Wall Paint - Staggered Squares

Have some fun with rooms that you want to decorate but don't have a lot of money.

Paint is an easy way to spruce up a room without having to figure out decor etc. I am not the best with decorations as I find clutter to be annoying so I tend to stick with simple designs. But I was tired of just doing a one color accent wall. I decided to try something a little different. Because I used multiple colors, I did not need a full gallon of each paint. I went with the smaller cans to save money.

Start with a stencil. I used a piece of cardboard. Mark your squares back to back. Then start with your first staggered color (for the design you see below I used 4 colors) and use painters tape to mark those boxes. Paint color 1. Once you are done with all coats for color 1, repeat the next steps for color 2 and so on.

The most important part of this is the color set up. To make it easier for me, I marked each square with what the color was supposed to be to help keep the pattern.

Line 1 (starting at ceiling):  white, grey, purple, blue, white, grey, purple, blue...
Line 2 (next line down from ceiling): grey, purple, blue, white, grey, purple, blue, white...
Line 3: purple, blue, white, grey, purple, blue, white, grey....
Line 4: blue, white, grey, purple, blue, white, grey, purple...

This is how you get the staggering color design. Super easy and cheap. Just takes some time and you'll get something a bit different than the normal accent wall. Try different colors and use a larger square or smaller square depending on the space.

Staggered Squares Wall design

Stripe Tip Manicure

Blue gel with gold stripe

Again with the easy. I like quick and easy but something a little different.

Today I went with a shimmer blue and accented it with a gold stripe. I did do this with the gel polish. You can obviously do it with regular nail polish too, just carefully apply the stripe before your top coat. I would do this while your under coat is still a little wet to help the stripe stick.

Now with the gel polish, a friend and I tried doing it after the cured top coat. We did this thinking that the tacky color layer would cause the manicure to have imperfections etc. But the stripes did not stick well to the cured top coat, so this time I did this after my second coat of cured polish color. I did not spray with alcohol or do a top coat. As the color was still tacky from the color coat the stripes stuck perfectly.

If any of the edges started to come up, I just used my orange stick to put them back in place, then did the top coat over all nails and cured. Worked great!

Blue gel polish with gold stripe

Criss Cross Nails

Really easy and really cute!

OK did a manicure on a friend last night with the gel polish and decided to add a little bling to it. We did a silver ribbon and randomly criss crossed the ribbon on her different nails.

Do your normal color first. then before the top coat add the ribbons. Then top coat and you've got a little extra bling to you manicure!

Thanks Tiffany for being my hand model :)
We left the pinkies plain and crossed the rest. 

Bella's Vampire

For all you gel nail fanatics out there, I had to post my most recent gel manicure. This color was perfect because it's a deep blood red/purplish color and it's almost Halloween! The color is called Bella's Vampire. I have to admit I am a huge Twilight fan, but that's not why I bought the color. I bought it because it's a beautiful color.

It looks almost black in non-natural light. But when you go into the sun, or rooms with lots of natural light you can see the purple color start to come through.

I topped my ring fingers with a gold glitter for accent. If you are wanting instructions on how to do the gel manicure, go here.

Anyway, wanted to post my review on this color. Please excuse my messy cuticles. I was doing this manicure in room that was not well lit, thus I got color on the cuticles which I always try to avoid.

Enjoy!

Gel nail polish, Bella's Vampire topped with Vegas Nights -
Gelish Harmony brand

Easy Card Idea

Here is how to create any kind of birthday card. This is cheap, simple, and fun. Go to your local craft store and stock up on scrapbook paper when it's on sale 5 for a dollar. That way you always have paper on hand for birthdays, anniversaries, and any other occasion.

This is just one example of a basic card. You can use this design for piratically anything. All you need is:

Blank card, scrapbook paper, glue, scissors, ribbon, and an embellishment (optional). 

Try using different colors and ribbon/paper combinations. Great for birthday,
Christmas, Easter, etc. 

Easy Candy Corn Nails

In festive fashion, I have decided to post my candy corn nail tutorial. The one thing I don't like about most candy corn nail tutorials is the fact that the tip can get really thick. So I tried this one last October and it worked great. I also added a layer of gold glitter to give this some pizzazz!

This can be done with regular polish or the gel polish. I did mine with the gels. I had a bunch of neon colors, so I used my neon yellow and orange to make it stand out even more.

First things first; prep your nails as needed. (file, cuticle pusher, clip, etc)

Now, start with your base color. Some people like the white by the cuticle, I decided to have white tips to play off the French manicure.

Don't paint all the way up. Just 3/4 the way. I should have left more nail showing than I did. Because I didn't, it caused the white to show the yellow through just a tad. So don't go as far as as I show here.

The reason why I went 3/4 of the way up is so I don't have to do multiple layers of the orange.  This makes it faster and so it's not so thick.

Next stripe your orange. If you paint a stripe horizontal across your nails, it's much easier to get a straight line. It's OK if you get color on your fingertip. Use an orange stick to get anything that runs. Also make sure you don't have too much polish on your brush.



Now, repeat the above step with your last color.

If you want, top with a glitter.

Lastly, paint your top coat.

As you can see, they are not thick at all and super cute! You can do the same thing for the 4th of July with red, white, and blue!

Candy Corn nails with glitter. Easy and festive!

ZOMG! Super cute easy nail polish

I did this the other day and had to post. So cute and easy. Had to share!

Step 1: Paint your base coat.

Step 2: Paint the tip with your accent french tip color. Note: you do not have to have this in a perfect line, we will blend the tip.

Step 3: Take a make up sponge and lightly put polish on the tip of the sponge. Lightly blot and blend the color so you can't see the hard line of the french tip. Repeat step 3 until desired color is achieved.

You don't need a lot of polish on the sponge.
Instead, blot multiple coats.

Step 4: Light paint over the tip and just a little further down from the blending with an accent glitter.

Step 5: Paint with Top coat.

Note: You can do this with the gel polish as I did below, just make sure you cure each time you put any polish on.

You can see on the pinky I didn't blot as many coats and you can see the hard line.
Ensure you blot enough coats so you can blend the line.

Halloween done discounted

OK now ghouls and ghosts; get ready for an increase in candy sales, sugar high kids, and a lot of overpriced costumes.

Halloween is awesome. I look at it as the "official" start to the fall season. Which means I can make everything pumpkin and not get weird looks.

Decorating can get really expensive if you are throwing a party or dressing the little ones to go out. Here are a few quick cost saving tips for anyone looking to save a little money.

1. Think about not buying pre-packaged costumes. It is so much easier and cost effective to piece things together on your own by hitting up the thrift store or craft store. Go on-line and get ideas from party city or other Halloween costume stores but refrain from buying those over prices cheaply made costumes until you've looked to see if you can do them on your own.

Also, I've noticed  many of these companies sell the same costumes at different prices. So if you do decide to purchase one, shop around, and look for coupons before ordering the first one you see.

This website is good to check out. People submit easy make your own costume ideas.

2. If you can hold off, wait to buy anything. Walgreens, Wal-mart, and all the large chains usually mark everything down the day before the big trick-or-treat fest. So if you can be open to what you are doing, wait to buy anything so you can get it 50% off.

3. For all your party supplies, plan ahead! Look on a few websites and try http://www.orientaltrading.com/. Not only can you get some party supplies, they usually have codes for free shipping if you spend a certain amount. Also, you can go ahead and buy your candy for the big day. They have all kinds to choose from and usually average cheaper than the grocery stores.

4. The dollar store is you friend! You would be surprised at how many things you can get there. I wouldn't suggest getting candy, often times the bags are small and after you buy 5 small bags, you could have gotten a large bag of good candy. But they do have all kinds of decorations, and even some small costume accessories. My dollar store decorations have held up pretty well.

5. My last tantalizing tip is those haunted houses! You can normally find deals on groupon or other coupon places. Also, if you go during the week you can often get cheaper rates.

Alright, what did I miss? Got any suggestions you can add to my list?