Gelac Manicure and Messed-up Cuticles

Party weekend was fun, but on Monday I woke up with a stomach virus.  Meh.  Later in the week, I pretty much shredded my cuticles baling cardboard at work (working at a home improvement store can be hell on your nails!).  So I decided to go a Gelac manicure so that I could keep my cuticles away from acetone for awhile, giving them time to heal.

This color is called Constellation, and that is a very apt name.  It is black with multi-sized holographic glitter in it.  It looks just like space.

These are the other two Gelac colors that I debated on before choosing Constellation.  The one on the left is Blue Suede and the one on the right is Millionaire.

I have to open tomorrow, which means I have to get up at 4am, so I am off to bed now!

xoxo, Natalie

Family Party Weekend!

Four of my nephews were born in June, and Father's Day is in June, so it's a busy party month for my family!  This year we're combining all the boy's birthdays into one big party, which is happening today.  Then tomorrow we're celebrating Father's Day at my dad and stepmom's house.  And I have naked nails!  I waited too long to re-do my gels, and they started peeling off.  I am just not in the mood to re-do them right now.  At least my toenails are painted.

I've also been too lazy to sew or knit anything lately.  So, here's a manicure that I did about a month ago.  I got the idea for the kitties from Trincess at Emerald Sparkled.  She does some awesome manicures!  Hers is one of the first nail blogs that I found.  I didn't have the patience to do a kitty on every finger, so I improvised a bit.  And yes, the picture quality is horrible.  Sorry!

xoxo, Natalie

New Ring and Lost Package

I got a pretty new ring from AN Original Jewelry a couple of days ago.  I love it!  The price was very reasonable for a handcrafted sterling silver ring.  And she even included a treat!

It was yummy!

So, I placed an order from Man Glaze a couple of weeks ago.  Their name is gross, but I've read good things about their polishes.  I ordered a black polish with holographic glitter, and a grey polish with holographic glitter (yep, I'm a sucker for the holo glitter!).

The good news is they shipped my order very quickly.  The bad news is my package made its way to the Chicago post office and then disappeared off the face of the earth!  I contacted the postal service, and they said they would research it, but of course I haven't heard anything from them since.  I guess tomorrow I will contact Man Glaze to see if they can do anything.  I hate to make it their problem, because they sent the package in good faith and the stupid post office lost it, but since they probably spend a lot of money shipping things maybe they will have better luck getting results.  Maybe they insured it or something.  Le sigh.

First post!

Hi, everyone (or, um, no one)!  I created this blog to encourage myself to do more with my Etsy shop.  I make hand-knitted hats (most are donated to St. Jude Children's Hospital, but I do sell some to make money for yarn for donated hats), and hand-sewn children's clothes (so far, for friend's kids and nieces/nephews, but I would like to begin selling the clothes I make).  I make jewelry occasionally, too, but I don't know that I will be selling any of it.  Never say never, though!

I also enjoy doing nails, and have been visiting lots of nail blogs on a regular basis.  Most of them only allow fellow bloggers to comment, so that is a secondary reason I have started this blog.

Visit the My Handiwork page to see examples of, well, my handiwork.  I have a crappy camera and no light box, so the pictures aren't great.  I do plan to build a light box and upgrade to a better camera, though.

Just for fun, here is a picture of the first nail art that I did, a few months ago.  I think it was pretty good for a first try!

xoxo, Natalie