Halloween!! (Part 1)

   There's still about a week to go and I've already started my Halloween designs... I've decided to do two this year instead of just one. Last year I didn't really know what to choose, so I did a hodge podge of just about everything. Just because I can, I'll show you guys a picture of it! Hooray for nails!

  If I ever redid them, I'd change the background colors. Too much orange. Besides, when do you ever see a completely orange sky? For the time though, they were pretty good! Not that I think they're awful now or anything. I still like them a lot! Isn't that cat just so adorably scruffy?! I might have told you this before, but.... I love cats! I just can't help myself. And it's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but my left thumb was a witch's profile. I was inspired by this pin for Her Witchy-ness. I was inspired by lots of pins, actually. You can probably find most of them in the same board as the witch nails.

   Anyways, on to this year's first Halloween design! You've probably seen them before; I posted a set of fakes like them last week or the week before. I really really liked them (I bet you can guess why in a minute), so I knew I had to paint them on my nails this year!

   And yes, two pictures are a little unnecessary, but I just really liked the lighting and whatnot in the second. And it's more in focus. (The photographer side of me is coming out.) But the other one has my thumb in it so it has to be included you know...
   As you've probably guessed, I like them so much because they're cats! ...And the sponged fog looks cool too. I like this version so much better than my first attempt on the fake nails a few weeks ago. I definitely knew more of what I was doing this time around!
   I only used three colors for this design - white, grey, and black. I painted my nails with a white base coat, then with a makeup sponge I sponged on varying amounts of grey, black, and sometimes white until I got a fog pattern that I liked. Then with a striper I painted on the webs. (I tried to make them a lot thinner and neater than the first time, but my thumb was the only one that really turned out great.) Then I painted on the cat (I used a mix of a dotter and a smaller brush), using the striper again for the tail and eyes. After that I painted on a regular top coat and then a matte one.
   If you like, you can find the fakes for sale here in my Etsy store!

   That's about it for now... Halloween owls for next week!
   Have a great week/weekend guys!

Dots and Feathers

  I don't really have a lot to show you guys today. I've got two designs, but they're both pretty simple. For the most part, anyway. I've actually had two designs on my fingers since I showed you all my leaf design, but they both were a little goofy looking. They didn't turn out at all like I wanted, and they were just slapped on so my nails weren't bare.
   For the last half of this week I've had a simple dot design on my nails. I like it for the most part, but it really only did like it was supposed to on one finger. I'm never good at purposefully random designs. Mine are either a mess or laid out and precise. I just can't do things like randomized dots. At least it doesn't seem like I can to me. Maybe that's just me being really picky again, who knows! Anyways, here's the design and you can judge for yourself.

   I've come to like it more each time I see it. It's a nice and easy (and quick!) manicure.

   I had a friend request some feather nails after she had seen them in one of my facebook albums.

    I hadn't made feather nails of any sort since I first tried them out a little over a year ago. I had been putting off posting them in my Etsy store because I was so apprehensive about it. When I did them on my own nails, I had to do touch ups every few days because a corner of the feather would try to peel off. They lasted a really long time (around two weeks or so), but I wasn't sure how customers would like having to put some clear polish on corners every now and then.

    And now that I've made some on fake nails, I'm even more worried! Apparently feathers don't like curved surfaces at all. My nails are fairly flat, but my fake nails are not. At all. It was such a chore getting those feathers to stick!
  I think over all they turned out pretty well. Feathers are just so cool on nails! I just really hope they last for her.


   That's about all of my updates for now! I'm off to do another quickie design on my fingers to last me until Monday or so when I put on my first Halloween design! I'm still undecided on whether or not I want to do owls or the cat first....

   Have a wonderful weekend!!

Christmas Listings!

   I've been making a ton if new nail sets for my Etsy store! And I've already sold some! I've had 14 sales since I opened my shop a little over a year ago, but each new sale is just as exciting as the first! Or nearly so, anyway. I guess nothing beats the excitement of your first sale!
   I have mainly been focusing on Christmas nails since I'm a little late for the Halloween rush. ...But I couldn't resist painting two Fall/Halloween sets. They called to me and practically begged to be made! They might've bullied me a little...
  

   I hadn't planned on making this set at all. The others were pretty much all planned. And had been for a while. And been put off. And avoided. And put off again... These were very last minute and inspired by some ribbon my mom bought on a whim. I like the ribbon better, but the nails turned out fine! You can find these here in my store.

   This set is one of my favorites. I'm not convinced that the webs are right, but the cat and the fog (especially the fog) looked so nice I kind of over look them. For now. I did a ton of sponging for the background and it took me forever to be satisfied with the mix of greys, blacks, and whites. I'm so picky! I can't wait to do these on my own nails! My only dilemma is whether I should do these on Halloween week or the week before. I have some Halloween owls that I want to do too. You can find this set here in my store.

   This is the first of three Christmas sets I made up last week. I had done up one nail like this last Christmas in a Christmas montage of sorts. And I apparently used different thread. The thread I used for this one was such a mess! I'll definitely have to find something different if someone orders a set. You can find these here in my Etsy.

   You might have noticed that I have this problem with either loving or not loving every set I make. There usually isn't anything in between. These, I really like. A lot. I will definitely have to paint these on my own nails come winter! I saw two snowflake sets on Pinterest that I liked, but didn't really like on their own. So I combined them to make my own version! (You can see them here and here if you like.) You can find this set here in my store.

   I made these last year too. They are so cute! I love these too! (You can find a picture of my first version here if you want to see them. They don't really look any different.) Don't those penguins just look so cute all bundled up in scarves and muffs?! I'll stop now so I don't gush too much... You can find them here in my Etsy store.


And that's about it for now. I do actually have some more nails to show you guys, but I don't want to make the post too long. Besides, I haven't put my watermark and everything on there either. Because it takes so long to do that... Mostly I'm just tired and lazy!

Have a wonderful week guys! I should have more time to blog and create; at work the corporate people messed up our hours, so we had to have our hours cut a lot so I'll have a ton more free time this week and the next!

Fall Photography!!

   As I mentioned in my last post, all of that talk about fall and photography really made me want to show you guys my recent pictures! No nails in this post, sorry... Just fall photography overload! I'll try not to get too carried away...

   Sunflowers are some of my favorite flowers. When I was younger my dad used o always plant a few in his vegetable garden. I was always so fascinated by how tall they grew and how big the flower was! We haven't had any for years (they yard at our new house was a mess and need a ton of help to make it flower-ready), but we were finally able to grow one this year!

   Last month I discovered these teeny tiny webs all over our front yard. I'm sure they're there all the time, but I never noticed them until I started taking our dog on his morning walk and saw the sun shining off of the dew drops. They were so small and fascinating!

   I had never noticed that goldenrods are pretty. I'm fairly allergic to them, so I had always steered clear of them. They grow all over the hill in my backyard, so I finally decided to take a few pictures of them and see what they really look like. I payed for it the next two days, but I learned that they are much prettier than the yellow blob I used to always see them as.

   Joe Pye weeds are very photogenic in the early fall when they are just beginning to bloom and the late afternoon sun in shining on them. I had always thought them interesting, funny little flowers, but they can actually be beautiful. this is probably one of my favorite shots I've ever taken. That says a lot, because I have taken a ton of pictures!

   My mom bought some chrysanthemums last month, and she sure picked out some pretty ones! I even think the pinks are pretty, and I'm not too fond of pink. Let's just say that the late afternoon light really looks good on them too.

   I think these used to be asters when they were blooming, but I honestly don't remember. I had never really thought much about flowers and things after they were dead until I got my camera. Then I realized that they can still be at least interesting, if not sometimes still beautiful. You might still think it looks like an ugly dead thing, which is fine. I like it though!

   Let me just say that this spider has mastered camouflage. I found him yesterday morning by accident. I didn't run into his web, luckily; my dog did. I saw the spider running quickly away. Later I came back out to take some pictures of him and even though I knew exactly where he was, it took me a while to find him! Same thing this morning. I was very glad he wasn't out to get me, because I would have been dead.

   These are so pretty! They're one of those flowers that have so many tiny blooms on them that you kind of gloss over it all and think that it's a pretty flower, but not much else. At least I always did. The dew was out in full force this morning, so I was busy running around taking pictures of wet things. I decided to give these guys a chance. Dew really becomes them! They are really pretty!


   That's it for now. If you want to check out some more of my photos, you can go to my deviant art or my photography Etsy store. My deviant art has pretty much everything. My Etsy does not... Some things I just can't see someone wanting to hang on their wall. Like spiders. Or snake skins. Or mushrooms.

Deviant Art: robertsphotography.deviantart.com
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/SarahEPhotography

Final Doll Challenge And Fall Nails

   I've finished up my doll series (for now). There are two more dolls, but I don't own them. If I can find some decent pictures, I'll probably make some nail designs from them. Probably. We'll see. I've been in a fall mood ever since the leaves started falling. Fall is kind of my favorite... I just had to do some fall designs!
   I have to go in chronological order, so here's my last doll design from forever ago. She's from India and has a pretty sari! Unfortunately, there wasn't a ton of embroidery or any other designs, so I kind of had to make some stuff up. It fits good enough though!

   You can't tell, but my nail color is actually pretty close to her sari color. It has a little more red, but not as much as it looks like in the picture. For some reason it kept getting blown out and I couldn't fix it. :( Other than the colors, not much else came from her dress... You could say that the little flower-y thing in the middle of my nails is based off her shorter necklace, but I didn't really plan it that way. It just kind of happened. And it's not really that close...

   Have I mentioned yet that I LOVE fall? It's definitely my favorite season! I had never been able to pick a favorite season, but now that I'm not in marching band, I've come to realize that fall is amazing. Before last year I had been busy with marching band during the fall, so all I really did was run around, sweat, toss some flags, sweat, perform, sweat... So I never really got to enjoy fall. I loved marching band, don't get me wrong, but I like being able to enjoy fall now! It's so pretty and the weather is PERFECT!
   So, as you can understand, I might be trying to make up for lost time. I have been out in the woods a ton this year, just soaking it all up. And taking a million pictures (they're all on my deviant art, if you want to check them out). And in honor of fall, I have made up my toes and fingers accordingly.
   My fingers are super simple right now, but I like them. I just poured a ton of orangey-yellow glitter on them. Apparently it's kind of Halloween-y (I've had 2 or 3 people at work compliment my Halloween nails), but it never really crossed my mind, I was so caught up in fall! Fall leaves was more what I had in mind. You can choose whichever makes you happy though!

(This picture isn't mine... I stole it from google)

 

   For my toes I made a pretty little flower design that's really not all that fall like except for the colors. Sort of. Mostly it just is because I'm in that fall mood.

   See, they're kind of fallish!

   Since I just talked about all of my fall pictures, that really made me want to show you guys some of my pictures... I don't want to make this post ridiculously long though, so I'll make a separate post.

   I hope you have a lovely weekend!

French Tips For Sale

   I know it's been forever and a half since I updated. I've been busy with work and I've been updating, reorganizing, and relisting items in my Etsy stores. In fact, I now have 3 Etsy stores! One for nails (Once Upon A Nail), one for photography (Sarah E Photography), and one for my embroidered cards (Papered Tales). Let's just say I don't want to do any more reorganizing and relisting for a while...

   As for my nail news, I actually have quite a few updates, but only half of them are ready. So here's the first half, which are some more Etsy listings! I made them up for an auction. I ended up only using one of them.

   This is the one I put in the auction. I really like it! It's a basic french tip with a rose accent.

   I was partly inspired by this pin. I made a few changes, but I must confess, as you can see, I was obviously a little lazy and more or less copied some of the design. Although her roses are a lot better than mine. I've yet to master that skill. Mine aren't terrible, but they aren't like hers. You can find it here on Etsy.

   The other set is essentially the same thing, it just has a swirly design instead of the roses.

   This one came straight from my head, and I wasn't sure if I would like it. Usually when I draw things like this I have a pencil and I can erase! I'm pretty satisfied with it. I really hope I can reproduce it if someone buys it though! You can find this one here on Etsy.


   More updates later this week! I'll try to get back to being more regular again!
   And yes, I did change my blog's name. I was never really fond of the original name, but it wasa the best I could come up with at the time. (Names are not my strong point. At all.) I figured I could make my nail blog name match my nail Esty store, so I'm now Once Upon A Nail!

   Have a wonderful week guys!