Saturday, June 30, 2012

Watermarble?? I think YES!!!!

Yesterday was an exciting day for me as far as NAILS go and I can't wait to share..

 FIRST... I have some new followers and I just want to say Hello and welcome. Thank you for choosing to follow me.

 Now for my exciting day.... About a month ago I won Tip Top Nails South Africa Patchwork Contest.  Yesterday I received my prize. 

 Tip Top is not a brand that I can get where I live so I was very happy to get it and very excited to try it out.
What a great polish.  I love it and now I am just SAD that I can not get more.

Well because I got some new colors I of course wanted to see what they would look like.
So far I have only used the Pink I stared with plain nails just to see what color it was.
 Pretty right?? 

Then I just couldn't decide what I wanted to do with the wonderful color. Why in the world would water marble pop in my head.  I have tried this over and over and have failed and failed. I don't really know why..out of 10 fingers I could get 3 maybe to look half way decent and then I get frustrated and give up.  Then because it is messy I usually wait a while before trying it again.  Last night I guess I was just feeling a little froggy because I pulled out everything to make my mess.

Now because I began with failure in mind I didn't take any during pictures.. How sad is that :(  but any way.. I started with a base coat of Confetti Banana Bobanna Cream.  It is a nice shimmery yellow.  Then on to my little medicine cup filled with water I added the  Banana Bobanna Cream and Pot o Berries. with my fingers wrapped in tape I made my design and WAAALAAA !!! 
Left Hand
First nail turned out half way decent.  2nd nail was even better.  Then I was on my roll.. Messed up and had to redo the pointer finger because I smudged it while taking off the tape. That just gave me an excuse to redo the pinky too. The yellow has a shimmer and the pink was a cream so to give it a little more shine I added Orly Love Each Other.

I was just ecstatic that it was working out. Even still I thought "Am I even going to be able to do this on my right hand and have it look any good" 
Right Hand
 
  Not to bad Right ?? I am very pleased... and now I just want to do it again.. So the little daughter is going to forced (ya know because I have to make her sit and let me paint her nails.. yeah right)  to let me practice a little more.
In some of these pictures the pink is looking more red so today I took a picture in natural light.

I LOVE THEM!!  I was so happy with them that I was showing them off in my 7am gym class this morning... and there was only 4 other people there... 3 of them were men. They just thought I was nuts. 

Products I used:  This picture doesn't do the Orly Love Each Other justice.  Here is just looks kinda Grey.  However is is more of a clear with wonderful micro glitters in it. I don't know that you would call it a Holo exactly... maybe.  It is beautiful though and just adds a hint of shine.  It is wonderful for a pretty clear on the bottom of a French.  

   Well I hope you enjoyed this post.  I got a little long winded just because I was so excited I was able to pull off the water marble at all.

As always THANKS for reading
Amy <3

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Summer Fun Challenge 4 - HOT HOT HOT - Summer Sun

Welcome back to the next nail - venture!!!


On to the next challenge on Neverland Nail Blog Summer Fun Challenge.

Today the theme was HOT HOT HOT!!  Being in Florida I know all about HOT!!  However lately you would think that us and Washington State had swapped places or something with all this rain we have had.  Today was the first day in 3 days I have been able to get my car out of our neighborhood.  :)  The husband has been my taxi service.
But today this theme is fitting because it is a perfect Florida day with Blue skies and lots of sun.  So that is where I pulled my inspiration from.  THE SUN SHINE STATE itself

The husband said my sun needed shades :)

I love Blue skies with big puffy white clouds.  It is on my favorite things list. 
Well there you go.  Blue Florida skies.

I am looking forward to the next challenge.  Are we there yet???  I have some cuteness rolling around in my brain

Have a wonderful day and as always THANKS for reading

Amy <3



Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Neon Yellow with Pink Studs

Nail-ventures galore ....

The little daughter was on her way to a birthday party and wanted some awesome nails to match the shirt she was going to wear. 

THE SHIRT...
Started this with a base coat of Orly White Tips.  The white under the neon Yellow just makes it so much brighter.  Then used Claire's Sunshine

Then with my large dotting tool and China Glaze Liquid Leather on 4 fingers I covered the bottom corner and on the ring accent finger used a cut brush to do a zebra pattern.
To match the shirt we needed to add in a little bit of pink so BRING OUT THE RHINESTONES!!!!  To attach the stones I used Cina Top Coat.Bonder.
I wish that last picture had turned out a little better.  I loved the little heart.  It just made it match the shirt perfect. 

Everyone at the party loved her little mani and that is what I love to hear.

What are you wearing on your nails today?  I would love for you to share a picture on MY FACEBOOK PAGE

As always THANK YOU for reading.

Amy  <3

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Summer Fun Challenge - Pool Party = Blue Bubbles

Todays challenge has been so hard to get into.  We are having flooding rains so thinking about the pool water is the last thing on my mind. 

I went through almost half of a nail wheel because I had ideas in my head I just didn't know how they would work out.
I loved some of the ideas but they just weren't the look I wanted.  I am pretty sure I settled on what I eventually did too.  You would think being stuck at home would open up a day for non stop nail painting but the being stuck literally part kinda stresses one out.

I started with a base coat of China Gaze Frost Bite and China Gaze Pelican Gray mixed together to make watery Blue.  Then with the dotter I used the Pelican Gray to make the outline of the bubbles.  To give the bubbles a little "Sparkle" Sinful Colors Hottie on top of the Gray. 
I am happy with how these turned out I am just not sure that they say "POOL PARTY"  Maybe "FLORIDA SPRINGS"  instead.  But hey .. that is where we go to cool off. 


Also... Please take a few mins to pray for all of those in North Florida who are getting flooding rains from Tropical Storm Debby. 

As always THANKS for reading
Amy <3


Rhinestone Crazy

Welcome back .... on to the next nail-venture.

Went a little crazy with this one I mean Rhinestone Crazy.  I think this one got away from me a little and I think had I done maybe a solid on 4 fingers and used this an accent nail I would have liked it a whole lot better.  The idea itself was nice and I liked the way it turned out. But WOW  it was a lot of bling.

I started with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Celeb City.  This has nice coverage and this is one coat.
Next I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and a cut brush and made a zebra design over just the middle of each nail.
Then with a small brush I used Pure Ice Not Now and covered the bottom corner and the top corner.
Next I added the stones with Cina Top Coat/Bonder.
See what I mean about CRAZY??!!  Yep..
Products I used
If you can take this and make it better I would love to see your take on it.  
Share a picture on MY FACEBOOK PAGE.  I would love to see it. :) 

As always THANK YOU for reading.
Amy <3

Monday, June 25, 2012

Studded Line

Welcome back and we have a few new followers which I am so happy to see.  Thank you  guys for following.


The other day I ordered some stuff off of Amazon and it finally came.  It was surprisingly cheap.  I think I paid a total of 11.00 for everything including shipping.

Does anyone else hide stuff from the husband?? I mean I don't really hide the stuff I order if he asks I would always tell him but if it makes it in the house and in the box before he sees it then hey IT WAS ALWAYS THERE I DIDN'T BUY ANYTHING !! haha. Anyway.. he got my stash of stuff when it was delivered.

I got 10 rolls of  striping tape and 5 little cases of rhinestones which I think the listing said was somewhere in the neighborhood of 7400 stones.  I was pleased with the haul.  I didn't really expect the different shapes in the stones there were squares, stars, hearts, flowers, triangles, tear drops, rectangles, and some that I am sure I am forgetting.  These came in clear and in color.

So of course since i got my haul I had to do something with it. So my next few posts will include something from new stash of stuff.

I was excited to get to the stones so I forgot to take a before picture but this one is pretty simple so I am sure you can figure it out if you would like to try it.  I started this with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Dream On.  I like this color a lot.  I then added on a line of black stones and one square clear on just to break it up a little bit.  To attach the stones I used Cina Top Coat/ Bonder.


There you go.... Studded line

Thanks for reading
Amy <3

Sunday, June 24, 2012

PRE BLOG NAIL ART

Before I started my Nail-Venture and began sharing I was still taking pictures of all the art work I did on both my nails and my daughters.  Some pictures turned out better then other.  Some of them were so fun to do I want to do them again.  I thought today would be a fun day to share some of those with you. 

Now for most of them I couldn't tell you what colors I used so a picture  is pretty much all I have. 

This was one of my very favorites. I love spots and circles. It is just fun.  

Some more dots.  This one I am pretty sure was Sally Hansen Gun Metal, Sally Hansen Bubble Gum Pink and Matte me Crazy for NYC. 


This one was elegant.  I liked it a lot.   Sally Hansen Flirt is the maroon color but I am not sure which gold I used. I also used Matte Me Crazy from NYC.
These are the little daughters little nails.. I love painting her nails... is is just fun mother / daughter time.  We sit and chat.  The big daughter liked them so much she let me paint hers too.  (She NEVER lets me paint her nails)
I think I saw a nail tutorial for these on Nails Adored Blog but I don't think I did them right. I started with the color and added the black last.  I think it would have worked out better had I put the black first and then stripped away the color to find the black underneath.  But I still got a lot of compliments so it was worth a picture. 

We had a black light party and these were my party nails.  I got the black light polish from Hot Topic and it is AWESOME.  I saw some black light polish at Claires but it was all colored and the one I found at Hot Topic was a clear top coat.  So the design didn't show unless the nails were under the black light.
Little Lady Bugs on the little daughter.  Pretty sure I saw this idea on Simple Nail Art Tips. 

Pink Paint drips... I loved the way this looked but I think the way I added the pick was wrong because I got a lot of bubbles as it started to dry.

This is one of my favorite blue polishes.  It is Frostbite from China Glaze.  Couldn't tell you which black I used.  This blue is just AWESOME though.  It is bright and dark at the same time. 
So there are a few of my favorite pre blog manis. 

Tues is the next day for the Neverland Nails Summer Fun Challenge.  I am excited to see all the great ideas coming out of these ladies.  So far the art has been fabulous.  I am enjoying being a part of the challenge.

Well as always THANKS!!  for reading. Hope everyone has a super week.

Amy <3

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Neverland Nails Summer Fun Challenge 2 - Summer Lovin

Challenge 2 of Neverland Nails Summer fun Challenge was "Summer Lovin" How easy should that have been right? Wrong.. I drew a blank.. Did not have a clue what I wanted to do. I figured everyone would do hearts and such and I just didn't want to do that. So in talking with my daughter she draws me this picture of a car sitting on a mountain with a couple inside.. sort of a "Make- out Mountain" kinda thing ....Cute idea. I think I can execute it... on 4 little nails Right. haha.. Well here is the result.  
The idea was good but the results well... I have never actually tried to draw a picture before.. I think I am more a shapes and lines kinda girl... But I will say the whole time I was doing this I was singing "Summer Lovin" from the movie Grease.  MY FAVORITE MOVIE EVER :)

It was really hard to get a picture of this too because it was so dark.
 I don't even think in the pictures you can see the little guys head haha.

So that is my mani for Summer Lovin. 
I will have another post tonight because I just got a whole stash of stuff that I just ordered on Amazon and I was excited to use it. :)
Thanks for reading
Amy <3


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Summer Fun Challenge From Neverland Nail Blog Grill Master

Today is the first day of the Summer Fun Challenge that Neverland Nail Blag is putting on.  I have never done one of these challenges before but I saw her list and I just thought it was super cute and wanted to be a part of it. 

The first challenge is Grill Master... to me this was all about  turning up the heat.  :) So of course I had to do some awesome flames from the grill. When we grill we always use wood to cook so there are always hot hot flames.  :) 


This is one of my FAVORITE Mani's to do... I did a waterless marble to make the flames and no matter how many times I do one similar to this each one is my new favorite.

Colors used were
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Red Carpet and China Glaze Ash and Smoke which I thought was completely appropriate for the theme of the first challenge.


Well I hope you like my creation for the first challenge. 

Thanks for reading.
Amy <3

I hope that I do this right... below I will try to link to the challenge so you can see all the great creations that all of these great ladies have created... however I have never done this before so I am hoping for the best :) 




Saturday, June 16, 2012

Sparkling Pink Cheetah

Date Night Ventures haha.

Tonight I am gonna have a date night with the husband... Doesn't happen to often,  usually we just have friends over and cook out but tonight he told me to get ready cause We are going somewhere and doing something.  haha

For New Years I got a great shirt that was very .... New Years ... I guess is the right word. Well I haven't worn it since so I figured as long as we are going somewhere and doing something I might as well wear it.  

I started with Orly French Manicure Bare Rose.  This picture is not great.. it is kinda looking orangeish.. It's not.  It is more of a clear pink. 
Now I have said it before and I will say it again now.. I am cheap.  I use the same colors a lot.  Black is black to me.  If I have a bottle of black I use it.  I just noticed that some colors I use over and over again in my posts. :)
Next I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and did a french tip on 4 nails.  I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Posh Plum on the ring finger as an accent nail.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE matte black polish. It is definitely one of my favorites. So I used Matte Me Crazy on the black and added a Posh Plum accent line to the  black to kinda finish it off. 
 EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH GLITTER!!!  I also love glitter polish. I also used pretty much this same color combo on the zebra strip nails I did and had this color not matched the shirt I was wearing perfect I probably would have opted for the teal glitter I haven't used yet but this color is the EXACT color.  Soooo. I used Milane Jewel FX Fuschia on the strips and on the accent nail I also added some cheetah print .
 I sealed everything with a clear coat of Seche Vite  (well sealed the bottom half ...if you cover the matte with a clear it will not be matte any more... Just saying)  After that dried, I used a small brush to add the matte polish to the cheetah print. 

Products I used :) Can you tell I use that Orly A LOT!!!
Well I hope everyone has a great Saturday night. I know I will. 

Thanks for reading
Amy <3

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Cherry Blossoms

Welcome back Nail-venturers!!!!

Sorry it has taken a few days for me to get to this post. I was hoping to get it done last night but owning a business and working a 2nd job while having 4 kids home for the summer sucks up a lot of your time. By the time I have the time to sit down I end up passed out :)   It happens to the best of us.

A few days ago Tip Top Nails South Africa announced another contest that they were putting on.  CHERRY BLOSSOMS!!!! Since I had just won the Patchwork contest I could not enter but since I had never tried it before I just wanted to give it a shot.  I made a mess of a few samples on my nail wheel.. I have a hard time with knowing what I want to do and then "KNOWING"  what I want to do.  I knew I wanted to do Cherry Blossoms but had no clue what colors or how i wanted them to look since I had never done them.

I played with some colors and decided that I wanted Blue skies as a back ground.  Problem I ran into was I only have a few blues polishes and none were the color I wanted to use. When I finally got it narrowed down to 2. Orly SnowCone and Mabelline Color Show Denims. Snowcone was to light and Denims was to dark... So I mixed them together and got an amazing blue that had a little shimmer. Both polishes have good coverage so this is one coat.  
Then I used a NO NAME shimmery brown that came in a box of polishes my daughter got for Christmas.  The color is pretty and is almost more a purple then a brown.  I used a brush that I had cut down so that it was super thin.  I had gone through and looked at a some pictures of Cherry Blossom nail art just to get an idea of how I wanted to do mine.  The ones I liked the most were the ones where the tree when across the nails as a whole.  So if you look close you can see how each nail leads into the next one.

 I tried a few ways to draw the blossoms but liked the ones done with the dotter tool best.  Now I don't really have a dotter tool.  I have a dry embossing tool that I used in my scrapbooking.  It came in an art kit that one of my daughters had gotten and really we had no idea what it was until I got into making cards.  The tool is supposed to be used with a stencil and a light box.  You put the paper over the stencil and the image is shown from the light underneath.  You can then use the ball on the tool to follow the stencil and it makes a raised image in the paper. After getting into nail art I figured I could use it for both :)  

 I used Essie Marshmallow for the flower and Sally Hansen Salon Made you Blush for a small flower center.


  So there you have it... my version of Cherry Blossoms.  I would love to do these again with a background that looks more like a sunset.  I just think that would be pretty.  I need a little more practice on fading my colors together.  

Here are the products I used. 
Well that is it... If you have a Cherry Blossom mani stop by Tip Top Nails South Africa an enter the contest. I look forward to the next one.  

Also Neverland Nails is doing a summer fun challenge coming up on the 19th that I am looking forward to being a part of.  This is also something I have never done before and after reading her list I am excited to get started  :) 

Well thanks for reading.. If you try these..show me a picture on MY FACEBOOK PAGE I would love for you to share your art. 

Amy <3