2015 Buffyfest Ornament Swap: Second Ornament Received

Danielle asked us all to list 4 or 5 favorite Whedonverse things; couples, scenes, props, whatever we liked.

I emailed her my likes and she chose 4 of them:

Mal & Inara

Giles as he busts in on Evil Willow and says "I'd like to test that theory." (I still go "WOOOOOO!" when it happens.)

Fred & Wesley

Jaynestown.


Thanks Danielle!

2015 Ornament Swap: First Ornament Received

For real!  This awesomeness came from Christi Jo.  THANKS!  I love it.

2015 Buffyfest Ornament Swap

YEAR 8! My year 7 of participating!

If you want to see previous entries, click here: Buffyfest Ornament Swap

I couldn't think of anything original, I'd done cross-stitch before, so I did the cross stitch and added them to ornaments.

I asked the people in my group to choose from one of 6 characters (I have patterns for 6 Buffy characters) & then I stitched their choice and added it to an ornament that was their first name initial.

Two people chose Buffy. 

Buffy

Willow

Giles

Spike (or SPOIK)

These have been mailed out. So let the waiting begin!  I can't wait to see what I get.

Oh Hey! It's September!

September?!?  UGH.  Blogging fail.

Our daughter got artist of the year at the end of her 5th grade/Elementary school year in June, as well as Honor Roll all year.

Summer was spent at home, going to the beach a couple of times, the zoo once, a few swimming lessons for the gal. Low key.

Happy First Day of Middle School to our gal!  She's not really too happy, but what can you do?  I believe I was more stressed than she was.

Oh, I celebrated TWENTY years at my work this August.  Twenty years!

Happy Lucky 13th Anniversary to Us!  This year was low-key because we're working hard to eradicate debt.  (Paid off one last flight school loan, down to one last car payment, then we tackle our one credit card bill.)  We spent $50 each on goodies (macro cell phone lens, book and Matthew West cd for me. Video game and two blu-rays for him) and went out to dinner with our gal in tow.

Next week, Happy Birthday to me!

Still working on my nail art.  LOL  Hey. I'm getting much better.


Life's been pretty low-key.  Like I said, buckling down on finances (See Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University course for more info.)

Make Your Own Nail Art Stickers

This isn't my invention and it isn't even a new thing, but I finally attempted to make my own nail art stickers and THEY WORKED!

So here's how it works (you can find a myriad of tutorials on the internet):

Take a plastic sandwich baggie.  Outline the shape of your nail.

Then, using your nail polishes or acrylic paints, start working on your desired design.  I wanted a Sailor Moon silhouette image.

Let this completely dry.  I waited overnight.  Then, taking some tweezers, slowly peel the design off the plastic baggie.  At first I thought "This is impossible. It's not going to work." but I eventually worked my way under one of the corners and presto!  The entire design lifted up.

I have no pictures of this.  Fail. 

Prep the nail you want to apply the sticker to.  I tried one nail with just a clear base coat, but that was a mistake, as the nail sticker didn't completely cover my nail.  On my other nail, I colored the nail the same color as the background of my sticker.  Much better.

Place the sticker where you want, cover it with a clear top coat, use a nail file to remove any excess from the tips, and Voila!

Nail Sticker!!

For this manicure, I did a galaxy nail manicure and then on the accent nail with the sticker, I added some of the same glitter as the rest of the fingers, to make it all look uniform

FUN!  This opens up so many possibilities!  It's so much easier painting on a flat surface than it is on a nail, and if you mess up, just try again without having to completely remove all the base coats on the nail you were working on.