The Digit-al Dozen Does Spring--Skittles!!

Hi Everyone!!! Happy Friday! Whew we made it! Or rather I made it, Daylight Savings Time killed me! I am SO glad it's the weekend.  Tomorrow is my corned beef bonanza with the family and I'm really looking forward to it.

For my last day I just some cute but easy skittle stamping

I used a few Zoya's and a couple of the Maybelline Bleached Neons. Zoya Wednesday, Pippa and Shelby and Maybelline Coral Heat and Lime Accent

I just did some simple stamping with MJ XXXIV from My Online Shop

Pretty fun and perfect for Spring

I based it on some fun Spring plates!

Aren't these cute????

Here were are side by side

I've been doing low carb for a month now but today the lure was just too strong to ignore.  I caved and picked up a small Shamrock Shake on the way home

This has been a fun week!  Lots of cute designs and they weren't all flowers!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Autumn Nails

Hi Everyone!  Holy cow did I have a major fail of a mani this morning!  I worked on a gradient for today's AIS challenge theme which is Autumn Nail and what I fully expected to turn out glorious and beautiful was a hot sucktastic mess!  Good lord it was ugly.  My friend James always tries to say I have no fails but I think we all know I have had some major fails!  I was able to recover this fumble though (how do you love that football analogy for football Sunday???) and do something I think is quite lovely.

The colors I chose today are Nails Inc Hamstead Gardens--one of those pretty "ugly" colors and Zoya Pepper and Toni.

Here's the craptastic gradient and stamping first

Yikes this is just a hot mess!  I didn't even clean up that great since I knew it wasn't staying on!

I did like how my thumb turned out though and I thought of doing the same gradient again with different stamping 

But I didn't!

Here's the ever elusive and rarely seen in the wild right hand--the one I refer to as my "man" hand.  I had stamped over the left and then realized I should have taken some pics of just the lovely Fall skittle!

Nails Inc Hamstead Gardens is that mustardy/baby poop yellow.  It's perfect for Fall!  The ring is Zoya Toni and really nice bordeux and the swear is Zoya Pepper--the perfect brick red!

I stamped using SA-02 with China Glaze Passion

I think it still says "Autumn" and it definitely looks better as a skittle rather a gradient!

I really like my new set of SA plates from Aliexpress.com!!

While the distinct difference between Zoya Pepper and Toni is harder to tell with the stamping over it, this mani is much better in my eye than the gradient.

Here's the Before and After shots though--YOU be the judge!

Heading over to a friend's for the Packer game!!!!  Hope my mani brings the Pack good luck!

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

Cooking up some skittles

Hi Everyone!! Wow trying to come up with an idea of your own after a two week long Digit-al Dozen Challenge is a bit daunting!  I had to think for myself!  I tossed together a quick and easy skittle mani.  I didn't have much time to think about any great ideas--it's Packer Sunday!!!  Today the party is at my sister's.  We're having tacos so I need to get some guacamole made up and head on over there for a fun filled day!

For this mani I put together some matte with some holo--I love those two looks together!

My index is Nabi Tawny, my swear is a franken I made--Pumpkin Spice Latte, ring is Zoya Caitlin and pinkie is Zoya Dove.  I matted Caitlin with some silver stamping!!

I added the green rhinestone to Pumpkin Spice Latte because my thumb has the lovely Zoya Veruschka on it!

These are definitely some fall colors which is good as we are seeing 50 degree weather today with rain

I need to do skittles more often!  I always like the end results when I do!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I wish everyone who entered the Spectacular September Giveaway the best of luck!!!

I hope you all have a great day and of course Go Pack, Go!!!!!!!!

Where the heck did I go?

Hi Everyone!! Happy Hump Day!!!  Sorry I dropped off for a couple of days.  Monday marked 4 years since my beautiful sister, Lisa, died of breast cancer.  In all honesty I didn't feel like talking to anyone.  People try to say stupid things to you like, oh she's in a better place now, or time heals all wounds, or even it's been 4 years you need to get on with your life.  You NEVER get over the death of someone you love.  There isn't enough time in the entire universe and all of existence to get over that wound--trust me.  Instead all you can do is life your life in the gigantic void that's left behind.  Sometimes you have good days, sometimes you have bad days.

My mother had to spend Monday without my father for the first time in four years.  He was her support and her rock and on the "anniversary" of the day Lisa died, mom had to endure it without my dad at her side.  All in all it's pretty craptastic.  BUT yes we all just keep on living in this gigantic void.  I have friends and family who messaged me that day and knowing they remember and having their support helped tremendously.

So here I am back in the swing of things!  It's hot here--yep 90 degree hot here so I guess summer has officially arrived!

I got a set of suedes from my super sweet friend Kim the other day so I just HAD to try a few of them out!  The are the W7 brand and they are all fabulous!  I got a total of 6--brown, black, silver, pink, blue and purple and I also got a no name light green one from Invogue.  I decided on a skittles using the blue, purple and green and then added a couple of Zoyas with a matte topcoat!!

Pinkie is W7 Aqua, ring is Invogue, swear is Zoya Amy, ring is Zoya Sarah and thumb is W7 Mauve

How gorgeous is this purple suede?????!!!!!!!

Did some fun stamping over it too!

This is from BM301

It totally reminds me of a circus!

I found you can matte almost all of the Zoya shimmers and get a cool suede effect.  The Irresistible collection looks amazing with a matte top coat!!

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

Let's Get Ready To Rumble!!!!!! Zoya Skittle Smackdown!

Hi Everyone!!! Today's challenge theme for Adventures In Stamping is over a skittle base.  This is always challenging for me because it's SO hard for me to be random LOL!  I decided to haul out my Zoya's both old and new and see what I could do.  I yanked both the Stunning and Beach collection out and went to town.  Now mind you I did all 10 fingers so 10 different shades AND I had to try to take pics of the right hand with the left hand and it's not pretty lol!

In this corner the Left Hand!!

From thumb to pinkie--Josie, Micky, Thandie, Darcy and Rocky

And in this corner---the Right Hand!

From thumb to pinkie--Reagan, Lara, Tracie, and Wednesday

And here's a collage of all the smackdown goodness

So my thoughts are I love Reagan so much better one than in the bottle as she dries darker, and I do think I love these year's Stunning collection just a smidge more than last year's Beach.  Stunning has some nice fun bright colors!

Of course the theme is always about STAMPING so I stamped lol!

First up the Left Hand!!!

And now the Right Hand (pictures aren't that clear because when you're 50 you suddenly shake like a drunken sailor while trying to hold steady)

I wanted to keep the stamping simple since my nails were already so busy with skittles so I chose the DRK-B for the butterflies and DRK-C for the flowers

What do you think???  Way too much color on two hands or can you dig it???  Which Zoya collection do you like best?

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

Day 14 Stamping

Hi Everyone! Oh lord when this day was first revealed in the 31 Day Crumpet's Nail Tart's Challenge I was scratching my head in wonder.  I stamped almost everyday--I rarely wear a mani with no stamping on it.  So how am I going to stand out on day Stamping???  Ninja's to the rescue!!!  Recently I got both the DRK-B and DRK-C from Ninja Polish.  I was wishy washing on which one as I planned on just getting one but then I kept seeing images from both I just loved so I had to get them both.  

In the process of putting together my "stamped" mani I got to use some really gorgeous polishes!  OPI My Private Jet, Butter London Teetotal, Zoya Pasha and Kiko 399.  I've had My Private Jet for years--since it first came out. Yet today's the first day I put it on.  See!  I have WAY too much polish!  If you're not wearing MPJ and you've owned it since 2007.  I bought it before I was into stamping.  To be honest I didn't really care for it much.  It was too sheer.  Tonight I decided to try my hand at a color skittle and first went to use my DS Desire but the color was totally off.  I hauled out My Private Jet and BAM perfect skittle!

When I saw the passport/luggage stamp image on DRK-C I knew I would use it for this mani!  I just love it!

Did you get a load of that Kiko Taupe??? OMG a taupe aka a nude and I love it!

I took a pic with flash to see if the holo would be more gorgeous

Hmmmm not really!!  I just love that Butter London Teetotal too, I feel like I've abandoned brown--my first love.  I need to use brown more often and what better time of year than Winter!?!

Here's the case of characters--ignore the long hair on Teetotal LOL!  I had no idea it was even there until after I took the picture!

Pasha was the very first Zoya I ever bought.  I love it.  For me it's the perfect nude.  I did order Farah the other day so I'm anxious to see which one I'll like best between the two of them.

I'm really excited about me new DRK's too and can't wait to use them more often.  My nails are really long now so it's nice to have some plates large enough for me to use without cutting them down.  Eventually they are going to have to get cut down though.

Let's see what's up for tomorrow

 Watercolor.  I haven't ever tried one, wonder if it will turn out!

Make sure you check out the Tart's and what they've come up with

Day 7 Ombre or Skittle

Hi Everyone!!! Happy Monday!!! I forgot to report back yesterday the Packer's won their first game in the play offs!!!  My son thinks it's because of the Frozen Tundra Kringle we got to eat while watching the game LOL!  I'll post some pics of it after the nail stuff!

So today's theme is Ombre or Skittle.  I gradient ALOT which can sometimes be an ombre, the gradient I did a while back with Save The Date is definitely an ombre, so I thought for a refreshing change I would do a skittle.  I sort of suck at color skittling so I decided on a stamping one.

Quick someone call Justin Timberlake because I brought sexy back!  This is my take on a "sexy" stamped skittle!

I used 2 untrieds for this mani too, Venique Vixen Pump and BeYu209 layered over it which, while some say is a Clarins 230 dupe--it's not, is super lovely!

I used some plates from the 3rd BM set 303, 310 and 323 and well as Konad M71.  I like how this turned out, just wish I was a little lighter handed with the laces on my corset.

Venique Vixen Pump is really lovely, layering the BeYu 209 over it made it EVEN lovelier.  I honestly thought about getting on the Chanel Malice bandwagon but I pulled myself back, I have ALOT of dupes for it or similar colors to it, I just don't need a zillion of these colors especially when I have Vampire State Building! Whew! Crisis Averted!!!

Here's a pic of Vixen Pump and BeYu 209--some have said BeYu is a dupe to Clarins, but as I've have both I can tell you it's not.  It is quite lovely though

As promised here are some pictures of our Frozen Tundra Kringle--frozen tundra is what Packer fans lovingly call the Green Bay Packer's stadium which is really called Lambeau Field

Kringle is a Danish pastry pretty exclusive to Racine, WI where I live.  I grew up on this stuff and O & H Bakery is the best in town!  The Frozen Tundra is cream cheese and dark chocolate chunks.  It was fabulous!

Okay so I've brought sexy back and showed you some yummy food so let's check out what's up for tomorrow with the Tarts!

Duochrome, Flakie or Holo!!! Okay 2 out of 3 ain't bad!!! I love me some duochromes and flakies!!!!!!

Let's see what everyone else came up with for today's theme!