It ain't over til it's over!

Hey everyone!  Happy Monday?  How was everyone's weekend?  Mine was great!  I got to babysitter my grandnephew Sean on Saturday.  Normally this wouldn't be a big deal BUT he's not even 3 years old yet AND I don't really "do" them until they are at least 5 lol!  I am not a baby or toddler person.  They are small and can break easily.  My little sister, Lynelle, gets Sean at least one day every weekend and I usually go over there to hang out with her and him--this time she needed to do some running around so I came over to watch him until she got back.  She's got a nice kid friendly home.  Aka no chinchilla cages and kittens with claws lol!
Sean and I HAD A BLAST!  Little did I know he never played the drums before until I watched him though lol!  He tipped over the ottoman, found some drumsticks of my nephew's and started hammering them on the ottoman.  So of course I joined in with the guitar hero guitar and we were totally rocking out!  We watched Cars, and Madagascar 3 too.  I really had nothing to worry about lol!  He is the cutest kid on the planet.  I'm sorry my beautiful sister, Lisa, is not here to enjoy him--but I am grateful we get to spend time with him whenever we want.  We tell him about his Grandma Lisa and I can't wait until he's old enough for us to tell him things about her.

But enough of that!! You are here for the nails!  Okay you might be here because I'm pretty cool and witty LOL!

A couple of weeks ago Bundle Monster had their annual Halloween Contest.  Last year I was the grand prize winner.  AWESOME!  I was really thrilled to win last year and didn't really think about entering again because geez there is no need to be a pig and I've won everyone Bundle Monster contest they've had.  I'm sure you all know how much I LOVE BUNDLE MONSTER PLATES--that being said I feel a loyalty to them and entered the contest.

There were some fantastic designs this year!  OMG my favorites were the orange and silver design by my friend Amy of I'm Feeling Nail-venturous, the cool vertical design from my friend Ashley of Smashley Sparkles and then one by my friend Joanne who's in the Crumpet's Nail Tarts group.  I LOVED Joanne's!! She did Sugar Skulls! OMG I don't even like Sugar Skulls because they creep me out, but her's was fantastic.

So good news/bad news.  Good news Amy and I made the top 13--bad news Ashley and Joanne didn't :(  It more than bums me out.  I didn't think my design was very elaborate but based on what many people have said about it, is it's a design that's very Halloween YET not too out there for wearing in an everyday setting.

I did a nice gradient using Orly Goth, Zoya Mira and Essie Lilacism.  Then I went with Bundle Monster plates BM305 (haunted house) BM224 (gnarly tree branches), BM213 bats and BM13 (more bats)  I added some yellow to the haunted house windows to give it that eery glow and I named my design Bats On The Bayou.  You might have seen this mani and even voted for it if you followed the contest.  
Here's a pic with more bats on my thumb

I got a lot of compliments on this mani and I get a lot of people saying how much they love my gradient and how seamless they always are.  I don't really know why it's so easy for me to gradient, it just is.

In fact you can see how much better I am at gradienting when you compare this year's mani with last year's.

Not a very smooth gradient last year and now that I'm comparing the two I really do think this year's is a lot better!  

Right now the judging phase is going on, so we'll see if I make it to the top 3.    As I said before though, there were some fantastic entries!   Best of luck to the top 13!

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