Happy Holidaze the third! A simple snowflake design...

EEEP! The night got away from me, and I totally missed posting the blog tonight. I feel so guilty, but I had a lot of fun going out with my husband and my son, so I guess it was worth it.

It's a simple design today, one inspired by the weather up north. Living in Louisiana, we don't often get snow. Instead, we have weather that bounces back and forth, often seeing 85° one day followed by 35° the next. That actually happened last week, and let me tell you it's NO FUN! How can you get in the holiday spirit when you're in shorts and a tee shirt, sweating your tushie off?

I decided I wanted something pretty to remind me of the first snow we saw while living a bit north of here. We'd gone out in the night to watch it fall- enormous fat, fluffy flakes lazily drifting down to dust the grass. It was a slow fall at first, with huge flakes scattered in the night, standing out starkly against the dark sky. Later that night, the snow fell hard and covered the world with a soft blanket of white, the night absolutely silent as the snow muffled the sound. It was magical, and waking up that morning was so memorable. We walked outside and just looked around, feeling as if we'd been transported to a magical winter wonderland in the night.

This gives you a hint of where my mind was when I did this design, yes? I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Ultra HD Laser, then let that dry. I then pulled out my stencils that came with the limited edition Kiss Nail Art Nail Paint three pack. It's got such adorable stencils for the holidays- a candy cane, a christmas tree, snowflakes and gingerbread men... lots of holiday-themed cuteness! I chose this snowflake, and as you can see they're reusable! I then added a small rhinestone in the center of each snowflake from a pack of adhesive stones by Kiss, then topped with a coat of Seche Vite to smooth everything out and protect the art.

The stencils are super-easy to use. Make sure your polish is dry, then pull the stencil of your choice off the plastic sheet it comes on. Place it carefully on your nail, making sure to press it down thoroughly. If you don't, there's a chance the polish could seep under the edges, ruining your stencil. Apply your polish, then while it's wet lift off the stencil. (I haven't tried letting the polish dry before lifting the stencil off- I'll try that tonight!) Let the stenciled area dry completely, then add a layer of topcoat to protect it.

Once I pulled the stencil off, I'd place it back onto the plastic it came on, then clean off the wet polish with a cotton ball soaked in polish remover. Then I'd place it onto the next area again and start again! The stencils really are lots of fun to use!

Now... let's see if I can get some sleep before tomorrow. I hope your Saturday night was as much fun as mine... what did you do for the evening?

The Kiss Nail Art Nail Paint set with stencils was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Happy Holidaze the twoth!

Wow, I am absolutely blown away by the response to yesterday's post! You guys really like this nail art thing, don't you? Since you don't seem to mind me doing a single nail along with a demonstration of how it's done, I may try and see if I can do more nail art, even when I'm showcasing new polishes or whatever. I think that could be doable... what do you think? Worth the effort? :D

Today's holiday nail art is something for Hannukah. I have so many Jewish friends, and I absolutely love how blue and silver look together. That made today's nail art almost do itself!

As always, you can click the picture to make it bigger, if you'd like to see more detail. One thing I've found myself worrying about while doing nail art is the need to make things perfect. But if you look closely, you'll see that this is far from perfect- the dots aren't all perfectly round (I still don't have a dotting tool- shhh!), my stripes are irregular and sometimes overlap. But it's still pretty, and the whole look works well together as a whole.

So don't be afraid to try something like this. It really is a lot easier than you would think. Be patient, don't try to go too fast, and remember to brace your hand with your little finger while you paint. That step alone can make painting so much easier!

Also, like yesterday, I have an animated gif to help you visualize the steps of putting a look like this together. I'm trying something a bit new with it- I've labeled the steps to help you see what's going on, because there really is no good way to paint glitter. :D

To recreate today's nail, you'll need a few supplies:

• base coat
• a blue polish of your choice
• white and silver stripers OR
• white and silver polish & a skinny brush
• clear polish to adhere glitter pieces & rhinestone
• dotting tool
• a manicure stick (for placing glitter & rhinestone)
• silver glitter
• a rhinestone
• top coat

1. Base coat. Always do a base coat.
2. 2 coats of your background color- blue, in this case. For this nail, I used Sally Hansen Ultra HD Laser, but feel free to use any deep blue you like.
3. Once your background is dry, paint white four slashes across the nail starting from the bottom corner. They fan out like a flower, almost. I used my Art Deco Illustration Nails paint in white.
4. Use your dotting tool to paint white dots between the slashes. Do as many as you like. At the outer edges, I only had room for 2-3, but I did 5 on the inner sections.
5. I decided the design needed a bit more punch, so I added silver stripes along the bottoms of the white stripes. Just use your striper (or your striper brush and your silver polish) to paint slashes along the bottoms of the white ones. I used my Art Deco Illustration Nails paint in silver.
6. Once the white and silver are dry, sprinkle a tiny bit of glitter onto some paper. Paint a small amount of clear polish onto the first silver stripe, then place single glitter pieces in a line along the edge. Use the manicure stick to pick up and place the glitter pieces one by one. Repeat along all the silver stripes.
7. Use a bit more clear polish at the base where all the stripes begin. Place a single rhinestone on top, covering the junction and dressing up the look.
8. Let everything dry a bit, then coat with your favorite top coat. I used 2 coats of Seche Vite.

Repeat this for as many or as few nails as you like. It's a bit tedious, but it really isn't difficult. The main thing to remember is that you can do it if you practice! And even if it doesn't work out (believe me, not all of mine are keepers!), it's just nail polish!

You could customize this in several ways. First, you could change any of the colors and still have it look gorgeous. I can see this being downright amazing with black, silver, and red! You could also skip the careful application of glitter pieces and instead use a glitter striper. Instead of the rhinestone, you could put a big dot of glitter, or a nail decal. Nail art is endlessly customizable, and you should never be afraid to change things up.

I hope everyone has had a great week, and that you're heading into an even better weekend. Give someone something to smile about today! ♥

A picnic and a bargain... how much fun is that?

It's been a seriously wonderful few days here. I actually managed to get 5 or 6 hours of sleep in a row yesterday, and when I woke up my husband suggested we all go on a picnic! My husband, my son and I grabbed the frisbee and the camera and hopped in the car. We stopped at the grocery store to pick up some food and then headed to the local park.

I can't lie here, when I think "picnic," I often think snack foods. Gouda, crackers, popcorn, cookies... something nibbly and fun. As we walked through the store, my son grabbed the crackers, my husband wanted the ham and fresh french bread, and I wanted...

... the cookies! I have a serious sweet tooth, and when I saw these I got so excited! Unfortunately they didn't taste quite as good as they looked, but they were still pretty darn yummy! Oddly enough, both my husband and my son said they tasted coconut in the cookies! Weird people!

We sat at this cute picnic table that was right next to the play area. There was a family with a small boy, maybe 2 years old, and I really enjoyed watching him play. He was so cute!! He really enjoyed going up the slide instead of up the steps, but since there wasn't anyone else on the playground it was ok.

After we ate, the guys tossed the frisbee for a bit. I sat on the grass while they did, taking pictures and sketching, because my fibro was being a pain in the butt. Still, it was a lot of fun watching them. They really got into it, running and jumping to catch the frisbee. At one point my husband jumped, hit the ground and rolled, coming up after covered in dirt and grass bits. It scared me, I thought he'd hurt himself, but he was just chasing the frisbee.

Sheesh, boys!!

As I was watching them, I realized that hey, I had awesome sun and I was wearing my Sally Hansen Ultra HD Laser, so I started taking pictures of my nails. At one point I had my hand up against the bright blue sky, and my husband laughed at me. He said, "You're taking the anti-MySpace pictures!"  You know, instead of having my camera in my hand and taking a picture of myself looking up at the camera, I had the camera on my face and was taking a picture of my hand!

I thought it was funny. And on to the nail polish...

This is amazing. I've gotten so many compliments on it since I've put it on! Not only am I in love with the color, but it seems to catch the attention of lots of people when I wear it! It's a vivid sapphire blue with a gorgeous violet shimmer or microglitter in the bottle. It also seems to have a bit of duochromey goodness, shifting between blue, purple, and magenta when I tilt the bottle in my hands.

I'd picked this particular polish up at least 20 times in the shops, wanting to buy it but being too darn frugal to do it. I was just blown away at how the colors shifted in the bottle. So when I found this one in the clearance bin at WalMart for $2, you can bet your bippy I grabbed it!

It applied like a dream for me, too, except that the brush is shedding. I had to pick out three separate strands of brush while applying it, and that made me a sad panda. But not for long... how could I stay sad looking at this? Seriously!!

Once it's on the nail, it's not quite as duochromey, but it's still breathtakingly beautiful. I wish these photos captured the true look of this polish, but as usual the camera refused to play nice with the gorgeous purples and magentas. The color is primarily that stunning sapphire blue, but from some angles there's a deep purple cast with flecks of magenta peeking through. It's just sublime... absolutely sublime. I love this polish!

Gee, do you get the feeling I like this one or something? I need to open up, holding my feelings inside like this is gonna cause me a stress disorder or something! ;)

Finally, we all ended up back at the picnic table and I sat and sketched while the guys talked. It's not the most accurate sketch, but I present to you... duckie, a still life.

 

I also wandered and took some photos, but I figure those can wait. Maybe I'll start a folder on Picasa for my photography, or a flickr or something. I just wanted to share my picnic with everyone. I hope your weekend was as wonderful as mine!