Okay, I know I've only been blogging for a year and 3 months or so, and I've already gone on two or three hiatuses. That seems like a lot of breaks in such a short amount of time, I know. Most of those hiatuses (except for the one that I took this time last year, which was because I was on vacation for 9 days) have been because I burned out a little; keeping up with a regular schedule of doing my nails and blogging got too exhausting and I needed a break. But this time, I'm taking a break to avoid the burnout, and to make sure I'm only blogging when it's because I want to, not because I need to.
As you may know if you follow me on Facebook, I've started a crochet business. I started out selling to family and friends via a Facebook group, but I'm actually working on opening up a big-girl shop on Big Cartel! I absolutely adore crocheting, and I'm super excited to be able to make money off of such an enjoyable hobby. In the last week, I got four orders from friends - plus I've been neglecting a fifth order for my aunt, which she placed months ago. On top of that, I want to make a Christmas-themed table runner, which I'm hoping to finish before my boyfriend's parents fly in from China in mid-December. And, even though I was super productive and finished making ALL of the Christmas (and Christmastime birthday) presents for my family in Michigan, I still have three gifts to make for the people I'll be spending Christmas with. To be honest, with all of that on my to-do list, I'm a little scared to open up my shop before Christmas! I'm afraid that I simply won't have the time to make anything for anyone else in time, and I certainly don't want to start out my business with frustrated, giftless customers.
So, as you can see, I have a TON of crocheting to do. Some of it has a pre-Christmas deadline, which is fast approaching. With all of that going on, plus my normal life like looking for a full-time job and doing chores and not neglecting my boyfriend, and family staying with us for the entire second half of December, I fear that trying to keep up with blogging will absolutely break me. So in order to prevent that from happening, in order to remember that I do my nails and blog because I like to, I'm going to put a hold on the blog for a few weeks. I might do one or two posts in the coming weeks - I was hoping to do at least one Christmas nail art design like I did last year! - but I almost definitely won't be posting once a week. I might end up skipping December's Do I Need Them All post as well. We'll see.
As with my previous blogging breaks, I'll probably still be active on my various social media accounts! Since Twitter and Instagram are also my personal accounts, you might get to see some of my crochet updates and pics of holiday celebrations. And at the very least, I'll be around on Facebook to keep you in the loop for awesome nail polish sales and giveaways!
I just wanted to let you all know what's going on, because I know how sad it can be when a blogger just stops posting. I will be back some time in January, I'm sure. Hopefully I'll be able to stick to the same schedule that I've been doing since summer!
I want to wish you all Happy Holidays. Whether you celebrate any of them or not, I hope that the next month is filled with joy, happiness, and love.
PS If you're interested in seeing what I crochet, feel free to visit (or join!) my Facebook group. And check out my shop, http://katescrochets.bigcartel.com/! It's now open and I'm even running a giveaway!
December 5, 2015
December 2, 2015
Christmas Crafting: Nail Polish Ornaments
Got any nail polishes that you love the look of but never wear and don't want to get rid of? Do you own any Mentality nail polish that you don't feel safe wearing? Or are you like me, and have a ton of polish and want to actually use some of it up? Then I've got a craft that I think you'll enjoy!
I got this idea from Elizabeth of My World Sparkles Lacquers. At first I was a little weary to dump out significant amounts of polish at a time, but then I was like "oh please, look at how many bottles of nail polish you have! Do iiiit." So I bought a 12-pack of small glass ornaments from JoAnn Fabrics (I assume you can find these at most craft stores and pretty much anywhere with a good selection of ornaments) and decked them out!
I got this idea from Elizabeth of My World Sparkles Lacquers. At first I was a little weary to dump out significant amounts of polish at a time, but then I was like "oh please, look at how many bottles of nail polish you have! Do iiiit." So I bought a 12-pack of small glass ornaments from JoAnn Fabrics (I assume you can find these at most craft stores and pretty much anywhere with a good selection of ornaments) and decked them out!
Elizabeth used much bigger ornaments, so she set hers up on top of open mason jars while they dried. Since the ornaments that I bought are so small (probably about 1.5" in diameter), I propped mine up on top of opened lotion bottles and their caps.
The process was simple, though a bit lengthy:
The process was simple, though a bit lengthy:
1. Pour polish into bulb
2. Swirl polish around, coating entire interior
3. Pour out immediate excess (back into polish bottle - no need to waste yet!)
4. Set ornament tilted downwards, so that no polish will drip out, and allow excess to gather
5. Pour out excess polish (at this point, it's probably thickened enough that you won't want to put it back into the bottle. I laid out paper towels and newspaper.)
6. Set ornament upright
7. Repeat steps 4-5 if necessary
8. Set ornament upside down and allow to drip out. (Keep an eye on it, though - I let too much polish drip out of one of them and it ended up less opaque than I wanted it!) Elizabeth put paper towels into her mason jars for this step, but I didn't really want to clean out all of my lotion bottles. What I ended up doing was only dripping out one ornament at a time into an empty water bottle.
9. Add a second coat if necessary, and repeat steps 1-8 (but don't pour the excess back into the bottle in step 3 if you're using a different color!)
When layering different polishes in these, be sure to do it in the opposite order of painting your nails! Apply glitters/toppers first, then the base color.
When layering different polishes in these, be sure to do it in the opposite order of painting your nails! Apply glitters/toppers first, then the base color.
Since I was doing so many of these, I usually started the next ornament after step 3 of the previous one. It was so much fun! My dining room was filled with lots of odd scents between the opened lotion bottles and all of the nail polish! Not exactly the smell I'm used to when decorating for Christmas. :)
Here's a video tutorial of my process:
I'm so excited to hang these on our tree this year! Since we don't have a tree yet (it's in the mail!), I used a bobby pin and my regular light box to take photos of my lovely new ornaments. Pretty crafty, eh?
Here's a video tutorial of my process:
I'm so excited to hang these on our tree this year! Since we don't have a tree yet (it's in the mail!), I used a bobby pin and my regular light box to take photos of my lovely new ornaments. Pretty crafty, eh?
I actually bought Twilight Twinkles specifically for this craft! I'd hoped that I would use most of it up, but there's still plenty left. These small ornaments probably only use about 1/4-1/3 of a full-sized bottle of polish. If you really want to use up a whole bottle of polish, either get bigger ornaments or do multiple ornaments in the same color!
I was hesitant to use Twisted Colors polishes in these ornaments, because sadly Twisted Colors has closed their shop, possibly forever. But the three Christmas polishes that I got last year are just so perfect for these that I decided to sacrifice some future manis.
I considered adding a white background to this one, but I rather like it clear! Hopefully I can place it strategically in front of a light bulb on the tree so the light can sparkle through.
Ellagee Jeweled Egg Hunt
Okay, I'm going to need to swatch this one soon. It's amAzing. All that density is in only two coats! I'm sure that on the nail, one coat would be almost completely opaque.
Wet n Wild Rockin' Rubies and Sally Hansen CSM Red My Lips
Youch, my phone really messed this one up. It's nowhere near this neon red in person - and it's actually quite sparkly! But cameras hate the color red, as I've learned quite well over the past year.
Twisted Colors All Spruced Up and Spoiled by Wet n Wild Green to be Heard
I mean, how could I NOT use this one for an ornament?! It's so perfect!
Wet n Wild Back Alley Deals and Sally Hansen CSM Blue My Mind
This is the one that I accidentally let too much polish drip out of. Oops! I still like it.
Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough and Hi Ho Silver
The Wet n Wild polish is actually pretty black, but even two coats of it was super sheer in the ornament. I chose to use a silver background because I figured black would be a bit too dark for a Christmas ornament! (As in, literally too dark. Not that I think black is too depressing or whatever.)
Twisted Colors Star of Wonder and Essie Style Cartel
Unghhh. So pretty! It's much darker and more sparkly in person, but as always, dark colors + camera = bleh.
Jior Couture Means a Little Bit More and
Creative Cuticles Nail Polish Please Have Snow and Mistletoe
I couldn't decide which of these glitters I'd prefer to use, so I mixed them! I really like the glitter ornaments that I didn't add a background color to. They look like snowglobes!
Wet n Wild 24 Carats
The little flakes don't show up so well in this shot, but this polish has some gorgeous red flakies in it! It's super gorgeous and very Christmasy.
Have you ever done anything like this? What are your favorite Christmas/holiday decorations? Let me know in the comments!
Have you ever done anything like this? What are your favorite Christmas/holiday decorations? Let me know in the comments!
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