Gift Wrapping

For today's xmas mani, I am featuring gift wrap and a fun Gonzo popping out of a Christmas present. I really wanted to continue doing the Muppets characters, so you will see a few of them popping up here and there. :)

I used both stamping and freehand to make this manicure. I really like how Gonzo turned out, with his little bow tie and three fingers on each hand. LOL

The base color for this manicure is OPI Rumple's Wiggin' from the Shrek collection. My local CVS has the Shrek polishes for some reason. Totally bizarre! 

My stamping is not the greatest, and this pattern is kind of temperamental. Let's just pretend that my husband wrapped these presents, and that's why they look all wrinkly. I used a striping brush to do the ribbons on the packages. Then I used acrylic paint to map out the peeled back wrapping paper where Gonzo will pop out.

Here is Gonzo during the painting process. I did not spend as much time on him as I did on my Fozzie manicure, mostly because I was not looking for the perfect level of detail that I wanted in the competition. 

I painted the bows on the packages by looking at image of a bow online. I started with a grey base, then added dark grey lowlights, and topped it with silver highlights. The bows were painted with acrylic paint. From here I added topcoat and then it was done!

Polishes used in this manicure: OPI Rumple's Wiggin', Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Urgent Orchid (stamping), and Bon Bons mini silver polish. I used the mini silver for the ribbons on the packages. The stamp I used was from  Konad plate m60.

The idea of Gonzo bursting through the gift wrapping came from this set of Muppet stamps issued by the US Postal Service in 2005. These are such awesome stamps! On the back side of the set, there are words from each of the Muppets featured. They are in character and very funny. 

See what I mean??

This manicure is part of the 12 Days of Christmas Manis challenge that I am doing with some polish friends. Feel free to join us, and be sure to check out the other manicures from my fellow bloggers. 

Amber - http://amberdunson.blogspot.com/

Chilli - http://polishandpoise.blogspot.com/

Jamie - http://www.nailsadored.com

Jen - http://sweettipsnails.blogspot.com/

Pauline - http://omgnoodles.blogspot.com/

Fozzie the Bear

I entered the second week of the OPI Mani Madness contest with this manicure. The challenge was to make a manicure using Fozzie the Bear as the inspiration. I thought perhaps that I would skip this week, seeing as I got food poisoning on Monday evening last week, and did not actually get to painting this mani until Wednesday. I knew I would have some ground to cover to get the votes I needed to be on top. Instead of simply featuring the different aspects of Fozzie, like his face, necktie, and hat, I wanted to place Fozzie in a situation that would reflect his humor and his struggle with getting heckled all of the time.

I give you: Fozzie Gets Heckled! I painted Fozzie doing his thing on stage in the spotlight, and above him are Statler and Waldorf booing him from the balcony seats. I painted details of the curtains and wall decorations from the theater walls on my index and pinky fingers. 

I started with OPI Big Apple Red on my nails. This is a lovely bright red and worked really well as a base for this dramatic manicure. 

I started with my thumb by painting the theater curtains behind Fozzie. The folds are darker towards the top of the image, and lighter where the spotlight is shining on him. I used acrylic paint for all of the artwork in this manicure. 

Here's Fozzie in the early stages of the manicure. I made his head a little too short to start with, but the great thing about acrylic paint is that it lets you rework an image fairly easily. 

More shading and I added his mouth. The highlights on his fur were pure yellow paint. I find it is really important to look at the colors in the image I am trying to create and think about what colors they really are without thinking about the rest of the image. Shape and color are really exciting to isolate. 

"Patriotism swells in the heart of the American Bear!" - I love that line from Fozzie in the original Muppet Movie. So funny!

The bane of Fozzie's existence: Statler and Waldorf! Did you know that these two Muppet hecklers were named after hotels in New York? The Statler Hilton and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. 

Waldorf was voiced by Jim Henson from 1970 to 1990, which makes it even funnier that Jim would take so much glee in heckling Frank Oz who played Fozzie. Waldorf has also been voiced by Dave Goelz and Victor Yerrid. 

I really like how Statler turned out. He's got super skinny arms and his nose shadow cracks me up for some reason. It's hilarious! Statler was originally performed by Richard Hunt until 1991, then by Jerry Nelson, Steve Whitmire, and Drew Massey. 

Look! Fozzie is pointing at Fozzie! Wocka, Wocka!

I am so proud to tell you that I won this past challenge! I worked really hard on these nails, and I so appreciate all of the people who voted for me, and also who voted for the other girls too. There is a lot of talent out there! You can see my nails posted on OPI's facebook page by clicking here. The new challenge this week is to paint a manicure inspired by Gonzo. I just adore Gonzo! I am looking forward to the manicures this week and really hope that some girls take it over the top. There is so much to be inspired by with the Muppet canon. Which includes shooting Gonzo out of a cannon. ;-)

PIG POWER

I entered this manicure in the OPI Mani Madness Contest for the Miss Piggy theme. I used a cool poster that I had on my bedroom wall when I was younger as the inspiriation. Sadly, I was not successful in winning the contest. But I will be entering the contest again this week with the Fozzie the Bear theme. I cannot post images of my Fozzie  manicure until after the voting is over as per the rules of the contest, but I would love it if you would check out the contest and vote for me.

I used a lovely purple polish (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Urgent Orchid) for the background and did all of the rest of the artwork with acrylic paints. 

Here is the poster that hung on my bedroom door when I was an early teen. I kept it there for years because I loved it so! I found this image online here: http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Muppet_posters

Here is the beginning of Piggy. I had the most difficulty with shading. 

Here's Piggy pretty much done. She's so fierce looking! Hiyyyyyaah!

I added her purple silk gloved hand in a karate chop move. The white accent around the glove gives it fun motion and drama. 

Thanks for checking this out, and be sure to vote on my Fozzie the Bear manicure this week.