Nail art 101

 So with having a little to much time on my hands today, I decided to have a little bit of fun with my nails. I think with a bit more practice this may be one of my new favorite ways to polish them.

Here's what you need-
-Scotch Tape
-2 or 3 different colors of polish that all blend well together
-Top coat
-Scissors

Step 1: File nails to the desired shape that you like to keep them. Then apply one coat of what will be your base coat. I would choose the lightest color out of your 2-3 chosen colors. I used a white with sparkle in it.

Once that is applied you will need to let this dry completely before moving on.

Step 2: cut strips of the scotch tape as thick or as thin as you like (1 for each finger) and apply them to your nail in the design you desire. I did diagonal placements on my nails with a medium thickness of tape. Be sure to leave yourself a tab so that you have a easy way to pull the tape off later.

Step 3: Once the tape is applied to each finger and pushed down firmly you can begin to polish. I chose a red glitter and a black glitter polish  so that I could have 3 total colors once finished. I then did 1 coat of red on the bottom of each nail followed by a black coat then immediately applied coat 2 of the red and then coat 2 of the black. As soon as I had both coats applied I immediately removed the tape strips before the polish dried. I pulled the tape towards me and did so very slowly.

 I learned that glitter polish is harder to work with as it is much thicker and makes it harder to keep the lines straight and solid. if you were to use a polish without glitter I feel that this would be much easier to accomplish on the first try. Once the polish was mostly dry I then applied a good topcoat and removed the excess polish from the shin around my nails.

 All in all this kept me very amused and looks pretty fun. You have endless possibilities in designs depending on your tape placement and polish choices :)

 

Minion Cupcakes

 After being invited to a football party my brother requested that I brought with me some Minion Cupcakes that he has seen plastered all over the internet. Partly because they are awesome, and partly because I think he wanted to give me the biggest challenge possible trying to transport them 2 hours in my car to his place. Here is how I did it.

What you will need:
-Cupcake mix
-Eggs
-Oil
-Cupcake baking pan
-Twinkies and/or Milano cookies
- Black and white icing in a container with a fine tip
-Sprinkle eyes (optional)

 So I did two types. I made Funfetti cupcakes topped with Twinkies AND Orange cupcakes topped with orange mint Milano cookies. Start by mixing your cupcake mix and putting them in the oven. I try to fill the cups only just over 1/2 way so that they don't raise to high in the oven so I have a flat surface for my minion to sit on. While I had the cupcakes baking I started my minion assembly line

 

 

 I started by cutting 3 Twinkies in halves to give me 6 minions. I used my black and white icing to draw on faces and hair. Its suggested to use Eyeball sprinkles to make them more realistic, but I was on a time crunch so I just did it with all icing in a pinch. I tried to make all the faces look different. I also took 6 of my Milano cookies and kept them whole. On the upper top half of the cookie I created faces as well.

 

 Once the cupcakes were baked and had cooled down and all my minions were ready it was time to put it all together. The Twinkie minions are easiest because all you have to do is heavily ice the cupcake and it will stick right on there with no problem. The Milano cookies are a little more effort but still simple. I took a tester cookie that I wasn't using to get an idea of how much I needed to cut out of the center of the cupcake. I cut a small slit into the cupcake, then I iced the cupcake and slid the cookie into its hole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I went to the grocery store and purchased one of their cupcake carriers that they sell their cupcakes in and TAADAAAAAAAAAA, perfection and a safe home to transport the minions during the road trip! I can't say one minion was more popular than the other at the party, but I personally preferred the cookie over the twinkie.

 

 Sadly, even though they did survive the trip in the car without any problems... after a few beers they did not survive a kitchen disaster death, not to mention being eaten alive ;)