The Digit-al Dozen Does Countries & Cultures--Columbia!

Hi Everyone!  Happy Wednesday!  So when this week was looming in front of me I was actually thinking of not doing it!  It just seemed too hard to come up with some fabulous designs and ideas.  My friend Sheila from Pointless Cafe was really encouraging and helpful so I knew I had to do something as a little shout out to her.  Something you may not know about her--that woman LOVES coffee!  Love, Love, LOVES it!  She and I are on the total opposite spectrums of our coffee drinking too.  For me the paler the better, the sweeter the better and yep the colder the better for me!  She loves her black with no additives--UG.  I put this mani together to celebrate the best of both worlds--light with tons of cream and sugar and black, black, black!

This one's for you Sheila!

I found the coffee stamping in the pink CiCi & SiSi set and had to doctor up BM01 to get my Columbia accent nails

Ahhhh blessed, blessed coffee how we all adore you!

Let's check out what everyone else did for today--this week we are rocking it and kicking butt once again in the group!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen Does countries & Cultures--Redneck!

Hi Everyone.  Today is a sad day for me.  Today marks the day my sister finally succumbed to her breast cancer after battling it for 8 long years.  This is the 5th anniversary of her death.  It's hard to believe 5 years have gone by.  5 long years without my sister and my best friend.  People try to tell you stupid things when someone you love dies like time heals all wounds, but it doesn't.  Time can heal a physical wound but no amount of time can ever fill the gaping hole left in your heart.

I wasn't sure how I would feel about Digit-al Dozen today.  I wasn't sure I would even feel like participating in this week.  So I played it by ear.  I didn't commit to anything and I cried alot.  My sister didn't like  us to cry over her, she tried to shield us from the pain, she tried to comfort us even in the very   end.  But you do cry and we will continue to cry.  She also would have been hacked off at me for not participating today or this whole week.  So I need to pick my sad self up--stiff upper lip it--and git 'er done.

Lisa loved to wear pink camo!  I made fun of her for it all the time.  "Lisa" I would say, "there are no pink trees! there is no pink grass" but she wore it anyway.  Camouflage is actually a long standing joke in my family.  When I  was in high school I was on a camo pants kick before it was even "in"!  I wore camo pants all the time and my dad would tease me and say "I can't see you from the waist down".  I bought my dad tons of camo things thermos' for work, lunch bags, a little camo travel clock for him to take hunting--you name it, if it had camo on it I bought it for him.

When it finally got "in" like 20 years after I made it cool, Lisa started to wear it.  She actually had this little half camo jacket!  We used to tease her and call it a "jack" because it wasn't a full jacket. She had a lot of those little "jacks" LOL.  She was actually very stylish.

She was beautiful, and funny.  She was kind and loved with her whole heart.  She was one of the best parts of my life for 44 years.  Living without her is hard--there are times you just need your best friend.  You just want to pick up the phone and say "hey guess what happened today" but you can't.  The hardest thing about living after someone you love dies is actually living.  

I remember everything about her.  Am glad to have shared 44 wonderful years with her but I do long for the day we can one day be together again.

Today in honor and memory of my beautiful sister, Lisa Gage, I'm wearing some pink camo right along with my regular camo

Here's a picture of me with my beautiful sister's when we were on vacation in Florida-I'm in the middle, Lynelle my little sister is on the left and Lisa in her camo and "jack" is on the right

Many thanks to my sweet Digit-al Dozen family for letting me do whatever I wanted to do today

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen Does Countries & Cultures--Queen Of The Nile!

Hi Everyone!! Happy Monday!  This week is a Digit-al Dozen week and man was this one hard!  You know we have these themes picked out way in advance and you look at it and go okay no problem, then it's upon you and go what the french am I doing???  I had to dig deep for this theme and I sure hope everyone thinks I did my wonderful Digit-al Dozen group proud!

First up is Ancient Egypt.  Why ancient instead of modern times--simple I have Messy Mansion plate I bought ages ago and I said I was going to start using images and plates I haven't ever used--so thank you Digit-al Dozen for getting my rear in gear with this one!

I stamped today with MM32 over a gradient of OPI Live, Love, Carnaval. Zoya Robyn and White.  I did the decal method for Cleopatra AND no bubbles for the first time! Woot!

I don't know why it took me so long to try out this plate--this came out fabulous!

I think this week is going to be a good one for Digit-al Dozen, with themes like this you never know what everyone is going to come up with.  Let's head over and see what everyone else did for today!

An InLinkz Link-up

Is there a doctor in the house?!

Hi Everyone!! Happy Saturday!  Today I have an exciting post to share.  I was recently contacted by Sara of Nyall about creating or "frankening" my own polishes.  Nayll is a company that will make up whatever you create and send it to you!  You get to pick you base, clear or colored--you can create a glitter or a shimmer and each one you make you get to name!  WOW how cool is this for someone who'd like to have a personal polish but isn't a polish maker?!

It's SUPER easy!  I went to the site, followed their easy instructions and I made 4 polishes.  Yes UBU I made this!!  The hard part is waiting for your goodies to get to you.  The whole time you're thinking, wow I hope I don't suck at creating polishes.  I did one shimmer that I just didn't know would work.  I wanted to do one to show everything Nayll has to offer but I was worried it might be lame.  It turned out gorgeous! GORGEOUS!

So this is going to pic heavy because heck yeah I stamped over all my lovelies too!  

First up the lovely Sea Mist.  I added aqua and sea blue holo squares with some aqua micro glitter and black stars.  My black stars don't show up great over the black base I chose but I'm sure over a lighter base they will be visible.

I stamped over it because stamping over glitter is one of my favorite things to do!

Messy Mansion MM29 definitely one favorite images to use for stamping over glitter

So next up is a super personal one to me--you can't live in Wisconsin and not be a Packer fan! Seriously, you CAN'T if you do then yes you need to move--LOL!  

OMG ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL??!!!!!!

I'm still feeling the love for my heart throb Jason Momoa and lucky for me through Nayll I could make up a Jason inspired polish!!!  I wanted something with a Hawaiian feel so there is ALOT of glitter in here. Dark purple squares, pink micro glitter and then lots of matte shapes--aqua stars, yellow dots, lavendar dots, pink squares--it's all in here!

I got so excited to use this one I didn't get shots of it without my stamping first LOL!  But can you see the name???!!! I called this one MOAR Momoa! because come on---we all need some more Jason Momoa in our lives!

This  one is a beauty isn't it?  I used another fave image to stamp over glitter MM20 as well as BM318 with my OPI Sheer Tints.  I wish my tints didn't bubble so dang much!

Here's a pic with Jason!  Oooh!!! Ahhhh!!!

So here's the one I didn't think would work.  I wanted to make a shimmer but didn't know if my plum base with fuchsia shimmer would look good.  I mean they are similar in color.  Would you even see some fuchsia shimmer in a plum base.  When I got this baby I was blown away!  I was even more elated to be able to name this Voyeur after my favorite book by Lacey Alexander!

It's actually just so lovely!  I'm really please with how this one turned out--so simple yet SO beautiful!

I miss these long nails though!  I had to cut them down after this mani :(

I did stamp over this one too but I didn't really like my stamping

So now the last one up is one already created by Nayll.  It's called Desert Lakes and is just gorgeous!  It's part of the Summer Waters collection.  I layered it over a pale icy blue and beauty was born

Desert Lakes has a lot of lovely glitters in an awesome color combo going on
pale blue, aqua, pink and bronze! So yummeh!

And look at the little white stars!!

I stamped over it using my Cheeky XL Wild At Heart plate

 Another beauty!

Sara also sent me her Smooth It Out glitter topcoat to try.  I used it with all the glitter creations I did and then topped it with my Seche Vite.  

I am a fan of this company!  I think it's awesome to be able to make your one of a kind creations!  While I was sent these polishes for review I am heading back to purchase a few bottles of my Packer Backer creation to give to friends for the football season--maybe even some for a Bears frenemy!!!


So where can you find Nyall?  You can find them online at Nyall.com you can find them on Facebook!  What are you waiting for?!!! Get over there and create your own!!!!

My boyfriend and I got matching tattoos!

Hi Everyone!! Happy Friday!!!  For those of you who might know me you know that my current heart throb is the gorgeous Jason Momoa.  My friend Emily challenged me the other day to do a nail design like the tribal tattoo Jason has on his arm.  Naturally I had to accept the challenge!  First up a couple of pics of the beautiful Jason and has arm tattoo

Nice tattoo!

Even nice incredibly hot guy!!! 

Because Jason is Hawaiian I wanted to do something with an Island feel to go along with my tattoo

I started with an easy gradient of yellow and blue to give me my 3 colors of yellow, green and blue.  Next I enlisted Dashica SdP A for the thumb, index and pinkie and used CiCi & SiSi 10 for the middle finger.  To recreated exactly Jason's tattoo I used my black sheer and stamped with BM423 and then matted it for a "skin" look.

The results are amazing!  I love it and think it's perfect!!  Here's a little collage to show everyone all together!

Challenge accepted Emily!!!!  This mani turned out so great this is definitely one I'll be wearing for more than a day!

What do you think?  Do you think this mani is perfect or can you hardly see it sitting next to such an incredibly hot gorgeous man??!

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

Happy 4th of July!

Hi Everyone!  Today in the states we are celebrating our independence day.  A very Happy 4th of July to all who celebrate!!!

It's a beautiful sunny day here and I'll be spending time with my son today.  I think we might actually to to the zoo!  

Happy 4th of July!  God Bless America!  Hope you all have a great day!

Beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder

Hi Everyone!!  The challenge theme for this week in one of my facebook groups is caviar beads.  Really?!  Those things are the devil.  They get everywhere not all of them actually stay stuck on and they bleed like no one's business.  But here I am trudging forward.  When I did this mani I had the idea it would look like the waves in a turbulent sea.  I think it's a major fail yet everyone who's seen it tells me I'm crazy and that it's a fantastic mani.  I really only have one picture of it because you just can not look at this close up as it will drive you crazy.

Here's my stamped caviar bead mani--what do you think?  Can you see any waves in here?  Do you like this look or do you think this is just flat out ugly like I do?

A couple of my friends say it looks like rope work, and I guess I can see that, but since I wanted it to look like waves, rope work doesn't quite cut it for me!

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