 10-15 minutes. The cookies should stay light, so don't let them get brown. (Tip: the cookies will start looking wet when they're in the oven; take them out when they're matte on top)
Out of the oven, the cookies are terribly fragile and soft, but don't worry, they'll be more firm once they've cooled down.
When they're done, you can leave them as they are or sprinkle them with a touch of sugar.
Enjoy!

So, this is the last post for this year's Advent Calendar. I hope you've appreciated spending some time on crafting and baking with me!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Dec 23rd: Elf Door

Hi everyone!
Christmas is right around the corner! Yay!
Today, we'll make an elf door to let Santa's little helpers in. If you have small children around, you could use it to cover an electrical outlet near the floor.

Without further ado, let's start right away!

You will need:

Air drying clay (papier-mâché or salt dough should do) or polymer clay

Paint (I used acrylic paint)

Sculpting tools (if you use salt dough you can work with kitchen ware as well since it's not toxic)
A poster glue strip (removable without damaging the wall)

How it's done:

If you want to make the door cover an outlet, you will need to use clay that doesn't shrink while drying, so I would recommend using polymer clay here.

Take a piece of your clay and roll it to a strip of about 0.5 -1 cm thickness and a length that will easily fit around the outlet from one side of the floor around the outlet to the other side twice. This strip will be the doorframe. "Fold" it in half and twist it around itself like a vine. Lay your vine to a rounded shape to look like an arch.
Cover the inside of your doorframe with clay as the door itself and smooth it out. If you want to make it super fancy, you can make a separate door and doorframe and attach them to one another with a small hinge so that the door can open.
After making the door flat inside the frame, take a tool to make indents to immitate seperate planks. Add the texture of wood by making lines along each of the planks. They shouldn't be too even and you could add a few branch-holes as well.
Now it's time for decorating your door. You could cut a little heart or star into the door to act as a window. Or you can make a donut shape as a wreath like I did.
Add a little ball of clay for the handle. If you want to, add a hole for the key.
If you want to cover an outlet, add some clay to the back of the frame (and the frame only! No clay to the back of the door) after the front has hardened and blend it in with the frame.
Let everything harden completely and paint it in the colors you like!
To attach the elf door to the wall, use a poster glue strip.

 

I hope you liked this tutorial! Have a great day!

Dec 22nd: Snow Globe Christmas Card

Last minute Christmas card! Easy to make and looks pretty cool. Let's not waste any time and get straight into it!

You will need:

2 sheets of colorful paper (different colors)
A clear plastic bag
Punch holes (any color you like; I chose white)
Optional: Glittery stuff (I took golden stars)
Glue
Scissors
A pair of dividers or a round object
A picture of your choice

How it's done:

Fold both sheets of colorful paper in half to be the basic card. Cut out a circle from the front of your outer paper. The hole will be your snow globe. Make sure your hole is smaller than the width and height of your plastic bag.
Take your plastic bag and fill some punch holes and glittery stuff in there. Try not to put in too much because it'll cover your picture.
Once your satisfied with the amount of "snow" in your snow globe bag, cut your plastic bag to size if necessary and glue the open side(s) shut with some clear tape all along the side.
Grab your picture and glue it onto the inner paper where the hole of the outer paper is. Glue the plastic bag in front of it, making sure that no edges are visible through the hole in the outer paper.
Cut a rounded rectangle from any other üiece of paper and glue it onto the outer paper as the base of the snow globe. Spread glue all over the inside of the outer paper and stick it to the outside of the inner paper.
Now your card is done. You can write your message to the inside and a "Merry Christmas" somewhere onto the front page.




Have a nice day!


 

Dec 21st: Reindeer Ornaments

Do you like reindeers? I sure do. And do you know what I like too? Walnuts ^^ That's how I came up with this project.
So I'm one of those people who can't simply smash a walnut. When I open them, I do that really carefully so that the nutshell basically stays intact (or at least doesn't break into more than four pieces). When I was a kid, I used to glue them back together with a piece of thread in between and painted them golden or silver. I guess that's why I still don't like breaking nutshells :D
Well, anyway, I found another use for those nutshells I keep in my drawer: reindeer ornaments. They are really so simple to make and it's really fun when doing this in company.
So without further ado, let's get going!

You will need:
Walnuts
Thread or thin ribbon (I used those that you cut off the inside of new clothes)
Thick colored paper
Glue
Scissors
Markers and/or paint
Optional: a third hand

How it's done:
Crack the walnut carefully, eat the nut and keep the shell. Do that as often as you want *nom*
Once you've eaten all your walnuts ('^^), gather your crafting supplies and sketch out a nice design for the antlers of your reindeers. I made mine a bit chubby and they kinda look like oak leaves (which I like because it looks pretty natural).
Use your pattern to make two antlers from thick colored paper. Place them between the two sides of your nutshell and shove them around until you're happy with the placement. Put a drop of glue to the bottom of your antlers and glue them to one half of the shell where you want them to be. If you have a sort of glue that doesn't really stay until dry, get someone to hold the antlers in place while you spread glue around the edge of your nutshell and put the thread in. Glue the second half to the first one.
Then, paint on two black circles for the eyes and either a black or red nose. When the paint is dry, you can add little dots of white for light reflexes.
And that's it!

I hope you have a great day ^^

Dec 20th: LED Candle Snowman

So easy to make, yet it looks so nice and cheers anyone up.

You will need:

An LED candle
Markers
Optional: two little pompoms, a pipe cleaner and glue

How it's done:

Draw the face of the snowman onto the candle, using the "flame" as the nose. You could already be done now. If you want to, you can glue a mini pompom to each end of a piece of pipe cleaner (about a third of the circumference of the candle) and glue that on as ear muffs.

Enjoy your little snowmen!

Dec 19th: Snow Globe

Hi!
Snow globes are fascinating, aren't they? And they can be easy to make, too! Here's how I made mine.

You will need:

A clean and empty glass container with a screw on lid
Water
A bit of dish washing soap or glycerin
Glitter, tiny rhinestones, etc. for the snow
Plastic or polymer clay figures (air dry clay obviously would dissolve)
Hot glue

How it's done:

Arrange your figures on the inside of the lid, making sure the container can still be screwed on. When you're happy with the layout, glue the figures on with hot glue. I made a little white tree from pipe cleaners.
Next, fill the container with water and screw the lid on to displace all the excess water. Screw the lid off again and add a little bit of dish washing soap to the water so that it will stay clear. Put the glitter in, let it sink and screw the lid on again. And that's it.


I hope you liked the tutorial!