26 GNAI: Blue Floral ft. Bundle Monster Blogger Collab

Hello Readers!


Today marks another week of the bi-weekly challenge at Crumpet's Nail Tarts, and this week's prompt is "blue floral". For some reason, I thought I was doing this prompt a couple of weeks ago so I created a different blue floral mani at that time, and here I am doing another one. The fun thing to me about nail art- any kind of art, for that matter- is the world of possibilities and different looks you can get using even the same colors, the same themes- and the same stamps!

I had done a wood grain in the previously mentioned mani, and I was inspired by a different sort of wood grain I saw in a mani at Polish Those Nails. She has a lighter sort of wood grain going on in that mani, and I thought it would be really fun to do.

So I started off with a white base and stamped the woodgrain pattern over it in a Taupe color.

I used the exact same wood grain as last time, because I like it and I also thought it would be fun to create a totally different look with the same stamp. This plate is by Bundle Monster, from the CYO 2014 collection.

The flower images come from this Bundle Monster Blogger Collab plate, from the newest collection released last fall. I used the bluebell type image on the bottom, the second to last image. But to get it into the curvy shape, I used my Bundle Monster stamping guide:

I used the smallest "french tip" guide and placed it over the image. Originally I thought I would use the flowers as kind of a half-moon or french tip look, but I didn't really like how it was looking so I tried turning it sideways and loved it, so it stayed. 

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out some more blue floral manis in the link-up!

Challenge Your Nail Art: Morning Glories

Hello Readers!


It's finally February, so that means another round of challenges from the Challenge Your Nail Art group, where there is a set of challenges every other month. The first prompt this month is "flowers"; a classic nail art look. I decided to take this opportunity to do a look I've been wanting to try for a long time: flowers over wood grain. I've seen this done many times by many bloggers, so I'm not sure exactly where the original inspiration came from, but here is my interpretation of the theme:

I chose a Morning Glory image for my flower today, and made a bunch of decals on my nail art mat. Then I painted my nails tan, stamped a woodgrain image over them, and by that time (and also taking a break to read a chapter of Bunnicula to my son and tucking him in to bed), the decals were dry and ready to go. 

I used Sally Hansen Miracle Gel in "Tan-acious" for my tan base... and I have to say, whenever I paint my nails with this color I have to cringe a little. It does NOT work well with my skin tone, ha ha! But I figured the stamping would darken up the overall look and I'd be adding other things, so....

My Morning Glories come from this super cute Born Pretty/harunouta stamping plate. It has tiny terrariums, guys. Which I did not use on this mani. There are two sizes of Morning Glories, so I used both sizes for a little bit more variety.

The woodgrain pattern comes from this Bundle Monster plate from the CYO 2014 collection. 

For some reason I just really love the idea of putting flower images over other patterns, and woodgrain seems like such a perfect match. But I want to know what you think- what is your go-to pattern to pair with flowers, or do you prefer to put them with a solid color? Let me know in the comments!