Memories of days past

In the middle of my very busy life my dad's cousin--my Uncle Ronnie died.  I haven't seen him much and only saw him once after my dad died and that was when his sister Becky died.  It shouldn't be that you only see someone at funerals but as you get older that's exactly what happens.  My Uncle Ronnie and my dad shared a birthday although my dad was 2 years older than he was.  They grew up together and spent time together as adults and he was a big part of my life growing up.  While his death is very sad it also reminds me of the times when we were younger and saw all the Grove cousins in action.  Those were some very fun times.  So instead of being sad and thinking about his being gone I'm spending the night thinking of all those fun family get togethers and picnics when we were young.  Instead of being sad I'm going to think that he and my dad are together in Heaven and hopefully they are golfing and bowling and and maybe even getting into a little bit of trouble up there.

Growing older is a part of our life.  Having to say goodbye to someone we love and care about is a part of our life.  It doesn't make it any easier though.  Sometimes I wish I could be better prepared for this but I never am.

Hold the people you love tight and always say I love you we never know when well get that chance again.

I thought a bit about grief and the turmoil it brings but also the peace and acceptance we eventually feel when someone dies when I did my mani tonight.

Zoya Cheryl with FUN 8 stamping in Mundo Copper and China Glaze Passion.

Blessings to you Uncle Ronnie and peace.  I'll be glad to see you again when I'm called home. 

Birds of a feather

Hi Everyone!  Happy Monday!  I sort of lost some steam last week and didn't get to do my haunted house mani for Halloween but that's okay there's always next year lol!  I can't believe all the awesome mani's I saw for Halloween this year.  I should have bought more plates.  Next year someone remind me to snag all the Halloween plates in the summer

It was a gorgeous sunny day here in Wisconsin.  72 degrees and bright and sunny and all the trees with the mustard browns and yellows and oranges and reds is just amazing.  I love being here in the Fall and wouldn't have it any other way.

One of my FB followers, Lesley, recommended I do a Fall gradient so I'm working on that tonight but in the meantime let me show you what I did yesterday for a flash challenge in the Advanced Nail Stamping Group.  Our theme this week is feathers.  I grabbed on of my Uber Chic plates and did some decals with Mundo white, black and aqua over Girly Bits Dash Away All.  I think it turned out great!

Look at how long my nails are getting!  This weekend is inventory so I better get these suckers filed down before then

Still typing 80 words per minute though!

I really like this Girly Bits Dash Away All it's not really a grey it's not a black, it's not a brown it's sort of a greigey color

I'm hoping to do at least one more feather mani this week to but we'll hve to see how this week goes LOL.  I was in bed at 8 every night last week!

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

Dem Bones

Hi Everyone!  More Spring cleaning in the Fall going on here today.  I took the day off of work so we could get the place ready for the soon to be closed windows for the next 6 months.  I had really wanted to get the rugs steam cleaned but that looks like it's not happening until next weekend

I do have another mani to share with you today though.  In trying to keep up with the Bingo gamed in the Advanced Nail Group I had to do a skeleton mani and guess what???? I actually have a skeleton on my card!

I decided to use the very drop dead gorgeous Fathomless by Girly Bits as my base and then I stamped with BM413 and Mundo de Unas Mint.  This was pretty labor intensive because I had to place the skeletons just so to make them appear as is the are dancing

Fathomless is a dark forest green jelly with tons of hidden micro glitters

It is to die for!  And definitely one of my favorite polishes in the world!

How bout dem bones??!! Check out my dancing skeletons!

I'm sorting of liking this hand pose these days what do you think?

Can you just see all this fine glitter buried in Fathomless???? It's just stunning!

I know some people have said they have issues with this image from Bundle Monster but I have never had any issues with any of my BM plates

So this is sort of scary so I'm going to have to come up with some cute for tomorrow!  Hopefully I'll get  a mani in tonight!

Hope you all have a fantastic day!

Who says black cats have to be spooky???

Hi Everyone!  I've had a few days off which means more time to paint me nails and I had to get caught up with the Advanced Nail Stamping Bingo game!  Ruth already won our game but a lot of us are still doing mani's for a theme picked.  Black cat was picked and I'm sort of glad the game ended because I don't have one on my card but I still really wanted to use my Messy Mansion MM50 plate.  I adore this plate!  As a cat owner it's totally a must have!

I started with a base of Paint Box Polish Polar Bear Club which is a lovely holo blue with holo blue glitters making it extra sparkly!  Then I just added some black cats for this super simply yet adorable Halloween mani!

I dotted in some yellow eyes for these guys and was terrified while doing so because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep my hand steady!

I'm also trying to get used to the new lightbulbs I bought for under the stove.  Being an adult and trying to be more energy efficient could reek havoc on my mani pics!

It's a beautiful sunny day here and about 55 degrees.  I hope to get out and enjoy some of this pretty weather soon!

Hope you all have a fabulous day!

Nevermore

Hi Everyone!!!  Yay for the weekend!  Today it's a nice sunny brisk day here in Wisconsin.  No huge plans for me this weekend but we are doing some Spring cleaning in Fall lol.  Windows, walls, floors and ceilings are getting washed and we are steam cleaning the carpets.  I'm hoping to get over to Michael's and pick up some cinnamon pine cones too!  I love those things SO much and love having my house smell like cinnamon and vanilla

I'm also trying to find some time to catch up to the Bingo game we have going on in the Advanced Nail Stamping Group.  We have a winner already but the rest of us wanted to keep playing.  Now I have to do a skeleton and a black cat mani!  I have a great idea for my skeleton mani too!!! Hopefully I can pull it off.  I was thinking of combining and doing a cat skeleton but let's face it my free hand is not good and so far no one has come up with a skeleton cat image for stamping.  I hope someone in the know is reading this for next year!!

I do have this pre Halloween mani to share with you today.  I find myself enjoying the sort of scary but not gory Halloween looking things.  I guess the more gothic looking images.  I did this one hoping for an overgrown cemetery feel

I did free hand the cross here and was actually pretty impressed with my efforts!

I wish this picture wasn't so fuzzy but this is one of those mani's I didn't take many pictures of for some reason

I used my CZ grass plate again, can't believe how much I love this plate!  And Bundle Monster assisted with the raven.  Hauled out one of my OPI Sands for the non accent nails--really like this just dark black sand with no glitter to it.

I'm pretty sure there will be tons of Halloween mani's this week, hopefully this one that hasn't been done before.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Mummy Date Night!

Hi Everyone!! Happy Wednesday!  I think you all know I don't do cute too often but we had a challenge going on in the Advanced Nail Stamping Group and we had to do mummies.  It's hard to be original when it comes to a Mummy mani.  I mean come on we've all seen them and they are all pretty much the same with some eyes peeking out of some criss crosses.  So I wasn't feeling too excited about this challenge and really wanted to try to do something different.  That's how I came up with the Mummy Date Night!

I did some stamping with FUN and Messy Mansion for this one!

And I actually free handed the eyes lips and moustache!!!!

I think this one turned out pretty cute--what do you think????

The Digit-al Dozen Does Autumn--Leaves and Acorns

Soooo in the middle of my Digit-al Dozen Does Autumn week life got in the way and not in a good way.  'sThursday night I got home way too late to post and on Friday my sweet Bobo, our first chinchilla crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  While it's true we had Bobo for 11 years chinchillas live into their 20's so we were not expecting her to leave us so soon.  

I know for most people a pet is a dog or a cat and definitely not a chinchilla but we love our chinchillas and they are just as much a part of the family as our cats are.  She was our first, she was my favorite and the pain of losing her hit me pretty hard.

So today I'm posting my acorns and leaves mani--way late but sometimes you just have to stop and cry and eat desserts until you feel better

Today I just loaded up all things fall and did a Fall French Tip look with leaves and acorns

I think it's rather funny that I love wearing nudes every now and then.  I am a hard core vampy and dark colors lover but man oh man I love to wear nudes!

I used my long forgotten because honestly they aren't that great because they bleed like hell Kleancolor metallics for my maple leaves.  

It's funny how when you first start stamping you think the Kleancolor metallics are the second coming of Christ.  But when you've had 687 mani's ruined by their bleeding you just get so over them

Bundle Monster and MoYou plates for my stamping

I really love the vibrancy of my Mundo's against this nude base

I don't do french tips often but I always like how it looks when I do!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen Does Autumn--The Night Is A Lonely Hunter

Hi Everyone!  I really had to step up my A game because Serene of Copycat Claws is really nailing it this week.  Man I love to hate her sometimes!  She's like that girl in high school who was SO pretty and SO smart and SO friendly so no matter how much you wanted to not be friends with her you were because she was SO pretty and SO smart and SO friendly.

So today I put on my thinking cap and hauled out one of my favorite images OF ALL TIME and did a really pretty Fall forest mani

My forest base is a gradient of Zoya Cynthia and Nails Inc Hampstead Gardens.  I went back and sponged a bit of China Glaze Blk Bila Bong at the very top of the sky.

I stamped with BM407 an image I will never get tired of!  And I added the owl from Messy Mansion's MM38

I love the eerie feel to it.  I accidentally pulled up a piece of stamping on thumbie so now the tree trunk looks like a mutant LOL!

I matted it after I had a shiny topcoat on it.  Here's what it looks like shiny

I sure hope this mani has Serene shaking in her boots!!!!!

I'm hopping over to check out what everyone else did today!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen Does Autumn--Fall leaves

OMG don't look!  This is soooooo embarrassing!  The Crumpet and I are wearing the same outfit!  This has honestly never happened to me before!

LOL!  I'm sure by now you've guessed most of us in the Digit-al Dozen have known each other for years and have been hanging around the same shady joints for years.  Debbie and I are definitely those two people.  We have totally different styles but on this day we found out we both did something so similar it was just hilarious to me.  

She posted a pic of her mani while mine was freaking drying!  She lives across the pond for god's sake and here we were doing something really similar without even talking about it.  We thought it would be a great idea to post them today.

I guess you'll have to decide for yourself who wore it better!

I did this mani with a ton of  Darling Diva Witchee Collection Polishes--Shapeshifter, The Archanist, The Alchemist, Cast A Spell and The Witching Hour.  I also used her Green Diamond and well as Jade Mystic Gold

My base is the gorgeous Billy Bones from Pahlish.  Seriously in love with this polish.  I know it's hard to see all the ultrachrome flecks in it but trust me they are there and gorgeous!

I stamped using one of my MJ plates.  FINALLY used this sucker!  I've had it for awhile but finally peeled off the blue film! MJ XLV has a lot of cool leaves and flower images on it

I know I sure loved this happy little accident!  I can't wait to check out what everyone else came up with today!  Is anyone else wearing my outfit?????

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen Does Autumn--Fall with a bite

Hi Everyone!  Happy Monday!  This week kicks off The Digit-al Dozen's Autumn week and living in Wisconsin I am happy to report we have a kick-ass Autumn season!  Autumn or Fall to me means a gorgeous scenery of yellows, orange, greens and browns.  It's apple harvesting, and corn harvesting and of course pumpkin picking!  It's comfortable days with cooler nights.  It's Packer football season spent watching the game with family and friends.  It's also Halloween!  There is alot going on in the Fall!!!

Today I decided to kick off my Digit-al Dozen week with a look that goes from Fall to Halloween--sweet to badass with just a couple of little change ups.  I actually really love this mani both ways!  First I started with one of my favorite Fall colors--Cast A Spell from Darling Diva.  This gorgeous coppery orange is from her Witchee Collection--my favorite collection of hers.  I stamped first the BN01 Bridal Nail collection from Messy Mansion.

This right here is just drop dead gorgeous to me.  Nothing says Autumn like orange and black together

I think this image makes this look so classy!

I love the Bridal Nail set from Messy Mansion all the images are just stunning

To give this same mani and edgier  look for Halloween I grabbed MM58 and a couple of the wicked cool skull images!

Same mani with just a couple of badass additions!

How cool is the dude on my ring finger???!!!

Total BADASS!  I love how with just these little additions I was able to turn this Autumn tapestry look into a wicked Halloween mani!

I'm going to head over to see what everyone else came up with for today!

An InLinkz Link-up

Ready for Fall!

Hi Everyone!  Happy Monday!  It is definitely starting to look like and feel like Fall around here and I am elated!  I hauled out a bunch of my "ready for Fall and Winter" polishes which means the Darling Diva Witchee Collection is front and center.  In my humble opinion this is the best collection she's had and I am so glad I have all of them!

I decided to start out my week with the gorgeous The Witching Hour which is a gorgeous dark teal.  I also hauled out my Uber Chic Wild West 01 plate--the one I bought 2 months ago and still had the freaking blue film on it and my Mundo Aqua to come out with this beauty!

This is one of those really easy and simple stamped mani's that just look stunning

Tone on tone stamping is always going to be my favorite I think

I know alot of you just live for summer neons but man oh man oh man these dark colors are my fave and I'm so glad I have a few months to play with these babies!

I've got some nice Fall/Autumn ideas churning in my head right now and would really like to do something with a dark brown.  Hopefully we'll see something cool with brown in the next few days!

The leaves are starting to turn here so definitely signs Winter is on its way--but hopefully it won't rush!

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

It's the end of days----maybe

Hi Everyone!  A happy Sunday to all.  Tonight we have the double whammy of a blood moon along with a lunar eclipse.  And of course we do because it's cloudy as hell here so yet again another eclipse not witnessed by me! UG but who am I kidding??? It doesn't even start until after midnight and I'm in bed by 9 pm most nights LOL!

To mark this occasion as I may not ever see this again since it's not happening for another 20 years, I decided to haul out my Messy Mansion MM52 plate which is the Mayan Doomsday Calendar.  I'm not going to lie this mani didn't turn out as well as I had hope but my base was KILLER!

I just loved this base I did but the black stamping over it wasn't the best choice 

Here's the plate I used.  It's really cool!

I started with a base of Zoya Pepper and then did the saran wrap method with Nails Inc Vigo St as well as Zoya mini I have with no name on it! Yikes!  No clue what it is LOL

I think I like my pinkie and  index finger best

And my thumb!  My thumb turned out great too

All in all I think this is a pretty good mani to welcome the end of the world just in case we have it! hahahah!  

I hope wherever you are you have the chance to see tonight's eclipse.  I'm sure I'll catch pics online tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you all have a fantastic day!