Crafting for Christmas: Part 2 - Necklaces

I started off the Christmas gifting so early, always in an attempt to avoid the last minute gift scramble.  Of course, here it is the day AFTER Christmas and I'm still crafting for Christmas...  This is okay because I had everything for the day'of that I needed to, and I have a few more gifts to give out later, so I'm not LATE, per se...

So we shall continue on my way to creating lovely nail polish necklaces and picture frames.  When last we discussed this, I had just created several sample swatches to begin thinking of what color combos I might want to use for these various creations.  I decided to work on the necklaces first, as they had more of the interesting combinations.  The first gift I completed was a Tenth Doctor-inspired necklace.

I bought little glass cabochan ovals from Hobby Lobby and some bight silver colored settings as well as a few "antique bronze" looking ones.  The bright blue of the VL Oops in Spaaaaace/Revlon Royal reminded me of the blue lights of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, so a silver setting was just perfect for it.   Bestie is going to grab me a picture of it because I forgot to grab one before I mailed it off to her, but here's the lovely lady herself wearing the necklace until then!



Next was a duochrome in the antique setting for my sister- I did Orly Space Cadet with Wet n' Wild Black creme.



I love how straight-on, you get a reddish pink color, but it flashed a yellow/gold from the sides!



My aunt also got an antique setting.  After doing even more swatches, I came up with one layered thusly: Zoya Paloma, Zoya Mary Luisa, Zoya Paloma, and backed with Pretty & Polished Good Vibrations.  This is an interesting one because it utilizes a jelly (Paloma) to tint the golden flakies of ML which shine over the pinky-mauve of Good Vibrations (which itself is a holographic thermal COLOR CHANGER, but under all the pink of Paloma, I doubt the change will be noticeable.  Interesting to see if it make a difference while wearing, though!)



And I also made a necklace for a good knitting friend of mine.  She's a green-lover, so I literally copied the Zoya manicure I had on last week.  First, I loved the colors, second, I know she'll love the colors!  To refresh your memory, I layered Zoya Mary Luisa (again!) and then two coats of Zoya Giovanna and popped it into a silver setting.



I did encounter a few issues with these necklaces, unfortunately.  Though the pieces were all from the same company, the silver settings seemed to run smaller than the antique.  None of the glass beads were the same size, either.  For both silver settings, I needed to buy medium grit sanding sponges and go to town before they laid in the settings nicely.  Actually, I didn't even glue the Zoya Giovanna one- I was testing to see if I'd sanded enough and couldn't get the fucker out.  I figure, if it wants to stay in there so bad, I'll give it to buddy as-is and let her know if it pops out, don't stick it in again, I'll glue it for her.  Or, you know, she can, but I'll assume I will.

One glass bead fit perfectly as-is in the antique setting, and another needed minimal sanding to fit.  All in all, this took me way longer than I thought it would to put together 4 necklaces, bu the results were exactly what I was hoping for, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!  (Actually, I AM doing it again, I need to make two more for a swap in January I'm participating in...)

I'll get back to y'all on those picture frames, too.

Christmas Mani

Just dropping in to post my final Christmas mani- I'm working on completing my Christmas crafting posts, but in the mean time, here's the Color Clube Antiquated from before, but sponger with Zoya Storm.  this is three layers of sponging, and yes, I still suck at doing gradients.  I figure, though, that if I keep trying, eventually it won't look like ass.  this might have been better if I did smaller sponging sections and maybe sponged a black glitter on last, but I don't think I have a fine black glitter, so whatever.





I am happiest with my left index, but whatever.  I still look fantastic to anyone who doesn't know wtf I was trying to do, lmao.

Subtle Holiday Cheer

I'm still totally slacking on Christmas.  I made my first pendant the other day for a gift and realized the pieces I bought at the hobby store from the same brand and labeled as going together don't actually fit each other.  I will have to go find some sandpaper and buff down the glass bits so they fit in the settings.  What a bummer.  I think I'm going to write the company an email expressing my dissatisfaction with their jewelry findings.

Anyway, I felt last night was time for a polish change.  I had a hard time picking something.  I tried to stick to my sizable amount of untried polishes, and then after I started the application of this remembered I'd used it in a last-minute mani a few months ago and forgot to mark it down.  Oh well.



Revlon Gel Smooth Base Coat
Color Club Antiquated x2
Seche Vite

This is a lovely champagne foil from Color Club.  Their foils go on so easily, can be one-coaters if you're super careful, and are just lovely all on their own.  (But I did the blue with glitter and holo on top this past summer and it was TO DIE FOR.  Actually, let me find you a picture...)



You can kind of see the holo peeking out, but it's better when it's kind of in half-shade and blurry:



It was insane how much I loved that mani.

The colors were CC Cold Metal and Wet n' Wild Blue Wants to Be A Millionaire?

Anyway, the point is, CC foils are excellent alone or embellished.

And sometimes before Christmas, I will either stamp this with a red design or try to do a gradient with Zoya Storm.  PLANS, I HAVE THEM.

It's vaguely almost Christmas

I'm still trying to formulate gifts for people.

Mother and stepfather are taken care of.

Youngest sister is taken care of.

Boyfriend is taken care of.

Still crafting for Aunt and Uncle, as well as other sister.

Best friend is still on the fence on what I will craft/buy for her.

That mostly just leaves dad and stepmother, who are ridiculously difficult to buy for.  They will probably end up with a restaurant gift card, if I'm being honest.

Y'all, Christmas is in like 8 days.  WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!

Really, I only have to mail one of my gifts, and it technically won't take long to make, once I decide on a color combo, if that's what I decide.

Moving on, I finally repainted my nails yesterday.  I wore that Pixie dust manicure for about a week.  It saw me through many vents in its time. But today, I've got this slightly-festive looking beauty on:



Seche Clear
Zoya Giovanna x2
Seche Vite

Accents then have:
Zoya Mary Louisa
Seche Vite

Here it is in full sun:



I figured I should get this up while I'm thinking about it.  I started the post yesterday, but I'm finishing up today- trying to calm my nerves as I was in a pile-up on the way to work this morning.  I'm still pretty shaken, still trying to figure out what needs to be done, etc.  No one was seriously injured, thank goodness!  And I was not at fault, so no ticket for me, WHEW.  But I'm starting to get little creeping pains in my back.  Keep your fingers crossed, I really hope I'm fine.  Now I need to focus on insurance companies and getting my car repaired.  JOY TO THE WORLD.

Crafting for Christmas: Part 1

It's late in the season, but I've been hit with the fever.  It's bitten me- the crafting bug.  I told myself I was NOT Making gifts this year (mostly thinking of knitting and how time consuming it is and how unknitworthy most of my family are) so I'd banned myself from even considering it.

But as you know, I have another passion, and with that passion comes a collection of 328 bottles of nail polish, all of them quite lovely.  I was inspired by my nail polish ladies asking about crafts and nail polish on ornaments.  Mostly, this involves buying clear glass ornaments, pouring polish in, swirling it around, etc.  That take s a lot of polish, and I am willing to share in the beauty, but not THAT much.

(Speaking of, let's take a moment to update my current mani- I am still wearing the Zoya Godiva, but I added a third coat and wanted to see what night-time in my car with the overhead light looked like, so here you go:)



It DID eventually develop into talk of nail polish jewelry.  Cabochans, specifically.  (Don't worry, I had to google what they were called, too.  All I knew was "glass painted with nail polish and glued to a setting.")  Unfortunately, for the few pieces I planned to make, the supplies can add up- most internet retailers specialize in whole-sale quantities, I wanted to make 2-4 necklaces.  But I DID come across a tutorial for making them with glass vase filler beads- they aren't uniform ad have flaws, but I think that adds interest.  They won't fit in a specific setting, but you can use them on flat backing or on other crafts.

I decided to play around and plan to glue a bunch onto picture frames for some family members who have a big wall of family photos- they are always looking for interesting frames, and I think they'd love these when I'm done!  I did also buy a few individual cabochan supplies from the local craft store, but I haven't painted them yet- I wanted to use the glass beads to experiment with color combos before committing them to the more expensive jewelry glass.

So now, MOAR PICTURES!

First, I cleaned the beads with rubbing alcohol.  Then I painted the flat half with a sucky top coat (seriously, I bought it at the Dollar Tree because it said "Seche Vite" and I thought it was hilarious.  I figured it would not even come close, and I was right.  But at least I now have a use for it!) and let it sit for a few minutes.



Then I worked backwards: glitter then base color, x2 if necessary.

My first batch was Ruby Kisses Mardi Gras (the bar glitter) with a base of China Glaze Bizarre blurple.  This is what gave me the inclination that glitter polishes were not going to give me the desired "gemstone" effect- the glitter sits right ON the glass, as opposed to when it's on your nail and the polish it's in kind of mutes it.  The bar glitter is a little too jarring, but will still work nicely for one of my gifts.

The second set I did was a combo of Orly Fowl Play and a base of an unnamed (well, it probably HAD a name, but it's so old it's worn off) Sally Hansen dark blue shimmery color.  The flakies in Fowl play were just lovely.  The difference betwen these two made it clear that flakies were well-worth experimenting with, as well as other polishes that had a more hidden shimmer effect that was harder to see on the nail.

After both sets had dried (I gave them a good half hour), I put the same top coat over the base.  I had to keep cleaning my brush, though- the shitty top coat kept trying to pull the color up, hence it being shitty.

Here's the underside as they dried.  In this light, you can't really see much difference in the colors, and on the front side, it doesn't matter as much, but there IS a definite difference between the blue and purple.



And the final result:



I love the Fowl Play stones so so so much.  So rather than make an entire batch of another combo, I pulled out a handful of stones and did a different combo on each, which was fun.  there were some "meh" results, but some were just great.  I'm going to make a few necklace pendants, as some of these polishes are not something I'd like to use a whole lot of on dozens of little stones.

The bottom sides:



And the lovely front sides:

Row 1: Essie Dive Bar x2; Pure Ice Heartbreaker, Salon Perfect Red Dahlia; Vivid Lacquer Oops! In Spaaaaace, Revlon Royal; Orly Space Cadet, Wet 'n Wild Black Creme; OPI Just Spotted the Lizard x2

Row 2: COAT Cosmic, Cosmetic Arts dark green creme; Zoya Opal, Cosmetic Arts dark green creme; Essence It's Grey-t to Be Here x2; Butter London Dosh x2

Row 3: Pure Ice Midnight Show, Wet 'n Wild Black Creme; Essence Chic Reloaded; Vivid Lacquer Evil League of Evil, Revlon Naughty; Essence Jacob's Protection x2

Row 4: Orly High On Hope x2; Maybelline Mod Moss x2

The first of these I did was the Private Show- I thought it'd be a nice blackened glitter.  Nope- far too bright, for above stated reasons.  I didn't try any more glitter after that.  The duochromes didn't do as well as I'd hoped, though they didn't look BAD.  Anything with flakies, however, looked WONDERFUL.  Polish that notoriously gives me trouble and looked "meh" on the nail looked GREAT on these stones.  (I'm looking at you, Jacob's Protection...)  One of my happiest mistakes was the Zoya Opal- I'd planned to paint a light color over it, but I grabbed the wrong flakie and painted it with dark green, instead.  OMG, gorgeous.  

I think I've got a few solid stone combos for my necklaces, and some good ideas for the picture frames, so... Mission accomplished!  

After that rant about smart phones...

...I went and replaced mine.  Thus far, my decision seems to have been a good one (Cyber Monday shopping FTW!)

The new shiny thing is a nice upgrade because it has a camera equipped with a macro mode.  Why, you might ask, is that important?  Because up until now, I've been taking pictures of manicure with my ancient Kodak Easy Share and its battery doesn't keep a charge.  I've been limited to taking pictures while it's on the dock, tethered to an outlet.  Also, sun availability.  So with a phone that is, GASP!, mobile, I think I'll have more opportunity to actually catch my manis now that I'm back to working full-time.

Today is an experiment:  I've applied two coats of Zoya Godiva (a score form one of Zoya's zillions of Flash Promos they've been doing all week) over Revlon Gel Smooth Base.  I would have applied a third, but I was running out the door.  This explains why I did no cleanup, either.  There is a bit of visible nail line, but I'll take care of that later.

This is shot on a very overcast cold and rainy day, so I'm interested in the results.



So far, so good new smart phone camera!