OoTD: Faith and Determination

So... I had this idea a while back; it was inspired by Ephesians 6:11-18:

^"Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvationand the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." (NIV) 

I wanted to be reminded to pray for certain things (like love, purity, patience, gentleness,etc...) on a daily bases, so I thought of making "labels" with these words.
I thought of attaching one label to each item of clothing in my closet, so that each day when I picked a shirt to wear, I would be reminded to pray as I took the label off.

That didn't seem to work because I couldn't think of a material to make the labels out of (maybe fabric?)  and then how to attach them? with safety pins? would I read the same word constantly since I practically wear the same pair of jeans everyday?

Instead, I decided to make small notecards with a word written on each of them and attach them to my undies.. I have to wear a new one every day!
But then, that limited the words to just one per day...
So I figured, why not just make the notecards and keep them in a drawer I open every day (pjs drawer, make up drawer, etc.. whatever you want!) and get 2, or 3 to read every day?

So that's how this came to be!
I wanted to post outfits here because I really enjoy fashion and dressing up and all things girly! (make up, hair do's, shoes!)

But I wanted to make sure to keep my heart in the right place..

So I hope you enjoy the outfits as well as the words of inspiration and prayers I'll post here..

I don't know exactly what it will look like yet, but I am willing to try..

Have a great day!
and God bless :)

Yours, Aranza

DIY Tulle Skirt for the holidays!

So, I've had 3 rolls of tulle left from my days of making tutus for like 2 years now.

One is bright pink, another one is blue and the last one ivory..

I've been thinking of using the rolls up because they are just sitting at the back of my closet collecting dust (not really, but you know what I mean).

So I have decided to make myself a tulle skirt to wear on Christmas..And I made a little tutorial just for you!

Here is what you need:

Tulle
(depending on the length of your skirt) about 4 times the measurement to go around your waist..
My waist measurement is 28" so I cut about 112" of tulle. The width of the tulle I have is 45" (that will become the length of your skirt)
So I will divide the tulle in 3 pieces lengthwise  because I want my skirt to be about 18" long.
That will give me three layers of tulle that are 112"x 18" each.

You will also need a lining 1/2- 1 yard of that fabric.

2" Satin Ribbon (To go around your waist and some more for a cute bow)
and 2" wide elastic (enough to go around your waist comfortably)


The difficult part is cutting the tulle.. The easiest way to do it is to fold it in half, and then again, and again, and again, until you have a smaller surface to work with.

I folded mine about 4 or 5 times and had this:

 I left the tulle folded in half width wise (how it comes from the bolt.. 45" in half) I cut 9" from the folded edge, so that when I opened it up, it was about 18" long.. That's how I got 3 pieces that where about 112"x 18" each.

I then proceeded to, very carefully, unfold the tulle so that  I would be able to gather it. I decided to do it by hand because I didn't want to disturb the recently cut hem.
I cut a really long piece of thread and threaded a needle (the longer the needle, the better) and basted the 2 pieces of long tulle together..

 So that it would look like this:

 As you can see on the back of this pic, I still had the extra layer of tulle left..
Which I then gathered by itself and attached to the other two layers of tulle.. This added even more volume to the skirt.

I then added the elastic waistband.. I did this by sewing the ends together (with a zigzag stitch so it would lay flat.. and then sewed it on to the tulle.. Now, you could leave it as that and wear it over one of your skirts or.. you could add a lining and wear it by itself!

Also, wrap the ribbon around your waist to cover the elastic and tie a nice bow! or if you want, wear your favorite belt over the elastic!

What to do with a mirror that has no frame? Make a Red Flowers Frame

So this idea came from a trip to Pier 1 Imports where I saw this frame..

(not the best picture, but the frame was on the highest shelf, and Im only 5'4", so...)


I loved the idea, but Im a college student, so spending any sort of money that is not directly related to school is usually not possible..

And I had this mirror laying around with no frame at all :(

So, my creative side kicked in!

Here is a quick tutorial of how I did my frame (I think the picture of the frame itself is pretty self explanatory)

You will need:

Tape (I taped all around the mirror, so there woultnd be any raw edges) - optional
Scissors
hot glue gun and glue (I used less than a stick)
And felt (depends on the size of your frame.. I used some left overs I had from when I purchased felt to make an angry bird (which actually called for FLEECE, not felt!!! but I had already cut the pattern pieces, so I couldnt return it) But you can buy the small sheets of fleece (2 or 3 should be anough.. if you dont use them, you can always return them or keep them for another project!)

Anyway, make small circles  from the felt(trial and error is the best way to go, because smalled circles will look better on a smaller frame, and bigger circles will look better on a bigger frame)

My circles ranged from 1" to 2"..

Fold circle in half, put some hot glue and attach it to the frame making a "half circle" (refer to picture)
             

Do the same with another circle of felt, and attach it facing the other circle...

TIP: Dont put the hot glue directly on the frame, is better to put it directly on the felt circle

Continue until the whole frame is covered by beautiful red roses- or pink, or yellow, or purple, or white!

I only did one row of roses because my mirror is small, but you can add as many rows as you wish!

And you have a beautiful flower frame! :)

Here is a pic of the finished frame


You could also do something like this with an old/thrift store frame that needs some revamp!