Frippery Digits

Hot pink with Polka Dots!

2012-03-02T18:08:00.003-06:00

I was on the phone with an old friend--that lovely, quirky gal that got me hooked on nail art to begin with--and while we were chatting I was inspired to pull out my polish and take my beat up nails out of retirement. I filed them nicely and gave them 2 coats of Nina Ultra Pro Passion Pink, then took my dotting tools and made large black dots using Claire's Black Hole, and smaller white ones inside with Sally Hansen White Tip. I used the good old Seche Vite for a quick seal. :) It's a super happy manicure, in tribute to an uplifting phone call and a great friend. Thanks Alicia!

So I've been AWOL, coming back in only to post one winter mani and before that I think it was Halloween. This winter has been super hard on my eczema, and I've been concentrating hard on my Tapestry and other fibre work that does a lot of damage to my fingers and nails. I've also been suffering some terrible morning sickness the past 2.5 months, and that hasn't made it easy to drag out the stinky polishes and remover. :p

I do hope to keep on making nail art posts, even if they are few and far between. Sorry to everyone I usually visit and leave notes, because I've been absent there also. Hope everyone has been having a wonderful few months since Christmas. Sending out best wishes!

♥ ♥ ♥
JQ

Excuses!

2012-01-04T22:00:00.005-06:00

Hello Jellos!
I'm still here!

Point form update/excuses:
1) Prepping for the big November sale
2) Prepping for Christmas
3) Eczema outbreak from hell (I love you winter!)
4) Hosting meetings and gatherings/being gone all through the holidays
5) CLEAN UP

Did I mention I have a 2.5 year old boy? :P That's busy all by itself!

ANYWAYS. I did manage to paint my nails with something fancy ONCE this holiday. I did a white french tip, then a coat of a clear polish with opalescent sparkles suspended inside, and finished off by stamping a snowflake image from the first bundle monster set, using Gosh metallic Blue. Seche Vite top coat. Sorry about the super dryness of my skin! It's been real torture this winter, so I've basically given my nails and skin a break from polish and remover, and have been applying my hypo-allergenic lotion non-stop.

Christmas was a blast and I did wind up purchasing a few new polishes and getting a couple as gifts, so I'll try to get in over the next few days and at least post about my small haul. I also have a little surprise!

Hope the season has been good to you!
♥
JQ

Halloween Skittles

2011-10-31T10:29:00.006-06:00

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Thumb: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White with bat images from BM-213 and BM13 stamped using Gosh Nero. Dots are Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar.

Pointer: China Glaze Concrete Catwalk, stamped with BM-223 and SH Whirlwind White, dotted eyes with SC Sugar Sugar, and outlined with a black striper so that only a thin line of CG Concrete Catwalk is visible around the ghostie.

Middle: CG Concrete Catwalk stamped using BM-225 and SH Whirlwind White. Holo sparkles in the eyes taken from a mini bottle of Kleancolor 188 Black Out.

Ring: Essie Vermillionaire, stamped using BM-222 and Gosh Nero. Dotted Eyed With SH Insta-Dri Lightening.

Pinkie: CG Concrete Catwalk, stamped using BM13 and SH Whirlwind White. One large silver hex glitter for the abdomen.

Top Coat: Seche Vite!

Guys. My camera is falling apart. I am sorry for this grainy quality. A new camera is on my Christmas wishlist.

My son and I went nuts yesterday making cooOOOooooOOOkies. He's particularly pumped about the punkins.

I have been gone for so long! Things have seriously been CRAYZAY BIZZAY.
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Cheers!

♥

JQ

Suit Up!

2011-09-07T10:52:00.001-06:00

Hello Jellos!

Sooo I had to file my nails down to super nubbies. I am--in a haphazard way-- learning how to play guitar! But the really nice thing is that most of my full nail images will fit my nail now to that's a plus. And the guitar is coming along nicely! I hope to be able to play and sing my first song (Wheat Kings by The Tragically Hip) before the end of the month!

Lately I've been really expanding from just my nails to a bit of make-up and a fancy suit. I got all dressed up the other day and painted my nails to match my new outfit! It's a super cute brown casual skirt and jacket. There is a slight woven look to the fabric that I thought I could mimic with a stamped plaid.

And you get a good idea of how the plaid matches the texture of the fabric here:

Also my accent finger is painted to go with my shirt!

BM03 and Konad M60 were used to create this manicure. For all fingers except the ring finger I used 2 coats of Essie Little Brown Dress, and for the plaid, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Wet Clay. For the ring finger 2 coats of a frankened ivory creme, sponged on a bit of Nina Ultra Pro Like Butta, and Sinful Colors Vacation Time in opposing corners of the nail. Then stamped the flowers using Essie Little Brown Dress over Vacation Time, and OPI Off With Her Red atop Like Butta. Did a few criss-crossed with Wet Clay, and filled in some areas with tiny dots of Off With Her Red and Little Brown Dress to tie the nail in with my shirt.

And...okay this is a picture of my feet. 2 coats Sinful Colors Vacation Time and a coat of KleanColor V.I.P. (ooooh sparklies) and my Shooooes lalala...

I wouldn't really consider myself a fashion blogger, but I do enjoy making manicures to match my outfits, and have been dabbling in *gasp* makeup. :P What does everyone think if I do a post here and there to show the complete look?

Thanks for stopping by everyone!
Hearts off the charts!
JQ

Fish Nets, Pink Skullies and a Guest Mani!

2011-09-04T16:33:00.004-06:00

FISH NETS:

2 coast Essie Lacquered Up and stamped using Gosh Nero and Sally Hansen Chrome Sizzlin' Gold with image plates bm-209 and bm04. One red rhinestone for the fish's eye and a coat of Seche Vite.

If I remember correctly the fish caught in the fishnets was at the behest of my friend Naomi. :) She's got a whimsical side.

PINK SKULLIES:

2 coats of Revlon Orchid and--forgive me--I don't remember for sure, but I think it was Sally Hansen HD Digital to achieve the pink on pink skully action (bm-211). Then I went over the skull on my ring finger using OPI My Private Jet. One coat Seche Vite.

GUEST MANI:

My friend Naomi came all the way down from the Yukon last month just to visit Moi! I felt so special! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ...sooo we painted her nails in skittles with polishes that matched the colours in her camouflage pants. Then we tied them all together using pink retro flowers made with dotting tools and a toothpick.

Again, forgive me, but I don't remember FOR SURE. I'm pretty sure the thumb=Essie Little Brown Dress, pointer=Joe Moss, middle=Essie Sew Psyched, ring=franken pale green, pinkie=franken ivory. I think the flowers were Revlon Orchid and a franken lighter pink. I then meticulously placed five or six bullion beads in the center of each flower and sealed everything with a coat of Seche Vite. It was fun spoiling her with a really time consuming manicure. The results were awesome.

We also did a Harry Potter manicure for her the last day she was here, because she was on her way to Vancouver to watch HP and the Deathly Hollows part 2 with some friends...but alas I forgot to get a photo. It was inspired by this manicure by Emerald Sparkled. She makes AWESOME manicures ALL the time. Check her stuff out!

Thanks for stopping by! Sorry it's been so long since my last post!
♥
JQ

Purple and red Water Lily Manicure

2011-08-12T09:32:00.000-06:00

Hello Jellos!

This is the manicure I sported after 7 days of naked nails at my family reunion. I apologize for the state of my cuticles. between my tapestry work, the house cleaning for company and the landscaping...well. EXCUSES EH?

At any rate, the cuticles didn't show up so drastically in reality but the photos pick it up.

Sunlight:

2 coats Sinful Colors Big Daddy, stamped background pattern using BM-207 and Sally Hansen Chrome Sizzlin' Gold. I shadowed the chrome stamp with my red Kiss striper polish to give it a bit more depth.

I took a small amount of Revlon No Shrinking Violet onto one corner of my triangular make-up sponge and daubed on a round spot the estimated size of my flower stamp. I did this randomly on each nail. The thumbs had two spots. I also took a bit of black polish (I think it was Claire's Black Hole) and daubed in the center of each spot, again for depth.

Shade:

I used Sally Hansen Chrome Rose Diamond and image plate BM06 for the Dahlia stamp. Then I went in with a smaller dotting tool and some unnamed Claire's pink and dotted the center of each Dahlia and placed some sprays of pink dots randomly on each nail.

My top coat was Seche Vite.

I was really happy with the way this one turned out! It reminds me of water lilies but like in cartoons when evil is afoot and everything gets covered in red. I'm really digging the purple and red combination lately! I can't remember where it was that I first saw the idea of dabbing colour where the flowers will be stamped. Perhaps it was on Maespiritu's blog Art of Nail, or Thriszha's blog Fab Ur Nails, but wherever I did see it I am sending my thank you's because I'm hooked! :)

Also, just want to send out one more big thank you to Valerie over at Lavender Parfait for the lovely goodies I won recently in her giveaway! Yay sparklies! I can't wait to try them out! Yes that is OPI Absolutely Alice on the left side! Eeeee!

I hope everyone has a stellar weekend! I am receiving more company! An old friend from High school is making the trip down from way up north to visit me for 5 days. We're having a girl's night tomorrow night! I can't wait!

♥
JQ

How I Stash My Polish

2011-08-03T20:25:00.001-06:00

Awhile back I was tagged by Gottwinkies (thanks much!) to do a little post on how I store my stash! I apologize for the delay, but I had company for a week and then headed out of town for another five days at my family reunion. Anyways, here are some images!

I have a cabinet in my living room with one pull out drawer and a couple shelves. I got some of that rubber drawer liner so that the polishes wouldn't slip around.

Here is the left side: Art Deco and other striper polishes along the front row, Sally Hansens, Wet n' Wilds, China Glaze, OPI, Nicole by OPI, Color ClubEssie, Joe and and my one and only Orly so far. I also keep my thinner, base coats, top coats and nail care products here as well as some frankens and older polishes at the back. There really isn't a rhyme or reason to how I placed them.

And the right side: More Sally Hansens including Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure and Chromes for stamping, GOSH, Sinful Colors, Claire's, Cover Girl, L'Oreal, Revlon, my one and only Nina Ultra Pro, and a few more frankens/stamping polishes etc at the back. I place a little triangle of masking tape with an 'S' on the caps of those polishes I have successfully used for stamping.

And here is the rest of my nail art stuff, which I keep on one of the shelves below my drawer along with the removers.

Yes that is a cream puff container. :p

I nabbed it from my mum while I was home last Christmas to place all my polishes in for traveling back on the plane, and it kinda stuck around. :P Now I keep all my cotton balls, sponges, and remover pads as well as the lid of a margarine container, and some folded wax paper and paper towels which have been used over and over again for stamping, dotting etc (saved my dining room table).

And this is a neat gift basket I saved. It's a wicker basket with a light cotton canvas liner. In this I keep my rhinestones, sparkles, bullion beads, scotch tape, toothpicks, dotting tools/brushes, stickers, fimo, clippers, files, Lush Lemony Flutter (YUM) and other salves and lotions.

I keep all my image plates inside a round Lush solid shampoo tin. It works pretty well, but since I got the second bundle monster set the lid doesn't snap shut and I have to wrap a thick elastic around it. I am going to try the binder method with clear sleeves.

I kept two little yogurt cups and cut one halfway down. I use the short one for acetone when I am stamping, and the tall one for water marbling.

Phew!
I hope everyone is having a good week!
♥
JQ

I Lava Good Manicure

2011-07-20T08:52:00.004-06:00

Greetings!

I recently spoiled myself and picked up 3 Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoats This is Ink Splatter over 1 coat each of Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear Sun Kissed and Claire's Crush (a sheer orange with iridescent sparkle). I know crackles have been circulating a lot lately and maybe folks are getting a bit bored with them but I just got my hands on some colours so I just have to try them all out! :)

It reminds me of the Balrog from LoTR! YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

And we have been covered in clouds forever here, but I'll say that the sparkle is WOW in the sun!

Hey look! There's lots of neat lava manicures recently! Check them out if you like the lava look!

Do Not Refreeze:Lava Inspired Nails
Never Unpolished: Easy Peasy Lava Nails
Nails and Nonsense: Lava Gradient
Rikki Nails: Crackle Shatter over Color Club Wild and Willing

I will be having company this week and she's another nail polish fiend, so we'll probably do a few guest manis to share!

Thanks for stopping by!
♥
JQ

Orange Crush

2011-07-17T10:00:00.002-06:00

Greetings Earthlings!

For this manicure I used 2 coats of a frankened cream colour, except on my ring fingers--2 coats of Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear Sun Kissed.

For the stamps on the cream nails I used BM02 kiss image and Essie Vermillionaire. For the Accent fingers I used BM-209 fishnet image and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White. I used a dotting tool and Color Club Si Vous Please! on a few of the fishnet holes for a scale effect, as well as in between the kissy lips for a bit of pow.

Thanks for stopping by! I was recently tagged to show some images of my stash and how I store it all! I took the pics today and hope to post it soon!
♥
JQ

Anyone Else want to win Deborah Lippman Happy Birthday?

2011-07-16T11:19:00.004-06:00

Hello everyone!

Just a heads up that maRyya over at Konad Addict is celebrating her 1 year Blogiversary and is giving away Deborah Lippman Happy Birthday

Congratulations maRyya!

Click on the link or the image to go and enter her giveaway! Good luck!
Cheers,
JQ

Essie Limited Addiction

2011-07-09T23:46:00.001-06:00

Hey all!

Just a quick post of my NOTD from about a week ago (I am so so behind and busy with crafting stuff) but I found Essie Limited Addiction and Orly Naughty or Nice on super duper sale at a local drug mart. I barely got home and peeled the orange sticker off of the Essie before I had to apply it. I just feel sooo sexy when the nails are red red red. :P

In the photos the cuticles look pretty red but in RL there wasn't a hint of it. I was quite pleased with how cleanly I applied it, not getting any onto my cuticles as I SO often do with red polish.

Of course the sun has been behind clouds for ever here. So this is the brightest pic I got. It looks like a cherry red jelly in the bright light but when you get indoors or into shade it becomes this deep rich vampy red. Great deal. I'm in love.

I promise to be back soon with some more nail art pics!
Thanks for stopping by!
♥
JQ

Silver Glitz!

2011-07-09T23:42:00.003-06:00

Hello0000ooo000ooo!

2 coats China Glaze Cheers to You and 1 coat of Wet n' Wild Party of Five Glitters, Seche Vite and voila! Space dinosaur disco nails! Silver gilded, jewel encrusted bling nails! Eye popping fun.

Thanks for stopping by!
♥
JQ

Canada Day Manicure

2011-07-01T15:05:00.003-06:00

Greetings fellow earthlings!

It's Canada Day today and to celebrate I painted my nails red and white:

2 coats of OPI Off With Her Red (my favorite red) and 2 coats of Sally Hansen 07 White Tip on the ring fingers. Stamped using Off With Her Red and image plate BM04.

Then I used one coat of my Cover Girl Sparkle Topcoat City Lights (SADNESS! I am almost out) on the red nails, and a couple sweeps with my Art Deco Silver Glitter to bling up the leafy nails. Seche Vite top coat and voila!

I did this on the fly last night and only managed to snap a few shots in the van on the way to the park this morning. Thankfully the sun came out from behind those nasty clouds and set the sparkle ablaze!

Hope everyone has a happy weekend! :D
♥
JQ

And the WINNER IS...

2011-06-26T10:35:00.007-06:00

Greetings Earthlings!

Guess what time it is!

Thanks to the random number generator at random.org the lucky winner of my 200 Follower Giveaway is:

Megan Harmeyer !!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Remember I said I'd be adding at least one more mystery polish? Well turns out I couldn't help myself. I got 2!! But it's going to stay a surprise! :P

Megan and I have already touched base and I am simply waiting for the mail strike to wrap up (awesome timing mail people) so I can mail her box o' loot. :P

I want to say thank you again to all of you for visiting my blog and leaving such nice notes. I really appreciate all your support and positive energy! I am very thrilled to be a part of this community. You guys are all super fantastic.

But for everyone who didn't win this one--Please Don't fret! I am starting to save up now for my 500 Follower giveaway, and I hope you will all come back for another try!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
JQ

Black and Gold Chevron French Tips!

2011-06-24T14:39:00.005-06:00

Guess what everybody!!

Today is the last day to enter my 200 follower giveaway! Quick! Get entered! :D

Here's the manicure I just finished up. Sorry it's a bit overcast today! But I still managed to catch the glimmer of my Cover Girl Pink Twinkle.

The tips are done with NYC Flat Iron Green (very very dark) and then the whole nail is gone over using Cover Girl Pink Twinkle. Then I used China Glaze Midnight Kiss (gold) and a fine paintbrush to accent the chevron tip, and then the same polish with my largest dotting tool for a dot at the tip of each chevron.

Then a smaller dot of Claire's Black Hole to give the chevron the look of jewelry or a curling ribbon, and my black Art Deco to delineate the chevron. One coat of Seche Vite and voila! Dressy nails. :P Now, where shall I go?

Thanks everyone and good luck in the giveaway! I hope to contact the lucky winner by Monday morning!

♥
JQ

Piano keys and Filigree

2011-06-15T14:41:00.001-06:00

Greetings Jelly Beans!

I was itching to use the piano keys image out of the new bundle monster set, but now I'm sad because I don't have any images of sheet music, or musical notes to go with them! I had some trouble getting the stamp lined up on my nail. I think next time, prior to stamping, I'll take my Art Deco black and draw a line where I want to follow with the image.

Also, my nails are kind of warping a bit as they grow out. I am not used to this length at all, and the images were harder to get contacted all across my nail, resulting in a skewed stamp. I had to go in with my Art Deco black and try to straighten a few keys a bit!

For this manicure I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails White Tip, and then stamped the piano keys image from BM 207, using GOSH Nero. I LOVE GOSH, especially Nero. It's nice and crisp, and cleans up WAY easier than the Konad black.

Then I used the filigree image (BM21) from the old set and Wet n' Wild Blackmail (a kind of transparent black with a hint of sparkle in it) to get the grey effect. Also a bit of the sparkle transferred which was terribly subtle but it made me happy!

Lastly, before applying my Seche Vite top coat, I went over the line between the filigree and the piano keys with my Art Deco black, and touched up a few of the keys.

These totally remind me of my spats n' spangles manis! And now I want to do one of those again. :) I really like splitting my nail in half or 1/3 to 2/3 --almost like a reverse french but with a straight line, especially if the nails are filed square. :)

Have you entered my 200 follower giveaway yet? It includes a bottle of Wet n' Wild Blackmail and a Black Art Deco!

Thanks for stopping by!
♥
JQ

I scrub and scrub but they'll never come clean!

2011-06-10T09:00:00.000-06:00

HIDEOUS! AND AWESOME!

My germs and bacterium manicure:

I don't even know where to start on explaining these bad boys. Suffice to say my friend Alikat came over for a girl's night and well...things got a bit silly!

I had been browsing my new bundle monster set and noticing all the cool little stamps that look like germs or bacteria. Lo there was also a french tip that looked like it would combine nicely. I painted my nails with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Insta Dri Whirlwind White, and when that was dry I went to town. I grabbed a whole schwack of sheer/iridescent polishes from my stash including: Sinful Colors Fiji, Love Nails and Bali Mist, Sally Hansen HD Resolution and Hi-Def (both green) and Digital (bright pink sheer), Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lime Lights, And Nicole By OPI Respect the World.

I planned to french tip all nails except my ring finger on each hand, using the tip image, so before I stamped I wanted to ensure some sparkling colours would come through the stamp. I blotched on daubs of random sheer polishes across the tips of each nail. I then used more sheers and the stone stamp from BM211 to add subtle colour to the remaining white nail.

I used GOSH Nero and the bacteria tip from BM217 to stamp over the tips once everything was dry. On my ring fingers I blotched sheers all over the nail instead of just the tips. Then I used Nero and the germie images off BM211 and 212.

Then I switched to red. I used OPI Off With Her Red to stamp those same images from my ring finger onto the whites of the remaining nails. I was totally random about it. It was a lot of fun!

Time to dig out the dotting tools!
I used brighter more pigmented colours and dotted all over the place. I used a bright yellow and more Off With Her Red inside some of the bacteria. I used GOSH Nero here as well.

And I just spammed you with sooo many pictures! But this was totally fun. Not really an attractive manicure, and it has a LOT going on, but from a distance it has a kind of abstract art/graffiti effect that I really enjoy. :)

Thanks for visiting me and having a nail painting session Alikat!

Has everyone had a chance to take a peek at my 200 Follower Giveaway?

Cheers!
♥
JQ

2 different full nail stamp images...

2011-06-09T10:41:00.011-06:00

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay, but things have been pretty hectic 'round here. :) Just a quick set of photos of two manicures I wore around mid May:

OPI Ski Teal We Drop and metallic silver eyes:

2 coats OPI Ski Teal We Drop, image plate BM212, Sally Hansen Chrome Crystal, Seche Vite.

OPI Off With Her Red and metallic copper curlicues:

2 coats OPI Off With Her Red, image plate BM 201, Sally Hansen Chrome Sizzlin' Bronze, Seche Vite.

We've been super busy landscaping (I'm surprised I've been able to keep my nails this long!) and I've been picking up momentum again on my tapestry. It's nice to see progress again!

Have you checked out my 200 follower giveaway yet?

Thanks for taking a peek!
♥
JQ

Cosmic Sparkles

2011-05-29T20:17:00.001-06:00

Greetings Jellybeans!

This manicure started with 2 coats of L'Oreal Luminescence (a rich dark purple with subtle shimmer). I didn't really know what I was going to do next!

Then I wondered what it would look like with my favorite polish: Nicole by OPI's Count on Me, so I painted 2/3 of my nail vertically, leaving a stripe of the original polish showing to the pinkie side of each nail. Then as an after after thought I painted over the thumb side 1/3 of each nail with one of my Claire's flakies.

I tried and tried to capture the total awesomeosity of this manicure, but my camera failed. :( Imagine it with a shimmery intense fuchsia and royal blue and the little flakies really seem to float at different depths, refracting the light in an array of colours. It was so pretty I just stared at them constantly.

A few days back I discovered another cool cosmic manicure by You Nailed It! and her photos really captured that nebula effect! Definitely go take a peek cause it's wicked awesome.

There was SO much more fuchsia shimmer in these than the photos show off. :P

Okay that was quite a few pics for me. I usually like to keep it short and sweet but this one...I just couldn't decide so you got them all.

Just a shout out about my 200 Follower giveaway, in case you haven't had a chance to enter. Still plenty of time left though! :) Good luck everyone!

200 Follower Giveaway! ----CLOSED----

2011-05-24T14:07:00.001-06:00

Hooray! Frippery Digits has reached 200 Followers!

and it is HIGH TIME I had a giveaway to show my appreciation to all you fabulous humans who take the time to visit my blog. I appreciate all your support and comments SO much!

When I started this little blog I really just thought it would be a nice separate space to post pictures of my manicures so I could send a few friends and family over to take a peek. I soon found out that the nail blogging community is full of tremendously talented bloggers and nail polish aficionados who are super supportive of each other and just plain excited about the new trends and how other folks are decorating their digits. I am having so much fun blogging with you!

Without further ado I present my giveaway:

I tried to take some accurate close ups for you, but the macro on my camera is only soso. I hope these help (pic heavy!):

3 packets of different coloured/shaped rhinestones

3 packets of sticky rhinestones in various sizes (royal blue, pearls, bright pink)

6 small vials of coloured bullion beads in gold, emerald green, red, bright pink, indigo, and silver

Art Deco striper polishes in Black, White and Silver Glitter.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Calypso Blue

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Thinking of Blue

Wet n Wild Wild Shine Eggplant Frost

Wet n Wild Megalast 218 Blackmail

Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear Emerald City

Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear Rockstar Pink

Joe Twilight (green/black jelly with rainbow flakies)

Joe Matte

Joe Grape (metallic Purple)

Revlon 190 Strawberry Electric

There will be at least one surprise polish included in this package and possibly some other Canadian goodies too! Sounds good eh? :P

I tried to represent the sorts of polishes/colors that I enjoy using or that make up a decent portion of my stash (I use a lot of drug store brands). I also wanted to give a bit of nail art goodies, since I'm a big fan. I did include 3 Joe polishes because those are a Canadian brand and I thought there might be some folks who were interested in collecting them. All of these products were purchased by me for this giveaway and have not been used, not even for a swatch. I don't receive any compensation for any products available in this giveaway. Please see my disclosure for any further info.

After much fretting over the details of a big giveaway, I have decided to keep the rules super simple.

This giveaway is open internationally! Providing the winner is an earthling, I will pack it up with care and mail it, however I won't be responsible for any possible customs fees when it reaches it's destination.

This Giveaway ends June 24th. This means that the minute it is NO LONGER JUNE 24th ANYWHERE on this earth my giveaway is closed. ;)

To get your one and only entry all you have to do is: Be a PUBLIC follower of Frippery Digits via Google Friend Connect (GFC) and leave me a note in this entry with your GFC name and your email so I can contact you if you are the lucky winner. Please ensure that you are signed in to GFC when you leave your note.

I would love it if you'd include a note telling me what polish/goody you are most excited about in my giveaway. It won't get you an extra entry but it would help me put together my next giveaway. :)

I will assign every entrant one number, in the order they were submitted, and the winning number will be selected by using the sequence generator at random.org. The lucky winner will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be selected.

THANK YOU!
Good luck!
♥
JQ

Bullet Hole Manicure (Dick Tracy?)

2011-05-14T09:39:00.009-06:00

Someone told me this manicure reminded them of Dick Tracy. YEAH! Now that's all I think about whenever I look at it! It really does have a comic book edge to it. Gotta love that insanely bright yellow.

I saw the explodey stars image on BM 202 and instantly thought of bullet holes. And then I went straight to the shot up yield signs on the gravel roads where we used to live.

I started with 3 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in an unnamed yellow.

I wanted to shadow the silver bullet hole tears, so I stamped the image first with Claire's Black Hole, then went over top with Sally Hansen Chrome Sizzlin' Gold, trying to get it almost right on top of the black. I though it would be cool because the shadow would be the happy result of it NOT totally matching. You can see where I got a little too far off the mark on my middle and index fingers. Oh well it still has the right effect! I then used my dotting tools with more Claire's Black Hole to make the black holes! I went in where the stamps were really disparate with a bit of silver on my dotting tool to break up the black a little. :P

Seche Vite and presto!

A good friend of mine exclaimed: "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang!" and now I absolutely HAVE to try this manicure with red and blue on a white backdrop and use the kissy lips from the original set! So excited.

Does anyone know if an image plate with a gun silhouette exists? I'm going to hunt for one online now. :)

I'm at 195 followers guys! That's sososo Awesome! 5 more peeps and I'll be posting my first giveaway! Thanks always for your support!

♥
JQ

Broken Glass

2011-05-11T16:47:00.000-06:00

Greetings Jellybeans!

So I could only handle it for about 36 hours before I changed my manicure. There are just too many images I am excited to try out! I really enjoyed my metallic snakeskin, but I chipped it a bit while making supper last night and thought HA HA! Now I have a reason!

This first shot shows the gradation the best but isn't really colour accurate. It's a bit blue on my screen:

I was very excited about the broken glass images on BM 208 (I'm also excited about the fishnet/scaly images on 208 and 209) But I went with the image what would allow for the glass portions to be stamped, so I could try a 4 colour metallic blended stamp. What you see is Sally Hansen Chrome Crystal at the base of each nail, blending into Gosh Metallic Purple, Gosh Metallic Blue, and then Gosh Metallic Green at the tips.

Indirect light. The photo above is the most accurate, although in person the gradation is HOLY COW visible.

I used one coat of Claire's Black Hole as my base, and then stamped my gradation over top, and finished off with a coat of Seche Vite.

This is how it looks smack dab in the sunshine:

I found that the polish squished out of the image when I tried to pick it up onto the stamper, but if I waited just a few seconds between scraping and picking it up it worked. You can see, on my ring finger nail, where I waited a bit too long and a bit of the stamp polish didn't transfer completely.

Thanks for taking a peek! Almost at 200 followers guys! I've got my first giveaway ready to post! :) Thanks for all your support and lovin'.

♥
JQ

Metallic Diamondback

2011-05-10T12:22:00.008-06:00

Happy Happy Happy Dance!
I Squee!!
I did a dance around my living room yesterday when my plates finally arrived! And then sat down to try and figure out what manicure to try first!

Here is the result!

I used 2 coats of an olive green franken with gold shimmer in it for the base. I then lined up Sally Hansen Chrome Copper, Revlon Golden, and GOSH Metallic Green. I took the image I had finally decided on BM 215--Diamondback!!. I striped the polish on in the order I mentioned above. I scraped the image twice, just to blend the colours a LITTLE. I was going for a sheen-like effect.

This is my other paw. My right hand is the one the eczema gets bad on and this is a gross pic of my cuticles but the light just caught it right so I wanted to share it with you. :P LOVE.

I finished off with a coat of Seche Vite and actually managed to contain myself from taking pictures and then removing it to try something new. :P I might not have the self control to get through this afternoon though. We'll see. I really am in love with this pattern. I am imagining all kinds of colour combinations for it.

My Happy Thought:

Thanks everybody!

♥
JQ

Checkered French with Hot Pink Accent

2011-05-09T10:58:00.005-06:00

Greetings Jellybeans!

Here's yesterday's manicure!

I used my frankened cream colour for the tips and stamped over with GOSH Nero.

I actually tried another tip stamp, this time from the old bundle monster set. It worked great and I only had to touch up the tips of my thumbs which (even though I file the edges down considerably so they aren't under so much stress) were still too wide for the stamp.

I used Art Decos for the black and pink horizontal lines and a blob of black with a holo hex glitter on one side.

I got a little smudging with the Seche Vite, because I wasn't as careful about not going over the same spot twice.

Thank you to The Nail Buff for tagging me with the Kreativ Blogger Award! I appreciate it! Cheers!

I am going to leave links to a few of the blogs that I enjoy, but I don't want anyone to feel pressured to pass it along, I just hope that if you see this post and haven't yet been to any of these awesome blogs you should go check them out.

Rebecca Likes Nails
Another Bottle Of Polish
Simply Rins
A Splash of Serendipity
Robin Moses Nail Art
Polish Freshie
Pimp My Nailz
Enamel Girl
Polish Obsessed
Glitterm - You Nailed It

Ten quick little things about me:

1) I am a fibre artist who'll try any creative process at least once, but my real joy is with tapestry.

2) I have a son who's already turning 2 at the beginning of June. How time flies!

3) I love nougat and salt water taffy, but my poor teeth don't!

4) If I ever see wet black soil I feel this incredibly strong urge to take off my shoes and socks and squeesh my toes in it.

5) I can wiggle my ears.

6) One of my Favorite Movies of all time is The Princess Bride. I actually walked up the aisle to the song "Storybook Story" from the end credits. Yes. I married a farm boy. Yes I occasionally still tell him to "fetch me that pitchah". :p

7) I love loose leaf tea. I have quite the stash. But coffee still wins.

8) I used to smoke a pack a day. I've been quit for almost five years now.

9) Before I collected nail polish I was MAD into stickers. I have a big shoe box full to the brim with them. I couldn't walk into any kind of store without checking for a sticker rack. I used to cover my journals and notebooks in them. I have a file box that is plastered with them. My guitar case almost fell victim.

10) I'm almost ready to post my 200 follower giveaway! It is my first giveaway ever and I'm really excited about it!

Thanks for stopping by everybody. :)
I am itching to check my MAIL for the bundle monster plates! I think they'll be here today! eeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

♥
JQ

Lavendar Fishnet Tips with Teal.

2011-05-06T16:24:00.006-06:00

Greetings Jellybeans!

This was my manicure that I did yesterday afternoon, after I anxiously checked my mailbox for the new Bundle Monster plates. They still haven't arrived, but I have yet to do the final check of my mailbox today so there is still hope for the weekend. :P Seeing as I was so revved up to do stamping I decided I'd better sift through my Konad and older BM plates to see if I could get inspired.

Up until this time I haven't had much luck with applying the tip images STRAIGHT. Yesterday I lucked out, or else I have just done enough stamping and lining up full nail stamps that I am intuitively applying the tips better. Anyways I'm pretty happy with the turn out! I kind of finished this mani at the last minute so I slopped on some lotion, and ran outside to catch the last light in an already overcast day. I still managed to capture some of the shimmer, but due to my rushing I didn't actually do a brush clean up around the cuticles, and the lotion makes my hands look sooo shiny.

First I painted the tips on freehand, using a pale lavender franken, then painted the whole nail in two coats of Nicole by OPI Count On Me (teeny tiny pinkish blue flaky). After that was all dry I used Konad image plate #m45 and China Glaze Avalanche (a purple metallic), Then I used a fine brush and Revlon 340 Ocean for the definition line (that extended 3/4 of the way across each tip, leaving a small undefined section to the pinky side of each tip).

I also used Revlon 340 Ocean to stamp the flower (bm02) on the pinky side of each nail, sort of half on the tip. I did clean up the excess green that landed on my cuticles, but that's the extent of the clean up I did. I used a little nail glue to adhere a dark purple rhinestone to the center of each flower, before covering everything with a good coat of Seche Vite.

I just want to make it known that I am in LOVE with Nicole Count on Me. I just want to slap a coat of it over EVERYTHING. Also. I wish I could eat it.

Okay. I go now. :P

♥
JQ

Three Variations on French Tips

2011-04-30T20:58:00.003-06:00

Greetings Jellybeans!

Just a quick post of 3 different fancy french tips I wore over the course of this week. The staining on my nails finally grew out and I can do these again. I really missed it.

Sorry about the chipping on the pink french. I didn't get photos until the next day and I'd done some weaving on my tapestry so they got a bit mangled.

I used Sally Hansen Insta Dri Whirlwind White for the tips and stamps. I used BM09 and BM03 for the images. I used Art Deco Baby Pink to delineate between the tips and the rest of my nail, and added a bit of pink to the stamps as well. Topcoat - Seche Vite.

For this black and White manicure I used a base of one coat of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails with Nylon Encore.

I put Sally Hansen Insta Dri Whirlwind White on the tips, and used Art Deco Black to delineate. I used the same black and white polishes with dotting tools in various sizes to create the flowers and dots. Topcoat - Seche Vite

I drew two little parallel black lines down the side of each nail closest to my pinky and lined up the dot bubbles with it.

In the shade you can see the glitter.

And this is a purple variation of the same manicure, using Nicole by OPI Count On Me (a pretty pink and blue shimmer) Wet n' Wild French White Creme, and Art Deco Magenta.

Except I didn't do the two parallel lines at the tip I just continued the bubble effect.

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

Black and White Filigree and Joe Twilight

2011-04-23T14:49:00.005-06:00

Hi everyone! Happy Easter!

Sorry I didn't wind up getting any Easter themed manicures done for this weekend, but I did continue to play with my stamps. I did this filigree manicure to match a black and cream outfit. That pic up top is a bit too blue, but the one below is more accurate. You can see where I dinged my middle finger, thinking my polish was dry enough to rifle through my bag. I was in a frantic hurry to get out the door to a critique and I should have given it just a few more minutes.

I used 3 coats of a frankened Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear White On, which I added several drops of yellow to get it to a more creamy colour. I stamped using GOSH Nero and image plate BM21, and had to double stamp every nail except my pinkies.

I am really REALLY excited about the new Bundle Monster plates! eee!

This is two coats of Joe Twilight over 1 coat of Joe Moss. I should have used one more coat of Moss underneath but it still looked good. Joe has a Matte top coat which I picked up the other day and have yet to try out. I also got a Joe metallic purple called Grape which I hope will stamp.

Joe is a Canadian brand of polish, available through Superstore.

Thank you everyone for stopping by and I hope you all have a good weekend with family or friends or chowing down on a huge chocolate bunny(that's me)-- however you roll through Easter!

♥
JQ

Blue Veins

2011-04-15T19:34:00.004-06:00

Hi everybody!

For this manicure I used 1 coat of Sinful Colors Cream Pink, and sponged on a very pale frankened pink at the tips to look a bit like spray paint. I then stamped using a gradation from Revlon Royal to Sinful Colors Love Nails (a pretty pale shimmery sheer blue) in the hopes that it would show up more on the lighter pink. It did actually. The pattern is more washed out than it appears in reality.

I used Konad Image Plate m60 paisley again for this manicure. It really is one of my favorite designs. I promise I'll do a different one next time. :)

This is sunlight:

I didn't capture the really pretty shimmer in the dark pink or much of the shimmer in SC Love Nails. I was really happy with this manicure, although it was a WEE bit bright. Just a wee bit.

Thank you for stopping by! I hope everyone has a really nice weekend!
♥
JQ

Blended Red Paisley

2011-04-13T10:58:00.005-06:00

Hi everybody! I hope your week is going well! Mine has been pretty sunny and wonderful. No complaints here!

This is the manicure that I've been sporting the past 4 days. It's finally chipping and I'm excited to try something new.

For this manicure I used 3 coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On that I frankened into a creamy colour by adding about 14 drops of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Yellow that didn't have a name. I just didn't want a glaring white for this one.

Once that was fully dry I used image plate m60 paisley pattern, and painted one side of the image with Revlon Matte Suede Ruby Ribbon, and the other side with OPI Off With Her Red. I scraped a couple times to blend the colours a little and then stamped each nail so that the darker red was at the base. Seche Vite and voila!

This is in the shade:

And direct sunlight:

Thanks for taking a peek!
♥
JQ

Blended argyle with GOSH Metallic

2011-04-08T08:33:00.005-06:00

Happy Friday everybody!

Lately I've been playing with stamping using my GOSH Metallics over similar creamier base colours. ABOP left me a note last entry saying it would be cool to see some stamping with more than one colour on the plate. I had been thinking the same thing! I've seen some pretty awesome multi-coloured stamping around the blogs and I figured I'd give it a whirl!

I'm THRILLED with it! I decided I'd use a dark base so that I could really see the contrast this first time. For my base I used a frankened black Wet n' Wild that I made into a slightly shimmery charcoal grey. I don't own a single charcoal colour! What?? The closest I have is OPI My Private Jet and it's more brown-y, plus I thought the holo sparklies might detract from my pattern.

Left to right: Seche Clear, frankened charcoal colour, GOSH Metallic Green, Blue and Pink, Seche Vite. Konad Image Plate M60. I painted a coat of Seche Clear, then one thick coat of my frankenpolish (it was teh gooey but it dried fairly quickly), then dragged the brush from each GOSH metallic across the image horizontally first with pink, then blue, then green. When I scraped I did it in the same direction I brushed on the polish, and I did it a few times just to blend the colours together a bit. I stamped so that the pink is at my tips every time. Next time I want to try diagonal.

Once again with the scaly look. I DIG. It's fun because I'm trying for a very reptilian quality with the tapestry I am currently working on. It actually distracted me from weaving yesterday because I kept admiring how my nails looked next to the leaf of my rose at the lower left hand corner.

Here's a couple more shots of the polish outdoors and indoors. The colors are actually a bit deeper in reality so the transition is quite visible. I just can't get enough of it!

In the two shots where you can see my thumb, you can see that it gets a bit messy on the one side. Even the Konad full nail images are not wide/long enough for my thumbs. The tip and the right side I tried to stamp on a little extra and it's gibbled but from a distance it doesn't draw attention. :P

Thanks everyone for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!
♥
JQ

Brocade Filigree

2011-04-04T17:18:00.005-06:00

Hi everyone!

I couldn't wait to try another brocade style manicure with metallic pink and some filigree. I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Commander in Chic, and then stamped using GOSH Metallic Pink and the filigree image on BM21. Seche Vite top coat and voila!

Honestly my cuticles don't look that scary in RL. Yay macro!

The colour is off in all of these shots. I couldn't capture how ridiculously pretty/purple/pink this mani is. This next one just looks grey and silver on my laptop.

I am super proud of the results, because I was using a BM full nail image and those are too darn small for my nails so I had to double stamp every nail but my pinkies. It's pretty much seamless! Woohoo!

I don't know why my camera decided to go all artsy with this shot. Must have been because I opened up the blind to the left and the light was just so. I included it because it's rad. it makes me wish I had some super fine holo polish to use for stamping.

Thanks for popping by!
♥
JQ

Minted Brocade

2011-04-03T09:47:00.004-06:00

Hello everyone!

I wish I could be making more frequent posts but I've been working on a large scale tapestry project and it wreaks havoc on my polish, so I haven't been playing with my nail art lately. Yesterday evening I took a little time out to pamper myself.

Because I have been weaving a lot I have had fabric on the brain. I adore the richness of handwoven or otherwise hand manipulated textiles. One of my favorites is that brocade type fabric where the pattern is metallic or shiny and the background is matte.

More often than not it is a floral pattern but I went with a retro bubble stamp from Konad image plate m65. I used 1 coat of Seche Base, and 2 coats of Revlon Minted. Then I stamped using GOSH Metallic Green. I finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

I'm really digging the metallic stamps over a similar matte colour. I think next time I'll actually use a floral motif.

Hope everyone is gearing up for a fabulous week. Thanks so much for visiting!
♥
JQ

2 syruppy frenches and a guest manicure!

2011-03-21T11:32:00.005-06:00

Greetings JellyBeans!

These are two frenches I did near the beginning of March. This first one started by sponging a few layers of Sinful Colors Love Nails, then halfway towards the tips a few layers of SC Bali Mist, and right at the tips a Layer of SC Fiji to darken it up. Then over the whole nail I painted one coat of Color Club Si Vous Please! and at the tips sponged a layer of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Rockstar Pink.

For the second french I sponged 3 coats of sheer bluish tinted Claire's Pink (unnamed from a pack) trying to get a good gradation from base to tip. Then at the tips I sponged two coats of SC Show Me The Way which is this swampy green sheer with little flakies, but it made the pink look gold! Then over the whole thing I painted a coat of Sally Hansen Diamonds.

Both of the above manicures were stamped using Gosh Nero and Bundle Monster image plate# BM11

And this is one of the other guest manicures I did on my friend who was up for a visit the first 10 days of March. One half of each nail was Claire's Raindrops, and the other half was OPI Ski Teal We Drop. Stamped using Konad image Plate # m60 and GOSH Metallic Blue.

The stamp doesn't really disappear over Raindrops, but it takes on this weird floaty look. Super cool. I want to try more!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope everyone has a fabulous week!
♥
JQ

Dragon Scale

2011-03-12T16:30:00.007-06:00

Hi everybody!

This one was a guest mani for my friend who was up visiting from the 1st to 10th (hence why I haven't been in to post!)

I was inspired by the Wet n' Wild fastdry Gray's Anatomy that we picked up while shopping. It's a super sheer polish that shines gray, fuchsia, and green. I thought it would lend itself well to a scale effect. I've been really wanting to try a snakeskin style manicure for awhile so we bit the bullet! We used four coats of Gray's Anatomy and still didn't get full coverage so I would use it in the future for layering, or sponging rather than full manis. Also, she told me that two nails just peeled right off within a day so I am wondering if that was just a bad combination with the base coat or if the polish itself a bad egg. I sure hope not! I lurv it.

My camera just doesn't want to capture the duo-chromeness on either manicure. This one looked grey green with a dash of pink but in the photos it seems more golden.

And this is the manicure I did for myself this morning.

My cuticles are icktastic right now. And I got black polish smeared into the dryness so it's staining. Also my nails are considerably bigger than the BM image plate so I had to match up the stamp on every nail but my pinkie. YIKES. and it shows. :( Kay now that I've made you notice that here are a few more shots. I got a bit better show of pink when I went in the shade. All of these should be clickable.

In the photos the manicure still looks pretty sharp but the pink and blue sheen is almost invisible. In person these nails are delicious and shimmery blue emerald and pink under the sharp contrast of black. Any suggestions for how to catch that or do I just have to invest in a better camera?

For manicure #1 I used 4 coats of Wet n' Wild fastdry Gray's Anatomy, for manicure #2 I used 1 coat of Revlon Top Speed Ocean, and one coat of Nicole Count on Me (super pretty, tiny fleck, sheer, baby blue and pink). Then for the stamping on both I used BM image plate 21 Honeycomb and GOSH Nero. Seche Vite topcoat to finish!

Left to right: Nicole by OPI Count On Me, Revlon Top Speed Orchid, Revlon Top Speed Ocean, Wet N' Wild fastdry Gray's Anatomy. Again with the photos not capturing the prettiness. *SIGH*

Yep, that's totally a Lush shampoo bar container. It's almost perfect for holding my BM and Konad image plates. The lid pops off due to the weight of the plates so I usually have an elastic around it. Just one idea for storeage. I do really like the trick of using trading card sleeves and a binder for easy browsing. Might have to switch eventually. :)

Hope everyone is having a stellar weekend!
Cheers!
♥
JQ

IsaDora Graffiti Nail Top SUBWAY GREEN!

2011-02-27T16:11:00.005-06:00

Greetings Jellybeans!

I finally tried out my IsaDora Graffiti Nail Top! AWWWWWESOME! I got this set of polish as a Christmas gift from my sister in law and I'm so head over heels in love with it! Spam! :D

I found the formula of the base white polish to be a bit thick, but I'm used to working with those kinds of polishes. The Graffiti Nail Top was thin and super fast drying. If you want to read up on what's what with crackle polishes check out this fabulous masterclass by Lacquerista! I might have had to try this manicure a few times before it turned out but because of her post I got it on the first go!

The Subway green is sooo beautiful! Great pick sister! Thanks again!

And thank you everyone for popping by! Have a great week!
♥
JQ

Spring Bling

2011-02-19T13:38:00.009-06:00

Hello jellos!

Anybody else wishing for spring? Well it already sprung on my nails. :P

I just want to begin by sending out mad props to Ainos at Glammed-Up for all her deliciously layered manicures. They remind me of those intricately hand painted silks I saw when I was in the fibre department of my art school. She's really inspired me to look at every polish for stamping purposes, to layer stamps and polishes and to try for partial stamping too! This is my first purposefully layered manicure. Not ONE special stamping polish was used!

I started with a base coat of Seche Clear, then one coat of Sally Hansen Insta Dri Lickety-Split Lime. When that was dry I sponged on three layers of OPI Green-Wich Village three quarters of the way up my nail, then a few layers of Sinful Colors Show Me The Way just at the tips.

My next step was to stamp a leaf pattern horizontally across each nail at about the halfway mark. To do this I used Revlon Matte Suede Emerald City and Bundle Monster image plate BM11 (the outline leaf rather than the solid leaf pattern). I was pleasantly surprised at how the stamp showed up, plus I was excited because I knew that matte polishes have a subtle glimmer after top coat is applied so I knew it would be purdy. :P

I then used GOSH Metallic Green and BM10 to stamp a random spray of little flowers. It also hinted at a dewy sparkle.

After that step I thought I failed my nail. I used GOSH Metallic Purple and BM06 to stamp the Dalia-esque flower. There wasn't very much contrast at all and it just looked like a light metallic pink blob on top of all that work! But I have seen stamping done over top of smudges of color-especially with flowers-before so I hurriedly chose the Revlon Matte Suede Ruby Ribbon and stamped on the flower image from BM03 over top. SAVED! And it looked prettier than I could have hoped!

I only placed the pink flowers on every second nail, then I placed rhinestone stars in the center of every pink flower, and a flower rhinestone coupled with a tiny round rhinestone on the other four remaining nails just to even out the sparkle.

Come on Springtime! :D
Thanks again for stopping by. I can't believe how my list of friends has grown and I thank you all for you support and comments! I want to say that I am on a hunt for GOSH Holographic and if I find some I'll buy two! One for me and one for my giveaway! Still working on that puppy.

♥
JQ

Happy Birthday Cosmetic Cupcake

2011-02-18T09:21:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday Cosmetic Cupcake! I love Your blog! Here is my post for your Big Birthday Giveaway.

Everyone! Fabulous giveaway alert! There's an assortment of groovy polish including BYS and Ozotic Pro (two brands I've never had the opportunity to try and a whole set of stamping plates! Wee! Even if you don't really do the giveaway thing I hope you will go visit her blog. :) Good luck everybody!

KONADLICIOUS' HUGE 1,000 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY!!

2011-02-16T11:35:00.002-06:00

Everyone should check out Konad-licious' 1000 follower giveaway. It's jam packed with Australian goodies! A real assortment! This will be my first giveaway entry of the new year and I'm kinda REALLY stoked.

:) Cheers everybody!

Black and White and Valentine Manis

2011-02-12T15:46:00.005-06:00

Hi everybody! I got tired of trying to get ALL my guest manis together for a couple big posts and decided that I'll just lob one guest manicure pic in with my current manicure posts. That way I can go fetch them one at a time and it doesn't feel like such a big project.

This is a guest mani I did for my auntie Judith while I was home was done by painting thumbs white and rest of nails black. Stamped the black nails using Konad Special polish in White and Konad image plate #m65 . Thumbs used Konad Black Pearl stamping polish and Bundle Monster image plate #BM14 . I layered up the single rose stamp in a pyramid on each thumb. Used my Art Deco Silver sparkle striper polish to add a little bling to the center of the roses. Topcoat was Seche Vite.

And this is my manicure from last week. Base color is 1/2 Sally Hansen Insta Dri White On, and 1/2 GOSH Nero. Stamped using GOSH Nero and Bundle Monster image plate #BM11, lining it up so that I got a line of crisp white between the solid black and the pattern.

I finished off with Sally Hansen Insta Dri anti-chip top coat. I pour this top coat into a smaller bottle that has a softer brush and I find I don't get nearly as much smudging on the stamp this way. It also helps the polish not to thicken up and get goopy as fast.

And finally my Valentine's day manicure. I just did something quick to match a black and red dress I found at the thrift store that fit me perfectly! I painted a little more than half my nail with Essie Lacquered Up and filled in the other side with GOSH Nero. Stamped using GOSH Nero and the full rose image off Konad plate#m65 (I love that plate) I didn't worry about the stamp overlapping onto the black side. It was visible upon stamping but because it was the identical polish when I went over the manicure with my SH Insta Dri Anti Chip Top Coat it just melted into the previous layer. :)

Sorry there's already a fair bit of tip wear, but I don't think it's the polish. I've been weaving taspestry all morning and the friction of my fingertips against those warp threads really does damage.

Hope your week is cheery!
♥
JQ

Christmas Haul

2011-02-06T09:29:00.006-06:00

Hi everybody,

This is just a big picture post of all the goodies I locked down by doing fun manicures for family and friends. I'm really excited to show it all off, but really this is just filler while I go about collecting photos from all my friends of their funky nail-dos so I can do a guest mani post. Sorry it's winding up being about a week between posts here. I think that's going to be the norm until April, as I am working on a tapestry submission for an upcoming touring exhibition.

Also I promise PROMISE I am working away at my first giveaway. I'm pretty excited about it. I put my little stash together and I've decided I want to add a few more polishes to the mix, so that will probably take until after my next payday. But it's in the works!

Okay here are the pics :P

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in: Lightening, Brisk Blue, Lickety-Split Lime, Whirlwind White

I found out that the white, and the yellow will work for stamping. the yellow one, of course only really works on some colors, but I look forward to trying out the blue and green as well. Hey, I can do some fun manicures on light backgrounds. :D You can see I've used quite a bit of the yellow and white already. :) I actually picked up another bottle of white and I have a slightly different yellow which hasn't got a name just the number 04.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in: Gray By Gray, Thinking of Blue, Wet Clay, and Commander in Chic. Drool. The Thinking of Blue I've actually used as a one coater under full nail stamps. I love one coaters. Also the bruses are really wide, and I found they worked for me, especially when painting other people's nails.

SH Xtreme Wear in: Black Out, Sun Kissed, Lime Lights, Emerald City, Blue It, White On, and three frankens using 3 bottles of White On and a few drops of more saturated colors. Sorry I can't remember which ones!

Left to Right: Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamonds and Brilliant Blush, Joe Moss, L'Oreal Luminescence and Party Hop, Revlon No Shrinking Violet, Minted, Totally Toffee.

Sally Hansen HD Hi-Def, Digital, and Resolution, Red Girl-dollar store finds by the hubby-Star (holo hearts and circles) and Illusions (holo bar glitters), Cover Girl Disco Dazzle, and Pink Twinkle.

OPI Top Coat and Drip Dry, China Glaze Cheers to You and Midnight Kiss.

My first OPI! Green-wich Village, Ski Teal We Drop, Pamplona Purple, Malaga Wine, Off With Her Red and My Private Jet (Fweeee! SOOO spoiled)

Gosh is my new best friend right now. All four of these stamp and stamp well. Left to right: Nero, Metallic Purple, Metallic Green, Metallic Blue. I went out and picked up a second bottle of Nero already because stamping black is a staple for me.

And the IsaDora!

Graffiti Nail Top in Subway Green--Which is this most amazing dark teal YUM. and Plain White for the base color.

OHHHH Boy that was a lot of spam. Sorry for the lame color quality!

Cheers and have a great week!
JQ

Beautiful Blogger Award

2011-01-27T17:01:00.005-06:00

Thank you to KarenD of Frazzle and Aniploish for tagging me with the Beautiful Blogger award.

Here are the rules:

- Copy the award image into a post
- Link to the person who gave you the award
- Give the award to 7 other bloggers and link to their blogs
- Write 7 things about yourself

Hmmm 7 things...

1) I'm an arts and crafts junkie. Srsly can't get enough. New technique/medium? I'll try it. I've tried glass blowing, pottery, jewelry, embroidery, tapestry, knitting, crochet, spinning, drawing, painting, papermaking, printmaking, macrame...the list goes on. :)
2) I have one little boy who loves to commandeer the computer from me to watch Mater's Tall Tales on YouTube.
3) Mmmm Cuppycakes.
4) 3 years ago I lost 55 pounds and I've managed to keep it off! That also marked my first forays (since early high school) into growing out my nails, and putting on makeup and feeling pretty again. I'm hooked!
5) CHOCOLATE=KRYPTONITE :)
6) I love to cook, mostly soups from scratch, but I enjoy baking my own bread and have even experienced grinding my own flour which is AhhhMAZing!
7) I suffer from eczema especially on my hands and fingertips, which can be a real pain when I'm trying to make blog posts about my nails. :( But I try very hard to keep my hands clear and am always interested in other people's solutions!

I'll post 7 blogs and if you haven't checked them out I hope you will, but if I have tagged you, please don't feel obligated to pass it along! I just want to encourage people to check out new blogs! I'm amazed at the amount of us polish junkies and unique nail blogs!

All You Desire
Simply Rins
Pimp My Nailz
Emerald Sparkled
Glammed Up
Enamel Girl
Cosmetic Cupcake

I was also tagged by Polish Freshie for the Unknown Blogger award! Thank you!

Questions:

1. When and how did you start your love for polish?

I started french tipping my nails after I lost a bunch f weight as a part of my feel better about myself plan. A friend gave me a bunch of wicked colors before she made a big move then she intorduced me to the Konad stamping system and I fell head over heels.

2. If you could choose to do anything in the world, what would it be? (Eg. Ski in the Swiss alps, fly in a fighter jet, create a unicorn etc.)

Show my tapestries internationally! Travel europe and SEE some of the old tapestries firsthand.

3. What's your favorite love story?

The Phantom f the Opera! Dracula! Beauty and the Beast!

Here are the rules:

Choose 3 - 5 Blogs you would like to tag and link them too. Leave them a comment on their blog that you've linked them.

Important: This award is for unknown blogs, so don't tag some 3000-Reader-Blogs! :)

The blogs I would like to tag are:

Alikat789 Nail Art

Canadian Nail Fanatic

A Splash Of Serendipity

Okay thanks again for the tags girls! I hope my next post I'll get brave and finally figure out how to set up my first giveaway. If anyone has suggestions for me in terms of what the EASIEST methods for a giveaway are please leave me a note? I'm wondering how I go about confirming followers and I'm wondering where I go to get one of those nifty forms.

Hearts!
JQ

I'm Back!

2011-01-25T16:06:00.005-06:00

Hello Jellos!

Christmas vacation was plenty awesome, but I'm so happy to be back and in the old groove! Finally have my house in order, a few projects underway, and am ready to start posting!

For this, my first post of the new year I just want to say thank you again to all the people who follow my blog! I will be posting my very first giveaway to celebrate reaching 100 followers soon so keep in touch!

Also I won some super cool Broadway Nails from Dollface's giveaway just before Christmas, so when I got back there was this parcel waiting! Thanks Dolly! I've never given fakies a try, but the timing couldn't have been more convenient, because I have a really busted up nail that's just growing out and catching n everything, so covering it with a fake one has been awesome. I'll post about that soon as well!

Without further ado, I give you two manicures (on my real nails) done just after arriving at home for my vacation.

This one is done using a base colour of 2 coats Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Commander in Chic, Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear Black Out (and my Art Deco striper in black) to do the tips, then over the tips with a sponge Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamonds for a little glitz. I finished with a stamp from Bundle Monster image plate BM11 and my Konad Princess stamping polish in Yellow.

I can't remember exactly where I first saw someone use splotches of nail polish under a full nail stamp but I totally dig the effect. I did like 4 manicures on family and friends with the same concept. Here's mine.

Base: splotches of OPI Off With Her Red, Pamplona Purple, Green-wich Village, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening, and Complete Salon Manicure Thinking of Blue.

Stamp: GOSH Nero polish and random Konad and Bundle Monster full nail stamp images.

OH MAN I totally need to do a post just for GOSH nail polish because I'm loving them. Mostly because the Metallic Green, Metallic Purple and Metallic Blue as well as Nero all work beautifully as stamping polishes. Wee!

I packed a mega-haul over the holidays! I got my very first ever OPI polishes and the formula is like butter and the brushes make me so happy. I also find that I'm pretty happy with the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes, and my favorite polish gift this Christmas was from my sister in law who got them for me in Finland (I don't know if they are sold in Canada) IsaDora Plain White, and IsaDora Graffiti Nails in Subway Green. Seriously as soon as my bashed in nail grows out I'm doing a review on that!

Okay well I feel way better now that I finally got online and made a post! Hope everyone is having a wonderful new year so far.

Cheers!
JQ

Greetings from the Great White North!

2010-12-29T21:09:00.002-06:00

I hope everybody has had a wonderful holiday! I'm still on vacation in the Yukon, but doing manicures like crazy on all the gals in my family. I will have a few big posts when I get back in mid January!

I just wanted to pop in and do a "Woooopeee!!!" because I noticed this evening that I have reached 100 followers! Yay!! Thank you everybody for your support and for the comments. I REALLY appreciate them all! I have a few little things put away for my very first giveaway, which I will host as soon as I get back into the groove at home.

So exciting!

Happy New Year everybody!

<3
JQ

2 Christmas Manicures before I catch my flight!

2010-12-21T11:51:00.008-06:00

Joyeux Noel!

This was last week's festive manicure! My take on Christmas holly and wreaths. I painted a white base, then stamped using my new Apple Green Konad special polish, then painted around it all with Essie's Lacquered Up. A few red dots for the holly berries!

My new friend Alikat came over for a manicure Monday and we had a nice evening visiting and painting and stamping. :) This is the Chrismtas mani I'll be wearing for the trip home! Hopefully it will get the gals in my family inspired for their own manicures! There are a few slumber parties in the works. :)

I was inspired by PHD 's red manicure with snowflake so I used it on my ring fingers. :)

Merry Christmas everybody! I'll be back again with blog posts in mid-January!
<3
JQ

Poinsettias with Rhinestones

2010-12-17T23:21:00.003-06:00

Hello Jellos! I'm back before the holidays with another mani that I did yesterday.

I filed down my nails and squared them off again and I remembered how much I love them like this. Sure there's not much space but I can get through the days without chipping/breaking a nail and they look fairly cute.

I probably should have used bullion beads again because I was going for the poinsettia look, but I was staring forlornly at my rhinestone wheel wanting to use them so I caved. You can't really tell in the photos but the ring finger is actually darker green rhinestones.

I used 2 coats of Claire's Snow Ball for the base colour, then stamped using image plate # BM06 and Wet n' Wild Precious Metals Red Graphite. Then rhinestones and a topcoat!

My rhinestones didn't last much longer than a day before a few came off and I obsessively picked the rest off. *sigh* I have this love/hate thing going on. But I used a dotting tool and some emerald green polish to fill in the centers this morning and that got me through the day.

I just went out and picked up three new Konad stamping polishes in Yellow, Apple Green and Chocolate and I CAN'T wait to use them. I also caved and picked up Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear Rockstar Pink along with another Wet N' Wild French White Creme (base white and black are so essential for me). Eee!

Again Merry Christmas and if I have my way I'll be posting another manicure tomorrow afternoon!
<3
JQ

Two Christmas Manis!

2010-12-14T22:27:00.003-06:00

Feeling the Christmas spirit yet? I know I am. I've been having more fun with sponges and Konad. :)

This first one I used 2 coats of Claire's Snow Ball for the base color, then sponged some Revlon Emerald City matte suede polish onto 3/4 of the nail towards the tip. Then I went over the whole nail using the plaid pattern from image plate plate m60 and Konad special polish in white. This made it look like the white at the base of the nail turned plaid over the green. Then I made little poinsettia flowers with Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar and I used some of my new gold bullion beads for the first time! When the topcoat went on all the hidden shimmer in the matte green polish popped up under the white plaid. Too bad I couldn't take a good picture of the glimmer on the nail but the macro on my camera is seriously lacking.

This is the mani I am currently sporting. I used 2 coats of Claire's Rain drops as a base color, then sponged on Sinful Colors Show Me The Way (pretty grassy green shimmer) 3/4 of the way up the nail. Then sponged Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar onto the tip of each nail, so the nail fades from grey at the base to grassy green to deep red. After this was dry I stamped using Konad image plate m60 with a plaid pattern. I used Sally Hansen Chrome Crystal so it pops. The photo doesn't do it nearly enough justice.

I wanted to leave everyone a note to say that I am getting ready to fly home to the Yukon for Christmas and won't be back until mid January. I hope to be in with at least one more post before the New Year but things might get too busy. I do hope to be doing a bunch of guest manicures while I am home for the holidays so I promise I will take photos for posts in the new year. Wishing you all the very best during the holidays and all year round. Merry Christmas! Peace be with you.

<3
JQ

Dusky Rose Paisley

2010-12-08T09:17:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone!

Is it just me or is Christmas approaching at nearly the speed of light? Well this manicure wouldn't reflect that at all. I'm not sure why I didn't try a nice Christmas mani using this stamp, because I think it would look pretty stellar, but I have this addiction to Sinful Colors Vacation Time right now. There's probably all kinds of similar pinks out there but that's the only one of it's kind in my collection currently and I just adore it. It's my dirty dirty pink. :P

For this mani I used Sinful Colors Vacation Time as the base and sponged on a couple layers of Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl at the tips.

I used Konad image plate #m60 for the paisley pattern, stamped using Konad special polish in Black pearl. I apologize for the blur in some of these photos.

Once I was done stamping I used Sally Hansen Intsa-Dri Anti-Chip top Coat to seal it up, and I didn't experience any smudging fo the stamped polish. Awhile ago I switched my Insta-Dri polish into a different empty polish bottle because the brush was wider and softer and I hoped this might help with the blur. Either I had magic touch this time or the brush is actually working. Any blur you do see is because I wasn't careful enough with my stamping and it moved a little before I drew away or because my stinkin' camera wasn't stable enough when I took the shot.

You might be able to see from some of the photos a hint of what the Tokyo Pearl does at the tips. It really got some depth when the top coat went on and it shimmers beautifully under the stamp. I can't wait to try this again with steadier hands! I really have to lay off the java.

Cheers!
JQ

A Giveaway I'm Entering

2010-12-06T21:49:00.003-06:00

I can't say no and I wanted to let you know about it too!
TIRNAKLAR FORA is having a super awesome Booty Holographic giveaway. Check it out and enter here!
ENDS DEC 20 2010
Here is one of the photos:

Super cool! I'm making a Christmas wish to win! :P

Snowflakes

2010-12-05T11:52:00.005-06:00

Happy Sunday! I'm a day late and it's more like a general winter themed mani rather than a Christmas themed one, but I'm diggin' it. :) When I go to my Christmas happy place it's almost always blue first.

Base colour: Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau
Sponge tips: Sinful Colors Love Nails and Revlon Top Speed Royal
Stamp polish: Sally Hansen Chrome Crystal
Image plate: BM14
Accents: I placed royal blue hex sparkles in the center of each snowflake and Cover Girl City Lights on areas around snowflakes for a little subtle glimmer.

Thanks for stopping by!
<3
JQ

80s Kisses

2010-12-02T20:34:00.005-06:00

Hiya!

I'm sorry this post is very brief. It seems like things just won't calm down for us until after Christmas vacation. I had hoped to be able to set aside more time for the nail blogging, but as it is I spent a few hours on this mani yesterday and it was a bit too much time. I wound up botching my nails on my right hand because I thought it was dry enough. Oops. These were just taken this morning and even my left hand is a bit gummed. But I really like the effect and it reminded me how much I miss sponging. I think there'll be more of that through the holidays. As you can see winter is still having a drastic effect on my skin and cuticles. Ick.

I used Sinful Colors Cream Pink base colour, then sponged on SC Bali Mist at the tips. I stamped the kisses using BM02. The stamping polishes were Sally Hansen Chrome in Crystal and Konad Black Pearl.

Hopefully I'll have a new Christmas themed manicure on Saturday!

<3
JQ

Back from the crafting vortex...

2010-11-23T11:13:00.006-06:00

Good morning/afternoon everyone!

The past two weeks have been crazy busy crafting up a storm, and between manipulating threads on my loom, using a fine steel crochet hook my nails bit the dust a week ago. The nasty turn our winter weather is taking had rendered my cuticles RAGGED. The hands are a total disaster. I spent yesterday giving them some TLC, and celebrated all my hard work with a pretty manicure last night.

I used my 'hospital green' franken for the base colour. Then I made my flower petal dots using my larger dotting tool and NYC Flat Iron Green. I then placed a slightly smaller dot of Sinful Colors Vacation Time (the all-time favorite pink in my current collection) on top of each dark green dot, then went in with the toothpick and dragged the center of each dot towards the center. One more dot of Flat Iron green in the center of each flower, and finish off with a dot of Nina Ultra Pro Like Butta. I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat to seal it all up.

Ewe cuticle yucks! Yay for macro. I don't think they look that apparent IRL. I hope not. :P

Thanks for looking! I hope I'll be back again full force over the next few weeks with a new manis! I've really missed doing them!

Hope everybody has a nice day even if the weather is getting you down!
JQ

Still here!

2010-11-17T11:06:00.004-06:00

Just a quick manicure I did some time last week, before the crunch really set in for my craft stuff. Unfortunately as a result of the weaving, and the 1.5 mm steel crochet hook, my nails died. So after this there'll be nubbins.

For the base colour I used 3 coats of a Claire's pink that I have dubbed "pepto". It was in a set of pink and red minis. Then I used one of the red sparkly minis from the same set and Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl to do the toothpick roses. The leaves are Sinful Colors Show Me the Way.

This mani along with my Aerosmith one are both in the Fab Nail Arts gallery for this week's Pink Challenge. Thanks Mae and Thriszha!

A big thank you to Rina at Simply Rins for giving me a certificate for participating in her nail art competition! I'll keep it at the bottom of my blog as well! :) Thanks I had fun!

Have a great week!
JQ

For Your Nails Only's Christmas Challenge-Voting!

2010-11-13T11:29:00.003-06:00

Hi everybody! Sorry I've been so sparse with my entries, but I'm making tons of progress on the crafting front, which is great considering the sale is on the 27th!

Anyways, onto the mani! This is my submission for Tara's Christmas themed nail art contest at For Your Nails Only. We had top pick one of our favorite things about the Christmas season and translate that into a nail design, the stipulation being that some element of the nail art should be hand drawn. :)

I had a lot of fun making these! I just took a gander at all the entries and they are so fantastic! Some people went really all out on the hand drawing and the results are so cool! If you want to vote you have to be a follower of For Your Nails Only, and fill out the voting form. Even if you don't plan to vote I encourage you to head on over and check out the gallery!

Have a great weekend everybody!
<3
JQ

PS: Oh Rins! I LuuuuRV your Christmas Prezzie manicure! :) :)

Rock n' roll Nail Art

2010-11-07T19:31:00.005-06:00

Ooops I missed a challenge deadline! That's okay I had tons of fun with this manicure. Who doesn't love playing with pink and black and SPARKLES? :P

The other entries for Lacquerista's Rock n' Roll challenge are pretty awesome. If you have a minute you could go take a peek and vote!

Thanks for stopping by. I'll try and get better photos of this manicure in tomorrow's light and update. Providing it survives another night of weaving!

Cheers,
JQ

Black and Red Reverse French

2010-11-05T20:21:00.003-06:00

With rhinestones! :P

Base - Essie Lacquered Up 2 coats
Tips - Claire's Black Hole 1 coat
Detail - Kiss Nail Art striper polish in white plus Claire's Snow Ball with dotting tool for flower and a dot on each tip. I used the toothpick technique to draw down the petals. I finished off with red rhinestones.
Top Coat - Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip

Thanks for stopping by. And thank you for all your comments!
Later gaters!
JQ

Frightfully Late Halloween Manicure

2010-11-04T10:31:00.002-06:00

I sported this mani over Halloween weekend but I only just got the photos off my camera to post! Sorry about the blur. These were taken just before heading out the door to go shopping where I was sure I'd wreck at least one tip. Plus camera drama. My little guy got hold of it and busted the screen so it's difficult to see if I'm even in macro mode.

Them bones them bones...

Base colour - Wet n' Wild French White Creme
Black detail - Kiss Nail Art Striper
Orange candle glow - Color Club Turn the Other Chic
Top Coat - Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

I dig the thumb of my left hand. Big meanie superskull followed by all his cute wittle skully minions.

Later Gaters! <3

The Versatile Blogger Award

2010-11-02T12:36:00.003-06:00

Thank you Polish and Konad for tagging me for this award!

Rules

Thank and link back the giver of the award
Share 7 things about yourself
Pass it along to 15 other bloggers
Contact them and let them know you love 'em

7 things about myself!

1) I'm a fibre artist and I also paint and draw.
2) I have a 17 month old son
3) I'm a huge fan of performing arts. I wish I could afford to see more!
4) I have a Blue Heeler/Australian shepherd cross dog named Buddy.
5) Rickman. Walken. Hopkins. Oldman.
6) Stephen King, Anne Rice....and Douglas Adams. :p
7) Scrabble, Cribbage, Yahtzee...Mega Man. :P

I would scroll through all the blogs on my roll and try and find 15 that haven't had this tag, but I have to get down to business and weave some scarves!

Instead I will send you to go check out five Canadian nail blogs!

Deez Nailz
Alikat
Polish Obsessed
Canadian Nail Fanatic
Dees Polish Endeavours

Love and hugs!
JQ

My submission for Fab Nail Art Halloween challenge

2010-11-01T11:30:00.002-06:00

POE NAILS! <3

Base colour= 2 coats of Claire's Snow Ball
Raven and Text= Kiss Nail Art striper polish in black
Red/pink detail= Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Chocolate Kiss
Topcoat= Sally Hansen Insta Dry

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. I actually had one more mani to show before the holiday passed by but the days all melted together and I never seemed to have a minute to myself for posting.

You can view the Halloween Nail Art gallery on Facebook. As always I send a big thank you to Mae and Thrishza for hosting these challenges. It's a lot of work!

Later Gaters!
JQ

All Tied Up...

2010-10-29T10:42:00.006-06:00

Hi everyone!

I hope to be back later today or tomorrow to post my entry for the FabNailArt Challenge, but for now I'm just leaving a note to say I'm still here! For anyone who doesn't know I am also big into the fibre art/craft scene. Anything handwork and I'm hooked. Knitting, crochet, weaving, spinning, felting, tapestry, rug hooking. Basically I'm all over the place with it. :p But the local guild I am a part of is having a sale at the end of November and I am currently preoccupied trying to work up a selection of product. Between Halloween and Christmas the posts might dwindle a little. 'Tis the Season yaknow? Requests are coming in from friends and family for handmade presents! :)

When my husband and I lived out in the country we had 7 alpacas. I learned so much about taking good care of my fluffy buddies. They were oodles of cute. And as an added bonus once a year I got all this fluffy fibre to spin into wool. Below is some of my hand spun alpaca (from Airo). The outside ones are dyed after spinning using Indigo.

My fibre blog is in need of some serious TLC. I've been neglecting it! I want to spend some quality time making it over and uploading some photos of current projects. I have my big floor loom in commission for the very first time. It looks so amazing out in the middle of my studio laden with colourful thread. I'm doing a line of crocheted sculptural jewelry which I hope to be showcasing very soon as well.

So in a nutshell? I'm COMPLETELY STRUNG OUT. :P

Love Yas!
JQ

Apothica 25$ Gift Certificate Giveaway

2010-10-26T12:56:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone!

Just a quick post to tell you about an international giveaway by Apothica. Apothica sells Essie Polish and Nail treatments, and that's what really gets me excited! Here's a link to Essie at Apothica

You can fill out the entry form at Concrete and Nail Polish! You get seven extra entries for blogging a 100 word post with a link! There are other ways to ear extra entries as well, like tweeting, following on facebook, signing up for the Apothecary Newsletter etc.

I'm stoked about this giveaway because I really want to get my paws on the Good To Go topcoat,Matte About You, and Fill the Gap.

So far I only have two Essie polishes Vermillionaire and Lacquered Up. I want Mint Candy Apple, Sew Psyched, and Pretty Edgy!

Okay Onward to more manicures!

<3
JQ

Let's Rock With Numbers Entry

2010-10-26T10:39:00.004-06:00

Greetings Jellybeans!

Well this month seems to be filled with manicures for challenges and competitions. It's been a lot of fun! Here is my entry for Parokeet's Let's Rock With Numbers challenge (for the Essence goodies).

I always find that any time I use rhinestones for my mani I spend so much time just running my fingertips over the bumps and eventually I just pick them right off. I thought it would be neat to do a rhinestone manicure based on the numbers 0-9 (the same as letters a-j) in the braille alphabet.

I used Claire's Snow Ball and Balck Hole for the base colours. Then I used my dotting tool to make six large dots in opposite colours on each nail. With a smaller tool I placed dots the same colour as the base on the "empty" braille spaces, then used rhinestones in the opposite colour as the base to create the raised braille.

Topcoat and voila!

I spent so much time running my fingertips over these. For the first time I could actually handle the sensation of all the rhinestones because they had a purpose. :) I didn't pick any off.

If you want to check out the other entries and possibly vote (There's a bit of a process involved. If you scroll down past the photo entries there's a link to the instructions) please click here!

Thanks again for stopping by. And thank you everyone for all the comments you leave. I've been trying to respond to each one!

Hearts off the charts,
JQ

Don't Go Around Tonight

2010-10-22T21:34:00.002-06:00

Well, it's bound to take your life!

This is my submission to Polish Freshie's Halloween Contest & Giveaway

Every Halloween I get CCR's "Bad Moon" stuck in my head for days. :)

I don't know If I really achieved my desired effect, but it was fun to try it out. I painted my base colour using Claire's BlackHole, then took my white Kiss nail art polish and outlined the moons. Filled in using Claire's Snowball, and then took the very tip of the brush of my Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Chocolate Kiss to speckle on some pinkish-red. Since the moon was still quite soft and tacky I used a toothpick to swirl around the red and white and bring some of the black up from beneath. I placed different sized stars using a toothpick and my SH X-Treme Wear Strobe Light, and CG Disco Dazzle. Topcoat and voila!

More Halloween Manis coming!
Cheers!
JQ

Hey guys! I just found out I am in the top four finalists for Freshie's competition! I'm totally thrilled! Eee! So if anyone would like to vote on their favorite just bounce on over to view the finalists!

Woohoo!

Mummy Manicure

2010-10-22T11:19:00.006-06:00

EDIT! Please everyone, I had to come back here and let your know that I have unintentionally duplicated (or very nearly) a mani already done by PimpMyNailz I had been daydreaming about making this mani for awhile, but had no idea if it had been done before. I did Google it in case I might spot another mani, but I didn't get too thorough. Then I went ahead and submitted it to Chez-Delaney. I had also made a submission of a different mani to Polish Freshie's competition, but when I went in to check out her gallery there I found PimpMyNailz's awesome Mummy mani. She definitely made this mani first. PROPS. Great minds think alike for sure!

Actually it was one of several halloween manis I had been considering to submit for Freshie's challenge. I am soso glad I didn't! This way PimpMyNailz can showcase hers without mine being all like 'hey mine's the same-ish. neener neener'.

I wish everyone in both competitions best of luck, and I hope no hard feelings are had.

<3 <3

Below is my original post.

---------------------------------------

Greetings Ghoulies! In celebration of my new forays into Halloween with my son, here is my mummy mani:

This is my entry for Chez-Delaney's Halloween nail Stamp Art Competition. For more info click here. The stipulation is that you have to use stamp art for your manicure.

I used three coats of Claire's Snow Ball for the base colour, then stamped the design with Konad Special Polish Black Pearl and Konad Plate #S6. The first time I saw that image I thought "mummy wrappers!" With Kiss Nail Art black I blacked out a stripe using the stamped lines as guides. I then placed two red rhinestone eyes on each mummy face.

Topcoat and that's all!

The contest runs until Oct 31st and the prize is one of those really large image plates. Go check it out! There are so many neat manicures posted in the gallery.

Later gaters!
JQ

Parokeets "Lets Rock With Numbers" Nail and Makeup Art Competition

2010-10-21T10:34:00.004-06:00

Parokeets is having a nail/makeup art competition called "Lets Rock with Numbers". I have here a photo of the prize from their site:

A whole heap of Essence products! I'm entering! I came to it fairly late so I'm sorry I'm not giving everyone a bigger heads up. the deadline is tomorrow!
If you think you want to do a numbers manicure today and send off your entry click here!

I'll be back soon with some Halloween manicures!

JQ

FAB Nail Art Animal Print entry!

2010-10-18T14:44:00.004-06:00

This was last weeks entry fro the FAB Nail Art Challenge hosted by the ladies at Fab Ur Nails and Art of Nail!

I used Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl for the base and stamped using Konad special polish in Black Pearl, and BM plate #16. The Tokyo Pearl really took on a metallic effect.

I imagine it is a lot of work to organize these weekly challenges and I really appreciate it. Thank You Mae and Thrishza! You can check out the gallery here.

<3

JQ

Autumn Breeze Manicure

2010-10-17T09:47:00.007-06:00

Greetings jellybeans!

I recently entered a competition on Konad Addict's blog. The theme was Autumn.

This is what I came up with:

I used Color Club Take Me to Your Chateau, Sally Hansen Chrome in Sizzlin' Bronze, Kiss gold sparkle striper polish. I always think of the cool winds that come with fall and make the leaves dance. :)

If anyone would like to take a look at the entries and possibly vote please click on Konad Addict's link above the pic. You would have to follow her publicly in order for your vote to count. I'm just floored by the amount of talent these ladies possess!

Hearts off the charts!
JQ

Haul!

2010-10-16T21:42:00.004-06:00

Hi!

Just a quick post of the latest goodies. :) I received a gift card for London Drug from my super awesome sister in law for my birthday and lo and behold London Drug had a sale on Sinful Colors! Score! :)

Using the gift card I also got a Sally Hansen nail strengthener and a bottle of polish thinner. Thanks so much to my sis! <3 Funtastic colors! I feel thoroughly spoiled!

In the above shot is a Nubar grapefruit cuticle oil, which I picked up along with the "Pardon My French" Color Club collection at Winners! Thank you to Danielle at Polish Obsessed for giving me a heads up about this sweet deal. The package of seven polishes was only $12.99 Canadian!

I usually paint my nails all up, then stamp them up and wear it for a day or so. Because of my eczema I don't like to swatch and remove and swatch etc. Too much pain ensues. :) However I'll be taking a picture of the plain polished nails each time before I stamp them, and compiling them in a folder. Then I'll do a couple swatch posts.

Cheers everyone!
JQ

Autumn inspired mani for FNA Challenge.

2010-10-12T21:27:00.003-06:00

For this mani I used two coats of my Sally Hansen Chrome Copper as a base colour. Then I went ovber every other tip with my reddest Calire's glass fleck polish, and the rest with the yellow Calire's glass fleck. This changed the look of the metallic to more bronze one and more gold on the other, while adding the bit of reflective rainbow flecks. It was a ton of happy and I am excited to go over more of my metallic polishes with these and see what happens!

Next I took a charcoal grey franken and stamped using BM image plate #19. I actually tried my hand at stamping the image twice on each nail. I think this pattern lent itself to the seam better than some others might. On the nail the charcoal grey turned a deep black brown. After I stamped I finished with a coat of Seche Vite top coat. I have been experiencing a lot of shrinkage with my SV lately, despite trying to wrap my polish around the free edge of my nail. By morning I have little white slivers of my tips showing at the edge of the polish.

So this was my entry for last week's Autumn inspired Fab Nail Art Challenge that Mae and Thrishza have been hosting for the past several weeks. Hooray for nail art challenges! Big Fan! Thanks gals!