Tag Archives: art

Pampering Myself

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This Friday’s post – something fun, nail art!

Without work (cause my contract ended mid-September) and with MG out all the time traveling for work, I have more time for myself. Once I do the chores around the house, — cleaning the kitchen, dishes, vacuuming, and laundry — I have some time to spend on myself. Lately, I’ve been into nail art. Choo-choo welcome aboard the train, Jay… late to the game amirite?

I always thought nail art just takes too much time to create and then it chips. I still think that way, but it’s more about spending time on myself. In that sense, my mind about nail art has changed. It’s almost kinda fun!

You know how everyone has a color of choice for their wardrobe? Mine is without a doubt, navy. I’m obsessed. Honestly, the best neutral IMO (in my opinion). Of course, that translates into my nails too.

I just bought After School Boy Blazer by Essie. It’s a dark navy, almost black but not quite. Love it! Love it for the Fall/Winter season (c’mon colder weather, I’m eagerly waiting for your arrival).

With a little bit of glam, I created this look.

Essie

First step: base coat. I’m a huge fan of the Deborah Lippmann Ridge Filler Base Coat. It just makes my nails so smooth. Another advantage is that it helps my nail color stay on longer.

Secondly: your nail color of choice

Third step: I used Deborah Lippman’s Stardust for the metallic silver (which apparently is no longer being sold). Similar metallic here by Essie. I painted the tips by eyeballing how thin I wanted the line to be. Basically half the paint brush was painting my skin, but I just cleaned it up with remover later. If you have an unsteady hand, try using Hole Punch Reinforcements as a guide.

Fourth: Top coat/quick dry. I want to emphasize quick dry. Don’t you hate when you go to bed and your sheets get imprinted into your nails?!? That happens to me so often, so this quick dry is my savior. The Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat is the best I have come across. Get it!

Colors

You can maybe, perhaps, say that I’m kind of, sort of, obsessed with nail polish. But what girl isn’t? I wish I had every color!!!

Polishes

What are some of your favorite colors for this Fall season?

Paint away,
Jay
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Check out my latest nail art I created for my half-marathon. Because nails is essential to one’s outfit.

Cassette Tape Wall Art

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Let me first start off with saying that my husband used to be a DJ back in the day. As we were cleaning the house, we came across a boxful of cassette tapes, very sentimental to him so it was hard for him to throw the box away.

At this point, I’m asking myself, how can get rid of the box of tapes but keep his memories. I decided to display them on a canvas and keep the important tapes like

  • Ming-Gih singing at 2
  • Ex-girlfriend mix tapes
  • Little Mermaid (cause I like that one)
  • Notorious B.I.G (yes, my husband was ghetto in high school)

Know that I am a total bargain hunter. To pay $15 for a blank canvas and then another $5 for hanging hardware is pretty expensive. Instead I went to Ross and dug through the clearance items and came across a canvas with hanging hooks for $9. YAY! Beware, the artwork on the canvas is hideous (probably why it’s on sale!).

Canvas
A banana? A car? A banana car? Not even sure… But it definitely provided a great canvas!

Next I painted the canvas a neutral color:

Cassette Art
I LOVE Martha Stewart’s Satin Colors. I used the color “Grey Wolf” from the collection, and I also kept the original black side borders from the artwork.

Once the paint was dried, I used E-6000 glue craft glue to glue on the cassette tapes. Here’s the final product:

Cassette Tape Wall Art

Pretty cool right? It’s now displayed in his work room:

Wall Art

What items do you have lying around your house that is hard to part with?

Do you have cassette tapes lying around?  If so, stay tuned next Wednesday for another project with cassette tapes!

Love, Jay

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Martha Stewart’s Satin Paint Collection
E-6000 Craft Glue from Walmart