Fun Nails

I had an idea and ran with it.

Could I use some of my craft supplies to decorate my nails?

Some of the idea worked... other parts, not so much.

The nails looked better in person than they do in the picture.

The small images, the ant and the flower, are stickers. The 2 bands of blue floral are washi tape.

I stamped the images from the Lawn Fawn stamp sets "dandy day" and "crazy antics" onto Koala Inkjet Sticker paper using Memento ink. I coloured the images with Copic alcohol markers and cut them out using the coordinating dies and a Big Shot die cutting machine. 

For the bands of blue floral, I took a small square of freezer paper, placed it on my nail and traced the outline of the nail with a stylus. The stylus will cause a crease in the freezer paper providing you with a template of the nail. 

I placed the washi tape over the template and cut both the freezer paper and the washi tape following the crease outline. I did not worry about the length of the tape. This will be removed after it is applied to the nail.

With all the artwork prepped and ready to go, now it's time to do your nails. 

• I applied a base coat to each nail. 
• I applied 2 coats of polish to each nail except for the washi tape nails.
• I removed the backing on the stickers and positioned them on the nails and trimmed the stickers down with scissors.
• I removed the freezer paper from the washi tape and positioned them on the nails.
• I filed off the excess washi tape by filing in a downward motion.
• I applied one layer of top coat to the coloured nails and 3 layers of top coat to the sticker and washi tape nails.

Did this work? Some of it did. The stickers started to peel up the following day. The washi tape, surprisingly lasted 4 days - through 3 showers, a weekend of crafting and a lot of COVID hand washing. 

I thought it was going to be the opposite. I thought the stickers were going to last a few days and I had expected the washi tape to be gone the next day. 

It was a fun little nail embellishment. I don't think I will do the stickers again but I may give the washi tape another try. 

Double Page Layout

I am not sure about you but I find that the creative projects I am working on coincide with the type of craft videos I am binge watching at the time. 

I am inspired to quilt if I watch Missouri Star Quilt Company, Midnight Quilt Show, Jordan Fabrics; I want to create travel journals and focus on my memory planner if I watch The Life Facilitator or Ali Edwards, card making after watching Jennifer McGuire, Cathy Zielske or KristinaWerner - who by the way also inspires me to try water colouring.

Lately I have joined Patreon and have been binge watching RTS Scrapbooking. Janet has inspired me to whip out layouts within hours. Well, my layouts don't come together that fast but I did manage to complete this one in a couple of days. 

I find that I get stuck in the details - the embellishments. I am not sure which embellishments to use, how to effectively layer the embellishments and how much to add. I understand the principles of design - balance, visual triangle and odd numbers of the same elements but I have to practice the rest. 

This is a time where the phrase "better to have things done than perfect" works. The memory is captured. I am hoping that adding details to layouts will become second nature as I complete more layouts. Janet from RTS Scrapbooking makes it look effortless.

Do you binge watch craft shows? If you do, what are they?