It's better to give than to receive...

My husband is laughing at me. He thinks it's cute when I get so giddy over packing things up to send to people. I don't know why, but I absolutely LOVE putting together little gifts for people!

That brings me to the subject of this post: my giveaway winners!

Congratulations to Thalie and Stefanie! They each won a prize pack, and I might have slipped a couple of other goodies in there, just because I love to share things. You know... maybe. *wink*

Speaking of things I love, let me just say how much I love my new packing tape! It's made by Duck, and is the cutest pink and black zebra pattern! I feel like it makes my packages just a bit more fun, just a bit more happy. 

A bit more like me, really.

I've seen this tape in the store lots of times, but never could justify the almost-$3 it costs. But now I have packages to send, and I need to make sure they're secure, right? Hey, that's my story and I'm sticking with it...

Good thing I bought it, too, because although I was super-careful packing the giveaway prizes, after I was finished I saw that one of the boxes had fallen out of the envelope. Thankfully, I was able to cut into the package, replace the wandering box, and seal everything up again with my tape. Yay!

Anyway, it's almost midnight and I really should try and get some sleep. I've got more goodies in the works, so check back soon!

Giving gifts is so much fun!

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Green and Gold Animal Print- is it Tiger? is it Zebra? Who knows?

Hi hi!! I have to share this, even though I should be asleep. I had a weird night and should have been spending the day with my mom taking her to the doctor, but I seem to have a tummy bug. So I figured I'd give you something fun to look at while I'm feeling icky!

This is the last installment for this version of Animal Print week (which actually lasted two weeks, or... is it three? I can't count!) Still, it's cute as a button and can be done in the colors of your choice!

It's super simple too. Apply your base coat and then 2-3 layers of your background color. (This one is Manbug by BB Couture.) Once that's dry, add stripes of the metallic polish of your choice (I've forgotten which one I used here! EEP!) and follow up with thin black stripes under each metallic stripe as an accent. If your background color is darker, you can use silver and white as accent colors and it would really pop!

So, try it, and if you do, show me! I love seeing people trying what I've shown! Til next time!

The tiger zebra is actually a very rare animal. Green is considered the ultimate beauty for their coat.

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Animal Print Week- A Painterly Zebra of a Different Color

Click this photo to see a close-up view of
the loose, painterly quality of the print.

Another update for animal print week! (Also, animal print week may carry over to next week, since I seem to be failing at updating daily!) Today's how-to is a somewhat painterly approach to a zebra print.

Instead of making a zebra print with very crisp lines, I wanted something a bit more loose and zebra-inspired. Because of this, I didn't even bother to look at any photos of actual zebra print. Instead (since I've painted zebra print quite a few times) I just started in painting.

Exact polish colors and brands aren't really important here. Instead, pick out three or four shades that you think will go well. I went with a bright almost-neon warm red-violet, a cool lavender, a very pale grey and white. These colors are similar enough to work together, and yet different enough to really stand out. The cool lavender really pops against the warm background.

I began with my standard base coat (Qtica Nail Growth Stimulator),  then 2 coats of the red-violet background color. Once this was grey, I loosely painted in the base stripes. I then added the lavender bottom lines on, then the white at the tops of the stripes. A quick coat of Seche Vite then leveled the art out, making everything seem pulled together.

Click this image to see it full-size!

Tell me- do you prefer a sharp, crisp zebra print or do you like my looser, zebra-inspired print? Let me know in the comments!

Til next time!

Some products may have been provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

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