Feature Friday - Stars and Stripes

Hi all!  With the 4th of July just around the corner, I thought I would show you my Independence Day inspired mani before the weekend.

I started with my base of SH Double Duty.  I did two coats of ChG Frostbite and stamped the stars from Cheeky's CH 4 plate with SHXW White On.  I topped that with a coat of SV.  Then, I taped off a diagonal and painted on my favorite red, WnW 414.  I placed another piece of tape on the same diagonal and stamped the stripes from the same plate over the red with the White On.  Everything was topped with SV once more, and that's it!  Here is the plate and images I used:

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Feature Friday - Black on Pink Polka Dots

I hate to admit this, but I love black with pink.  So I decided to try stamping some black polka dots over a pink base.

I started with SH Double Duty as a base.  I painted on three coats of CC I Believe in Amour (from my mismatched Ross set, so the name is questionable).  Then I stamped using SC Black on Black.  The polka dots are from Cheeky's CH6 plate, shown below.

On the accent nail, I decided to go with the bow from CH15, shown below.

I topped them off with a coat of SV to finish.

The polka dots didn't transfer completely.  Is it just me, or do they look like little black olives?  LOL

Feature Friday - Bubblegum Stripes

Here is a quick mani I did mainly to try stamping with stripes again.  As you can see, I STILL cannot stamp stripes straight (a little alliteration for you there).  :oD

I started with my base of SH Double Duty, and added two coats on SHXW Bubblegum Pink.  I stamped using the stripes on Cheeky's CH6 plate, shown below.

The stripes were stamped using SC Snow Me White.  I topped them off with a coat of SV.  Someday...I will stamp straight lines!  Until then, they will be slightly skewed, like the rest of my world.  :oP  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Feature Friday - Scribble My Heart

First, enter my giveaway, and vote for me in the Bundle Monster contest!  Then, check out today's mani. 

This week's theme in Adventures in Stamping is to use a plate ending in 5.  I was crazy excited to use my favorite image from my new Cheeky plates!  Check it out!

I used the scribble hearts from CH 15, shown below.

 I started with SH Double Duty as a base and added three coats of OPI Barre My Soul.  After topping them with SV, I stamped the image using Color Club's Hot Like Lava, and added another coat of SV.  And there you have it!  You know I don't do a whole lot with pink, but it's my daughter's favorite color, and her birthday is Sunday!  Have a great weekend, everyone...oh, and GRADUATION IS TOMORROW!!!

Feature Friday - An Award, Exciting News, and a Purple Leopard

First, don't forget about my giveaway!  Second, I want to say thank you to Silje over at Foxy Mary's world for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger award!

I am not going to go through the process since I just recently did it, but I did want to thank her and tell you to go check out her blog!

And in even more exciting news...I am DONE!  I finished the last of my papers, and did my last presentation Wednesday evening.  And, my professors this semester gave me the greatest compliment.  They all encouraged me to pursue my doctorate, saying that my work is of that caliber.  SO COOL!  Thursday was my first day in a very long time that I did not have a discussion board to do, article or chapter to read, paper to write, etc.  All I have to do now is sit back, and wait for graduation to roll around next weekend!  Woohoo!

So, the mani I did for this week's challenge for Adventures in Stamping is the Purple Leopard.  The theme was unnatural animals.  I originally intended to get really creative with some kind of supernatural mani featuring ghosts or zombies.  But, I was so enjoying my day with nothing to do, I didn't want to exert too much effort!  LOL  So I randomly chose a plate, and used my favorite color, purple.

I started with my base of SH Double Duty.  Then, I added two coats of ChG Sweet Hook topped with SV.  Then I used SH Complete Salon Manicure in Bewitched to stamp the leopard print from BM 221.  I topped it all off with SV and called it a day!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Feature Friday - Queensday

Happy Friday!  If you haven't already entered my giveaway, you can do so here.

Today's mani is a stamping for the group I belong to on Facebook, Adventures in Stamping.  The theme is Queensday, celebrating the Queen's birthday.  I did not know much about the holiday, so I had to look it up.  I also used the info provided by one of the group members.

I started with SH Double Duty, and added two coats of Revlon Royal.  Using tape, I added two squares using SH XW Cherry Red.  The stamp I used is the crown from BM 08, shown here:

I stamped the crown using Sinful Colors' (SC) Snow Me White, and topped it all off with SV.  I'm less disappointed that my pointer and pinky stamps are a little crooked, because I'm way too excited that my other two fingers were almost straight!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Feature Friday: National Day of Silence

Happy Friday!  So, Heidi over at DIY Polish and More came up with the idea of doing manis today in support of the National Day of Silence, and I jumped on board.  For those of you who do not know, the National Day of Silence is a day when students take a vow of silence to raise awareness of the silencing effect of bullying and harassment of the LGBT community.  You can learn more about it here. 

Here is the mani I came up with in support of the National Day of Silence.  I used the polishes shown below, which are (from left to right):  ChG Liquid Leather, SH Silver Sweep, WnW 414, OPI A Roll in the Hague, SH Lightening, Essie Pretty Edgy, and ChG Electric Beat.

I painted two coats of Liquid Leather on all of my nails, except for the accent.  I stamped the lips image from BM 02 (shown below) using Silver Sweep.  Then I used tape to create the line with 414.

My accent nail was done with the remaining colors using tape.  Thanks for looking, and I hope you will join in and take a vow of silence.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Update:  Click here to see Heidi's mani!

Feature Friday - Strawberry Top

Happy Friday!  I am so loving my mani today!  This one is going to be short and sweet.  Okay, maybe not short, but definitely sweet!  I used my SH Double Duty base and then did one coat of The Hungry Asian's Strawberry, which can be picked up in her Etsy shop here.  One coat is all that was needed!  Then, this week's stamping challenge was to use two stamps.  First, I used my Bundle Monster BM 05 on my accent finger to look like the top of a strawberry.  I stamped this with Color Club's Perfect Mol-ten.

Then, still using CC's Perfect Mol-ten, I stamped a partial image from BM 12 (shown below in the red box).  I did this to make it look like a little curly piece of stem was hanging down.  I don't know about anyone else, but I had a helluva time picking up even this whole image, let alone a little piece of it.  After about a dozen tries, I finally got it to work.  This image took a crazy light hand to work.

I topped everything off with a coat of SV and there you have it!  Please excuse the virtual bandage.  I cut the side of my ring finger.  Just thank me for saving you from the ick.  Have a great weekend, everyone!!!

Bonus post! Angelic Silver Flowers

Hello, everyone!  I know, I don't usually post on the weekend.  But since today is a holiday (at least for me - Easter), I thought I would throw out an extra post.  On Friday, I showed you my Peep Show mani for Easter.  Today, I am showing you another Easter mani I did.  Actually, it's more Easter-ish.  Actually, it's not really all that Easter-y at all.  I belong to a group where we stamp each Sunday (check the sidebar!) and this week's theme was Easter.  I don't have many plates, let alone Easter-themed plates.  So, I chose to go with a very soft, glittery pink with some subtle silver stamping (say that ten times fast!).

I started with my usual base of SH Double Duty.  Then, did two coats of Street Wear's Angelic.  It's a neutral with a subtle tinge of pink and silver micro glitter.  I topped that with a coat of SH Insta-Dri top coat.

Once that set a bit, I used the small flowers image from my BM 224 plate.

I stamped the flowers using SH Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep.  This resulted in a soft, subtle stamp and I really like it!  Not exactly Easter-y, but it's as close as I can get.  I should have one more Easter-ish mani for you tomorrow.  Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend, all!

Sunlight

Feature Friday - Stamped Zebra Stripes

Happy Friday and a big, huge welcome to my new reader!

Today I have my first real stamping attempt.  I did try stamping one nail once and it was an epic failure.  But, I've recently joined a group called Adventures in Stamping.  We stamp each Sunday, and this will be my first contribution.  This week's winning vote for theme was black and white only.  Let me tell you where I hoped to go with this versus where I ended up.

I love the show Once Upon a Time.  When I saw that we were stamping using only black and white, the first image that popped into my head was Regina's office.  The walls are covered in wallpaper that looks like trees on a white background.  Very wintry, which reminds me of home, which is why I love it.  Anyway, I only have the two Bundle Monster stamping sets, and did not have an image that really looked like trees.  So, I used the only one that came close, which was this one.

I figured if I tried stamping it so the lines were straight rather than diagonal, it may kind of look like bare tree trunks.  As you can probably tell from the title of this post - not so much.  But that was the original idea.  Also learned that I can't stamp straight lines to save my ever lovin' life.  So I'm just going to call this one Stamped Zebra Stripes and leave it alone.

I used SH Double Duty as my base.  Then I added two coats of Orly's Au Champagne.  The stamping was done with Sinful's Black on Black.  I topped it all off with a coat of SV.  Not horrible, but definitely needing practice.  Okay, a LOT of practice!  LOL

Sunlight