Pittsburgh Pirates

I'm a little behind....

This sunday's Challenge for Adventures in Stamping was Something I love.  There are a lot of things that fall into that category in my life.  My children, my husband, my family, the piano, books, my friends, my life :)  But at the time I was visiting some of my family in Pittsburgh.  *Quick fact....my whole family is from Pittsburgh and we're a bunch of nuts when it comes to their sports teams, the Steelers mainly! Only a few still live there but that doesn't mean our blood doesn't run black and gold*  I love visiting Pittsburgh and my extended family that lives there and on Sunday we went to a Pirates game!  I love a live baseball game too.  It was a good game, two homeruns by their star player McCutchen.  Unfortunately is so blazingly hot that my baby was not having a good time.  Anyway, here are my nails that I did in honor of the Pittsburgh Pirates!

This is the Pirates logo that I used as some inspiration

Base coat is Sally Hansen Lightning
The bandan is Wet N Wild Red Red and stamped in Milani Black Swift using BM19
Also, stamped ring finger with Milani using stamp BM 301
I used the Kiss black striper to draw the tips on the middle and pinkie as well as the P
The baseball is Spoiled Correction Tape white and the wet n wild Red Red

A few pictures from the game....

A gorgeous picture of the stadium!

My son, Jack

My daughter, Holly, in the middle and her cousins

Won't you Be my Neighbor

  I live in the best neighborhood ever.  We call it Mayberry.  I never in my life thought that I would want that white picket fence kind of life, but here I am and I couldn't be happier.  I decided that I was allowed to enjoy this kind of life because inside I am still that crazy girl who wanted to be a musician in NYC.  So, one this that comes with this awesome neighborhood is a group of amazing women who I can proudly call my friends.  They have been super supportive of my crazy nail addiction and they let me do their nails this week!

My friend Lynette liked my red, white, and blue nails so much that she asked me to reproduce them on her.  I love this girl.  Every day she is excited to see my new nails....most days she is the first to see them.  She is also a nicu nurse so can't really have her nails done, so this was extra special.  Thanks Lynette, you rock!

It was cool to do some striping on someone else's nails.  The lines are much straighter :)

My neighbor on the other side of me is Amber.  She was the first to agree to let me do her nails.  She is also super awesome (I say that word a lot) and pretty much agreed with whatever I wanted to do.  Thank you Amber!

Last but not least is another awesome nieghbor,  Mandy.  Mandy has gorgeous nails and was a real trooper with her two year old sitting on her lap.  (Who also ended up with a cutie patootie manicure)  Thanks Mandy and Evelyn!

A nice summery look :)  I had a few difficulties with the stamping today but other than that I think it turned out pretty good!

Such cute little hands :)  She sat so still and even let her nails dry.  She kept wanting more stickers.  "One More"  

So, thank you again ladies.  I am truly thankful to have moved here and to count you as my friends.  Let me know when you want new ones!!

This Little Piggy

This will be a short post.  I like the pedicure, but I don't like putting my toes out there.  But the Summer Challenge decreed it so here they are.

Base is Sally Hansen No Hard Feelings
Stamp is Maybeline Color Show Bold Gold using m64
and dotted with Essie Mojito Madness

These look a lot prettier in person.  I just don't know how to photo my toes. 

Wedding Date

So very true :-P

Today, is day two of the 52 week challenge and the challenge was Argyle.  I think we all picture old men in golf socks or old socks when we hear Argyle.  But not me.  I think of the Wedding Date with Debra Messing and the ever so lovely Dermot Mulroney.  Everybody say yummmmmyyyy!  If you love a good and stupid romantic comedy check it out.  Anyway, there is a scene where Debra's character Kat is going to her sisters bachelorette shower and it is a golf themed shower at a local London Pub. So the girls dress in short skirts and Argyle socks.  I just happened to love her outfit and her socks!  Now for the life of me I can't find a good picture of those darn socks, but I found a much more enjoyable picture where you can see the tops of her socks :-)

As you can see the socks are a lovely pink and brown (if you can tear your eyes away from the boy)  I designed my Argyle nails in honor of those socks since they got to touch Dermot.  These are my favorite nails thus far.  I hope you like them.  BTW, no stamping 

Base is Sally Hansen Diamond Brillant Blush
Pink is Wet N Wild Tickled Pink
Brown is Spoiled Nirvana
Shiny Brown is Spoiled I'm Ba'Roque
and the White is Spoiled Correction Tape

I am proud that this is all free hand :)

On, one last note I discovered this Sally Hansen Diamond Brillant Blush which is the base for all my fingers but the ring finger.  I love it because it allows me to do french manicures where my nail bed looks almost nude.  It covers the yellow that has become my real nails.  Thank you Sally Hansen!

Baby, You're a Firework

I had no intention of doing another 4th of July nails, but alas my thumb was splitting and in desperate need of repair.  So, I decided to do another one.  I think I like this one even more.  I love me some fireworks.  I keep wondering how my baby Jack is going to do tomorrow during the fireworks.  I have a feeling he will not be sleeping through them.  I also keep thinking about how much I loved teaching about our American history to my 5th graders.  One of the projects we always did was to analyze the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner and do a project with it.  Considering it is our National Anthem most kids have no idea what the words signify.  *Prepare yourself for another history lesson*  Francis Scott Key wrote a poem in 1814 from a ship where he was being held captive by the English.  He watched from his room as the English attacked Fort McHenry,  hoping beyond hope that the Americans would hold the fort.  As the battle raged on he watched the American flag (the star spangled banner) hold fast over the fort and he knew that the American's had won this battle.  "The rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air" always gives me such an image of what the night sky must have looked like from that ship. The poem was later turned into a song to the tune of a song called To Anancreon in Heaven (have no idea what that means)  So fireworks are fun, but they are also significant of our battle to keep America independent.  Btw, this was not the American Revolution :) History lesson over. I feel like such a nerd as I knew all of that information by heart :-P

Also, thanks to the Chinese for creating gunpowder and the idea behind fireworks. Way to go!  And....on to the nails

Red-Wet N Wild Red Red
Blue-NYC Skin  Tight Denim Creme
Glitter flakes are Sally Hansen In the Spotlight
Stamp is BM 316 using Spoiled Correction Tape
Also used some stripers over the stamp.  The Silver is Kiss, the Gold and Pink is It's so Easy

On, one last note.  Adding glitter flakes is not as easy as it looks.  You cannot paint it on like regular nail polish.  To get a good coverage you need to dab it on because a lot of the glitter is just like clear polish and is not always saturated with the glitter flakes.  Just a helpful tip.  Hope you enjoyed looking!

Contests and Giveaways

I wish I could say I was the one holding a contest or a giveaway, but this post is really just about the ones that I am involved in.  I hope I win something, but if not, it was still fun :)

The first one that I entered was called Marvelous Manicure Photo Contest.  If you click on the photo it will take you to the page where you can vote for my picture....if you want :-P 

Oh, You're Fancy, huh?

The winner of this contest gets a $75 gift certificate and an appearance in the Nail Klub blog.  All I have to say is that they are from Pittsburgh, so you know they are awesome. The contest ends this Friday so get to voting! You can vote every 24 hours.


Another giveaway I have entered is from A Diary of a Nial Polish Addict.  She is a great nail artist and always picks such beautiful colors.  Here is just one example of her beautiful work.

She is also a graphic designer and has designed her own stamping plate. If you click on the photo below you can see pictures of the plate in use

The winner of this giveaway will win her beautiful plate.  I hope I win :)  

One more giveaway I have entered is from Nail Polish Wars.  She has reached 1250 followers and is rewarding one lucky follower with two zoya nail polishes.  yummm.  If you want to check out her giveaway click on her beautiful artwork below

And last but not least, I will be entering the It's So Easy Nail Art Summer Fun contest.  I have not yet created my nail art that I will be entering, but I have until July 31st.  I may create a few and ask you to pick which one I should enter.  I like to involve my peeps.  Check out the link below if you want to enter. 

The Grand prize is $1000. 2nd prize is $500, 3rd prize is $250.  And 25 Congratulation Winners will win $25 Sally Beauty Gift Cards.  

All of this is going to keep me busy.  Wish me luck. And if you enter I wish you luck too!

Red, White, and Blue

Thus begins my 52 week adventure!  Wednesday is the 4th of July aka Independence Day here in America. I think what most Americans don't know about the 4th of July is that it is not the day we gained our independence from England, but the day we officially signed the Declaration of Independence declaring to King George that we wanted our freedom.  This has been your history lesson for today. Brought to you by a history nerd as well as a nail freak. 

 So, to begin my challenge I started with Red, White, and Blue.  I used all Spoiled Nail polishes.  For a cheaply priced nail polish, I really like these.  I am not a big fan of the large brushes, but I find that I tend to choose the Spoiled colors a lot.  Correction Tape by Spoiled is my favorite white to stamp with.  And considering how much I stamp with white having one that only costs $1.99 (sometimes only $.99) is a blessing :) I did a little free hand with my White Kiss striping paint....not the best lines, but not too bad.  Its hard to make a straight line with a brush.  I have learned that the secret is to roll your nail under the brush instead of moving the brush.  Let me know what you think :)

Thanks for looking.  And again, if you want to join me let me know.  I appreciate all of your comments