Friday, February 20, 2015

Bead & Resin Paperweight

I truly love resin casting projects.  It's so fun to see objects suspended in clear resin, completely preserved.  For this project I used:

Famowood 2 part epoxy resin
Plastic beads
Silicone Spatula/Stir Stick
Plastic Cups for mixing and measuring
Silicone Mold


Thursday, February 19, 2015

Block Printing ~ January 2015 ~ Darby Smart

This month's Darby Smart To DIY For Box was a Block Printing project.  This was my best month yet with Darby Smart.  The project was challenging, fun and pretty!  What more could a crafter ask for?  I had never tried any type of carving in my crafting, so it was really nice to try my hand at it.  The materials provided were good quality and sufficient for completing the project.  As of right now this kit is not available for purchase but there is one that comes with more inks and supplies for $47, here's the link for that:  http://www.darbysmart.com/projects/block-printing-starter-set

The link for the instructions on how to complete the kit that come in my monthly subscription box is: http://www.darbysmart.com/howto#yummy

The score for this kit:
Value - 5
Ease of Use - 4
Instructions - 4
Finished Product - 4
Overall score - 4.25



Please note:  I purchased this monthly subscription.  It is NOT provided to me to demonstrate or review.  I am not compensated by Darby Smart in any way to show this product.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Rustic Chalkboard Style Christmas Ornaments

Hello fellow crafters!  In my last blog post I described the DarbySmart.com web store and monthly subscription service in detail.  If you'd like to read more on it just click here.  This is the product I purchased in addition to my monthly subscription box as a project for my son and I to complete together.  We had a lot of fun, the project was fairly simple and the end product was super cute.  The kit cost $19 and I feel was well worth it.  You can order the kit here.  I am not being compensated in any way for demonstrating these products or directing you to them. We enjoyed it so much we are trying to get my husband to cut us some more wood slices so we can make more!  There was plenty enough Chalkboard paint left to do it and of course, plenty of inspiration!!  I listed the rating for this box as well as the link to the instructions below the video.  Hope you enjoy and Thanks for crafting with me!


The instructions as per the Darby Smart website can be found here.

Score for this project out of a possible 5 is as follows:
Value - 5
Ease of Use - 3
Instructions - 3
Finished Product - 4
Overall Score - 3.75

Friday, December 13, 2013

"Snowbanks at Night" Manicure/Tutorial

Products Used:
Sally Hansen Double Duty Base/Top Coat
Julep - Lacey
Sally Hansen XTreme Wear - White On
Julep - Mia
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat
Dotting Tools


Video Tutorial:

Friday, December 28, 2012

"Star Spangled New Year" Manicure/Tutorial

This manicure is so sparkly and fun and sooooo easy to do.  You don't have to be great at painting your nails, there is no precision in this manicure, you can be rather sloppy and still get great results!!  Let's get started:

I started by painting one coat of Don't You Wish by Pure Ice over my entire bare nail:

Then I painted Dark Navy by ELF just on the tips of my nails.  It really doesn't have to be neat or a straight line becuase the edge gets covered.

Next I took a wet makeup sponge and painted a bit of Celeb City by Sally Hansen onto it and lightly dabbed it onto the center of my nail.
 
 
I stippled on a bit of Rockstar Pink by Sally Hansen.  It doesn't take much of this glitter polish.  It's very opaque so I just lightly dabbed it on.

Using Bundle Monster plate number BM21 I stamped a star design onto each nail with Black Out by Sally Hansen.



After applying Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat and clean up, we're all done!!  Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!!

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Thursday, December 13, 2012

"Tiny Bubbles" Manicure/Tutorial

Teal has become a new modern holiday color.  I've been seeing it pop up more and more in holiday decorations, makeup and nail art.  It took me a while to figure out how to incorporate it in a manicure that it would be the feature color but still have a holiday feel to it.  I paired it with silver, because everything looks festive with silver, sparkle and shine!! LOL  I called this "tiny bubbles" because it made me think of a festive holiday cocktail.  Hope you enjoy!

I started with a base coat of Sally Hansen Miracle Cure and followed that with one coat of Celeb City also by Sally Hansen in the Xtreme Wear line.


Next I applied one coat of Stunning by Revlon for added sparkle.


With a medium sized dotting tool I applied random dots of Rise and Shine by Sinful Colors and White On by Sally Hansen to each nail.



On my thumb and ring finger I applied a smaller dot in the middle of each dot in the opposite color for a little added interest.  I finished with one coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly and cleaned excess polish from my cuticles.  Super easy and oh so cute!!





Monday, December 10, 2012

Holiday Gems Manicure

I got these nail stickers a couple of months ago specifically to use during the holidays.  I will have a review on them in a few days after I find out how long they wear.  Anyway!  This is the third manicure in my Holiday series.  I applied two coats of Golden by Revlon and the Sephora Nail Bling stickers in Red Chip over that followed by two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat. 

 Revlon - Golden
 Sephora Nail Bling - Red Chip
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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Shimmery Winter Night Manicure/Tutorial

This is the second manicure in my Holiday 2012 series.  I wanted to create a look that would reflect a dark starry winter sky sparkling with stars and snowflakes.  I like the way this manicure turned out but after it was done I felt like the snowflakes would have looked better in white instead of silver.  Oh well, there's always next year!  Here are the steps to acheive this manicure:

I started by painting my nails with two coats of Dark Navy by ELF

I used the Snowflake and the little stars on Bundle Monster Plate BM14
 I used Celeb City by Sally Hansen for the stamping.  I placed stars on my thumb and pinky finger and snowflakes on all fingers except my pinky.

 I dabbed a bit of Stunning by Revlon onto my stamping plate and with a dotting tool I picked up bits of the chunkier glitter and placed it randomly around my nails


I cleaned up and applied my favorite top coat, Dries Instantly by Sally Hansen and Voila!!  Shimmery Winter Nights!


Holiday Glitz Manicure

It's holiday time again!!  Has everyone done their shopping yet.  I am delighted to say that I am nearly done and almost everything is wrapped.  All of the holiday decorations and cheer put me in the mood to start my series of Holiday Manicures.  I just recently purchased a new glitter polish and couldn't wait to incorporate it in this series.  It's The Family Jewels by Pure Ice.  Very affordable polish I picked up at Wal Mart.  It is a clear polish LOADED with finely milled gold glitter and diamond shaped gold holographic glitter.  Stunning!!  It would only take two coats of this to have a very opaque coverage of glitter.  One coat of it over a colored polish would create a gorgeous effect.  My only complaint would be that the polish is thick, but this is fairly normal with heavily glittered polish.  For this manicure I paired it with Rich in Heart by Sinful Colors.  I applied it heavily at the tips and more thinly going toward the cuticles.  The final look was more than I had hoped for, so pretty.  Hope you enjoy!  I apologize that the pictures are not a better quality.  I snapped them with my phone and just couldn't get them clear and non blurry.  But overall you still get a good look at how well the colors worked together.




Thursday, November 15, 2012

Nail Art of the Week - Gunmetal and Purple

Once again I have drawn inspiration from ChalkboardNails blog.  I swear that blog is like crack for nail addicts!!! LOL.  Truly a great place to get inspiration from and get great reviews and swatches of the latest nail polish on the market.  Here is my take on one of her recent designs.  She used a true silver polish with a holographic bar glitter in it.  Here is the link for her Original Post.  When I looked thru my nail polish collection I was struck by how nice this Gunmetal grey looked next to the purple so I decided to go with that color combo.  I painted my nails first with a coat of Sally Hansen Miracle Cure as a base coat and followed with one coat of Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in Gunmetal.


Next I applied a stripe down the middle of each nail with Wet n Wild -Wild Shine polish in Eggplant Frost.


I then painted a glitter polish - NYX Nail Polish in Dynamic Glitter over the Eggplant Frost. 


Finally I followed with my favorite top Coat - Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat.


Simple yet stunning results and I love the way the colors look together!  Thanks so much for reading!


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Fishtail Manicure/Tutorial

 
I saw this manicure on ChalkboardNails blog and thought it looked fantastic but simple to do and thought I'd give it a try using colors I had on hand.  She used a different pink on each finger but I chose to go with the same pink on all fingers.  I thought it turned out pretty good!  Here is the link to her blog post - Pink Fishtail Ombre.  Keep reading for my version of it.
 
Paint nails with one to two coats of a neutral polish.  I used Zoya in Pandora .
 
Next, paint a curved diagonal across your nail from about 2/3 of the way up your nail toward the tip in a dark pink color.  I used Elf in Hot Pink.
 
Do the same thing on the other side of the nail to create the fishtail shape.
 
Repeat the process with your darkest color.  I used Sinful Colors in Rich in Heart.
 
Finish with your favorite topcoat, I used Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat , and you're all done!!
 
 
 


 

Friday, September 14, 2012

Stiletto Nails Manicure/Tutorial

Products Used:
Wet N Wild Nail Polish - Burgundy Frost
Avon Nail Polish - Night Violet
Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat
Aver 3/4" Round Labels

FOTD September 14, 2012

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Face:
L'Oreal True Match Foundation - Creamy Natural
Covergirl Professional Translucent Powder - Medium
Wet N Wild Bronzer - Reserve Your Cabana (highlight)
Wet N Wild Bronzer - Ticket to Brazil (Contour)
Laura Geller Baked Blush N Brighten - Pink Buttercream
Lips:
NYX Lipliner - Fuschia
Wet N Wild Lipstick - 521A

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Eyes:
ELF Eyelid Primer
NYX Eyebrow Kit - Brunette
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil - Strawberry Milk
LA Colors Iris Palette
Wet N Wild Petal Pusher Palette
Milani Eye Tech Extreme Liquid Eyeliner - Extreme Black
Almay Intense IColor - Purple Amethyst
Rimmel Scandal Eyes Mascara - Extreme Black 
 
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