Black Friday Exclusive Jams!

Today only you can get your Black Friday exclusive Jamberry designs and free shipping too! 

Here's my tutorial on applying Jams - they make great, affordable gifts.

I'm still hanging with the littles, but I'll be back tomorrow with new art. Happy shopping!

SHOP FOR JAMBERRY NAIL SHIELDS

Black Friday Jamberry and Giveaway!

I'm not normally a Black Friday Shopper. The last time I went out Black Friday shopping I went to Target for a gift for my then 2 year old son. I hung out in the far back of the parking lot until the mad rush of people had entered the store, then I ran straight back to...toys, where no one was shopping for half off toy trains oddly enough. I grabbed my Thomas the Tank Engine treasure and made a beeline straight to the checkout. I was in and out in ten minutes. The time before that I was very pregnant with the same child, and obsessed with adding rhinestones to the announcement holiday cards I was crafting so I stood in line at Joanns F-O-R-E-V-E-R...to buy five packets of bitty glue on rhinestones (this was pre-self adhesive sparkle days). Pregnancy induced insanity. Still shaking my head.

Normally on Black Friday I hole up in my stamp room with a bunch of Stampin' Friends and we crop the day away. This year I'll be missing my girlies while making some fun family memories instead - but I am planning to sneak a teensy bit of time to head over to Jamberry and stock up on some of these exclusive Black Friday only designs. Those Navy Blue Winter Morning florals are practically screaming my name! Best of all they count towards the buy 3 get one free special, which makes Jams a totally affordable holiday splurge. Oh my Icy Polkas!

While I'm there I might just have to sneak a peek at the Holiday gift sets, with four coordinating shields...I pulled this from Instagram...all my fav bold and graphic black and whites plus GLITTER in the Monochromania set? Or that sheet of pretty soft sparkly metallics in the Bella Romantica set? I don't know how I'll choose. I do love that I can decide from the comfort of my home!

To share the Jamberry love, anyone ordering in the month of November will be automatically entered into a drawing for a free sheet of Jams...yes, even you lovely ladies who already ordered this month. Good luck, brave shoppers. I'll have another slice of pie for you!

2 cute 2 spook!

I'm so excited! Today the new Jamberry catalog is here, and I just ordered up some new Jams for the fall! How cute are these Mummified Jams? I got the Jack-o-lanterns in the Juniors Sheet size, too. I won't be able to get 2 manis and 2 pedis out of a Juniors sheet, but it'll be enough to get a couple really cute manis for sure! You can check out the new Jams (and join my party) out at my Jamberry website. We'll be 2 cute 2 spook together!

CTMH Convention Jams

Y'all know how much I love my Jams! So when I was prepping my pack list for Walt Disney World and CTMH convention in June, I obviously needed some custom CTMH Jams, right? I designed these in Publisher and will be ordering then through the Jamberry Nail Art Studio next week on Friday. You want some too? Fab - I'm ready to share my mixed mani CTMH nail art!

I've got a couple of heart themed french tips, a CTMH love/heart stripe, a diagonal CTMH/Wish/Inspire/Memories stripe, and a black and red color block that is NOT Mickey pants, y'all. We are following the copyright rules here, ladies.

Since I would be ordering these for myself, I'm covering all the set up fees and shipping costs. I'm also planning to donate all profit over the cost of ordering and shipping the shields to Operation Smile, CTMH's awesome company cause. So if you want to get in on the CTMH Jamberry goodness, simply place your order through this Paypal button. Full sheets will do 2 full Mani/pedis, and Half sheets will do 1 mani/pedi. I'm getting two sets so I can wear them all through the month of June and enjoy my Convention excitement longer!

I'm only going to do the one group order for these, closing on Friday May 17th. If you want them after that, I will willingly share my design with you, but you'll have to pay the set up fees and shipping. Make sure you include your address on your paypal payment - I'll be re-mailing the shields out in a special Convention Jams only card for my CTMH Jamberry friends so you can apply them before WDW (or starting your convention week twitter stalking). I can hardly wait!

Squee!! I gotta have CTMH Convention Custom Jams, too!  

Choose your quantity! Orders due by May 17th. If you want more than one full sheet, please order more than once - I'll send you an email confirming your total number of sheets ordered.

ORDER CLOSED - SORRY! And hey - don't forget to enter my Friday Favorite Things giveaway for this week. It's one of my top ten things I love that are free!

Thanks to you...

Thanks to all of your lovely support and votes, I've made the Top Five in the Practical Scrappers Card Contest! The top five cards are all lovely, with fabulous stamping and interesting techniques. I feel honored to even be in the group, and I really appreciate the weeks of voting and kind comments from all of my Stamping Friends!

Here is the card I submitted for the final week of judging. There's no more public voting, as the lovely gals running the contest get to pick the winner. I made this card for Tamra Pope's awesome MHS swap (don't know her? Get thee to her amazing blog, STAT!) and liked it enough to make it my final assignment card. It's got (almost) everything I love on it = stamping, 3-D layered flowers, swirls, glitter, distressing and sanding...

You can't see it in the whole card photo, but there is a lot of detailed work on the stamping adding just a bit of shimmer to the flowers and sentiment. How did I do that, you ask? With one of my favorite tools, the Jelly Roll Stardust pen first introduced to me by the fabulous Diana Yockey. It picks up the color of whatever your are stamping and makes it every so perfectly shimmery!

I'm linking this card up to the 52 Card Pick up at the Old Back Porch and the Paper Issues Spring Into The Studio Linky Party!

The winner will be announced next Friday. In the meantime I'll be not thinking about it AT ALL while I finish taking care of my three little balls of fire, processing Consultant Kit Orders, prepping Monthly Memories Club for Friday, remaking my Butterfly Album sample for Team Stamp next weekend after sending my original off to CTMH in my Extravaganza application, and playing in the new Jamberry Custom Nail Art Studio. Check out the first sheet of custom Jams I made last week during a consultant preview - all with pics from my current papercrafting projects! How fun is that? Lots of gals are making them with their kid's art...but then I'd be stuck with Jams of Darth Vader and Ninja Turtle drawings...not so pretty!

Anyhow, off to finish updating the Shop my Stash page for my dear Canadian Stamping Friends. Have a fab weekend! 

Tuesday Tips

Check out my first layered Jamberry application! That fab Black Polka Dot on Clear went on OVER some Raspberry Sparkle to make a new combo nail. How fun is that? I just applied the Raspberry Sparkle first (heat, trim, file), then came back and applied the clear polka dot wrap right on top. It was easy peasy!

This is a messy Instagram pic, but I've been stamping up a storm in the Stamp Pad all weekend, and my fingertips are literally stained a pale Slate color that no amount of handwashing will remove right now. That Slate tint is accented by Lagoon and Cranberry splotches (a little sneak peek into my post for Blog Hop later this week!), so my hands are basically a wreck right now. But flip over and my Jams still look great, even after all the paint, ink, and handwashing! I thought maybe the double thickness on the layered Jams would peel up, but so far it's holding string a week later!

Can you tell I'm stoked about being able to alter my Jams...craftiness is an addiction, I tell ya! To celebrate this new Jamberry crafty manicure I'm giving away a 1/2 sheet of the Black Polka Dot on Clear Jams to two different lucky ducks this week on Friday! That's enough for a full Mani and Pedi!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can earn extra entries by sharing my giveaway and tweeting each day, too. Good luck to you, and check back for more art and a New Product Blog Hop coming later this week!

Jamberry Sale!

Good morning, Stamping Friends! I tend to be a jump in with both feet kind of gal, and a collector of pretty things...so I might, maybe, possibly have collected quite a stash of Jams!  So I'm clearing out my stash of Jamberry shields to make room for the new catalog that's coming in March. 

I am busily stamping away in my StampPad today, so this sale will be first paid, first served, and while supplies last. Email me with your choices (or pic requests) and I will respond asap with a paypal invoice or the pics you need. Enjoy!

Jamberry Sheets - $10 and No shipping! 

Teal Butterfly

Purple Fishnet

Black Chevron

MultiColored Chevron

Blue Chevron

Colorful Polka Dot

Autumn Flowers

Modern Floral (Aqua, Sunflower, Navy)

Teal Criss Cross

Orange and Black Horizontal Stripe

Blue Hexagon

Red White and Blue Stars

Decorative Blue

Decorative Black

Decorative Red

Black Horizontal Stripe

Taupe Rose

Tuesday Tips

Welcome to Tuesday Tips! I have to say that I'm in LOVE with the new Jamberry material - it's not just on a clear backing that makes sizing the shields to your nails easier, although that's great too.

The new material is thinner and now I'm not even heating them before applying! I just trim the shield in half, place it on my clean and prepped nail, apply a bit of heat from my heater to help smooth it out, trim and file. I am not needing to heat and reheat to smooth out the shields...and it's not like I thought the previous formulation was hard to apply, but these go on smooth as butter. I applied my test shields for this new minimal heat application on my pointer and ring fingers, and they lasted for a week with no lifting or bubbling! They would still be on my fingers only today I attended a Princess Teatime birthday party, so I needed something pink and girlie!

I chose the Pink and White Heart Collage with a Black Polka Accent nail. I know that my shields will last up to two weeks...but I find myself wanting to change them every week just so I can have the fun of changing up the design. I can't believe I'm seriously taking pics of my nails for y'all...but after a few months of Jams my nailbiting is history, and my cuticles are starting to look more smooth instead of chewed up and sad. 

Tomorrow I'll be back to share the birthday card I whipped up for Princess P's Birthday Tea Party!

Tuesday Tips + Retro Sketches Card

Three days in a row, Stampin' Friends - there's just so much goodness to share this month! Today I have a card based on this week's sketch from Retro Sketches. I used the In The Background sneak peek set again, this time inked in Tulip and Saddle inks. I layered a Cricut Art Philosophy shape over the stamped border (from Pear and Partridge...only 16 more days until that's retired and gone...sniff). I stamped that sentiment block using the Whoo's Your Valentine special stamp set and popped it up with 3-D Foam tape. I lined up my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder with the unstamped portion of the card and embossed only the bottom portion of the card. Red Glitter Gems, Bitty Sparkles, and Silver Metallic Pen were used to embellish the floral background stamping. I am gonna make a gob of these!

I'm linking this card to Make It Monday on An Original Belle - shoot over there to check out the cute craftiness!

Since today is Tuesday Tips, here's a shot of my current Jams. Since I'd replaced the pointers with the Grey Polka Dot sample of the new Jamberry thinner, even easier to stick on material, I figured I'd switch out the rest into a silver and gray theme using Diamond Dust Sparkle and Grey Plaid, a little more muted than the snowflakes my four year old kept complaining about...apparently he feels strongly that snowflake nails are only ok in December, lol.

If you need a sample, checkout my Facebook page for details in my post last Thursday on how to get yours. I loved the old Jamberry material, but this new stuff is fabulous! It heats up super fast and bonds to nails with much less smoothing and heat. I've updated my Application tutorial with extra tips now too!

Just a couple more days to enter my drawing for Friday Favorite Things this week - see ya back here soon!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday Tips!

Tuesday is going to be my Jamberry bloggin' day, which I've named Tuesday Tips, because alliteration makes everything better...kind of like glitter! Here's what I'm wearing this week - a little Snowflakes with a Diamond Dust Sparkle Accent nail. I did my toes in the Snowflakes, too. The Sparkle shields are like having glitter paper for your fingers - so fabulous, but without the cracking and flaking off action of my beloved glitter nail polish ! After I was done, I was giving my four year old a thumbs up. He sighed and said, "Mom, don't you know that Christmas is over?" After I got done giggling with him, I told him snowflakes are for all winter long...as my wreath project I'll post later this week will attest!

There is so much amazing change happening for Jamberry this month. I made a little list of some of the changes announced so far this month - they say next week's announcement saves the best for last!

1. All shields are moving to a clear backing - hooray! That makes for much easier sizing!
2. They have made the adhesive even stronger bonding. I already get a fabulous hold, so I can't wait to see how these stick!
3. The vinyl material going forth will be even thinner - I cannot wait to get this new format on my fingertips!
4. There's a new Style Sister's Shield of the month - this month it's a deep oxblood accented with a gold star.
5. There's a new Hostess only shield available each month. How sweet is that Emerald hounds-tooth gonna look on your tips in March?
6. There's new and even more generous Hostess rewards! You can request a party (online or in person if you are local) on my Jamberry website!

That's my Tuesday tip for this week. See ya back here for more glittery goodness soon!

Friday Favorite Things Winner!

Good morning, Stampin' Friends! Congratulations to the winner of this week's giveaway for a free sheet of Jams, the fabulous Starr N.! Above you can see my current holiday Jams in Holiday Lights and Red Polka Dot...and a pudgy little 6 year old hand from my helper, Gabe, who is fascinated by Jamberry and often wears just one on a finger for the weekend at home when his friends can't see...good thing he doesn't read my blog! 

I hope to have a new art post for you soon - I'm working on the finishing touches for a new workshop kit! In the meantime though, Jamberry has announced they are going to open the vault for a new sale like the one we all loved on Cyber Monday! Super low prices and adorable retired patterns that went away before I even knew that Jamberry existed...woo hoo!

I found this graphic depicting the retiring shields...I'll be stalking me some Small Hearts and Grey/Orange Chevrons. If you did the Cyber Monday Sale you know how much fun it's going to be! Jamberry puts up one design at a time in a limited number until it sells out, then post another until it sells out. Some of them went so fast you didn't have time to refresh your screen...and others not so much. The shipping on the special sale is free(!) which is great because you want to check out for each shield as fill your cart (or it'll disappear - it's not yours until you've checked out). If you want to play along, you might want to go out and create your Jamberry account online before the sale. You can do that without making a purchase so that checking out during the sale will go more smoothly!

December has not been a great month personally for us with our steady stream of health setbacks, (2!) car accidents, the gluten disaster and subsequent loss of our beloved preschool co-op...but this week everyone is healthy again (phew!), Christmas is almost here with family coming to stay (yea!), a new CTMH catalog shipment (yippee!), and now a Jamberry super sale (woo hoo!). Life is good!

My heart is lighter, my fingertips are cute, and there is glitter all over my current project that I cannot wait to share with you. Peace, Love, and Joy, Stampin' Friends...

Jamberry Giveaway!

OK I was all set to post a CTMH giveaway for Friday Favorite Things this week when I suddenly realized that I just hit my first Jamberry Fast Start bonus goal! Just Two weeks and two days after I started!

I can't  tell y'all how very grateful I am for your support and I hope you are all enjoying your fabulous new nails! To celebrate I'm going to give away a set of Nail Shields (your choice!) this week on Friday. Just comment below with which set you would choose. 

Good luck - I've got to get back to stamping more Thank You cards!

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Jamberry Tutorial and a Giveaway

 I've got two tutorials for those of you who were waiting, depending on your attention span. At the top is a slide show with quick tips. Under that is the same photos but with step by step commentary on my experience applying Jamberry. I've added this to a permanent page on the blog for future reference as well! 

I'd like to take a second and thank all of you for your amazing support of this new adventure I'm starting. Since we are a crafty bunch, handmade thank you cards (with sample shields for practice purposes) were mailed off to you this morning. I you, fabulous Stampin' Friends!

OK - I need you to remember these are my real nails - and I am notoriously hard on them. I've never really taken care of my hands. I am about as far from a hand model as you can get. I was more of a once or twice a year manicure gal...right before CTMH convention in the summer or maybe for my hubby's holiday party if I could find the time. I just couldn't see the point when I was just gonna ruin them in a day or two!  I'm so thankful that now I have Jamberry for fun, affordable, adorable nails that I can do myself when it's convenient for me and my family. Now, let's get our Jamberry on, ladies!

Supplies Needed

• Nail Shields
• Sharp Nail scissors
• Nail File
• Buffer (Fine for natural nails, coarser for acrylic)
• Orange Stick or Rubber Tipped Cuticle Pusher
• Nail Polish Remover or Rubbing Alcohol
• Heat Source - Hair Dryer, Rice Bag, or this Lasko Heater
• Tweezers (Optional)

1. File your tips, push back your cuticles, and lightly buff/sand the tops of your nails beds to give the shields more texture to stick to your nails. Acrylic nails will need a coarser buffer, but natural nails just need a gentle, fine buffer.

2. Clean your prepped nails with polish remover or rubbing alcohol to dehydrate the nail bed a bit and remove filing dust. Some gals wash their hands with Dawn before applying. I haven't had to do that. I do use 100% acetone to clean them.

3. Trim the size you need out of the sheet, allowing just a little more than you need to get to the tip of your fingernail. This will save more material for more manis! I can usually do 2-3 nails out of each shield by trimming carefully, which is how I'm getting a complete mani/pedi from 1/2 a sheet! Don't forget you can trim the sides if needed to fit on your nailbeds.

4. Use tweezers to save your fingers if you have some. Heat each shield with your preferred heat source until it's floppy. The softer and floppier, the better your application will go. Stick it on and smooth it out. Add more gentle heat to the shield on your finger and continue to smooth. I like to use a rubber tipped cuticle pusher to help with this. Reheat as needed to get the smooth application you want.
Note - I love this Lasko Heater so I can work with two hands the whole time and not have to balance my hair dryer on the counter. Some gals prefer the quieter rice bag method. You make a rice bag by sewing a little pouch out of material and filling it with a few spoonfuls of rice. Sew it shut, nuke it for 30-45 seconds, and you can use that as your heat source to apply the shields quietly while watching TV with the hubster - no noise, no smell!

5. Gently heat the tip again and pull/stretch the excess material at the tip to tightly adhere the tip of the shield to your nail. I stretch it in the center as shown, and on each side to be sure I'm good and stuck down all the way across the tip. Double check the sides and keep heating and gently stretching until you are happy with the smoothness.

6. Trim the excess with sharp scissors very close, right along your tips. Use a file to smooth the edges if needed, using a downwards motion, not back and forth.

Wait an hour or so before applying Cuticle oil or submerging your hands in the dishwater for a huge amount of time so the bond has a chance to really set. They are "dry" immediately of course...and I'm honestly not so good with the waiting period sometimes, but it's what's recommended.

To remove the shields I just reheat them a little bit and slowly peel them off. Sometimes there's leftover adhesive, so I'll clean my fingers with the polish remover and go again! They say if the shields aren't coming off you can soak in some acetone before removing, but I've never had that problem. They stay on until I feel like peeling them off, easy peasy!

I was slower my first time, but now I can do both hands in about 15 minutes! Do you love the Red Accent nail? I'm going to need more of those Red Polka dots for sure!

Ready for that giveaway? BTW - I'll be back to Friday Favorite Things crafty giveaways next week (yea!!) and I'm working on a new cash and carry area with stamps and kits too - woo! For this week, while I get back on schedule with my scrapbooking, I'm giving away a special sheet of Jamberry snowmen shields! You can't buy these, only get them by hosting a party or right here through my Rafflecopter giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hope you are having a joy-filled December!