Haul + Helmer help

Hi ladies I am almost done with verifying  the entries for my giveaway I am very excited to announce a winner but that will have to wait for tomorrow. Today I wanted to show you my recent haul. The month is now over and Ive been trying to buy less polishes a month. I had asked what is a decent amount of polishes a month and Rebecca from Rebecca likes nails shared with me what she's been aiming for which is buying less polishes that there is days in the month. So I decided to give that a try and I failed miserably my total came to 68!! I'm ashamed I have absolutely no will power I blame Zoya because of their BOGO sale and Sally's  for their buy 2 get 1 free.

I got all the following polishes this past week and a half. Ive been doing alot of buying for swaps for 2 lovely ladies in Europe so in the middle of all the buying I couldn't come home without something for me. So here are some of the polishes from Sally's sale so every 3rd polish was free.

China Glaze Re-fresh mint

China glaze Four leaf clover

China Glaze Shocking pink

China Glaze Sexy in the city

China Glaze Electric Pineapple

China Glaze Senorita Bonita

China Glaze Papaya Punch

Orly Cotton Candy

Orly Va Va Voom

Essie Smooth Saling (Walgreens)

Walgreens was also having great sales on Sinful Colors 50% OFF and so was Sally Hansen's Xtreme wear polishes. CVS had a sale on the Insta-Dri buy one the second one is 50%OFF this is what came from theses sales.

Sinful Colors All about you

Sinful Colors UFO

Sally Hansen XW Strobe light

Sally Hansen XW Pacific blue

Sally Hansen XW Lacey Lilac

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Beige blast

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Night flight

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind white

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver sweep

These's next polishes I got today with my hubby in a mall in Salem NH. Its sometime nice to go to further away malls because they always have the exclusive stuff so take a look at what I found!

OPI Silver Shatter

OPI Mermaid Tears

OPI Pirates of the Caribbean mini set

Lush Lemony Flutter Cuticle butter

Icing Blackout (finally)

Icing duabilityMagnetic attraction/

 Force of Love (looks like Deborah Lippmann Across the universe dupe)

Claire's Flackie set

Claire's Secret Garden

Claire's Bright skies

Claire's Nail bling (multi colored gems/leopard print)

Bundle Monster Plates (got in the mail Monday)

 

So I failed horribly! But its a new month so Im really gonna try to keep its under 31 due to my massive hauling again I have run out of space for my polishes they no longer fit on my book shelf. So I will be making a trip to Ikea to get a helmer. Who has a Helmer for their polishes? How many polishes usually fit in a Helmer? I have 450+ could I fit all of them in one Helmer? How many polishes do you ladies have? 

designer(s) of the week

mary jane dodd

i noticed that we had only 2 so far for the month - and the fabulous contributions to the flickr group demanded more than one!

staci smith of stacilouise originals!

'she wore scarlet begonias' (tucked into her curls)

 ~the grateful dead

staci has an etsy shop for both finished work and components

and a website...

izzy winterhart of under a copper sky!

'have you ever seen the rain?'

~ creedence clearwater revival

you can see more of her work in her etsy shop...

and you will find this necklace listed there...

these ladies put a good deal of time and thought into their pieces... we are so grateful to have had such original and interpretive work submitted this month... being inspired by song, rather than an image left it wide open to see what you were feeling... 

thank you all so much!

At Chiller Theatre

I was doing research on the Chiller Theatre convention (being held this weekend) and I came across Mikey Hersh, who agreed to contribute some pictures and info.  Chiller Theatre was a tv program which featured classic horror movies.  The Chiller Theatre convention features celebrity guests and dealers mostly of the horror genre.
Mikey went to his first Chiller Theatre Expo in September of 2008.  An appearance by Ace Frehley was too hard to resist.  In Mikey's words:

I usually don't pay for autographs and photos unless it'ssomebody who truly has made an impact on me. Since I had already met PaulStanley, Peter Criss, and Gene Simmons, how could I pass up the chance to meet"Space Ace" Ace Frehley? I asked if I could just get a photo withhim, but his representative told me that the price for an autograph and a photoare separate. I figured I'd just pay for the autograph, and my brother wouldsnap the photo of me shaking Ace's hand. What do you know? Ace poses next to meand tells my brother to take the picture. If it were Gene Simmons, I highlydoubt this would have happened. We talked a little about his new album and howdisgusted I was with Tommy Thayer wearing his costume in the new line-up ofKiss. Even though Ace wasn't the biggest name at the show, it seemed like hehad the most people there to see him.

To get the rest of Mikey's stories and pictures of Chiller, you can check out his 2008 Chiller report and his 2009 Chiller report.  Both are filled with great stuff about his time at the Chiller Theatre Expo.  Also on Mikey's site MisenPOPic are a lot of :brushes with greatness" celebrity photos, and a bunch of interesting music lists and movie lists.

I really appreciate Mikey sharing his experience here.  I am sure we will have more from Mikey in the future.  In the meantime, check out his site!

Mikey Hersh and Ace Frehley in Parsippany, NJ-September 2008.

HELLO KITTY NAILS

Meow! This is my version of hello kitty nails.


On these nails I embedded lace for my very first time! Yep that is real lace on the ring fingers. I also used gold and silver confetti from youngnails.com On the pinky I used a #3 golden halo sparkles from sparklesnailproducts.com




These are natural nails with gel polish. I marbled different colors together. Gel polish lasts for 2 weeks or longer with no chipping!

Doing a full coverage nail is the new trend. I faded 2 glitters from artglitter.com. A chunky silver called biker babes and another glitter called pewter.

Another full coverage set of nails. The big glitters at the tip are #69 Dark Nite from sparklesnailproducts.com


Dragonflies with 3d flowers on the ring fingers.


This is 2 glitters I mixed together from sparklesnailproducts.com #123 Desire and #125 passion.



I did these nails to look like butterfly wings.

J-Lay & Dan Lu Thrasher's Subhumans Video

Enjoy 15-minutes of Thrasher's SUBHUMANS video
with the Toy Machine team:

Loading the player ...

Queen Sharmell and King Booker

Booker T. Huffman first gained fame tag-teaming with his brother Lane (aka Stevie Ray).  Eventually they went from the Ebony Experience to Harlem Heat and attained real stardom.  Booker T has held 35 major titles in WCW, WWE and TNA.
Things were not always great for Booker.  In his younger days, he spent time in prison for robbing a fast food restaurant.  When he was released, wrestling became his passion and profession.
Sharmell won the 1991 Miss Black America title.  A few years later she joined WCW as Paisley, a member of the Nitro Girls.  This is where she met Booker, whom she later married.
I met Booker and Sharmell at the TNA Bound for Glory event in 2008.  I love the picture below.  It wasn't a rare shot.  These two were smiling the whole afternoon.  They seemed like they were having a ball there.  The whole event was a lot of fun, thanks to the spirit of the wrestlers like Booker and Sharmell.

Booker T and Sharmell in Chicago, IL-October 2008.

Patina Adventures!

by Kelli Pope

I just LOVE a good adventure; spontaneous trips with no particular destination,
hiking with the dogs (ANYTHING with the dogs really!), attempting a new jewelry technique, forging ahead into making ceramic beads............. etc. But as I'm sure we ALL know, not EVERY adventure is smooth sailing. Luckily most of mine are, and I'm delighted every step of the way. My patina adventure, however, has been a bit of a rocky road.

Some of my very favorite components come from "MissFickleMedia", Shannon LeVart. Her pieces are grungy, rustic, earthy and ancient looking. Just my style!! I had purchased 2 patina solutions online last year, but they didn't come with instructions, and I honestly just didn't have time to do the research and mess with them. Then Shannon started selling her patinas AND a tutorial with all her patina knowledge, in her Etsy shop! WOW!!! I was THRILLED. I purchased my favorite colors right away, along with her wonderful tutorial. Then........ they sat a mocked me for months while I worked and worked to make jewelry. I just didn't have the time to play with those lovely patinas that sat and taunted me from the top shelf.

FINALLY, last week I made enough copper components that I could afford to start the patina adventure...... correction.....STEVE could start the patina adventure FOR me!! :) (he's so wonderful!) The 2 I had purchased online were "traditional" patinas, which don't need to be heated. That seemed the easiest route to start. We tried out those 2 and Shannon's verdigris (my favorite!) These were the results this morning, after overnight developing.........................

.........sigh....... not quite what I'd hoped for. They were very spotty. The far left is supposed to be brown. The center is Shannon's verdigris, which did very well, and the right is supposed to be dark red. ... .........sigh......... Per some very helpful hints from a dear, dear, wonderfully helpful friend today, I asked Steve to don a mask, sand them down, and try again.

They're actually still a little damp here......... still developing as I type. The left seems to want to be more of a muddy yellow than brown, while the right which is supposed to be red, is starting to get reddish brown. Again, the center verdigris is coming along nicely. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to pull out the best ones, and get them sealed and lacquered.


So, what lesson have I learned thus far? 1)Trust the expert. I highly recommend Shannon's patinas. If she started out experimenting, which I'm sure she did, I'm more than happy to let her experience and expertise guide me. (Her tutorial is a must, if you're new at this!!) Don't want to take the patina adventure? Her components are beautiful, and you don't have to experiment. 2) Patinas take time, and I need more patience.... :) What jewelry adventures do you have to share?

J-Lay & Dan Lu on Thrasher's Subhumans

Check out Daniel Lutheran, JOhnny Layton and the whole
Toy Machine team on Thrasher's SUBHUMANS tour HERE.

My Outfit!

Good Morning!


I apologize for not posting yesterday... things were hectic!


It's been so hot and humid here, it's insane! So, this is a day outfit I wore yesterday... flowy dress is the only way to go!

I'm wearing:


Dress - Urban Outfitters
Shoes - Zara
Purse - Gucci
Necklace - South Moon Under
Bracelets - Tiffany and market in Thailand
Nail polish - Hands: Sally Hansen Insta-Polish in Jade and Feet: Forever21 Gold


What do you think? What have you been wearing in this heat?


Have a nice weekend!

KIU,

Twentysomething

Brock Sampson Process!

Hey everybody! Wanted to post up a bit of process for the Brock Sampson piece I just posted up yesterday. Hope it helps!

Gorilla Artfare book now on Sale!

Hey everybody! If you don't already know, I'm a part of a group of artists on the blog Gorilla Artfare! A good chunk of my favorite artists working today are a part of it as well as many friends :)! I'm really pumped to have been a part of it and I'm hoping everybody goes and checks it out!

Support the Gorillas - Purchase a copy here!

Oldie

A character paint from way back.

Mr Fox

My dear friend Mary sent me a little stuffed fox. This is my painted interpretation with a little hand written note attached to the page. So sweet, I love it.
This is the journal I am re-creating over old pages. I like how some of the old text and drawings show through.

Va Va Voom!

I have failed! Ive been on a no buy for about 2 weels but I couldn't anymore and one reason why was because of ORLY Summer 2011 Collection: Pinup at Sally's which is still having there buy 2 get 1 free deal. So I just couldn't help myself and I can't  just get one when there's a sale! I also had my co-workers Pro card so I got it for even cheaper! The beauty that called out to me was Orly Va Va Voom its a pretty pink neon creme. It applied perfect in 2 coats but dried semi matte the finish kinda looked like Orly Plastix collection. I added a top coat to get that glossy finish, sorry for the messy clean up it was an early morning out the door mani.

I love this color but yet is there any pink I don't like lol...

Reminder my giveaway end today  I am already half way through verifying all the entries for my Giveaway that will officially end today at Midnight EST time. This was my first giveaway to celebrate reaching 50 followers and on the last day of this giveaway I already have 408 followers. I am in complete shock on how many people entered. I have many more giveaways to come they wont be as big but I will not disappoint! Good luck ladies I will post the winner in Sunday!