DIY Nail Polish Jewellery

I saw nail polish jewellery on the blog of one of my favourite nail art blogger, Chalkboard Nails. When I saw it, it became suddenly so obvious - why didn't I think of this?? I did a bit of browsing, but the store she recommended on Etsy really did have the best kit for a newbie like me. For my first foray into jewellery making, I didn't want to have to figure out all the bits and pieces I needed. The kits offered at .... was a nice, easy way to get all the bits I need.

I ended up ordering the necklace set with square, circle, heart and oval pendants, and then kits for 5 pairs of square drop earrings and 5 teardrops one (my sister picked out that one). Because I wanted to be able to make sets of jewellery, I picked the silver base for all. 

There's a random selection of nail polish pieces I've done.

A Simple way to DIY and re-use pretty wrapping paper: Hand Made Cards

I have some hoarding tendencies and one thing that particularly brings it out is pretty wrapping paper! It seems like such a waste of good paper to just throw it out after unwrapping a present. So I have a neat little stack of paper, that I collect with then intention of re-using in some way. They're not usually in good enough condition to use as wrapping paper again (unless it's a really small present), but they are good for using with craft projects, including DIY cards!

Below I used:

• Some old wrapping paper
• Greeting stamps from Kikki-K
• Daiso origami pages
• Blank card

31 Day Challenge 2013 - 01 Red Nails

The first challenge on the list is red nails. Having just discovered nail art and started a collection of tools and materials, I didn't want to do plain red nails. My sister and I are both fans of textures, and I've been contemplating DIY sand polish, plus I just received my nail tapes in the post.

So I decided to use all the different textures I have and created my Red Textures mani. Starting on my thumb I have a DIY sand polish inspired by this Spektor's tutorial, but with another layer of red polish on top. The index has red velvet. Middle: red tape stripes. Ring: red microbeads (which I messed up by putting quick dry topcoat on) and the little finger glitter gloss (using the glitter from the sand look, but adding a clear coat instead).

The red polish was OPI's A Oui Bit of Red that I bought years ago, but the formula is still perfect. I hadn't pulled out for ages for heaven's knows why, because it's a gorgeous red with just a hint of shimmer (although using it as a base colour for the textures does seem kind of wasteful in hindsight).

Here's another photo I took the next morning, by a window, to try capture the colours in better lighting. I really should just set up my SLR instead of trying to use my phone. I did spend enough money on my photography equipment, after all!

Edit: A better photo taken with my SLR

Return to the blog – How to use black nail polish (splatter decal it!)

It's been so long since I've tried to blog. The JD has been a crazy time. But now I am in my last semester, doing just three electives and some volunteering work. And I've also withdrawn from all the extracurricular activities from school, haven't had any casual work since the beginning of the year and am single. So by comparison, I have plenty of free time!

It's been a traumatic road reaching here. With a broken heart, stressful semester and empty bank account, I turned to creative nails to ease my troubles. I am currently obsessed with my nails, so I think it's fitting to return from my blogging hiatus with my latest nail works - Black with splatter decals. I am not keen on the black nail polish look, emo/goth isn't really me. But it is great as a canvas for some splatter polish! There are a whole bunch of nail art bloggers with tutorials, but the one I followed was from a blog called Spektor's Nails.

Freshing stuck on (should have put the cuticle cream on first!)

Can't stop looking at it! Here it is resting on my text book.

Not only did it take a bit of preparation the night before, it was also very fiddling trying to peel off the decals without tearing them and I ended up with flakes of polish everywhere! I must remember to spread newspaper out next time!