How not to do nail art...

I've been getting a bit overexcited lately, what with finally having nails that aren't bitten down to the nail bed, so I have been reapplying my nail polish probably every three days to keep it looking fresh. But I've only bought one colour so far since I've stopped biting my nails as I have bottles of nail polish at my family home that I've never been able to wear! I'm excited to be reunited with them.
In the mean time I did a polka dot nail art thing using a tooth pick and a white polish borrowed from my friend. It came out okay but I got impatient as always so it smudged all over the place.

 It turns out I shouldn't get too over confident with my ability to pain nails as white proved really hard to look neat!

For a change I decided to remove the polka dots and use sticky tape on the bottom 2/3 of my finger nail, leaving the top exposed (the white tip) I then painted with a very rough hand, splodges of pink. The sticky tape would make sure that it didn't matter how neat or messy I applied, it would always come out neat.
Well I got over excited, applied it too thick, didn't let coats dry between and it was just a generally messy time.

If you've ever seen a more hideous attempt let me know!

The Lady of Shallot

I went to a museum and was struck by the size of this beautiful painting, it was huge, I loved the small details in it, like the quilt draped over the boat, the candles, the wreath in her hair, the isolated magpie and golden detailing on her sleeve.

So I wondered what story is behind this?

I read, and it's like a magical fairy story, or a dark and twisted Disney Princess story, so I decided today, or tonight if it's night when you're reading this could be story time.

I'm going to tell you the sotry of the lady of Shallott...

The Lady of Shallot lives in a castle but is cursed by a myserious curse. Her curse means that she cannot look out into the real world, she must only see the world through a mirror. Instead she weaves images into her loom all day long and only glances out her window through a mirror to watch people pass by. But one day 'Sir Lancelot' rides by looking all bold, courageous and wonderful- the Lady of Shallot sees him, she could not help herself but to glance outside at him. The mirror cracks all over and she knows that the effects of the curse are upon her. Knowing her fate, she leaves her tower to find a rowing boat and sits in it, letting it float down the river. She arrives at Camelot where Sir Lancelot sees her body in the boat and says "God in his mercy lend her grace"

I didn't tell you that it was a happy story... maybe I should have warned you. If they made this into a Disney film I'm sure the prince would have found a way to break the curse!

The picture is really famous, I feel very lucky to have seen it in the flesh, it's so wonderful I wish I had a wall big enough to display it!

"What'cha Geisha up to?"

I remember being around 12 or 13 years old and deciding that I might quite like to be a geisha when I was older!
I always had a bit of a 'thing' for the oriental culture and I remember my mum buying me lots of pairs of 'silky' feeling oriental pyjamas, with gold stitching of the special writing and special gold toggle fastenings and lanterns that I'd hand from my ceiling, and the red fans to choreograph dances- they were so fun and fancy when I think back!
My nan got me a pair from the charity shop and they came in a red silky case with matching red silky slippers with shite fluff edging and gold stitching. They came from somewhere very unexotic like Marks and Spencers I think, but they ignited my passion to be a Geisha!

They're walking works of art, down to their makeup, wonderfully luxurious clothes, the way they speak, walk, sit, eat- everything! Who wouldn't want to go to parties for a living?

I read an anthropoligst research book on Geisha's that somewhat revealed that it's not all fun and games as I thought... but my love for Geisha lives on!

So, since all my walls are white and blank, I feel as though I'm old enough to invest in some real lovely art, rather than my posters from teenhood!

I tried to describe to a local artist (and friend) what I wanted- I sounded a lot like this
"I sort of want a geisha portrait....with blue skies...a parasol and kimono... pretty....and red lips"
from my jibberish, she recreated exactly what I wanted, as though it had just fell out of my brain onto a canvas.

I'm  trying to cosy on down in my bed but I can't stop looking at how beautiful she is!

It's fun to surround ourselves with beautiful things that can sweep us away to wonderful dreams...

Sister, Sister

Today was my sisters birthday, so we drove on down to see my sister!

One & only and favourite sissy! (She had not been awake long when I arrived and as you can tell, less amused by a camera lens in her face)

She got this fanciful picture of shoesies! All in a pretty and modern frame to jazz up her house! We both agreed pictures like this are way more fun than modern art where you can't distinguish anything specific, just fragments of 'what might be'

 

You are never too old for a Colin Catterpillar cake!

Just wanted to show you these lil' chicks in the mail this morning! They made me laugh so much, the one in the middle on the floor looks as though he went through some real trauma in the post! 

I love spending days with my sissy! It's not like when we were younger and would get to see each other every day! We had a fun day of shopping and picking a pretty dress for her to wear to a wedding, and then we ate lunch at one of our favourites 'Cafe Rouge'

I love wonderful and sunny Saturdays, and Birthdays!!

Cakes can be art too!

My beautiful friend makes to most incredible cakes, they are so delicious and cute- with iddy bitty icing detail so perfect it looks like it's been modeled from clay.

The most amazing part is that she's had no professional training, she just taught herself!

But she has oodles of talent and creativity, I hate having to cut into beautiful cakes like these...

I love the detail on the motorbikes- that would be so fiddly and need such a steady hand!

My favourite part of these is the iddy bitty rubber ducks! They're so cute, and the ruffly icing- I never saw ruffles in icing before!

I love how this compiles so many of Gagas looks, with a little icing version of her shaking her hiney!

Does this remind anyone else of a real life Farmville! The perfect little rows of cabbage and the white picket fence, so dreamy!

I sure hope these pictures made your day a little sweeter! Personally, it's gotten me hungry for cake...

Which ones your favourite? Mine is the last one, the perfect garden!