Adventures in Nail Polish: Galaxy Quest

 So here I am thinking I must must must use my Coastal Scents polish collection creatively for my first-ever manicure and I decided upon galaxy nails! Now, excuse the photos as I didn't do much clean-up, but even so, I think they look fab!

The great thing about this mani is that it's really difficult to screw up. It consists of layering colors until you get your desired look. If you don't like what you see, just keep layering until you do!

For the first time ever, I think my right hand looks better than my left hand...



So here is a look at the polishes I used:

 From left to right:

• Coastal Scents, "Base Coat" (not pictured)-- I never normally use a base coat, so I'm going to be honest here and say I know next to nothing about what makes a good base coat. The only reference point I have is a base coat I used when I was thirteen that I received in one of those ginormous cheap make-up kits for Christmas. This seemed better than that one.
• Coastal Scents, "Galaxy"--This is a shimmery color halfway between bronze and pewter, which you can't really tell from the photo. Bummer. This polish really tied together the whole look for me, even if you can't see it individually on my nails.
• Coastal Scents, "Lunar"--This is a full-coverage silver. I didn't try it all over my nails, but lightly dabbing it on my nails with a cotton ball resulted in giant silver splotches, so I'm going to gladly assume that this is going to be rockin' when I attend a space-themed party someday and get to paint my nails straight silver.
• Coastal Scents, "Tweedia"--Although this looks silver in the photo, it's actually more like a frosty blue. Again, I love this color and the formula.
• Coastal Scents, "Comet"--Oh my, what a beautiful blue. I *almost* used this as my base coat, since it looks so space-y. It's another beautiful color that I think I will love solo or paired.
• Coastal Scents, "Cosmic"-- What a cool polish! This is a bronze polish with glitter flecks of varying sizes. It's definitely a layering polish, as achieving full-coverage with the thin polish that acts as a vehicle for the glitter would probably take forever. However, a full-coverage with this glitter would look cool...
• Coastal Scents, "Nebula"-- Meet my base coat. It's a dark blue color that looks awful on the first coat and beautiful on the second. I don't know how coastal scents does it, but it dries super quickly and still looks good (but does need topcoat, IMO).
• Nubar, "Fairy Dust"-- Again, my holo glitter polish that I got on amazon for $2. Love this stuff, but it's discontinued.
• Nubar, "Diamont"--My top coat love of my life.

Overall, I thought this manicure would feel thick on my nails, but I love it. The Coastal Scents polishes seem like a great bang for the buck, honestly. So far, I am 100% please with my purchase and would recommend the set to anyone who is looking to expand their collection.

DIY shelving unit

It's part criminal and part utilitarian.

It's my new organization unit! I stole these milk crates from the produce store next to my school, spray painted them with some 59 cent spray paint (on sale at Michaels) and called it good. Although it still looks pretty cluttered, at least it gives my closet shelf some much-needed relief.

Hehe it's so crazy messy. But to be fair, I blame all that crap at the bottom on the cats, who like to sneak into my room and destroy EVERYTHING.

NOTE: I can't be 100% sure that taking these milk crates counted as "stealing," per se, when there are about a billion of them sitting out by the dumpsters every day. However, I did wear an all-black catsuit and blared the Pink panther theme song during the endeavor.

Craft Linkage: To Crochet or Not to Crochet??

Not sure these books are worth the trouble, especially when there are easier ways to make personalized journal/quote books, but you can't argue with results, and the results of this tutorial are just darling.

One of the best things about growing up in Arizona and having a birthday in July was that my party always had to incorporate water activities to keep my guests' skin from melting off. This is why I have had the chance to play water kickball on multiple occasions. Well, let's just say that pegging your opponent in the head with these puppies would have made that game so much better.

Although I see these lamps all over the place, I am definitely loving the bigger-is-better motif here. Also, never seen them done with coffee filters before.

These slippers make me want to fish out my crochet hook again! After the crochet madness I went through to get all those lovely hats made, I thought I would want a nice break, but I just can't wait.

All my packaging templates in one printable friendly place? Why, this must be a joke! Nay, I say. Now I know what I'll be doing at work tomorrow ...

Craft Linkage: Gender Norms

This is a craft link for those of you who are more industrially-minded. And by that, I mean men. And me. Because I like building things with my hands, too. Although the wiring might be a little tough ... Is there a boy around to help me? Or my mother?

A potentially awesome laptop sleeve? Or just yet another giant, inconvenient bag to haul around?

Another hardware handy DIY out of cupboards. This is just so adorably adorable and all, but could have been turned into any number of things. I'm thinking paint it in a nice vintage-y burnt orange and turn it into a locket-style picture/art frame? Even a contrast in dualities? Like, put art/pic on the front and one inside to respond/contradict?

I make these envelopes all the time as part of my magazine art obsession.

Craft Linkage W - workspace, wearables, walls

I almost cried at the beauty of these work spaces. Could you imagine how wonderfully productive I would want to be if I had a space dedicated as my own?

Although I've seen this simple dress tutorial before, I've never put it down in a place to remember it. Also, I would like to someday find a simple dress tutorial that isn't high-waisted, empire-waisted, or the like. I mean, I know that fitting my waist on my extra-long torso is practically impossible, but it shouldn't be impossible when I'm making the dress myself.

Speaking of an incredibly long torso and ill-fitting clothes, I would love to make this dress form, but have neither the money, time, ability to stand still, etc.

These steampunky bracelets rock! And are as easy to make as going out to the garage (if you're lucky enough to have one).

When I saw a picture of a friend's apartment, I thought it was freakin' adorable. It had one of those vinyl wall attachments of birds on a wire. When someone told me that thing cost like $70 (or more), I was pissed. It's vinyl! I can justifiably chalk this up to the ever-increasing peripheral popularity of birds in the vintage-loving sub-set of society these days. It doesn't help that Portlandia is telling everyone to "put a bird on it." Anyway, with that being said,  I want this.

Craft Linkage - total chaos

DIY leather shoes - These shoes looks super cool and (fairly) easy to make, but living in California means I won't have much of an excuse to make or wear them, considering they appear fit for inuits.

Bookmarks - I used to be an avid reader, but have since lost the time I used to spend reading to other, more profitable ventures. One day, bookmarks!

Lampshades - I see these everywhere and want to make one so badly! I have two lamps (used to be three until the Beard crushed one under his ginormous feet and then I thought I could DIY something out of it, which really just destroyed it beyond repair... RIP dino-stamp lamp) that could both use new shades, but, paradoxically, am running out of both time and excuses.


Newspaper Nails - In LOVE.

Dry-erase board - Something my mother would go nuts for.

Confetti Eggs for Easter, anyone?

Invitations - Color me intrigued. I wonder if these would take forever to do?

These pinwheels would be perfect for a May wedding!

Another magazine craft?!? I'm in love!

Craft Away Bay: Valentines Crafting Links

I don't give gifts for Valentines' Day. I think it's a dumb holiday and my boyfriend and I don't even celebrate it. That being said, when I was single, I hated this dumb holiday for entirely different reasons, mostly being that it is single-awareness day. So, combining my prior experiences with my current perspective, I think that we non-single people should bestow our kindnesses upon the singles in our lives with some heartfelt gifts.

Okay, now that I am done being such an gloating ass, here are some links that would make anyone love V-day. Besides, we all know how much more fun being single is anyways.

Shadow Box - I have seen so many variations of this, and every time I do, the urge to make one grows stronger. One of these made for a loved one from a particularly memorable occasion would be adorable.

Heart-Shaped Crayons - These would make super cute Valentines gifts!

Pop-up Flower Cards - These unfairly easy cards could easily be made from reclaimed (from the workplace) materials.

Packaging - This would be a super cute way to package any V-day gifts!

More Pretty Packaging - My takeaway from this page is that I need to invest in

• ribbon
• double-sided tape
• doilies
• finally learning how to make bunting

Picture Me in the News! - Super adorable. Some readers of my blog may be receiving this for future gifts. Just sayin', don't be surprised.

Candles - If your beau is anything like me or mine, he (and you!) loves candles. This is just about the cutest way to turn an addiction to drinking into a present. WANT. And after reading the tutorial, I realized how g-darn easy it would be, too.

Bracelets, Necklaces, Streamers, Charms - These can be anything! It's such a simple craft!

Umm ... love this!

Craft Away Bay: Rag Rug

Apparently these things are all the rage.

I'll let you know if there are any breakthrough moments of clarity.

Crafty Christmas: Hats

I worked at a summer camp not too many summers ago in Poland, Maine. It was just as cold as it sounds, maybe colder. I recall it as The Summer of The Hat because I made ~30 hats. I made ones for all my counselor friends. I made hats that were used in trade with other counselors to buy things on the camp black market (only half kidding). I made hats for my girls whom I bunked with. I even taught a couple fellow counselors how to make hats of their own!

That summer helped me get my crocheting time for a single hat down from 4-5 hours to 2. So, of course I'm going to incorporate one of my favorite activities into my Crafty Christmas!

I personalized a few of them.

Craft Christmas: Trash Can Made o' Trash

So I have written and re-written this post SO many times because

a) Blogger refuses to publish it for some unknown reason
b) It's really difficult to explain how to make it

So, I have decided that I won't explain how to make it and I'll write a little nothing post to tell the world that, yes, a trash can made out of trash came into being, it was a grand success, but alas, I have no photos. So I'll just link you to A picture of A trashcan.









So mine didn't look as great, but it's close enough.

Lessons learned:

• It takes a lot of those little rings to make a trash can and a single Entertainment Weekly may SEEM like it's producing a lot only because you're spending so much FREAKIN time on it, but it's not.
• I didn't pay close enough attention to the picture, so I began stacking my o's on top of the bottom of the trashcan, not alongside it. This meant that some of my rings were headed in different directions instead of straight up, so the end result looked kinda warped.
• Apparently, this was the coolest craft I made for Christmas. I thought it was going to be received luke-warmly, if at all.

Craft on!