Hi Everyone! Today is another installment in Crumpet's Nail Tarts Halloween Challenge and omg at first I panicked with this theme--
Freestyle Halloween. I think we all know how I feel about my freestyle! Let's just say my freestyle is trapped inside my non-creative body LOL! I wanted to do something cool and funky SO I went to youtube! I checked out the queen of the water marble, Collette of My Simple Little Pleasures. She has a couple of spider web designs so I decided to try my hand at one.
And this is what I came up with----
ATTACK OF THE GREEN MUTANT SPIDERS!
This looks pretty cool BUT it wasn't easy lol!
I should say it doesn't look as great as Collette's BUT I do think it's cool!
AND I got to use my favorite green--China Glaze Cha Cha Cha!
Check out the Thumbies!
Here's Lefty
And Righty
I think this mani is spooktacular for Freestyle Halloween!!
Make sure if you haven't seen any of the bazillion water marble tutorials by Collette you check this one out for sure!
AND check out what all my ghoulish gal friends have come up with today!
Hey Everyone!! Happy Monday! Okay usually it's not happy because no one wants to be back at work LOL! I hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was pretty lowkey. It was crummy weather BUT I got to spend some time with my grand nephew, Sean and see my nephew AJ and his beautiful girlfriend Jericho all dressed up for Homecoming!
Today for MSMD I copied the super talented Ashley of Smashley Sparkles. She's usually to blame for some of the polishes I "have" to have like the entire Color Club Take Wing collex and the latest one I had to have--China Glaze Senorita Bonita. When I saw the way cool water marble Ashley did with Orly Goth, Senorita Bonita and China Glaze Riveting I knew I had to be all in!
Since it's October and Halloween stuff is rampant I added an accent nail of just China Glaze Riveting and stamped a little witches hat.
I'm not going lie to you about this one. IT WAS HARD! It's so hard to water marble with Senorita Bonita and Riveting. I wasted SO much polish on this baby. UG I hate when that happens!
Ashley's turned out super cool! Make sure you check hers out here
And be sure you check out what everyone else has come up with for MSMD!!!
Hey Everyone--today I want to talk about the difficulty of surviving the loss of a loved one. With this month being October there is nothing but Breast Cancer Awareness surrounding me at every turn. Everyone and their mother is doing the silly "post this as your face book status", some people are going around saying something stupid like Save The Ta Ta's because they think it's funny, and work has been having donate $5 to Susan G Komen so you can wear jeans, and on and on and on.
NO ONE is more aware of breast cancer than I am. Breast Cancer killed my beautiful sister, Lisa. So this time of year is very hard on me. I don't want to be a bitch, I don't want to be bitter and ugly, yet I am. I have to say to myself repeatedly--just because your sister did not survive does not mean someone else's sister didn't. And even though my sister died, every day someone's sister survived--someone's mother, grandmother, aunt, sister and daughter did survive--AND someone's father, grandfather, brother and son did too.
I want to be as supportive as I can this time of year, but for me pink doesn't really cut it. I actually almost hate pink this time of year. To me it's hard to see the words HOPE, FAITH, and LOVE and think them especially concerning breast cancer. BUT the fabulous Kim from Overall Beauty has Joby Nail Art Stickers for Breast Cancer Awareness and they are a really great affordable and easy way for someone to show their support not only this month but any month.
Today I've done a mani that shows how I feel about my sister and breast cancer.
Sometimes it's all about the pink and hope--sometimes it is dark. I love this mani though and it combines two things that are important to me--my love of nail art and the love I have for my sister.
Despite the simple look of this mani it wasn't. I used the angel's wings image from Red Angel 115 but I needed them spread apart a bit more so I had to stamp them one at a time and then put the ribbon in the middle. I used the gorgeous OPI DS Extravagance and then sponged on Wet n Wild Black creme to darken the tips. I then sponged on Jade Magia Negra a black holo over the black to give me a holo gradient as my base.
While this time of year with all the Breast Cancer Awareness can be very hard on me, it's not too hard on me to say the most important thing anyone can do about Breast Cancer is to simply be aware. You need to realize this is something that can happen to anyone in your life at any given moment. This is not a cancer exclusive to women. Don't be flippant about it if you are diagnosed with it. When I first learned my sister had it I said, "Ok it's just breast cancer--this is a curable cancer" Not all breast cancer IS curable. My sister had triple negative breast cancer--a very aggressive form of breast cancer that is not hormone driven therefore cannot be easily treated with hormone therapy. She was cancer free for nearly 5 years and then it returned. She had her breasts removed and again I thought her breasts are gone so she can't get this again.
WRONG--having your breasts removed does not mean you cannot get breast cancer--breast tissue is deep and it's more than on the surface of your body. Once Lisa's cancer returned the 2nd time after nearly 5 years of being dormant it returned every single year until she finally succumbed to it after 8 years. She went through radiation and chemotherapy each time. EACH TIME she took poison into her body to try to kill the cancer trying to kill her. Chemotherapy is the worst thing anyone can ever go through in their entire life--trust me I know--it destroyed my sister's body and it killed my father.
YET hundreds of thousands of women and men will take chemotherapy as a treatment to cure their cancer. They willing loose their hair--and not just the hair on their head, but also their eyebrows and eyelashes, to save their life. They go through excruciating pain and suffering simply to stay alive. Radiation makes them tired and radiation to the brain makes them confused and forgetful. Chemotherapy causes permanent damage to their nerves and they suffer neuropathy to their hands and feet. You can lose your toenails and fingernails while undergoing treatment. Your vision can blur and change with chemotherapy. You will lose your appetite and food may never taste the same to you again.
And still hundreds and thousands of women and men will endure this suffering to live. Their families will sit by and suffer silently as they watch their loved ones go through this--some of these family members will rejoice because some will be cured--others will be like me angry and horribly sad that their loved one endured so much pain and suffering only to die. And sometimes it's easy to say "Without the treatment I would not have had 8 more years with my sister" but other times it's easy to say "It's not fair she suffered and went through all of that for nothing"
So this time of year, when you see pink and are asked to donate, when someone asks you to do those silly facebook games--try to really think about breast cancer and make yourself TRULY aware of it. Try to realize it's something that affects more than women--and more than one person. Breast cancer affects an entire family and all the friends of the person who has it. Try to remember the treatment we use most often to cure breast is POISON. Don't be flip, like I was at first, and think it's a curable disease. Try to think if there's anyone you know who's had it or has it and call them up and say--How can I help you today?
To all my readers who are survivors--I'm thankful--so thankful you are. To all my readers who lost someone to this horrible cancer--my arms reach out to you for a virtual hug. I hope someday no one will ever have to be made aware of breast cancer--because it WILL be a curable disease. Until then do the best you can to educate yourself and don't ever think it's something that will never touch your life.
Hi Everyone! Happy Friday! I've got a pretty short and sweet post for you today. I'm trying to go through the old stasharoo and use some untrieds and I found this gorgeous purple in my purple drawer! HOLY COW Who knew who Visions of Sugar Plum was so freaking gorgeous? I sure didn't! My lovely internet daughter, Rebecca, sent this to me like a year ago and I've never tried it! I should be shot! I paired it with the lovely China Glaze Spontaneous in this sweet half moon mani and then stamped a cute butterfly. What a lovely mani on the fly!
I can't wait to haul this baby out again and do something more with it! It's simply stunning!
Tonight is my nephew's last football game and it's homecoming! It's supposed to be cold and rainy but never fear Auntie Laurie will be there!
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Hey Everyone! Almost the weekend!! Woot!!! No big plans for the weekend, I'm just going to spend time with my family. If anyone is doing any fabulous let me know so I can live vicariously through you!
Today is another Crumpet's Nail Tarts Halloween Challenge
and today's theme is witches. I really wanted to think outside the box for this one so I decided on a water marble resembling some witch socks!
I had envisioned it a teeny cuter lol!
Be sure you check out what everyone else has come up with!
Hey everyone. Today I have a special mani to show you. While everyone knows when it comes to October it's all about breast cancer awareness, it's also depression awareness month. Depression is actually a very normal part of our lives. When you feel sad or blue you say you are depressed. Many of you know I lost my father to complications from chemotherapy recently. I am still very depressed about this. I love my dad, I can't imagine living my life every day without him, BUT dying is the only guarantee we have in this life. I cry and I get very angry when I think of my father's dying but I know this will ebb. I know this because I also lost my beautiful sister, Lisa, to breast cancer 3 years ago. I've also gone through a divorce and a break up which left me very sad. People will often say something I think is dumb, such as, time heals all wounds. Time heals a physical wound not a wound of the heart and soul.
My green mani for Depression Awareness is one that shows just how depression can creep up on us. It's silent and steady and sometimes without help it can be deadly.
There is a difference between depression and clinical depression. Plain or simple depression is considered as a normal occurrence of everyone's life. that doesn't mean it's plain or simple--losing a loved one, a pet, a job--are all things that can cause plain or simple depression. When they are happening to us they don't feel plain or simple. They feel heart wrenching.
When depression starts to hinder your everyday living--i.e you can't get out of bed, you can't eat or sleep, you can't work then you're not looking at simple or mild depression. When depression lasts longer than 6 months, when it affects your everyday life to the point you no longer function as you once did this is clinical depression. This is where you really should seek professional help.
Sometimes we like to think we can diagnose and treat ourselves. Please don't do this with something like depression. If you are depressed and it lasts more than 6 months, if you aren't eating or sleeping, if you can't get out of bed, or go to work, please seek help, you are not alone and you don't have to suffer.
My mani is done with a base of Zoya Ray--it might be my new favorite green. I stamped on it using the green Bohemians Unpredictable, Rare & Radiant and Deviantly Daring. The image plate is Mash 42.
This is a month long collaboration to focus on Depression Awareness. Please stop by to see what all the other gals have come up with
Hi Everyone! I don't know how old you all are but I'm pretty dang old! I remember Creature Feature on Saturday nights when I was kid--it was on channel 18. My sister Lisa and I used to watch all the movies they played and holy cow I was scared so many times it was not funny! There were movies about monsters, werewolves, vampires and of course zombies. Today's theme in the Crumpet Nail Tarts Halloween Challenge is zombies. OMG this was SO FREAKING HARD TO DO! I love my gurls in Crumpet's but whoever thought up zombies needs to get smacked LOL!
When it comes to freehand we all know it is not my cup o tea. But I managed to freehand a little zombie
The coolest thing about this mani is the Zoya Evvie and Ray gradient with Sonoma Nail Art Here Lies Robert over it.
Speaking of zombies do any of you watch The Walking Dead? I can not believe how much I love that show! I can't wait for the new season to start!
I wonder how many cool zombie nails we'll see today from my cohorts?!
