Fall Into Autumn Challenge-Football

I am not really that into football.  I can follow the game.  I know who the teams are.  I enjoy a good Superbowl and don't mind going to see one live but it isn't really my thing.  I decided to do Redskins colors for this instead of doing a traditional football or field mani.  I had seen a you tube video by creativenailart using black and white to create a unique pattern.  I recreated it using burgundy and yellow.  It's Sally Hansen Unbreakable Heart and Color Club Almost Famous.

The second pic was over my old and ratty Redskins sweatshirt.  My only regret was not using a smaller more delicate brush because it took away from the classiness of it, but......it is football!!!

Here are the rest of our challenge items.......

 

 



All That Glitters-Very Peacock-Ish

Wow, do I love this polish.  I had not been familiar with All That Glitters when my friend Alyson asked me if I wanted to take this off her hands.  I said I would love to try it because I am always up for a new Indie brand.  I am glad that I did.  It is really unique and beautiful.  This is two coats over Color Club Factory Girl.

 

It is really a unique assortment of glitters in various shapes and sizes and I love the combination of blues and silver and black.  When the glitter catches the light, it reflects a really pretty purple hue.

 

 

This is definitely a keeper in my book and I just bought several more I intend to share with you soon.  You can buy All That Glitters during her re-stocks on Etsy.  She has this and many other great polishes in stock right now......along with some great Halloween polishes.

I am planning on doing my 31 days of Halloween Challenge soon.  Nothing formal, just a way to keep my manicures fresh and keep my mind working.  Looking for ideas of Halloween themed manis if anyone has any.

Also, don't forget about my GIVEAWAY!!!  Less than a week until I draw the winner.  Two prizes include Cheeky stamping plates and an Indie prize package.  Enter here.

Fall Into Autumn Challenge-Cloudy Days

I did this manicure three times and I just could not get satisfied with the outcome. I will show my fails at the end of the post for you to see.  This is evidence of how I have lost my creative inspiration. When I went to do the third try, I had the best inspiration.  A fellow member of an online nail group full of amazing and wonderful women had a recent family tragedy in her life.  We all agreed to pull together and do a manicure for her to show our support.  The theme was birds and I thought....birds in the sky....simple but beautiful.

This is Zoya Jo as a base and I stamped using Milani White On The Spot with BM-222.  Then I free handed a flock of birds.  At the end, I added a coat of CG Fairy Dust to add some light rain.

So, here is a peak at what I tried first.....

This was Essie Lilicism with the same stamp and hot air balloons......

 

 And, this was also Zoya Jo with the same stamp but I used a Jade Holo to stamp.

I just couldn't be happy with either so I scraped them.  I didn't even edit and watermark.

400 Follower Giveaway

Wow, odd how blogosphere works.  It took three months to climb to 300 followers and then I reached 400 at the blink of an eye.  I am really, really happy to know that people have an interest in what I do.  I committed to giving back each time I reached another 100 milestone with this blog.  So, here is what I have for you today.  There will be two prizes. 

The first is the Cheeky 2012 Summer Collection of Stamping Plates.  I am totally in love with all of these.  Not enough days in the week to get to try them all.

The second prize is a little Indie Polish Pack.  It consists of Smitten Aquarius, F4 Polish Blue Galaxy, Enchanted Polish Fun Dip and Sonnetarium Demonized.  These are four Indie polish brands that I feel provide a great product and I have not been unhappy with anything I have purchased from them.  There, of course, are dozens of others that I love equally as much but I am using what I have on hand at this moment and that I am willing to part with.

 

Here are the rules:

• Enter using the Rafflecopter Widget below.
• There will be two winners
• International followers are included
• You may not complain about the Indie polishes. I have never used them for more than opening the bottles to eyeball them. If they have sinking, bleeding or curling glitters with rusty balls.....give them to a friend's tween or your own tween. (Sorry, I couldn't resist...if that didn't make sense, you aren't an Indie lover yet)
• You may enter through September 30, 2012.

Now, since we got that out of the way.  I feel as if I have been slacking on posting.  I really enjoy it so much and don't want to get wrapped up in aspects of life that I don't enjoy as much.  With that in mind, I plan on challenging myself during the month of October.  I love Halloween.  I am going to shoot for one post a day and include as much nail art as I am able to manage.  Some days may just be an Indie or mainstream Halloween polish to share.  Others might be stamping or some free hand work.  I am currently doing a challenge for Autumn with my favorite group of people but we are posting weekly so I have been slacking off quite a bit.  Here is my chance to kick it back into gear.  I am expecting you all to hold me to it.  Oh, and......if you have any requests for the Halloween month mani's, leave me a comment.  I am open to suggestions, 31 to be exact. :)


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fall Into Autumn Challenge-School Spirit

I decided to abandon  my former schools and colors for this challenge and go with more generic nail art.  I had just painted my nails purple and decided to maintain this as the base and just layer my art over the top the following day.  I went with a cheer leading theme and tried my best to add pom poms.  I used acrylic paints for the design.  I am happy with it.  I really like it a lot.

 

Here are the challenge items.......

And here are my cohorts.......

Stephanie from A Little Polish
Hannah from Polished Prisms
Katee from A Girl and Her Polish
Ashley from One Nail To Another
Karine from Karinea0a
Johanna from Neues vom Kellerkind
Charlotte from Charlottes-Nails
Alyson from Beads. Nails. Food.
Sharra from The Blahg
Maribeth from Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite
Becky from Glam Fiend
Angie at Our Painted World
Alethia at Neverending Nail Art
Sarah at Dakila's
Amanda at Mandy's Polish
Lisa at Lisa's Nail Obsession
Kelly at Nail's For The Sake of Sanity

And the winner is......

For my 300 follower Indie Minis Giveaway.......the winner is.........Melissa P. from Canada.  I have already been in touch with her and she will be able to enjoy her package very soon.  I am two folowers shy of 400 so I have another little giveaway in the works right around the corner.  I also have my autumn challenge and will post again on Saturday.  I have a ton of Indies that I still need to show you and.......I am more inspired so I am considering doing my own daily challenge for the month of October of Halloween nail art designs.  I love Halloween and I think it would be fun.  I am seriously thinking about giving it a try.  You will have to wait and see what I come up with.  And, if you have any suggestions on what you might want to see......let me know.

Fall Into Autumn Challenge-Apples

Before I get into today's challenge, I want to remind everyone that you only have 24 hours left to enter my giveaway for the Indie Mini Prize Package.....check it out here.  It is a great opportunity to get a bunch of Indie's to try out.  Amazingly, I am currently two shy from 400 followers and I made a commitment that I would have some form of appreciation for each 100.  So, sometime in the not so distant future, I will be having another.  On to the challenge.....

I know, it looks alot like everyone elses apples.  I just had zero creative energy this time around.  I working towards improving on that so work with me people!!!

I used Zoya Elisa and China Glaze Tree Hugger for my apples with a light coat of Fairy Dust for some sparkle.  You can never have too much fairy dust.......

Here is a peek at what is to come in this challenge....

And here are my other cohorts.....

Stephanie from A Little Polish
Hannah from Polished Prisms
Katee from A Girl and Her Polish
Ashley from One Nail To Another
Karine from Karinea0a
Johanna from Neues vom Kellerkind
Charlotte from Charlottes-Nails
Alyson from Beads. Nails. Food.
Sharra from The Blahg
Maribeth from Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite
Becky from Glam Fiend
Angie at Our Painted World
Alethia at Neverending Nail Art
Sarah at Dakila's
Amanda at Mandy's Polish
Lisa at Lisa's Nail Obsession
Kelly at Nail's For The Sake of Sanity

300 Follower Indie Giveaway

I would not have believed it if you told me I would reach 300 followers.  I have had great fun with this little hobby.  I decided what I would do here is a giveaway of Indie polishes.  I have really grown to love them and I realized over time that I am not a huge lover of minis.  The bottles are so tiny and hard to get my hands on.  However, I feel it's a great opportunity to try out new colors and if you are new to Indies, you can try some amazing polishes.  Oh....and.....my OCD is somewhat bothered by the bottle size in comparison to the others on my shelf.  :)

Here are the rules:

• Enter using the Rafflecopter Widget below.
• There will be only one winner
• International followers are included
• You may not complain about the items.  I have never used them for more than opening the bottles to eyeball them.  Some I loved and have since ordered full size bottles and others just didn't suit me.  If they have sinking, bleeding or curling glitters with rusty balls.....give them to a friend's tween or your own tween.  (Sorry, I couldn't resist...if that didn't make sense, you aren't an Indie lover yet)
• You may enter through September 10, 2012.

Here is a pic of the items:

Pretty & Polished:

• Bayou Blitz
• Peace Camp
• Jawbreaker
• PHAT Camp
• Tart
• Forgery

Amy's Nail Boutique:

• Preppy
• Party Bus
• Sophie
• Pink Lemonade

Utopia's Polish

• Teal We Meet Again
• Periwinkle

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fall Into Autumn Challenge-Back To School

I'm gonna do it.  I really don't want to because I am just in such a horrible place in life right now but I have really enjoyed blogging and this whole community so much and the challenges have always been my favorite part because I love nail art.  Several people have convinced me that this will be a needed diversion and I am reluctantly willing.  I am not, however, feeling very inspired so you may not be all that impressed by the outcomes.  I am going to try a different approach and pay homage to many of those in the blogging world that I admire so much.  Today's was a no brainer.  If you don't follow The Daily Nail, and you like nail art, you are wasting your time in blogosphere.  She has done pencil nails that are amazing.  Here is a link to her tutorial.  I didn't use the tutorial itself but I used her concept as a guideline.  Here is the outcome....

I am participating with the same group of amazingly funny and kind women (and some new ones) that did the April Showers Bring May Flowers Challenge and The Lazy Days of Summer Challenge.  Here is a list of them and where you can see their work:

Stephanie from A Little Polish
Hannah from Polished Prisms
Katee from A Girl and Her Polish
Ashley from One Nail To Another
Karine from Karinea0a
Johanna from Neues vom Kellerkind
Charlotte from Charlottes-Nails
Alyson from Beads. Nails. Food.
Sharra from The Blahg
Maribeth from Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite
Becky from Glam Fiend