Zebropard.

Here's a new Jungle Jan-y mani!

I got this Konad plate a while ago, but this is the first time I've used it.  It has a lot of great images, but this one is the reason I bought the plate.

For this mani, I started out with Color Club Silver Lake, a pale blue-grey.  After two coats, I took Zoya Harley (a lavender-grey) and brushed just a bit, from the cuticle toward the tip, with an almost dry brush in a random pattern.  Then I topped the color off with a coat of INM Out the Door Northern Lights quick dry top coat.

I did all of that last night, and then let the color cure over night.  I've found that stamping works better on a well-cured base.  This morning I got out my stamp, plate and Wet n' Wild Black Creme - my favorite black polish for stamping - and went to town.

After stamping and cleaning up around the edges, I topped it off with another coat of INM Out the Door Northern Lights.  I started with my right hand and didn't put enough top coat on the brush for the first few nails.  You can see below how it smudged the design, especially on the middle finger.

But using plenty of top coat on the remaining nails solved that problem.  One thing I love about the INM top coat is that even if I use so much that it pools around my cuticles, once it's dry it all settles nicely into place and doesn't look like it's pooled.  I also love that it doesn't cause shrinkage like Seche Vite, and doesn't dry out when the bottle's half gone.  And of course, the speed:  with this top coat, I can literally paint my nails and be knitting 10 minutes later! 

I didn't do a whole lot of nail stamping or nail posts last year, and I'm hoping to do more this year.  Jungle January is giving me a good start, because a lot of my favorite stamps are animal print!

Jungle January: the Mani Edition

The other night when I couldn't sleep, I was thinking about stamping my nails for Jungle January.  And then I started thinking about all the animal print stampings I've already done, so I went through my old posts and pulled some pictures.  It was fun to look at these again, so I thought I'd share them.

I've got various iterations of leopard - the real kind:

and the fantasy kind:

Same for crodile:

I've got a giraffe:

A snake:

And even some butterflies!

{If you'd like to see more nail stamping, click on "Bundle Monster" or "Konad" in the category cloud!}

Because I'm a dork.

Tonight we're having dinner with some friends, and I'm planning on wearing my newest Hazel, along with some leopard print sandals.  And because I'm a dork, I did my nails to match:

The base color is China Glaze Kalahari Kiss from last year's On Safari collection.  I stamped the leopard print image from Konad plate m57 using Wet & Wild Black Creme, then filled in some of the dots with China Glaze Desert Sun, also from the On Safari collection. 

I topped the whole thing off with a coat of INM Out the Door.  Even though I got a little bit of streaking, it's really only noticeable in these macro shots.  Out the Door is quickly becoming my go-to topcoat.  It dries as quickly as Seche Vite, but without the horrible smell or more importantly, the shrinkage.  And I'm told it doesn't get goopy and thick once the bottle's half gone.  I just bought mine the other day, so that remains to be seen!

Victory is mine!

I finally finished my taxes yesterday, so I'm giving myself a sewing day today!  Yay!

I'm starting the Victory Patterns Madeleine skirt.  I'll be doing this without the suspenders, but with the pockets.  Pockets!  Big ones!  Hurray!

I printed out my pattern on Tuesday, and this morning I trimmed all the pages while watching an old episode of Dragnet on Netflix:  it had three vintage commercials too!  Two for cigarettes (!) and one for Grape Nuts.  Yummy.  (The Grape Nuts, not the cigarettes.)

While that was going on, I washed and dried the red cotton twill I'll be using.  And now I'm putting the pages together:

I'm hoping to get my fabric cut out today, and then I'll have to go to the fabric store for a zipper.  I'm very excited.  I've been wanting a red full skirt for quite some time.  I think this one will have just the right amount of fullness for me - I find circle skirts make me look poufy in my tummy.  Because I am!

And I did stamp my nails yesterday.  They didn't look as great as they did in my mind:

Zoya Cassi
stamped with China Glaze Millennium
and Konad plate m66

And I got significant shrinkage because I used Seche Vite topcoat.  I've found that Zoya polishes can take a coat of Seche Vite on the second day without shrinking, but if I use it on the first day, it's just asking for trouble.

Golden Tiger

Heh.  Sounds like the name of a sushi roll.  The special kind, that has its own section on the menu and  costs twice as much as the regular kind.

But it's really my nails:

I started out with Zoya Tao, but got kind of bored with all that grey.  So I stamped on the tiger design from Konad plate m69 with China Glaze 2030.

Now I'm ready to pounce on the day.

Cicikom

Cicikom is a Turkish brand of pajamas.  My mother-in-law knows how much I love them, so she sent me these via my sister-in-law:

Aren't they the cutest?  So soft too!

Last night I put Zoya  Jaime on my nails - a soft, semi-sheer lavender pink.  I'd been wearing so many dark colors lately, I just wanted something lighter.  But after I put on my pajamas, I couldn't stop thinking about stamping them, so this afternoon I did this:

Not actually my best stamping job, but since I'm STILL doing laundry, it'll do!

I stamped with China Glaze Concrete Catwalk, which ended up being less opaque than I'd expected.  I used the Konad plate m57, although Bundle Monster set 2 has a similar plate.  I filled in some of the leopard spots with China Glaze Millennium.

Fun times!

Long time, no post

I've been super busy all week preparing for the two sets of in-laws that will be visiting us starting this afternoon - Hubby's sister and her husband are coming from Turkey, and his brother, his wife and baby  are coming from New York.  It's going to be a family-filled week!

I spent Monday through Wednesday cleaning and grocery shopping (much of Monday was spent getting my sewing stuff out of the guest room and reorganizing), and yesterday I went out to one of the west suburbs to see my aunt and uncle and one of my cousins.  They were in town doing a craft show there; they make and sell Cherry Pit Pacs - an indispensable item in our household!  And today, before heading up to the airport this afternoon, I'll be doing a bunch of cooking and laundry - whew!

But in between all the housework, I did manage to finish the front of the Wavy Line Sweater.  I'm still in love with this knit - it is so much fun to do!  Here's how the unblocked front looks next to the blocked back:

Yes, that's a ray of sunshine in the upper left corner!  Hurray!

I also did a quick stamping on my nails this morning, with the hope it will help my mani last through all my cooking today:

The base color was China Glaze Concrete Catwalk from the fall Metro collection - a deep, blue-toned grey.  I stamped it with the argyle image from Konad plate m60 using China Glaze Admire from the Romantique collection.  I'm kind of wishing I hadn't though - this is one instance where the photo looks better than real life!  Oh well, maybe I'll have time to do something new tomorrow!

And look how long my nails are getting, thanks to the Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator basecoat!  I really do feel it has helped my nails become a lot stronger.  I've been using it about 90% of the time for the last two months.  My nails are actually too long for my liking now - it's very hard for me to type quickly because they're getting in the way!  I'll be cutting them down soon, but I just had to say how impressed I am with this product!

NOTDx2

Last night I put on Bangle Jangle from the Essie Cocktail Bling winter collection:

It's a really lovely color, similar to Zoya Caitlin, but somewhat lighter.  I did have a little trouble with application; my brush was wonky and it applied like a pastel.  Still, I managed it in two coats.

This morning I decided to do a little stamping on top of it.  We're going to a concert again tonight, and I'm planning on wearing my blue and white Sencha, so I added white mesh topped with blue flowers:

Both these images are from Konad plate m57.  I did the white mesh with Konad Special White and the blue flowers with CND Midnight Sapphire.  The CND polish is great for stamping because it's so deeply pigmented.

I'm really happy with how this one turned out - it actually looks so much better in real life!

Everything, all at once.

Whew!  Yesterday was a full day!

First thing in the morning, I stamped on top of Power Clutch.  I had it in my mind that I wanted to use a feather design in gold, so I got out my Konad plate m77 and China Glaze Passion:

Here's the picture I took in the morning, with
well-conditioned cuticles . . .

And here's one I took in the car in the early
evening after sitting in the sun all afternoon.
You can see the design better, but my cuticles are all
dried out, gah!

After that, Hubby and I got in the car and drove WAY out in the country to go to our first ever polo match!  We have a friend who plays and he invited us to come watch. It had been raining in the morning, but we got lucky and had a warm, sunny afternoon:

And I wore my new silk Sencha, which I finished on Thursday:

Here's the picture Hubby took.

And here's one my friend took.  She thought I should
have a picture with the horses in the background.

I am so in love with this top!  It is pretty and silky and comfy. AND it stayed pretty fresh all day long.  My cotton one wrinkled terribly, especially under the arms, but this one only got a few wrinkles on the back, due to sitting in the car for so long. There may be another one in my future, if I can find another print at Vogue that I like.

I originally thought that I wouldn't like this version as much as the first version I made - this one does not have tucks at the neck.  But I do like it, and having four fewer tucks to do made sewing it a little easier.  But boy, that silk was slippery!  I went really slowly, and did all the finishing by hand like I did on my first one.

When I got to the point of sewing the snaps on the back, I felt like it was a little plain, so I sewed the outer snaps all the way through the fabric to give it a little decoration:

I like how it looks, and it made the snaps more stable as well.  So, Sencha win!

After the polo, we drove back to the city to go to one of the concerts of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, held on the beautiful University of Chicago campus.  Our friends drove down too and met us there, and afterwards, we all went to Medici for dinner. This is a recent find for us, and I'm happy to have found it.  This place has some of the best pizza I've found in Chicago.  In a city known for its pizza, I've had a hard time finding pies I like.  But then, I'm a pizza snob.

Whew!  Like I said, a full day!  We're thinking of maybe heading back to the Jazz Fest today . . .

Later the same day . . .

Bundle Monster plate BM209
Konad Special White

Chinoiserie

The other night I put on Zoya Shay, and last night, inspired by a little jaunt in Chinatown, I added some Konad:

left hand

right hand

base:  Zoya Shay
bamboo:  Konad plate m66
with Sinful Black on Black
circular design:  Bundle Monster plate BM208
with Zoya Sooki

I love the look of stamping on "mannequin hands" colors.  Sooki turned out to be a very good color for stamping too - it's very opaque.

Girl

I changed my mind about the white shatter.  I decided I'd like to do some really feminine stamping in white on this dusty mauve.  It doesn't get much more feminine than this:

SpaRitual Native Rock
Konad Special Polish in White
Konad plate m71

I'm not usually great at aligning patterns that need to be straight, but I've been practicing.  I'm pretty happy with this one, it's the best I've done so far:

This lace with floral tip is on all fingers except the right thumb.  So pretty!  I can't stop looking at it!  There are a few places where the mesh design didn't transfer completely because I was too lazy to clean off the plate after each stamping.  But overall I'm really happy with it!

Bandanna

Here's what I did last night:

Essie Sweet Talker
China Glaze Hey Sailor
Konad plate m60

Nails n' stuff

I haven't been changing my polish much lately, mostly because I've been doing a lot of cleaning up around here, taking lots of things to Goodwill and the recycling center.  Also because I've become kind of absorbed in my library book!  But here's the color I put on two nights ago:

Zoya Avril

I love this color - for me it is the perfect browned pink.  But application was kind of tricky.  It was very thin, so I had a hard time controlling it.

Then last night, I added some Konad:

Zoya Avril
China Glaze Millennium
Konad plate m79

I love this!  I'm definitely going to do this again.  I will say though, it looked a lot better last night.  I've already been doing a lot of work with my hands today!  No matter, I'll be taking it all off later, because my Zoya Touch collection is due to arrive today!

I just got done making the first batch of thyme lemonade of the summer - yay!! Can't wait til it's cool!  And now, I have some weeding to do in the garden :-)

Leopard? Lichen? Camouflage?

I'm not really sure.  It looked a lot better in my head.

American Apparel California Trooper
Zoya Shawn
China Glaze 2030
Konad plate m57

I'm holding onto a new ball of Calmer - getting ready to start Maris!

Fancy Shoe Friday. On Saturday.

I was so excited about all the sewing stuff, I already got sidetracked!  So I'm doing my Fancy Shoe Knitting today:

Fancy Shoe Knitting

I'm working on finishing up Mandarine.  I've completed all five pieces of the body, and am at the point of doing the (separate) collars.  I've got about half the first collar done, so I may be able to finish this weekend, if I can keep from getting further distracted!  I'll need some buttons though, which probably requires another trip to the fabric store.  Uh-oh!

J. Crew Penelope Mary Janes

I'm wearing my "PMJs," as they are known among a certain sector of Gleeks.  These babies have only ever been worn for FSK.  That's right - I have never worn them out in the wide world.  I love them though.  I bought them when they were in the store, years ago, but I believe they have become quite the sought-after item now.  Here's another peek:

PMJs

I actually sort of wish I had bought the blue/red combo - one of the reasons I've never worn these is that I have a hard time figuring out what to pair them with.

OK, now I'm just teasing you.

And here are some nail pix.  I put on Zoya Heather last night:

A really lovely color.  Zoya lists this as a 3 on their opacity scale of 1 to 5, but I'd call it a 4 myself.  I was expecting it to be sheerer.  This is only two coats.  It was a little tricky to apply, but evened itself out with the second coat.

Today I added some Konad:

I'm dubbing this "Fredericks of Hollywood."

This is Konad plates m57 (fishnet) and m71 (wallpaper).  I'd seen a few other bloggers do this look, and I liked it and wanted to try it.  It's one of the reasons I bought the m71 plate, although it has lots of great designs I see myself using.  I stamped with Sinful Black on Black, and boy, was clean-up a hassle.  I still haven't gotten off all the residue around my cuticles, and I killed one of my brushes trying to get it off.

I'm sure you've figured out by now that the shoes and nails are all a ploy to distract readers from the lack of tangible knitting content  . . .

Silky

Finally, here are some pictures of Jewel!  Also, the second polish I've tried from Essie's Braziliant collection!  Woo hoo!!

First up, the sweater.  I took about 20 pictures of this, but it seems that I pretty much stink at modeling - I never know where to look or how to smile!  These, sadly, are the best of the lot:

Jewel, by Kim Hargreaves

shoulder detail visible

back

As you can see, the fit is spot on.  This yarn is so silky against the skin.  I just love it.  I made the extra small size because this yarn is known to stretch (irredeemably) after wearing.  Right now it's just a smidge tighter than I'd like.

And look at the pretty buttons I got last week at the fabric store:

And look at my nails!  This is Absolutely Shore, from the Braziliant collection, stamped with China Glaze Sci-Fi and Konad plate m77.  And here it is before stamping:

Essie Absolutely Shore

Very, very pale green.  It's not as different from the Nubar Baby Sprout as I was hoping it would be.  I'll have to do a comparison one of these days.

And now Jewel and I are off to run errands!