My first water marble!

Good eveing, dear readers!  I hope everyone is having a great week-end so far.  I've been taking it easy due to this pain flare-up I've been in.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed it'll ease up soon but the weather doesn't make me hold my breath for it.  We're due to get some freezing rain later in the week.  Yeck!

After watching many youtube video's and going through other bloggers photo's of water marble mani's, I finally decided to try one myself.  I'll let y'all judge the results for yourself, but I think it turned out not too badly.  There are a couple of areas I got splotches, but in general, for a first attempt, I'll say it is a success to a certain point.  It wasn't near as difficult to do as I had feared it would be and I ended up having some fun with it.

Without further ado, a few photo's for your viewing pleasure.  Please excuse the quality, my camera batteries ended up dying on me and I was only able to get a couple decent looking photo's and only one hand.

I started with one coat Revlon Colorstay base coat, then 2 coats of Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in "Hard To Get" (white).  For the marbling, I used China Glaze "Liquid Leather" (black), Cover Girl Nailslicks "Cherry Brandy" (Red) and the Sally Hansen again.  I topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite.

For those wondering, I picked these colors because they were the colors of the school both my kids graduated from, The Fairfield Union Falcons.

I like how it turned out.  Kind of like that paint art you can do at the county fair where you put a little paint of whatever color you want, then they spin it around.  That is what this reminds me of.

In my opinion, water marbling is unique because there are thousands of design options just depending on the colors you use and how you run your needle/dotting tool/toothpick/whatever through the polish while it's in the water.  I can see myself doing this again and again as I really enjoyed learning how it was done.  

Have you done a water marble yet and if so, how do you think yours turned out?

Thank you all for spending a bit of time with me this evening.  Huggles!

Tuesday Trivia for Jan 22, 2013

Good evening, darling readers!  Are we ready for Trivia Tuesday?  I know I'm a bit late today, but it's been one of those kind of days.  :0)

Today's trivia question is in the catagory of History.  What was the last name of the Italian tractor magnate who decided to build his own cars when he became frustrated with his Ferrari?  This question brought to you courtsey of Trival Pursuit, Genus 20th Anniversary Edition.  Please no looking it up until at least midnight.  :)

As always, thank you for spending a few minutes of your time with me.  I'll be back later with today's mani.  Until then, huggles!

January NAS mani, plus nail mail

Good Sunday evening, darling readers!  I hope you all have had a pleasant week-end.  I know a lot of you return to work in the morning, so here is to hoping your evening goes as slowly as you want it to. :0)

Today I have for you my January Nail Art Society bag that I received earlier in the week and the mani to go with it.  I was very excited to receive this months bag after getting a sneak peek at the polish that was included and couldn't wait to see what color I would get.

Without further ado, for your viewing pleasure, the photo's:

Everything that was included in the bag.

I received 04-Turquoise Wave.

Cherimoya Black Nail Art Striper.

Stella tweezers.

Swarkoski crystals in cute plastic flower shaped case.

This is the first time I've used a magnetic polish and I like how it turned out.  Even my husband was fasinated with it.  I kept it simple, with just two coats of polish and 1 coat of Seche Vite.

I tried a bit different set-up this time with my camera.

I think the photo's look much better now.

A bit closer view.

And this is back where I had been taking my photo's, just to show

the comparison.

I'm already looking forward to seeing what is in the February bag!

Nail Art Society is a monthly subscription of nail art supplies and nail polish and is currently $19.95 per month, although I was lucky enough to sign-up under the old plan at $9.95.

Do you currently belong to any subscription plans and if so, do you think they are worth it?

Thank you for taking a few minutes of your day to spend with me.  Until next time, huggles!


*All items in this post were purchased with my own funds and not provided by any company for review.

The Excitement is building!

Yesterday, while watching my Twitter feed and feeling as if every part of me was about to explode into small shards of glass from the pain I was in, I saw someone mention Jilltastic Nail Design is going to have a 28 day challenge during February and to check out her Facebook page for more information, so that is what I did.  As I have never done a challenge before and wasn't sure if you were supposed to wait to be invited to participate in one or how one worked, I asked if it was okay for me to take part in it.  I was very pleased when the response was yes.

Later in the day, I had a doctor's appointment with my pain management doctor to see if there was anything that could be done to help break the current pain flare-up I'm in and to discuss the possibility of replacing the generator (battery) for the implanted spinal cord stimulator (SCS) that I have and it was decided to go ahead and proceed with the pre-authorization process for surgery for as soon as my insurance will approve it.  We also bumped up one of my medications temporarily, so if over the next few days, I post and it seems a bit disjointed or more rambling, you'll know why.  :0)  I also felt bad yesterday because it was Mr Older's birthday and I had wanted to surprise him with his favorite cookies when he came home from work but instead, he had to hurry to take me to another appointment.  Hopefully sooner I'll feel better and not only be able to make his favorite cookies, but I'll make him some german chocolate brownies to go with them.  :)

After the appointment I began worrying about the challenge though, so I got in touch with Jilltastic Nail Design and she assured me, even if I have surgery in the middle of February, I can still continue with it, so I'm still just as excited to participate.  This challenge is open to everyone, not just bloggers.  For those who want to follow along, you can find info here.  If you do participate, please share your pretties on her Facebook page here and don't forget to 'LIKE' her page!  :)

Okay now for the mani I am currently wearing.  I decided blue might cheer me up a bit, especially when I pulled this bottle out.  I won it in a give-away back during Halloween and thought it was very pretty.  It is China Glaze's Want My Bawdy.  The name gives me the giggles sometimes because the definition of bawdy according to www.dictionary.com is "indecent, lewd, or obscene", which this polish is none of, at least to me.  In the bottle, this polish appears to be a bluish-purple, or blurple if you will, but on my nails, I didn't see much of the purple come to the party, but that was okay because I tried my very first stamping.  It isn't the most amazing job, but it isn't as bad as I thought it might turn out.  I couldn't decide between 2 designs so I alternated every other nail.  I started with a base coat of Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler on the nails that needed it, then followed with a coat Sally's Hansen's Maxium Growth Stage 2.   I did do 3 coats of CG Want My Body because after the first 2, I had a few spots where my nail was still showing through so I did one more coat which took care of that, otherwise it applied nicely.  I did the stamping with Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails in Hard to Get.  I topped everything off with one coat of Seche Vite.

Photo's after the jump.

Something new! Trivia Tuesdays!

Good early morning, darling readers!  I have decided to try something new today.  I am going to call it "Trivia Tuesdays"!  Depending on how it goes over the next 3 or 4 Tuesdays and if everyone likes it, will determine if we keep it around.  I can't do any prizes right now, but that is something I would like to add eventually.  The only thing I ask is that you please don't look it up until after 6 pm est or so.  If this idea is something everyone likes and we want to keep around, we'll get more firmly established ground rules for playing in place then.  :0)

Is everyone ready for the first trivia question?   (For the sake of  full disclosure,  I am getting my questions from the Triva Pursuit Game, Genus 20th Anniversary Edition.)  Here we go:  In the category Arts & Entertainment:  What TV show first referred to people as "Happy Meals on legs" and fast food as "McPlasmas"?

The winner will be the one with the first correct answer in the comments section with the earliest time.  No clues will be given until after 6 pm est and please try not to look it up until after then.  Above all, let's have fun because that is the spirit in which Tuesday Trivia is intended.  :0)

I will be back later with a nail post.  Have a great early morning y'all!  Thank you for stopping by.  Huggles.

An updated look to my NAS Mani

Good evening, my darling readers.  Just a quick post for now.  I decided, instead of removing the previous mani that I was wearing, that I would update it a little, so I could practice a bit of technique.  I didn't quite do so well, but that is what practicing is all about, right?  To get better?  I may stick with just plain mani's on my own nails for awhile and practice on the tips I bought until I get a bit more comfortable playing around with techniques a bit more though, especially clean-up.  :0)  And on to the photo's, for your viewing pleasure.

I added a coat of Out the Door for shine and a line of Gold Art Deco Glitter by LA Colors for a bit of added sparkle since I was missing it with the matte colors before.  I really smudged my index finger.  I'll have to get a bottle of the Orly Smudge Fixer that was suggested yesterday in my comments box (thank you dear!) to fix those up when I do that.

Here you can see the modifications I did a little better.  It wasn't much, but it made me happy.  :)

As always, thank you for spending a few moments with me.  Huggles!

Mani with December NAS kit

Good evening, my darling readers!  I thought I would post the mani I did with the December 2012 Nail Art Society bag, real quick.  It's very, very messy, so please forgive me.  I was in a hurry and I was having a problem with having these little seizures I sometimes get that are called 'myloclonic seizures'.  They normally only happen at night and mainly in my hands but for some reason, I think because I was anxious, they  popped up while I was doing my mani.  Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, here y'all go.  :0)

I didn't realize exactly how bad this looked until I saw the photo's.  :(

This mani is coming off  ASAP since it is so messed up!

While I did like both of these polishes (I had no application issues at all, polish flowed easy and the brushes are nice & wide), I'm not a huge fan of matte finishes.  They just seem to miss that umph I'm used to.  It does give a  nice option though for something different for when I'm in the mood for different so I'm not going to dismiss it completely out of hand, that is why I do have one matte topcoat on hand.  :)  I'm really looking forward to receiving my January NAS bag, which is on it's way.

As always, thank you for taking a few moments to spend with me!  Huggles!

First post for 2013!

Good evening, my darling readers!  Nine days into the new year and it's my first post of 2013.  Am I slow or what?  Okay, don't answer that one y'all!  lol  All I can ask is for y'all to forgive me for being away for so long.  I have been having a bit of a rough time lately between my disability with my back and some stomach problems I've been having.  I recently had a stomach scope and colonoscopy done.  I had both tests done December 3rd, 2012 and got my test results 3 days later.  Normally it takes about a week to get the results back, but the doctor asked to get them back as soon as he could because he was going out of the country for the holidays.  There was one non-cancerous polyp found during the colonoscopy so that was considered normal (YIPPEE!!!) so that was the good news.  The not so good news is he found I have a bacterial infection called H. Pylori in my stomach that required me to go on 2 different antibiotics.  The ones that are normally used to treat this infection I couldn't take because I'm allergic to them so it took awhile for the doctor to determine what I could take for it.  I go back to him Monday the 14th of this month to be retested to make sure I no longer have this infection.  This time I can simply be tested with a simple breath test instead of having to go through another scope procedure, thank goodness!  Although I don't remember either actual procedure, I really didn't like the prep that was required.  For my back, I just went through another steriod shot procedure (in the tailbone, no less) on Monday so I'm still a bit tender on my backside just yet.  Keep your fingers crossed this shot will give me some relief from the inflammation.

Now onto some good stuff.  While I was taking my impromtu break, I got some good nail mail!  I signed up, back at the end of October, for the Nail Art Society nail club, when it was still $9.95 a month and am now grandfathered in at that price.  If you join now, it is $19.95 a month.  I received my first 'bag' in early December and really liked everything I received.  Are you ready for the photo's?  I don't have a mani with the stuff yet, but I will have later tonight (I hope to anyway).

 The 'bag'.

 Contents: A card with several photo's of blogs on it, including two I visit on a regular basis, a good sized Stella brand package of different sized rhinestones including orange stick, a .11 oz bottle Beauty Art nail glue, a container of 30 nail polish remover pads Cherimoya Brand, and two 13 ml bottles of matte-n-a Cherimoya polish in Blockbuster (silver) and Mystery (magenta).

Contents again, only showing the back of the card this time, with a manicure idea and instructions on how to complete it.  I love the December NAS bag and can't wait to see what is in the January bag.  I am so glad that I signed up when I did as well since I am now grandfathered in at the lower price.

Okay, that's it for my first post of 2013, so far.  I have also done a couple of small changes to the blog.  I changed the FAQ page a bit to also now include referral links and updated the give-away page.  I'll work on updating that page more in the next few days as I find more give-aways to add to it.  I'm working on a mani I'm hoping to photograph later and get posted, but I may not be able to get to it until morning now.

Thank you all again for hanging in there with me!  As always, thank you for taking some time out of your busy day to spend a small amout of your time with me.  Huggles!