What I Love: 8/29/12

The view from the eighth floor of Clayton Hall. With OH being so flat, you can see quite a ways!

What I Love: 8/28/12

Having a class cancelled on a beautiful day like today! Time to relax on the quad. :)

What I Love: 8/27/12

Walking barefoot in the rain.

What I Love:8/26/12

The song "How He Loves". We sang it in church today. Especially the line, "If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking". What wonderful imagery.

What I Love: 8/25/12

That feeling when you've just had a long day of hard work with amazing friends, and you are so exhausted but sooo happy.

What I Love: 8/24/12

The Well. It's the religious life service on campus. The first one was last night. It was so amazing to be back in that place, with those people, worshiping God and learning about Him. So good. :)

What I Love: 8/23/12

the song "Life's a Happy Song" from the new Muppets movie. It's so cute and happy and uplifting. It makes feel like my life is a musical, which is of course awesome. :D

What I Love: 8/22/12

My suitemate, Annie. She is super inspiring. She's a leader at The Well, and completely in love with God. Her relationship with her boyfriend is one of the sweetest things I've ever seen, it is so Christ focused. This is what she told me: "One time I asked [my boyfriend] what he would do if someone said they would kill me unless he denied his faith in Christ. His response? 'It's been nice knowing you!'"

What I Love: 8/21/12

My new dorm. It's nice and spacious, and now that we've finally got all the decorations up, it's really cute! Wall Pops are really easy to use, and they are adorable. :)

What I Love: 8/20/12

My textiles class. :D It's going to be really interesting. We'll be learning about all sorts of different fabrics, how they're made, and what they're good for.

What I love: 8/19/12

Harem Pants. They are the most comfortable things ever. they are loose through the hips and knees, then are gathered in above or at the ankle. They are usually made out of a pretty fashion fabric.

They're like sweatpants, but cute!

What I Love: 8/18/12

My new dorm! It is super cute, now that everything is unpacked. It's a suite style, so we have our bedroom, then a shared common room, then two other girls' bedroom. The common room isn't set up yet, but it will be soon.

purple!
pink!
green!

It's the little things.

Wow. I think I get the award for World's Worst Blogger. Except maybe for those teenage girls who start a blog cause it's cool, post twice, and forget all about it and are now just taking up domain names.

Um, that actually wasn't the point of this post. Moving on.

So we've established that I have terrible blogging habits. I'll promise myself I'll post something cool and interesting regularly, but...life gets in the way. I don't have a neat technique or a handy tutorial to post, so I don't. Or, whats worse, I do post about random boringness that nobody wants to read.

So, I've made a plan.

To force myself into a better habit (or force myself to realize I am not and never will be a blogger), I have set myself a challenge. It's going to be a year long series called "What I Love". I am going to post every day something I am loving at that particular moment. Don't expect long posts, or pictures, or junk, just something short that I've been thinking about and enjoying. I'll begin this series my first day back at school, August 18th.

See you then!

Prettiness

So I am deep in the throes of finals. Yay. What that means is I have not been up to anything remotely interesting the last couple days. So, instead of an outfit or something of the sort, I thought I'd show you guys some of the coolest pictures I've ever taken. This first few will be ones that have not been retouched, then I'll show you some of the ones that picnik and iPiccy have made beautiful.

The non-retouched pictures:

When I showed Melisa the last one, she asked if I had taken it in Zambia. Nope! It was shot through my dorm room window!

These are some of the photos that have been "picniked" (I was so sad when Picnik closed! :'( but iPiccy seems to be an ok substitute.)

As I told a friend one night, "I love creating beauty". :) So which one is your favorite?

All photos taken by me. Please don't steal them. ;)
The camera used was a Canon PowerShot SX120 IS.

Green Fashion Show 2012

Wednesday was the annual Ashland University Green Fashion Show. The idea is that all designs entered are made from recyclable materials. The show was great. I myself didn't enter, but some of my friends did, and there were a ton of gorgeous, wearable garments on display! (Click on the photos for a larger version)

Picture by Meredith Liedtke

 The decorations on the front of this one are CDs. How cool is that?

Picture by me

Who would have thought bubble wrap could look this amazing?? I would totally wear this!

Picture by Meredith Liedtke

 I'm not sure what this one is made of (paper bags, perhaps?) but it's really cool!

Picture by me

The skirt on this one is made of hand-glued coffee filters! It moved beautifully on the runway. (I apologize for the weird lighting. They had the lights really low in Redwood.)

Picture by me

This is another coffee filter dress. Isn't it amazing how it looks completely different than the other one? People are so creative. ;)

Picture by me

Again, I'm not sure what this is made of (my guess is tissue paper) but it's really fun.

Picture by me

This was the winning design in the Fashion Merchandising category. I thought it was cool, but it wasn't my favorite. I loved the model's hair, though.

Picture by me

This is one of my fellow Fashion Merchandising majors with his model. Cute skirt alert!

Picture by Meredith Liedtke

I think this one might have been made out of toilet paper. I found it absolutely stunning. And HOW did she make the bodice so neat and sturdy??

Picture by Meredith Liedtke

 This was my favorite outfit from the whole evening. She made that dress out of records! How cool is that!! And I don't know what the skirt is made of, but it matches perfectly. I LOVE the headpiece. I think it is basically a melted record. You can't see it in this picture, but she also had a train with sparkly CDs on them. Here's another picture so you can see it better:

Picture by me

How cute is that? (And how cute are my two friends in this picture?? ;D)

 And thank you to Meredith, whose pictures I have used.

New Favorite Store. Oh Dear...

Yesterday my family and I went out shopping, and I discovered a sweet store. If my style could be summed up and put into a boutique franchise, it would be Vanity. The have almost every facet of my fashion sense. From lace, to neons, to blazers, to fluffy chiffon. It was so hard to walk out without buying anything! Sadly, most items in the store were between $20-$40. A little expensive for me. :( I am experiencing a llittle bit of buyers remorse for not getting this skirt:

Lace Belted Maxi Skirt

The picture really doesn't do it justice. It's more of an off white color (at least it was in the store) and it's made of lace. It was ADORABLE. Sadly, it was also $30. So I left without it. Maybe sometime in the future I'll find it on a sale rack.

Mirror Mirror (2012)

This weekend, my sister, cousin, and I went to see Mirror Mirror starring Julia Roberts, Lily Collins, and Armie Hammer. It's a retelling of Snow White. I really enjoyed it; the plot was decent, the aerobatic sword fights were entertaining (watch out for those giant dwarves!), and there was a minimum of crudeness/vulgarity.

But the best part was the costumes. Hands down. Fabulous. Spectacular. Breathtaking.

The costume designer was Eiko Ishioka. Sadly, Mirror Mirror was her last film; she died of pancreatic cancer in January 2012. Her work on it was absolutely stunning, however; she knew how to combine and use bright colors, with a fantastic attention to detail.

From what I could gather, the costumes are vaguely based on an Elizabethan time period crossed with a french revolution/Marie Antoinette mash-up, i.e., corsets, panniers and extreme opulence.

See? (Click on the picture for a larger view)

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Just look at that skirt. Wow. Love! The way it poofs up around her hips means she probably is wearing panniers, which are hoop skirts that are more oval shaped, rather than circular, in order to emphasize the hips.

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This scene is during the Costume Ball (hence the bunny ears). The Evil Queen (Julia Roberts) is a peacock, but a stunning, satiny, red one.The embroidery on the front of that dress is beautifully intricate. I am impressed with the stand-up sleeves- I don't know what they are made of, but they match the dress perfectly.

Here's a peek at what's underneath (at least in the movie):

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This looks like a corset/hoop skirt made of oisers, or willow bark. In the movie, she is cinched down as far as she can possibly go, but I personally didn't think it was really that tight. It didn't seem to define her waist nearly as much as a real, properly cinched, corset would.

While they were not as elaborate as the Evil Queen's, Snow White also had some beautiful costumes.

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This is one of the more obviously Elizabethan dresses in the film. The flat bodice, lowish neckline, fabric folds at the waist, and full, hooped skirt all scream Elizabethan England.

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I LOVE this cape. The color, the fullness, the bows...it's so feminine! It's fascinating- Lily Collins' color season is most likely winter, and winters don't normally look good in bright, warm colors like this yellow. But  Eiko Ishioka found a shade that looks great on her.

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Snow White shows off her rebel side with this pirate-inspired look. This is such a difference from the style of the Queen, that it really shows Snow White's transformation from a small, cowed girl in the shadow of her stepmother to a confident, self-reliant woman who is the rightful Queen.

And that is what Mirror Mirror is all about.

I'll leave you with the most beautiful costume in the whole movie:

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Enchanted April

Several weeks ago, Ashland University put on the production Enchanted April. It is a very moving story about four women who take a trip to Italy, and there rediscover the meaning of love. I had the opportunity to make several of the costumes, as well as work backstage taking care of the wigs. The costumes for this show were absolutely beautiful, because the show is set in the 20's.

Some beauty shots:

It was a lot of fun to work on this show. I got to learn how to make a proper Edwardian corset (and now I want to make one for myself. Go figure.), and I did A LOT of Magic Hemming (magic hem is a type of hem for loose, flowy fabrics that makes them look nice and neat, but it takes a long time.)

Some of the wigs:

One more shot from the show:

Al'Italia!

The best beauty product ever

Is......

Vaseline! Or petroleum jelly. Whatever.

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Seriously though, I love Vaseline. It has so many uses, and a little goes a long way, so you get a huge bang for your buck. (major plus for a poor college student like me!) These are some of my favorite uses for it:

1. Lip balm. I use Vaseline as lip balm all the time. It gets rid of chapped lips super fast, and it's really shiny. (I only wish they had slightly more portable containers!)

2. Mascara. Ok, it's not really mascara, but I don't know what to call this one. I apply a little bit to my eyelashes and then comb them, and it makes them look really good. Very black and glossy. Another plus, you don't end up with gross, dry crumbly lashes.

3. Moisturizer. I put is on my hands and my nails to keep them looking good, and I also slather it on my feet at night and then put on socks and go to bed. I wake up with much softer heels!

4. Ring removal. My purity ring is on the tight side (which is good, because larger rings fall off easily), so sometimes I have difficulty getting it over my knuckle when I need to take a shower or something. Slather on a little Vaseline, and it slides right off!

5. Eyebrow gel. I have never used eyebrow gel, but when I have unruly hairs, a little Vaseline smooths them right out.

So what do you use Vaseline for? What's your I-can't-live-without-it beauty product? Let me know in the comments!

Water-marbled nails

Hey guys!

I recently figured out how to water-marble nails!! It's really pretty. See?

The technique is a little bit confusing, but it's like this. (sorry I don't have any pictures of the process.)

First you get a little cup (I used a medicine cup) and put some room-temperature water in it. Then you drip different colors of nail polish into it so you end up with a bulls-eye. Next you take a toothpick and gently drag it through the polish to swirl it into the design you want. Put Vaseline on your finger (except for the nail) to protect from the nail polish, and dunk your nail in. You have to kind of bend your finger so you go in flat. While your finger is still in the water, use the toothpick to "clean up" the extra polish, and then pull your finger out. One done, nine to go!

I realize that it is hard to understand of you can't see what is going on, so here is the video I used to teach myself:

She uses scotch tape instead of Vaseline, but the purpose is the same.

The colors I used were both Pure Ice. The white is Super Star and the sparkle is Oh Baby. I don't know if I'd really recommend them for water marbling; The white did ok, but the sparkle didn't want to drip at all.

It was fun though, and I've found it is very relaxing!