Digit-al Dozen Does My Home: Day 1

It's Digit-al Dozen week and our theme this month is my home!  But before we get to the nails, the Digit-al Dozen has some exciting news to share as we have added new members who are uber talented and they will be starting to share their mani's either this month or in January 2018!  Welcome Tiffany from Polish and Paws, Kim from Kimmett Kolor, Brethil from Druid Nails, Courtney from Polished Lifting, Michelle from Lacquer or Leave Her, Kirsty from Fairy Tales Nails!  Please watch out for the ladies mani's and be sure to check out their blogs....if you aren't already following them already which you probably are!

Here's my day 1 nails!  Home is Canada and (sorry to my other international nail pals) but I live in the best country in the world (although I have a feeling everyone will think the same for their home country lol)!  It's no secret I'm a proud Canadian and there is no better feeling when you've been traveling to get back 'home' to Canada!  As winter is upon us here in Canada, I've done a winter snow mani with hidden Canadian additions to tie it into the theme!  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of red and white skittles (the official colours of Canada!) using OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Duri Taming of the Shrew.  Both are two coats with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped using images from Delaney Hiver A002 (middle), SugarBubbles SBS 08 (pinky and ring) and Delaney Hiver A001 (thumb and index).  Used Konad red and FunkyFingers Gesso for stamping polishes.

Delaney Hiver A002

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.  (Did you see the red maple leafs on the pinky and thumb?  Stamped from CJS LC-08.)

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

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

NEW Crumpets Nail Art Challenge; Christmas Preparations

Today's post is for NEW Crumpets Nail Art challenge and this week, the theme is Christmas preparations! One of the very first things we do in preparation for Christmas is decorate up the house! Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (not shown), then sponged on alternating fingers using Duri Taming of the Shrew and Essence The Green and The Grunge.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

I had made a few stamper decals (forgot to take pix) so applied them on thumb, middle and pinky. Stamped on ring and index.  Plates used were UberChic Christmas 01 (thumb and pinky), Clear Jelly Stamper CJS-01 (index), Marianne Nails n.118 (middle), and Chez D01 (ring).  Used assortment of polishes and acrylic paints.

Added a few dots to the wreath on the ring finger as well as decorated more of the tree using the layering images from CJS C-01.  The star on top of the tree on the index finger is from Marianne Nails n.118.

Clear Jelly Stamper C-01

Using some jelly polishes, painted on the white stamped image on the middle finger, then added a few red dots.  The yellow wasn't the right shade and to me, just put off the whole mani.  

Topped everything off with a final coat of KBShimmer Clearly on top.

I thought I would share a few pix of our Christmas decorations as well as how we decorate the house up! These aren't from this year, but we pretty much do the same set up every year!

This first pix is at the entrance of the house; a family friend made this quilted tree and it is a cherished decoration.

Opposite the wash stand, right beside the front door is this decoration.

The dining room. 

These are the cute decorations at the centerpiece.

Dining room buffet with my snowman collection on the top shelf and assorted candle holders on the bottom.

Opposite the buffet is this writing stand with a few decorations.

Stair decoration.

Our Christmas tree is in the front living room.

Our Charlie Brown Christmas tree lol.  It's a family joke but this Christmas tree was the one that my family used when I was a kid; when my parents bought a new one, I got it and have been using it for maybe 30 years now.  We fill it up with decorations to fill up all the voids as best we can considering there's only a few branches.  But even though its old and bare, I have no interest in replacing it!  I should also point out that the tree skirt is made by yet another family friend and it is probably 25 years old now.  It graces the bottom of our tree every year.  The tree also is decorated with ornaments I made as a kid, ones my kids made when they were little, old ornaments my parents handed down to me, some friends made and gave to us, as well as more current ones that we have bought.  It's very eclectic with no particular theme or style!

These stockings were given to me by a yet another  family friend at the first Christmas of each of my children. I think I am very lucky to know all these crafty, sewing ladies!

Every Christmas Eve, we line the stockings up on the couch waiting for Santa to fill them.

A couple of my favourite decorations.

In the family room, we have these stockings and Santa hung over the fireplace.

Outside lights.

Here's the other ladies Christmas preparation mani's!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does Negative Space; Day 2

I've done four of the five negative space mani's for this weeks Digit-al Dozen challenge this week and this by far is my favourite of the bunch!  Of the ones to post yet, one is just OK and the last one I hate with a capital H which is very rare for me as I can tolerate almost anything on my nails but I detest it so much, I'm not even sure if it will make it to the blog!  Anyway, this is what I came up with for Day 2 of negative space week!

Started by making a stamper decal using an image from ZZ 06.  (I made several decals and only used one; I don't think the one below was the actual one placed on my nails, fyi.)

Applied two coats of Duri Taming of the Shrew to all fingers except accent, which had the stamper decal applied.

Topped everything off with Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC.

ZZ 06

While I actually liked the simplicity of the nails as they were, I did end up stamping them with another image on the plate using FunkyFingers Dark Knight.

Topped them off with a final coat of Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC.

Here's the other ladies Day 2 negative space nails!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Go! Canada! Go!

Today is the opening ceremonies for the 2016 Olympics so I did a mani in support of the Canadian athletes! Go, Canada!

Started with a base of two coats each of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Duri Taming of the Shrew then topped with a coat of Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC before stamping.

Stamped using images from my custom plate; Canadian Nail Fanatic 001 and 002 with Fig Tree Stamps using red and white Konad stamping polishes; touched up as needed.

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



Good luck to all the Olympic participants!

Thanks for looking!

Canada Day Nails!

With Canada Day around the corner, I started wearing Canada Day mani's this weekend.  I've also been sharing throwback mani's on IG all weekend; I'm amazed that I have done some variety with the limited Canada Day images for stamping.  With the lack of Canada Day images available in mind, I had a custom plate made through Fig Tree Stamps (go to bottom of post for pix); here's the first mani I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats each of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Duri Taming of the Shrew, topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.



I had some difficulty in stamping with the custom plate; I couldn't get that good results with my usual squishy stamper other than this image.  I initially thought this was all I was going to be able to share!



But after more trying, eventually did this.  Used Konad red and Funky Fingers Gesso, using image from Canadian Nail Fanatic 001 with Fig Tree Stamps.  Girly Bits Canadian, eh? is on accent.


Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.



This is the final proof of the plate.



And the final product!**  I'm sorry, I was so excited when I got the plate that I went right away to swatching and forgot to take better pix to share.  The image plate is about the size of the large Apipila plates (not the XXL size); I was so happy with the number of images that were able to fit on the plate!  I have to say it is so cool being able to pick images and have them made onto a plate!  I have commented often that there is a lack of Canada Day and Remembrance Day images and was so happy to have the plate made with some! And the great thing too is the size of the images can be customized to fit your nails!  There's lots of times that there might be a word or an image and it doesn't fit on my nails; well, not now as you can pick the size of the images!

This was me sampling more with the plate.  I found that a firmer stamper with thicker polish such as Mundo de Unas worked the best.  I used the purple Messy Mansion rectangle stamper here; it doesn't facilitate stamping with darker polish though so I need to get a firmer lighter stamper.  The partial images shows were because the stamper picked up two images; not that there were mis-stampings.  Overall, once I figured out the stamper and polish to use, the plate worked well!  I myself prefer a squishy stamper so would prefer slightly deeper etchings, I think, but happy that I do have a stamper that works anyway!



I have plans for another plate in the near future; I have suggested images or themes to plate makers with specific images or themes but they have not materialized (I guess what I like isn't popular lol!), so will be having another one made for sure! I'm so glad there is this option available!  Fig Tree Stamps has a shop on Etsy; they are based in UK but shipping was around 4-5 days to Canada.

Thanks for looking!

**purchased by me