Lovebird nails: tutorial and TotallyCoolNails contest entry

Emeral Green (284) by BarryM
LaffyTaffy Cherry
Apricot Punch (053) by Rimmel London
Clear by Natural Collection (Boots brand)
I'm Exquisite (350 Gold) by No7 (Boots brand)

I chose Lovebirds for my Love/Valentine's Day contest entry because I don't really like pink, or hearts really. My husband bought me a couple budgies several years ago, so sweet little parrots remind me of him. LOVE HIM!

This is my first Nail Art video; it's so much harder than it looks to make a nice video. Sorry for the interruptions from my son. PLEASE give constructive criticism. Thanks.

Green birthday card

I made this in 2010 for my brother's birthday. I used scrap paper, stickers and 1/2 of a stamp (said 'Happy Birthday!' but only used the second word). Ridiculously easy.

Princess Aurora - quilling card

Here is a card I made 2 YEARS ago for my niece's birthday. I do quilling rarely, but it's quite simple if you can get the hang of it; I just played around until I got some flowers I liked. I added doodles before I glued the flowers down. I used colored pencils and glitter for the Princess Aurora stamp.

Wow. Long time, no see...

Being pregnant and having a kid hasn't stopped me from being creative, but it's definitely been fewer and further between. I usually have to fit anything creative during naptimes or after "Mr. Maverick" (aka my son) goes to bed. And I haven't had the drive or energy to blog. Sorry. But I have been taking pictures of things that I've made. There have been fewer papercrafts and more random crafts.
The most recent thing I've been learning about is nail art. I get the opportunity to spend time with the teenage girls at church; I'm one of the Young Women's leaders so I'll teach an occasional sunday school lesson and go to their activities on a Wednesday. I saw one of the girls nails a couple weeks ago and I thought, "Cool. I can do that." She had put 6-10 tiny dots on each nail; when I did it I went a little crazy and went for a bubble look with 2 colors.
I then spent time on the internet and youtube learning different beginner nail art techniques. So when my nails were looking worn out I did this. I'm not sure of the technique name, but it's like 'dry marbling,' but only in one direction to look a little like feathers; it was actually called 'peacock technique' in one place so I used colors similar to an actual peacock feather.

A little update...

Here's baby's 20-week scan. I've got two months before my baby boy is due. He's due October 8th. We haven't picked a name yet, but we've got a short list. My Lilypie ticker says he weighs about 4 pounds, so he's getting bigger faster.

I'll be moving from a flat to a house this month. I'll definitely still have a designated crafting area, but I imagine my card-making won't be as frequent as it was in 2009. Hopefully, after I move I'll be able to make some baby-theme cards; they'll definitely come in handy.

25th Anniversary card

      I made this for my parents' 25th anniversary. I didn't want to make an all-silver card (because it's the silver anniversary), so I decided on blue with silver.
      I inked the chipboard numbers with silver ink and covered them with glitter. Then I put them on a textured black paper and did some doodling with a blue Sakura gel pen. The light grey paper is stamped in blue with a Stampin' Up mesh-looking stamp.
      The ribbons look really pretty, but it's really easy to do. I added a few eyelets, threaded the white ribbon through, and tied the silver ribbon on with blue thread. It made the silver ribbon look very neat and tidy, because there was no knot to make it go wonky. On the inside the white ribbon is glued down and then covered with a plain piece of paper (to hide the ends).
      This card looks cooler in real life. The colors aren't quite right because it's hard to photograph holographic paper (or glitter). And the black paper looks blacker.

Materials:
Holographic blue, black, and grey paper
Chipboard numbers
Sakura gel pen
decorative scissors
white and silver ribbons
blue thread

Never-ending card

This card works better with fewer embellishments, so I just used stamps and stickers (and a pen for doodling).