AIS - Adventures in Stamping November 2nd Challenge

ADVENTURES IN STAMPING - GOLD & WHITE

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

Hi everyone!  So as I commented a bit in my last post, I have some major, major virus/malware that got on my system, and I am more than a little pissed about it.  I am religious in taking care of my laptop, and in 5 years I've had it, I have never had a problem.  The ONE time I get on the wifi at school because my USB wasn't picking up a signal, and this bug wormed its way into my system, passed Norton, Windows Security, and undetectable by MalwareBytes.

Anyway, I have a quickie post.  Adventures in Stamping is a group I am in on Facebook, and it's all about...wait for it...stamping.  First off, I am not good at it.  Nope, no, not at all.  But I am working on it.  Every week there is a vote for the Sunday challenge, and this Sunday, November 2nd, was white and gold. 

TNCC - October 2014 Stripes #3

Time for another challenge mani for October...this is my 3rd striped mani for the month, and I'm not so sure I like it.  It's probably because I liked the base of this so much, I hated covering it up.

Crumpet's 52 week challenge - Week #3

Week #3:  60's and/or Matte or Texture finish

We're up to week #3 already...actually we are close to week 4, but I'm posting this right under the wire.  I have one more final tomorrow, and then I have some breathing room for a couple of weeks.  So this one is another quickie post.  

GOT Polish for 4/3/2014: Pastel

Whew!  Getting my GOT Polish challenge post up in time.  It really feels good to get a couple of blog posts up, but they will be pretty sparse with school and all.

This week is pastel, and I've had these Hard Candy polishes for...I really have no idea how long.  I know I picked them up last year, but whether or not they actually fall into the specific 1+ year old category for this challenge is beyond me.  I'm gonna plead ignorance on this one, OK?

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

Spotlight Saturday 1/04/14: China Glaze Whirled Away

Morning everyone!  I'm caught up now, thankfully!  This is going to be a very quick post, because I have to get my house ready for the deep freeze that will be the next 72 hours of my life, and start prepping for school starting again Monday.

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!!!!

Guest post for Vegan Nail Art, Baby!

OK, this is late.  Very, very...very late.  I did a guest post for Marilyn over at Vegan Nail Art, Baby! back on November 29th.  Yes, I know, it is now December 16th.

Here's the link to the post.  I've been trying to do a white opal manicure for FOREVER, and I am close - really, really close - to what I imagine it to be in my mind.  Photos aren't the best because it is pretty hard to photograph the effect of opal, but you can get a peek of it in a couple of them.

I want to thank Marilyn again for letter me take up her blog for a day.  Please take a peek {here}.

Thanks again for taking a look!

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.

Mish Mash Challenge #12: Flower

Hello everyone! So, I missed last weeks challenge post. I did the manicure, but never got around to taking photos. With the holiday on Monday I got thrown off a little bit, and missed the cutoff to post in the inlinkz group...so, fudge it.

This week's challenge is flower.  I'm not a floral kind of gal...you won't see me sporting tulips or calla lilies.  This topic is way out of my comfort zone.  My artwork skills are seriously lacking, so I decided to do something a little abstract.  And, crazy enough, I kind of like the finished look.

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:

Mish Mash Challenge #8: Cold

Better late than never, I guess!  Whew, this post should have been up last week...oh well.  Today's post of the Mish Mash challenge is Cold.  I live near Chicago so cold is not a difficult concept for me, but when I think of cold, my mind goes to Russia - Siberia, to be exact.  I'll show you my inspiration after the jump.

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.

T.I.O.T. (Try It On Tuesday) - 8/13/2013

I'm squeezing in a quick T.I.O.T. post this week.  The polish this week is by Polish Addict.  I was so excited when I bought this, and somehow it got stashed in a box while I was waiting for another storage rack for my polishes.  I just recently purchased a couple, and in the process of organizing, I came across this in the box.  I had forgotten about this polish - along with more than a few others - but no more!

I ran and checked on Laura's website - which you can find here - and this polish is no longer available <<sad face>>, but I definitely want to show it off.  So, I present to you, Drunken Elephant:

 

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.