Digit-al Dozen Does Childhood; Day 2

When I was 8 or 9, I took an interest in stamp collecting.  My dad had collected stamps and I remembered pouring over the book with him looking at all the different stamps from other countries.  Once I was old enough, he gave me his stamp collection book and I added to it as I came across interesting stamps from other countries.  So today's nails are based on my stamp collecting as a kid!

Started with a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff; two coats then topcoated (no pix).  Stamped using MoYou Tourist Collection-05 (thumb), MoYou Tourist Collection-09 (middle finger and date stamp on ring), DRK C (pinky and index), FUN 2 (letters on ring) and FUN 12 (mail on ring).  I purposely didn't use stamping polishes as I wanted a more muted look for the stamping to look vintage so used assortment of regular polishes; Essence Do You Speak Love? (red), Essence The Green and the Grunge (green), Zoya Dea (tan) and Leighton Denny Do Me a Favour (orange).  

I thought this was a pretty cool image from DRK C; too bad it would never fit fully on a nail!

Top coated with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

I thought matte look with look more vintage for these stamps so added coat of OPI matte.

I wanted to share a few pages of my stamp collection book to go along with this post as I still have it, but after hunting through boxes for a couple hours on the weekend, the hubs and I couldn't locate it (that's the problem with keeping things 37 years in a box someplace and moving 5+ times over the years!).  I know I have it someplace and am sure I will find it someday; obviously I don't collect now but it is interesting even now looking at all these old stamps!  In the meanwhile, we did come across the hubs stamp collection as he collected as a kid too so here's a few pix from his.

I was positive he had a stamp similar to the one on the thumb and I took a pix of it when we had his things out but I guess I was mistaken.  All is back away in storage so too late now lol!

Here's the other ladies Day 2 childhood nails!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

NailNation 3000 Glow Worm

When I seen NailNation 3000 had a lime green holo polish, it was an instant lemming!  At the time, I think it was because this lime green type of colour wasn't available in a holo (at least not that I was familiar with anyway), but I do know that SmittenPolish has one now too (can be seen on SmittenPolish FB account).   I was lucky to snag it on a llarowe sale in the spring; this is a mani I did back in April using one of my favourite colour combinations....green and pink.  

Started with a base of two coats of NailNation 3000 #449 Glow Worm, no topcoat.






Stamped using Konad white special polish using an image from DRK-C.



Stamped alternating nails using same image using Konad magenta special polish.






Using dotting tool, added pink and white dots using same polishes that had been used for stamping.



Topped with SV to finish.



Different lighting.



The next day, took a pix in direct sunlight.




Love this bright, lime green holo!!!  I think it will be awesome with orange and black holo polishes at Halloween...maybe even purple holo too!  I haven't come up with a mani yet, but it's on my list of mani ideas for then!

Although I bought this at llawroe, I see NailNation 3000 is no longer for sale there....after doing some internet searching, I found that NailNation 3000 is being sold here via an online store here.

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen, Geek Week; Day 4

Another mani for the gaming geeks! 

Base polishes, starting at thumb, are Zoya Dea, China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, OPI Red My Fortune Cookie; OPI Bride's Bouquet and Essie Shelter Island; two coats each; topped with SV.

Stamped using various plates; DRK-C (thumb), MJ VII (ring); Sugar Bubbles 007 (pinky) as well as added two stamping decals made with Sugar Bubbles 004 (brief tutorial on this to follow).  Stamping polishes used were all Konad special polishes; black, white, red, green and yellow.

Added Mario and Luigi to thumb from XXL Big SdP 2 using black Konad; as well as the moustache from Winstonia W109.

For some filler, added a few clouds on the middle finger using Sugar Bubbles 007 as well as a few random dots using yellow and red Konad special polish.

Topped with SV.

For those who may be wanting to do some stamping decals, I've taken a few pix as I went along for the one decal I used here.

Stamp your image onto your stamper.

With a fine tipped brush, fill in the leaves with your polish.  I've used Konad special polishes, here but you can use regular polishes too.  (Please excuse my messy workstation in the background!)

Do more filling in of the image; this time I added white in the areas used a dotting tool for the dots.

Further fill in the main part; I used a brush and filled in the red.

Apply coat of SV around the image.  I've found one coat is good; and try not to go too far past the stamped image.  If you do apply too much topcoat and then there is too much of a free edge when you place it on your nail, it's easy to remove with remover with a light hand.

Once the SV is dry, it's ready to apply.  I took it off with a toothpick and applied on my nail after my nail had been coated with a coat of clear, and after the base was good and dry.  Its important that the the clear coat be applied as otherwise, it won't stick that well plus it helps it to lay down that flat. I also use my fingers and push the decal down fairly hard onto the nail as it has a tendency to want to curl up (which is why it's important to make sure base is good and dry).  When the image is placed on the nail and as smooth as possible, add a coat of SV to seal.  When you are placing the decal onto your nail, a little bit of decal wrinkling may happen but usually not too noticeable once the coat of SV is placed to adhere the decal.  I found that there was less decal wrinkling on the nail with one coat of SV onto the stamper versus two, which was called for in the original tutorial I was following; I found two coats made it thicker and then it wrinkled more on the nail.

Thanks again goes to Julia, the creator of Messy Mansion, who originally posted the tutorial of the stamper decal here!  There are so many possibilities now with stamped images; just a little time and preplanning...it really takes stamping to a whole new level!

Thanks for looking!