Day 13 of Crumpets 31 DC - Cheer Yourself Up

I am going to apologize up front for the length of this post.  There is a lot that I want to share and say and I don't want to censure myself so I am laying it all out there!  If you don't want to read it all, just check the pics, as I am very proud of this mani.

 Yesterday saw two milestones at my blog.  Day 12 was my 50th post and I reached 40 GFC followers!  I love all my followers, including those who follow me through other mediums like Pinterest, Bloglovin, Facebook and email, but those GFC followers are the easiest to watch add up.  I know it is silly, but new followers make me happy and I check every single one of you out!  Know that I appreciate every single one of you and it blesses my heart that you are interested in what is at my finger tips.  I especially appreciate those of you who take the time to leave comments!  I love you all!  Now that I have cheered myself (and hopefully you), let me show you my Day 13 nails - Your cheer yourself up mani.

Bria was my nail model, once again.  Although there are many versions of this mani out there, my inspiration was came from this image HERE.  We watched our favorite Doctor Who episodes while I worked on this and got through about 4 episodes sans commercials, with breaks for dry time, food, and to give my back a break from leaning over (I need a better set up to do Bria's nails so I am not bent over the whole time).  For those who are mathematically talented, you can figure out how long this took.  It was worth every single moment.

I was happy with every nail except the tardis.  Such a small area to add good detail, and in real life it was hard to see how the black lines looked like against the dark blue background.  It looks much better IRL, as all the little flaws don't show as much.

This not only cheers me up, but Bria as well.  After it was all done I got an unrequested hug and even a kiss on the lips!  Those of you who know my Bria know that she is cognitively delayed and has some autistic traits, so she is not affectionately demonstrative.  I can count on one hand the times she has hugged me without request, and this just adds to the way this mani cheered me!  Here's some details on each nail.

I am showing you her pinky first because it was inspired by both my kiddos.  I didn't want to do a galaxy nail because I figured this was already going to be complicated enough.  I have yet to do galaxy nails, so those may be my day 17 nails.  Anyway, I was trying to figure out what to do and Bria said she would like a heart, since we love Doctor Who so much.  Good idea!  Then Devin (my son) started to pay attention and ask questions.  "What are you doing on each nail, Mom?"  After telling him, he said "You are going to put two hearts, right?".  "Two hearts, because we both love him?", I said.  "NO Mom....because Doctor Who has TWO hearts!".  GREAT idea!  Would never have come up with this without my son's amazing insight into our favorite character.  Luckily I had a Bundle Monster plate that already had two hearts on it.  Both my kiddos are, in the words of Doctor Who, BRILLIANT!  The base was two coats of China Glaze Fast Track (which I got at Sally Beauty in the discount bin this weekend for only $1.99!) and stamped with Sally Hansen Rapid Red and BM08.

 

 So this is my least favorite.  Even with my black striper, I couldn't get my lines as thin as I would like.  I guess my freehand is not as good as I would like yet.  The base was two coats of Orly Shockwave (which is much darker IRL than it is in the pic).  On to better stuff.

 

This is the nail I am most proud of!  Don't know why, I just am.  I started with a base of Ulta White Out.  Then I sponged with Essie Who is the Boss, Zoya Jo and Sinful Color Cinderella.  Lastly, I outlined the letters with my black striping polish and dotted with Ulta White Out at the top.  Doesn't look perfect in the pic, but IRL it does (the benefits/damnation of the macro setting).

 

 This one looks complicated, but was probably the second easiest to do.  One coat of Orly Solid Gold, black striper and flat sided gold balls from my Sally Hansen Christmas Embellishment wheel.  I actually glued these on with nail glue because Bria will be disappointed if any of them fall off.  We'll see how hard it is to remove them :)  Topped with Sech Vite to insure complete unremovability (spell check says that's not a word, but it is in my world :)

And lastly, the Eleventh Doctor's jacket and bow tie.  Oh my hansom Doctor, you make a bow tie look sooo good!  For this I started two coats of OPI Peace Baby, then bordered with Avon Touch of Taupe, a matte polish that perfectly looked like fabric, but once topcoated looked like a sparkly brown.  Oh well.  And I did want it to look like his jacket was open, but somehow just couldn't get a wide enough V.  Oh well again.  I still LOVE it all!  One last look?

Without Flash

Okay, I know it was long, but I have been smiling the whole time I have been typing this and I know it will cheer me every time I come back to this post (which may be often).  Now check all the other cheery manis.