Digit-al Dozen Does Birthdays; August, 2017

It's Digit-al Dozen birthday challenge for the month of August!  This month, there are three of us celebrating birthdays; Lothwen of Manis & Makeovers, Sarah of 25 Sweetpeas and me!  This is the mani I did based on the chosen inspiration photo!

Started with a base of two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (no pix as have shown before). Stamped using images from MoYou Tropical Collection-01, MoYou Tropical Collection-14 and MoYou Mother Nature Collection-04 using MdU 73 and 78.

Added dotter flowers using Mdu 66 after trying to stamp them on as there are oodles of images with this floral design but the polish didn't stamp opaque enough, so decided to dot instead.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

This is the pix that was used for mani inspiration!

Here's a couple pix from my birthday on August 25th!  The hubs couldn't source local pink flamingos so he decided to do the next best thing....little piggies on the lawn!  They were so cute!

 My favourite for dessert; a cupcake cake from Sobey's that has both white and chocolate cupcakes!  The icing isn't sweet; it's light and fluffy and just right!  I buy them in the six pack all year long!   And aren't those butterflies so cool!

I had a wonderful birthday; there were so many surprises arranged by the hubs and my kids; it was awesome!  It was nice that we all got together for the day and enjoyed a music/dinner cruise along the Otonabee River that evening, then had dessert around a campfire that went well into the night!

Thank you to all who already wished me a Happy Birthday on FB and IG; and Sarah and Lothwen, I hope you had great birthday's as well!

Here's the other ladies mani's!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does Story Genres; Day 3

I'm super late now with the Digit-al Dozen story genres manis because life unfortunately got in the way of me doing the posts last week, but I do want to finish posting as many story genres nails I have done!  This mani represents romance; which is probably 98% of the novels that I read!  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a gradient base of China Glaze Bite Me, China Glaze Lip Smackin Good and China Glaze Sweet As Pinkie Pie.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped with images from Kelly Negri KN 31 (index and ring) and NailMatinee NM04 (thumb, pinky and middle) using MdU 2.

Kelly Negri KN31

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  Unfortunately, some of the stamping images weren't that secure on the nail and some kinda went everywhere when I added the top coat so it didn't turn out the best.  But hopefully you get the jest anyway!

 Here's the other ladies Day 3 mani's!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Digital Dozen Does Story Genres; Day 2

I am seriously behind postings for this weeks story genre challenge for Digit-al Dozen....I hope you have been enjoying the other ladies mani's because they have been awesome!  

I have the mani's done but haven't done the posts so I do hope I get some time here and there to catch up soon!  This is my day 2 mani representing the story genre of westerns.  I had a couple thoughts here....when I was researching all the different genres, I discovered I pretty much only read fictional romance type of books.  I read a wide assortment of authors who have many different writing styles, but that is pretty much my preferred genre. As I wanted to link or tie the mani into each genre but because I read such a limited genre of books, this was going to be hard!  So I got to thinking about books in different genres even though I may not have read them, which lead me to thinking about my grandpa who had a library at his house which was full of books that included a wall full of Louis L'Amour western novels....it seemed like he had hundreds of them and I know he read them all!  I'm guessing westerns was his favourite genre!  What fond memories it brought back of me thinking about how I used to borrow books from my grandparents and go into the library and get them and then talking about them!  There's a great probability I read a Louis L'Amour western or two way back then!  My preferred genre is more fictional romance type of books as I mentioned already, but I know I've read romantic westerns as one of my favourite settings of books is back in the 1800's or earlier as I'm fascinated to read how they lived way back in the day!  Anyway, this is my western genre mani; I hope you like it even though I can't really tie it into a recent novel I've read!  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a sponged gradient base using Nicole by OPI In the Moment, China Glaze I Just Cant-alope, Essence The Green & The Grunge and Essence I'm a Marine Girl.  I wasn't overly pleased with this look initially as I was going for the time frame of dusk and the yellow/orange wasn't enough and the dark blue wasn't enough but oh well, this is how it turned out so I went with it!  This is the problem with trying to do a gradient using 4 colours on my little nails lol!

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Added images from CNF 002 with Fig Tree Stamps using Mdu 2.

Added a coat of KBShimmer.

I thought I was finished, but you know me....my preferred style is busy as anything and I'm not a fan of open voids!  So decided to take the mani another step by colouring in the setting sun which I did with the same polishes, Nicole by OPI Bee in the Moment and China Glaze I Just Cant-alope.  Then stamped in stars from Sugar Bubbles SBS 07.  This took foreverrrr to make sure just the right amount of stars were in just the right spot; the stars alone were probably a good 15 or more individual stamps!  And even though stamping image wise these are pretty much the smallest star images I could think of, they do look like pretty big dollops of snow...like a big snow flake!  *Sigh*  Anyway, I still like the added touch of the added colour.  I also have to say that I was disappointed how the gradient turned out on the thumb, but when I actually look at the finished mani, I like how there is the teal, then the blue, then the teal again because it kinda looks like the Northern Lights sky!  To me anyway!

So proud of how the thumb turn out!  Love it!

Sugar Bubbles SBS 07

Topped with another coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Decided that this is one of those mani's that might look best in matte, so topped with a coat of OPI Matte.  I can't decide which version I like better; the matte or shiny as I think they both have something going for them.  However, I did wear the matte version for a few days.  Matte, you can see some of the gradient a little better and it highlights some of the stamping and it kinds looks older or more vintage or aged which is how I see the settings of westerns, so I might prefer the matte version by a smidgen!

My favourite nail again!

The 4 nails, more monotoned look!

Here's the other ladies day 2 mani's!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Digital-Dozen Does Story Genres; Day 1

It's Digit-al Dozen week....the theme this money is story genres. I do quite a bit of reading and wanted to do nails based on books that I have read, but once I looked into all the different genres and tried to think of books that I have read to go with them, I discovered that my reading is pretty narrow minded genre wise, as I don't actually read a whole lot of variety of books.  But hopefully I can come up with five different ones to fit the theme...this mani is based on Cinderella, which is a fairy tale (and I have read it!)

Started with a gradient of iLacquer St. Lucia and Vanguard.  I don't have the base coat pix available as I only did one quick base coat as I knew I'd be sponging on many times.

Added KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped using MdU 64 using an image from Marianne Nails n.58.  I really like this tone on tone look and I will keep it in mind for future mani's!

Did double stamping using Delaney Cendrillon and MdU 1.

Delaney Cendrillon.

Finished with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

This was Ms. Cindy; did a base of two coats of iLacquer St. Lucia, then stamped with MdU 64 using an image from Delaney Feerique 002.  Really liking this tone on tone look!

Here's the other ladies Day 1 story genre mani's!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Cute Design on Short Nails!

Not too long ago, I cut down my nails as they interfere with life when they get too long plus a couple of my nails develop C curve that bugs me.....I actually like this length on me even though I do grow them out, then cut them down, then grow them out...I'm probably one of the rare bloggers that breaks don't really bother me as I just cut down the rest of them and live with them until they grow out again although some people get so disappointed or mad when they have a break.  I don't get it myself.  Just cut the rest of them and move on with life! But each to their own!  I know some gals like them a certain length or shape as that is what they are identified with but I'm not one of those bloggers that you see the nails always the same length (not sure if that is good or bad lol).  And because I post my nail art at random and not necessarily what I might be wearing currently (yes, I'm that blogger that still has nails from 2014 to share that are in archives!), you will see a variety of nail lengths at any given time.  Anyway, short nails give me the option to use those plate images that don't always fit on my nails when they are longer and also shows those with shorter nails that you can still do nail art regardless of the length!  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (not shown), then stamped using images from Mezerdoo 38 using Girly Bits Fire Engine Red stamping polish.

Mezerdoo 38

Did a little stamping touch ups, then added a few black accent dots using different size of dotters for interest.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish (I think I added a bit too much top coat to middle finger; it did dry level but not the best in pix, sorry!)

Thanks for looking!

Putting A Little Glam Into My Life!

Here's another set of nails that I did using the green and turquoise combination....this time, used Glam Polish Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! then stamped with the turquoise!  Here's what I came up with!

Started with two coats of Glam Polish Gimme Gimme! Gimme! which dries slight matte.  Shown with no top coat.

Topped with Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC before stamping.

I know that I use black or white stamping polishes about 75% of the time for my stamping even though I have a wide range of colours.  So decided to stamp with a little colour using MdU 68 and an image from Marianne XX.  Yawnnnnnnnnn!  But it turned out to be too ho hum boring to me and needed a little jazzing!

Marianne Nails xx

Added a few black and white dots for a little interest.  Still wasn't overly happy with this as I think it might have been better with a slightly darker blue stamping polish but thankfully, another day, another mani and there's always next time!

Topped with Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC to finish.

Have a fabulous weekend; thanks for looking!