New Arty Idea... Nails?

So, something a little bit different now. I recently signed up for groupon, and some of the offers that have come up have got me thinking about how much I used to love everything nail art related. I used to spend my pocket money on fancy nail art pens and nail decorations, and my idea of a great afternoon with my friends would be when they let me paint tiny butterflies or angled tips on their nails! Even whilst at university I enjoyed helping my housemate with her nails before a night out.

I once told my mum I wanted to be a nail technician, she laughed at me and said no you don't! I tried pursueing a more academic route, but that didn't work out, and I have ended up flitting between jobs I don't like. I enjoy my current job, but even that has its problems! Anyway, I have decided to give this Nail art thing another little go :)

I spent my birthday present money (and some of my own) on a groupon for an online acrylics training course and kit including a training hand that you can just click the completed nails off of when your done! Groupon is awesome, its a £500 deal that I paid £199 for! This course ends with an industry recognized qualification that would allow me to begin practicing as an acrylics nail technician, should I choose to :) However, I am a lot more interested in gel nails, and nail art, so would need to do a couple more courses before I could do the type of work I'm really interested in.

I spent a lot of time uhming and aahing whether I should go for this course, or save up some more and choose a course that covers all the forms of nail enhancements. I ultimately decided on this one as I thought acrylics is pretty much an essential skill for all nail technicians, and I can always build upon that foundation later on, assuming that I even get on with it! I may not even enjoy it that much, but then I've only wasted £200 rather than£800!

Whilst personally I don't think I am really one for huge long fake nails, I really think I would enjoy making them, as they are like mini works of art that the client will be taking with her everywhere. I have spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks watching tutorials on youtube (If you are interested, this channel is brilliant, all of her designs are stunning http://www.youtube.com/naiouk and she talks you through step by step how they have been created) just thinking I reckon I could do that :).

Anyway, my kit and course could take up to 10 days to arrive, so watch this space... If I do end up loving this as much as I think (hope) that I will, there may well be a whole seperate blog for my nail designs, or this one might become over run by nails!

Anyway, I have a couple of little stitched peices that are finished and just waiting to be photographed and uploaded, I will try to get to doing that later on today :)

Until Next Time :) S x

Preperation

So, it may be a little early, but I remember frantically trying to make all my Christmas cards at the last minute a couple of years back and having to post them all first class, so this year I have made a start good and early!

My other half has a friend over and they are having a hardcore gaming session of sorts in the lounge, so I have been hiding out in the bedroon all evening to leave them to it! I settled down in front of an episode of midsomer murders (I'm sounding like such an old lady, I know) got some of my card making bits out, just to see what I would come up with :) I am quite happy with the results thus far, even if I did only get 4 cards made in 5 hours, they are very fiddly, requiring much tweezer work and patience, but the results are rather pleasing. Here are the photo's of what I have made:

Mid way through filling in. 

I am very pleased with the effect of filling in the outline sticker with the scrap inner pieces from a sticker of a contrasting colour. Whilst fiddly and time consuming, the end result is fairly striking :) although I won't have time to make this sort of card for everyone on my Christmas card list for sure!

Here are some examples of cards I have made in previous years, these are decorated with glitter and take a long time to dry, but are fun to make, even if a little bit messy! The edgings are made sprinkling glitter over very thin strips of transparent double sided sticky tape. I have also used punches, in various ways, and used the 'waste' from the punches to add decorations to cards, some with a 3D effect by using 5mm squares of double sided tape to make them stand out. I'm sure I will make some more of these this year, though the clearing up and cleaning of the stamps takes almost as long as making the cards!

These types of cards are very versatile and can easily be personalised, as I have done for a couple of them. Some of them are a little scruffy, but mostly I'm pleased with them, and hope that the people who received them were too. I always think there is something a bit more special about a handmade card, even if they are a little rough around the edges! It's difficult to get these perfect, sometimes the wet glue crinkles the card as it dries, and it is difficult to get an even spread of the glue even with the special tip I have, but they are all certainly one of a kind!

Over the last week I have also completed a couple of small sewing projects, including another little blackwork piece. Pictures of those will follow shortly :)

Catch ya later, S x