Thing-a-Day 2012 - #12 Nail Paint

#12 - Nail Paint

It's been a long while since I've bothered to paint my nails. The Girl got this nail art kit for Christmas and I thought today would be the perfect day to give it a try. So I painted my base in a lovely Vintage Blue from Avon and I did the designs in Blue Me Away by Sallen Hansen Xtreme. There is definitely a learning curve. I couldn't get the entire design to transfer, and by the time I figured out what I was doing wrong, I was on my next-to-last fingernail. Ah, well. Until next time!

Thing-a-Day 2012 - #11 Hair Extensions

#11 Hair Extensions!

This is my friend Carrie. She's been wanting to put some red in her hair but she didn't want to mess with bleach and dye and having to repeat the process constantly to maintain her color. So I offered to put extensions in her hair that would allow her to keep the same, vibrant color until she was ready to take them out. We spent about an hour this morning putting the base extensions in and then she went to the salon to have them texturized and faded into her hair, since I am strictly forbidden by my sister to ever put scissors to hair. Then later she came back and I added some light, off-weft extensions to her hairline to help make the overall look a little more complete. It was so much fun, I can't wait for her to change colors :)

New Polish Color

"Flat Iron Green" by NYC In a New York Color Minute, Quick Dry Nail Polish

Okay, so I saw this color in a magazine and immediately fell in love with it. In the light it's very green, but without the benefit of UV, it's an almost black color! I just had to find it! So, I scoured the shelves until I found it on the very bottom of the display at the local Wally-World. I thought for sure this would become my new favorite polish. But I was completely unprepared for this. I expected, with it being one of those 60-seconds-to-dry type polishes, that it would also be a one-coat polish. WRONG! It took 4 coats total. And it dries so fast, sometimes I couldn't get the entire nail painted before the drying kicked in. Lots of streaking going on.

On the up side, it didn't chip right away like most polishes. A couple days after applying it, I trimmed my nails and gave them another coat. And now it's the color, and coverage, I want! While not technically a "spring" color, it does a good job of playing with spring. This probably won't be one of my go-to polishes since it takes so many coats before it's looking pretty, but when I have the time for multiple coats, it'll be right up there at the top of my list.

The Knitwit Files Vol 6: Warm Hat

This has was knitted flat using 2 strands of #4 worsted held together: one in snow white and the other in navy/white mottled. They are both a wool blend. The yarns were super slippery to work and I am so glad I worked this one flat. It only took a few evenings to knit this one up. I will most definitely use this pattern again.

The Knitwit Files Vol 5: Bold Stripes

Just before Christmas I had found some acrylic "fun yarn" at a local discount store. I planned on using it to practice different stitches, but when The Girl saw the purple she immediately claimed it for her next scarf. So I went back and picked up enough black to make a nice long scarf for her. I also picked up a little extra black for an animiguri project that I'm still working on.

The scarf is knitted in straight stitch. It went fairly quickly. The hardest part of the whole project was weaving in all the ends left from switching colors. One of these days I'll figure out how to carry the yarns up the side. I don't care for the texture of this yarn at all. It kept snagging on my bamboo needles. Cheap acrylic yarn is NOT pleasant to work with. I'm glad I only have a couple more skeins of this stuff. I may just use it for the cores of my Japanese Temari balls (see here) that I make and skip the frustrations and unpleasantness of knitting with it.

New Nail Colors!

I am in love with these new(ish - I actually got these last October) nail colors from Avon! From Left to Right: Violetta and Grey Cement (both matte finish), Jade and Vintage Blue (both from the Nailwear Pro line). I love the look of the matte colors, unfortunately, they chip rather quickly. The Violetta even leaves a bit of color behind when it's removed. The Jade is soft and luscious and the Vintage Blue makes my heart beat just a little faster. eeek!

I think I may be a little bit addicted...I want to try some new colors!

Inspiration Station: Embroidery

I am so in love! Not only is it Queen Elizabeth I, but it's embroidery! The dress, the fencing, those trees! So amazing! This is definitely going on my "to-craft" list!

tutorial here

Here's a close up look at one of those trees:
Truely amazing work!

On the hunt for...

THE PERFECT BEACH TOWEL!!!

Find the tutorial here
Because I want to make this! A couple years ago I had a lovely pink striped beach towel. But it joined the group going to the water park one fine day and became lost in lounger land. Sadly, it's never been replaced. But now the hunt is on. I need a nice big, thin pile beach towel to turn into this amazing swimsuit cover-up dress. I figure if I make my beach towel into a dress, it's unlikely anyone in my family will want to borrow it! *crossing my fingers!*

Fun New Top

So I went shopping at the local thrift store recently. I found this top and immediately felt a connection to it. Normally I only wear solid colors, in T-shirt style cuts,  so this print (and style) is really pushing me outside my comfort zone. I carried it around the store for a while, thinking it over, trying to envision myself wearing it and with what would I pare it? and then I got myself all frustrated so I put everything back and left. Which is usually what happens when I go shopping for clothing. :(

A couple days later I was still thinking about "that" shirt, so I went back for it. I thought about shortening it but then I wore it around the house for a bit and got used to the length. I did have to wear a shirt underneath as this top has an insane V-neck! I will need to find some camis in the near future.

Girly Stuff!

Look at these fun new nail colors I picked up!

I found a new line of nail polish to try out. Lots of color choices and easy on the pocket.

For my first trial I chose Taxi Yellow Creme, Times Square Tangerine Creme, Greenwich Village (the pink), and Purple Pizzazz Frost all from N.Y.C.

Now...which one to try first???

INSPIRATION OVERLOAD!

Everytime I get my new Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine my fingers just start itching to create something,

anything. I just need to get out the paper, the pencils, the markers, the glue. I dig out the paints and the brushes. I find my inks and my stamps. I go through the stash, looking for anything I might want to work with. And then I remember...I have no place to work. If it doesn't fit on the kitchen table-ette and it can't be done while perched on my end of the couch, then it's not gonna happen! So I have all these ideas, bubbling around in my head and they're just stuck there. They tool around, sticking themselves into my conversations. They poke their heads out when I try to read a book. They wag their tongues when I start smaller craft projects, screeching with indignation that I chose to do something else. It really does get noisy and crowded up there.

I suppose it's a good thing this whole full-time RV life is coming to an end soon. Just not quite soon enough for my creative self. (She gets a little crabby when I take away the scissors.) So, until that day comes, I'll stick to knitting on the couch and putting pictures into my Project 365 scrapbook.

The Knitwit Files vol. 3: Knotty Wrap - update

227 Rows! I'm not even half way yet. I have the pattern memorized now, so that speeds things up a bit. But I still have to make my little tick marks on the pattern so I don't lose track of the rows. I'm also cheating a bit and marking the rows I need when it comes time to sew the edges together to make the loops. This way, I'm not having to count out all those rows again! Safety pins are a girls best friend!

Shamrocks in my garden

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

These tiny little clovers began peeking out from under my cacti a few days ago. Aren't they pretty?

I LOVE COLOR!!!

COLOURlovers is an awesome website. I find so much inspiration when I cruise through the palettes of color. Here are a couple of my current favorites. The "Understanding" palette is the one I chose to use for my Project 365 journaling cards.

Where R U Spring

Understanding

Art Noveau Bright

I could easily spend hours looking at all the pretty colors, and making some palettes of my own!

The Knitwit Files vol. 3: Knotty Wrap

My latest project: A Knotted Wrap!

I started last night after the baseball game. I was too wound up to just go to bed, so I pulled out the yarn, found my pattern and the correct size needles and got to work. I was slightly confused at first because the beginning edge is stairstepped, and I've never done a cast on after the initial cast on! But it's a neat trick and I'm sure I'll use it again. This is my progress after 22 rows. I only have another 582 rows to go! :)

DIY Camera Strap Cover

This is my new camera strap cover. Hear me rawr!

I have found that when I actually use my strap around my neck I am constantly adjusting it and rubbing my nect where the strap is cutting into my skin. I used to just wrap a bandana around it and safety pin it together - which worked really well actually. But lately I've seen lots of cute camera strap covers out there and I thought "I can make one of those" so I hopped on the internet and found a tutorial over at Design*Sponge. I read through their instructions to get the gist of it and then tweaked their design to fit my design. I never do things the way other people do things! Instead of one solid color, front and back, I wanted to do a patchwork reversible design, using 4 fabrics. Go me.

I followed all the directions, adjusting for the extra seams. Unfortuately, my first strap turned out too small. I'd forgotten the extra side seam allowance!  But I refused to give in. I made the necessary adjustments and made a second one, this time changing the way the fabrics were stitched together (i.e. not making a tube and turning it!) and it worked way better. The scraps went into the scrap bag for later crafting ideas. And now I have a pretty, and comfortable, camera strap cover!

Where are my Pedal-Pushers?!

Check out my new bike!

I was out walking this morning, getting in some marathon training, and I saw this parked in a yard with a sign that said "For Sale - $20". $20! Can you believe it?! What a deal! There was no one home when I stopped by after my walk, but I left a note and a few hours later the owner rode the bike over to my yard and asked if I was still interested. Was I interested? Ha! I took her for a spin and knew this was my bike. Chad was so tickled with my enjoyment that he paid for it himself! Best $20 spent, ever. It's in pretty good shape, but needs new handle grips and a new seat. No biggie. I was hoping I'd find a girls bike, but this'll work!

It's even my color!

My Project 365 designs!

I did it! I actually designed my own cards for my Project 365! I found a color palette that I liked from one of the fabulous artists at COLOURlovers. I found several I'd like to use someday, but I could only pick one! Then I loaded it into my Adobe Photoshop Elements program and starting playing around. I went through several versions before I settled on a design that I really, really, love.

Here are some of my cards:

These 4 cards are for that empty 8th day-of-the-week spot

This is my favorite Week Of card!

And check it out! I figured out how to make the striped bottom with the curved corners like in the Becky Higgins 2009 set! It took 3 tries and quite a bit of logical thinking to get it right, but I DID IT!

Whooohooo! I love it!

Now I just need to order some divided page protectors and pick up an album and I'm ready to go. I've already printed January's pictures and I'm anxious to get them scrapped. But, with everything I have on my plate now, I have a hunch February will be almost over before I get around to it :( 

What's your color?

If you'd like to know take the quiz.

Ha! My results: YELLOW

You are quite the powerful thinker. It’s this talent that allows you to overcome a plethora of great obstacles. Luckily, this doesn’t affect your ego and you give off a pretty easy-going appearance. You enjoy the finer things in life and also have an attraction to art. If you can help it, you try not to rock the boat. But you also can’t stop yourself from searching for new ideas, methods or styles.

 

Quite.

 

Although, I always thought of myself as more of a "violet" :)

Project 365: Week 6

WEEK #6

Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010  Jeremy and his friends set up a little tent with his sleeping bag so they could stay out of the amazingly cold wind and play their video games.

Monday, Feb. 1, 2010  I made a batch of brownies and tried cutting them with the heart cutters. I sprinkled them with a little bit of powdered sugar. yummy :)

Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010  Chad's checkerboard scarf is all finished!

Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010  Blue Me Away nail polish. Love it, love it, love it!

Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010  Working on scanning pictures from MY childhood. I've started my Journaling Me Project and I'll need some of these photos to go with the journaling.

Friday, Feb. 5, 2010  Birthday cupcakes. I played around with my food colorings and used some pretty ribbon to make my cupcakes look like balloons! I used my pretty liners but they don't show up very well.

Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010  J had baseball camp today, so I spent my birthday working in the concession stand at the little league fields. It was a nice day, but very cold, very strong winds again. Glad we had hot cocoa!