The lovely Serene!

Hi Everyone!! Oh my word sorry I just sort of fell of the planet there for a bit.  I really have no excuse other than I got caught up reading some great books and felt more like reading than blogging LOL!  Just before the Digit-al Dozen's last theme I did a beautiful mani using the lovely Serene Superficially Colorful but I get a chance to post it.  Then I sort of forgot about it which is just a crying shame because it is SO pretty.  So today I'm doing justice for this pretty polish and showing you what I did with it.

I love the thermals from Superficially Colorful.  Jin does an AHmazing job with her polishes and especially her thermals.  I have several and just love them.  So "mani" things can be done with them too!  One of my favorite things is to stamp over them of course!

First up the lovely Serene which is a thermal that changes from an almost white ice blue to a deeper icy blue color

 I love the natural gradient look you get with thermal polishes!

One of my favorite things to do with thermal is to stamp over it!

It's so much fun and you still get that gradient look!

I used LilyAnna 03 for this design and really think it's adorable!

In addition to thermals Superficially Colorful also has some great glitters that just like her thermals are great for stamping over.  If you have not yet visited her store you can find all her cool stuff HERE 

Today I'm going to be helping my mom do some decorating but after that I think I'm going to check out this alcohol ink and clear nail polish thing to make up some some sheers for leadlighting.   I'll definitely get back to you with any of my successful results!  I think I'm trying some water marbling this weekend too--FINGERS CROSSED!

Thanks for stopping by!!! I hope you all have a fantastic day!!

Butterflies are free to fly!

Hi Everyone!  Happy Monday!  I was going through my Picasa album last night getting rid of pictures I just don't need to keep and I ran across my first ever glitter nail decal and I cannot believe I did share this mani with you!  It turned out SO great!

I'm not really big on decals because A they are just way too time consuming and B no matter what I always seem to get air bubbles when I do them.  But I had just gotten a bottle of Red Dog's Floral Flourish and I loved it and thought maybe it would be the gorgeous backdrop for some decaling.

I was totally right!

This is a really spectacular glitter topper.  It is full of colors, 17 different glitters in all!  My favorite thing about is the the rose copper colored glitters.  It just gives it a real Victorian feel to me.  It is stunning.

Here's the decal I made using CiCi & SiSi 07 and Floral Flourish

I decided to put this over a base of OPI's My Vampire Is Buff

My reverse accent nails are OPI's Taupe-less Beach

I think pairing this gorgeous multi colored glitter with the nude family was a brilliant idea!

I want to point out that I really let this decal dry before removing it.  I wanted my glitter coat to be dry so I wouldn't have any issues trying to peel it off.  I also was pretty generous with a few coats of top coat to make sure I had a nice firm but pliable decal.

Floral Flourish is from the Butterfly Garden collection over at Red Dog.  You can buy it HERE  In addition to this great polish there are several different finishes in the collection!  A yellow suede!!!  And some gorgeous shimmers and a lovely holo.  Check em out!

I don't know that I'll be a decaling fool but this one made me quite happy.

Thanks for stopping by!! I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Beeeeeee careful! You never know where Ninja Yeti will appear!

Hi Everyone!!! Happy Saturday!  Some fun things going on for me today.  I got new recliners and put those in so I could get rid of the super uncomfortable leather recliner couch we had.  No one ever laid on that couch because it was so uncomfortable so out with the old and in with the new!  And I finally got a new nail station set up too!  We had an old desk that I got all set up so now I have a place to store my plates and an area do to my nails.  No more nail stuff on the kitchen table!  Next up for today is all new wooden ledges for the chinchillas and they are all getting new cage set ups as well.  I'm going to be sewing new hammocks and tube covers for everyone.  Well no hammock for Leonard and Herman they prefer to be hammock free LOL!
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Today I have a cute mani on inspired by my friend Kim.  The other day she put her Ninja Yeti on over a yellow and I thought it looked really cool.  I decided to honeycomb it up and then do a little bee decal.  It's adorable!

Ninja Yeti was a special surprise from Elevation when I ordered several bottles at once

It's a cool black matte glitter with some purple shimmers added!!

I don't do cute too often but this just called for it!

I put Ninja Yeti over Elevation Streetside NYC and then stamped with MJ VI
I made the little bee decal to go over it!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Naughty Negligee!

Hi Everyone!  Happy and wet Thursday!  Definitely more like a balmy fall day here than Summer.  Mother Nature is just toying with us these days!

I've been seeing a few of these sheer black polish looks popping up on Pinterest and I really fell in love with the look the first time I saw it.  I decided to make up a sheer black of mine and do somewhat of a negligee look.  I was really easy to do even though it looks as if it wasn't!

I only used coat of my black sheer as you don't want it too dark.

I stamped using DRK A and LilyAnna 03.  Then I framed it all with a classic rim job and then matted it

Next time I do this look I think I'll frame it first then stamp it.  I think it will be much easier and less messy that way

What do you think of this look?  Have you seen it popping up around on blogs and Pinterest?  I really love it and will definitely be doing more mani's with this look!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you all have a fantastic day!

It might be raining, but there's a rainbow above me

My dad died from complications of chemotherapy in August of 2012.  He was the greatest man I ever knew.  He was loving, nurturing, supportive and he was my rock and shelter in every storm I weathered.  When he died I honestly did not know how I would be able to face a day without him.  How do you go on when the one person you've had in your life as your strength leaves you?  His death was not the first time I suffered the loss of a beloved family member.  My beautiful sister, Lisa, preceded him in death so I do know what it feels like to have your heart ripped out of your chest, torn into shreds and then put back because you know you have to go on, only you are not whole, nor will you be ever again.

My father's death was much harder on me than my sister's.  Sometimes I have great guilt over that.  Lisa had been sick for a long time, and watching her suffer was very hard on me.  The day my sister died her long suffering was ended and I found joy and comfort in knowing that.  Like my sister, my father also suffered from cancer.  But his leukemia was supposed to be the slow progression kind that would outlive him.  But this is not what happened.  One chemotherapy session put him in the hospital.  His kidney's started to fail, his oxygen level was off, and despite the chemo killing the white blood cells as it was supposed to do, it compromised my father's system.  He valiantly fought back and went from the ICU to a regular room where he was supposed to come home that week.  Instead his brain hemorrhaged and with the weakened state of his body and a system compromised from chemotherapy he did not survive.

Unlike my sister we didn't have to see him suffer for years.  One minute he was with us talking about being able to go home and how happy he was that he could finally eat a decent meal, the next he was vomiting from the intense pain and excruciating headache caused him.  Then he started slurring his words and his body started posturing as he slipped into a coma. The horror was unimaginable.

The day I had to return back to work after his funeral.  I started falling apart walking out to my car.  I am the oldest daughter.  I was very strong throughout my sister's illness and death.  I was very strong for my family when my father died--but now I was alone without anyone around to see me and I was a mess.

I actually thought I would crumple to the ground my sorrow was so severe, and then I looked to the sky and saw the most beautiful rainbow I had ever seen.  It seemed to fill the entire sky and was so bright.  And in that moment I felt as if my dad was reaching out to me.  That he was letting me know that he was still with me, that he would always be with me.  And that I would be able to go on, because I had to go on.

Whenever I see a rainbow now I think of my dad.  I think of how even in death he was still supporting me, holding me help, helping me move on through another horrible occurrence in my life.  Today, on Father's Day, I share this mani with you in memory and great honor for my dad, Alan Lutze

For all of you with dad's still with you on this Father's Day hug them tight and let them know how much they mean to you.

The Digit-al Dozen Does Metal--Urban Camouflage!

Hi Everyone Happy Friday!!! Woot! It's Friday!  Hooray!! The weekend is almost here!  Looking forward to spending some time with my family this weekend.  It's a bittersweet weekend for me as my father died almost 2 years ago.  But being together is important and sharing memories is just as important as sharing tears.

I thought I would be a lot better at this challenge and do things that were totally out of this world, but I don't really feel that way.  I'm ending the week not on a high note but not on a low note either.  Just a medium note I guess. 

When I first got my FUN 5 plate I've always thought this image I used from it look camouflagey.  I decided to try for an "urban" camouflage.  Believe if you will how hard it is to blend into the cityscapes with their massive skyscrapers.

These was something easy to do using Sally Hansen Silver Sweep and China Glaze Awaken, two of my favorite silvers in the entire universe!

I didn't topcoat it so I could get an edgier feel to it

I don't know about any of you but I'm pretty sure my size isn't going to have me "blending in" anywhere LOL!

I think this week was really awesome!  My Digit-al Dozen friends did an amazing job and so many of them were thinking outside the box!  I love themes like that don't you?!  

Let's head over and check out everyone's last day!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen Does Metal--Splat!

Hi Everyone!! Happy Thursday!  I've kind of got a couple of late posts going on these past few days but it just can't be helped.  Tonight I'm going out to dinner with some work friends and we are going for some Mongolian BBQ.  I'm pretty excited as I've never been before.  Hopefully I'm not getting anything I can't handle spice wise!

I reverted back to my gold, silver, copper theme with today's mani. Since I already had out my China  Glaze Passion, Sally Hansen Silver Sweep and Essie Penny Talk I decided to use them again.  I started off with a nice gradient of the three because let's face it I gradient almost everything but then I did some nice stamping with BM417!

This is sort of an edgy look

Not as crazy as a spiked dinosaur mani but edgy nonetheless

I like this splatter image WAY less mess this way!

So how many of you are doing anything special for the full blown full moon/Friday the 13th event?!   Holy cow watch out for werewolves!!!!

Let's do something smarter like not thinking about werewolves and head over to see what everyone else came up with for today

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen Does Metal--Mechagodzilla!

Hi Everyone!! Happy Hump Day!  OMG I am not even ashamed to say the other night I made the most god awful ugly mani in the universe!  No lie.  It was horrendous!  I had all these great intentions on a fabulous metal mani and then bam shit happened!  I thought I might try to wear it for a day but NOPE that baby was removed the next day and guess what?!  I went to work with naked nails!  NAKED NAILS PEOPLE!  Oh the horror!

I tried to do something cool last night too but again it just fell short.   I did a nail full of silver studs and hoped to stamp over it.  Wow first time stamping over studs who has done it before??!!! No one!  I'll be famous!  Except that it looked like crap so so much for the famous part.  I full intended on taking off the mani tonight and doing something else but I really felt like the studded nail was cool.  Then I got this idea.  Why not some spikes over my studded nail?!

First off here is the plain mani, just the nail covered in the silver studs

Pretty cool nail right?!  I really wanted to do something cool with it and for some reason Mechagodzilla popped into my head LOL!  So I give you some spikes over studs!

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!  Now this is more like it!

Not too hard to manage either!

I got to use one of my frankens too!  My black base is my franken Midnight Sins and I stamped over him with BM224 and Color Club Harp On It

I had to use A LOT of Seche Vite on this baby, it almost looks like glass over the studs!

I like the subtle look of the reptile "scales" too!

So glad this Metal challenge allowed me to play with my inner spike vixen!

I hope Mechagodzilla is proud LOL!

Let's pop over to see what everyone else has on their nails today!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen Does Metal--paging Rumplestiltskin!

Hi Everyone!  Whew!  Glad to have those spikes off!  I cannot begin to tell you how hard it was to type!  Those 2 middle fingers kept getting tangled up in each other.  I am happy to report though it seems I've worn spikes enough now to figure out the maneuvering of pulling pants up and pushing down to go to the bathroom! LOL!

Today's mani is a lot less spikey but still quite dramatic I think!  I decided to try a sugar spun mani using China Glaze Passion, Sally Hansen Silver Sweep and Essie Penny Talk.  The results are pretty stunning

I haven't done very many sugar spun mani's and whenever I do them I always love how they turned out.  So then I wonder why don't I do more of these???!

I think it's because the key is patience with these and I'm not known for my patience

I will try to do at least one more with some neon colors for the summer!

What do you think?  Are you a fan of this look?

Let's head over to the rest of the gang and check out their day 2!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen Does Metal--get your spike on!

Hi Everyone!  Happy Monday and welcome to Metal week for the Digit-al Dozen.  OMG At first when I heard metal I had all these cool ideas and then when it came time to sitting down and working them out they just did not happen!  I hate it when that happens too!  I mean metal how hard can it be?  Trust me when I say it can be very hard!  I pulled this sucker out at the list minute and whipped it together and if I do say so myself, it rocks!

Feast your eyes on SPIKE A LICIOUS!

I got a bunch of spikes and studs a while back on ebay so I decided to put as many to good use as I could!

I sort of felt like french tip spikes hadn't been done yet so that's the look I went with

This is a definitely a mani you can't wear pantyhose with!

This here is definitely metal!!!

I love thumbie the best!  He reminds me of a dinosaur!

So this baby is totally 100% impractical!  I love it though!  I had to do this on the weekend because there is no way I was getting through a day a work with these suckers on! LOL!

Let's head over and see if anyone else is as crazy as I am today with their nail art!

An InLinkz Link-up