travel blogger, lifestyle blogger, influencer, brand influencer, influencer instagram, fashion blogger

How To Make Unicorn Headbands

Anyone else obsessed with unicorns?!

If you are – here’s a step to step how to guide on making unicorn headbands.
For our latest Secretly A Mermaid, photoshoot we made unicorn headbands to complete our “UniMer” Themed Photoshoot with collaboration with Swimbrayv

First —> you’ll be needing all these below:

-scissors, flowers, cotton/stuffing material, paper to make your pattern, fabric of your choice, headband, glue gun + glue sticks, felt

Now let’s get to it!

Make a patter for your headband – trace it and add 1/2″ all around.

Then cut your pattern.

Draw your unicorn ears (1 big for outer ear + 1 small for inside ear) and draw your horn (make sure it rolls together).

It should look like something like this. After that – it’s time to cut the fabric!

Cut the headband pattern 2x.

Cut the horn pattern once.

Cut the inside ear 2x.

Then cut the bigger piece in felt (in this case I chose the white felt) to go with the iridescent mermaid fabric.

Afterwards:

Put the the two headband fabrics and sew the sides together and put the headband inside.
Fold the horn and meet the sides and sew until it makes a horn – then stuff it with cotton/extra fabric or stuffing material.
Glue the inside fabric ear to the felt (the bigger outside ear)

Everything should look something like this below:

Now you can assemble your unicorn headband and place them where you want everything to go. Cut the flowers and place them where you like. Then glue everything together —> including the bottom part of the headband.

TADAAAAAA! Now you can officially be a unicorn!

What did you boys and girls think of this blog post? Do you want to see more DIY projects? Any request of what you’d like me to teach you next?

XO,

Joy

July 20, 2018July 20, 2018

madewithjoyLeave a comment

AMPLIFY PT. 2

Hi friends,

For the second day of our Amplify OC Retreat, we made the yummiest protein bars! It’s literally by far one of my faves as it’s so easy to make (especially if you cannot cook like me) Here is the recipe below. Thanks to Jazzy and Kroger for sponsoring our breakfast!

Recipe:

Flour Base – oat flour protein powder

Nut Butter or Seed Butter (you need just enough to bind it together)

Need consistency to form into a ball

Add sweetener – honey

Mix it together.

Add almond milk – we need it to get the thicker consistency (slowly) really mix it.

If it’s dry – add any liquid.

Add inclusions like:

pecans, nuts, granola, dried strawberries, chocolate, cereal

I had so much fun making this and it was actually really good. I made mine into a cereal, but normally, you can make it into a ball or rectangles and put it in the fridge.

For lunch, we had one of the best veggie burgers ever! If you know me, you already know what I’m not a huge fan of veggies – but this is by far one of the yummiest veggie burgers I’ve ever had!

After lunch, we made our DIY “live your dream” bracelets under the olive trees!

And to close the retreat, we finished things drinking our tea on a hot day. Thanks to Snapple!

We also wrote a word that represents how we feel about the whole retreat at the very end and I chose the word: encouraging. Often times, I feel like we are so busy, living our day to day lives, we forget to breathe a little and we are so hard on ourselves. This retreat showed me many ways and encouraged me that things get better if we don’t give up. Last but not the least, we wrote a letter to ourselves and Jazzy promised to mail it back to us in the future when we least expect it!

Hopefully, this post reminds you as well to take it easy on yourself and how sometimes it’s important take some time to take care of yourself and well being.

P.S. I made this top and my mermaid skirt is from Secretly A Mermaid

XOXO,

Joy

June 20, 2018June 20, 2018

madewithjoyLeave a comment

TWOOBS IS BETTER THAN ONE

I’m a true believer that when women support each other, incredible things happen. Some of you may know that my bestie, Jessika and I started our own mermaid line, Secretly A Mermaid almost a year ago and it has been a fun, nerve wracking, crazy, glitter filled kind of year ever since. There are a couple of times that we’ve wanted to give up as we’ve realized that start ups aren’t easy but there’s many times that we are filled with joy as we are blessed enough to be able to do what we like to do best: which is pretty much everything – from designing, modeling, sewing, bloggging, advertising our own stuff, creating, expressing ourselves and networking.

And it’s times like this when we get to partner with different brands like TWOOBS that we’re even more excited than ever that we get to work with rad brands who slays around the world! They are Australian based super cool, glittery shoes that you can pretty much wear everywhere and ships world wide. They’re super light weight and fun! They even come with these cool glittery bag that you can use as your own clutch. I don’t think I’ve ever been obsessed with any pair of shoes than these!

Also, did you know that around one in four startups is founded by a female? Which is weird when you think about the fact that one in two humans is a female. This is why TWOOBS pass some of their profits to other startups run by female entrepreneurs. Every time you buy a pair of TWOOBS, you are not only scoring a super rad pair of shoes, you’re also helping a female start their own business. So go on their website now and check these babies out! 😉

TOP: Secretly A Mermaid

Shorts: Zara

Shoes: TWOOBS

XOXO,

Joy

August 30, 2017

madewithjoyLeave a comment

How To Be A Merbabe All Year

I can’t believe summer is almost here. Anyone else as excited as I am? Most girls associate mermaid wear only over the summer, but did you gals know you can be a merbabe all year long? First you gotta get your own set of your one piece set at Secretly A Mermaid then you style it in different ways.

For winter, you can wear it with denim jeans and boots. For a rave or a festival, you can wear it by itself with knee high boots and style it with some mermaid make up or a glittery poncho. For the beach, or summer, you can pair it with your favorite sunglasses.

There are so many fun ways you can wear this mermaid set. Can you think of anything else? I’m even thinking of wearing this to Coachella with my poncho sequin and some booty shorts! 😉

XOXO,

Joy

April 6, 2017April 6, 2017

madewithjoyLeave a comment

Unconditional Love

I know I’m a little late on my blog posts lately (sorry, it has been a crazy busy week) as I wanted to talk about one of girls’s favorite topics to talk about: love! ;P Have you ever been loved unconditionally by someone? The kind of love that loves you still when things get ugly, when you have stuff in your teeth, when you fight and cry but you know you’re going to be okay the next day, when you can fully trust the other person knowing there’s no malice in their heart and all they want is the best for you despite of your differences? It wasn’t until my late twenties that I realized (other than God who created this whole universe and my parents who treat me like a princess and the rest of my family who can’t really get rid of me, hehe) that my greatest relationships (so far) are my best friends.

When I truly thought about the things that I was looking for what an ideal relationship should consists of — there were some things that I knew were non negotiable such as: commitment, loyalty, trust, kindness, respect, honesty, the ability to be completely myself with another person and have lots of fun. With that said I also realized that one of the most important part is for me to be with people who will show love unconditionally and willingly —and accept that I will love them that way in return —and who aren’t afraid to stick around for the hard parts, who aren’t scared to talk about each other’s flaws, or plan a future with me or who will pick up the phone at 3 am because I’m having a nervous breakdown and I don’t think I can finish my school project that’s due at 8:30 in the morning.

Sometimes I’ve asked myself: isn’t our greatest relationship supposed to involve romance? Isn’t suppose to end in marriage like what the society expects out of us? But looking back on my life, my friends have been my constants – who have an unconditional love for me for years. Even when I’ve hit my lowest points, they’re the ones who have helped me come back up. The ones who never gave up on me and believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. The ones who’ve talked me out (and never stopped) #insertrollingeyesemoji of dating the guys who they think aren’t good enough for me. The ones that know when I deserve more when I clearly don’t see it and the ones who see the strength in me when I feel like nothing but a broken mess. They don’t worry about a “commitment” to our friendship – it just flows. They don’t look at my bad sides and make me feel bad for it – for the most part, we point them out to each other and discuss how can we be better as a person? They aren’t nice to me just to get something out of me; they’re nice to me because they care about me. They push and aspire me to be my best self because we are each other’s cheerleaders —without forcing each other to be someone we’re not. Last but not the least, I don’t have to compete for their attention or convince them to see my worth because they already know it. In all honestly, I’m lead to believe that your best friends are probably one of the strongest loves you’ll ever have because nobody is forcing them to love you, other than the fact that they already know too much about you! 😉

For this blog post I am actually wearing Secretly A Mermaid‘s newest set. Follow us on Instagram: @shopsecretlyamermaid My bestie and I started our own Etsy shop late last year in order to share our love for mermaids, dressing up and fashion. Speaking of unconditional love, I can say that our friendship is one of the primary examples of the existing greatest relationships that I have. Sometimes it feels like work because we actually work together even if we’re fighting… but in the end I still think it’s worth it because we love each other unconditionally and we are working towards a common goal and we don’t lose sight of that.

My hope is that if you haven’t found someone who loves you for all the beautiful, amazing mess that you are — is that you never give up. Hang on tight and spend time with the ones that already do. <3

XOXO,

Joy

February 27, 2017

madewithjoyLeave a comment

Let’s Be Mermaids

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

A couple of months ago, I asked my best friend to if she wants to be a real life mermaid with me and start our own fashion line. She said yes and was absolutely in love with the idea. We started off making a small capsule line with bandeaus, tops, skirts and chokers. All of this can be found at Secretly A Mermaid. Along with fashion items, I was inspired by my trip in Asia this summer where I had my first mermaid photoshoot in the Philippines. I thought to myself why not bring that here in Los Angeles where its (mostly) sunny all year round? Jessicka and I made our own mermaid tails and tops and had our own photoshoot. We also want to share this with the world and offer this to all the Cali girls who also wants to be a mermaid. As Spring comes along, we will start shooting again and offer different colors and styles of tails with matching bandeaus. Stay posted and schedule with us and email: shoplikeamermaidb@gmail.com if you want to make your own mermaid dreams come true! 😉

XOXO,

Joy

December 5, 2016

madewithjoyLeave a comment

Modern Mermaid

Can’t believe it’s Halloween weekend already! It literally feels like the year just started. If you love dressing up as much as I do, you were probably as busy as I was the past few weeks making costumes or shopping for outfits for this Halloween weekend. As some of you may know, I recently opened an Etsy shop with my bestie. We both love and are obsessed with mermaids so we thought why not start our own line? For anyone else out there who loves mermaids, check out our site Secretly A Mermaid We will be designing more tops, skirts, dresses, accessories and chokers. This mermaid set that I’m wearing can be found on the site. There is so much more to come; so stay posted!

Wishing you all a magical Halloween weekend! Get your mermaid on & shop now! 😉

October 30, 2016October 30, 2016

madewithjoy2 Comments

Iridescence

A few weeks before my summer trip in Asia, I went to the LA Fashion District and bought different fabrics that I can use to make some outfits for my trip. The moment that I laid eyes on this iridescent mermaid fabric material, I knew it was the one and I had to buy it for one of my bathing suits. For this look, I made a two piece set with a pleated bra top and scallop edge high waisted bottoms. I spent a whole day at Coral Island in Pattaya, Thailand. It was breathe taking and relaxing. I felt like I had the whole island to myself. One of the things I miss the most in Asia is being able to swim and go in their water. Where have you gone this summer? Do you have any upcoming trips you’re excited about?

XOXO,

Joy

August 3, 2016

madewithjoyLeave a comment

Mermaiding

Designer / Model :Joy

Photographer: Pangra

Clutch : Tory Burch

I like to tell myself that the reason why I love Disney so much is because I was deprived when I was younger. I didn’t grow up going to the happiest place on Earth. I grew up in the Philippines reading story books, watching Disney movies and dreaming what it’s like to be in Disneyland. My dream finally came true when I was 16 and now that I’m a young professional in my mid 20s, of course I had to be an Annual Passholder. My obsession with mermaids on the other hand, I don’t really have a justification why I love them so much or I never outgrew them. The Little Mermaid is obviously my favorite Disney Princess. Aside from her forever hair goals and amazing voice, I love her creativity, tenacity and strong willed personality. She doesn’t take “no” for an answer. She doesn’t just think about things but she makes things happen against all odds. Because of this, she became one of favorite cartoon characters growing up. I could relate with her in so many ways. Just like her, I don’t like being put in a box or going with the flow, being told what to do or cannot do, I like to be free, to be creative and to go in lots of adventures. This is just the beginning of my mermaid wardrobe. I will be designing and posting more mermaid inspired outfits, so stay tune! What do you think about mermaid fashion? Do you have a favorite Disney Princess and why?

XOXO,

Joy

June 29, 2016June 29, 2016

madewithjoyLeave a comment