Monday, December 31, 2012

3, 2, 1...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy New Year! These are the nails I'm wearing tonight for the countdown to the New Year!

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Started with a base of two coats of SpaRitual Cassiterite, no topcoat.

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Stamped using black Konad special polish using Dash 16 (streamers on pinky), fauxnad D (couple on ring), MM02 (middle), Nailways Snowwhite-New Years (clock on index), fauxnad m47 (numbers on thumb) and Sugar Bubbles special 01 (fireworks on index).

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Added more fireworks above the couple and a few random stars using Cheeky 26.

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Topped with topcoat.

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Have a fun and safe New Year's....and all the best to you and yours in 2013!!

Sunday, December 30, 2012

New Year's Eve Party Nails

This weeks FB Adventures in Stamping challenge is New Year's or Party related....this is that I came up with.

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Started with a base of FingerPaints Black Expressionism, two coats (no pix as shown before).  Stamped using FUN stamping polishes Bubble Blue, Cotton Candy, Avocado Green and Mango Shake using SdP 76 (hat on pinky), MM02 (Happy New Year wording on index and streamers on middle), Sugar Bubbles special 01 (glasses and champagne and fireworks on thumb).

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Added a few random stars using Sugar Bubbles special 01 with the various stamping polishes.

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Topped with SV.

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 I have a few more Christmas nails to show but I guess it will have to wait until after New Year's...or next year because I have a few more New Year's manis to share.

And if you haven't seen it already and you are interested in my latest giveaway, please click on the Gals pix at the top side of the page.

Thanks for looking!

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Christmas Day Nails

Happy Holidays to everyone!!

Hopefully Santa was good to everyone!  "Mrs. Claus" broke a thumb nail putting gifts under the tree Christmas Eve and she was none to pleased with that...the good thing is that they will grow in time!

Here's the mani I was wearing on Christmas Day.

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Started with a base of Picture Polish Cosmos; this pix has no top coat.  *Swoon*  Love this blue!

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Added a big blob of Sally Hansen Debut-tint then spread it around a bit.  This pix has no topcoat; I waited about 20 minutes for it to dry to the touch before stamping.

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Stamped using Konad black special polishes using MM01 (all images except thumb) and Dash 10 (image on thumb).

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Dabbed on a bit of Essence Make it Golden near cuticles.  You will also notice that the black at the tips didn't stamp solid in the pix above so I re-stamped the base part of the image plate and filled in the bare spots.  In hindsight, it probably would have been easier to just dab on some stamping polish to cover it, but I just stamped it in until it was covered!

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Added SV to finish.

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Mrs. Claus also has one last gift under the tree that has not been opened as its going to one special follower of this blog....a box set of the Gals Fairy 25 piece set of stamping plates, courtesy of Gals Cosmetics.  Please leave your follower name and email address in the comments of this post between now and midnight my time on January 3, 2013 if you are interested in taking part in the draw.  Open internationally; please refer to Giveaway Terms and Conditions for further details.  Once the comments are closed, random.org will be used, a name chosen, who in turn will be sent an email and they will then have 48 hours to respond or another name will be chosen. 
Thanks for looking!

Happy Holidays!

Edit:  Winner announced here!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Santa Claus the Night Before Christmas

It's the night before Christmas; Santa Claus is at the North Pole getting ready to deliver all the gifts all over the world!  Here he is before leaving for a busy night!

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Started with a base of OPI Bride's Bouquet, two coats then sponged a gradient using NYX Girls Dark Gray and FingerPaints Black Expressionism.

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Stamped using QA 19 (house), W220 (Santa), D01 (sleigh) and HD05 (reindeer); then hand painted in North Pole on pinky.

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Added some snow using XL B.

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Touched up the dots with a dotter.

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Added SV.

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For those who have followed my blog since last year, you may have already seen this, but for those who
have not, I thought I'd rerun Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Twas the night before Christmas,



when all through the house



Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,



In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.



The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.



And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,



Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow


Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.



With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!



On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!



To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.


And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,



And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.
His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.


The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.




He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.


And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight,



"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

From my family to yours, have a Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Challenge Mani

This weeks FB Adventures in Stamping Challenge was to do a mani featuring the colours from your Christmas tree.  My tree pretty much has most colours under the rainbow, but has strong gold and red decorative accents, which is also the majority of the colour scheme for the rest of the house decorations, so those were the colours I chose to do for the mani....here's what I came up with.

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Started with a base of two coats of Layla Softouch Effect 02.  I received this polish as a RAOK from KarenD at Frazzle and Aniploish.  After seeing the Layla's in one of her blog posts and then looking for them at Ulta during my last cross border shopping trip but they weren't available, KarenD was good enough to offer to pick them up with a few other pretties....THEN before I have even had a chance to pay, she messaged that they were on their way to me!   Thanks so much again, Karen!

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Added a few holiday decorations using red Konad special polish and Sally Hansen Jumpin' Jupiter using D07 (present on pinky), Sugar Bubbles special 01 (wreath on thumb), and fauxnad D (tree on middle, candy cane on ring and mistletoe on index).

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I was going to do a few accent dots but then I remembered a newly arrived polish from Candy Lacquer called Rudolph's Treats that is circular (!!!) glitters in green, gold and red in a clear base.  So I fished them out and added red on the tree for ornaments and others to accent the wreath and the other images.  Then I fished out more of the circular dots and used to accent throughout as well as used a star shaped rhinestone for the tree topper.

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Bottle pix of Candy Lacquer Rudolph's Treats.

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Added SV.

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Just before taking it off, I topped the mani with Essie Matte About You (which is the first pix) and this is the version I like the most.

Hope you had a fantastic weekend....thanks for looking!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Wrapping It Up

This is the second mani I did with the Sugar Bubbles special holiday plates....and another one of these funky frenches!

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I'm going to be honest; this is a mani that I had no intention of showing.  While I love the base, and the glitter added..... I failed so badly with the stamping on so many levels that this was a fail that could do without being posted! 

Started with a base of two coats of Contrary Hayride.  Love the shimmer in these Contrary polishes!  And the shimmer isn't hidden like so many other polishes that its gorgeous in the bottle but hidden on the nail.

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Bottle pix. 

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Added Orly Halo at tips for some glitter accent.

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I couldn't decide which gold stamping polish to use that would compliment the base best.....even though there are a bunch of gold chromes/metallics out there, there are different shades....I ultimately chose CND Gold Chrome which is my go to gold stamping polish most of the time, using Sugar Bubbles special 02 plate.

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But...and here's the fail part....I failed miserably on the lining up of the ribbons...the ribbons are crooked, the bows aren't centered and are all over the place and the gold didn't show up very well.  I was ticked at myself at this point....didn't even take many pix/didn't worry particularly too much about doing a great job on cleanup.

BUTTTTT, when I got outside, the mani looked totally different and then I loved it (well, less the stamping fails!).

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Contrary Polish is available here or mini size bottles or at Llarowe.  Sugar Bubbles here!

Hope you're having a great weekend...thanks for looking!