Happy Tuesday, it's a giveaway!

 
I'm having a giveaway! What's the reason? Well, that's a good question... I'm not at any particular important number, be it pageviews or followers or whatnot. It's not a special occasion... but I figured it out!

It's the Layniefingers Happy Tuesday giveaway! Who needs a reason to say I love you? Certainly not me...

Several people had mentioned how they'd love to have some mini punches to make their own nail decals with. I can't send punches to everyone, but I can help a couple of people out!

So I've got a small gift, but one I hope you'll enjoy as much as I do. There will be two winners who each receive a mini punch and a set of four gorgeous string glitters!

This is the punch I used in my nail decal tutorial. So tiny, so cute!

This punch makes a sweet heart with an arrow through it!

Mmmm, sparkly metallic bar glitter...

So what are you waiting for? Click the Rafflecopter buttons and fill in your information! I wanna get these out of my house before I'm tempted to keep them for myself!

Sorry, but this giveaway is only open to the US and Canada. I'm paying for shipping on these, and I just don't have the money to send overseas. I wish I could though... I love you all!
  a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Happy Tuesday!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

It's animal print mayhem!

Several colors on this nail were
custom-blended to achieve the
look I wanted. So much fun!

Hi again! Today I've just got one nail design to share with you, but it's one I've fallen in love with! I've got such a love for animal prints, and I wanted to do something more than the typical look.

I painted the zebra and giraffe sections as soon as I'd figured out what I wanted, but the top segment stayed empty for several months while I tried to figure out what to paint there. I'm still not sure it works, but I'm definitely enjoying the look of it!

I'd share the polishes I used to make this, but I custom-blended several of them. Also, since it's been so long since I started it that I can't remember what polishes I used! I really need to start keeping a spreadsheet of what polishes I use to make what colors and which nail designs...

Yea, right... I'll add it to the list of things I need to do, then promptly forget about it!

So, what do you think about this one? Would you wear it? Would you like to see a tutorial on how I made it? Leave me a comment if you want a tutorial, I might be persuaded...

I maybe crazy, but it's fun!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

More Valentine's Nail Designs

Hi again! This is a quick update without much to say, but I wanted to share some more Valentine's Day nail designs with you! These would be good for an accent nail or for all your nails...

So what do you think? I'm really digging the black set at the bottom...

Some polishes were provided by the manufacturers for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Virus/Malware Warning

For the past few days, people have been getting warnings from Google Chrome that my blog has content from PimpMyNailz.com which is "known to distribute malware." I wanted to let people know that the content in question is simply a link on my blogroll.

I'd remove the link, but the gadget-thing to add/remove links to my blog roll isn't working. I've emailed Google/Blogger about it, but until then I can't remove the link in question, so the warning will keep coming up.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience, and your computers aren't in danger. I'll fix it as soon as I can!

I wish my blog roll wasn't broken!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Tutorial- How to Create Sponged Gradient Ombre Nails

Yes, this is the same
gradient as the tutorial
title image! :D

Ombre- it's everywhere right now. Ombre hair, ombre clothes, and ombre nails. While I can't help with the clothes or hair, I can show you how easy it is to do your own ombre manicure!

It's much easier than it sounds! It is time-consuming, though, and it uses up quite a bit of polish. Still, you could do this with any polishes, even going from black to white if you wanted to! You only need a few things...

This one's a LONG post, so I'll be cutting it to save your blog reader!

Krista's Cookies With Character

I love this guy! So cute, and so tasty!!

Recently I was lucky enough to win a dozen cookies from Krista's Cookies With Character, and I was so pleased with them that I decided I absolutely had to share them with all of you! I wish I could have shared more than the pictures, because these cookies were AMAZING!

First off, I have to comment on the packaging. We all know how rough packages can be handled by the post office. However, Krista went above and beyond with these, doing her best to make sure the cookies all arrived damage-free. They were individually wrapped, then wrapped in bubble wrap and tissue paper inside a pretty white box. That box was wrapped with a pretty ribbon and topped off with her business card, which includes a shot of the guy to the right. So CUTE!

That box was then put into a brown cardboard box and stabilized with packing peanuts. I'm telling you, these cookies were babied, and they were all in perfect condition- not a chip on any of them!

How gorgeous are these??

I was so excited opening the box, moreso than I should have been, probably. But it's been a rough time for me lately, so the cookies definitely were a pick me up! I felt like I was getting a present! And what a gift... just look how gorgeous these were!

My family said they were simply too pretty to eat (before taking a big bite and moaning happily around it). The texture of the cookies was so nice- crisp, but tender, and so delicious!The frosting was the perfect sweetness, and not so hard that it would break your teeth.

Can you tell I really, really liked these? I'll let the rest of the photos speak for themselves...

What can I say, I'm speechless at the quality of her cookies. These photos don't do them justice. And when looking through Krista's Flickr stream, I found a couple of extra cookies I had to share... This penguin is too adorable to believe! I love the little heart hat, and the puffy mittens and pompom on her hat, and those rosy cheeks just KILL me! I would have a hard time eating this one...

Finally, I had to giggle when I saw this adorable Frankenstein's monster, mainly because he reminded me of my Frankencrackle mascot! Although now that I look back on my mascot, he looks much less cute and more angry. And... well, crackly! I doubt he'd be nearly as tasty as this guy either!

Bottom line, Krista's cookies are AMAZING! If you happen to need some delicious, home-baked cookies with gorgeous hand-decorated designs, you can't go wrong with these. If you get the chance, I urge you to try her cookies. And if you do, tell her I sent ya!

Blah blah was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Scrapbook Punch Nail Decals

This Studio G punch cost
$0.97 at WalMart!

I've done a post about this before, but I'm doing it again because I found the most adorable punch while walking! I love being able to customize my nail art, so the idea of punching decals from whatever polish combinations I choose makes me super happy. As you can see, it make four tiny little hearts with each punch!

I had to test it out as soon as I got home. Sure enough, it made absolutely adorable decals that are the perfect size for nails. Seriously, these things are adorable!

So- how would you go about making these? It's seriously simple. You need a few items to start with...

• The punch(es) of your choice
• Nail polish- can be nail art polish, colored, or clear
• Any other items for decorating the nail polish sheets:
• glitter
• nail art pens
• brushes or dotting tools
• Plastic zipper sandwich bags

I painted strips a bit wider than the punch.

It's a very simple process. First, you paint strips of your choice of nail polishes across the zipper bag. I'm using a small bag used for packaging jewelry, but lots of smooth plastics will work. Do a test spot first, though, to make sure the polish will come off once it's dried.

I find it helps to do two or three coats of polish, to make sure the resulting sheet is strong enough to hold together. This is a perfect opportunity to use cheap clear polish just to build up the thickness.

Also, this is a great time to play with wet marbling. On the bottom row, you can see where I experimented with marbling different colors together. You can also do stripes, dots, wavy lines... whatever you like!

The next step is the hardest for me- waiting. The polish needs to be completely dry before you remove it from the plastic, otherwise it can bunch and tear, wasting your polish and your time. You can give it a day to dry, or even a week or more. The longer you wait, the easier it is to remove from the plastic as well.

Eek! I'd been wiping the tip of my
skewer on my thumbnail while
marbling the bottom row. Sorry!

Once it's thoroughly dry, removal is a snap. I fold back the corner of the bag under the polish and sort of roll it away from the polish. The polish lifts away easily, leaving you with a sheet that's entirely polish.

The benefit of using these instead of nail stickers is that they're so easy to remove! Because they're nail polish, they meld into your background polish, and easily dissolve in nail polish remover.

Unfortunately, that's the same reason they can't be used as glitter in nail polish- they'll melt back into the liquid polish. Such a shame... =/

An interesting thing about the polish strips: I noticed that the various polishes have much different textures and qualities. I applied basically the same thickness of polish for all of the strips. However, they had very different textures once they were dry. The neon polish (middle of the top row) was very thin, had dried very quickly, and was very brittle. The glass fleck polish on the top right was flexible and sturdy, and the black on the bottom right seemed almost like latex- very pliable and sticking to itself easily.

It would seem that the brittle polishes wouldn't wear as well as the pliable ones. I'm not sure if that's the case... it would be interesting to experiment with!

Ah well, I digress. Back to the tutorial... the next thing is pretty much the last thing- punching the hearts. I find it much easier to use the punch upside down, because I can see exactly where I'm lining up the punch on the polish surface. This is especially useful when punching patterned polish strips.

Unfortunately, when you punch upside down, you often get little hearts everywhere. I found hearts in interesting places after doing this. It's amazing how those little things can fly!

Now I'll share some pic spam showing the finished results. It's really cute!! I'm thinking you could also use the leftover polish bits as well... trip them to fit your nail and apply them in a band. It's an idea!

Four marbled harts in a row. Black on red is striking!

Hearts, hearts everywhere!

Stored in a plastic bag, you can see the variety of hearts I made. What, me obsessive? Noooooo..... :D

So, the next thing to do is to use some of these in a manicure! Sounds like a plan, eh? But first, I've got another tutorial I shot last night to use for sponge painting your nails! I'm all about frugal...

Til next time!

Some polishes were provided for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.