what the heck happened in the last 6 months!?

A whole lot of nothing really...

Can you believe my last post was back in March?! Tsk tsk...

Anyways, I've completely abandoned my 30-before-30 list. I'm turning 30 next month and I've yet to crack a quarter of that list! I have an endless list of excuses that I won't bore you with. Trust me, they're not exciting. Haha...

In exactly one month from now, I should be able to knock off #12 from my list. That's right friends, I'm going to Disneyworld!!!!! Calat is taking me for my birthday! Yay! I can't wait. We really need this vacation.



We have lots planned already but welcome any recommendations of things to check out in Orlando....especially food. Let me know your favorite foods or restaurants we should try while we're in Florida!

how to: splatter mani

Hey there...here's a fun and easy mani that you've got to try sometime right now...splatter nails!!! I don't do much nail art but doing them once in awhile is kind of fun.

Warning: this mani is a little bit messy. I highly recommend you put wax paper down on the surface you are working on, also makes for easy clean up after. You'll also need a couple of regular drinking straws and tape.

First, choose a base color for your nails. Paint as usual and let dry. I used OPI's Can't Find My Czechbook for my base. Then choose a couple of other colors you'll want to use for the splatter effect. I chose Orly's Sapphire Silk and Barry M's Peach Melba.

After your base color is dry, put tape around your nails. This is optional but helps a lot during clean up.

Take one of your splatter colors and drip a few drops onto your wax paper. Dip one end of your straw in the little puddle of polish. Make sure you get a good glob of polish then hover over your nail and blow hard at the other end of the straw. Repeat over the nail until desired splatter effect is achieved, then proceed to the other nails. Repeat for any additional colors.

Carefully remove the tape and begin clean up. Let the splatter set on the nail for a minute or two before sealing with a top coat. I did two thick coats of Seche Vite to smooth out the splatter.

Now sit back an enjoy your beautiful work!

in the shade

Here's my first splatter mani that I did for Independence Day, last year.

If I ever use that color combo again, I may use red as my base color otherwise the red splatter almost looks like a crime scene! haha!

Tips:

• You might want to play around with the lengths of the straws you use and distance from straw to nail. I preferred using shorter straws to blow through on the nail at about 3 inches away. You also get different splatter effects depending on how strong you blow through the straw
• It's easier for me to do one hand at a time.
• For clean up, I use a small make-up brush for better control.

thanks goodness for tape!

Are you going to try doing a splatter mani?! What color combo will you use?

Thanks for stopping by!

Update - 3/14/13

I mattified my splatter mani with Essie's Matte About You...

Love!

Linked up with Polly Polish's Polish Days 'Vintage' theme link party.

This mani has a vintage type feel to me...looking like a Jackson Polluck piece of art!

Also linked up with:
F-it Friday Round 14 at Parlo & Logi
What's Shakin' Link Pary #51 at Shaken Together

opi - can’t find my czechbook

I've made it my goal to swatch all of my untried nail polishes before I buy any more nail polish but I've been so good at not buying any new, new nail polishes for the past few months, I decided to treat myself this weekend. With an ULTA rewards to redeem at hand and after rummaging through a blah clearance section, I caved and bought OPI's Can't Find My Czechbook from their Euro Central Spring/Summer 2013 Collection. It was the last bottle too, so it's meant to be, right?!

I can't remember the last time I've bought a new nail color that was a new release. I usually wait to buy them whenever I can catch them on clearance or will get them if I have a really good coupon.

So glad I got this color! I actually don't have anything like it! It's such a pretty creamy dusty aqua that goes on the nail perfectly. Below is 3 coats, topped with Seche Vite.

 

in the shade -  btw, sorry my skin looks so dry :(

the north texas cake show is coming up

I'm excited and stressed for the upcoming North Texas Cake show. This cake show only happens every other year and yet I'm never prepared!

I also haven't been making cakes regularly so I'm kind of out of the loop on new techniques and styles. I'm debating whether I should even compete in this year's show....well not really, I want to compete! I just have no cake designs in mind. That's where I always get stuck!

Here was my last submission:

I placed 2nd in the Adult Intermediate Wedding Category. I had grand ideas for this cake that never happened too! I made all of the flowers weeks before I had a design in mind. In just days before the competition, I slapped everything on my cake! I'm surprised I even placed. It was very sloppy and plain. I had no sleep during that time. I vow to not do that again this year!

As boring and unfinished as it is, it's actually one of my favorite cakes that I've entered in a cake competition. I think it has to do with the variety of flowers and color combo? Also the decorative pieces...although I don't really know what I was trying to do with the topper! hahaha!

These were my first cake competitions cakes:

3rd Place - Adult Beginner Wedding Category
That Takes the Cake Show 2009
Austin, TX

1st Place - Adult Beginner Wedding Category
Sugar Wonders Cake Show 2009
McKinney, TX

1st Place - Adult Beginner Novelty Tiered Category
Sugar Wonders Cake Show 2009
McKinney, TX

I've been pinning really gorgeous cakes onto my Cake Love board on Pinterest. Hopefully all of these beautiful cakes will help motivate me and give me some ideas for the cake show!

opi gift cards for everyone

Last Christmas, ULTA was having a promotion with OPI nail polishes: Buy 2, get 1 ULTA exclusive OPI color for free. As my free bottle, I chose Gift Cards for Everyone!. Such an odd name.

Gift Cards for Everyone is a dark metallicky purple with hints of blue shimmer from the microglitter.

I'm sad to say that this is a purple that I don't like. And I looove purple...

The color looks so nice in the bottle but not on me. Maybe it may look better if my nails were shorter!?

my own attempt at generating a meme :)

with flash to show the microglitter

To me, this color is borderline Grandma-ish and I don't think I will be wearing this much, if ever again.

At least I got it for free.

china glaze 2011 ULTA holiday exclusive

Ok, 2011 sounds so long ago! I got 3 of China Glaze's 2011 ULTA holiday exclusive nail polishes two Christmas' ago when they went on clearance. I think there was about 8 of them.

Today I finally tried on these 2: Mistletoe Me and Fireside Glow as an accent.

Mistletoe Me is a dark pink foil that can be a bit streaky. It looks like a grandma color to me! I'm not too big on foils because they tend to be streaky and look grandma-ish. It looked really nice in the bottle though.

I used Fireside Glow as an accent. I may want to try that on all my nails next time. I like the color and hello, it's slightly holographic! That's so fun!

I may end up purging Mistletoe Me. I don't think I'll miss it much. Sorry MM.

Is there a certain nail color or finish that makes you feel grandma-ish?

opi planks a lot

Felt like wearing purple on my nails. Here is OPI's Planks A Lot from their Pirates of the Caribbean collection. It's a really nice dusty lavender color.

I only did 2 coats when I should have done 3. Don't be lazy like me, otherwise you'll get these bald spots...whomp whomp whomp...

It's still pretty though....as long as you don't look at it up close and see the bald spots!

china glaze sea spray

I always go to Sally's whenever I need to get a new bottle of Seche Vite. I was hoping it would be on sale but they had an even better deal...you can get a FREE bottle of China Glaze with the purchase of SV right now!

I had the hardest time trying to figure out which CG I wanted to get as my free bottle. I had been wanting Sea Spray, Refresh Mint and Recycle for the longest time. I ultimately decided to get Sea Spray.

Here is China Glaze Sea Spray with Orly Rock Solid as an accent.

I love Sea Spray! It's a lovely dusty pale gray blue with the slightest hint of shimmer. It only took me 2 coats for full opacity. I'm loving Rock Solid too, it too was opaque in 2 coats. I had never tried it on until now. I'm not a too much into the glitter but I can dig it as an accent nail especially when it has little bits of holographic glitters. Fun!

You can't really see the shimmer in Sea Spray here but I guarantee you it's there! 

I think I'm ready for brighter nail colors now. Is it spring yet?!

caviar accent nail

This is Piggy Polish Embrace Adventure with a multi-colored micro beaded accent nail.

I finally tried doing caviar nails, well just one nail...

I caviared my accent nail with micro beads that I got from the scrapbook section of Michael's. I actually got these beads a long time ago to use for other crafts and it just clicked to me that I could use them on my nails.

For my accent nail, I painted on a thicker second coating of polish for the beads to adhere and gave a gentle push to set.

It was pretty easy and kind of fun. I didn't keep the beads on for that long. I just wanted to try it out. Maybe I'll try it on all my nails for a party or get together just to see how long the beads would actually stay on.

Have you tried doing the caviar nails yet?

Linked with:
Somewhat Simple

christmas recap

Happy New Year! Yup, I'm kind of late on my Christmas post, too much quality family time going on!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and got to celebrate it with the ones you love. I sure did...here's a quick recap of my Christmas:

I celebrated Christmas at my parents with my cousins. This was our tree with all of the lovely wrapped gifts!

This cute little ball of fur is my sister, Pinky! [Pinky is my parent's dog, therefore, Pink is my sister] She was decked out in the cutest Christmas outfit.

You can see her outfit better here as she greets the rest of my family by the door.

We had our hearts set on opening presents Christmas morning in our pajamas but our parents made us dress up for photos. I quickly changed into some comfy sweats right after this photo!

the cousins...and me on the far right

Oh yeah and it snowed!!!!! I don't think I've ever truly had a White Christmas, that I can remember at least.

Hi Mom! She thinks she's taking a picture of me with her iPad...she's not, she's taking a mini video. Poor thing took accidental mini videos of us opening presents all morning!

sorry so blurry but you can actually see the snow flurries

I introduced my family to Tim Tams and most of us mastered the Tim Tam Slam. You need to try these cookies! They originate from Australia but you can find the Pepperidge Farm version at Target for a limited time during the winter months. I didn't see any more of them at the Target closest to me so I had to check other ones near by. I cleared out a couple of the Target's of their Tim Tams supply. It wasn't all for me! I shared with my family. Honest!

And of course I had to do a Christmasy mani. This is Sephora by OPI's Pushing Your Luck. I got it on clearance at Sephora for $5! I really like this red. Some reds look orange on me, but this red actually look red. Sorry for the cropped image. My cuticles were so dry. I forgot to moisturize before taking this shot.

On my ring finger is a fun little Christmas tree as an accent. I taped off the tree part and used Nicole by OPI's Green Up Your Act for the tree and Finger Paints Twisted as ornaments and mattified it. I used Orly's Luxe for the gold topper.

How was your Christmas? Did Santa bring ya anything good? I should have asked Santa for a nice camera or classes on how to take better pictures with my old school camera haha