neopolitan ripple baby afghan

Hello there! Today I'm bringing you a crochet post.

I've recently gotten back into the swing of crocheting again, now that summer vacation is near I will finally have the time to start lots of new projects and get back to work on some older ones.

Today I'm going to showcase one of the three baby afghans I made last summer. I found out in fall 2010 that I was going to become an aunt to two little girls! I have to brothers who are a year apart, and their daughters are two months apart. The first blanket I made for Cecilia is a simple, small, granny square using bright cotton yarn. My brother didn't find out the gender for Cecilia, so I made her blanket gender neutral but still vibrant and pretty!

The younger of my two brothers, however, found out that he was having a little girl! Trinity was born on July 2nd, 2011, and this is the afghan I made for her.

I decided on the Neopolitan colour scheme because my sister-in-law is a fan of brown/neutrals, and this way there's still a splash of pink for the little girl! I crocheted this length wise, and it felt like it took an eternity. The foundation chain was originally supposed to be the width, but I wound up making it way way way too big. I wanted to make the afghan a bit bigger than a baby blanket, so that she could still cuddle up with in when she's a bigger girl!

I wish I'd taken to keeping track of the sittings and hours it took to make my crocheted pieces. This is something I'll have to remember to do in the future!

 I had just barely learned how to make a ripple afghan using straight rows of double crochet. This is a pattern creating a series of triangles, to make a lacier effect. My grandmother and mother taught me this pattern from memory, and I've since made another baby blanket with the same pattern, as well as started one for myself!

 I love the lacy effect the stitches have thanks to the dc, ch, dc series of triangles!

Be prepared to see a pattern soon-- I've been working on writing one out!
What do you think? The cotton yarn is still surprisingly warm, and I've been told the girls love to feel the texture of their blankets.

Tomorrow I have my last two final exams, and then it's off for summer vacation! You'll hear from me again at the end of April.

good luck cookies

This morning I had my first of four final exams for the Winter 2012 semester at school. Know what that means? Summer vacation is less than a week away! Just three terrifying tests between me, and a nine day vacation to see my nieces!

But, how cruel is it that my first final is on Friday the 13th? We had such good weather this week I literally spent an entire afternoon crocheting adorable dishcloths on the porch. Bought a new dress, went to a bridal shower, played with my cat. Watched a LOT of True Blood, don't get me started. And then, last night I studied.

But, when I decided it was time to take a break i made a simple risotto for dinner, and used up the scraps of my baking supplies on these cookies. These cookies are phenomenal, everything you want out of an oatmeal chocolate chip. They're soft, gooey and perfect with milk.

After the clock rolled over to midnight it felt like all the evil friday the 13th bad luck, and this morning it really seemed like the day was out to doom me. But, after my allergies cleared up things didn't seem so bad! It was rainy and gloomy all morning, and now the sun is starting to shine, and I'm thanking these cookies.

these are my good luck cookies, because they make perfectly every time!

 They're so good I hardly have any pictures, they were eaten up so quickly!

Bright floral nails

Today I have an interview with my university's newspaper. I'm applying to be the payrolled Copy Editor, and it's pretty exciting for me! I can actually remember editing the current Editor in Chief's articles when I was but a volunteer. So now, I am studying away the style guide as I'll have to edit an article as a test part of my interview.

This is really exciting for me! This year was my first as a Communications Studies Major with an English minor. My passion is print media and I want to make a career out of it once I leave university-- hopefully this interview will go well and it'll be my first step towards my future!

Today I have a quick post of some floral nails I did yesterday in my spare time, inspired by Rebecca's. We've had several warm and sunny days here on the island, but today there is a snow storm. it is ridiculous. These nails have been cheering me up, and hopefully they make an impact in my interview!

Sorry for the poor quality of these cell phone pics :s

Colours used:
OPI - Did it on Em (background)
OPI - Pink Friday
OPI - Red Lights Ahead... Where?
China Glaze - Four Leaf Clover
And Seche Vite top coat, and OPI Nail Envy for base!
hope you like them :)

Nail Art Contest, first entry!

I've always been much too shy in terms of my nail art to really put myself out there and have it all on display. Obviously, I have a lot of learning left to do, and my pictures probably leave a bit to be desired (my boyfriend took these two pictures! He was being grumpy and rushed me).

My friend Rebecca, as many of you know, has a popular nail art blog (almost 3000 followers, wow!) and she had decided to host a nail art contest. So, I've really tried this time! I'm not certain if many will like my entry or if it will win, but since the theme was Rebecca's favourite things, I decided to go all out. I'd like to think I know Rebecca pretty well, and short of putting Jared Padalecki on my nails, I figured these were the next best things!

So in the nail art contest entry post Rebecca cites the theme as being "her favourite things", some of which include: gradients, animal print, bows, dots, and hello kitty. I decided to use Rebecca's three favourite colors, which are really easy to figure out, even just by looking at her blog layout. Teal, purple and pink! They became the base of my manicure.

I also have experience with skittles, and know how much Rebecca likes them, too! I would post a link to one of her entries about skittles as proof, but it is not working for me right now :)

I also know that Rebecca loves glitter, and with all these things in mind I set out and created this!

It's disappointing that you can't see the holographic effect on my pinky finger. I created a glitter gradient on my thumbs, freehanded the bow on my middle finger with a two-way nail art pen, and hope that the kitty on my pinky can be considered 'animal print' hahaha.

(I'm so sad about my cuticles in this picture :( stupid boyfran!)

My right hand sees another glitter gradient, a cameo by miss kitty!, a polka dot gradient that I am actually pretty proud of, holographic cheetah index, and another little free-handed bow on my pinky. I like this one especially because the bow reminds me of string that people tie around their fingers as reminders!

I hope Rebecca likes my entry, I hope some others do as well. I was really proud of what I had created, it just had to survive a day at work without getting messed up before I took pictures.

So that's my entry! Here's a list of polishes used:
Essie - She's Picture Perfect (purple)
OPI - Pink Friday (pink)
China Glaze - For Audrey (blue)
Wet N' Wild - Black Creme
OPI - Crown Me Already (silver glitter)
OPI - Divine Swine (purple glitter)
Essie - A  Cut Above (pink glitter)
Orly - Prisma Gloss Silver 
Layla Hologram Effect - Mercury Twilight (silver holo)














Hope you enjoy!

trace face philes 1700 follower giveaway!

The Trace Face Philes is hosting another awesome giveaway! I suggest everyone go enter-- no joke! But
maybe you shouldn't... because I want to win :)
This will be my second time attempting to win Gosh holographic. my nails waaaaanttttt ittttttt :c



Look at those prizes!

Honestly, I'd be ok with winning second prize, the bottle designs are adorable, as are the colours-- and, I can't get my hands on essence way up here in the Great White North!

emma likes painting her nails

Milani One Coat Glitter - Red Sparkle, Essie - Russian Roulette, Wet N' Wild - Black Creme

I like it a looottttt.
The idea of painting my nails always appealed to me, especially when I was a little girl. The clean up, the smell, and the feeling of it on my finger nails, however, kept me from ever owning a substantial amount of polish, or from painting my nails every day.

A couple of years ago my good friend Rebecca started getting really into it, and as her collection expanded, her talent increased, and she started herself a pretty popular blog!

I've spent days just staring at the pretty things she does to her nails, and i've been practicing and aquiring pieces here and there towards my own nail polish collection. I think it's pretty safe to say that Emma, just like Rebecca, likes nails.

Now, I am by no means as talented as she, or some of the other bloggers out there. I certainly have fair share of bad nail care practices! My nails are horrible. They split and peel and on one nail a ridge breaks, every single time. I've been working on taking care of my skin-- and my nails-- more and more. I want them to be pretty! especially now that I've bought my first set of stamping plates-- the possibilities for designs are endless!

:((

I used to do a lot of artwork: painting, drawing, sketching, all of it. Lately, I've been more into cooking and crafting ( I still doodle in all my school notes though!) so for me, nails are like tiny little canvasses I get to carry around. I can look at a piece of art whenever I want! It's the perfect medium for me to get out all of this pent up artistic need. Here are a few things I've done, and I'll try to include the names of the polishes! If I can remember them, that is...

This was China Glaze - For Audrey and OPI - Sparrow Me the Drama mixed with white! I like to polka :)

For Audrey, again, with Nicole by OPI's - Silver Texture Coat and freehanded cheetah using a 2-way nail art pen.

I used Nailside's Explosion tutorial to pull this off! OPI - Planks a Lot, Wet N' Wild - Black Creme and Sally Hansen Insta-Dry - Silver Sweep! Can I just say that I was super proud of this? It took me about an hour to do one hand-- and I didn't get lazy either, I did them both! It was hard work. Cowey isn't too impressed by nails though. The polish and acetone smell so bad, she makes faces when she smells it! And if I try to pet her after painting my nails she scurries away. do not want.

And then I started trying half moons! And I think they're awesome. This was For Audrey and Sparrow Me the Drama again. Can you tell what my favourite colours are yet?

Milani One Coat Glitter - Gold Glitz, Wet N' Wild - Black Creme, and the cheetah stamp from Konad m57. yeah, I owned one plate for a while! (thanks Kathryn!)

China Glaze - Strawberry Fields, konad m57 stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dry - Silver Sweep and Wet N' Wild - Black Creme

For Audrey, stamped with the same zebra print as before using Kleancolor - Metallic Aqua. The coat of armor accent nail was made with Milani Jewel FX - Silver, and quite a bit of free time with a toothpick!

There's a good reason For Audrey is my favourite polish-- it's my favourite colour blue! That's why my Sweet Mint EOS is also my favourite :) This is the same zebra print again, stamped with Silver Sweep over China Glaze - Dorothy Who! I was so happy Rebecca convinced me to get this polish! It's my favourite out of all the glitters I own.

This was my first day getting nail mail! This is China Glaze - FYI from the OMG Collection! The only holo polish I own, and I worship it. I ran out to my front porch to take a picture, I spent days staring at my nails when I had this on! I stamped the pretty curlique from BM07 as accent nails, and on one pinky the cat image from BM04, as a tribute to my cat Mistoffelees who passed away earlier this year! That cat image will probably be the most frequently used from all of my plates!

yeah, I went there. Floral nails on my second day with stamping plates. the colors used are Sally Hansen Insta-Dry: Pink Blink, Blue Away, Presto Pink, and Whirlwind White; and China Glaze - Four Leaf Clover. The rose image comes from BM14

I love this delicate, simple look. This was Essie - Ladylike stamped with Essie - Power Clutch using the leaf outline image from BM11.

I've done a lot of things with my nails, I just haven't documented all of it!
Last night, though, I pumped out these babies:

BAM! YES! There is a little family of owls living on my hand!! (only one hand, laziness did kick in. the other hand is the night sky~)

I first saw this mani on Chalkboard Nails, for the 'Inspired by a Tutorial' day of the 31 day challenge! I fell in love immediately.

I didn't think the owls would look so great if I left the little halfmoons as bare nails, at least on my nails. So, I started with a coat of Black Creme, and then a coat of Nicole - Make a Comet-ment (which is a dupe for OPI - Yule Love This Silver and China Glaze - Fairy Dust!). I thought this kind of made a starry night look, owls are nocturnal after all, right?

The Momma owl was made with a really gross American Apparell brown I have, the colours were separating into orange and pale brown and poop brown, so I had to mix it up before using-- but it was the only brown I have! Yellows are OPI - The 'IT' Color. Other colors are OPI - Ogre the top Blue, OPI - Sparrow Me the Drama and Kleancolor - Mystic Grass. I don't actually own an orange polish, so I got creative and mixed red and yellow, just like in primary school! Go me.

They're crooked, sloppy, not the best looking owls-- but whatever man! There's a family of owls living on my hand! They follow me around everywhere and it's awesome! They remind me a bit of the Owltons!

But poor Momma owl. She was the first one I did, and her eyes are just so crooked, I feel so bad for her!

Hahahahaaaaaaaa. Ahhh. Too funny. I left the 'starry night' on my other hand as it was, but added a coat of Sally Hansen HD - LCD, this combination is amazing. Do it, put it on and go look at it in the sun! I'd take a picture to show you, but it's been a rainy miserable day here on the island!

Speaking of miserable, my nose has been running like a leaky faucet since I woke up, and now I have the hiccups :( I'm going to go cuddle Cow and make some tea. Maybe even study? nah probably not. I have a lot of crochet-related posts coming up, and I'm going to figure out how to make a little catnip mouse for my kitty! She deserves it, now that October has rolled around she isn't in heat anymore! This means she's been the most well behaved little kitty in town.

Although... waking me up at 6:30 this am by meowing in my ear and knocking stuff off my dresser, just because she was hungry, was probably the wrong idea. I was pretty grumpy.

Well, I hope you liked my pictures! I'll probably throw in a picture of my nails with each of my upcoming posts-- for now I'm going to go be sad and sooky and sick.

Be talking to you!
Emma

Finally!

I am back online!

After several months I can finally write posts again! My laptop cord broke, and my laptop battery won't charge at all, so I've been computerless. I was using my boyfriend's tiny netbook, but didn't want to clog it up with my photos of food and cats and crochet and whatnot. So, I waited. His netbook also kicked the bucket. Thankfully, my kind friend Jeff offered to have me buy his laptop cord from him, so I can write school papers! (and blogs more importantly ;))
No. Not more importantly. School first! Play later!
Thank goodness I have a week off soon, so that I can blog all I want! haha!

I have a lot of back logged posts, and I'm hoping that pretty soon I'll be able to build more readers. I have a lot to say, but not many people are reading it!

So watch out-- soon I'll be blogging it up old lady style. I've been doing a lot of crocheting, and cooking, and nail painting! And, I'm going to share it-- soon.

As soon as I get home from school that is :)

Be talking to you~