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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

OoTD: Power



"For God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and self-control"  
2 Timothy 1:7

Today I was reminded of the importance of faith. 
Faith gives us power, self-control, and it lets us know we are loved and allows us to love others.

Fear is the opposite of faith so, how can I have faith if I fear? 
Oh, but I never fear! I have so much faith, I could give it away by the millions..

Yeah right! I wish this were true, but unfortunately it is not.
However, I will not let this knowledge bring me down... I will believe in God and ask Him to increase my faith. After all, faith is a gift that can only come from Him. 

I hope you had an amazing day today. I pray God will increase your faith and reveal to you the Spirit He has given to you. 





How has God shown you His power today?

God bless,
Yours, Aranza

Monday, January 28, 2013

The making of an awesome Valentine's day's dessert table

This past weekend we had an event at church for which I had to create a Valentine's Day themed dessert/snack table.

My mom picked the white, pink, red color scheme, so we wanted to have all the sweets be those colors.

We had chocolate drizzled/dipped white popcorn, pretzels, oreos, red velvet cake pops, and marshmellow pops.

There are lots of pictures, so bear with me

Here are the ingredients we used to yield about 200 treats


Not pictured is also a pack of vanilla almond bark used to covered the cake pops with. And about 150 cellophane bags (optional) and about 20 yards of ribbon.

My mom and I first started by separating the chocolate chips that came in the Valentine's Day pack
(We couldn't find any bags of all red chocolate chips). On a side note: to make the chocolate a little less thick, we added about half of a table spoon of oil to each color.. It worked great for the red chips, but not so much for the chocolate ones. Next time I would not add any to either one because they don't really need it and it just made it really hard for the chocolate to set.


For the brownies we made two boxes and used a big cookie sheet (about 20x12?) to bake them. It yield about  60 brownies. I then made a heart "template" out of a piece of paper (folded in half and cut half of a heart, opened it up and both sides were symmetrical). I sprinkled white sugar with a sieve and tadah! 
        


For the red velvet we just bought a box mix, baked the cake, waited until it was cool and cumbled the mixture. Now, you are supposed to add some frosting to help the pops stay together, but we didn't have any, so we decided that we didnt need it. Big NO NO!! The cake pops were falling appart when we tried to dip them in the white almond bark... So we came up with the idea of adding a little bit of almond bark, and then put them in the freezer (it was no more than 20 mins) and they held up so much better.. for next time (if there is a next time) we will definitely add the frosting to the mix. 


For the popcorn we popped all three "bowls" that came in this box. We drizzled red and black chocolate on top and then put a bunch in little cellophane bags. To drizzle the chocolate on everything I followed the melting instructions on the packaged and then just dipped a fork in the container and drizzled multiple things at a time (as to not waste any chocolate).

    

Moving on to the oreos. Those were somewhat easier because we didn't have to bake, but it was still kind of difficult getting a nice, not so thick, even coat. I used a fork to help me out.. next time I think I would stick them in a stick and use that instead of the fork. We then added some edible pearls, red sprinkles and red drizzle.



These marshmallow pops were one of my favorites.. They were so simple, and tasted delicious! Very self explanatory. Stuck a stick into each heart shapped marshmallow and then simply drizzled the chocolate on top. 

For a nicer touch, we also put the marshmallow pops in cellophane bags and tied a cute bow on it.

For the pretzels, we bought yogurt covered ones and we just drizzled the red chocolate on top

Lastly, we bought a pack (I wish we would have bought more!) of these walmart generic marshmallow fudge treats. They were already covered in chocolate, so we just added the drizzle and people were so amazed by them


And here are some pictures of all the treats on the table (we had 3 scheduled times for the event, so we only put out a third of all the treats at once).

At the beginning of setting up (we didn't know we had to use a black table cloth, so we just use the white and pink table clothes we brought as accents). My moma and I made the tissue flowers (tutorial coming up soon)
And we added height by wrapping cardboard boxes in white paper and then adding some pop of color with tissue paper.






We had to leave some room for mints and some paper/forms that were needed. 



I know, there is an empty plate in the middle of the display, it was part of what we were promoting (asking people to sign up to help serve food at lunches)


A few close ups of the treats on display

             











Friday, January 18, 2013

OoTD: Renewal of mind and Peace

Today's words were "Peace" and "Renewal of Mind"

Romans 2:2 says: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

It was a good reminder to be in continual dialogue with God, and let Him transform me. 
I pray my mind is renewed constantly and aligned with God's will.

I want Him to use me as His embassador of peace on Earth as well, and I hope and pray the same for you..




 I wear this outfit (different t-shirts) more than I'd like to admit! It's so comfy and all the pieces have been Christmas gifts from my parents (over the years) so, I guess I'm just honoring them by wearing their gifts :)

Have an awesome day and God bless!
Yours, Aranza

Saturday, January 12, 2013

OoTD: Precious Woman

Hello everyone!
Today, I was reminded of how precious women are to God. He has used woman all through out history for his glory and He continues to use us today!

My mom gave me the black ring I'm wearing with this outfit and for some reason, it always remind me of this very thing: how precious I am to God. Even though sometimes I think God is not using me because of one thing or another, I am always reminded of His faithfulness to and love for women.

Just look at what the Angel Gabriel told Mary in Luke 1:28: "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

How awesome is that? I can only hope that I am also favored in God's eyes.







Have a great day and God bless!
Yours, Aranza

Thursday, January 10, 2013

OoTD: Forgiven and White as snow

Today I am reminded of God's forgiveness and the fact that because of Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection, I am made white as snow!

Isaiah 1:18
18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool."

Perfect verse! Wool reminds me of cold weather!


 I wore a white button up, a beige sweater, and an off white faux fur vest..
And short brown boots with some leg warmers.. oh! and a layered necklace



 


                        
Have a great day!
and God bless!


                        

Yours, Aranza