Fall Fox and Owl nails and Operation: Reduce the Effing Bead Stash

Foxes (duh) and owls are some of my favorite animals and I thought they'd make a cute fall themed manicure this week.  I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out!  I keep admiring them, which I don't always do with my nail art.  

I used the most variety of tools in this manicure: brushes, dotting tools, and markers.  I need to play with a larger variety of brushes with smaller bristles than a striper brush to see what I can get with them, but I finally feel as if I have a good handle on the tools and technique.  

Supplies:

Base coat

Nail colors:  I'm using an antique gold, metallic red-orange,metallic orange, metallic brown, black, and white.

Top coat

Dotting tools: Large and small diameter

angled nail art brush (a sacrificial eyeliner brush would work in a pinch)

nail art pen (or sharpie)

Metallic Lace Manicure Tutorial

I'm in the middle of working on a pair of decoupage shoes using images from one of my favorite comics when I was a child.  Since they're not done yet, it's nail art time!

This was the manicure that I had for SoonerCon, so since I was doing the steampunk thing, I thought I'd go with a nice metallic nail and I'm a sucker for "complicated" nail designs.

This one is a pretty easy one once it's broken down step-by-step.  It looks best with contrast between the colors.  You could do a contrast with light and dark, or even actual contrasting colors on the color wheel.  If you're not familiar with the color wheel or color theory, it's a very useful tool for helping to pick out colors for many arts and crafts.  

This technique isn't mine.  I can't remember where I ran across it the first time as it was several months ago. It's a variation on the no-tools cloud manicure, which is also an adorable look without all the extra dots.

However, dots make your nail art look much more complicated than it actually is.  

Tools 

• Base coat
• Nail polish colors:  Shown here is Pure Ice in "Silver Mercedes", "Magic", and "Bite Me" and Maybelline Color Show in "Bold Gold"
• Dotting tool: I used both a large and small diameter dotting tool.  If you don't have this particular tool, a toothpick will make the small dots and an old ballpoint pen will do for the larger dots.
• Palette
• Top coat

Butterfly manicure and Corset Belt intro

I saw the butterfly manicure online a while back and think it's beautiful. I'm not much of a butterfly person, but the butterfly is associated with fibromyalgia awareness, so a couple of weeks ago I was inspired to do a Fibro Awareness manicure.  I was diagnosed back in 2004 after a long and painful illness that led to a hysterectomy at 24.  It's cost me jobs, relationships, and opportunities.  Eventually, I've to come to terms with this disease and while it's a struggle, I'm determined to live the best life I can.  I'm with a wonderful man and a job that I love that has seen for the last 5 years the ups and "I am in so much pain I can't think" moments.  I'm grateful to the people in my life who have helped me through the depression that lasted through my twenties.  I'm glad that now they finally see me emerging from my own cocoon to become the woman that was inside all the time.

Done, right?  Nope.

I didn't document the steps that time because it was the first time I'd done that manicure.  I did the nails again because i liked them so much!  I still haven't stopped my crafting, though... I've got a deadline.  This next major project is a corset belt, which I'm still finishing up all the tiny little details.  One problem: I'm an noobie seamstress.

I wanted to do a hall costume this time around because I've never done it and I love having really cool, unique costumes.  This time, I'm doing a Steampunk Kitsune after finding a yarn tail tutorial on YouTube and getting inspired.  I had some of the elements already and it's now just adding all of the little details, like a corset.  I don't have the skills yet to be able to make one that isn't terrible, so I went online and found an easy corset-inspired belt that would be a successful enough project.  I've had lots of little bumps in the process of learning and although it's far from perfect, I don't hate it.  The sewing didn't take long, but now it's just adding all of the details that is taking a while.  You'll see the completed journey next week when I can show off both sides of this beast... it's reversible! (More costume, no extra room needed in suitcase FTW)


Now.. on to the girly-girl painting of the nails!!  This is not a manicure for the faint of heart, as it does involve drawing with your non-dominant hand (shudder), but it's easier if you've got something like Sally Hansen's Nail Art Pen or even a sharpie.  I did not create this manicure, and you'll see several different versions of this tutorial online.  You'll see this theme again come November for Transgender Awareness week.