Haven't You Always Wanted a Llama?

Just a quickie update, since today's my birthday! I'm going to be lazy and comfy and not do much, but I wanted to share a conversation my husband and I had last night. I think it sums us up nicely...

It all started when I asked him to bring me a glass of water...

My husband:  Sheesh, woman! Kill the monster, bring you water...
Me:  Yes, and clone the llama! You can't forget the llama!
Husband:  I can't clone a llama for you. I only have a mango!!
Me:  But... but...
Husband:  And everyone knows you need a kiwi to clone a llama!
Me:  ...but... if you REALLY loved me, you'd clone me a llama!!
Husband:  *frowns*
Me:  *pouts*

I think we've both lost our minds! :D

Til next time!

French the llama!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Seeing Spots- some nail doodling to tide us over...

Hi y'all! I'm still coughing my fool head off and feeling gross, so I dipped into my photo archives to share something I did not too long ago while I was doodling. Sometimes I enjoy just putting various polishes together to see what I can come up with.

I'd love to tell you what polishes I used for this design, but I can't. Most of those colors I mixed myself from various polishes in my collection, and I honestly don't remember how I achieved them. However, this is a very simple look to achieve.

First, I imagined a V going down the center of my nail. I painted the three base colors, one in each triangle. After that dried, I began adding dots with whatever color I thought would mesh well with the backgrounds. I started with the large silver center dots on the turquoise bit, then added smaller pink dots on top of the silver ones. Finally I filled in the blank spaces with the sparkly blue dots. The side triangles are more simple. Finally I added black stripes to better separate the three sections. A quick coat of topcoat finished things off!

Hopefully I'll be feeling enough better to get a post up soon. If not, I'll dig into the archives again! Til next time!

The robots are coming to take me away!! :D

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Hospitals Suck.

I apologize for interrupting the fun, colorful nail art and other cosmetic goodness posts, but I'm afraid this has to be said. Hospitals suck, and not in the happy fun way. Let's see if I can sum this up briefly...

Some of you may know I've been sick for three and a half weeks now. Coughing, feeling horribly achy and weak, body aches, etc... it's not been a pleasant month here. For a week, I felt too bad to go to the doctor, which is sort of scary, but there ya go.

Last night, I ended up having a hard enough time breathing that I said enough was enough and finally went to the emergency room. I'm pretty fond of breathing, and when I feel like I can't I get rather grumpy. I'd have gone to the doctor sooner, but I have pretty severe medical anxiety, so it takes a LOT to get me into a doctor's office.

While sitting in the waiting room, I had lots of time to think about just why I dislike going to the emergency room. Forget being surrounded by sick people...it's just not very fun.  Even though I was there for my chest they made me strip naked and sit waiting in a tiny hospital gown that was totally open down the back. Then they wanted me to walk to radiology!

Yes, I put my pants back on before the trip to radiology. Some things I just won't do. :D

One bit amused me, though. The doctor seemed convinced that I smoke for some reason. He asked me at least three different times during the exam if I smoked, as if he'd somehow sneak up on me and get me to change my story. I'm actually pretty boring- I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I don't do much of anything except craft!

Ahh well, it's ok. Even though the doctor seemed convinced I had pneumonia, I don't. I have pretty bad bronchitis, and that's what's been making me feel dizzy and pass out too. That breathing thing really IS important!

Also, don't be like me. If you end up with something you can't kick after 3-4 days, go to your doctor. As the doctor told me, you don't want to end up like Jim Henson- he died of an easily treatable pneumonia, and had he seen the doctor even one day earlier, he'd have survived. I got lucky this time, but you might not.

Til next time, hopefully with better breathing!

My lungs hate me.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Franken Fun- My Magic Bus

I had the strangest night. I finally seem to be getting over the cold I've had for the past three weeks, so my family and I went out to the bookstore to get out of the house for a bit. We got home around 9pm and I immediately hopped onto my computer to update the blog.

But as I was opening images to crop, I saw the art doll I've been working on lately. I realized she needed more trimming and shaping, so I pulled out my supplies and got going on that. Once she was a little more to my liking, I took photos of her so I could keep track of things. But then I realized I had more things to photo for the blog, and figured I might as well shoot them at the same time since I had the camera out.

Fast forward to 7am, when I realize I've revamped the art doll twice, started not only a head for her but a new doll as well, started two paper mache candlesticks, redone a necklace to better suit my tastes, cleaned out my purse, photo'd lots of nail art, shot two or three videos for the blog, reorganized my nail art brush box and my paper mache supplies box, torn new paper strips for the new paper mache goodies, transferred my new bottle of acetone into the bottle I prefer, cut down that bottle into more storage for tall thin things...

... and I looked at the clock and shouted, "Holy CRAP, when did it become 7am??"

My husband, ever the smartass, replied, "About 2 minutes ago." He's so helpful. :D

And so here it is, almost 11am and I'm just now getting to the blog update I started 14 hours ago. I haven't slept, I've barely eaten, but oh how satisfied I feel right now!

However, since I didn't do anything new I'll show you a franken I made several weeks back. I've been admiring OPI's My Private Jet for quite some time, but I am much too frugal to consider buying it. Even if I had the spare cash to spend on it, I'd much prefer to throw that toward something else. So, enter a splash of black, a lot of clear, and some Gosh Holographic.

I love the photo of the bottle. The color is a touch off, for some odd reason, but the sparkles are GORGEOUS! Then again, I do have quite a thing for rainbows. Just in case you don't want to zoom in on it, let me show you a bit of that gorgeous holo sparkle...

Is that delicious or what? The best part? These photos were taken after midnight in my poor bedroom... I can't wait to put this on and take it for a ride outside. This baby is going to sing in the sunlight, I think!

If you're interested in mixing up your own version of this stunner, it's fairly simple as long as you have the right base. You'll need a very holographic polish- something like China Glaze OMG or Gosh Holographic works beautifully. I wish I could tell you a ratio, but it really depends what polishes you're using. My suggestion would be to put about half a bottle of clear, a healthy dollop of holo polish, and then add your black one drop at a time. It really doesn't take much black to completely mask the holographic glitter/shimmer, so it's easier to add it bit by bit than to end up wasting your holo polish in plain old black!

So, if you're anything like me, you're wondering what this looks like on. In a word? YUMMY! It's hard to see the pretty rainbow in this unless you click the picture to enlarge it. Good thing I'm nice enough to do a zoomed-in shot of it! Just look...

Keep in mind, that pic on the right there? Yep... shot after midnight with ambient room lighting. Can you imagine what this would do in the sun? I'm almost hyperventilating thinking about it!! Don't worry, eventually I'll get a shot or three of this in bright daylight, full sunlight so we can all appreciate just how gorgeous a charcoal holo can be. :D

But for now? I'm looking at the clock and it's almost 11:30 and I am finally starting to get a bit sleepy. YAY SLEEPS!!

... who am I kidding, I'll be up before 2. Still, even naps are better than nothing! Keep your chins up, kids, and I'll catch ya on the flip side!

Til next time!

It may not be a private jet, but I'm not complaining...

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Dr.'s Remedy Hot Hot Hot Summer 2011 Collection- ON ME!

You know, I wrote about the Dr.'s Remedy Summer 2011 collection a few days back, but the press release photos just did NOT do these beauties justice! Once I got these in my hands, I couldn't wait to put them on immediately!

Unfortunately, the metallic colors didn't fare so well over the deep color I had on already, so I had to take it all off and start over. Awww, shucks, such a shame... more time playing with my polish! *wink* Don't worry, I ended up with lovely shots of all the colors, and I'll share them all with you after the jump!

Recycling Fun- Making a Set of Funnels for Frankening

Ok, once again I've gotten crafty and creative with some of my recycling. I got super excited after I was done because the finished product worked so well, and after a bubbly tweet, I realized other people might be interested too! (Ok, it was the requests for photos that suggested other people might be interested, but hey... at least I figured it out, right?) So let me share with you the story of how I made two tiny funnels from an empty eye drop bottle!

It all started with frankening, of course. I've mixed colors for as long as I've played with paint in any form. In fact, I made a glitter paint several years ago to use on a pair of red canvas sneakers! Unfortunately, it gets really hard to put glitter into nail polish bottles. Up til now I'd been rolling up paper to make a temporary funnel, but that got messy and annoying. What to do, what to do...

Yes, I know there are mini funnels you can buy, but as you may have noticed? I'm frugal. Exceptionally so, and if I don't absolutely have to buy something, I generally won't. Plus I really do love finding ways to make whatever I want/need. It's sort of the best of both worlds!

So, today I was working on a paper mache art project (more to come on that later!) when I realized that hey, I had an empty eye drops bottle, and hey, that bottle was perfect size to go into a nail polish bottle, and HEY, what if... 

Some of my best projects start with "what if..." So, if you would like to make some tiny funnels, here's what you need!

• An empty eye drops bottle.
  Mine was a generic brand, but as far as I'm aware they're all pretty much the same- flexible sturdy plastic with a tiny tip.
• A coarse file or some sandpaper.I used my 8-step buffing block that came from the Dollar Tree. I've used this thing on SO many projects, and most of them weren't nail-related. Hmm...
• Scissors.This one's fairly self-explanatory. We'll get there in a few minutes.
• An X-acto knife.This may or may not be important. I don't know if it's totally necessary or not, but it's good to have on hand.
• A dotting tool, bamboo skewer, or something else long and thin.Again, I'll explain what this is for farther in.
• Plenty of elbow grease.This could be done using a dremel tool, but I didn't feel like digging it out and plugging it in and having to deal with all that. I used what I had on hand, and so can you!

First, I decided to turn the cap of the bottle into a funnel. I felt fairly sure there wasn't all that much plastic to remove to get things open, so I held the bottle upside down with the cap on and started rubbing it back and forth on the buffing block.

I know it seems like it would take forever, but it really didn't. After maybe two minutes the top of the cap was gone and I had a funnel. Unfortunately, there were little bits of leftover plastic inside the opening, which would be a disaster to try and use.

Top right- outside of funnel
Bottom right- inside of funnel
Click for larger image.

This is where the long skinny utensil comes in handy. I used the large dotting tool to push the shreds out from the inside and fold them over. Then I removed the dotting tool and sanded them away with a few more strokes on the buffing block. This took 4 or 5 different repeats of poke out the shreds, then sand them away. However, once they were gone I was left with a lovely tiny funnel, just perfect for glitter, micas, pigments, or even other polishes!

After finishing the small funnel, I looked at the bottle and wondered if I could make it into a funnel too! I sanded a bit on the bottom of the bottle, but it wasn't responding nearly as well to the buffing block as the cap did.

That's when I pulled out my scissors. I squished¹ the bottle flat and grabbed my scissors. I was expecting to have trouble cutting the plastic (like when I cut a soda bottle to use as a large funnel or a container for organizing stuff), but my scissors cut right through it, taking the very end off in one clean cut. YAY! (Although now I'm looking at the bottle end and thinking how perfect it would be as the base for a hat for one of my paper mache critters... I know, I need help, but this really does keep me sane! Imagine how bad it'd be if I didn't make stuff!!)

Then came the hard part- removing the part of the bottle tip that keeps the eye drops from squirting out in a stream. I had no idea how to do this, but since when has that ever stopped me? I grabbed my dotting tool again and put it through the open end of the bottle and pressed down, forcing the droppy-tip out nicely! What a surprise!

Once the very tip was out, I could see the dropper mechanism inside. Unfortunately, it was part of the tip so I couldn't just pop it out. I grabbed my X-acto knife to try cutting it out without realizing that I could just cut the very end of the dropper off. That would have worked much better than what I did, and it's what I suggest you do if you decide to make some funnels.



Once I got the dropper part out, I was finished with an awesome result: two adorable funnels that only cost me a few minutes of time. They're even easily stored- the cap still screws on to the bottle! I can't wait to use them next time I'm frankening!

Til next time!

¹ Squish: very technical term. Only the best for my readers. 

When does the hurting stop?

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Cracked Up Flowers- a fun floral manicure using crackle polish

I'm an experimenter, and sometimes my experiments turn out a little scary or just downright sad.Today, however, I've got an experiment that I actually like the end result! The best part is that it's super simple!

I do wish I'd used a different base color for this, but overall I still think it turned out really cute. This would be perfect for an accent nail, since placing all the stones does take a bit of time. Still, it's definitely something people can accomplish without a lot of stressful painting!

It's easy enough to create. While I'm going to mention brands, keep in mind you can use any color or brands you like better. I just happened to use what I have and what I like. Use what you have, and what works well for you.

First, I used a base coat. I can't repeat this enough: a good base coat and top coat are the most important part of your manicure. They protect your nails from staining (some, at least) and protect the polish on your nails. If you're going to splurge on something, splurge on top coat! Even the 98 cent Wet n Wild polishes can wear like iron if you use a good base coat and top coat!

... woops, I seem to have landed on a soapbox! How did that happen? Getting back to the manicure, it's simple. It goes like this:

1. Base coat.
2. Background color. Use 2-3 coats, whatever it takes to have a nice, solid background. I used a somewhat dusty metallic pink.
3. Once this is totally dry, I painted China Glaze Broken Hearted (pink) crackle polish in a rough triangle on the top half of my nail. I then used Sally Hansen Vintage Violet (purple) crackle polish on the bottom half trangle. 
4. After the crackle polishes have dried, I used my white Art Deco striper to paint a somewhat thick line separating the two crackles.
5. After everything had dried for a few minutes more, I placed the various rhinestones into place, using my clear topcoat as a glue to keep them in place. These rhinestones came from the Fingrs Flirt package, which I absolutely LOVE!
6. Finally, I added a coat of top coat to seal everything into place and protect everything, and we were done!

Let me know what you think of this one. I think it'd be fun to have pink crackle on my thumb and first two fingers, the accent nail, and then purple crackle on my pinky. Weird, but fun!

Ah well... til next time!

Some polishes were provided by the manufacturers for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.