40 GREAT NAIL ART IDEAS - HOBBIES

Week #1

PUZZLE BOOKS

I've signed up for a new challenge!  Yay!  This is week one and the theme (as my post title shows) is hobbies.  I don't know why I struggled with this one...I think because I knew my stamper is, well, shit.  I have another one coming in the mail and **hope** it will be here soon.

There were so many I could have chosen, but ultimately decided puzzle books.  In colder weather - like we have suddenly gotten here in Chicago - I like to curl up and either read a book or do these.  Word puzzles and mazes in a book, with a good old No. 7 pencil.  Kinda old school, but when I was growing up these kinds of books were just EVERYWHERE.  Working on them makes me a little nostalgic.

TNCC - October 2014 Stripes #1

Back with another challenge mani, this time for The Nail Challenge Collaborative.  Every month a new theme is voted on, and October is stripes.  I've had this one on for a few days, because there has been no sunshine here for about a week.  This is day 6...it's been touched up though, so don't think it looks like this after almost a whole week.

NOTD for 3/26/2014: Creations by Lynda Chantelle's Rainbow

**Thunk, thunk, thunk**  Is anyone still there?  I know my blogging has gotten wildly sporadic lately, but I am hoping that I will be back to some kind of regularity.  I've started working again - part time (yea, right) - and I have just let my schedule completely fall apart.  School is eating up all my off time, and everything else is just getting squeezed in haphazardly, or worse, not at all.  It's obviously not working.

I have made up a list for myself on a daily basis.  I'm only going 2 days out, because really I can't plan on things going well enough to go much further than that.  I'm counting on it to keep me focused on what I need to get done, and then the extra stuff can just shuffle in when it can fit. Only a few things are getting hard scheduled time, and blogging is one of them.  **crossing my fingers**

So, enough of my boring life, and on to some polish, yes?  I saw this polish in my newsfeed on Facebook, and I am a sucker for candy colored glitter.  Add to that it is a fundraiser polish, and I jumped on and bought a bottle.

Creations by Lynda Chantelle's Rainbow

Mish Mash Challenge #23: Favorite Color

Mish Mash Challenge Day on the first day of the year.  HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!!  I've got a couple of things I am going to focus on for my blog, and one of them is to try to do a little bit of nail art.  Don't expect flawless water marbles on my first day, but little touches of something extra to start out with is probably a smart way to start.

So this week's challenge is Favorite Color.  Mine is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue.  LOVE this color still!  But I went to look for the bottle, and I'll be damned if I know where the heck I put it.  I'm betting that I left it out, and my cats found it.  It's probably under some piece of furniture somewhere... I had to go with the next best thing this week, and it's a color that's similar, but not really close.

GAME DAY - Blackhawks 12/27/2013

Hawks are back on the ice tonight after a short Christmas break...yeah baby!!!!

GAME DAY - Blackhawks 11/17/2013

All hell is broke loose here today, and I gotta tell you, it freaked me out a little.  More than a couple tornados were touching down in towns not too far from me today, and one of the potential storm tracks brought that super-cell over my town.  It didn't happen, but I was holding my breath for a couple of hours today.  It got so bad, they evacuated Soldier Field and delayed the Bears game - when was the last time you heard of something like that?  Football plays in anything!  Scary stuff in the middle of November.

Anyway, Blackhawks game day - another back-to-back weekend for them.  I hated to take off my Spotlight Saturday manicure.  I will definitely be wearing that again.

GAME DAY NOTD! - Blackhawks 10/9/13

It's fall, and that means HOCKEY season!!  There's football too, but nothing beats hockey for me. Tonight's game is against the Blues, so to commemorate tonight's game & the beginnings of the hockey season, here's my game day mani:

NOTD: Thursday 9/5/2013

I recently got a Mystery Bag from Daring Digits, and I am just in LOVE with every polish in the mix.  I was a little bit leery about doing one of these, mostly because you never know what you are going to get, but I was absolutely not disappointed.  With so many to choose from, it was tough, but this one just caught my eye and I had to wear it. 

Mish Mash Challenge #6: Hot

I can't believe we are up to week 6 already!  This week is "Hot" - I was going to go with the literal on this challenge, and I had done a red-orange-yellow manicure with some glitter, but it just wasn't clicking...and when a friend of mine got a quick glance at my nails and thought I did a Halloween theme with candy corn, well...yeah, they had to come off. 

So, what to do, what to do...I decided to not do the literal, and chose to treat "Hot" as "Sexy".  Once I made that choice, a song popped into my head - "Computer Blue".  And then  "Darling Nikki", "When Doves Cry"... Hopefully you figured out who inspired my Hot-Sexy mani this week, but if not, I won't hold it against you.  FYI - purple is NOT color correct.  I took too many photos, and it just would not photograph; it is a red-purple in real life.

Mish Mash Challenge #5: Music

Ah, music...I wasn't sure what I was going to do for this week.  I got a stamping plate from Cheeky that I wasn't expecting for a couple more weeks, so I was going to do the music notes, staff, instrument thing, but then...the VMA's happened (and just an FYI - this is one of the rare posts where I have video's embedded; with this challenge topic, I couldn't pass up the opportunity).  For those that don't know, MTV has an annual Video Music Award program, and no, it is not Miley Cyrus inspired.  That would have been a nude colored polish with a mouth and tongue accent nail...oh yea, and a foam finger worked in somewhere...

Tri-Polish Challenge: August #3

Crumpet's Nail Tarts Tri-Polish Challenge for August 2013 - colors are Red, Yellow and Green.  This is my #3 manicure for this month, and with the oppressive heat outside, and only a small portable A/C unit in the house, I opted for something light...and fast. Plus, I want to work on my stamping, and this week is perfect for it.

Mish Mash Challenge #3: Metallic & Giveaway Winner Info!

So, do I do my challenge manicure first, or do I do giveaway info?  Hmmm,  I think I will do the manicure first.  This week is Metallic, and I have some Kleankolor metallic polishes that are just perfect.  They really do need to do a collaboration with a company that sells gas masks, cause these are just freakin' awful smelling!! 

I got a little delayed in getting this manicure done because my cat, who has been sick for some time, is tearing through the house in hyperactive mode.  All she wants to do is play, and she hasn't been like this for a few months.  I finally finished, but cleaning up from the technique I used is really drying out my fingers, so I gotta take a break.  If you see some tinges of color or sparkle on my cuticles, just disregard it.

Mish Mash Challenge #2: Taping

We are at week 2 for the Mish Mash Challenge, and that means taping.  I have never done taping before, so this a first for me.  Can I tell you, I NAILED it!  <<rimshot in the background>>.  Ok, ok, I know...bad pun.  But, I am going to toot my own horn because I really think I did an awesome job.

T.N.C.C. - Flowers #2

I amazingly enough have my second manicure for The Nail Challenge Collaborative July challenge.  I definitely like this flower manicure better than last weeks, if only because it is supposed to be sloppy and cartoon-y.  I had a lot of fun with this one, especially since I chose to do it with neons.

My News Feed on Facebook popped up with the latest tutorial from cutepolish, and this technique was it.  If you want to see her video, it is called Floral Doodle Nails, and I love it.

ABC Challenge - "E" is for Egyptian inspired.

First off, I wanted to comment on something that was brought up on the Facebook page.  I just wanted all the great ladies involved in this challenge to know - I know I don't reply to any of the posts made on my page, but with my limited time, I would much rather spend it looking at what you all have come up with and commenting on your pages than replying to comments on mine.   Be assured, I read every single one (and not just because the "Publish" option forces me to).  I really, really appreciate all the comments and words of encouragement that you leave every week.  Now, on to the mani...

My mother was a huge fan of anything Egyptian.  I don't know why, but she was.  I wish I had taken her to some of the exhibits that made their way through Chicago, but she had issues going in to the city, among other things.  So when "E" came up, I thought I would do something related to it.  My inspiration picture is this:

Not just for the picture, but for the colors.  Gold, coral, and turquoise seem as if they are a primary part of all the images I was looking at.  I also thought it would be a good example to see if I had any of the images in this photo on any stamping plates I have.  Well, that didn't pan out really well, but I did have a couple.

Next, the polishes I used:  I decided to go with drugstore brands.  Partly because I couldn't find a coral and turquoise in my collection (Sinful Colors had them both), and partly because I was anxious to try something from the Wet 'n Wild Fergie collection.  I had tried Wet 'n Wild before - it was disappointing.  But new marketing, new packaging...why not give it a try?

The colors are:  Sinful Boogie Nights (coral), Sinful Mint Apple, and Wet 'n Wild Gold Album.  The gold?  1 coat = full coverage.  Very happy with this polish for $3.99 a bottle.  There are a few other colors in the collection that I wouldn't mind getting.  If they all apply like this, I'm going to watch the new Wet 'n Wild a little more. 

I know I am VERY long winded this week, but this made me think of my mom...anyway, here's the mani.  Again, night pictures.  I had intended to take them during the day, but the last two days have been cold, wet, windy, dark, snowy, wet, cold...you get the idea.  I don't think I was able to go 10 minutes without having to put lotion on my hands, it has been so bad.  Plus, moving files and handling paperwork all day for the last two days were VERY hard on my hands.  Three days in, and it still doesn't look too bad, if I do say so myself.

I had a choice of doing something more time period authentic, or have a little fun with it.  I decided to have a little fun.  I didn't have patience for authentic...  Oh, I almost forgot to mention - this is the first time I ever tried stamping...EVER.  Although these were just single images, I totally see myself doing this a LOT more.

So, there you have it.  One more week down - time is really flying with this!  Thanks again for the look see, and be sure to see all the other ladies' take on the letter "E" below!!

Until next week!