A Christmas Story

I am so in love with this mani! I may have to wait for a day to do the next challenge because I want to wear this for a few days. :-) YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT! Ha ha! 

Here's Ralphie (as played by Peter Billingsley) on my thumb, and the leg lamp stretched across my other fingers. This just cracked me up.

I used a Konad stamp from plate m57 for the fishnet stocking pattern. I turned it on its side so that the lamp would stretch across my nails like this. Nice gam(s)!

Look at his little face! So cute!

I used acrylic paint to create the shape of the leg lamp, the lamp shade, and Ralphie himself. I think the likeness came out really well. Especially because people at work actually recognized it as Ralphie! 

"No! No! I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!"

On my right hand I painted the word "FRAGILE" (it must be Italian!) and a few Christmas ornaments. 

Here's the right hand topcoated. Polishes used in this manicure: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Petal Pusher and Wet n Wild Black Creme. I also used Essie All In One Basecoat and Seche Vite topcoat. 

Join us for more fun Christmas themed manicures! It's the 12 Days of Christmas Manis. Let me know if you would like your blog linked as well. And this is a low pressure challenge. Do as much or as little as you'd like, and if you have to take a break for a few days, no worries. Have fun with it!

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

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

Dilay - http://vanillanailart.blogspot.com/

Jamie - http://www.nailsadored.com

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

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

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/

Snowflakes

I am starting a new nail art challenge today with a few of my polish buddies. Feel free to join us if you would like! The thought of creating 24 different xmas manis on top of everything else I am trying to get done this holiday season was a bit too daunting, so we are doing the 12 Days of Christmas Manis! And I may not do them in order or even get them done in 12 days, but that is totally allowed with this challenge. :-)

I do not use stamps a lot, because I really enjoy doing freehand art. But this is on my right hand (meaning I did it with my non-dominant left hand) so I thought it might be prettier to use stamps. 

This is a combination of two different in expensive polishes, and it kind of reminds me of OPI's Swimsuit... Nailed It! This combo has large and small blue glitter, which is really fun. :)

I started by stamping with a light blue polish. This is a snowflake image from the Bundle Monster BM14 plate. I tried to place it in different spots on each nail. 

Next I used a silver polish with the same stamp. Finally I topped it with white snowflakes. I went through a LOT of Q-Tips with this mani, LOL. 

Here are the two polishes I used for the base color: Love and Beauty Blue Glitter and Sinful Colors Ciao Bella. I really like the combination of these two polishes!

I topped the blue glittery base with snowflakes stamped using OPI No Room For The Blues, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri White Out, and a tiny silver polish from Bon Bons. 

Here are the different themes we will be trying during the 12 Days of Christmas Manis! Check out the other awesome nail bloggers who are joining in the fun:

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

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

Jamie - http://www.nailsadored.com

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

If you want to join in this challenge, please link your manicure in the comments and I will add your blog to the list of participating bloggers! Merry Christmas!

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.

Jacob Black

I am definitely Team Jacob. He's hotter, he's not dead, he is not as controlling as Edward (even though he still is a bit), and he is way better for Bella than freaky obsessive Edward. Ok, now that I have alienated half of you... ha ha! Anywho, here is the Jacob Black mani on my other hand to complete the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 manicure.

Ok, so he looks a little.... puffy. It was really hard to do this nail art. I was using my non-dominant hand to paint it. So considering that, I will give myself some slack for painting Jacob as if he needed to hit the gym after a few too many Twinkies. 

I really like the base for these nails! I started with a golden shimmery polish, then sponged on a deep red polish and a shimmery brown polish around the edges to get this grungy look. I think it is really beautiful!

Yeah, his face started out too round and didn't get better from there. Oh well. I used acrylic paints to make the Jacob portrait. Sadly, my nails are not long enough to fit his abs in the painting. 

Here is Jake before top coat. I was concentrating so hard on painting this that I totally missed everything my husband said to me last night. I hope it wasn't anything important. 

Here is a side shot of the finished Jacob. I was hoping it would hide his chubbiness. I blame his extra weight on the curvature of my nail. It's like the Doppler Effect!

Polished used in this manicure: Wet n Wild un-labled mini polish (I think it is The Gold and The Beautiful), Revlon Bewitching Bordeaux, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Coco a-go-go. Also Essie All In One Basecoat and Seche Vite topcoat.

My hubby bought tickets for me and my step daughter to go see Breaking Dawn tonight. Should be a squealing good time! LOL

Unicorn Puke

Bwahahaha! I crack myself up. I wanted to do this manicure as soon as I got my hot little hands on Cult Nails limited edition nail polish called Unicorn Puke. Maria, the owner of Cult Nails, released a small amount of this flakie multi-hued polish in October. I was able to get two bottles. It will be released this weekend as Clairvoyant. Same exact polish, just under a different name. Click here if you want to get the Cult Nails set of four gorgeous shades, which Maria is calling the Super Powers Collection. The presale is this weekend only.

I modeled the unicorn after a drawing I found online made by Jennifer Wood. Click here to see her silly unicorn drawings. I wanted the unicorn to look really ridiculously over the top. Mission accomplished! It looks so much funnier next to that blob of sparkly vomit. 

I started with this base of blue polish. I would have used another Cult Nails polish as a base, but I only have Unicorn Puke, Hypnotize Me (a sparkle topcoat), and Awakening (a dark blue-green). I needed this to look really cartoony. 

I started the design with black acrylic paint. Yeah, it looks like a bunch of nothing right now. When I paint, I try to really pay attention to form and shape. My dad could look at any cartoon character and recreate it without tracing it. I think he used the same technique. What is the shape of the different parts, and where do those parts exist in relation to each other? It helps so much to think of an image in this way instead of thinking "What does a unicorn look like?" That kind of thinking will just will run me right off the tracks.

Next I filled in the white areas.

I got too into working on the unicorn, and this was the next photo I took. As you can see I have filled in almost all of the details of the unicorn. There is also a bit of shading with grey acrylic paint. I changed things a bit before topcoating, but this is pretty close to being done. 

Here I added the "puke" on the black areas, the gold acrylic paint on the horn, and fixed the forelock and the eyes a bit. 

Topcoated! Here is a side view so you can see the Unicorn Puke actually coming out of the mouth. Ewwwww! I got puke on my fingers!!! LOL

On my right hand I painted the letters "P U K E" in an Olde English style, to make it kind of fairy tale-ish. I think this turned out pretty well for my non-dominant hand! 

Polishes used in this manicure: Cult Nails Get It On basecoat, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue (I used ONE COAT for this mani!!), Cult Nails Unicorn Puke, and Seche Vite topcoat.

Now Unicorn Puke is such an amazing polish, that I really had to do a video to show off its amazing sparkle. I give you: "Unicorn Puke: The Movie!"

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! Click here and scroll to the bottom of the post to enter to win some pretty polishes in honor of 100 followers of Sonoma Nail Art!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Happy Halloween!

I made it! Besides being a little late with the last few posts, I did a different nail design for 31 days. This was really fun. If other nail artists are thinking about doing a challenge, I say go for it! 31 days is a long time, but you will really improve at nail art with all of the practice! And after doing this challenge I have SO much more respect for Melissa of The Daily Nail who did an entire YEAR of nail art. Melissa rules!!

My final manicure for this challenge is zombie nails! I think this is actually my third set of zombie nails for this challenge. Zombies RULE!

Oookie! I have a bunch more ideas for Halloween nails, so I guess I will just save them for next year. These matched the costume I am wearing today. 

I started with a lovely pink shade, though it looks more orange in this shot. 

I added red polish in random patches to the tips of each nail. 

Then I used a dark brown acrylic paint to make jagged cracks, and then highlighted the bottoms of each crack with black acrylic paint. 

I did both hands! Hello right hand, long time no see!

So my costume is Miss Zombie Sonoma County! I had fun putting this together. As soon as I had the make up on, the character just came together. So funny!

Grrrr! Arg! Brains! (I photoshopped my eyes in this pic. No money for cool contacts.) Polished used in this manicure: Sally Hansen First Kiss, Revlon Raven Red, Cult Nails Get It On basecoat, and Seche Vite topcoat. 

And I was even inspired enough to make a short video. Meet Miss Zombie Sonoma County!

Hahahahaha! Happy Halloween!