Finally, an affordable drugstore stamping kit!

Holy WOW, I'm excited about this!! My husband and I went to WalMart to walk, as is our habit, and meandered over to the As Seen On TV section, mainly to have a giggle at the silly products. It's always good for a few minutes of fun, you know?

Imagine my surprise when I found THIS! Holy CRAP, do you see what that is? It's a drugstore nail stamping kit- not just stamping disks, not just a stamper, but a whole kit with everything you'd need (except the polish) to get started stamping your nails!

I may have squealed out loud over this. I may even have hopped up and down a bit while I hugged the kit to my chest, swooning over the awesomeness of it.

My husband's reaction? He chuckled, shaking his head at me. He doesn't understand my love for nail art, but he does like to see me get excited. Once I saw this kit contained awesome image plates, I absolutely had to have it.

That's right... not one plate, not two... but five!! Five plates with adorable images, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's look at this bit by bit, shall we?

Just look at what the kit contains- You get the nail design stamper (which is DOUBLE-ENDED, people!!), the scraper, the image plate holder, and FIVE image plates!

And these aren't the usual floral plates... while you get an assortment of really cute florals, you also get cute things like an apple, a palm tree, a seahorse... really cute stuff! The plate with animal print and patterns is what made me hop up and down, though.

What can I say, I'm silly.

Let's look at the plates up close... they're worth it!

 

Yes, you can click those images to see them larger. How adorable are they? I really like the double heart in the center of plate SE 21, the flower on SE 18, just about everything on SE 19, and the flower on SE 20. And OMG, do I even have to mention SE 22? I LOVE those images!

There's just one issue with SE 22- the images are definitely not full-nail. They might cover my pinky nail, but definitely not any others. Still, these are very usable images.

I can see myself using these as partial-nail stamps, to decorate half the nail, or french tips, or whatever. They're still absolutely adorable! Totally worth the price of the kit!

Oh yea, the price... I haven't mentioned the price. Can you believe this whole kit costs a whopping $10? Me either! Heck, you can barely get a single Konad plate for $10, much less the whole setup. I'm in LOVE!!

I'm also really excited about the double-ended stamper. One of the problems with the traditional stamper that comes with kits is that it's just too big. It can be hard to line images up on smaller nails using the big stamper, and a double-ended stamper can be hard to find, or more than you want to spend.

So, let's look at what it would cost to pick up these items from Konad, since that's the brand that started the stamping craze. If you were to buy them separately, you would end up with:

• double ended stamper and scraper: $6.90
• image plate holder: $2.90
• 5 image plates: $6.50 each, total $32.50
• Total for whole set: $42.30 before tax and shipping.

Pretty awesome deal, don't you agree? I know I'm over the moon! Of course, you don't get the Konad name, but in all honesty, I've used Konad plates and stampers, and I'm not seeing a huge difference in quality here. This is the best value I've seen yet when it comes to stamping kits.

Now comes the embarrassing part: I am SO out of practice when it comes to stamping. I had my stamping set in a sweet little cloth bag, and I seem to have misplaced it somehow. It's been way too long since I did any stamping, and BOY does it show. But I feel like I need to show the stamping I did, even though I'm WAY out of practice.

I pulled out a selection of polishes I'd been wondering about to see how they'd do on black and white. Sadly, most of them didn't work as well as I expected, although the Heaven polish surprised the heck out of me!

Also? Don't blame the bad stamping on the image plates or the stamper. I'm definitely to blame, as I'm getting used to the whole stamping process again. It definitely takes some getting used to!

So, I know what I'll be fiddling with for the next few weeks. I have so many ideas bouncing around my head! YAY!

Also? This is the fastest I think I've ever reviewed anything. I was so excited to see this, and even more excited that it's everything I was hoping for.

This may have been as As Seen On TV set, but it's definitely nothing to laugh at. This set is worth every penny, and quite a bit more!

As far as I know (after some quick googling) these are for sale at WalMart, CVS, Walgreens, and maybe Rite Aid? You may find them other places as well, I don't know... if you see a section for As Seen On TV items, look around! You just might get rewarded with awesome stamping!

I love this kit! You should go buy one today!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

I absolutely love a good sale!

Ahhh, holidays. One of my favorite holiday traditions is hitting the post-holiday sales. Stores invariably overstock with holiday merchandise, and once the big day has come and gone most of that merchandise will end up deeply discounted.

This year was no different. Last night my husband and I went walking at WalMart and I decided to look through whatever items happened to be left in the Valentine's day section. I'm so glad I did...

See, the day after Valentine's day (or any other holiday, really) WalMart usually knocks 50% off the prices of whatever merchandise is left. After a few days, they generally knock it down to 75% off. Last night, I found several goodies that were 75% off, and brought home what you see to the right!

While I was happy about the string glitter, I was especially excited to find the rhinestone sticker. I've had a theory for a while now, and was looking forward to testing it.

The full price of this sticker was $0.98, but with the sale it was a whopping $0.24! I decided that even if I couldn't get the rhinestones off the backing, I could simply trim around them and apply them to my nails that way. Sure enough... it worked!

Unfortunately, the silver backing came off a few of the rhinestones when I pulled them off the backing. That's easily fixed, though... I'll dab a bit of silver polish onto the back of the stones before I use them. Problem solved! So for 24 cents I got 74 rhinestones in various shapes and colors... not bad!

The glitter came in packs of 4 and were $0.20 each, so I picked up two. I do have two duplicates (red and purple), but I really like the colors so I'm not complaining too much. The little pots they come in are pretty sweet, too!

All together, I ended up with everything you see in the photo to the right. 20 cents each for the 2 sets of 4 colors of string glitter, 29 cents each for the 2 sets of 4 micro glitters, and 24 cents for the rhinestone sticker- that comes out to a fantastic price of $1.23! Color me giddy, because I'm still grinning ear to ear!

Remember- you can find nail art goodies everywhere, from the Dollar Tree to WalMart to the thrift store. All you need to do is keep your eyes open!

Til next time!

My husband laughs at me when I get giddy over a sale!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Tutorial- How to make custom sponge tools

Whew, it's been a busy few days! But I'm finally back with the tutorial I referred to a few days back. I'm going to show you how to make your own sponge tools for fun and interesting nail art!

Before you start, you need to gather your supplies so you won't have to stop halfway through and bug your family about helping you find the glue stick, the way I might have done here.

The list is simple enough. Basically, you can use whatever you have on hand!

Supplies for sponge tools:

• Sponges
• Don't feel like you have to use what I used! Use whatever you have around the house...
• Kitchen sponges, makeup sponges, whatever sponges you
• Scissors
• Sticks of some kind. I used coffee stirrers and bamboo skewers.
• Some sort of adhesive. (Not pictured)

After that, it's really simple- cut the sponges and stick them on the end of the sticks! However, I went to a bit more trouble and showed different options you have.

To start with, I used the sponge from an old set of sponge rollers I have on hand. This particular roller had broken, so I decided to recycle the sponge into a tool for sponging.

I decided to cut it into different shapes to see what sort of effects I could create. I cut off small round sections from the end of the sponge, then cut them into half-circles and quarter-circle wedges.

I also cut the sticks into small segments that would be easier to control. I eventually cut the ends of the sticks into points, but I don't have pictures of that. I kind of forgot...  oops!

Then, I decided to cut a small opening into the sponge so that the stick would go inside of it. That would make it a bit more stable when stamping, I think.

This was so awkward to photograph, since I needed two hands to actually work the scissors and hold the sponge! So, pretend this photo is of me snipping into the bottom of the sponge segment.

You can also use your sticks to just sort of tear into the bottom, if you like. It all depends on what shape the bottoms of your sticks are. If you're using a bamboo skewer, you can just sort of shove it into the end of the sponge.

At this point, you would put glue on the end of your stick and shove it into the little hole you'd made in the base of the sponge. Unfortunately, I'd lost the glue stick I'd gotten out to do this tutorial with as soon as I started photographing, so after looking for a good 45 minutes, I decided glue wasn't important and I made do with what I had.

Instead, I painted the stick with a glob of nail polish and shoved it in. Surprisingly enough, this worked really well! I did find the glue stick after I'd finished this tutorial (of course!), and used it on later sponge tools... but the ones with nail polish held up just as well!



Who knew?

And now comes the fun part... seeing the different patterns and stamp styles you can get with the different tools! Believe it or not, they really do look different...

No matter how I tweaked this, it was hard to make it understandable. The colors basically match up the sponge shapes
to their patterns when stamped onto paper.

Stamp pattern of the center of the flat side of the half-circle section.

Stamp pattern of the edge of the quarter-circle wedge.

Stamp pattern of the flat edge of the quarter-circle wedge.

Stamp pattern of the side of the round.

Stamp pattern of the flat portion of the round, by the hole.

Stamp pattern of the flat portion of the round, by the hole.

Stamp pattern of the scratchy side of a kitchen sponge.

That last photo shows what the scratchy side of a kitchen sponge looks like when you stamp with it! I actually think it's pretty... very interesting, almost like when you splatter nail polish from a straw!

So, the idea here is simple: don't feel like you always need to spend money on expensive nail art tools. Sometimes you can do cool things with stuff you already have around the house!

Til next time!

My mind never stops with the ideas...

See my disclosure statement for more information.

A hint about homemade nail polish decals...

I hate my blog posts without pictures!

I love you guys, you know that?

Because I don't want anyone to go through making the same mistakes I've made (and also because it's just plain funny), I'm sharing a simple tip to make life easier for you if you decide to make custom nail polish decals.

If you need to sneeze? Turn your head. If you happen to have a couple of hundred tiny little nail polish decals drying on a sheet of paper and you sneeze over them? They're light enough to be moved by the resulting breeze.

Did I say moved? I think that's too polite a term...

... these things blew all over the place.

One sneeze, and suddenly my paper full of decals wasn't quite so full anymore, and there were tiny bits of dried nail polish everywhere except where I wanted them. I groaned, and I may have said a not-so-polite word. My husband, ever supportive and concerned for my well-being, immediately asked what was wrong.

I didn't want to tell him.

I did, though. I explained that I sneezed, and scattered the nail polish bits from here to kingdom come.

I'll give him credit. He did try not to laugh. He failed though, and pretty dramatically. He apologized through his giggles, and when I didn't laugh along, he said, "But baby, you have to admit... it is kind of funny."

Eh, who am I kidding. At that point I started to laugh too, and suddenly it wasn't quite so overwhelming anymore.

I hope this gives you a giggle...

Also, I'm experimenting with embellishing the nail polish decals, seeing just how far I can expand this idea. So far? I have so many thoughts! Here, have a simple teaser...

And now, back to the drawing board. Or sleep... sleep might be good right about now... Whatever. :D

Til next time!

Sometimes I think my life is written by a soap opera writer.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

An Easy Floral Nail Art Design

I hate to admit this, but I'm not sure if I posted this nail or not yet. If I have, then I apologize for the repost. If I haven't? Wheee, fun nail art!

I was going through nails I'd painted before I got so sick, and found this one.  I really do like this, it's fun and would be easy to adapt with different colors. If it weren't for that pesky bubble, I'd love it!

It's a very simple technique, although as always, I'd be glad to post a tutorial if you'd like to see one. I simply painted a few 5-stroke flowers, added a yellow/orange dot for the center, then put a yellow rhinestone from my Born Pretty rhinestone wheel for the center of the main flower. I then filled in the empty spaces with varying-sized yellow dots.

I'm pretty sure that yellow is Hard Candy Splendid, although I have no idea on the other colors. My memory is not so great these days. I should start keeping a nail art journal with samples and a description of the colors I used. Add that to the list of things to do... :D

This could be fun in lots of color combinations... I can imagine lots of variations, but you won't have to! I mocked up 5 different varieties quickly, as an idea of just how different you can make this design look by using different colors.

 

As I hope you can see, even changing the color of the flowers and their centers can make a huge difference, even on the same background color! You can change it up using holos, duochromes, glitters... it's all up to you!

Also, if you haven't already, why not stop by my giveaway and enter! I'm adding fun things to it, just to make it more fun for the winners!

Til next time!

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

See my disclosure statement for more information.

China Glaze Electropops Nail Art Revisited

I have to be honest. When I posted my nail art designs using the new China Glaze Electropops polishes, I wasn't really happy with this design. The lines were wobbly, the dots were horribly misshapen, and for some reason the design just didn't really do it for me.

Being the type of person that I am, I kept thinking about this nail, wondering what I could do to make it pop more. Then once I got out my nail art goodies I saw these flat-back pearls and realized this was exactly what I needed to perk the design up!

So, I'm sharing this nail again, only updated. What do you think- do the pearls make it better, or is this a design better left in the "oh well, better luck next time" pile?

China Glaze Electropop polishes were  provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

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.