31 Nail Art Challenge Take Two Day 31: New Year's

So, I did this on time, but I haven't had a chance to blog it (Oh the convenience of post dating!).  Life has been crazy with family and getting family to different airports on different days.  I also have to move out of my place in a week and I am currently sick.  Sometimes life sucks!  Actually, it will all be okay just somethings need to be taken care of first.  Hence I might be a little absent from blog.  Just know I am alive only very busy.  I can't not do my nails, I just will have to blog them later.  I also have some fun pics from vacation nails and I will do those after I move.  On to a New Year's mani!

It is a pretty simple glitter gradient.  I tried to do the glitter from the moon down, I think that might take more practice.

I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and Pizzazz.


Well, I will see you soon.  Take a look at all the other designers, because they are awesome!  Also, if you have a chance look at some of my old designs from this challenge.  I have several that I am very proud of.  This challenge has helped my skills grow and I am very grateful for my hosts!

Tootles!

Fitz

31 Nail Art Challenge Take Two Day 30: Food

Who doesn't love a good burger and fries?  I certainly do and then if you add onion rings it makes it an even better treat.  I don't really drink soda, but I figured others do, so why not?  If you prefer a veggie or turkey burger, then that is what this is.

I saw this design by Pixiepolish and I thought it was too cute not to pass up, but I also had to add some side dishes.

The list of polishes used is rather long, so I guess I better start now.  OPI Schnapps Out of It, Finger Paints Paper Mâchè, China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, For Audry, Lemon Fizz, Desert Sun, Papaya Punch, Unplugged, Hey Sailor, and Gaga For Green.  Whew!  That is a lot of colors, plus I mixed two colors DS and PM for the highlight on the onion rings and then LF and PP for the shading on the fries. 

My thumb taking its close-up.

I did a much simpler version on my right hand with the burgers as accent nails.

I am really pleased with how this turned out.  I hope you like it too.  Don't forget to check out all the other talented participants!  Their designs are a feast for the eyes!

Tootles!
Fitz

31 Nail Art Challenge Take Two Day 29: Money

“This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.” ~Douglas Adams from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

So for today I give you money.  Yeah, I think this is the only way I will get more of it, to put it on my nails.  That's okay.  It is rather fun to wear it this way.

I only used two colors!  Can you believe that, two!  I used OPI Don't Talk Bach To Me and Sephora By OPI I'm With Brad.  The pattern was done with Cheeky Plate CH55.  Here comes more photos.

I hope you like them. Don't forget to look at the other participants' designs.  You can bet on them being amazing.

Tootles!
Fitz

31 Nail Art Challenge Take Two Day 28: Education

Today's them is education.  I thought about doing pencils or paper (I had done that one before and thought I could do it better. . .).  I saw some cute chalkboard nails. . . but honestly I wasn't excited about anything, until I saw someone do a design that was specific to their education.  I don't remember who it was or even what they did, but they did inspire me to my education.  I was a theater major in college and did a lot of musical theater.  I have been in choirs since I was in 4th grade and have been taking voice lessons since I was a sophomore in high school.  Music has been my eduction for a long time.

I thought I had a sheet music stamp, but I didn't.  I did have Cheeky plate CH31 which I stamped with  Orly Mysterious Curse.  The background color is China Glaze Sweet Hook with Snow Globe over the top to give it all some sparkle.  Then I did the stamp.

My thumb all alone.  I had fun using the sheet music as a prop and background.  Heehee, it was easy to pull from my collection.

All the other designers are sure to teach you a trick or two.

Tootles!
Fitz

31 Nail Art Challenge Take Two Day 27: Movie

What is your favorite movie?

I hate that question.  I love movies and it is really hard to narrow it down to one.  I have a cluster of favorites and depending on the day determines what that cluster is.  Lately I have been thinking about The Princess Bride.

Do you know this movie?  If you don't, drop what you are doing and go watch it.  It makes me so happy.  It has love, sword fighting, and don't forget comedy.  Plus it is a feast for the eyes!  This movie has it all!  Seriously, why have you not seen it?

So my inspiration was the two main characters.  Princess Buttercup and Westley a.k.a. The Dread Pirate Roberts.  Buttercup is a flower and I decide to see what they look like and I even found someone who did nail art using them.  It looked challenging and I wanted to see if I could do it.  So I used a red background for all my nails it honor of her iconic red dress.  Then on my right hand I used a stamp of swords to represent Westley.

I did a lot of blending on my left hand with the buttercups and grass.  That meant mixing colors, which I haven't done much of.  But I am so thrilled with how it came out!  I used China Glaze Happy Go Lucky as the base color for the buttercups and then used various mixing quantities of Chocodisiac for the shading.  For the highlights I used Lemon Fizz mixed with White-on-White.  The Grass base was Gaga for Green and mixed it with either Holly-Day or White-on-White for the shadows and highlights.  The swords were stamped with Cheeky (which I just got!  Eep!) CH49 using Midnight Kiss.  Not to forget, the base color which is Red Satin.

The two different thumbs.  Now you can see the partial giant buttercup.  The reason the coloring is so different is the swords photographed better in the shade.  That does give you a chance to see RS in different lighting and how gorgeous it truly is.  I am not a big red nails gal, but I really like this one.

 One last look.  I am really proud of those buttercups!

Have fun storming the castle!

Tootles!
Fitz

31 Nail Art Challenge Take Two Day 26: Water Marbled

This is the last design I am doing before I leave on my trip and I have to say I have been dragging my feet to do this one.  I actually like water marble.  I find it a challenge, but an acceptable one, because even when there are mistakes it still looks incredible.  No one ever really seems to notice the flaws except me.  That being said, it is sooooo messy and time consuming.  I have used tape and I have used petroleum jelly.  Neither really seems to completely take away the mess.  I am fine with cleaning it up, but when you only have it on for a day or less, it hardly seems worth it.  But I did it, and I have to say I am impressed.  I really like how this turned out.  There are some flaws, but really, who does a water marble perfectly, other than
My Simple Little Pleasures?

I used China Glaze For Audry, Kinetic Candy, Electric Beat, Liquid Leather, Sunshine Pop, and for the base color White-On-White.

The design was inspired from somewhere, but for the life of me I can't remember where.  If you know, please leave a comment and tell me so I can give credit where credit is due.

Swirl over to the other contestants blogs and check out their designs, you'd be all wet if you didn't!

Tootles!

Fitz

Two nail challenges in one!

Christmas time is here,

Happiness and cheer,

Fun for all that children call,

Their favorite time of year.

Christmas means a lot to me.  Family, religion, traditions; these are a few of the words I associate with this joyful day.  My list of Christmas memories and feelings could fill up this blog, but it is about nail art so I will spare you from that.  One thing though, my first nail art was Christmas themed.  In fact it was Santa hats.  I thought about redoing it and seeing how I have improved, but I saw this design by schmucknaegel and I just had to give it a try.  I figured lets expand my repertoire and keep it close to the original.  Plus, this was I can also use the design for both challenges!

I am thinking I should give up on Santa hats.  I do like this, but I am just not as happy with it as I would like to be.  Ah, well the circle of life isn't always pretty.

I used Finger Paints Paper Mâchè, China Glaze Fast Track, and Hey Sailor.  I love Fast Track!  It is this golden-shimmery nude.  So pretty.  You do get visible nail line even after two coats, but vnl never bothered me.

My thumb close-up came out blurry, which is sad since my thumb looks the best, so you will have to make due with this shot.

I know it wasn't a complete fail, but I still wish it was a bit better.

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown

Tootles!

Fitz

12 Days of Christmas: Tinsel

I had no idea what to do for this design.  I thought about doing the string technique, but I didn't want to deal with the mess.  I Googled tinsel images and when looking at them I realized I had a stamp reminded me of it.  Bundle Monster BM-312 worked rather well!  Oh, and I am sorry the lighting isn't very good, I did this at night.

I used China Glaze Holly-Day, Millennium, and City Siren.  I wanted to stamp an ornament over the top of them with BM-318, but it didn't show up, so I filled it in.  That red blob is supposed to be an ornament. . .

One more day to go till Christmas!  I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Tootles!
 Fitz

31 Nail Art Challenge Take Two Day 24: Birthday

It is a joke in my family that on your birthday you are supposed to wear your birthday suite.  Of course we all do so without fail.  In fact I am wearing it right now and so are you.  Yep, right now, under our clothes.  So in honor of the first thing we all wore I give you this manicure.

I used OPI It's Sheer Luck as the base color and then I mixed OPI Barefoot In Barcelona and China Glaze White-On-White in varying degrees to get the flesh colors.  I didn't take a lot of pictures because I thought it was relatively straight forward.  I hope you like it and are not too offended.  I really couldn't think of any other way to do birthday that I liked.  Oh, and I was inspired by Polished Peripherals.  On my quest to find inspiration she provided it.  My Mom pointed out that I have the colors backwards.  I know, but I thought it would stand out better this way. . . Also, please remember this is a joke and not intended to be offensive.

Celebrate the other artists by taking a peek at what they did.

Tootles!
Fitz

12 Days of Christmas: Elves

I LOVE this design!  Thank you TotallyCoolNails for such a fabulous design!

Okay, so my elves were done in Nina Ultra Pro French White, China Glaze Red Satin, Liquid Leather, Sunshine Pop, and Def Defying.

This may be a bit pic heavy. . .

The last one is my alternative version for mt right hand.  I wish the red didn't run, but I still love it!  Curse you close up pictures!

Check the other designers out too!  Their hard work and creativity deserve it!

Tootles!
Fitz

31 Nail Art Challenge Take Two Day 23: Fashion

I have an elusive pattern.  I have tried two others times before and it didn't work out.  I saw a tutorial by cutepolish and this prompt and I thought. . maybe. . . it couldn't hurt to try again. . .  I was wrong!  My unicorn is the argyle print.

I feel ashamed to show you these, but this is all about documenting my learning process.  I WILL to this design again and I will keep doing it until I CAN do it.  I will until I can say, "Argyle, you are my. . . insert expletive here!"

I only used three colors and they are all from China Glaze.  I used White-On-White, Little Drummer Boy, and  Millennium.

I guess it is not as bad as all that, but it definitely does not look like argyle.  Someday, argyle, you and I will tango again.  Next time though, I will lead!

Check out all the other fashionable beauties!

Tootles!
Fitz