A peak into my Sketch book. . .

I did the above two during October 2011.  I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!  It was really fun to work on these as the holiday got closer.  The clean lines really make it pop.  Still can't bring myself to color Frankenstein; maybe I'll do it one day. 

I did the ambigram above for my best friends brother, Jamie.  He asked me to draw some type of tribal design with his daughters name for an upper arm tattoo.  I've done a tattoo design in the past for a class mate and was really honored Jamie trusted me with little direction.  He hasn't inked it yet but is absolutely thrilled with the end result.  Yaaaaaa!!!!

"What goes around comes around" is a saying I use constantly and saw it as a tattoo on Pink's wrist.  Immediately I fell in love with it.  This is just my slightly different version for in case I ever decide to ink it on myself. 

The Unicorns are still a work in progress.  One of the girls I work with mentioned she wants to have one on her lower back.  So of course I offered to draw something up for her.  We're still trying to figure out exactly what she wants. But, it's been fun so far. 

Coma Coma Coma Chameleon

My Aunt D came to visit during the loss of our Aunt Margie and she brought some polishes for everyone to look through and match with their outfit.  Yes, even in the face of death we're one of those families :)  She had this shade by Chameleon that has like an oil spill effect.  On the nail it didn't have enough green for me so I added the lime green by China Glaze.  The name "Chameleon" was the inspiration for the design.  I just realized there's silver in the picture.  I was going to use that color for the lizard but it didn't look as nice as the black. So you can just ignore that. 


First: paint entire nail purple.  Immediately paint the top third of nail green
Second: cover with top coat while colors are still a little wet.  This helps them blend together more
Third: WHEN COMPLETELY DRY draw lizard design with Sharpie.  Allow 10-15min to really dry otherwise top coat makes the marker bleed
Fourth: cover with top coat

R.I.P. Margie

My Great Aunt Margie passed away this week and I wanted to do something for her.  She was always a women I looked up to because she knew exactly who she was and never apologized for it or tried to be anything else.  She and I are Catholics so I felt rosary beads would be the most appropriate. 


First: paint entire nail black
Second: using two different size brush ends make a curve of white dots.  This gives the  necklace effect
Third: using the smaller brush end, carefully make small crosses in lower corner of nail.  *You can see on the pinky nail it's basically an "X".  On the larger nails I was able to make the horizontal line closer to the top which makes for a better cross. 
Fourth: cover with top coat

Catch a Cheetah by the toe. . . nail

I had originally painted my nails with the hot pink and intended to leave them that way.  After a day I had to pout something on them haha.  The cheetah pattern is something I've been working at with no luck till today :) Using a lighter version of whatever the base coat is as circles really gives the design dimension and pulls off the desired look.  The pink is much brighter in person. I'm disappointed with the photograph and think I'm going to use a bright green next time.


First: paint entire nail Hot Pink. Or any color really
Second: using black polish, I used a sharpie for more control, make small ameba shapes and then half circles in the empty spaces
Third: use the back end of a paintbrush to add contrast color dots on one outer edge of each ameba shape
Fourth: seal with top coat

Luck of the Irish

It's the week of Saint Patrick's Day and my office is throwing a client appreciation day this Thursday.  It's a party to celebrate our amazing clients and the fun day of St. Patty.  Obviously, four leaf clovers and gold were the only option for this week!

First: paint nails with gold glitter.  I used Sally Hansen Salon Effects gold strips

Second: cover with clear coat to protect strips. Or base coat of gold polish

Third: draw four leaf clovers with black thin point sharpie. The outline gives the clover more dimension and structure

Fourth: use paint brush to fill in clovers with green polish

Fifth: cover with clear coat

Blue me Away

I had the joy of having the day off today.  After some yard work I decided it was time to change my nails up. I wanted to do something that would match my navy blue work shirt.  So, I took the obvious choice of . . . navy blue haha.  The flowers turned out better than I expected and I was able to use my pearls again!!!!! Yyyeeeeeee!!!

First: paint ring fingers white.  When dry cover with clear coat.  (This prevents the blue flowers from running when final clear coat is added)

Second: paint remaining nails blue

Third: (one at a time) place a drop of blue polish on white nail

Fourth: (quickly) using fine paintbrush, drag polish outward to create petals.  Don't worry about the flowers not looking perfect.  The smudgy-er they look the better the overall effect. 

Fifth: When completely dry paint with clear coat.  Add pearls if you like. The design works w/o them too. Then cover with another layer of clear coat. 

Roses-R-Red. . . or Orange

A design similar to this one was sent to me by my good friend Jessi.  I altered it slightly.  Adding the white stripes to the pink nails and not adding leaves to the roses.  Also, I had hoped the color would have photographed better.  I used a red sharpie to be more precise and it turned out a little orange.  It did look better in person however. 

First: paint every other nail pink

Second: paint remaining nails white

Third: using white polish pen draw vertical stripes on pink nails

Fourth: using red sharpie draw roses in circular choppy motions.  This gives the appearance of roses w/o being to exact

Fifth: Cover with clear coat