Challenge 30 - Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice!

Hi, Girls!

I'm so very near catching up. Go Me!

I've had this idea in my head for a few months now, & lucky it fit in with this challenge. I have no idea what the typical idea for this challenge would be, but who likes following the norm!

I have to admit, I wasn't a huge Powerpuff Girls fan. I don't remember ever watching it as a kid, I much preferred the cartoons aimed at 'boys' Girly stuff was not my thing.

I did not get on anywhere near as well as I'd have liked, still I did it, sort of.

I hate free-hand. I'm not an artist, I can't even draw a stickman to save my life.

I'm stuck in the bedroom at the moment, not feeling too well, hence bad lighting. I keep promising I'll sort it out, & I really will. I just remember that lighting is crap, then can't be bothered to do it or the current photos, & tell myself next time I will do it. I really need to stop putting things off.

I'm hoping the next challenge will be quicker, easier, & far less stressful, though, watching Downton Abbey whilst doing the nails made it a bit more fun. I live down the road from Highclere Castle, so it's always fun watching it.

Challenge 29 - Inspired by your hero.

Hi, Girls!

So, this challenge is inspired by your hero. This was a toughy for me. There was an obvious person, but I did not want to go with that. Turns out, I had to go with that person, I don't have too many heroes!

As I've said before, I lost my Nan in May. I'm very glad I have tape over my webcam right now, because talking about her still breaks me.

My Nan is amazing. I mean, one of a kind. There were many roads I could have gone down with this. She liked socks, but, if I was doing this in her memory, I can't use 'socks' as the one thing that defines her. I sat back & thought about what made her my hero, & not 'just' my Nan. It was pretty obvious in the end.

My Nan, though we lost her when she was only 70, had to deal with so many shitty illnesses, the fact she made it to seventy is amazing. The last couple of years of her life she suffered from Dementia.

(My Brother is doing a charity event at the end of the month for Alzheimers research in her memory. Link to his Just Giving page is HERE. Please consider sponsoring him.)

She also had diabetes, though she was a terrible diabetic.

The main thing, she had Lupus. Now, if my Mother reads this, I apologise, but I fucking hate this disease. My Nan must have been diagnosed twenty odd years ago, though it took a long time for her to get that diagnosis, as it's really not easy to do so. I grew up watching her suffer with this, & she didn't complain. The disease itself, to make it easier for people who have only ever heard it in House M.D, is slightly like AIDS, however, you don't contract it. The immune system will attack itself. My Nan ended up with a blood infection, & died of multiple organ failure. Whilst Lupus was not put down as the cause for this, it most definitely was. Her body could not fight off the infection. She fought so hard for so many years. Any time she got ill, she would fight & win. This was just one fight too many. I was there with her when she died in hospital. Something I swore I'd never do, as death scares the shit out of me. But, she was my Nan, & I needed to be there. It was heart breaking, & the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but there was also a sense of "She's not suffering anymore'

So, the obvious thing to do, was to go with Lupus. She inspired me with just how hard she fought against it, how she did not let it run her life, even if that did get harder as time went on, & adding the other illnesses. She was the strongest person I have ever met, yet she always put the kids & Grandkids before herself. She could be having a really bad day with pain, but never spoke about it, & if I rang her up in tears about some stupid thing, I was her first concern. I was her favourite Grandaughter. (The only one, but that's beside the point) & she was my Old Woman. An inside joke that went on for nearly fifteen years.

One of the symbols for Lupus is a purple butterfly. One of the symptoms is a butterfly shaped rash over the face, which is why it seems like a pretty symbol.

So, I did purple butterflies.

Note the ring. My Nan gave me this ring years ago. When I was in hospital with her, 24 hours before we lost her, the gem 'fell out' I have no idea where. I was devastated. However, a friend pointed out to me, that I should look at is as if the Old Woman took it with her. Naive, maybe, but I like it.

They're not the best images, & I'm not even going to go self critic, as doing something for my Nan like this, I was never going to think it was good enough. She liked looking at what I'd done on my nails though, so I'm pretty sure that even if they were total shit, she'd tell me they were amazing.

I love & miss my Nanny more than I can say. You can't describe this in words. The pain will always be there, I'm sure. I just hope more than anything, a cure for Lupus will be found in my life time.

Challenge 28 - Elegant - FAIL

Just a quick post.

I am the least elegant person in the world. I don't do elegance very well, so this challenge was always going to fail.

I decided to play with the my Rio lace foils again. I let my boyfriend pick the colours, & well, I was impatient.

I said I'd post the superb fails too, so here it is.

Owning a cat & doing your nails is hard, cat fur EVERYWHERE.

So, I didn't let the glue dry enough, & boom, ruined manicure! There is a chance I may come back to this one eventually, but this is it for now.

The main reason I've rushed this, is that I have an idea of what I want to do for the next challenge, & I'm pretty excited about it, should it go the way I have it in my head.

Fingers crossed.

Challenge 27 - Bling!

Okay, I'm going to say something that may be controversial.

I HATE BLING NAILS

I honestly do. I think they look tacky & cheap. I don't know if this manicure can be considered bling, I tried, I really did. I even put on some cheapy rhinestones to try and 'bling' it up. Don't get me wrong, I adore jewellery & pretty, shiny things. But on nails, meh. Considering most packs of the rhinestones you get are worth a quid, & you do get a lot in there, again I say cheap & tacky. 

As you can see, I got bored of the rhinestones, so you get half a nail. Points for trying though! I had to take the photos in two different lights, as the Grit FX polish looked different in different rooms. However, I do love it! 

I'm glad that one is out of the way!

Going to do my nails tonight after I've done the washing up, so hopefully a new post sooner rather than later.

I did get an email asking me if I'd do a tutorial for the seaside nails. Short answer, no. Honestly, I have no idea how I do half the things. I don't put lots of thought into it. I will either have a film on, or watch the kitten cam whilst doing my nails. My attention is never fully on what I've done. If I paid the extra attention & photographed each bit I did, I think I'd get even more critical of myself, & I'd grow very tired with nail art. Besides, there are so many blogs with amazing tutorials, I'd feel like I'm taking the piss.

On a completely different note, Dennis my diabetic cat has a vet appointment tomorrow. He has been a bit off colour the last few weeks, so I'm very nervous about it. My boyfriend also has an operation on Saturday. I'm an awful girlfriend, I'm more nervous about my cat... oops!

Challenge 26 - Think Pink!

Hi!

Oooh, I'm back sooner than I thought I would be. I managed to catch a couple more hours of sleep, so felt all refreshed. My boyfriend was asleep on the sofa, so figured I'd just play around with my nails.

Today it's all about 'Think Pink' I decided quite quickly I would do something like my blog background. I should learn that my thinking never does any good. I despise striping tape. A lot of girls use it in their manicures, but I have zero patience. It's so fiddly, I'm not ashamed to admit I threw the bloody reel a few times. Stupid thing.

Still, I had my mind set on it, & I didn't have any other ideas for the challenge so I went with it. To be fair, it doesn't look too much like the background, but you get the idea.

(Look how freaking fiddly it is!!!!)

Ignoring the horrible striping tape, it was pretty easy. Normal gradient, then gradient again but swapping the colours. Take tape off & Boom!

Whilst we're on a pink theme, Look what I have!

As I mentioned before, I watch a Kitten Cam. (I love it, but I always feel when I admit it, I should be dodging Crazy Cat lady jibes!) A fellow viewer has been creating mini felt kittens of the litters, then auctioning them to raise money for Purrfect Pals, the cat Shelter a certain Foster Dad works for. The lovely viewer then surprised a couple of us with out own mini kitties! My red hair turned an awesome candy floss pink, so yay for pink haired kitty. I had a huge grin when I saw the photo of this, & an even bigger grin when she said she would send it to me. It's absolutely amazing! Check out her page HERE, she is so talented. You will be able to see all her creations. 

I shall now go think up ideas for the next challenge. I don't think I'm going to look forward to it! 

Huuuge Love to you!

Edit: I just found this. YES!

Challenge 25 - Inspired by Summer!

Morning!

I was naughty! I was planning on doing my nails yesterday afternoon, but I fell into a food coma after my Roast Dinner. Buh-Bye normal sleep pattern.

However, I totally got a reply to an email from Frank Turner. Happy Kay is happy.

Anyway, nails!

Inspired by summer, & England has actually had a summer this year. It's crazy! We've had heatwaves! I've been to the beach a couple of times. We went to a place called Lepe beach a few weeks ago. Had never heard of it, but it was amazing. I prefer quiet places, & this place was just beautiful.

I had to do a seaside manicure. However, I haven't done anything freehand like this in months, so it's not perfect, but not bad for getting back into it. Well, that's my opinion & I'm sticking to it.

It took me a few hours, purely because I was doing bits every so often. I'd do the base, then do something else for an hour or so, then do the sea & so on. It was a relaxing way to spend the time I should have been sleeping. Not too much stressing over this one. I did google after I'd finished it & saw some amazing seaside manicures. My thought to this "Oh you talented Bastards"

Like I said, I spent ages doing this on & off. I can't tell you exactly how I did it. I used sponges & brushes, & I danced. I danced  lot.

It's pretty basic, but I'm trying to get back into this, not stress myself out of it. Hopefully one day soon I'll try someone that needs a little bit of talent to do!

I haven't looked what the next challenge is, but pretty sure I can't be that far off from catching up.

Hope you have  fantastic Sunday!