Pearl Girls Of The World, Take It Up A Notch!

Pearls are timeless, classic and sophisticated.  Leave it to me to spice them up!
My sister and I went to the Bead Expo on Saturday in Fishkill, NY.  It was the first bead show I had ever attended.  It was on the small side but we had a lot of fun.  I was pretty good and didn't buy a whole lot!  I was trying to be smart with my limited funds.  My eye was caught by this large oval pearl strand.  It turned out to be made of shell but it totally looks like pearl.  I bought one strand.  To go with it, I got an 8mm round strand made of shell as well.  Then I remembered this costume bracelet I have been wanting to remake and it was made with 8mm faux pearls. The faux pearls were yellow and old looking and the bracelet was tight on me.  The clasp on that bracelet is to die for!  I absolutely love it and certainly have been wanting to wear it.  So, I bought another strand of the 8mm shell pearls to remake the bracelet.  I was so excited about the pearls, even though I was exhausted when I got home, I sat and made the necklace and the bracelet that night.  Pearl girl to the max! What's that phrase?  Go big or go home?

Bracelet closeups

Here you can see two of the three faux diamond separator bars. 

As if the bracelet needed more bling!  Doesn't bother me.

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity!

Crazy Nails

I might have a new obsession- decorating my nails. Look at the wild and crazy nails I am sporting now. What you see is called Kiss Nail Dress Jeweled Strips and the style is Gown.  I got them at Harmon Beauty Supplies.  Aren't they funky!

They aren't flat. In fact, they are bumpy!  You can see it in this pic.

These jeweled strips are different than the Sally Hansen nail strips I posted about recently.  These are more like stickers than nail polish.  These jeweled strips are removed by carefully peeling off which I hope will go well when I'm ready to take them off.  Speaking of removal, I promised to give an update on how the removal of the Sally Hansen strips went.  It was actually really easy.  I just used nail polish remover.  I mentioned previously that I saw some online reviews that said they were hard to remove, but I totally disagree.  They were about as easy to remove as removing normal nail polish.  The Sally Hansen strips felt exactly like regular nail polish when on.  However, the Kiss jeweled strips are bulkier which is to be expected due to its dimension.  I am conscious that they are on my nails.  Probably because they are more like stickers sticking on my nails than nail polish dried on.  Does that make sense? But, they don't bother me and they are fun to look at.  Oh and I put a little bit of clear nail polish on the ends of my nails because I felt like the edges needed to be sealed better.  There's another one that I want to try, called Bling Nails made by Nail Bliss.  I want my nails to look like they have diamonds embedded in them and they have one that should do the trick.  Hee, hee, hee. 

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity! 

Shades Of Lime

Remember this?  This is my hand painted "Tibetan/Chinese" cabinet.  When I say hand painted, I mean painted by my hand, lovingly and painstakingly.

Now, remember that I've been wanting to modify the cabinet to go more with my newer decor.  The cabinet is in a darker space and backed by a darker purple wall.

Forget that red desk armoire and picture that wall mostly white with built-ins (see my post I Got The Whole World In My Hands to see what it will one day look like).  But check out the painted cabinet against the Benjamin Moore Gentle Violet.  Just doesn't work with the Ralph Lauren Kilim Red on the cabinet.  I've used lime green for the accents thoughout my living space.  You can see that in the desk chair, the lamps on either side of my couch and the large canvas above my couch.  It goes well with the paint on the walls; the Benjamin Moore Gentle Violet and Electric Blue.  I thought that this side of the room needs a little more lime green and this side of the room (my study) gets the least amount of natural light so it needs to be brightened up.  I narrowed down the greens to two choices and finally got samples over the weekend. 

If you have read my blog at all, you will know my chief complaint of having such a hard time capturing the color of an object and conveying it online.  Well, this post will be the perfect backup for that complaint.  I hope you will be able to extrapolate from the following pictures the difference between these two paint colors.  The flash from the camera just throws everything off.  So here goes.

It's not as bright as it looks.  The next picture shows the difference between them a little better.  I was going to ask for votes on which one to go with but honestly, I have made my decision already.  Want to guess which one?  Lime Green is on the left and the bottom and Bright lime is on the right and top.  Which one would you choose?  Let me know by leaving your comment below. I'll post my choice at the end of the week.  I'm curious to see which one you would pick.

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity!

A New Place To Put Zebra Print

I don't know what's gotten into me lately but I have an obsession with nail polish (again).  It's been some time since I've been off the wagon and mostly because I stopped wearing nail polish on my fingernails for years.  My nails were healthy and strong, albeit boring.  Then, about a year ago, I got adventurous and decided to try the UV Gel nails at the local nail salon.  What a mistake!!!  I actually, really liked the way my nails looked, but then the edges started coming up and dirt would get underneath and I would drive myself crazy trying to keep them clean.  So, I tried the version I was told would be better (and more expensive) and that supposedly wouldn't come up at the edges.  Well, that one did the same thing and I wanted to have them taken off.  I'm told that the nail technician is supposed to wrap your nails in nail polish remover with tinfoil around for about 10 minutes to "soak" the UV gel nails off.  The woman that took mine off took a metrocard and got into the edges that weren't supposed to come up and popped off the gel coating.  Trouble is, she popped off a bunch of layers of my nail along with the gel coating.  Great!  After that my nails were weak, breaking all the time, really thin and in really bad shape.  They not only looked terrible but they felt terrible.  I had no choice but to cover them with nail polish to try to strengthen them.  I used nailtek under the polish and that stuff really helped to heal my nails.  It took almost a year before my nails were strong again.  So, back to nail polish.  I've been wearing nail polish again and doing my own manicures.  One day I noticed this product by Sally Hansen, called Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips and was intrigued.  They are strips of dry nail polish that you kind of stretch over your nails, smooth out and then file off the excess.  I was very skeptical.  Months later and after looking at them over and over again because they are not cheap, I decided to give them a try.  I bought a pack and the color is called Running Wild.  According to the display, Avril Lavigne helped design a collection of these strips for Sally Hansen.

This past Sunday I was getting ready to do my nails and decided it was time to try Running Wild.  A perfect name for the design, not only does it speak to my new nail polish obsession, but take a look at what it looks like!  It is much wilder than what I normally have on my nails.  And I have to say, it was really easy to apply, no dry time at all (the most annoying part of nail polish) and looks fantastic.  I read some reviews that say that it can be hard to remove.  I can't speak to that since they are still on me.  They are supposed to last for up to 10 days.  I'm going on day 4 days and they still look great.  I think Sally Hansen should let people design their own nail strips and Sally Hansen can print them, just like www.spoonflower.com.  That's the site I use to make my own fabric designs.  I think that's a great idea for a company.  I mean fabric is one thing, but nail polish is something else.  Women use tons of it, change it up weekly, want tons of variety, etc.  I would make monogram nail strips with little IG's on it.  Oh and little red dragons and all sorts of things.  I love personalizing stuff.  For my ipod I went to this website called www.skinit.com where I was able to make my own skin to cover my ipod.  Totally awesome.  You design and they print.  Anybody want to back me on the personalized nail strips?   



Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity!

Pomegranate Fabric Design Contest

Vote for my original artwork pomegranate fabric design on www.spoonflower.com!!!  It's a pomegranate contest! Click on the pomegranate contest on the side of the homepage and find my design to vote.

Here is what it looks like.  Do you like it?  Be honest!  I call it Plum Pomegranate.  It will be on sale at spoonflower.com very soon.  I plan on working on more fabric designs.  See my red trellis design that is already on sale. 

Don't forget to vote!

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more creativity! 

An "Apatite" For Gems

My appetite for gems includes the gorgeous carribean sea blues captured in the gemstone apatite.  From the dark clear teal waters to the cool glass aquas, apatite comes in a range of blues, as well as many other colors. I'm sure many are enhanced by artificial means, but that doesn't bother me. I was fortunate enough to come across a blow out sale for two strands of emerald shaped faceted really great quality apatite.  Originally, $105.00 a strand, I was lucky to snap them up for closer to $25.00 each.  Totally worth the price.  I've been holding onto them for a while, not quite sure what I wanted to make of them.  My recent post on my signature bracelets, however, inspired me to add to my collection. Besides, bracelets I can see all day and enjoy more.  Necklaces, are for others to enjoy really. I guess that is why I am partial to rings, bracelets and long necklaces.  But who am I kidding, I love it all!

In one of the beadstores I frequent in NYC, I found oval faceted beads that are the same color and almost as beautiful as the emerald apatite beads. Beautiful enough to work.  I also found these spectacular electric blue apatite strands.  Of course, what else, another bracelet.  I made them today.  Do you like them?

The best way to capture the color accurately, is to not use the flash when taking the picture. Then again, some of the intensity is lost as well.  It's hard to capture the intense hue of these gems with or without flash. But here goes.  Ah, you can see a little more of the sea green with the flash. 

I wonder which one I'll wear tomorrow?

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity!