Blue Daisies!

Oh look, another daisy mani!  Who would have thought!  It's the favourite thing to put on my nails for the last while, so here is yet another daisy mani!

Started with a base of OPI Keeping Suzi at Bay, with accent nails of Pretty Beautiful Unlimited Candy Floss; both two coats.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped lines with an image from UC 1-01 using MdU 91, then stamped flowers with image from FUN 23 using image from Painted Polish Blanc Slate.

Added dots for floral centers using Painted Polish Stamped in Starfruit.

Topped with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

 Until the next daisy mani share; thanks for looking!

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!

Digit-al Dozen Does Thankfulness; Day 4

For Day 4 of Digit-al Dozen Does Thankfulness, I'm thankful for nail polish!  Not necessarily the bottles of polish (well, maybe a little because they do bring me relaxation and joy) but a broad spectrum of items relating to the nail polish community generally!  I'm thankful that I seen a Konad display several years ago that got me into doing nail art.  I'm thankful for the mini art creations on my nails, as well as the time spent doing my nails destressing from the events of the day. I'm thankful for turning to the internet to find more image plates which in turn put me onto Makeup Alley where my eyes were opened to the vast amount of polishes available worldwide.   MUA too was the place that I began to swap polishes and as I've said many times on my blog, swapping is awesome to obtain polishes you wouldn't otherwise be able to get from another area of the world.  MUA turned me onto many ladies that I messaged back and forth with, eventually meeting up with several in person; I have met up with other nail fanatics in Las Vegas as well as a meet up earlier this spring at the Girly Bits shop where we made our own polishes.  MUA was also the place that I learned about indie nail polish makers; I'm so thankful for the indie polish makers out there who are creating such unique and gorgeous polishes for us nail polish lovers! A few ladies branched off from MUA to create private groups so we could connect and talk not only about nail polish but life in general.  I've been involved in a lot of Secret Santa's and other seasonal exchanges, and the generosity of the ladies I've exchanged with is truly heartwarming. From these connections, I was turned to Facebook and joined many online FB groups, which in turn connected me with a whole wide range of groups; Adventures in Stamping was the very first FB group I joined, which is a large group talking all about stamping, which lead to numerous other groups used to stay connected to polish; some groups are about polish in general, some are swap groups, a lot of indie makers have their own FB page so you can learn about updates on their brand, to fan groups of so many indie makers out there that you can connect to and even blogging community groups.  I learn about sales and exclusives from a lot of these pages which my wallet is thankful for!  In a lot of these groups, I connect privately with members and correspond via text and messaging or emailing and have met in person; and have developed friendships all out of our mutual love for a bottle of polish. Polish too has connected me with a fantastic group of ladies who form the Digit-al Dozen.  Not only are these ladies uber talented in so many facets of nail art, but they are a genuinely caring group of ladies looking out for and supporting each other in other areas of life not necessary relating to nail polish.   So this is my tribute mani to the nail polish community in general and everything I am thankful for associated with it!  

To tie into the theme of polish thankfulness, I thought of the meet up I was part of this spring.  I met with Frazzle and Aniploish, nailxchange, Honeybee_Nails and Tracy Loves Lacquer and went to Girly Bits shop in Kingsville, Ontario.  We seen where all the magic happens at Girly Bits at the shop, learned the basics of how to make polish and were left to play with base, glitter from Pam's huge assortment of supplies.  This is one of the polishes I made that day which is the first time I've worn it, which I had coined Perfect Periwinkle.

 





Stamped using white Konad special polish using images from FUN 12 and NS-02. (Note to image plate makers:  we need more indie polish brand names on plates!)



Added a few dots for filler and interest using CND Silver Chrome and Butter London Bramble.



Top coated to finish.


In relation to polish as well, I'm thankful for all those people that check out my blog, IG, Pinterest, and various other social medias...aka, anyone who might be reading this now or seeing the pix of this mani somewhere out there!  While my blog has always been a means of me to keep track of the nails that I do, it has connected me with a lot of people; I've been contacted by numerous polish makers and others to do reviews for their products, I read a lot of blogs which has helped me take care of my nails, cuticles, etc better; just so much to be thankful regarding nail polish community generally.  I am thankful!

Here's the other ladies Day 4 Thankfulness mani's!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does Countries and Cultures; Day 3

It's Day 3 of Digit-al Dozen Does Countries and Cultures.  I've been amused that there are so many countries (189 to 196 according to Glowstar's blog post here) and the ladies in the group are picking a lot of the same countries!  So last night when I was sitting down to do my nails, I thought  no one has done a mani highlighting Australia so I thought it was safe to do (not that it matters!).  Then, this morning, seen The Crumpet did a post today featuring Australia!  Oh, well.  I think the only way I'm going to be able to do a mani on a country that no one else has picked is chose somewhere very, very remote...(not withstanding The Crumpet did Antarctica already here!) but the likelihood they have stamping plates for a remote location is slim, so I'm sure I'll be posting the same as others anyway. While I haven't seen Canada yet (and am saving mine for Friday), there are other Canadians in the group so I'm sure I won't be the only either.  Not that it matters, I'm just thinking a little variety seeing how there are 189+ countries......but from what I've seen, there's been good variety in the group even if we are all doing mani's of a lot of the same countries!  Anyway, here's what I came up with representing Australia!

Started with a base of two coats each of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and p2 191 Gigantic, topped with KBShimmer clearly on top.  Sponged accent nails using CND Flashpoint, Bicylce and Electric Orange.

Added koala from MoYou Tourist Collection-19 on middle, then top coated in preparation of leadlighting.

MoYou Explorer Collection-05

MoYou Explorer Collection-20

MoYou Tourist Collection-19

Konad A1

Unfortunately, I didn't take pix as I went along, but after filling in middle image with jelly polishes, added more stamped images; FUN 12 (ozotic on index), MJ IV (surfer on index), MoYou Tourist Collection-19 (lizard on index), MoYou Explorer Collection-05 (top kangaroo on ring); Konad A1 ICNA (flag and AUS on thumb, bottom kangaroo on ring and small koala face on pinky), MoYou Explorer Collection-20 on pinky using black and white Konad special polishes.  Added small koala face on pinky from the Konad plate as well. I top coated the ring and pinky and used various polishes to fill in images and fill backgrounds.  The wording ozotic is Mundo de Unas 30.    Lastly, used a brush and hand painted red in flag on thumb using red Konad special polish.

Top coated everything to finish.

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

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Edited July 17, 2014 to add Konad plate pix!

Digit-al Dozen Does Brands; Day 3

Have you been enjoying Digit-al Dozen Brand week?  The ladies have done some awesome brand mani's so far!  This is actually one theme that I didn't have too much of a challenge as there are oh, so many stamping plates nowadays with logo's and images suitable for brands.  With that being said, it was almost like I was doing red and white themed mani's as this is my second red and white mani this week and there's one more still to come! If the Digit-al Dozen ever revisits brands, I'll have to try to make sure they aren't red and white. Anyway, here's Day 3's Brand mani.

Started with a base of two coats each of CND Oilslick (thumb), OPI Over & Over A-Gwen (index and ring) and OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (middle and pinky); topped with SV.

Stamped using red and white Konad special polishes using GA32 (index), MJ XIV (middle and pinky), MJ XXI (coke wording on ring finger) and MoYou Rebel Collection-03 (coke bottle on ring). The thumb is from GA9 double stamped with a franken polish I made from mixing Mundo de Unas #12 and #23 together on the image plate.  

Do you get the thumb?  It's the coke fizz when you pour Coke into a glass!  I remember as a kid how much I like to slurp up the fizz before the coke settled! 

GA32

GA9

MoYou Rebel Collection-03  Why Coke bottle image, do you not stamp better?  I used several different stampers and couldn't get a better image than the one I used for this mani.  Disappointing.

MJ XIV

There are certainly a lot of brands just on these plates, never mind others in my stash!

Added a few accent twinkles for filler using SdP 73 and a heart from FUN 12 on the pinky; topped with SV. 

I don't actually drink that much pop; maybe half a dozen cans a year if that, but if I do reach for a soft drink, Coke is my pop of choice (unless I'm not feeling well, when I drink ginger ale).  Sorry to all you Pepsi fans!  

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

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!