Summerana - 25K Camera Lens Giveaway

The best (and pretty much only) Photoshop actions and templates come from Summerana! I absolutely love them and they are constantly on my wish list!! :)
They also have amazing prices for their amazing products!! Generous to a fault. I may sound in love, and truth be told... I am! :)

Now on to the deeds lol
Summerana is throwing a 25K fans on Facebook Lens giveaway to all their awesome friends.
The winner gets to chose between a Nikon or Canon 85mm 1.8 camera lens!!!!!
As I am writing this post, you have 14 days and numerous chances to win!!
I say, GET GOING!
And while you there, stop buy and browse their selection of actions and templates. You will most definitely find something to your liking.

Thanks and Congratulations to Summerana.com!!

http://summerana.com/


http://summerana.com/summerana-photoshop-actions-for-photographers-25k-camera-lens-giveaway/

Thanks for reading! And show your love, by clicking above!

August Photo Challenge

I cannot believe that August is almost here!! WOW! Summer is coming to a close faster than I would have liked. 2 more months and fall slowly begins.
Don't get me wrong... I love fall and I cannot wait for it to start but I was hoping to get more done this summer.
This past two years has been so horrible. Just one thing after another. I don't want a dragging post of sadness, so I won't dive any further than this. I believe the loss in my family is at 7 or 8 right now, in just over a year! It's incredibly sad and dounting!
Moving on...
I wanted to start a photo challenge this year but was late and postponed it to next year. But I ran across a month to month challenge instead of the full year, like project 365, and decided a month every so often was good for this year. New year is about 5 months away and I can wait that long.
Here is the August 2014 Photo Challenge List:
(Cannot remember who first penned this challenge... Sorry)

1- Hat/Hair
2- Family
3- Water
4- Clean
5- Dirty
6- Black and White
7- Far away
8- Outdoors
9- Favorite Room
10- Entertainment
11- Where your Standing
12- Paper
13- Up Close
14- Tools
15- Colorful
16- Work
17- Animals
18- Funny
19- Stairs
20- Tiny
21- Texture
22- Huge
23- Building
24- Favorite Candy
25- Food
26- New
27- Words/Letters
28- A Corner
29- Sunshine
30- Quiet
31- Darkness

Have fun and if you know who first wrote this list, let me know down below!! I'd love to give credit to this awesome list! Thanks! Have a great weekend.

Flowers

I've really been into flowers on my nails!! All kinds but right now, those little flowers made up of dots. Super cute and easy!
I have tried many ways to do them, such as:
Bobby Pins
Sewing Pins
Pencil/Pen Tips
Toothpicks
and I even tried using a plastic fork with all but the two outside prongs off. I filed one down to make it bigger.
I use dotting tools as well but lost the one I had and wanted to experiment with other ways to make dots. I have now a new set but was still impressed with the "homemade" versions!
Back to the flowers...
I have been kind of obsessed with them and put them on my nails somehow in almost all designs!

In the previous posts, I did flowers in the jelly sandwich nails and and flowers for my 4th of July nails. As I said, I'm obsessed lol
Well here are some more of my flowers nails.
Just thought I'd show you and some of the colors I used!

The first are red nails with white and brown flowers and an accent nail on each hand of a brown base with red and white flowers.
The polishes I used were:
Sally Hansen - White On
Julep Little Lights - Jameson
SinfulColors - Nirvana
Julep - Freedom Top Coat

Looks really good on the sun!

The Second flower look was less Fall and more Summer!!

I wanted flowers but less than the look above. So I added one small flowers on all the nails in the corner and covered my accent nail with them.

The polishes I used were:

Sally Hansen - White On

Julep - Reagan

Julep - Flora

Sally Hansen Top Coat - Invincible

I'll show with and without the flowers, cause I loved them both ways! And the Julep colors!

 

Hope you liked them as much as I do! Lol

Have a great week!!!

Thanks for reading :)

Jelly Sandwich Nails

I love Jellies out there and I don't have many. I think I have 3.
But then I found a way to make the look of jelly nail polish without the polish. Not as good but still looks cute! This was my first try! I liked but got better at it. Just thought I would show you how I did it and a few different ways I have since!

Here it goes:
First you need a sheer polish of any color.
Contrasting glitter polish and/or creme polishes.
For this one, I used both. I also used a white base color because my nails didn't look their best lol

Apply your normal base coat, and let dry.
Apply 2 coats of any white polish. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On.
Let each coat dry before applying another coat.
It looked like this:

 

 

When that is dry. Add a layer of your chose of glitter. I used this one:

Let that dry. It looked like this.

 After all that was dry. I added a thin layer of the sheer pink. It looked like this.

 

Not much difference. But a bit faded. When it dried, I took my pin from my sewing kit and added some dotted flowers. When those were dry, I added another layer of the sheer pink.

Finish with a top coat and your done!

Super easy to do and a lot of different way to do this. I also have done just glitter. I used a sheer blue, a chunky multi colored glitter and layered them like above. It turned out great!! I have also skipped the glitter and just done flowers. One or two flowers, sheer layer, then another flower and then another sheer layer. Loved that effect of floating flowers!!

Thanks for reading!

 

Black and White

Don't give me that look!! This is about photographs...
Black and white is still my favorite when it come to pictures. Grant it, Color for some is better and B&W is better for other pictures! Depends really on the picture. What you see, what you feel and what you, yourself think looks better.
I took a picture of the river boat on the 4th. My daughter really loved the thing. So I took a picture of it lol
Sounds reasonable to me and I actually kind of like the shot. I put into my Photoshop to see if I could play with its exposure and what not, but I still didn't like the feel of it. Liked the shot but I wanted more. So I took less... Make sense?! I turned it black and white. Saturated it and made it moody!
Yes, its a thing and I can make it moody!
BUT... It looked so much better! I didn't do much to it at all! And I also did a color version where I bumped it all up and added some sutle sun rays and it looked good! Not as good as the black and white though!
I will show you both (Original and Black and White) and you decide.

Which one do you like best??
Thanks for reading! Enjoy your weekend!

Before then After

Mini Julep Haul

Mini Julep haul!!!
I love Julep nail polishes and was a Maven for awhile but cancelled because we moved and now that we're settled, I'll think about re-upping (Is that a word?)!
I love their formula and colors. I also really like that they name their polishes after woman!
I have my own color!! I'll show it to you but it wasn't a part of this haul.
I got these polishes last month but didn't post about them or really anything in a long time! I was lazy!!! Sorry!
Moving on.. I am posting them now! I did another haul of what I got from Walmart and such in my last post.
These polishes are by far the most expensive I have ever had!!! They are around $15 a bottle. I will post a link to their site and subscription boxes.
I hope you enjoy!

First couple are from a Maven box I didn't want but the skip didn't go through (More on that later...). they were understanding and refunded my money. I offered to send them back, but they told me to keep them. Which was very nice!! They box came with 3 polishes, as always and I gave away the purple sheer because I already had it and then didn't take a picture of it. Sorry.

Here they are:
Savory
Jennine
Mariska
Glenda
Little Lights Mini Collection
And the Freedom Top Coat

I loved them all!! the Stardust is like Zoya Pixie dust! But not too similar. It does dry matte and textured but I find its more Opaque than Zoya! Glenda is a crackle ( I know...)!
And Mariska came in a summer set, I have to find the others! I will probably post all my Juleps in a collection post. I cannot wait for Winter to use all the Little Lights collection! I used the red in a flower mani, I will post that soon too!
Going back to the begining about Julep. I really hate that they changed their skip policy. I kinda can see why they did but that's one reason I unsubscribed from the service. You can only skip a box 1-3 times a year instead of whatever box you didn't want. And they are about $30 a box, a month!
I know it's nothing to complain about but that's my reason for it. I might become a Maven again but for now, I think I'm going to just see what colors they have I might want!
Here are the links:
http://www.julep.com/
http://www.julep.com/quiz/default/

Thanks for reading and have a great day!
OH!!! My color, Kayla...

Mini Nail Haul

I went to Wal Mart and Sally Beauty Supply the other day and they had a lot on sale!! I think that both store combined, I spent about about $20-$30!!
Which is awesome once you see what I got lol
I LOVE my husband so very much for letting me indulge!
I also ordered from Amazon. Which I put in my last post but will also include in this post, cause there was more in the order. Amazon was ordered last month and arrived this month.
Total online was under $10 including shipping.
(All pictures taken on my Galaxy S5)

Here is Wal Mart first:
Kiss Acrylic Set -
I have used several brands and products but this one is my fave so far. Not a bad price and great product!!
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Kiss-Complete-Salon-Acrylic-Kit-Salon-Results/10324104

Hard Candy Nail Polish - Fireworks
Love this glitter. It can be used as a top coat with 1 coat or a stand alone with 2-3 coats!
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Hard-Candy-Crystal-Confetti-Nail-Polish/23117154

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Lacey Lilac
Love!!!
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sally-Hansen-Hard-As-Nails-Xtreme-Wear-Nail-Color/17219567

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Blue-Away
The best light/powder blue I ever had!
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sally-Hansen-Insta-Dri-Nail-Polish/14551381

Maybelline Color show - Polka Dots
Blue Marks the Spot
Love this as well! It had a sheer blue base with black and white glitters in various sizes.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Maybelline-Color-Show-Polka-Dots-Nail-Lacquer-0.23-fl-oz/24241666

COVERGIRL Outlast stay brilliant nail gloss- Rouge Red
I got this for Fall. Its a beautiful red that looks a bit orange and had a ton of fine glitter. 2 coats for Opaque and for a more red look.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/COVERGIRL-Outlast-Stay-Brilliant-Nail-Gloss/21693641

And last (but not least lol)
SinfulColors- Nirvana
A beautiful brown/Taupe color. I also got this for Fall and Winter!
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sinful-Colors-Professional-Nail-Polish-Nirvana-0.5-fl-oz/24520318

Sally was a last minute stop for hair dye for my friend, and I found a Gel polish I wanted that was on sale...
FingerPaints Gel polish- Modern Motif
A beautiful blue! (I get a lot of blues lol)
http://www.sallybeauty.com/gel-polish-colors/FPAINT15,default,pd.html#prefn1=brand&prefv1=FPAINT&brandLandingPage=true&start=2

And then my amazon purchases:
15 Piece Brush and Dotting Tool kit - Under $5
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A363EPO/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
30 Piece Striping Tape - Under $3
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A76CPUA/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Great deals and products. I do like the brushes but had to glue several of them back onto the wooden stick. That happens and no big deal. I don't usually buy such small tape but thought to give these a try and the work good.

All in all, a great haul!! :)
Thanks for reading!

4th of July Nails

Here is what I did for my nails on the Fourth and I also did my daughters.
Everything I did was different on each nail and super easy!!
I am not a professional and I don't claim to be good. I just like nail art :)
Sorry for the quality of the photos. I can't take one handed photos with my phone lol
(And I still haven't figured out this blog and how to place pictures in it to look straight and have no huge gaps... If you could direct me to the right place to learn, thank you!!!)

Here they are and the polishes I used:

I used clear tips from my Kiss Acrylic set and my Gelish Gel manicure kit.
The tools I used were from amazon. I got the brush and dotting tool set for about $5.
I'll post links to all of those.


The polishes I used are:
Fireworks by Hard Candy
Navy Narcissist by Maybelline
White and Silver Stripes by Kiss
Red red by Wet 'N Wild Fantasy Makers
All polishes available at Wal Mart!

Here are the links I found:
Brush and Dotting tool set
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A363EPO/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Gelish Kit
http://www.sallybeauty.com/gelish-basix-kit/SBS-724840,default,pd.html
Gelish Lamp 
http://www.sallybeauty.com/led-curing-light/SBS-724860,default,pd.html
Acrylic kit for the tips
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Kiss-Complete-Salon-Acrylic-Kit-Salon-Results/10324104

Our 3rd Anniversary

This 4th of July was mine and my husbands 3rd wedding anniversary! We went to the river with our baby girl and had a blast with my brother setting up our new little pool for her. Then came the amazing fireworks! Everything went pretty well that day and we all had fun!
Other than that, not much has been going on. No news on the Saudi Arabia yet.
I went on a small nail haul the other day lol Got some much needed colors for the 4th and some others that were on sale and too cute to pass up (Will post later)! I thank my husband for letting me have two hobbies, I can't stop doing! Nails and Photography lol! Next, he's gonna make me a nail rack for the wall. We have a spare room coming up, once we clean it, and I'm hoping to turn it into a hobby/exercise room! Something like that! It gets some light from the windows but only on half the room. The other half has good light from the ceiling light. I figure the window half for photos and the darker part for nail stuff. And then all the extra space for whatever, like working out lol
I also figured since there is another spare room upstairs that he want to use and out garage, basement and attic... I can have this room! :)
I love photography and I always have. I'm better at that than my nails but still love to do those too.
I suppose its okay to only have too obsessions/hobbies. I guess I also paint but not much anymore...
Anywho, we got some more stuff from our storage in Madras, hence the cluttered spare room, and I'm going to be organizing a lot more this week!
Anyone have any ideas on how to keep a little pool clean without always draining the water? I use an old plastic kitchen strainer right now but it doesn't always get everything. I was thinking about using an old wire hanger and nylons?!
If you have any ideas, please comment down below! Thanks!!
On the some pictures lol

Thanks for reading and I hope you had a great 4th weekend!