Business Cards for Layniefingers

Aaaaack, I am such a goober! I went adventuring with my husband today, taking photos of all the exciting holiday gift sets out that include nail polishes at my local WalMart. It was lots of fun, and people didn't think I was weird at all, from what I could tell. A couple of people asked why I was taking pictures, so I explained that I have a nail polish blog and was taking pictures of things to show my readers. They seemed excited by this.

Well, unfortunately, we lost track of time and we wound up being out so long that there wasn't time to run me home tonight before husband had to go teach. "No big deal," I told him. "My blog post for the day is up. I'm fine, time-wise. I'll just work on replacing images in the blog."

Right. Have I mentioned that fibromyalgia makes you stupid sometimes? Yea. I got here and saw the date, and said, "Wait a minute, that's not right..." I went to my blog and realized... EEEK! NO POST!

But fear not, readers, I have pictures!! I've been kicking around ideas for business cards ever since I printed that first set. I've doodled several possibilities, and I'm not sure which one(s) I like best. So I'm going to do a poll and get y'all's opinions!!

First up is the original design I made. I like it, but I'd left off the Etsy link, so I've added it back in and changed the font a bit. I actually like this one a lot. It's fun, it's funky, it's got a lot of character, and I think the energy matches the energy of the blog.

Then I started feeling rainbowlicious! I know, I know, it's entirely too bright, but seriously, isn't this cute? I can't help it, I am absolutely addicted to rainbows. I'm just not sure about how I feel about it. It's cute, though.

Then I went for hand-drawn feel. Unfortunately, these are all using brushes and fonts I've downloaded, but they combine so cutely! The problem is, I don't know if this card suits my blog. Ahhh, decisions, decisions!

So, next I added some fun hand-drawn embellishments using brushes I'd downloaded. Aren't they adorable? I thought about coloring them, but it's just too fiddly for me. There's also the question- does this work with my blog?

Finally, I added a block of text describing my blog. You may need to enlarge the image to read it. The text definitely fits the blog, but the card as a whole? I have no idea... This is hard work!

Finally, I decided to use the brushes I'd made of my own drawings along with the photo of one of my earliest nail art attempts. It's cute, but I feel like it's missing something. Again, I just don't KNOW!!



So, those of you who have an opinion, how about sharing it with me? Which card do you think I should make, and why? Which card fits the theme of my blog and my personality best? Or do you think none of them work, and I should let YOU make a card for me? At this point, I'm open to just about anything, as long as it involves having someone else make a decision! =P

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!

My Obsessions Are Contagious!

Ok, I have to be honest tonight. I have entries planned, but haven't had a chance to make them happen yet. Everything's photo'd and cropped and tagged and ready to go, I just haven't had the time to sit and actually write the stupid posts, but I'm hoping that'll change tomorrow. I'd gone out with the family tonight to spend some time and wound up falling asleep in the car, so once my husband woke me I took myself straight to bed... where I crashed with the laptop, only to wake up to find it's cold and I'm awake.

Again.

So, I figured what better thing to do than write a blog post! *laughs* I know. Not some people's first choice of actions, but that's why I have a blog, and they don't! So, work with me on this, yes?

I wanted to thank you all. Between twitter, the blog, email... I got so many warm wishes for my anniversary, and it helped make the day even better! My husband, sweetheart that he is, took me out to our favorite little Mexican restaurant, the one where everyone there knows us and they smile when they see us come in. (I'm talking about Taco Bell, for those of you who don't know. We're not fancy!) Yes, I chose the restaurant- husband gave me the choice of going just about anywhere I wanted, and I chose the Bell. Don't judge me!

On our way out the door, I noticed there was a poster up for their kids meals. They were giving away Skelanimals watches! I got so excited, and my husband thought it was adorable, so we talked for a few minutes.  I didn't want to buy a kid's meal because we'd just eaten, but since it seemed to be a Halloween them we didn't know how much longer they'd be available. Since it was our anniversary, my husband suggested I go ask if I could buy one on its own.

So there I was, so giddy I was absolutely bouncing, standing at the counter like I'm a five-year-old who's been told Santa is right around the corner! One of the guys who works behind the counter came up to see what I needed, and I asked if they had anymore of the Skelanimals watches. He asked if I was interested in them, and I said I am! He said hang on, then came back with two. He said they were the last two left, and to keep them both.

As if that's not nice enough, a girl who also works behind the counter came up and asked what he was talking about. The guy I'd been talking with told her I was asking about the Skelanimal watches, so she went and showed him the box that was leftovers. She pulled the other two out and said, "Here! Enjoy!!"

I was absolutely GIDDY!! I thanked them warmly and we continued on our way, heading to WalMart to walk. Unfortunately, I can't afford a gym membership and sometimes I need something to hang on to when I walk, so going to WalMart works- it's inside, it's climate-controlled, there are places to sit if I need to rest, buggies to push if I need something to hold on to, and lots of things to look at while I walk!

Well, while we were walking, I saw that their Halloween goodies were now on sale for 75% off. Have I mentioned how much I like clearance items? I dig for a few minutes and come up with a gorgeous orange creme nail polish and a pair of pink false lashes with feather tips. So, so cute, and something I'd really wanted to get but not at full price, you know?

I looked at my husband who said, "Sure, happy anniversary!" He's silly as can be, but it makes me happy, you know? So I drop those into my buggy and keep walking. We wander around (on a good night we'll make 4-6 laps around the WalMart Super Center) and my husband sees a shirt that looks like it'd be my style- lime green with a pink skull on it. I tell him, "Hey, if it was like, a dollar then I'd buy it. But you know I'm cheap, baby!"

He says, "But think about it... it's halloween. I bet this is on sale too!"

I had to admit, he was probably right. So I tossed it into the cart as well and we set off in search of a price-checking machine. It was almost creepy... the shirt didn't want to scan, but when it finally did (at the second machine, of course) it turned out to be... A DOLLAR! Isn't it cute?? And it's TOTALLY me...

And so for $2.50 I got everything you've seen in the pics... how cool is that?? I love a bargain... *grin*


So, the title of the post. I know, I've been rambling, but it's 3:30am right now, cut me some slack, will ya? When I woke up, I decided to check my email and I saw where my mom had sent me an email with a title of "Platinum nail polish????" Turns out she'd read about I Do, the platinum polish Essie put out in a collaboration with Allure magazine, platinum supplier Johnson Matthey, and PGI. It's a sheer polish with platinum dust in it to make your nails shimmer like a million bucks... or $250, which is what the bottles retail for. Or you could have the elite bottle- made of pure platinum, it was valued at $55,000.

Hi mom! See, I really DO read your emails, even if I forget to reply! :D And since I've been babbling long enough to get thoroughly chilled and until it's almost time to take my morning meds, I think I'll wander off back to bed to see if I can sleep a bit before it's daylight. Remember, time "fell back" last night, so you get an extra hour of sleep!! Whee!

Happy Anniversary to me!

Seventeen years ago today, I married my best friend. We sort of eloped... we were planning a larger wedding, but things kept getting more and more crazy and out of hand, and one day we looked at each other and just sort of said, "Hey, you wanna?" The biggest problem we had was finding a justice of the peace to marry us, because it was the night of the big game- two local high school rivals were playing the end-of-season football game, and no-one would skip the game to marry us!

Since then, we've had a bit of a tradition of not actually remembering our anniversary. It started with our first anniversary when our best friends (who had stood in our wedding) knocked on our door to wish us happy anniversary. We had no idea it was a special day, and it clearly set the tone for the next few years. Since then, we've remembered three or four times, but the rest passed without our knowledge. And that's ok with us, because we feel like we show our love every day, and we try to make every day as special as we can. One day of romance is useless if the rest of the year has none!

In the past seventeen years we've moved several times for school and for work, we've been to weddings and funerals and watched our son grow from an infant to almost a man. We've bought cars and sold them, gotten college degrees, and seen a lot of life. We've dealt with health crisis after crisis, and yet through it all we're still best friends.

Looking back on the past 18 years together, I realize that he can still take my breath away when I see him unexpectedly. He's still the first one I want to share good news with, and the one I want to hold me when I'm afraid or sad. I'm looking forward to the next 18 years together to see what this big amazing world is going to come up with, and I'm so happy that he'll be by my side to watch it happen.

I love you, hon... thanks for being my best friend!

I'm moving up in the world!!

Sometimes I'm amazed at how little things can make me so incredibly happy. The bright shade of blue of a fall afternoon sky, the smell of freshly baked bread, and... office supplies! I can spend absolute hours wandering through an office supply store, testing the pens, touching the various paper samples, being engrossed in the variety of notebooks and journals. Back to School sales have made me squee with excitement on more than one occasion, just at the thought of getting new pens or a brand new journal.

So I guess it's no surprise that I'm totally giddy because I made business cards for my blog. I wouldn't have, really, even though it's such a fun idea. But I am SO incredibly cheap. I mean, frugal. (Yea... that's the word. Frugal.) I can't see the point of spending good money I don't really have on business cards for something that doesn't really make me money. Except that I've had several people asking me about my blog lately, wanting my email address or my url, and I've had to drag out my sketchbook, tear out a page, and scribble my addresses in my chicken scratch, hoping they'll be able to read it once they return home. It's inconvenient, it looks shoddy, and frankly it'd be fun to have business cards.

Then it hit me: I have access to a laser printer- I could print my own business cards! Let me tell you, the squeal of glee you heard Tuesday afternoon was probably me. I went back and forth in my head on what to do, but finally decided to grab the header of my blog, add a picture of my favorite nails, and throw my various addresses onto it. I forgot to add my etsy account, but hey... I can always print more, right? :D

So now I've got a short run of business cards, I printed 5 sheets and trimmed them using my paper cutter. I'm strongly tempted to do another run with various images, just because I can and it's fun! I can't even begin to tell you how much I love these, and now I won't have to dig for scratch paper to let people know about my blog!

In other news, I made a Facebook account for Layniefingers, so feel free to add me! I know, I'm so behind the times... but I figured hey, why not?

So tell me, what do you think of the business cards? Any suggestions for future print runs?

Trails of Stardust Shimmer On the Night's Wind

Turns out I forgot to post the photos for my Stardust nails when I posted my video. So I'm sharing them today, along with a funny I couldn't resist tweeting earlier. See, I did my favorite Halloween activity yesterday- halloween clearance shopping! Costumes and makeup kits are half off, and I can't resist them!

I didn't buy much. I grabbed a bottle of the black and orange glitter polish I'd been drooling over and a set of purple false lashes with top and bottom lashes. I didn't see anything funny until this morning when I read the back of the packaging.

There in two languages is the warning, in all caps. WARNING: DO NOT SWALLOW. Not for human consumption. Is this really a problem? Have people been mistaking them for dietary supplements? I get the suggestion not to put the adhesive directly onto your eyelids. I even almost understand don't eat the glue... but don't eat the lashes??

I have no idea.

And now, the stardust nails...

Several things come to mind with these. First I'm reminded of fairies flitting through the night sky, dipping and dancing and leaving trails of sparkling fairy dust as they dance. I think of fireflies on a summer night, flashing their desperate messages of love and lust into the dark, hoping for a response from some beautiful lady firefly.

Mostly, however, I'm reminded of stardust glittering in the deep black of space, tumbling and sparkling, capturing the light of stars and reflecting it to any eyes lucky enough to see. They seem like something magical, something that will catch everyone's eye and make them start thinking fantastic thoughts.

So tell me, what do you think of when you see these nails? Do you think of fairies or witches, of moonlit nights?

As I said in my video, I can't help but wonder how these would look on different colored backgrounds- a soft baby pink, a crazy magenta, perhaps a midnight blue.

I think it could be fun with less glitter, so that the lines of glitter show more. I'd love to place individual swarovski crystals into the streaks as well! It would be almost as if the stars are falling...

 

Ahh well, I've got a kit of longer nails to play with now. This will be lots of fun to play with, I think! What do you think would be an interesting twist for these nails?

Introducing Princess Tinytips!

Oh my goodness, y'all, I am so excited I can barely stand it. Last night was Halloween, and for years my husband's family has all gotten together to trick or treat as a group, then come back to my sister-in-law's house to eat homemade soup and visit. It's something I look forward to every year, even though we've been too old for trick-or-treating for several years now.

Tonight we arrived while the kids were out wandering through the neighborhood collecting candy. However, once they arrived home, my niece came running over to give me a huge hug, then told me she had something for me. She ran over to her little art table and dug for a few minutes, then came back clutching some papers close. I could tell what she had was important to her.

She stood next to me, then handed me the papers. "I drew these for you this morning, Aunt Laynie. They're just pictures, but I drew some nail designs in case you were interested in them."

That's right. My six-year-old niece was so excited by my sketchbook that now she has her own notebook to draw in, and she drew me pictures of nail art. Plus, she put swatches of her nail polishes! Do I even need to tell you how cute I think this is? It was so sweet I almost cried!

It didn't take long, but she went through her drawings with me. She pointed out what she thought would be good for nail art, and of course I told her I'll do my nails with it. I will, too, because it's actually pretty cute once I clean it up a bit. How many people can say they're wearing nail art designed by a six year old?

Since she's going to be appearing in the blog more often, I've decided to give her a name. I don't feel comfortable using her real name since she's only six, and I feel even weirder calling her "my six-year-old niece." It gets old, you know? So, from now on, she'll be Princess Tinytips. (Thanks EvilAngel for suggesting the base name!) She has a huge love of princesses and I'm hoping I don't have to explain the tiny tips.

If all goes as planned, I'll get to have a girls' day with my nieces where we do our nails together and talk girl talk. I may even bring my makeup kit and do their faces. Nothing too over-the-top since they're all little girls, but several of them are in the 10-12 range, so they might enjoy it a lot. I know I would, and maybe they'd be able to learn some things about makeup application. With luck, I'll have pics of lots of little nails to blog!

So I hope you'll forgive me, but I just had to share this... I think it's so sweet that she and I have this special bond. Hopefully we'll get to share all sorts of cosmetics fun and hair styling adventures, and she'll get to grow up remembering how much fun she used to have with her crazy Aunt Laynie.