The Halloween Stripe

I know it's been a while since I've updated this. It's also been a while since I've done my nails! YIKES! You caught me!! It's that time of the year though - when there's some sort of holiday party, baby shower, wedding, birthday or anniversary creeping up behind you - as well as that holiday weight.

This design started out as being a zebra stripe but it quickly turned into just black and white stripes with creepy spikes at the tips.

SO - until I can finally figure out how to correctly do zebra stripes - I will leave you with this design!

So how I did it:

I first painted my nails with a no chip clear coat followed by black (the same black I use in all my designs). Make sure you wait for it to be completely dry and smooth before going to the next step.

I then used the stripe right nail polish in white to do the stripes. You can buy this at a Sally's Beauty store. I did the stripes randomly, so there's no real order in doing them. One problem I kept running into was not making the white thick enough so you can sort of see through it.

Gator Nails!

What I'm listening to: "Circus" by Britney Spears

This is what I've been sporting for the Gator games this season! It's the most difficult design I've done by hand so far. You can recreate this with your own school colors.

Step 1: Always make sure you trim, file and buff your nails before you begin. I've started using an OPI "Chip Skip" coat that prevents your nails from chipping. It seems to work pretty well.
Step 2: Paint one full coat of your primary color. In my case, I used OPI's "Blue My Mind." Make sure to let it, and every other coat, fully dry!

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**** TIP: Don't leave your fan on, wave your hands, or be by a draft of wind. This can cause bubbles to form in the polish.

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Step 3: Get your secondary color, in my case Sephora by OPI's "Caliente Coral." You're going to paint a triangle on either the top left or top right of your nail - whichever feels more natural at the time. I did the top left of my left hand and top right of my right.

Step 4: Take the Stripe Rite polish, which I introduced in my last post, and draw a thin line dividing the two colors. You can really use any color you like, of course.
Step 5: Use a finishing coat to hold it in place and I always have a rule of allowing a full hour for it to dry. It's a GREAT excuse to watch tv or if you're brave, surf the web.

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Extra Tid-bit: I used a small rectangular sponge, normally used to apply concealer, to dip into nail polish remover and remove excess polish that is definitely going to get on your fingers.

The New Kicks Plus Cute Nails to go With

I work at JCPenney and happened to find these shoes. This was the last place I expected to find them! These were only $39. They're a good fit and they don't hurt. I recommend putting regular deodorant on places where you would normally blister. I heard that trick from a co-worker and tried it - haven't had blisters since. Make sure you don't get gel or spray deodorant. I use the regular DOVE deodorant.


These were an after thought. I started off with a regular burgundy/red color. I came across a nifty invention called "Stripe Rite." It's nail polish that you can get in various colors that uses a very thin and long brush to apply the polish. It works well for stripes or any finishing touches. It makes for a much cleaner look and it's a lot less work than using a paint brush.

Gold & Black Striped Nails....got to have them - now come and get them!

The Bobcat Stripe!

I'm dedicating these nails to Buchholz High School, where I graduated in 2006 from.

I started off with using just the Sephora by OPI "Rumba Romance" gold color, then decided it looked too cheesy - and added the Sephora by OPI "What's a Tire Jack?"

Supplies:

• Sephora by OPI "Rumba Romance" and "What's a Tire Jack?" (or gold and black equivalents)


• A very small paint brush - particularly one you don't mind possibly destroying


• A disposable cup


• Nail polish remover (my favorite is Cutex)


• A paper towel just in case and for a place to rest your brush

Here are the steps:

1. Paint all your nails the Rumba Romance color and let them dry.

2. While the polish is drying, pour a small amount of polish remover into your disposable cup so that you can set your brush in it between uses. (This is important so that the polish doesn't stick to your brush as much)

3. When the polish is dry, get your paint brush and dip it into the "What's a Tire Jack" color, making sure you have enough paint on the brush, and then go diagonally across your nail. (Don't worry about getting it on your skin because this is easily taken off)

4. Let the stripes dry.

5. Go back and put a little polish remover on the paper towel and get the rest of the paint off of your skin

I decided everytime I do something different I'll post pictures and how-to's on this blog, so keep checking for updates =)

You can also find me at : Fictionpress.com and Twitter.

So about those summer goals....

Just like rules are meant to be broken, I suppose goals are too.

Classes begin in a week and I feel the pressure to squeeze what I can into this last week. It's literally my last week of freedom. With a packed schedule between 40 hours of work at JCPenney, 20 hours at The Gainesville Sun and then two classes ( thank the lord one is online ) - I'm going to find it hard to keep up a social life. Hopefully you've seen The Devil Wears Prada with Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep,and if you haven't then you should, because it imitates exactly what my life is going to be like these next four months. Yes - I will be the one running for coffee, breakfast, lunch and dinner (probably somewhere in between as well), while trying to make it from 13th street to twenty minutes out of town to JCPenney.
Here's the trailer:

I have completed some of my summer goals like potty training Gizmo (sort of), finding out there's no way to fix my bike and making my first Starburst wrapper bracelet (which is awesome).

My internship at INsite has been tied up and I'm left with $50 in gift certificates to places around town. I learned what it's really like to work in an office - which is not always my cup of tea. I find that my mind wanders in an office and that my ADD comes out.

Since I've come to find that some of my summer goals are just unrealistic, like finishing the book I've been writing, I'm going to make some fall goals that will hopefully be a ton more attainable.

Fall Goals:
- Establish a routine for practicing guitar
- Make updates to this blog at least once a week
- Make writing, photography and art work portfolios
- Work on my personal website

Starburst Wrapper Bracelet

Finally I have made a bracelet made out of Starburst wrappers!

I can remember back in highschool, during lectures no one cared or needed to listen to, students put together these bracelets out of saved up, wrinkled and dirty Starburst wrappers. I had never done it, even back then when high school classes didn't seem that useful. So, after my mom bought me a 1 lb bag of Starburst's for this past V-day, I decided I would make use of these wrappers and make a bracelet.

This is what became of that idea.

Oh! And this is where I learned how to make a Starburst Wrapper Bracelet.

Summer Accomplishments

For the first time in a long time, I have taken the summer off of college.
wwhhheeewwww
In the mean time I am still working about full time and I have started an internship at INsite Magazine.

I have also decided to finally chug through a list of goals for the summer-which-I have already accomplished one - Thank God!

Anyways...here is my list of things I would like to accomplish this summer:

• Make a Starburst Wrapper bracelet


• Fix all my torn or broken clothing/jewelry


• Finish writing my fiction novel


• Build a personal website


• Pay off my Best Buy bill


• Read the sookie stackhouse series


• Potty train my chihuahua mix Gizmo

That's all I can think of for now, but look for more to come!