How to Fake Leather Pants

So I saw this video on Youtube and wanted to make my own version.

Since winter is the weather when people like to be all dark and edgy, I thought it'd be really cool to have pants that are leather in the front and denim in the back!

Is that corny?

*shrug* lol

Supplies: Plastic to put the paint on, ELF Foundation brush, black shiny fabric paint, pair of jeans
Hair dryer (optional)

Winter 2013 Regimen

Hello Beautiful People :-)

 

So since all I see around the blogosphere (well the natural hair one, anyway) is how everyone is taking care of their hair this winter, I decided I'd go ahead and add my two cents as well.

 

In the winter, and any other time of the year actually lol, I don't much like to fuss with my hair.

Whatever will make my hair easiest to take care of over long periods of time is usually what I roll with.

Chapped-Lip Lucy

*start infomercial*

Are you a Chapped-Lip Lucy?

Are you constantly licking your lips to re-moisturize?

Do you ever wake up to chapped or cracked lips in the morning?

*cue record screech*


It's officially Fall!
And on this side of the country, Fall thinks it's Winter and acts really insecure..
Like.. who do you want to be?! Fall or Winter?

Anyway lol
Carmex sales are about to skyrocket and I just wanted to drop something on you to help you in  your pursuit to soft, plump, moisturized lips!

The Secret?

Work it Out

Hola!

 

This past week I decided that I would fix some of my work clothes so that I can stop wearing the same few pieces that fit over and over lol

 

Two Dress, No Sew

HELLLOOOOOO!

 

Sorry for the wait :-/

 

No excuses though. I'll just do better :-)

 

Below you see two dresses that were just way too short for me to where in public and be comfortable.

And I know I could tuck them in or up and where them as tops and stuff but I just didn't feel like it lol

So here goes the transformation :-D

 

CPIK | Lenny Ballou

Hope to find everyone well!

You're probably wondering:

"What is CPIK?"

Well CPIK stands for

"Cool People I Know"

Along with this blogs theme of relaying important information, I have some friends that I feel like everyone should know about lol
And I'm a "Connector". I have this weird ability to bring a bunch of random people together and they just work.

I know a lot of talented and very creative people who's creativity could service my readers in one way or another so I wanted to do this series.

For my first CPIK, welcome Lenny Ballou!

Enjoy :-)

 

*disclaimer: This interview was done over iMessage (Future ones will be also).. and my friends are really silly*

 

 

Me: *ahem* Introduce yourself!

LB: *tightens up tie* IM LENNY AND I LIKE STUFF.

lol jk jk, I go by the name Lenny, full name Leonard Ross Ballou III, and no I don't plan on making my son's name the IV (Lord willing).

Peplum Party!

I'm BAAAACCCKKKK! lol

Hope this finds you well :-)

I'll just jump in.

I got the linen dress below from my mother.

It was another one of the gems she passed down from when she was my age.

I don't like the way it fits anymore.

AND it's a maxi dress but it's highwater lol (can that be possible?)

So, I decided to change it into a Peplum Shirt!

California Dreamin'

Sorry for being so absent!

I went to California for about a week and when I got back I was all jet lagged and stuff and too tired to write lol

Here are a few pics of my trip!
And a little bit of truth at the end! :-D

Skinny Business

You ever buy two of the exact same pants in completely different sizes and not know it?

Yea me too! lol

I actually have not the SLIGHTEST idea of how I ended up with a size 6 and a size 10 of the same EXACT pants.

And it's funny because I remember hating to wear them (when I was bigger) because I remembered that they always rode up and were high-water (obviously the size 6)
But then there were times that that just didn't happen... ?

Like... what was I even thinking to have not noticed that for at least 2 years?!

ANYWAY

Now I fit the size 6 and the size 10 fits the way I showed you in my earlier post about them.

Here's a quick reminder:

So I'm going to keep the size 6 pair as regular wide-legged trousers and tailor the size 10 in to skinny jeans pants.

Everything I needed.

My New Staple - Le Wash&Go

I. Love. Wash&Gos.

One of the things that initially excited me about going natural was the fact that I wasn't going to have to do much to my hair or that I wasn't going to have to spend a bunch of time on it.

Unfortunately, with all of the twist-outs, braid-outs, bantu-knot-outs, flexi rods, banding, stretching, flat-twisting and everything else, that initial excitement turned into a complete myth.

In my 2-year relaxer free post, I stated that the twist-out was my new staple style.

And it was.

.......... For like, one more week after that post lol

I had just, at the time, been deemed the "Twist-out Queen" by a friend of mine and then I completely abandoned it.

And I'm not sorry.

The time it took me to wash my hair, all the way to being done twisting was almost 3 hours... on a good day.

*cue Sweet Brown*

 

3 hours.

To be frank, I love my hair and all.. but there are way more important things in life lol

And God has given me the opportunity to be involved in alot of things recently and my schedule no longer lends itself to a SuperBowl-Sunday-long hair session.

 

Not only THAT, but then there's the retwisting every night to preserve the styles and the RE-take-down in the morning!

o_O

 

As much as I loved how my twist-outs came out, I knew there HAD to be something lazier easier.

I originally thought I didn't HAVE wash&go hair.

"What IS wash&go hair?" you may ask....IDK. lol

 

I just thought my hair wouldn't do it.

Or it would be too tangled

Or it would be a poofy mess.

Or I was just being silly.

Like "they" say...

"Don't knock it 'til you try it."

I did it.

I fell in love.

And I'm not looking back.

3 day old wash&go

Mrs. Carter [Reconstructed]

 This weekend I went to the Mrs. Carter World Tour Show in Atlantic City, NJ!

I was really excited and one of my first thoughts was:

"What am I going to wear?!"

 

I googled "What to wear to a beyonce concert" and I didn't really see anything I liked.

plus I REALLY didn't feel like spending any money.

 

As I was going through the google image search of outfits I came across this hi-low skirt and crop top and I thought:

That's it!

 

After rummaging through my closet and realizing that I don't HAVE a hi-low skirt, or a real crop top to accompany it, I went into TellTaleTasha mode.

"What do I have in my closet to form this outfit?"

Chicago Recap

I went to Chi- town for the first time this weekend!

And I took my new camera with me to document!

Still haven't gotten a chance to read the manual so I was definitely still working on the auto setting lol

I went to sing at a concert with the mass choir from my church.

But when we got there, we got sooo much more than we expected.

Transform | More Maxi and a Crop!

As promised, here are a couple more photos of the "Modest Maxi".

I haven't had much time to play with my camera yet, so I'm working off of auto settings... which aren't bad at all.

I can't wait to learn how to really use it!

Oh! And I show you how I made a basic crop top at the end of this post so keep reading! :-D

You can see the length is perfect for my height

Modest Maxi

I made something!!

Remember this dress from my previous post?

Well I made it into a maxi skirt!

I'll show you!

Tasha! How was your birthday?!

My birthday was GREAT!

This is the first year, in 5 years, that I didn't have a huge cookout/party.

A lot of people were disappointed but I felt like it was time to move on lol

THAT and those parties cost a LOT of money...

All of the texts and phone calls and social media shoutouts really made me feel loved :-D

This is what I did!

23 with 1 day experience

Yesterday I turned 23 years old!

*bows*

I was looking at facebook about a week or so ago and a friend of mine, Camesha, had a very interesting status.

She was talking about how someone had asked her what she wanted for her birthday (which is ACTUALLY the same day as mine! #twinsies!) and her reply was:

"To see it."

When I read that, it wrecked my perspective on life so hard.

Remember when I said that my church is on a campaign for Life, Love, and Liberty?

We still are.

And at 23 years of age, I am going to share with you what I've learned about 

LIFE.

Trial and Error... and Success

This past weekend, I vowed to start working with my sewing machine

so I did.

I decided that I would work with my Brother first just because I knew that all of it's parts were included. 

I'm also pretty tech savvy, so the fact that it's computerized played a role in my decision to work with this machine first.

My first step would be to thread some bobbins.

So as a young woman living in this generation,

instead of looking to the manual for instructions on how to thread bobbins,

I went to YouTube.

I found this sweet old lady by the name of Nadia who was using the same machine that I have and was showing her viewers how to thread bobbins as well as testing some of the stitching.

PERFECT.

I watched Sewing with Nadia one or two times and I decided I was ready.

*flips switch*

It was literally my first time actually turning the machine ON.

If you watch the video, the following pictures will make more sense but I will explain as I go along.

Confessions of a Newbie

I know you're probably thinking:

"This girl said she was gonna be sewing and I aint seen nothing YET!"

well... your thoughts would be completely valid. lol

And I'm not here to spill a bunch of excuses but since I did say I was going to share the journey,

I just wanted note a couple of mistakes that I've made already :-)

Pimple Polly?

*start infomercial*

Are you a Pimple Polly?

Are you ever annoyed by the painful soon-to-be mountains that ruin your beautiful facial aesthetic?

Do you ever feel a pimple about to show up on your face but you have no defense against it?

*cue record screech*


Here we go again :-)
This tip is not as embarrassing as the last one so it will be much less awkward to read lol

I'm not quite sure if men deal with pimples as much as females do, but anyone can benefit from this.

You ever touch you face and can just FEEL a huge pimple about to show up in a day or two?
You can't see it at all but it hurts and you can just tell it's gonna look like a hill.
You know those big ones that you can't pop as soon as it shows up...  you really have to let it sit there until it's ready like a week later? lol

Well, yea. I found something that works.
I put it on before the pimple emerges and keeps it from ever breaking the surface!

What's the secret???

Follow me on Bloglovin'!

jnh5q3vetkb

I want to shout a huge thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read a post on my blog!

I knew I had a good idea on my hands, but I definitely didn't anticipate the amount of support and good feedback I've gotten!

It hasn't been a month yet and my blogs received about 850 views with only 6 posts!

Thank you, Thank you, and Thank You again!!

If you DO plan on continuing to follow my blog, I recommend you to follow me on Bloglovin'.

Bloglovin' is a blog reader.  It's set up kind of like Twitter or Instagram, but for blogs.

And NO, you do not have to have a blog to follow me on Bloglovin'.

Just make a free profile and you'll have access to not only my blog but a myriad of blogs that peak your interests that you would have never stumbled across otherwise.

Seriously, this site is amazing lol

So yea.... do that lol

You can click here or click the "follow me on bloglovin'" pic on the right panel of this blog.

And if you don't want to do that but still want to get notifications when I post,

you can subscribe/follow me by entering your email on the right side panel :-)

Thank you again for all of your support and feedback!! :-D

See you in the next post!

follow and stuff! *hair flip*

xoxo, Tasha

Two Years | No Lye

Guess what?!

TODAY

[June 25, 2013]

marks 2 years since my last relaxer!!

So today I am going to share my hair journey with you :-)

*caution: PIC HEAVY*

Fulfilling the Law Through Love

Romans 13: 8-14 ESV

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment are summed up in this word: "You shall love your  neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

 At my church, we are on a CAMPAIGN for Life, Love, and Liberty.

Today, I want to speak a little bit about

LOVE.

The scripture plainly tells us that we don't owe anything to anyone except that we love them.

Love doesn't cheat.

Love doesn't hurt.

Love doesn't steal.

Love is not envious.

Love doesn't lie.

So as long as we are showing love to people, we are following every other commandment in the bible by default. 

I haven't said anything that's not in the scripture ^^

One thing that I feel people don't mention much, though, is how flawed the love we give away is, if we don't properly love OURSELVES.  We can't exclude ourselves from love.

When we come into the grace and knowledge of Christ's love for US and start to realize who we are, we begin to understand our worth and to love and appreciate ourselves and everyone else we come into contact with.

Galatians 2:20 ESV - "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Christ loved us so much that he didn't just die, but he GAVE himself up for me.

A man who lived a perfect life decided that my life was worth His own.

*praise break*

John 15:12-13 ESV - "12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

And, of course, majority of us aren't at that place yet lol

All we can do is to continually get to know more and more about God. And because

*God = Love*

We inadvertently learn more about love.

See you in the next post!

comment and share! *hug*

xoxo, Tasha

Sweaty Sally?

*start infomercial*

Are you a Sweaty Sally?

Are you hiding behind embarrassing armpit sweat stains?

Are your inner thighs sweating as you walk in the hot summer sun?!

*cue record screech*

Let's be serious now.

I know this is very embarrassing to talk about, but with this blog I'm going to be as genuine as I can.

I figured I'd write this post now since tomorrow = the first day of summer!

And when summer hits, it's like ANY type of skin-on-skin contact, for even the least amount of moments, is enough to make anyone cringe at the bit of moisture generated.

Well, ladies (and possibly gentlemen?), 

I have found the solution!

A friend of mine and I were talking one day, and I have NO idea how this conversation came up, but she was like:

"GIRL, I was at Kings Dominion running around with them kids ALL day on Saturday and I was straight.. no sweat"

and I'm all like:

"Really?!"

*keep in mind, she's heavier than me and that was her selling point. No offense to anyone, she wasn't.

What is the secret???

Tailor | Update | Transform

So I came to the realization that some people get more understanding through things they SEE.

Which is completely understandable soooooo... I'm going to show you all what I have been talking about with the way some my clothes fit.

*disclaimer: My hair and I look a mess so I cropped my head out of some pics LOL I'll be more conscious next time :-)

In literally 5 minutes or so, I picked out a few items as examples.

Some things need tailoring, some things need updating, and some things need complete transformation.

Keep reading to see :-)

Two for the price of ... NONE

So let me tell you a little something about God:

If you ask, he'll give it to you.

A few months ago, (few = 7+ lol) when I first starting seeing the serious change in how my clothes were fitting, I already knew that I wasn't going to take the amount of things I had to the cleaners to get them taken in. I figured I could just do it myself.

I mean... why not? I already knew how to sew with basic needle and thread. But in all seriousness, who has time to just sit with NEEDLE and THREAD and hem more than one or two items of clothing??

*cue Sweet Brown*

I wanted a sewing machine. And a good one. After watching a zillion youtube DIY tutorials and reading plenty of inspo blogs, I want to take on the world.. one stitch at a time.

Anyway, I went looking online for what people would consider quality sewing machines and the two brands that kept reappearing were BROTHER and SINGER. Both looked amazing and had plenty of different models with the capabilities that I was looking for.  But of course when you look for quality, the quantity of the change you have to put up, GOES up.

So I let it go.  I had a little chat with the Lord and was just like,

"I really want a sewing machine"

and I left it there.

A month or two later, I'm just shooting the breeze with my mother and I'm like,

"I really want a sewing machine."

And she's all like,

"I have a sewing machine. You want it?"

*FLAG ON THE PLAY*

MA'AM.. you mean to tell me all these years we've been TALKING about sewing and not ACTUALLY sewing, you've HAD a sewing machine?!

*woosa*

So deep deep down in the basement closet, behind OLD Holiday decorations and behind boxes of fine china used many moons ago is a box with a completely unused SINGER 5528 sewing machine! Well, amen to that!

Perfectly content with my new discovery, I go on with life.

BUT WAIT. When God blesses, it's never ordinary. You should always expect EXTRAordinary.

A month later, I'm at the church and this wonderful woman comes to me and says

"I heard you were looking for a sewing machine.  I have one completely unused. Do you want it?"

Uhh.. YES

And wouldn't you know.  It's a computerized BROTHER brand sewing machine!

WON'T HE DO IT!

So I never had to choose. And I didn't have to spend a dime either.

I got two for the price of NONE.

I'll show you them:

Starting from the bottom...

*sings* It's been a looooooongggg, long time coming...

And I know nothing is going to change unless I make a move.

I'm going to spare the cry about how long I've been thinking about making this blog and about how many excuses reasons I had for not starting it. I'm just going to let you know "what", "when", and "why"... not necessarily in that order.

WHY:

Over the last year, I've lost a respectable amount of weight if I say so myself. BUT the number 1 issue that comes with weight loss?

My clothes don't fit anymore.

And of course it isn't ALL of my clothes.. but it IS just about 80% of the clothes I wear most of the time (i.e. work clothes, church clothes, sweaters, tops...well anything really lol)

And that would NOT be that big of an issue if I was a baller, but that isn't the life I live. And this shawty does NOT have the coins to blow on a whole new wardrobe.

Soooooooo.......

My Solution?