Reflections, Sassy Nails, and Silly Diversions!

New things ahead....yay!

2012-03-03T18:45:00.000-05:00

Hey there lovely people! How are you all tonight? I have had a pretty rough day with the kids today, and I am so looking forward to my day alone tom. My husband doesn't know the extent of my outing tom, but It entails a new 'Do! (Hair-do) I am going to get side swipe bangs, I can't decide between these two: ONE or TWO. What do you think? Here is my picture my hair is a tad shorter and of course a diff color :) but generally the same style...don't laugh at my silly picture :)

I created a one of a kind polish for a birthday group buddy of mine Yezenia, and I had so much left over base color, because I couldn't get it right, that I made up two quick glitter's with the leftover:

Ocean Party

Ocean Party on the left and Crusoe on the right

These two are VERY similar, but they are different if you look at the swatches of them. Ocean party is more colorful and flakie-less and Crusoe has lots of purple flakies and gold bar glitter.

Crusoe (named after the movie The Water Horse)

Crusoe (sorry its blurry)

Crusoe

Ocean Sparkle's (I think this was what i named it) Yezenia's polish, on the left, and Candy-land, Lailaa's Polish (another one of my birthday group people)

same as above, Left is Ocean Sparkles and on the right is Candy-land

The first two frankens are actually on my blog sale if your interested in them, Ocean Party and Crusoe.

I have a special post coming soon about The Traveling Polish! It includes another Franken!!!

I have also contacted a few bloggers about my inspirational blogger franken/homemade polish collection. I can't wait to begin this, I have oredered a bunch of supplies and am looking forward to working with my chosen bloggers!!! (they will remain secret until their polish is completed)

Also I have updated the blog sale to include a Green Ocean by Sinful Colors!!!

AND I know lots of things right? Don't forget to enter the giveaway!!! There will be two winners!

<3 Carrie

Two Year Blog-versary GIVE AWAY!!!

2012-02-29T23:24:00.000-05:00

Hey there you all, can you believe its been two years since I started this blog. At first it was just for a journal, now its all sorts of fun. So this time I am using Rafflecopter...so bare with me.

So I am giving away two prizes...

The first being Revlon Whimsical and Sinful Colors Green Ocean!!!!!

And the second prize will be Nina Ultra Pro Purple-xing and Petites Pink Diamond!!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Franken/Homemade Polish Adventure...

2012-02-29T11:49:00.003-05:00

I'm in the process of contacting special Bloggers (special to me) to work with me in creating their own limited edition franken polish, or handmade polish. They selected blogger would work with me via email in the decision process, color combo's, ect. They even get to name it. I'm not sure how many Bloggers I will contact, I want it to be special and unique, or even how many of each polish I will make, or how they will be distributed/sold. What are your thoughts on this?

<3 Carrie

Bubbles...

2012-02-23T21:56:00.001-05:00

Hey there! When I saw that Chalkboard Nails was hosting a contest, and an easy one at that I was like YAY! So I thought of this cool idea do do Bubbles. I used Fairy Dust as a base, and then dotted with a large dotting tool Sinful Colors Cinderella on the tip of my nails. Then used a medium tool, and dotted a CQ French White-which made these neat sort of 'ghost' circles or double circle. Then I took a small tool and dotted Sinful Colors Mint Apple on top....and it looks like this:

and an accent of Whimsical...

What do you think? I am loving this!!!

<3 Carrie

BlogHer Book Club: The Rules of Inheritance

2012-02-23T20:55:00.002-05:00

Well I finished reading my third book for the BlogHer Book Club. It was a page turner. I stayed up late so many nights just waiting to see what she wrote next. The book was: The Rules of Inheritance, by Claire Bidwell Smith.

I've never lost a parent, but after reading Claire's Memoir, I now know exactly how it might feel. Through out the book I found myself crying, and my heart sinking and then lifting again. I felt like I was living her life with her. I especially loved that she broke it up into section's, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. In those sections or parts of the healing process she jumped back and forth in time. In ways I found myself shaking my head, relating to certain times in her life.

If you have suffered a loss, this is a must read. And if not, I still think you should read it, it is the most genuine heartfelt book I have ever read.

<3 Carrie

This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

Funnies...

2012-02-20T20:53:00.001-05:00

My Husband told me a cute little thing that my Little man (4) did the other day. I had bought a package of pads and had them on my sink counter, and I guess he asked daddy what the we're. Daddy said they were Mommy's. Little man then replied, Mommy wears DIAPERS????

LOLOLOLOLOL...so cute!

The things he thinks of.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

2012-02-15T16:39:00.000-05:00

Hey there! Hope your Valentine's day was fabulous! I went and got myself a bike, its a Schwinn Breeze, beach cruiser type bike. Also Picked up WeeRide Kangaroo seat for little Handsome, it goes in between my seat and the handle bars of the bike.

My van is in the shop getting Transmission work, and other costly things done to it, so in the meantime I have my grandpas van. I have been running non stop today....seriously. I have a cake that needs to be made and decorated by 4 tomm afternoon. I make cakes as a side thing, check out that page here.

I'm doing something similar to this cake: It will be a half sheet, so one large rectangle cake, the sides will be the same I am hoping, and then adding some real purple daisies, and fake ivory flowers to the top...maybe a pearl necklace and some earrings...

this is not my photo and I forget where it came from :/

Ok so here was my Valentine mani. I did a base of WnW Spoiled's Fuzzy Dice. Used a circle 'price tag' sticker for the half moon using SH XW Black out. Then I stamped with CC Foiled collection, the reddish/pink one and the purplish/pink one, using some of the valentine's stamps on the Bundle Monster sets.

What did you do Yesterday???

<3 Carrie

Tip of the Week

2012-02-10T21:06:00.001-05:00

Hey all! I'm sure most of you know about this but I am sharing it anyhow. The foil method for removing glitter nail polish! It works people! Place cotton on your nails, soak in remover, wrap in foil, let sit for about five or so minutes....

And bam! It just slides right off! How cool is that, no more scrubbing...

<3 Carrie

BlogHer Book Club, The Weird Sisters

2012-02-09T21:43:00.000-05:00

Hi Guys! I have another book review for ya tonight. BlogHer sent me The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown to read and give my opinion on for the BlogHer Book Club.

Its about three sisters who come home to care for their mother who is going through breast cancer treatments. Rose, the older of the three, she is a homely Professor who's struggling to let go and believe in herself. She is engaged to a man who loves to travel and she prefers her hometown. She is having a hard time figuring out where she should be. Bianca or Bean as she is referred to throughout the book, is a high style attention seeker. Dreamed of New York as a girl and went there after college only to come home hiding from the dreamy expensive city. Cordelia, Cordy for short, is best labeled as a hippie. She is the baby, and often was given in to. She took up traveling and wandered the US until coming home, harboring her own secret-a pregnancy. All three girls have a hard time connecting and communicating with their parents. They speak in Shakespearean verse's, thanks to their father who is a professor of Shakespeare at the local college.

Now all three of them are home, faced with reality of 'growing up', and trying to figure out what in the world they are going to do.

I won't spoil the ending for ya ;)

While getting into this book was sssllllloooowwwwww, I rather enjoyed it. It was fresh and light. The Author really lets you into the sisters heads. You really get a good sense of who you are reading about. I really like her style of writing, and look forward to more from her. Would love for another bokk with these charaters to come out, showing us more into their lives and how they are now. Hint Hint Mrs. Brown!

<3 Carrie

This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

The Traveling Polish...

2012-02-09T13:59:00.000-05:00

Hey there!

I started a group on FB with an idea that came to me the other night out of the blue....

I thought how cool it would be to send a polish around the world, letting it stop off and have mani's done and take pictures with it around town, and then send it along on its merry way to the next gal or guy, sending a post card along also, mapping its travels.

So I made a FB group for it. Sign up here if your interested in it. I am going to have a more detailed set of 'rules' for it later, but for now, just join and fil out the two documents in the group: a sign up, and a polish suggestion.

<3 Carrie

OMG.....

2012-02-08T21:42:00.000-05:00

I'm so sorry I've been gone so long....

We've been sick around here, I finally feel like I belong out of bed or off the couch, haha...
My Little Drama Queen turned seven last Thursday! Wow. She got a new bike, no training wheels, and I have to teach her how to ride it now...I don't run...this will be hard, and I am so out of shape its not funny.

This is a franken I made, Sea Glass??? Other name suggestions???

The other nails are as follows:
Index: SH NP Mandarin Garnet with Essence Twins Edward
Middle: NYC Empire State Blue with WNW Correction Tape
Ring: Spoiled Fuzzy Dice with Spoiled Jewelry Heist
Pinky Savvy Totally Teal with Spoiled Show Me The Money

Stay tuned, another book review tomorrow!

<3 Carrie

OPI Nail Envy....

2012-01-31T21:47:00.000-05:00

I decided to try OPI Nail Envy-Original, to strengthen my nails, they are thin and prone to vertical splits and peeling. I bought it after hearing lots of good things about it on PaA. So after all my Christmas Mani's I decided to pull it out, cut back to nubbins (or short nails) and try it as a base each time I did my nails, which is about every three to four days.

Here's what they looked like in the beginning:

This is about 1.5 weeks in....

And this is just yesterday, about 4 weeks in...

Same about 4 weeks in....

I thought I had another in between picture but I can't find it :(

I have had no breaks, they are much thicker, they are not as brittle when unpolished, I've had two minor minor peel issues, but I buffed them out, and they are fine....

I will trim them soon (filling trim, not cut trim, because I find that it lessens the chance of peelies) and get rid of some of the free edge, and hopefully get rid of the thin transparent tip. In about another month I will have my whole nail bed grown out with Nail Envy.

Have you tried this product, leave me a comment and let me know how it helped your nails (or didn't).

<3 Carrie

PS, don't forget to check out my blog sale, up top under the tabs!

PSS, Check out my friends blog, she is doing a 100 Day Scripture Challenge!

ROTW: Spagetti Bread!!

2012-01-28T10:30:00.000-05:00

Yes, I realize I spelled Spagetti wrong, but I like it like that. :)

I found this recipe on Pinterest. ( OMG, right now my kids are watching Spongebob, and it is Soooooo annoying.....A crab has a whale as a daughter....) OK anyway's, I thought this recipe looked so yummy!

One loaf of frozen bread dough, thawed and left to rise, then rolled out for a rectangle pizza dough shape. My dough took about 4 hours to thaw and rise in the oven with the light on.

Cook some noodles up, which ever you prefer-I used the garden delight spagetti. Heat up your sauce, it can be meat sauce or no meat, which ever you prefer. Mix together your spagetti noodles and sauce. place about 4-5 cups worth of this on the middle of your dough, length wise, in the shape of a log. Top with cubed cheese of your liking. In a state of furry (I'll save you from this, because I actually want you to try it *see below) from my quest to tackle to rolling of this dough I forgot to add the cheese (UGH-seriously how could i FORGET the cheese-the BEST part of it!!!) or to take a picture of this step, so I borrowed one:

Picture credit

Slice outward from the spagetti log into the dough toward the edge, like above picture. Then braid the dough 'slices' , starting with first pulling up your ends to the top of your log then braiding. Like below picture:

I went ahead and topped mine with melted butter and some garlic powder, onion powder, and some Italian seasoning. and then baked it at 350 for about a half an hour. Until it looked like this:

Let it cool for just a bit....and slice into that thing:

*Now picture how much better this would look if I had the cheese in it, melting all over the noodles and oozing out the peep holes of the braid!!! Oh how mad was I when I realized I had forgot the cheese!!!!!!! I am going to make this again, and I will NOT forget the cheese...although that furry I mentioned about the dough might keep me from making it again.

I hope you try this, several other PaA girl's have and they loved it....aside from the furry with the dough, lol.

<3 Carrie

Hey there you guys...

2012-01-27T16:47:00.001-05:00

Ugh! I am going through a week of depression over here...It really sucks. I usually have better control over it. I haven't felt like painting my nails, or coming up with designs and such....so I have been slacking, I am sorry. I will get better soon, its just a bad week....

I never did show you the rest of my Christmas time Manicure's did I? They aren't captured very well...but they were pretty...

Penguin

Christmas Toes

I was so excited to open it I opened it upside down. lol....

I Eat Mainely Lobster, Color to Diner For, Tanzy

Silly Max...

Drama Queen and her polish she received from Santa

Savvy Deep Amethyst with Motley, Asylum, Twisted, and Flecked.

SOPI Sugar Plum Fairies over Sinful Colors Mint Apple

Tomorrow I will have a recipe for ya, yummy!!!!

<3 Carrie

PS Don't forget to check out my Blog Sale...Top of the page under 'Blog Sale'

BLOG SALE!!!!!

2012-01-25T00:24:00.000-05:00

Woohoo! First Blog sale ever!

Ok so first off lets get the cruddy stuff out first, then you can drool over the polishes. LOL

I will ship Internationally, except for Italy, I've heard alot of things about their postal system. I will accept Paypal, gift option only, if you can't use the gift option, then please send enough to cover the fee's.

Shipping Charges

USA: $2.50 for first item, .50 for each additional item.

International: Please contact me for a direct quote.

Flat rate boxes (small) hold 7-8 polishes and are $5.35 for US, and $13.00 for Mexico and Canada, and $17.00 to all other Countries.

I will add tracking/insurance at your request (USA only), you will be charged extra for those, please contact me for prices. Shipping internationally is always a risk when it comes to polish...Ins and tracking is very costly, although you will be given a customs number.

I can not be responsible for lost or damaged items, I'm sorry. I do my absolute best to package your items well. I have done several swaps with no mishaps.

If you are interested in an item please email me at candcnails@gmail.com , please list the items you want, if you want ins/tracking, and your address. Payment is expected within 24 hours of your request to purchase, or those items will be relisted.

Once an item is no longer avail, I will cross out its name. Usage is marked with a line on bottle shots. Unless otherwise stated, polishes are brand new.

Please email me if you have any questions...and my prices are negotiable :)
EDIT: I'm willing to swap also, If you have anything on my wishlist!!!!

Thanks, and Happy Shopping.

Finger Paints Flakies, Full set, Asylum-Twisted-Motley-Flecked-Flashy (not in that order in picture), ***X2 ONE SET LEFT , $40 each set, will sell alone for $8 a peice if no one is interested in the full set. ***Birthday coupon NOT used and drove way out of my way to pick these up

~~Finger Paints Flakie Twisted ***X2, $8 each.~~

***Birthday coupon NOT used and drove way out of my way to pick these up

~~Revlon Whimsical ***X2, $6 each,~~

~~Sally Hansen Diamond Glass Slipper, Flakie, $5~~

~~Hard Candy Beetle $7 (swatched one hand)~~

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Lapis Amethyst $5 (swatched one nail), Sally Hansen Nail Prisms South Sea Pearl $5 (swatched one nail)

~~Pumpkin Flakie $4 (one hand swatched),~~ Essie Glass Slippers $5 (one hand swatched), Zoya Yara $9 (one full mani), China Glaze White Cap $5 (one nail swatch)

Revlon Carbonite $3, ~~Orly Andrgynie $6~~, Wet N Wild Cost is No Issue $5, Wet N Wild Back Alley Deals $5

OPI (black label) That's an "EL" of a Color, bottle neck broke transfered to this bottle, $5

NYC No Name $.50, NYC Uptown $1, NYC Big Apple Red Creme $.50, NYC No Name $.50

Wet N Wild Gold Lame Frost $1, Wet N Wild Gotcha $1.50. These next two are mystries, The peachy one has a label on the bottom that has the name Cheri and the numbers ZP247-Thats a Zoya Label, but when Googled the colors don't match. I don't know if maybe this is a very old Zoya or what... no price yet-still researching/make offer , and then the last one is a no name also a sheer white with a shimmer, very pretty no price yet/make offer

Artmatic No Name $1, A Perfect 10 Grapevine $1, Sally Hansen Tropical Orchid Frost $2, Sally Hansen Wheathered Mauve Frost $1

Estee Lauder Rosa Rosa $5, Sunset No Name, $1, Couleurs Magnolia $5

Layering Glitters...

2012-01-20T16:03:00.001-05:00

So while laying in bed trying to go to sleep, my mind goes a mile a minute usually with things I have to do in coming days, or things I need to do....just silly things mainly. Last night I added polish to the list of things that run through my head at night.....LOL.

I thought how cool would it be to layer two different glitters that share a tinted base color. So I was scanning my memory of my stash, and landed on Revlon's Faucets of Fuchsia and Wet N Wild's Behind Closed Doors. They both had the Deep Grey/Black Base, and both had large Hex pieces and small glitters. I applied my base coat, I have been using OPI's Nail Envy-Original. I will have a post later on that, I have been taking weekly pictures of the progress. I have noticed a huge difference in the strength of my nails, they haven't cracked, or broke, or peeled in two weeks! That is amazing!!!

I used Revlon's FOF first, then Wet N Wild's BCD next, then I polished from the middle of my nail to the tip with the FOF, and then used BCD on the whole nail again. If I had used 'underwear' (that means using a dark color like black under the glitter), I wouldn't have had to use as many coats for full coverage.

I like it, I am almost considering dumping a bit of each into and empty bottle.....

Have a good weekend!

<3 Carrie

Monday's Mani

2012-01-16T17:21:00.000-05:00

Over on Facebook I belong to a group called Polish-aholics Anonymous. When I put their logo on my page, I didn't know there was a group for it. I've been a member since summer....Or around that time...

Krissi, the group owner, started Monday Mani .... we vote on a challenge as a group the Mon before and then post a picture of our interpretation the following Monday. This weeks challenge was 'Crackle'. Alot of us weren't to thrilled with the idea. Boring, over that, old news, blah blah blah....

I took a bottle of it out and thought Hmm...what to do, what to do. Got my art brushes out and started to play around, and came up with this:

I used OPI A-taupe the Space Needle and China Glaze Crushed Candy.
Only one picture this time. I fixed my light box...I still need to learn how to photograph with it, as my close ups come out grainy...weird.

Hope you enjoy my design.

<3 Carrie

The Weekend

2012-01-14T21:40:00.006-05:00

Usually weekends are for resting and relaxation, right? Not when you have children. Its loud, rambunctious, and just plain nuts. I wish my kids would learn to sleep in, they get up at 7 AM, with no fail, sometimes earlier. So tiring. Grocery shopping, errands....yard work....Oh to be single again.

<3 Carrie

BlogHer Book Club, Why Women Need Fat

2012-01-12T13:40:00.002-05:00

First let me tell you, Why Women Need Fat, was VERY hard for me to get through. This type of book does not appeal to me at all, BUT the first page hooked me in (for a little while at least) because I could relate to it. I am a mom who is struggling to lose the baby weight on regular diets. The first thing to strike me as "Wow" was when they said, Diets are making us fat! Really? Yes! Because you generally gain all the weight you lost plus some back when you stop 'dieting'.

The book goes on to tell you about how our ancestors ate natural foods, like butter, and how healthy they were and as time progressed how we became more overweight as a society, trying to eat the 'healthier' foods, like Omega fats and unsaturated fats like vegetable oil. As a nation we were 'tricked' into eating the 'healthier' foods that we're actually making us fat instead. The book compares American weights and other weights such as Italian's, and how they are thinner than us and eat fattier foods than us. The book compares between different shaped woman and how their diets differ. It also links the Omega 3's and Omega 6's to the increase in our American cultures weight.

The Authors talk about waist to hip ratio and how men are drawn to the lower ratios, small waist large hip. They write about how woman store their fat in their hips for future babies, and how GAINING weight after our first baby is beneficial to our future children. Another wow from me!

The book was talking about how births differ and how a baby's head is so big nowadays, and how more women need C-sections to complete the birth process. It related a story about an ape giving birth and how it was so easy for her she stood up from a sleep, and reached down and took the baby out and soon it was playing.
I'm taking this directly from the book now:" The change in the pelvis came first, beginning about 6 million years ago when some pioneering apes first started walking upright."
That quote was from evolution believing minds, not God fearing men. Just my view on that....Had to point it out. I'm slightly less intrigued at this point, only because of my religion. They related the change in our hip shape to those of apes, evolution of man. Hmmmm.

The size of a woman's waist predicts the size of her unborn children. Small waist = small baby, where as big waist = big baby. Some of the statements and facts in this book are mind boggling. As I read it I was appalled at some and transfixed by others.

Eating better foods-natural foods, promotes a healthy weight rather than dieting.

The last part of the book told you what to eat and how to find your natural weight and body shape.

***One last thing, I was kind of put off by all the playmates references.

Before I even picked up this book, I had switched to REAL butter instead of fake 'Country Crock' like substitutes. Yesterday at the market I was more conscious at what I put in my shopping cart, I noticed more veggies and fruit and less of the more convenient items, like freezer meals. So it has affected the way I shop a little. I always knew that diets didn't work for me and that a change in the 'way of life' is the way I needed to go. This book supports that feeling.

<3 Carrie

Disclaimer Statements: Photos in this post are not mine and we're found on the Internet. This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

A Drama Queen's 'Do'!

2012-01-11T13:41:00.001-05:00

Hey there! Today I have for a cute hairstyle for little girls, or tweens or really any age, just take it up a notch for adults and maybe angle the parts. I was searching Pinterest and came upon a photo, and tried it out....I used to do these turn under's with my hair all the time as a kid. I forget the real name for them, if anyone knows, leave me a comment letting me know. I did this Monday morning before school.
EDIT:
THANK YOU Kristen! The correct name for this is: Tospy Tail!

What do you think? Like it? I did, and she did also.

I'm working on getting a Blog Sale/Swap page. Hopefully it'll be up by next week.

Tomorrow's blog post will be a book review make sure and come back!

<3 Carrie

15 Week Challenge......Part One, Week Twelve

2012-01-09T22:48:00.001-05:00

Hey girls...

Remember me telling you I was skipping week 11 because I had done dots lately and just didn't feel like? I also mentioned that I had done some of my cousin's daughter's nails on Christmas, and they just happen to be Polka Dots.

So here are those, sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures, I had forgotten my camera, and had to use Husbands cell phone.

Top is Hannah's Silver with red/green glitter snowman, and bottom is Jordan with Black Diamond and dots with some of the prisms colors.

This is Aliya, she had a dark blue with a shimmer blue on top.

This is Chloe, had Prism Diamond as a base, and a pink a maroon i forget the names of as dots.

Thank you girls! I enjoyed painting them as much as you enjoyed letting me. The only one I don't have a photo of is Keira's, they had left before I thought about it. She was who I had brought my supplies along for, she is four I think. She asked her mommy if her nail polish cousin could do her nail, LOL! So Sweet!

Ok so onto this weeks Challenge. Stripes. I almost chucked the out the window because of the candy canes from this post, but decided to go ahead and do it.

I used NYC Skin Tight Denim as a base, it was .25 cent CVS clearance purchase!
For the stripes:
Pinky: Zoya Phoebe
Ring: Finger Paints Winter Sky
Middle: Essence Bella
Index: NYC Empire State Blue
Thumb: NYC Cashmere Creme

I just used very little polish with the brush they came with... I like it.

See ya next time!

<3 Carrie

Back to my Challenges....

2012-01-07T15:03:00.000-05:00

OK girls, so back to my challenges! This should pick up on Week Ten, Part Two, BUT....it is layered nails, and in my past two post's I did layering...so I'm kinda done with that.
The next challenge is Polka dots, I feel like I have done that too, I won't be doing that one either and then part two of that week's challenge is Inspired by dots. Hmm.....too many dots, lol. I do have one pictures of my little cousin's nails that I did at Christmas, I will upload those for you to see for replacement of me not doing those challenges, They are on my husband's smart phone, I forgot my camera on Christmas, AND Thanksgiving, I was so mad at myself!!! So they aren't going to be great photo's but they'll have to do.

The next official challenge I will post will be Week Twelve, Part One: Stripes

I sort of did that one here. But I will do again, I love stripes.

Any thing involving stripes you specifically want to see?

<3 Carrie

Testing....

2012-01-03T23:19:00.000-05:00

Here is a pretty for ya, just so its not a wasted trip here to my neck of the woods....

NOPI Khloe had a little lam-lam with A Perfect "10" Snow Queen on top.

Inputs...

2012-01-02T22:42:00.003-05:00

Hey there lovely readers...

I am wanting to put in a Pin It button, maybe a FB like button or a Twitter button, would you use them? Do you not bother....Do you just read and move on....

In this new year, what would you like to see. I want to post at least one nail blog a week, one recipe a week, and I really would like to start something cool, never before seen, 'thing' on a blog, I just don't know what that is yet, lol...

I'm kind of at a creative block....I wish I was as good as some other bloggers out there..wishing never got anyone anywhere though, did it.....

My Feet are cold, its 52 degree's outside right now....

My Christmas tree is still up, is yours?

I feel fat....I really really want to lose weight....if only I could snap my fingers....I'm just a lazy slacker who doesn't want to put the effort into it...I wish I wasn't like that, oh there I go 'wishing' again.

Oooooo Look what I got my hands on....

Essie Shine of The Times is in the middle, one thick coat, FP Flashy is on either side of it, one coat on the right and two coats on the left. All over WNW Black Creme.

I'm thinking about putting some of my polish I don't like anymore up for sale also. Or ones I have bought that I have doubles of....

Until next time...
<3 Carrie

And the winner is......

2011-12-29T20:52:00.000-05:00

Entry four:

Katie, From Katie's Stuff: http://www.katieshandmade.blogspot.com/

CONGRATULATIONS KATIE!

Please email me your address so I can send you some pretties!!!!

candcnails@gmail.com

<3 Carrie

Contest closed.....

2011-12-21T18:59:00.002-05:00

Contest is now closed....I am tallying the votes up now!

Some Christmas Nails....

2011-12-17T08:31:00.002-05:00

Hey girls, sorry I haven't posted since Monday...its been really hectic.

Here are some recent Mani's:

ChG Twinkle Lights

Mattified!

added ugly hollys, I took this off right after I snapped the picture

bad picture, the camera just wasn't getting the sparkly beauty of this polish!

SH XW Cherry Red, with ChG Ring in the Red

Silver Bells

I didn't even bother to watermark most of them....I haven't been very good lately at nail art....they kinda suck... But I thought I'd show you anyhow. Oh and our Christmas tree, the kids did it. They did a pretty good job....it doesn't look like that now, all the ornaments have moved up the tree, where Handsome can't reach!!! LOL.

See ya sometime next week, I will have my in laws anny cake to show, I am working on that now, biggest cake I have ever made....I am having alot of anxiety issues over it...

<3 Carrie

Let the voting begin!

2011-12-12T08:42:00.001-05:00

Hey guys! The Christmas/Holiday Themed mani contest is now open for voting!! Click the link below, or the tab above to go to the voting page! Good Luck to those that entered, Voting ends On Dec 20th!

http://kcrephmams.blogspot.com/p/christmasholiday-contest.html

Don't forget to share this, the more votes the better!

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas!!!!!!

<3 Carrie

LAST DAY TO ENTER MY CONTEST, see post....

2011-12-11T15:22:00.001-05:00

Hey Guys! Today is the last day for entries! I will post all entries tomorrow morning, and then the voting begins!
One lucky winner will win something fantastic....Its a surprise, why ruin it! Of course its polish related!

Email your submission to candcnails@gmail.com by midnight tonight, Eastern time (USA). One picture of your Christmas/Holiday Themed Mani, your name and a link to your blog if avail.

<3 Carrie

Shine of Times

2011-12-10T08:18:00.001-05:00

Hey there...

On a recent trip to Walgreen's I saw a full display of Essie Luxe Effects. I was going to get Shine of Times, but put it back, the price of Essie just kills me!

I ended up going back to get it the next day though.

I also Picked up a Christmas-ie green, Sinful Colors San Fransisco, on a fellow PaA's recommendation. Its a really pretty color.

I snapped those pictures literally right after I capped the polish after the third coat, so my fingers are a little dryish....isn't this a really pretty green?

I was going to do penguins this day, but really didn't want to put the effort into nail art. So I grabbed the Shine of Times (Essie) and put one coat of that on top, then SV on top! And wow! So amazing!

There is about a half an hour left for the franken naming poll! On the left in my side bar....

And don't forget about my Christmas/Holiday Themed mani contest, last day to enter is tomorrow!

<3 Carrie

Layering...

2011-12-07T13:26:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I told you about how good Nicole by OPI's Kim-Pletely in Love and Its all about the Glam would be for layering......well, just see for yourself....

I took several different shades of dark blue, and deep red and a black, and swatched them with each of the above colors....

the colors by themselves

Kim-Pletely in Love is on the left, and It'a all about the Glam is on the right.

KPIL on left and IAATG on the right

Ok, so KPIL is much better for layering, but left some brush strokes but if applied better (I went to fast) it might deplete the brush strokes....

Don't forget about the Franken Naming contest <---------------

And My Christmas/Holiday Themed mani contest!

<3 Carrie

Mmmmm Candy Canes!

2011-12-06T08:51:00.001-05:00

Hey there! How is your Christmas/Holiday shopping coming along? Mine is almost done, I need to get stocking stuffers and a few more presents...then I am done!

Hey, have you voted in my Franken namin poll on the left yet? <------------ Go do that now, it won't mess up your reading this post, promise!

And have you entered my Christmas/Holiday themed Mani contest yet? There is a grab box on the left to help me spread the word....post it on your blog for me and then email me your entry! You have 5 more days left to enter!

So onto those candy canes...

I painted FOUR coats of Nicole by OPI's Kim-Pletely in Love as a base. It is such a pretty color, it has a slight blue shimmer to it, and is so 'romantic' looking. This polish and it sister polish - Its all about the Glam, which is a white polsh, with a shimmer to it, very lovely as well, they are going to make great top coats! I put one coat of them onto a black, and its just...well.....its good! I'll show you all those tommorrow.....

Then for my stripes I was going to stamp, but it just wasn't working out, so I took out a thin brush and used it with China Glaze's Go Crazy Red, and made candy cane stripes. It turned out really cute!

Not the best pictures, Dang I really need to fix my light box....

Do you see that lovely blue shimmer?

Thanks for stopping by!

<3 Carrie

It's December!

2011-12-01T18:52:00.001-05:00

Okay so I am really proud of myself right now....I did an awesome job with tonight's Mani. Although my pictures suck, there was little light outside, and it was the sunset light so it was orangeish....

Ok So I started out with China Glaze's Passion in the Pacific as a base coat. Then I tipped my pinkie, middle, and index fingers with Finger Paints All you need is color. Then on a plastic baggie I made little white circles with Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear White on and topped it with Confetti Ice Ice Baby for a 'snowy' effect. Then a made little santa hats on the baggie with China Glaze's Ruby Pumps. I topped the work with Out the Door, let it dry, and then came back to it. I topped my ring ringer with a top coat and pulled one of the white circles off of the baggie and placed it on my finger to the edge of it and toward the tip, pressed it down gently and then took a hat off of the baggie and placed it on top the white circle. I then used a dotting tool and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed to make a nose, then placed two dots with WnW Black Creme for the eyes and then made a mouth, and then topped the hat with a dot of the white used for the circles. Then went back and dotted all of my fingers with the Confetti Ice Ice Baby....to make it look sparklie/snowie. Then topped it all off with Seche Vite.

*Excuse the blister on my thumb, I burnt it a couple days ago on the oven rack, ouchie!*

Again, I'm sorry about the cruddy pictures, I really need to fix my light box.....

What do you think?

Don't forget to vote in my Franken Naming poll <--------- on the left in the sidebar.

And Don't forget to spread the word about my Christmas/Holiday Themed Mani contest! Grab my button over on the left and put it on your blog for me! Please? Thanks!

<3 Carrie

The Nail Polish Tag!

2011-11-30T10:49:00.001-05:00

Hello, everyone! Yesterday three of my fellow Bloggers, Kirshten, Myline, and Pam, made a nail poilsh tag! Check out those blogs here and here and here. Kirshten even made the graphic!!

The rules are very simple:

1. Answer the 10 questions.

2. Pass this tag to 5 other bloggers.

3. Make sure the bloggers that you tagged, knows that you tagged them, by sending them a comment on their blog.

Now, here are the questions:

How many nail polishes do you have? Well I have counted 212, but I ave bought about 10-20 more since then....
What is your favorite brand of nail polish? Well I like the selection of China Glaze, I really don't have a favorite brand though
Do you like crackle polish, or do you hate it? At first I LOVED it, now I just like it. Its a good change up if I don't want to re-do a mani! (just like glitter!)
What is your first nail polish brand? Oooo, Porb a Sally Hansen anr Wet N Wild or NYC. Something cheap....When I got into polish the begginning of the year, is when I expanded my horizens, I bought my first China Glazes!
If you're going to have a nail polish line, what are you gonna name it? Ooo, Good Question...I might leave that a secret for now, just in case! ;)
What nail polish color does not compliment you? Oranges, Yellows, Some Reds...
And what color does compliment you? Purples, Blues, Blacks....
Name two of your best nail art friends? Oh jeez...I have alot of girls I see on my FB group, but I am not very close with any of them too well yet. The Crumpet, Kirshten, and Claire, And Kerrie and Bee, Krissi, there are plenty more names escape me, lol....
What was the best nail polish gift you have ever received? gift....no polish 'gifts' yet. <--- I take that back, the Hubs bought me some nail art pens/markers and some stickers for my bday, I guess that was my best polish gift, lol
Make a speech about thanking the blogger who gave you this tag. Hmmm, a speech about Kirshten.....She seems quite nice...Don't know her to well, but I love that she comments on my blog and follows me, and 'talks' to me online, HeeHee!

The Girls I tag for this are:

Debbie : The Crumpet

Claire: Purple Fairy Dust: All Things Beautiful

Kerrie: PishPosh and Polish

Krissi: The Kaos Theroy

Bee: Bee Polished

Thanks for Tagging me Kirshten!

<3, Carrie

PS, Don't forget to vote on the Franken Name!! <-------------- on the side bar!

PSS, Don't forget about my Christmas/Holiday contest:

My Butter London's Black Knight Franken: Midnight Sparkles

2011-11-29T08:30:00.000-05:00

*Warning, Picture HEAVY!*

Yup I frankened Butter London's Black Knight. It was pretty simple. I used Wet n Wild Black Creme, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Rockstar, and some clear polish....and wala, Midnight Sparkles was born!

Here is BL's Black Night, courtesy of The TraceFace Philes!

And Here is My Franken: Midnight Sparkles!

What do you think? A Good Dupe, or no?

< --------- Don't forget to vote in my Franken Naming poll on the left!!!

Don't forget to check out my Christmas/Holiday Themed Mani Contest:

Pick up this button on the left < ----

<3, Carrie

Franken Time! (contest annoucement)

2011-11-28T11:49:00.001-05:00

Hey there kiddos! How was your weekend? We set up our lights outside and our Christmas tree inside, no decorations out inside though....It looks cute! I'll post some of the pictures at a later time!

I am going to hold a contest for the best Christmas/Holiday themed Mani! Send me your best picture of your best Christmas/Holiday themed mani to: candcnails@gmail.com. You have until December 11th to email me your submission. (One Picture Please) I will then post all of them, and let the voting start on the 12th, and let that run until the 20th, and will announce the winner on December 21st! So get the word out and get your submissions in NOW! Go! :)

Grab that button, (Its over on the left) and paste it on your blog!

Okay, so on to the franken naming...on your left, in my side bar you will see a poll. Below it you will see the franken you are voting on. One of the names is spelt incorrectly, Broken Tiarra is supposed to be spelt : Broken Tiara! Other than that, please vote, the lucky person with the most votes on the name submission, wins the Franken! How cool is that! Here are a few more pictures of it:

You can click on these images to make them larger, and we are naming the purplish one, NOT the green one, his name is Jolly Holly and he has a home in England with The Crumpet!

Tomorrow, another Franken!

<3 Carrie

Turkey, Turkey!

2011-11-25T23:02:00.001-05:00

Well my Thanksgiving was yummy to say the least, bit of family drama.....ya ya....

So Wednesday night, I quickly did a turkey mani...not the best but it was cute. It started lifting Thursday afternoon....

I used Revlon Carbonite as my base...and several Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's colors for feathers, and then a gold sparkle from Sinful Colors, and a brown from China Glaze, Unplugged.

I did the feathers with a small dotting tool, dragging from the tip of nail toward the cuticle....
Then the dots for the turkey body....The other fingers have feet prints and feather droppings, lol.

Gobble Gobble.....

And a Mini Me Mani....

Hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving as well, and If your not in the US, I Hope you had a great Thursday!

<3, Carrie

Stuff....

2011-11-18T10:14:00.001-05:00

Hey there. I decided I am taking a break from my 15 Week Challenge. With the holidays here, it just won't get done....so I will pick it back up after the first of the year. Sorry.

So this Sunday we are having family pictures done. The last family picture was May of this year, and it was just a random photo, and Husband had his sunglasses on, just like in the last family picture, two years ago....this time I said no sun glasses will be near him! His reply: Well I will glare....I'd rather glare than see sunglasses. Anywho. We are all wearing Black shirts and Jeans. I haven't come up with anything for my nails yet. Any ideas? Leave them in a comment please!

Here are some naked nails:

Very Shiny

Truly yucky! I think I had some patches on a couple nails here...

I thought I had more....Oh well...Here are the places we are going to have photos taken:

Handsome's first time with the bowl....his face was covered in mac and cheese!

this 212 polishes, not including the ones to the right in the white box, those were freecycle's

El Cheapo's

Misa's, CC's, ChG's crackle's, Some other 'crackle's', Sally Hansen, FP's, Orly's...

Sinful Colors, Zoya's, Pure Ice's, China Glaze's

new things

more new things

and more new things

Max

My Babies :)

Sorry it was so picture Heavy....

<3 Carrie

15 Week Challenge......Part One, Week Ten

2011-11-13T10:55:00.001-05:00

I decided to skip the Part Two Week Nine: Inspired by Feathers, because, well I'm not... :/
But here is one of my favorite pictures of one inspired by feathers:

See Her here

So onto the next challenge, Gradient. I wasn't successful with this, I should have used a sponge...

look how thick it is....ick!

thickness...

I used Zoya Jo as my base. And then NOPI Kendall on the Catwalk, then Sinful Colors Frenzy, and then NOPI Rainbow in the S-Kylie.

Hope your having a great Sunday. My Husband is at America's Got Talent Auditions today! He is singing Lady by Styx. I wish you lots of luck Hunny!

<3 Carrie

A Mini-Me Manicure, plus some...

2011-11-11T16:56:00.001-05:00

Hey there everyone. Just want to start off by saying thanks to all our Veterans!

Today I took the kids to the park for a picnic lunch and to play, they had fun...
Last year on this day, was the very first time I took all four kids out by myself! That was fun, We went to see the Manatee's, and had lunch there....it was nice. Today was a little to cold and we all just got over colds, so I didn't want to chance the cold weather plus sea breeze....
Here are some photos from that day, a year ago:

all four: Oldest, Drama Queen, Little Man, and Handsome

This is a Hurricane simulator, Little man did not like it...Oldest was not letting him out...

This is a manatee's tail, all the little bumps in the water are noses or backs of them.

I can't believe its been a year already! Wow....

I got an email this morning, My Landlord is blessing us this coming month, she is giving a 'thankful' discount, we only have to pay half of our rent in December, Bless Her and her Family!

I was showing Drama Queen all my new polish and she asked me to do her nails, so I happily Obliged. She wanted the Love my Nails glitter I just purchased, Pretty in pink. Its a barely tinted pink clear polish with tiny pink glitter and large hexagon pink glitter. I kind of had to dab the big glitter on the nails, as it was wiping off when I brushed it on. I used Nicole by OPI, Kim-Pletely in Love as a base, three coats I think. It turned out very pretty. The NOPI, was a pink shimmer with hints of tiny blue flecks, I swatched this over a black and I think it looked pretty cool!

My little Handsome is starting to walk really well now. He just lets go and off he goes. It is so cute, but so sad at the same time....

My Battery is out for now, posting this now, more later on maybe, or at least I'll come back and schedule some posts...

<3 Carrie

Hot off the presses...take a look!

2011-11-10T08:49:00.001-05:00

PRESS RELEASE:

WORLD’S FIRST NAIL POLISH ADOPTION AGENCY: PARENTS NEEDED

Adoptapolish.org announces the world’s first adoption drive for in need nail polish, available for U.S. and Canadian applicants.

Every day, thousands of nail polishes are abandoned or abused. They are not sticky or old, they are fine new polishes, stuck on a shelf because they are forgotten or out of season. All they desire is to be used, and maybe taken for a night on the town in return.

“We have so many polishes who need a good family to take them in” said AdoptAPolish.org executive director Nikki Smith. “All it takes is filling out an application form describing how you can provide a better life for one of our in need nail polishes. We select the best application and take care of all the expenses, delivering your newly adopted polish directly to your door.”

One current nail polish, Charleston, held back tears well describing his life, “I spent two years of my life stacked in a dark room crammed together with thousands of others just like me, hundreds pressing down on my shoulders at any given time. I’m a shimmer and I have never seen sunlight in my life. Oh and don’t get me started on CND Shellac, I just can’t keep going as long, why would any women want me” he continued.

Please don’t let the agony go on any longer than it has to. The first round of adoptions closes December 15th. Apply to Adopt a Polish at http://www.adoptapolish.org/category/current-adoptions/

About Adopt a Polish:

Adoptapolish.org is a not-for-profit organization funded by the people at Nail Polish Canada. We are grateful they’ve spent the time and money to set us up, but we know they only did it to look like charitable people. They are jerks! All they care about is selling you things. This entire organization was set-up by them to manipulate you. Don’t worry about us being influenced by them, we cash their cheque, move on with our lives, and get back to saving lives. We would never compromise our ethics by telling you to shop now at http://www.NailPolishCanada.com and take advantage of free shipping over $29.

******Seriously, go check this out, its a funny, cute way to win some polish!

<3 Carrie

ROTW: Stuffed Acorn Squash

2011-11-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hello, So in my healthier eating habits, I wanted to try new healthy recipes, I ran across some acorn squash recipes....most of them called for a brown sugar/butter coating, which I am trying to avoid sugar, and well butter....its bad...

I saw a few that we're stuffed...so I looked through my pantry, and saw what I had and threw this together:

Doesn't look awesome, but Oh My Stars was it delicious, it was so good, That I had it again for lunch and dinner the next day!!!

Savory Stuffed Acorn Squash

Slice Acorn Squash in half.
Seed them, and make a cut into them, just barely several cuts one direction then several the other direction.
Place cut side up in a shallow pan, and cook at 380 degrees for about 40 minutes or until tender, like a sweet potato.

While that is baking prepare your stuffing:
1 1/2 cups instant brown rice, prepared as directed
1 can of chicken breast in water ( I always keep this on hand, in case I forget to defrost )
Shredded cheese, medium handful, I had Mozzarella
1 can tomato sauce

I think I added a bit or salt and pepper, maybe some garlic powder...

When the Acorn Squash is tender, pull it out and stuff it, and return to the oven until warmed through.

Cut into fourths and enjoy!

<3 Carrie

15 Week Challenge......Part One, Week Nine

2011-11-08T10:54:00.000-05:00

Testing my Button:

Yay! Back to the challenges. Finally! Today is Rainbow. I went with a new polish I bought just recently, Nicole by OPI It's all about the Glam, one of the K-Dash polishes. It is a really pretty white with a shimmer, blues and pinks come through. It took me three to four coats on some fingers to get it opaque. I'm OK with the brush, a little to square for my taste. Its formula was very nice, It was my first time trying a NOPI.

I then used a dotting tool, and various rainbow colors:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue It
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green with Envy
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed
NYC Big Apple Red Creme
China Glaze Senorita Bonita

Then I topped it all with a coat of Seche Vite.

I didn't clean up as well as I had thought, it was about 11:59pm on a Saturday that I did these....very late. And sorry about my cuticles, I had just cleaned...and moisturized, believe it or not :(

I really liked this design, I saw it somewhere but I don't remember where. Next up is feathers....hmmm, might have to break out the stamp plates for this one.

I am sharing a recipe tomorrow, so make sure you check back and see which one it is, I can't decide if it'll be a desert or a meal........suggestions?

<3 Carrie

Lacquered Lover's 1000 follower giveaway!

2011-11-07T14:16:00.000-05:00

Head on over to Lacquered Lovers Blog and enter her giveaway, its pretty awesome!

http://www.lacqueredlover.com/2011/11/lacquered-lover-1000-follower-giveaway.html

You say 'Diet', I say "D" word, W1

2011-11-07T11:39:00.000-05:00

I want to loose weight, about 50 pounds (for now that is my goal, to get to the weight I was at before my first child). Here's what I did this week. FYI: this is a journal, it might read funky, boring, repetitive, or nutso.....I wanted some place to jot down stuff...feelings, thoughts, exercise, food...ect...

So now that I have warned you, are you going to continue reading? OK at least jump to the bottom couple of paragraghs and read those then, please, and thanks!

November 1st:
I forgot all about starting the day off right, until about 10 am. I got up and got out all the cool stuff I bought the night before, Frozen Strawberries, Almond Milk-Vanilla flavored, Bananas, and some Jillian Micheals Protein powder in triple chocolate.
         I added about a cup of the milk, 4-5 frozen strawberries, half a banana and half a scoop of the protein powder, blended it and drank it up, it was totally yummy! And it kept me full!
        I had to make my little man lunch (around 1pm), and that is when I thought I wanted to eat, so instead of eating a full on lunch, or something not healthy, like a PB&J, I grabbed some grapes and some dried cranberries. I ate a small salad with yummy toppings around 3pm and then a quarter of a stuffed acorn squash for dinner at 6 pm with a sprite. (oh and I just ate one square of the snickers squared candy bar-dang halloween candy! Whoopsie, but thats okay, all things in moderation!)
        I will probably have a small one serving scoop of Ice Cream tonight, I have been thinking about it all afternoon, so if I don't give in to the craving then I will sabotage myself later on with something else worse! I don't call this a 'diet' for that particular reason, for the fact that I will sabotage myself, just knowing that I am on a 'diet'.
        I am hoping by chronicling what I am feeling and eating during the day, or like right now, at the end of the day, that this will help me succeed to loose this baby weight that I have been holding onto for 8 years! Yes you read that right, 8 years, since my first baby....BUT, you want to know something....I had gained 60 pounds with him....so only having to loose 50 pounds after 4 kids is pretty good, I say, because that means that I didn't hold onto the pounds from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th kids! :)
          Over-all today, I am pretty proud of myself! :)

November 2nd:
Today was a late day of work for my husband, so I didn't really get up and going until about nine, I ran out to the post office, and then came home and made my shake, Today I had a blackberry and peach, with the Vanilla Almond milk and half a scoop of protein powder. Yummy! For lunch, I had left over stuffed acorn squash (recipe) and some grapes. Feeling good today. Had a half of acorn squash for dinner with some veggie puff fries....and then the bad side came out to rear her head....I got into the candy bucket...I should really hide it....Or make my husband take it to work everyday, if i throw it away, kids will be upset....I should tape a picture of myself skinny on it....that way maybe I wouldnt want it so much, lol.......then I had a bowl of Ice cream, not a small one either....I'm kicking myself....I know I shouldn't but I do it anyways! *slaps forehead* I gues this was an bad day, my van had issues today too, so that didn't help me at all either!

November 3rd:
I had my shake today at 8:30, my stomach was already growling.....its now 10:30, no sign of hunger....its 11:57 am and my stomach is growling, time to eat....small salad with yummy healthy toppings on the way.....(right now its Monday morning the 7th of November) I have forgotten what I ate for dinner that night, oh yes now I remember, It was Mummy dogs....(hot wrapped in pizza dough to resemble a mummy)I had one. And I had a bowl of Ice cream....

Note: I remember having two shakes on thursday or friday, just because I wanted to snack and didnt want to eat badly, so I made a fruit smoothie....I forget which day it actually fell on theough.

November 4th:
I had a protein/fruit smoothie, they are really good btw, had no snacks until lunch, then had a lite lunch, one mummy dog. For dinner it was light also, I have no idea what we had for dinner...I did have a big bowl of ice cream, and 2 peices of halloween candy, bad night...

November 5th:
I had a shake/smoothie, for lunch a salad, and dinner was.....I forget.....I did really well this day, didn't snack, didn't have ice cream (of course it was gone by then, but I didnt go buy more) I didn't have any candy....good day!

November 6th:
Had a morning shake/smoothie, yum! Had a bolange sandwich for lunch, my husband made it for me, I couldn't say no, so I ate it (it was on 100% whole wheat though) and then opted out of the bag of chips he gave me and instead had some grapes, and a tall glass of water. For dinner we had Chili dogs, I had only one versus two, like I normally would have eaten, a little pasta side dish ( I had less than half a cup of that) and some cauliflower with a sour cream ranch dip and topped with melted shredded cheese- this was interesting- two people complained about this, little man, and the hubby! No ice cream, one peice of candy. Another good day!

November 7th:
LAST day for this weeks journal. Morning shake/smoothie as I am typing....some personal problems are accuring as I type...but I am not going to let that harm all the work I have done this past week to get to this point. I think I am doing very well, I have made small do-able changes this week, snack better and less often, drink more water....

This coming week I want to incorperate exercise. Just something small at first, I might get out my Jillian Micheals 30 day shred, last time I tried it I gave up because I was so sore for three days after....I was afraid to go back to it, this time I need to do it, and keep doing it...the pain will go away! The pain was telling me that I need this, my body is out of shape....

Is there any advice you can give me to help me through this, or tell me what worked for you? This isn't my first "insert d-word", but Its the first time I have really stuck with one in the last few years....I'm tired of being 'fat', and having nothing the I feel looks nice on me in my closet.

Spell check and grammar isn't working, so if there are alot of mistakes, I'm so sorry!

<3 Carrie

PS, nail post tomorrow, back to my challenges.

Handsome is ONE! (Themed Nails)

2011-11-05T11:53:00.001-04:00

Hey there....Not back to the Challenges yet, I have to catch up on them myself....the next one is rainbow....that is going to be fun!

A couple weeks ago my littlest (Handsome) turned ONE! And Camo was his theme. So look what I came up with:
These pictures were taken after the party and clean up, they are a little worn...and one finger is missing, lol! I swapped out the two greens as bases on every other nail to add some randomness.

Polishes used:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green with Envy
Finger Paints Go Van Gogh!
Sinful Colors Nirvana
China Glaze Matte Magic.

Base Coat, then a green color, Then I made random puddle's with another color, and then put in random squiggles with another color. And topped it with a Matte coat! It turned out pretty good.

Here are a few pictures from the party:

presents, somebody got the theme memo, lol

I made this!

Smash cake

Yum

So tired! Fell asleep like this!

Stuffed Phyllo shells with Jalapeno filling

7 Layer dip

Cocktail Meatballs

Pepperoni roll ups

That's me.....well the back side of me, thanks hun!

Stuffed shrooms!

mini weenies wrapped in bacon, covered in brown sugar and cooked to perfection!

Deviled eggs.

The party was fun, He really enjoyed himself! And I still can't believe he's one! :*(

Do you remember me mentioning a birthday club? Well I have decided not to go forward with that, money is tight here and a monthly commitment would be hard for me right now, but I am cooking up something else, and will share it with you later on this week! Its going to fun!

And the WINNER is...........

2011-11-03T10:00:00.001-04:00

.....of my 100 Follower Giveaway:

is................................
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(is this annoying you yet?)
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OK Here it is:

Jeanie from Midnight Manicures!!!!!

Congrats Jeanie! You have 24 hours to respond, or a new winner will be chosen!

Time: 10:30 am Eastern.

<3 Carrie

Whoa! Hold your pants on...

2011-11-02T16:58:00.003-04:00

Unicorn Puke is on a giveaway!!!!! A limited edition!!!!!!

Head over to Lacquered Lover's blog and enter NOW!

http://www.lacqueredlover.com/2011/11/lacquered-lover-unicorn-puke-giveaway.html

<3 Carrie

An Oldie...(Pink Wednesday!)

2011-11-02T13:38:00.000-04:00

Hey there. Today I mailed my first international package!!! I hope Ms. Crumpet loves the contents, and that it arrives safely! I threw in a special surprise ;)

A couple months back, My husband and I went to Busch Gardens alone, My mom had taken all four kids for the night, this was the first time she had taken Handsome (littlest), and he was teething and snotty, so I expected it to be rough on her, well he did excellent! I was impressed, he's a pretty easy going baby, but he teeths HARD! They even kept them for two nights instead! I'll tell you, it was pretty awesome, not having to worry about waking up, making breakfast, cleaning up poop, wiping butts, feeding kids, picking up after them.... "Mom, can you come get them again soon!"

Well, that kind of got off topic...anyways, I wore China Glaze 108 Degree's, one of my Bestie's favorites! It was BRIGHT! Hubby said I should tip it with black and then white...I tried it, it was ok...and this is a really crappy photo or two....and the white was free hand, the black I taped off.

I am not even enlarging them, because they are ugly!

Don't forget my 100 Follower give -away ends tonight at midnight, eastern time, all entries after that time will be deleted.

Happy Hump Day!

<3 Carrie

November already?

2011-11-01T14:10:00.000-04:00

I thought this year just started.....I hate how time goes by so quickly! My kids were so excited to trick or treat last night, all month long they were constantly asking is it Halloween yet?? Well I get them all dressed and the oldest goes to like three doors and says, I'm tired of walking, and then doesn't want to 'trick or treat' anymore....strange! I think he was annoyed with his face make-up. He went as a Dementor from Harry Potter. The Drama Queen changed her mind last minute and was a funky witch, Little man was batman, and Handsome was a Pirate! Handsome is now super snotty and had mosquito bits all over his face/head, I put bug stuff on him, and he still has about ten or more bites on his face, I feel so bad...

Not alot of candy was brought home last night, compared to other years, but that is totally fine with me, because we really don't need it, I don't need it! I started a 'thing' today....I am drinking a protein shake/fruit almond milk smoothie in the mornings, being careful what I eat the rest of the day, and then having a light dinner....or less of a dinner I would normally eat. I am not calling it the 'D' word, because then I will fail. Its a few small changes that hopefully will result in better eating and loss of weight. (I'm thinking of journaling my progress, interested in it?)

I bought a Helmer a couple weeks ago for myself, for my birthday, I'm officially 29, I'll be 29 next year too ;) and the year after and the year after that, and so on, lol! I have yet to put it together, I told myself that I have to get my room organized first, its still not organized....Maybe tonight or tomm....I'm setting the Helmer up tonight though! :) Excited, I just am debating on how to organize it, by color, brand, finish.....ok that last part is stupid, who would organize by finish....except glitter and stuff...

I'm really struggling to keep this house clean and laundry up to date.....I hate cleaning and hate laundry...so its really hard...any tips?

Ok so enough rambling...

Here are pictures from last night:

Aren't they cute!

Enter my 100 Follower give-away here!!

<3, Carrie

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T11:00:00.002-04:00

Yay it's finally Halloween! (this is a BIG post, beware!) Last day for Halloween themed Mani's! I couldn't decide what to put on my nails....so I did a 5 different things!
On Friday I picked up a Sally's Mini Glow in the dark polish...I couldn't find any other ones :*(
But I found out that this little one, works great! I also found some other beauties, but I will save that for another post!

When I prepared for this, I wasn't really sure what I was going to do... I wanted to try Mummy's, Pumpkins, The blood dripping thing, and my stamps.....

I painted all my nails with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's White On. Seche Vited it, and went to dinner, came back with a plan, lol. I did all of the above...

What I used:
My thumb has bats and a church form the Bundle monster plate 224 and 13, using Wet N Wild black creme and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue It, With Sally's Mini GITD on top.
My index has OPI (my one and only OPI- that's sad :( Black Shatter, the glow in the dark is under the Shatter.
My middle has a Pumpkin and old tree stamped on it, plate BM-224, with Wet N Wild Black Creme, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed. With the GITD on top.
My Ring is a mummy, using LA Colors Art Deco Striping polish in black, And then a white from a french kit by KISS, and then Big Apple Red Creme by NYC. I forgot to put the GITD under the stripes so I went back and dotted it between the lines and on his eyes.
On my pinkie is the Big Apple Red Creme by NYC, using a dotting tool and the brush from the bottle, with GITD over top.

And I love my toes right now, I have never really used a white as a color, only an accent, but this is really really really pretty! I used an old CQ white polish, with the silver/black pumpkin glitter from this post.

We, I mean Mr. LoveButt, carved pumpkins yesterday while the kids did a craft I picked at Micheal's, and what made me happy was that it didn't need glue, all the pieces had sticky backs, Yay!

Oldest did this one

Little Man did this one

Drama Queen did this one

Happy Halloween!!!! Be Safe tonight!!!!

Don't forget to enter my 100 Follower Give-away, it ends Wednesday at midnight, eastern time!

<3, Carrie

Pumpkin Glitters!

2011-10-29T14:52:00.003-04:00

I wanted these, solely for the bottles. I used this Orange Pumpkin alone for a mani. It was ok....Not something I would normally gravitate toward though. Orange isn't my color. It turned out ok, great for Halloween though! Tara from PaA went to Meijers, which we don't have down here in FL, to find them for me! Thanks Tara!

This is all of them that I bought from Tara. I had just purchased some other glitter from Revlon that was really similar to the other ones she picked up, so I decided not to get those. From left to right: Black/Silver, Red, Moon, Orange, and Silver/Black.

This I got from Nicole in PaA also. It is a really neat polish, looks best over a dark color, esp black!!!
Thanks Nicole!

Dont' forget about my 100 Follower Give-Away! It only has 4 days left!

<3 Carrie

Glittered Candy Corn!

2011-10-28T22:26:00.001-04:00

Alright so I really wanted to use my pumpkin polishes I bought from Tara in PaA, but I couldn't decide which to use....so...

I did a base of Wet N Wild Black Creme and then...

On my pinky is WNW Behind Closed Doors
On my ring is a candy corn, White On- SH XW, Meet Me at Sunset- Essie, and Mellow Yellow- SH XW
On my middle in the Moon Pumpkin Glitter
On my index is the red Pumpkin Glitter
and finally on my thumb I have two of the glitters: the black/silver and the silver black.

This was a cute combo...
I'm sorry my fingers are dry! I lotioned right afterward! :(

Tonight I took all four kiddos to the older two's school for Spooky Story night. It was fun, kind of...they didn't last long, which is good for me, Because I'm not good with crowded public social things....They dressed up...even the little one had a costume on, lol....

Oldest is some black/dark guardian thing from Harry Potter-anyone know what the name of it is?
Drama Queen was a dancing cat, lol, but will be Superwoman for the real deal...
Little Man is Batman!
Handsome was a Ninja.

You know...I have some anxiety about posting their pictures on a public blog...I know some moms who don't, some who will occasionally with heads turned, so they aren't recognizable, and then some that say who cares.....I'm somewhere in the middle....I want to share them , but then again I don't feel like I should...like its welcoming danger in my home, make sense? Anyone else like that?

Ok, so for tomm since my husband works, I bought some crafts for the kids to do for Halloween, some foam things....we'll see how that goes

And I found some Glitter....it bled though and stupidly I bought two different kinds, and added them both, I should have done one at a time to see which one if not both bled....oh well its still pretty, I just have to get the shaking ball things....and perhaps a thicker top coat, than the thin Wet n Wild clear I used....

Don't forget to enter my give-away!

Oh and the challenges and recipes will resume after Halloween!

Is there anything you guys want to request?

<3 Carrie

Mrs. Frakenstein: A Mini-Me Mani!

2011-10-27T22:38:00.000-04:00

Hey there you all.....I am putting the challenges on hold until after Halloween....Until then, its all Halloween Mani's!Tonight I am showing you a Mini-Me Mani! My Daughter had Pumpkins on and wanted a Frankenstein on too after seeing Lacquered Me's photo! So I got out my supplies, and created a Mrs. Frankenstein! She has white bone looking dots in her hair! LOL

I used Sinful Colors Cloud 9 for the pumpkins and a sharpie.
And then Sally Hansens Xtreme Wear line in: Green with Envy, Black out, and White on ( I think those are the names)

I hope you guys like it, and don't forget to enter my 100 Follower give-away!!!!!!!!!

<3 Carrie

100 Follower Give-Away!!!!!

2011-10-25T19:23:00.000-04:00

Alrighty here it is. :)

Thank you all for being here. For getting me here. Its not much, but I love these polishes!
I am even including a franken for Fairy Dust! I call it Flutterific!
There is also the awesome Pure Ice, Heart Breaker! This is a GREAT layering polish, it is magic!
Pure Ice Oh Baby! Also a great layering polish.
Revlon's Carbonite
Sally Hansen's Maximum Growth Plus Formula, use it, or use it for Frankening!
Milani's Jewel FX's , 530 Gems
And an oldie I had lying around, A perfect "10", no name.
My favorite clean up brush, and a Burts Bee' Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil.

Read carefully, there is a surprise!

Flutterific (Franken)

Heartbreaker

Oh Baby

Carbonite

530 Gems

Ok you lovely followers!!!! Here it is My 100 Follower give-away!
This is open to everyone.
If your under 18 please check with your parents.

One entry for Being a Follower, new ones are welcome.
One entry for 'Like'ing my FB page, check out my right sidebar for a quick "like"
One entry for blogging about it.
One entry for side bar-ing the give-away.
One entry for telling me your favorite post from this blog.
One entry for telling me what I can improve on.

So lets see that's 6 entries possible, and hey just for the fun of it, if you complete all entries, yours will double, thats a total of 12!
Pretty awesome right!

This is my first give-away, I hope you all love it!

PS: There is an awesome surprise that is not pictured....does that intrigue you?????

Give-away will run for one week, October 25 (starting) and Ending at midnight on November 2.

Oh, AND, if you recommend someone to this giveaway, make sure you tell them to credit you! You'll get an extra entry! (you know how many extra entries that could be! Enormous chances!) Good Luck!

Give-away Ended, sorry!

So Sorry!

2011-10-25T09:02:00.002-04:00

I know that on Monday I told you I would post the giveaway info, but it was my birthday, and I slacked, I am so sorry! Today I have a few Doctor appts with the kids, but when I get back I will unleash it all! (I Hope!)

Stay tuned!

<3 Carrie

15 Week Challenge.....Part Two, Week Eight

2011-10-23T19:04:00.003-04:00

Hey there....Did you see I am up to 101 Followers! You know what that means? A Give-away!!!! Check back tomorrow for details!
I decided to skip the 'metallic' challenge, I am not into that look....
So here is the next challenge, A french Manicure. I did this one a couple weeks ago, free hand, I was pretty impressed with the results.
I used Orly Fifty Four, and a white that came with a french manicure set by KISS.

And then the little princess wanted a mani too. I used two Sinful Color's on her.

Click here for my list of Challenges.

Coming up this week: Give-away Details, and A Birthday Club.

<3 Carrie

1 HUNDRED Followers!

2011-10-21T22:23:00.001-04:00

Yay Me! Congrats to Amber for being my 100 Hundredth Follower! Send me your address and I will get you something cute! Thanks so much to all of you for following me. Look out in the next week, I will have a give-away up for ya!

<3 Carrie

Nail mail and My Baby is ONE today!

2011-10-19T10:00:00.000-04:00

Hey there all you beautiful people! Today is a special day, my little baby boy is ONE today! He is my fourth child, but it is still emotional when they turn one. Saturday is his party and I have alot to do the rest of this week, clean, make a cake, make the food for the party....

I searched and searched for the Wet N Wild On the Prowl collection, and came up empty handed, so I ordered them, two from Traci, from The Trace Face Philes, and one from Bee from Bee Polished. They were so kind, Traci went to like 17 to find as many as she could for all of us who craved these polishes, and Bee, well she is very sweet-she even sent some neat candy and filled her envelope with Halloween glitter! I shared the Pop Rocks with my kids, even the little one, and it was so cute to see their faces when the candy was making noise in their mouths.

I have a pumpkin flakie polish coming this week from Nicole, from PAA on FB (yay, so excited about this one, and then Tara from the same group is sending me a bunch more pumpkin polishes! Woohoo!

Thanks girls, I really do appreciate it a lot!!!!!

And here is a picture of my sweet baby boy, Hunter.

15 Week Challenge......Part Two, Week Seven (Halloween)

2011-10-18T09:52:00.000-04:00

Hey guys! I have another Halloween based challenge for ya! This challenge was a glitter sandwich. I picked up a new polish over the weekend, Sinful Colors Cloud 9, its an Orange glass flecked/shimmer polish. Its like sparkly Orange Juice on my nails! It really is super pretty, and I don't care for Orange. I had bought Tangled in my Web, and two others, and was waiting for them to come in the mail and they did, yay! (nail mail post later on this week) So I put on a few layers of TMW from Wet N Wild's On the Prowl collection, and then topped it with one more coat of SC's Cloud 9. It is totally awesome, kind of looks like poppy seeds in Orange juice now, lol....the Orange also made some of the TIMW look Hunter Green, perfect for Halloween/Fall!

So here is my Glitter Sandwich! (totally picture spam, sorry)

Pretty awesome, right?

Click Here for my list of Challenges.

ROTW: Chicken Cornbread Bake

2011-10-17T09:31:00.001-04:00

Hey there guys. Today's recipe is for Chicken Cornbread Bake. Yummy, easy, and interchangeable!
Meaning you add what you like to it, and omit things you don't like.
My kids thought this was yummy, the husband ate it as well...It is better the day you make it though, when you eat it as a leftover, its kind of dry.

Sorry for the icky picture, I'm still learning how to take pictures of food.

Recipe:
1/2 c Butter, melted
1 half an onion, diced
some minced garlic
1 can corn, kernels
1 can creamed corn
dash of salt
2 eggs
1 cup Buttermilk (I use 1 T lemon juice and fill the rest of the measuring cup with milk)
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 cup Cornmeal
1 cup Flour
2/3 sugar

Saute up the garlic and onions in additional butter or olive oil. Set aside.
Mix the above ingredients together, and fold in the onions and garlic.
Place this mixture in a greased 9x13 pan AND a greased 8x8 pan. (I was afraid it would overflow if I filled it all into one pan. Use your judgement...

Next mix:
2 1/3 cups chicken, shredded/diced, whatever, must be cooked though.
1 can green chile's
1 can mushrooms, or fresh
1 1/2 cup Sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Place this in dollops on top of the cornbread, leaving the edge free.

Top with cheese (I forgot this step in my recipe and it was still good, but would be delicious with cheese, anything is delicious with cheese), Bake at 375 degrees for about 35-40 minutes.

Serve.
Now like I said above, this is def a must eat the night you bake, or else it gets kind of dry, but you could fix that with some gravy or some chili?! And you can add green peppers, red peppers, olives, red onion...anything really...

Wow!

2011-10-15T18:36:00.002-04:00

Hey guys! I just wanted to say thnaks very very very much to all of you! I now am up to 93 followers!!! That is so cool! I never thought I would make it past 30ish! This is so great.....

Ok Now onto the most important part...

A 100 follower giveaway!?

What would you like to see/have?

O, and spread the word....Because I still need a few more of you lovely people!

Carrie

15 Week Challenge.....Part One, Week Seven (Halloween)

2011-10-14T11:00:00.002-04:00

Yay, Black and White! I went with a halloween themed Mani, because well, its that time of year, perfect! I started off with Finger Paints Where art Renoir? Its a black creme with some silver shimmer. Its on the thicker side, I have noticed most of their polishes are like that, I picked up some thinner and dropped a few drops of it in the FP WAR, and shook it up and it was much better!

I ordered some gems online for .99 cents, there was a post about it on the FB page PAA, and I jumped it, who could pass that up? Well I forgot about them until I just got them day before yesterday, love getting surprises!

Ok, back on track....

I then added ghost guys, using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On and a dotting tool. Then I used Sinful Colors Black on Black with a dotting tool and did the eyes and mouth....

Added some gems to one ghost...

Then on the other hand, I was just messing around...
I got out my stamping plates, picked out a witch, and a web and spider, stamped those...eh their ok...I used LA Colors silver.

I used a dotting tool to create me own web, same color LA Colors Silver.

A ghost again...

And then some really cool creepy eye, using my new gems...

And for fun, Here are some Pumpkin toes...I used Essie Meet Me at Sunset and a sharpie.

So what do you think?

Click Here for my list of challenges.

15 Week Challenge......Part Two, Week Six

2011-10-13T10:21:00.001-04:00

Halfway there people, Halfway there!

So this challenge I had to choose a favorite thing....well I couldn't, so instead i did a few of my favorite things...
I love cats...
I love the color blue...
I love roses...
I love flowers...
I love flowers... Again...

I used China Glaze Sexy Lady as a base, its pretty, its pink-not my favorite color, bright and fun. Its a creme polish, it went on nice and smooth.

On my thumb, I stamped a cat. I used Sinful Colors Black on Black and the Hello Kitty plate (M71) from the Born Pretty store. I then made cat paw prints with the same black polish and a dotting tool.

On my index, I just slopped some sparkly goodness from Revlon-Blue Mosaic. It is super pretty with lots of different sizes, and some green in there.

On my middle, I went with a purple rose....if you look close you can see the tiny sparkles from Orly Velvet Rope. Plate used was: BM14.

On my ring I used a Fimo flower decoration...

On my pinky I went with flowers again, and stamped Sinful Colors 24/7 on first using plate BM16, then used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's Lacey Lilac and plate BM12. Very Subtle and dainty.

Pretty.
What are your favorite things?

Click Here for my list of challenges!

ROTW: Chicken Enchilada Pasta

2011-10-06T10:43:00.000-04:00

This weeks installment is Chicken Enchilada Pasta! This was so so so yummy! Very easy to make also. Here's what you need:

1 box Penne Pasta, or what ever you have is fine
1/2 an onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
2 cans green chile enchilada sauce
2/3 cup red enchilada sauce
1 can green chile's
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded cheese
@2 cups shredded chicken (more less depending on what you have on hand...I had about 1.5 cups here

Optional, whatever veggie you have on hand for garnish, green onion, tomatoes, and sour cream for the top as well...

Make your pasta how you like it, al dente or soft, up to you...
Saute up the onion and red pepper in some EVOO or butter.
Add to the onions, the enchilada sauces and green chile' and the spices, cook about ten minutes on medium heat.
Add in your sour cream and chicken, stir well to incorporate, then add cheese, stir to incorporate.
Stir in your pasta and serve with the optional ingredients.
This was very yummy, kids even liked it, The husband approved as well!

15 Week Challenge........Part One, Week Six

2011-10-04T11:05:00.000-04:00

Hello there....I have been slacking on the posts....well the guts of the posts anyhow! I am sorry. The kids have got me all up in a bind, so much with school and wanting to play outside, and then all the stuff that needs to be done inside is just outrageous! Mom's/wife's shouldn't have to tackle everything! I need to make a chart....with who gets what chore...or else I am going to go insane...

I need to decide on what my chart will include and who will do what and when and then get a big poster board, write it all out and then have it laminated, I want to have that up by Saturday! So anyone out there have any ideas on who to delegate which chores to....you know the basics....pick up clothes, put away clothes, clean toilets, mop floors, vacuum, etc....Dishes after dinner....what are the most important things that I need the kids/husband to help with? My kids are 8.5, 6.5, 4 and almost 1!

This weeks challenge was Violet. I found this purple a couple months back at the dollar tree. It is very very purple! Goes on smooth, no problems, very opaque, creme finish. Love this color, it doesn't have a name...You can see a bottle shot here. I wanted something extra for this Mani, so I added some sparkle to my ring finger, China Glaze Techno.

Click Here for my list of challenges!

Guest Post : Claire from: Purple Fairy Dust!

2011-10-02T10:39:00.001-04:00

Today Is Claire's day! She writes over at Purple Fairy Dust!

I have been meaning to do an autumn/fall inspired manicure for a while now but I was waiting on the La Femme Copper Tint polish to arrive. I also picked up H&M - Wanna Pepperoni as I think this colour is pretty suited for the autumn colours I was going for.

As I still have no decent nail brushes I found the finer detail on this look quite difficult.

The polishes I used were:

Base Colours - H&M Wanna Pepperoni & La Femme Copper Tint. I did every other nail in the same colour, so thumb (copper tint), fore finger (wanna pepperoni), middle finger (copper tint), ring finger (wanna pepperoni), little finger (copper tint)

On my Little Finger - I used Claire's Accessories Gold Glitter polish, I painted one coat of this over La Femme Copper Tint to create an accent nail. I love this polish and also the Baby Pink Glitter I got fro Claire's Accessories. They do come in small bottles but are priced at just £2.25 - £2.50 (prices seem to change) and they have mega glitter pay off after just 2 coats!

On my Ring Finger - I used La Femme Copper Tint to draw a leaf coming out of the side of my nail. I then used the Green Nail art pen from my Nails Supreme set, see post on this set here to draw some lines and accents on the leaf. Once this had all completely dried I used my Black Stargazer polish to line the edges of the leaf and add some definition.

On my Middle Finger - I was at a bit of a loss for things to do and I smudged the Copper Tint base slightly so I just used the Taupe and Yellow Nail art pens from my Nails Supreme set and drew lines to make a fan shape. I then applied 3 Gold flower nail art gems along the side of my nail. I did not use special glue for this but I definitely made sure to apply a few extra layers of top coat at the end.

On my Fore Finger - I drew a little umbrella using my Black Stargazer polish and a very thin cocktail stick to do the lines. This is not ideal and you can see how the lines aren't very neat but it's all I could think of when my brushes are so crappy :( I added "raindrops" using the black and the I filled in the umbrella with the pink & blue Nail art pen from my Nails Supreme set.

On my Thumb - I used my Collection 2000 Hot Shots in brown, I don't think you can get this any more as I have been looking for it... but any brown cream or opaque type polish will do. I did a "wonky" French tip and then drew another leaf on my thumb nail. I added definition using Barry M Mushroom with slight accents using the Black Stargazer polish.

Polishes Used Breakdown:

Nails Supreme Nail Art Pens (Metallic Set): Green, Taupe, Yellow, Pink, Blue.

La Femme Copper Tint

H&M Wanna Pepperoni

Claire's Accessorise Gold Glitter (No name on the bottle)

Barry M - Mushroom

Collection 2000 Hot Shots: Brown

Stargazer - Black Polish

Barry M - Base/Top Coat

I followed up with 2 coats of China Glaze Leather Top Coat, and then I applied a 3rd coat of this on my middle finger as I had applied gems to this nail and didn't want them to come loose.

I hope you like my Autumn Nails... I really like the colours together and will definitely use them again. My favourite nails are My Ring & Thumb fingers :)

Purple Fairy Dust xx

http://claire-purplefairydust.blogspot.com/

Check out my guest post on her blog!

http://claire-purplefairydust.blogspot.com/2011/10/guest-post-with-carrie-from-reflections.html

15 Week Challenge.......Part Two, Week Five

2011-09-30T09:19:00.000-04:00

DRAG MARBLE!!!

I have only tried this one other time, and it looked okay, but this is much better!

I used Sinful Colors Black on Black and Orly's Mineral FX collections Rock-it. I did the black first-which is a great one coater, and smooth....and then while still wet I dropped six or so dots of Rock-it - awesome as well- on my nail and drug a small dotting tool through them in a zigzag line.

(please bear with the photo's I'm still playing around with settings to find the best one and the best lighting, and all that goodness)

This last one is blurry, but you can see the swirlyness in them! My normal hand I photograph was all whacked up....It was 'bubbly' and ridged.....like I dug to deep with the dragging....so in other words, be careful when dragging your tool...

What do you think of this?

Click here to see my list of challenges!

ROTW: PW's Cajun Chicken Pasta

2011-09-29T08:41:00.000-04:00

This week I have recipe from The Pioneer Woman! Cajun Chicken Pasta. Mmmmm!

Cook some noodles up.

Drain 'em!

Slice up some veggies, I used Red Pepper, Green Pepper, Red Onion, and some garlic

Also some tomato's.

Dice up your chicken breasts, this is three I think.

Saute them up with some cajun seasoning.

Now, your supposed to take the chicken out and then saute up the veggies, I think I did that, and then this is when I added them back in, I think...Its been awhile since I made this...

And then you add your liquid's....mine never did thicken up, I had to refrigerate it and order pizza, (We were headed out to the drive in movies and it wouldn't thicken right...so I just said forget it, and stuck it in the fridge.....It was so good the next day though!)

Sauce: 2 cups chicken stock, 1/2 cup white wine, 1 cup heavy cream, black pepper, cayenne pepper or more cajun seasoning.

In your pan after your done sauteing the veggies and chicken, add the wine and chicken broth, cook for 3-5 minutes, add in the heavy cream, stir don't let it stick to bottom, and get all the bits up off of the bottom of the pan from the chicken and veggies, and then add in your seasoning, it should be spicy. Cook until it thickens slightly....this is where I failed...mine never thickened, I even added cornstarch to it and nothing, no idea what went wrong....So I threw the chicken and veggies back in, cooking it longer and longer, and still nothing, I had run out of time, we needed to walk out the door to go to the drive-in and so I stuck it in the fridge and had my neighbor grab us a pizza too!

BUT we had this the next night, I just pulled it out of the fridge put it on a burner and warmed it up and it was perfect! PERFECT!

This was so yummy! Def worth the frustration....I do not have a finished picture, but I linked the website up there ^ , so go check out her pictures! Awesome! Awesome! ( I have never had anything less than awesome from her site! NEVER!)

15 Week Challenge........Part One, Week Five!

2011-09-27T12:18:00.002-04:00

I chose Tealy-Fast by Sally Hansen Instant dry line. Its pretty....I couldn't capture it well enough, I need to wear it again on a sunny day and take more pictures... Let me tell you this....I hate this brush! Hate it! I won't buy another of this line because of that....This polish to me is a duochrome, because in one light its a blue, in another light its a teal-green color with the most beautimous green in it! So pretty, again, my pictures don't capture it! So disappointing. Also ALOT of tip wear in one day!

maybe here in the middle finger in the light you can see that pretty green?

Click Here to see my list of Challenges!

Some Goodies....

2011-09-25T15:39:00.000-04:00

......I have been meaning to show you these for awhile now.

Seche Vite PRO kit

part of five glitters, blue wants to be a millionaire, hannah pinktana, gray's anatomy, sparkled, night prowl

dollar store finds

Gelous, awesome base coat!

Jem, Hope, Kotori

Tealy-fast, Gunmetal

This is a 'kid'-tie box, that i am using for my stamping stuff

Dotting tools

Accessories

A nail file a good Friend bought me from Seattle

my clean up brush of choice

Dollar general find...

Spectra flair

My First Franken! Taking Name submissions!

2011-09-22T13:48:00.000-04:00

Hey there all! I finally made my franken! Whats a franken? Its a polish that you make out of other polishes you have on hand that you love or hate.....or just want to oomph up a bit! Kinda like Frankenstein, haha!
I didn't really have an idea in my head for a particular color I was kinda just throwing in what I thought would look good.

Here is the list of polishes that made my franken:
NYC, Starry Silver Glitter
NYC, Cashmere Creme
WNW, Blue Wants to be a Millionaire
WNW, Gray's Anatomy
WNW, Party of Five Glitters
SH XW, Gunmetal
and WNW Fantasy Makes Confetti

Its similar to Deborah Lippmanns Glitter in the Air. Although hers in more dainty, and sheerer, and less sparkle.

polishes

A Quick swatch after mixing, BEFORE bottle

This is the bottle AFTER adding WNW Fantasy Makers Confetti

After Bottle

Swatch with confetti

swatch

The Pictures below, are all the original formula BEFORE I added in the WNW fantasy makers confetti:

Well what do you guys think? Like it, Love it, Hate it, Its ok? Any name ideas?

15 Week Challenge....Part One, Week Four

2011-09-20T08:10:00.003-04:00

Hey there you guys! Just a quick post! This is Misa Blame it on Fat Tuesday, and sadly this is the only picture I managed to get of her! Sad! Its not a good picture either, I was at the park with two of my children and took this between shots of them playing and forgot to take more before I took it off! My cuticles are all dry and stuff....but look how glossy this creme is! She was really gorgeous in person! Went on like a dream! This is two coats with SV as a top coat.

Click here for my list of challenges!

ROTW: Calzone

2011-09-19T13:01:00.000-04:00

Hey there lovely followers! Nothing too too special on today's post, just a simple yummy calzone I made the night before we moved!

Ingredients: Dough (store bought), ricotta, mozzarella cheese, toppings, and some pizza sauce for dipping. I chose to use pepperoni, mushrooms and olives.

Roll out the dough, spread ricotta over half the dough, leaving the edge free, thickness depends on you, top with toppings, and then layer on a good amount of mozz cheese!

Fold the empty dough over, and seal with a fork, and place on baking sheet.

Bake as directed on dough baggie: about 20 minutes at 350 (I think), or until golden brown.

Cool slightly and cut and serve with Pizza sauce to dip in! This was so good, it was really hard not to eat it all......I know, because I ate it all!

Thanks for checking in! See ya tomm for another post!

Zoya Jem vs. Orly Rococo A-Go-Go.....SWAP?

2011-09-16T16:29:00.001-04:00

Hey guys, two posts in one day, wow. But I had to show you this! I purchased Orly's Rococo A-Go-Go last night on a whim....and tried it on one finger this afternoon, and thought, hmm, this looks like Zoya Jem! So I did a comparison for ya!

Both polish applications are smooth, Orly was a more dense polish and Zoya was a thinner polish.

Zoya on the left, Orly on the right

Z, O, Z, O

Orly, Definitely has a more textured look to it, but they are so close, that I am thinking I might have to sell one or swap one out for something, any takers on either one- check my wish list out!

Have a great weekend!

15 Week Challenge......Part Two, Week Three (YOU might be featured here!)

2011-09-16T09:07:00.000-04:00

Challenge: Galaxy Nails

Ok, so I chickened (?) out of this weeks challenge....I did a mock galaxy art thing, a couple posts back and it wasn't much to look at. So I opted to show you some of the awesomeness of some of my fellow nail polish addicts instead!

This one is from The Polished Mamma!

This one is from Bookworrm Nails!

This one is from Miss Shawna!

This one is from The Tarr Pit!

This one is from The Daily Varnish!

Here is my list of challenges, Next one up, Green Nails!

NOTD: Gunmetal

2011-09-14T12:04:00.000-04:00

Hey all....taking a break from my challenges to show you this cool polish. It's Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Gunmetal. Its a frost/pearl finish or metallic finish. Link to an awesome glossary of finishes here. It had obvious brush strokes when you look closely, something I hate....It was a pretty color though, leaning toward the blue side of the grey family. I do not like the brushes in this Xtreme wear line...the don't make a nice line, this is why there is such an obvious gap. I wonder how this polish would look if I added in some spectra flair? Here is a post abut how to use it!

Oh, I was playing around with some settings on my camera, trying to get better quality pictures, let me know if you see a difference, and what you think!

Hope everyone has a fabtabulous day!

15 Week Challenge.......Part Two, Week Four

2011-09-12T09:08:00.000-04:00

Okay, I know I skipped Part two of week three and part one of week four, I'll get back to those, I actually have a picture for week four part one (green) but I couldn't wait to show you guys this mani! This week's challenge was the dry marble mani or water marble mani, I chose the dry marble. I have done the water marble and its messy, and time consuming trying to find polishes that spread well...

Anyways... I had out my purple from this challenge, and my yellow from this challenge, and decided to use those. I painted stripes with them on a plastic baggie, just a little rectangle, to see if it worked, and drew lines up and down it, close together.....I didn't really like 'just' that pattern, so I took the toothpick and drew tiny spirals every so often in it. I liked that!

Yellow: Pure Ice, Excuse Me
Purple: Finger Paints, Hue Rang?

I only made that little rectangle, so I only had enough for four fingers...But this was so easy to do. I made the stripes, drug a toothpick up and down, then did my swirls, then let it dry for a few days...really I had forgotten about it. I was reading some blogs that said if you drag too hard the polish will have splits in it, and not pull up off the baggie neatly, so I put a top coat on it, let it dry again, and then cut to size my thumb and ring....just a square type shape.....I put a base coat on my nails, waited a minute or so, and peeled the polish off of the plastic, and set it on my nail, pressed it down lightly with my fingers, then smoothed out any wrinkles or bulges with an orange stick, then did the next finger the same way. I then went back and pressed down around my cuticle with the orange stick to make a 'crease' and then took the pointy side and made holes in that crease, and took off the excess polish, then cleaned it up. Simple, less time than the water marble, and easier in my opinion! I will def do this again, and for all nails this time!

Both polishes were a pearl finish.

Check out the list of challenges here.

ROTW: Veggie Quesadilla

2011-09-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

I had in the fridge a ball of Mozzarella and a bunch of awesome veggies, so I sliced the all up and made this awesome yummy healthy Quesadilla. I used Corn Tortillas. I sliced up some avocado, black olives, onion, red pepper and some of the mozzarella, put it on my tortilla:

Put it in a pan...

Covered it for a few minutes, so the steam could melt the cheese and soften veggies slightly...

Flipped it, doesn't that look awesome!

Took it off the heat and sliced it up and served it with some salsa!

This was so quick and easy, and filling, and healthy!

15 Week Challenge.....Part One, Week Three

2011-09-08T09:08:00.000-04:00

Hey there you all! Nice and sunny out today...a nice change from the gloominess and storms that we have been having!

Parker turned four this week! He is getting so big, growing up so fast. He had to get two shots yesterday, then we went to Toys R Us and spent his gift card from his Uncle and Aunt! That made the shots less traumatic!

Both little ones are sick this week, I am taking the little little one to the doctor today, as he has had a fever for about 24 hours....he also cut his first tooth yesterday! My mom is supposed to be taking Parker tonight for his bday, but he is sick, so we will see what happens, and then I was supposed to take the other three to her Friday after school, and then Kevin and I were supposed to go to Busch Gardens by ourselves on Saturday....but all that is up in the air now that the little ones are sick, sort of....ugh! Never make plans with kids, they always fall through!

Anyways, onto the weekly challenge! Today I have for you, yellow! A really ugly color, I am def not a fan of Yellow! I only have two yellows, so I chose the pearl finished one. Here is a list of types of finishes for polish. Thanks to Swatch and Learn for finding the link for me! The other Yellow I own is a creme, by Sally Hansen, Mellow Yellow - the Xtreme Wear line. This yellow I am showing you today is from Pure Ice, its Excuse Me. Like I said up there ^ ....Its a pearly finish....I don't like pearl finishes, they are hard to get perfect, you can see brush strokes...I like cremes and jellys, and other types better, they are harder to mess up! But this is about challenging myself, and I wore it...for not even 5 minutes....Boo....Fail. I didn't clean them up either, because I knew it was going to stay on....sorry!

Here it is:

Here you can see my list of challenges.
Come back tomorrow for a ROTW installment!

15 Week Challenge.....Part Two, Week Two

2011-09-04T05:30:00.000-04:00

Hey there....
This one was a total fail. I tried to be all creative and junk, but it didn't work, I really hate showing you this one....
I used my orange mani , Essie-Meet me at Sunset, from the previous challenge, and added Finger Paints Hue Rang? to it, in different positioned moon shapes....icky! I'm not even making it any bigger, because it bites! Essie looks red here...Hmmm...its orange I swear, it was so pretty I didn't want to take it off....

You can see my list of Challenges here.

Oh and I was playing around with my camera today...

This one is great, he's like staring at me wandering what the hell I'm doing!

Those were two different squirrels.

Also I played with some color today....its pretty horrible, but whatever, reminds me of a peacock!

Speaking of peacocks.....We have a house in the area that is habitated (is that a word?) by some...

Pretty cool right?

Oh and the boys and I did some paintings today why Emma was with Grandma and Grandpa, her first time alone with them....They took her to an art festival in Venice, Florida.....she had fun, and it was nice just to have to boys....

Riley did the water scene, he has posts and rope in the water...with a bird and AB are school initials.
Parker painting lines...but do you see that sideways 'A' (purple), I am starting to teach him to write letters.
I did the rainbow :)

Hope you all have a fantastic day today, and a great Labor Day tomorrow! (USA) The rest of you, hope your Monday goes by fast!!!

Blue Wants to be a Millionaire

2011-09-03T13:06:00.000-04:00

Good Afternoon from Sunny Florida! Finally it is sunny for once this week, it has rained and been gloomy all week! I did this manicure about a month ago when we were all done moving, I had broken a nail and had to cut them down, :(

This is Wet n' Wild, blue wants to be a millionaire. Its pretty, sparkly, a little holographic, shiny....isn't she pretty!? Her brush and formula was a little tricky and thick, but it was OK!

Enjoy your weekend! Happy Labor Day (USA)!

ROTW: ReeRee Pockets, Dessert Style!

2011-09-01T09:21:00.000-04:00

Morning Everyone! Hope all is well where ever you are. Its very dreary out here today....

I made ReeRee Pockets again this week, only I put a dessert in them instead of a main meal! They were pretty good, not as good as what I had thought in my head they were going to taste like, but for a quick simple small dessert, this will do!

I used peaches, because that is what I had in the fridge, this would be really good with apples, or even a mix of berries....maybe even a cream cheese filling with some simple vanilla beans, and a berry sauce. There really are just so many options when it comes to making this!

You can find the original recipe here, and its variations are also in that post as well!

Take a peach, skin it, slice it thin.

Add in some brown sugar, cinnamon, and a tiny bit of flour, this shouldn't be runny, more like a paste.

Take your crescent roll and flatten it out...

Top with about three to four slices of your peach mixture and add a tiny slice of butter.

Roll them up and pinch sides...

In your bowl that had the peaches in it and the 'paste' of b. sugar and cinn. and flour....add in some more brown sugar, melted butter, and some heavy whipping cream, mix together.

Pour mixture over top of pockets...and bake at 330 degrees for about 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Don't these look divine?

I served mine with ice cream....yummy!

Imagine a yummy vanilla bean cream cheese filling with a warm berry sauce, or an apple filling-like apple dumplings (Pioneer Woman has a recipe very similar to this it uses mountain dew, OMG is it ever good!) or a berry filling, with a caramel sauce.....Oh the possibilities!

My 15 Week Challenge.....Part One, Week Two

2011-08-31T15:18:00.002-04:00

I finished Week one's challenges! Yay! This is part one of week two, Orange. I don't have many oranges...I don't like the color. When Essie was doing that giveaway for their Summer 2011 collection, which included: Brazilliant, Too Too Hot, Super Bossa Nova, Absolutely Shore, Meet me at Sunset, Smooth Sailing - on Facebook, I entered and won a bottle, they said it was Brazilliant. I was kinda bummed, but hey its a free bottle of nail polish, AND my First Essie polish! When it arrived, it turned out not to be Brazilliant, but instead it was Meet Me at Sunset. I swatched it really quick on one nail and wasn't really impressed and stuck it in the back of my drawer, kind of forgetting about it.

Well I decided I decided I would use it for this challenge! This is my first Essie polish and I don't know how it compares to other Essie's but it went on very smoothly, a little on the thin side, but it was an easy application. I used three thin coats, and it my nail line is still slightly visible...to me its almost a jelly polish....I found a blog once that explained all the many types of polishes, like jelly, creme, shimmer, ect.....if any one knows what I am talking about please link it in the comments- I would love to read about that again!

I didn't expect to like it this much, I was originally planning on doing this as a base and using a crackle over it, to hide most of it....but I actually really really like it. It is so glossy looking. Its a reddish burnt orange color. Top coat of Seche Vite. What do you all think of this? If you click on the pictures they are better quality, I'm not sure how to get that to come through on the blog? any tips on how you upload your pictures?

I take a picture, I use corel paint shop(this was on my computer when I bought it) to crop it, and add my watermark-when I don't forget, and then upload using the blogger upload tool, and then usually make them X-large in the blog post, but this time I am only using the large setting.

15 Weeks of Nails Challenge:

Week 1: Red Nails
Glitter

Week 2: Orange Nails
Half Moons

Week 3: Yellow Nails
Galaxies

Week 4: Green Nails
Water Marble / Dry Marble

Week 5: Blue Nails
Drag Marble

Week 6: Violet Nails
Inspired by a Favorite Thing

Week 7: Black and White Nails
Glitter Sandwich

Week 8: Metallic Nails
French Manicure

Week 9: Rainbow Nails
Inspired by Feathers

Week 10: Gradient Nails
Layered Nails

Week 11: Polka dots
Inspired by Dots

Week 12: Stripes
Inspired by Lines

Week 13: Animal Print
Inspired by The Outdoors

Week 14: Flowers
Inspired by a Tutorial

Week 15: Matte Nails
Retro Nails

PS: don't forget to link me if you use my challenge's. :)

An Oldie...

2011-08-30T13:41:00.000-04:00

Hey guys....I thought I would show you an old manicure, one I did when I first started my appreciation of polish and design...It's called a 'galaxy' design. I have no idea what the polishes I used were, I know the glitter is from Finger Paints, it was the first one I bought of that brand....I could walk the 20 feet to my bedroom and see, but I'm just lazy....

I used a sponge to sponge on the glitter and then dotted some other color on for a 'star' effect...that didn't turn out too well....I like the right hand better than my left hand which has the 'stars'....

And this was before I realized I needed to take better care of my cuticles! This picture just proves how horrible they were! Ugh!

More hair?

2011-08-28T10:05:00.000-04:00

*This was a draft....now I am going to publish it, because it is a really dreary day out today, and the mood for blogging isn't upon me! I have lots of manicures I could show you but the pictures aren't cropped, and I would have to find the polishes I used and My lovely SLEEPING Husband is in the bedroom....I should wake him up....I've been hinting loudly all morning that he should be up and out her....dork....I NEVER get to sleep in and when I do, he lets the kids just be loud, so I lay in bed awake....and not really sleeping.....ugh! Anyways....Hope you enjoy today's post!*

Hey there! Since my last hair post, found here, I have Highlighted my hair. Do you remember the last time I highlighted my hair, it was a total fail. I was a little nervous this time, but my grey was growing in, and I was tired of the same tone hair color. So I got out my supplies and did very little this time, I didn't want to overdo it or mess it up...I just wanted to hide the grey's....this is how it came out:

The dye from my last hair post has lightened alot, so its about the same as my roots....finally, lol. I think I will leave it alone for awhile now.... ;)

My 15 Week Challenge.....Part Two, Week One

2011-08-27T12:07:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, so here is my second installment of the week. It was glitter. (See below for my list of challenges-and feel free to use it on your blog as well, if you do-let me know by commenting!) I chose to do a glitter fade...or is it gradient? I don't know, but whatever its name is, it was very fun to do and very pretty looking. It only stayed on though for a day and a half, it was so thick on my nails....

Here's what I used in this order:
Gelous-base coat
Wet n Wild- Gray's Anatomy
China Glaze- Fairy Dust
NYC- Starry Silver Glitter
China Glaze- Techno
Wet n Wild- Party of Five
Seche Vite- top coat

Let me tell you how much of a pain glitter is to get off.....yes I have read about the 'foil' method, but I just don't see myself taking that much time to wrap each finger in foil, it would be so annoying, so I just cotton balled it, lol....several times!

excuse that nasty cuticle up there...