Some design...

I think this week is the first time I've been truly surprised and happy with the nail polish I dragged out of the back of my bookcase. Because this week, I pulled out "It's All Greek to Me" which is my all-time favourite colour. Along with Pistol Packin' Pink, which is less beloved, but does work well with the other.

 And when I say this is my favourite colour, if you made me choose from all the bottles I have (and believe me, there are many bottles to come) this is the one colour I could never do without. Admittedly, I would prefer it if you didn't make me choose...

 I was also happy because these colours work well together. I've been a bit tired of clashing colours that I can't even wear on the same hand, let alone the same nail. And I also got a bit tired of one colour on one hand. I can't remember the last time I limited myself in that way. So I wanted to do something different - something new - and these colours were perfect!

 One of my friends sent me a link to a nail polish blog a few weeks ago, and they had some nice simple designs that I had never thought to do before. Admittedly, I didn't think I would be doing them any time soon - especially with the colours I have been dragging out lately. But I realised this week was perfect. First I covered all my nails in Pistol Packin' Pink (2 layers).

Then I just used one layer of It's All Greek to Me and painted it diagonally across the top of the nail. Technically I should have used tape of something to make it neat, but I'm a bit impatient like that. And I have to say - I love it! the colours work well together and my nails look fancy and funky at the same time. Honestly, I'll be hard pressed not to do this style all the time now...

Lucky Dip

Otherwise known as "the challenge, week 5". I went with 'the lucky dip' because it is very much like putting my hand in and seeing what I'll get. And quite scarily, I often get a surprise!

On my left hand this week is a colour that came as a rather big surprise. I remembered that I had it - it's a sort of red/maroon/burgundy - but I had forgotten what it is called. The name has practically come off the sticker, but I can still read it. And imagine my surprise when I discovered it was named after one of my favourite cities - this week, on my left hand, is Edin-burgundy.

Not the best colour, I have to say. I love red, but I prefer reds that shimmer or sparkle - this one is a creme, so it does neither. And I know from experience that this one is not fun to get off. The red just goes everywhere and stains my fingers until I have spent ages wiping everything in sight with nail polish remover.

On my right hand, is the much more favoured Don't Socra-tease Me. Unlike the red, this is a great colour! I suppose you could call it coral or melon or something, but basically it's an orange with a pink shimmer. It's from the Greek collection and it is an amazing colour. It also won't stain my fingers when I try to remove it on Saturday.

What I do love about owning Edin-burgundy (and believe me, this is the only thing) is the fact that I managed to buy nail polishes named after the two cities I have lived in. I am not sure how many more colours I have named after cities, but I suspect they might give me some indication of where I should move next...

 .....

And now for Week 6 - I meant to post this two weeks ago now, but what with one thing and another, I didn't get the pictures uploaded until yesterday. And as the next lot of colours were so uninspiring, I didn't really want to give them their own blog. So they have to  piggyback onto Edin-burgundy.

 Week 6 was a very boring week. I pulled out an iridescent white, called "Think it's Pink? Pastel" and a nude called "Embrace".

 And honestly, nude is the best word for Embrace. It left my right hand looking like I didn't even bother painting it. I alternated the pinky nail just for something different, but honestly, I shouldn't have bothered. It just made me look a little lax with my nail polish.

A crafty intermission cont...

So I have come to a decision about what to do with my metres of French Knitting! I realised, recently, that what I really wanted was some type of jewellery hand to put all my bangles and rings on. I have somehow amassed quite a few of both, but because of my total disorganisation, I can never get to them and don't wear anything as often as I should.

Originally, I was going to crochet a glove, stuff it with...stuffing...and tada, a hand. But I realised, that instead of that, I could wind the French Knitting around a cylinder and make a wrist-like thing from that. So I got a cardboard tube (from the middle of the paper towels) and I cut slits in both ends, and then proceeded to expand the ends, to make them more wrist-like. The original plan was to have the wrist and into the bottom of a hand.

However, this was a lot more difficult than I first anticipated and it took me ages to get the cardboard to stick out in the way it was meant to. I then realised that I had nothing to put on top of the wrist, so how could I stuff it? What would I cover it with?

As for sewing the french knitting together - so annoying and time consuming. Unless you're incredibly lazy like me. I just sewed thread straight up and down through all the rings of the knitting, about an inch apart. Of course, it doesn't hold well together, but I'll figure that out later.

But back to covering it - I went back to my 'crochet a glove' plan. So I found some cotton to match the top of the wrist, and then I started crocheting a glove pattern I had, from just below the thumb. I'm not sure yet how it's going to look, but I am quite hopeful that it will work. And if not, I'll pull it out and start again.

A Crafty Intermission

Originally, this was meant to be a craft/ice cream/nail polish blog, and recently I have been very slack on both the craft and the ice cream. The ice cream is forgiveable as, until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't actually got out my ice cream maker, but ignoring my craft is not on.

I have been very crafty since I got back - I finished a pile of embroidery panels that my mum needed for a quilt she's working on. It's only taken me about 8 years to do it. Mainly, however, I have been French Knitting.

I bought a French Knitting Spool when I was in Edinburgh - it was shaped like a bug or something - but I never found out how to use it. When I got home, I was suffering pretty badly from the jetlag. I didn't have a computer I could use, so I would spend a lot of time sitting in front of the TV, and every afternoon, around 3, I would fall asleep. I would then continue to doze off all evening. The first week was especially bad, but it took a while to wear off. So to help me out, I decided I needed a craft. I had no crochet I was desperate to do, and I don't really need another knitted scarf, so I started French Knitting.

And after a couple of days - I finally figured out how to do it.

The problem with French Knitting, however, is that...well...it's a long, thin tube. A bit like...this...

This is actually so long that if I stand on my back veranda (which is reasonably high) and hold this over the edge, it drags on the ground. Unfortunately, in French Knitting terms, it's not really long enough to do anything with. I did discover, however, that it would make a great arm warmer/fingerless glove.

Unfortunately, I've run out of spare thread, so I can only have one. Have to think of something else to do with it really...

The Challenge (Wk 4)

It occurs to me that I will have to start varying the titles again, because I am going to lose track of how many weeks I am into this, and "The Challenge" could just get a bit boring, title-wise, before you know it. Though, honestly, I don't know of any greater challenge you could put me through than to give me immense variety of nail polish (especially after a year of 6 bottles) and only allow me to paint my nails a couple of colours at a time...

Though, like I said, I love the surprise and the fact I don't have to make a choice. I am a bit worried though, that I will just miss some nail polish as I have various hiding places.

This week was the first where I have really pulled out colours that don't really work together. It also seems to be the first week without any white, which is a minor miracle in itself. This week I got brown and orange...

 Honestly, I'm not sure if brown is quite the right word to describe this. It's brown with a tinge of pink when it hits the light. But I stand by the fact that that is orange.

 Just because I know this is blurry - the 'brown' is called Niagara Falls for OPI and the orange is Bet It All on OPI, rather appropriate for the week of the Melbourne Cup. Though, obviously, completely accidental.

 I put these on separate hands because the orange is bright and vibrant and something I would wear when I want to feel vibrant.

But the 'brown' on the other hand, is kinda classy. So something I would wear if I was going out, and wanted my nails to look nicer than usual. Or something I would wear in the colder months - autumn especially. Honestly, right now I feel like my hands are suffering from some type of split personality...