Day 30 & 31-Final Days

So this is it!  I completed the 31 day challenge in 31 days straight! I am quite proud of myself...if that's ok :-) The first time I did the challenge it took me about two months.  I may have fallen a little behind this past week, but I did it! WOOHOO! You can cheer for me if you want, I don't mind.

For day 30 it was Inspired by a Tutorial.  Let me tell you there are some great tutorials out there!  I watched about a million on youtube and just couldn't decide. So much talent out there! In the end, I chose to go with my favorite video tutorial girl Raquel at Love4Nails. She has so many unique, creative, and artistic designs that I think are amazing.  I hope to be as good as her someday.  I chose to recreate one of her flower designs again.  I went with different colors, but the idea is still the same.  They started out ok, but I had a hard time getting the flowers right.  I think I need to remember that my nails aren't nearly as long as hers and I must accommodate for my short nails next time.

Base-Sally Hansen Brilliant Blush
Diagonal French-Essie Mojito Madness
Flowers-LA Colors Art Deco Pink striper & Spoiled Correction Tape
Leaves-NYC Big Money Frost

I wonder if I had stuck with her colors they would have looked nicer.  Also, she uses acrylic paints instead of polish.  I have so much polish it seems silly to buy something else to paint with :-P If you want to see her tutorial, check it out here.

Day 31 was to recreate your favorite mani from the challenge.  Someone in the group suggested that we recreate someone else's mani that we liked.  I thought this was such a sweet and kind suggestion! Problem is....which to choose! Such wonderful work was done and it was so hard to pick! After looking over the pictures so many times I kept being drawn to one in particular.  It was a simple but pretty manicure done by Carina Martins at Polish it All.  On Day 5 she did a blue manicure that I fell in love with.  It was a beautiful teal blue base and on one accent nail she made scalloped clouds in one corner.  She did such a nice job! Here is her original one

Go to her post to see more pictures!

I did an ok job recreating this mani.  I couldn't quite get the scallops right, but in the end I thought they looked quite pretty.  I did add a little something because I love using my D & R Apothecary polishes. So I added one called Cloudy Skies over the non-accent nails.  Pretty appropo don't you think!

Base-Spoiled Toadally Amazing
Scallops-Funky Fingers Mrs. Mint & Sinful Colors Rise and Shine
Glitter-D & R Apothecary Cloudy Skies

Well, I can't believe it is over!   I think either the Bollywood or the Violet Day were my favorites.  What would you say was yours? 

I will be starting a few new things over the next weeks or so.  I've got the Princess Bride, a Time Warp contest,  the ABC's, and a possible giveaway!  Make sure to come back tomorrow and you may just find out what some of those things may be!!  

Thank you so much for all of your support and wonderful comments throughout this challenge.  You are more than appreciated! This whole adventure wouldn't be nearly as much fun without my beautiful followers!

Ok, now go check out some other awesome manis!

Day 29-A Mermaids Call

In many coastal towns, it is believed that fishermen long to catch the beautiful mermaids that live in the sea.  If they catch one, the mermaid must come to land and live with him as his wife, grant him wishes and he will be forever happy.  Alas, the mermaid will spend the rest of her life feeling the call of the ocean, longing to return to her home in the sea.  But bound by the mythical rules that govern her to stay with the fisherman she is unable to do anything about it.  The only way that she can return is if he loves her enough to set her free.  I find this tale both sad and intriguing.  It inspired me to do some mermaid nails for Day 29, inspired by the supernatural.  I have been wanting to do mermaid nails for a while but I don't have the stamp that I see so many others use to accomplish the mermaid scale look.  Instead I chose to use dots to create a fish tale like scale on my accent nail.  After completing it I started to think they looked a little like the Rainbow Fish :-P Oh well, a talking shimmering fish in the ocean is supernatural too, right?

Base-Sinful Colors Let me Go topped with China Glaze Prism
Accent Nail Dots- Wet n Wild Caribbean Frost, Sally Hansen Silver Sweep, WnW on a Trip, S.H Co-Bold Blue

What do you think of when you hear the word supernatural? My husband said ghosts. ooooooooooooooo

Thanks for coming by today! Only two more days left in the challenge! Then, I will have some news to report that I just can't wait to tell you about!!

In the meantime, check out some of the other supernaturally inspired nails :-)

Captain Jack turns One

I cannot believe that my baby boy is one years old today! It seems like just yesterday that I was holding in my arms feeling so unbelievably lucky to be blessed with another sweet child.  And being amazed that I could love this one as much as I loved my daughter.  Jack was an angel from the day he was born.  He has always been a smiler and brings joy to everyone who sees him! I am so going to miss the baby stage in my life. And yes, we are done.  Two is plenty! So here is to hoping Jack's second year of life is just as enjoyable as his first :-)

For the manicure I got to use a new indie polish from 365 Days of Color.  It is called birthday bash and it has a lovely white jelly base with fine blue glitter and multi-colored confetti like glitter.  It really reminds me of icing.  I wasn't too sure about it when I first put it on, but after the second coat I fell in love with it. I almost ate my fingers....but I took pictures first!

Base-365 Days Birthday Bash
Tips-Its So Easy White striper & Maybeline Blue Blowout
Accent-Spoiled Correction Tape
Stamp-BM 307 using Maybeline Blue Blowout

Happy birthday my baby boy! I don't care how old you are, you will always be my baby! 

Days 26-28-Patterns, Art, and Flags

So I fell a little behind :-/ Fortunately I was ahead before I fell behind, so I didn't fall tooo far back. That sounded confusing.  Anyway, it has been busy and then I got sick.  Feeling better today, so you get three manis in one post! Amazing, I know. So, let's get started!

Day 26 was inspired by patterns.  There are so many freakin patterns that I am inspired by that I simply couldn't choose.  So I think I took an easy way out and did a mani using a bunch of geometric patterned stamps I have been wanting to try.  Excuse the messy tips....I didn't have time to photograph them right away and ended up chipping them a little.  Overall, I liked this mani, especially the base color that reminds me of denim.  And it happened to match my dress I was wearing that day :-P

Base-Finger Paints Art You Blue?
Stamps-Bm 203, 322, 319 using Sally Hansen Silver Swift and Spoiled Correction Tape

Day 27 was inspired by art.  I had an idea for what I wanted to do for this for a while, but wasn't sure I could get it right.  I have always loved paintings of birds on a wire.  There are a million of them out there.  All with different backgrounds and different birds.  I especially like the ones where there is a long wire and the two birds are sitting right next to each other <3  I started with a whiteish base coat and then sponged on a pretty purple.  Then I drew the wire across three nails.  I originally wanted to free hand my birds, but I was sure I would screw it up.  So I found a stamp that had a crow sitting in briar bushes.  I simple removed the briar bushes and used the little bird.

Base-Orly Decades of Dysfuntion
Sponging-Sinful Colors Winterberry
Stripe-It's So Easy Black
Stamp-BM 323 using Milani Black Swift

Day 28 was inspired by flags.  Considering the 20 year anniversary of Hurricane Andrew was this past week and hurricane Isaac has reared its head, I thought I would do a mani in honor of all the people affected. I chose the hurricane warning flag.  Nothing real fancy, just simple and to the point. 

Base-Spoiled I Tripped on the Carpet
Box-It's So Easy Black Striper

Thanks for checking out all of the manis today.  I feel like I did them a bit of a disservice by not writing much.  But I figured with three manis no one wanted to hear some long story :-P

Hope everyone is feeling well and don't forget to check out the other ladies manis!  We're almost done!!

Day 25-Bollywood Fashion

Today is inspired by Fashion.  I seriously had no idea what I was going to do for this manicure.  I searched pinterest. I looked at shoes and purses.  I even looked at my kids clothes.  Nothing was coming to me.  Then, while I was watching So You Think You Can Dance and one of the couples did a Bollywood dance and it hit me! I loooove the Bollywood clothes.  The sari is one of the most beautiful pieces of clothing I have ever seen. They use such gorgeous color combinations. All so bright and vibrant. Plus, the way they drape over a female figure is a truly unique and mesmerizing design.  I used to dream that I could wear one someday...maybe I still will :-) So, I went back to pinterest and the internet and started searching for a bollywood fashion design that I could recreate on my nails.  And let me say, I think I nailed it!!  (pun completely intended)  First, here is the design that I was inspired by.

I started with a purple base then striped in some teal.  I then stamped a similar pattern as the tear drops with gold and drew lines using magenta and gold.  For the accent nail I used magenta as my base, stamped flowers in gold and dotted the centers with teal. I am in love with them...and so was the Sally Beauty Supply check out girl (when I went to take advantage of their 50% off already reduced clearance stuff!)

Colors- NYC Purple Pizzazz Frost, Sinful Colors Rise and Shine, S.C Dream On
Stamp-BM223 & 211 using Maybelline Bold Gold

As I look at these I want to get up and shimmy my hips and put my fingers in the lotus pose.  What do you think of Bollywood? 

Thanks for dropping in! I appreciate all of your comments. 

Make sure and stop by the other girls' blogs to see what fashion has inspired them today :-)

Day 25-The Hobbit

Choosing a book to be inspired by is both easy and hard.  It's easy because I love books and have a million that have inspired me.  It is hard because I love books and have a million that have inspired me. I was originally going to do A Tree Grows in Brooklyn but I just couldn't find the right way to do it.  So I finally settled on my favorite book of all times.  The Hobbit.  I read this book for the first time while in high school and I have read it probably about 4 times since then.  It has the best opening line ever...."In a hole in the ground there lives a hobbit.  Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing to sit down on or eat: it was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort"  In only a few sentences I was hooked. After being introduced to Gandalf, all the dwarves, Smaug, Gollum, the trolls, Gwairir, and many of the other characters, I knew I was never going to be the same.  Yes, I'm being a bit dramatic, but I truly love this book.  One of my favorite characters is Smaug, the dragon.  He guards his gold in a cave in the Misty Mountains.  I always pictured him with dark red dragon scales laying prone over his mound of gold snoring smoke out of his nostrils with one eye open.  Tolkien really evokes my imagination :-)
So for this mani I chose to use a deep red as my base and used gold for a gradient.  I then painted Smaug's tail on my accent finger and added a few rhinestones for him to guard.  I am absolutely in love with this red polish.  It doesn't look red in the bottle....more like a coppery brown.  I was pleasantly surprised when I first put it on.  It's so deep and dark and yummy.  It took two coats to make it opaque.

Base-Finger Paints Picasso's Puce
Gradient-Loreal Amazon Flash
Dragon Tail-It's So Easy Gold striper

Don't you just love a good book? What is a book that makes your imagination soar?  

Thanks for checking me out today! I appreciate all of your comments :-)

Please stop by the other other ladies' posts to see what books they are inspired by!

Day 23-JAWS!!!!!

I am going to be honest up front. I have never seen Jaws all the way through. Crazy, I know.  I have seen parts here and there, but to be quite frank....I'm scared.  Giant man eating shark. Enough said.  But I wanted to so something fun and a little bit dark so I chose to be inspired by this movie anyway.  I also have fallen waaaay behind on my 52 week challenge (I figure I have done a manicure every single day, the nail gods will forgive me) and yesterdays theme for that was Under the Sea.  Voila, I combined the two and you get Jaws nails.  I really am loving these 'inspired by' themes as I get to do fun free hand nail art.  It is really helping me get better and learn techniques to a steady hand.  I still suck at free hand on my right hand, but I'll get there.

For these nails, I used NYC Cashmere Creme for my ocean/sky base.  I then used Orly Grave Mistake to draw in the letters and the dripping blood. This is a PERFECT color for blood.  I can't wait to use it for all of my halloween manis in October!  The thumb is Wet n Wild Caribbean Frost.  Jaws himself is NYC Sidewalk and I used It's So Easy black and white stripers to do the details.  For my swimmer, I first used the white striper and then went over it in Sally Hansen Sorbet to give them a more natural skin color. On my right hand I got lazy and decided to stamp a shark on my thumb.  I used Sally Hansen Silver Sweep with plate m27.  

My thumb was giving me trouble....the polish shifted :-(

Do you have a favorite ocean themed movie? Since Jaws is not my favorite I would have to say that U-571 is the best ocean movie....plus it's a WWII movie. Double score.

Come back tomorrow for a book themed mani that I haven't decided on yet. :-P It will probably have trees though!

Thanks for stopping by, and go check out the other lovely ladies who are participating

Day 22-Wicked Nails

No, I did not become a Bostonian all of a sudden.  I am not going around calling things wicked.  Although I do think that is an awesome saying. She's wicked smart. This hot dog is wicked tasty.  Her manicure is wicked good.  I digress....this manicure is called Wicked because it is inspired by the musical Wicked, particularly the song Defying Gravity.  You could say that it is my most favorite musical.  I saw it in Ft. Lauderdale about 7 or 8 years ago and was blown away! When Elpheba sings Defying Gravity at the end of the first act I just melted (haha).  If you don't know, this musical tells how Elpheba (the wicked witch) and Glinda go off to college and hate each other but grow to become best friends.  And when they find out that the Wizard of Oz is a phony, Elpheba becomes a scapegoat and is labeled a Wicked Witch.  It is a great story with some amazing music.  No one can sing it like Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowith either! They both just blow my mind everytime they sing.  (I included the song down at the bottom for your listening pleasure if you want)

So for this manicure i used the playbill picture as my accent nail and then created glittery french manis on the other nails.  I think it's pretty cool looking.  What do you think?

Base-NYC Luxury Lime Creme
Elpheba and Tips-Kiss Striping Paint Black
Glitter-Spoiled Show Me the Money

I didn't do a nose cause I was afraid I was going to ruin it :-P

The original playbill

Thanks again for checking me out! Come back tomorrow for some movie nails with an ocean twist :-)

Don't forget the other ladies!

Day 21-Inspired by a color

This is going to be short and sweet as my carpal tunnel has been really bad the last few days :-) I actually chose two colors for my inspiration, green and purple. It is probably one of my favorite color combinations and my daughter's room are these colors.  Sorry so short, heres the pictures

 I started with China Glaze Unpredictable. It is quite beautiful, but very hard to photograph

stamped with Maybelline Color Show Amethyst Ablaze plate m64

Pardon my lovely wrist brace :-P I photographed the last two the following morning. 

Hope you like them! What is your favorite color combination?

Come back tomorrow to see a manicure inspired by a song....I'll give you a hint, it is a song from a musical about a green lady :-)

As always, go check out the other lovely ladies participating!

Day 20-Water Marble

I need to know what I am doing wrong.  This manicure is officially become my nemesis.  arrrggggghhhh!!  I have tried it oh so many times and I was only minorly successful once. If you know, please help me!  Is it the water? the particular polishes I am choosing? how I take my finger out of the water? I don't know.  I just can't seem to get it right.  I was really excited about this one because I had picked some pretty fall colors and thought it was going to look so nice. uh, no. Not so much.  But here it is anyway....

Ultra Pro Mossy Britches
China Glaze Jamaican Out
Sinful Colors Nirvana

So if you have any suggestions, I am all ears!!

Do you have any manicures that you just can't perfect?

This brings us to the end of the second 10 days, patterns! Tomorrow we start manicures that are inspired by certain things.  This is going to be much more challenging on the creative aspect of things.  I mostly can't wait to see what all the other girls will be doing!  Thanks for stopping by :-)

Go and check  the other ladies out!

Day 19-Space. The Final Frontier

Bum. BaBa Bum. BaBa Bum Bum. Anyone? Yes, it is star trek.  I know, nerd alert.  But if you have been with me long enough, you probably know that already :-P  Friday was my dad's birthday (which is the day I actually did these nails) and he is a big Star Trek fan. He watched all of the series of the show even.  I think he was even had a little crush on Captain Janeway. I think of my dad when I think of Star Trek.  I even have the Star Trek ringtone programmed into my phone for when he calls. My dad's a big nerd himself. We love all of those science fiction movies and books and it's super awesome that we can talk about that stuff together. He's a lot smarter than me though! He understands most of it....I can even remember him reading Stephen Hawking's books when I was little.
 Anyway, today's challenge was Galaxy nails.  This is a challenge that I really do like.  I have done them once before and they turned out alright.  I decided to be inspired by looking at pictures of nebulas this time though instead of watching a tutorial.  They look pretty cool if you ask me!

I started with a black base and then sponged on white, teal, purple, and pink.  I then added a coat of sparkle and dotted in some more stars.  I used a small paint brush to paint the spiral nebula on the accent nail with white and teal.  (If you want more details let me know) So what do you think? Do they look spacey to you?

Base-Milani Black Swift
Sponged on colors in order-Sally Hansen Hard to Get, Spoiled Toad-ally Amazing, SH No Hard Feelings, Wet n Wild Tickled Pink
Sparkle Coat-Ultra Pro Opal Elegance

So what's your favorite space show, movie, or book?  

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate all of your comments :-)

And please stop by all the other ladies who participated 

Day 18-half moon

I couldn't even bring myself to capitalize the title. I don't like half moon manicures. I tried. I looked and looked for inspiration and it just wasn't hitting me. So short and sweet.  Here is one picture of the four fingers that i painted sloppily. I didn't even paint the thumb and then immediately took it off.  Sorry I couldn't get into this one. boooooo

Check out the other ladies! I am sure they did a fabulous job

Day 17-Glitter Glitter Glitter

I love Glitter! I especially love indie polish glitter.  I have been looking forward to this for a while (many of the other patterns mani's don't appeal to me) There really isn't much to say though.  I used another D & R Apothecary polish called Ametrine.  I had no idea what ametrine was so I looked it up.  It is a gemstone that has both purple and yellowish gold tones to it. It's quite beautiful! This makes perfect sense considering the coloring of this polish.  I started with a gold base and then topped it with the Ametrine.  I created some abstract lines on the accent nail using the colors in the ametrine.  When I was done I thought it looked like a a Jackson Pollock painting.  I was almost tempted to save it for 'inspired by art' later on, but then I would have to take this off and I just don't want to :-P

Base-Milani Gold Dust
Glitter-D & R Apothecary Ametrine
Accent Base-Wet N Wild Eggplant Frost
Stripes-It's So Easy Yellow and Gold Stripers

Do you love glittery things as much as I do?  

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the comments!

Don't forget the other ladies manis :-)

Day 16-Tribal

I think that when most people think of tribal they think of Africa.  While the word does conjure up images of men and women living off the land in remote areas of Africa, I mostly think of the Native Americans. There is something so appealing to the history of my own country and I have always loved learning (and teaching) about the different native tribes that once inhabited our lands.  This is especially true of the natives from the Northwest Pacific coast.  Those that lived off the spoils of the ocean and carved totem poles to tell stories of their families and to explain natural phenomenons.  Tribes like the Haida and the Chinook.  I have always loved the intricate art of the Northwest tribes. Especially the simple but detailed black and white pictures of ravens, whales, turtles, salmon, and many other animals.You often see these designs replicated in tattoos.  A few years ago I was able to go on a trip to Alaska and see much of this art up close and in some places watch native artists create them with wood and ink.  Best vacation of my life :-)

So, I chose for my tribal nails three colors that were prevalent throughout much of the art that I saw...red, blue, and black.  I then used a stamp that had tribal like prints on them.  I was disappointed that the stamp was a little too small for all of my nails and the french tip that I used didn't line up straight.  So although I like this manicure, it could have been better.  What do you think of when you see these nails?

Base-Confetti Blue Bayou
Red Base-Sally Hansen Rapid Red
Stamp-BM 221 using Kleancolor Black & SH Rapid Red
French tip-BM219 using Kleancolor black 

Thanks for stopping by! Tell me what do you picture when you think of the word tribal?

Come back tomorrow for what I am sure is to be a very glamorous mani! GLITTER!!

Check out the other ladies wonderful manis too!

Day 15-Delicate Print

This theme always confuses me a little.  I think I know what it means, but then I start planning and I'm never sure it is right.  Anyway, this is not my favorite mani by any means but its alright. I started with a base coat by Sinful Colors called Winterberry (which is just gorgeous!) It is a thick purple grey that is just lovely.  I didn't want to cover it with anything.  I then added some China Glaze Marry a Millionaire to the accent nail. This is just AMAZING! It's purple and silver and gold, and well....millionaire material! You want me to marry one you say? Well ok....just don't tell my husband ;-)

Base-Sinful Colors Winterberry
Glitter-China Glaze Marry a Millionaire
Stamp-BM321 using Spoiled Correction Tape

For some reason the accent nail polish shifted down when I stamped it.  You can see that the the tip is bare. Has this ever happened to you?

Thanks for checking in! I appreciate all of your comments. 

And as always check out the other ladies!