'Tis the season...for candy corn!

We do NOT celebrate Halloween around here. So even though I'm posting this two days before the ickiest day of the year (yes, even ickier than tax day), it does not constitute an endorsement of Halloween at all. But candy corn is autumn-y for sure, autumn is my second favorite season, and candy corn? Y.U.M.  I was pretty proud of these:

flash

indirect sunlight

direct sunlight

Apparently, I have spatulate fingernails, which I hate, but they at least lend themselves to the shape of candy corn! This was two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, sponged with Sinful Colors Big Daddy and NYC In a New York Minute Lexington Yellow. I didn't pay very close attention to the tips, and they're a little bald; note to self—make sure you sponge the tips well! I topped with a coat of Astral Lights glow-in-the-dark glitter my BIL got my oldest daughter for her bday from the air and space museum in DC. 

This mani was really eye-catching in RL. I got lots of compliments on this one—yay for me. It's a good thing, because the stamping mani I did before this one was so ordinary it wasn't even worthy of pics, much less a post, and the one I did after was an epic fail! More on that later.

Redwall!!!

My little man requested for his 12th birthday that I stick to just one color of polish with no embellishments, and that he get to pick the color. Boy, was I surprised when he picked hot pink, and then wanted holo top coat on it! I weaseled my way into at least doing an accent nail, so since his party theme was the Redwall books by Brian Jacques, I tried to make Martin's sword.

I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Twisted Pink, topped with a holo top coat from Pretty Polish I got off eBay. I drew the sword with silver and black Sharpies and added a red jewel from Born Pretty to the pommel (which is too short, but oh well).

natural light

flash

I told my bud that after his bday, all bets were off on the "one color only", and I decided to try freehand French tips with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Black Heart. Not bad for my first try freehanding the tips, I think.  This shot was also taken with a flash, obviously, since it's a little washed out. I discovered that painting tips on top of a top coat gives me edge wear too darn quickly, so I don't think extending a mani's wear time with French tips is going to work for me.

Zoo-rific Skittles

I don't know which says more about me, the fact that I just made up an idiotic word (zoo-rific?!?!), or the fact that I succumbed to that prevalent habit: the overuse of hyphens! (Cue look of horror.) Anywho...

Meeting my dad at the zoo tomorrow for his bday, and did these in honor of the occasion:

 Left to right: zebra (duh), snake (not a great shot), giraffe (LOVE), and for my son, whose bday is Friday, his fave: moon jellyfish

Thumb shot: intended to stamp a Bundle Monster owl on that there tree branch, but instead I'm going to be emailing said monster and asking them to replace a shoddy plate from which I cannot pick up ANY image with ANY polish.  Grr. So, I was going to freehand an owl. (My freehand techniques need a bucket load of work!)  About halfway through the grey parts, I thought, "Hey, a koala would be just as cute, and need fewer details."  So, lazy woman's way out gives birth to Blinky Bill (that one's for you, Daddy).

Too many polishes to list, including a frankened nude (better than a Frankennude!) and a couple of colors I mixed up at my polishing table (a.k.a. TV tray I ruined with polish) because I was too stank lazy to go get grey for the eucalyptus lover or pink for the jelly. There's like a sub-theme of laziness tonight, eh?  Oh well, that's it.  Good evening, self. 

Nostalgia (Warning: ramblings will follow)

According to www.thefreedictionary.com:
nos·tal·gi·a  (n-stlj, n-)

n.

1. A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.

2. The condition of being homesick; homesickness.

 Synonyms (Thank you, thesaurus.com!)

fond memories, hearts and flowers, homesickness, longing, pining, reminiscence, remorse, schmaltz, sentimentality, tear-jerker, wistfulness, yearning

Best explanation I've ever seen (courtesy of sarazaher.wordpress.com and a Google search):

I live in a pretty much continual state of nostalgia. I have no faith in the present or the future. I cry every day, over nothing more substantial than nebulous horror that I am not and probably never will be who God intended me to be.  Raised by a narcissistic father and a borderline mother diagnosed with chronic depression, the odds are stacked against me not always struggling with emotional/mental issues.  I refuse to discuss how I feel with a doctor, refuse to consider medication; it's a personal choice to rely on God to get me through, not a judgement on anyone who is helped by medication.  A friend from college posted on Facebook recently:  H.O.P.E.—Hold On, Pain Ends.  The reminder made me want to bawl with relief.

My best friend described my situation (and hers) last night:

"We're in between two places. We know the world does not have what we need to be filled. We don't go to the One who can fill us. So we're there, in the middle, empty."

Why do I not go to Him for filling, for healing, for comfort, for escape from this broken world? Why do I have no faith in my present or my future, but spend everlasting hours, days, weeks, months, YEARS remembering what was, what could have been, what might have been done differently? What makes me think, operating out of my brokenness, I could make it work any better, given a second chance at any of it?

God, I need You so desperately! I feel like the most desperate woman on the planet, fingernails scraping the edge of sanity as I try not to slip over...Be here, Lord Jesus, save me from my own laziness and stupidity and cockiness. Use that roll of heavenly duct tape to hold me together so I can make my home a safe, cheerful haven for my family!  Use this pitiful vessel to show others that if You can put up with me, You'll joyfully welcome them.

Galaxy Nails, Take 2

The first shot of these on the blog, but actually the second time I've done galaxy nails.  Wish I'd thought to take pics the first time, so I could compare.  I think these are better, although the pics are blurry crap.  Oh well, at least it gives me an idea what the heckito I did.

Base: Pure Ice Electric! (stupidest name ever), sponged first with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, then China Glaze Fly and Japanese Koi and Sinful Colors Gorgeous. White dots and base of supernova in White On and supernova topped with Japanese Koi. Topped with a layer of Pure Ice Don't You Wish iridescent glitter. Base and top coat used, too, but whatever. Pic above in sunlight, below in indirect natural light.

Thumb pic: so blurry, but shows off the glitter a bit!

One of these days I'll get the hang of not flooding my cuticles when I paint...  The gross, wrinkly fingers are my badge of honor for being a mommy for 14 years (and being a year shy of 40—YIKES!), and no amount of amazing, homemade jojoba oil/shea butter body butter seems to cure it.  I find myself wishing I'd been born into a culture that reveres old age, wisdom, wrinkles, and all that.

I have no idea what I'm doing!

I figure all my FB friends are tired of looking at every last flippin' nail art pic I post, so I'm going to stick most of them here for...what? Posterity? Pride?  Ah, who cares?  This is my first post in my first blog ever!

So, Jenna, here's what you tried recently:

I saw a gorgeous swatch of OPI Schnapps Out of It!, so, penny-pincher that I am (OK, sometimes), I found an old Grace Advantage polish (from my sal-free days)—Santa Barbara—and jacked it up with a little each of China Glaze Mahogany Magic, Dearlee 043 (a deep burgundy creme), and believe it or not, China Glaze Japanese Koi.  Um, neon?  Yeah, but it worked.  I didn't have anything to add the shimmer that's in Schnapps Out of It!, but it works for me.

I used BM-316 for the stamping.  I tried a gradient by using gold, metallic brown, and a metallic burgundy polish on the stamp plate.  First off, the brown totally didn't show up—nixed that one.  And I thought the polishes would sort of mush together when I scraped the stamp.  Not so much; I ended up with bizarre stripes of burgundy and gold.  Fail!  So I went back and did the stamp just with burgundy, and again with just gold to create a layered look.  Much better; glad I was able to salvage this one, because I don't like having to do my nails two days in a row, and I just can't stare at a failed mani without having an OCD episode! So, all's well that ends well.  Or something.