My Two Cents Worth

Today is Presidents Day in the U.S. and in honor of this holiday, I have created nails featuring a president: Abraham Lincoln. His likeness is on the one cent coin, but a recent news story revealed that our penny costs more to produce than what it represents! The one cent coin actually costs 2 cents to make.

I am an amateur numismatist (aka coin collector). Did you know the little letter underneath the date stamped on every U.S. coin indicates where the coin was minted? D is for Denver. P is for Philadelphia, and S is for San Francisco. The San Francisco mint is pretty much closed now. They only mint proof coins. There is also a mint at West Point, but they only do proof coins and American Eagle coins. 

I started with a base of Pure Ice Fast Lane. It has that shiny new penny color. It is a frost finish however, so I painted one coat, and then used a technique suggested by Leslie of Polish Art Addiction. 

You use an eye shadow brush (a disposable one is best, because you won't be able to use it again) to dab on the final coat. It gets rid of those annoying brush lines! The top nail on this wheel was done with Leslie's technique, the bottom was just brushed on. See? Big difference!

I used bronze, white, and black acrylic paints to do the artwork for this manicure. This was not the easiest design to do. 

So here is Abe all done before I sealed him with top coat. I also added a date and mint marking. I guess I did my nails in Denver. :)

On my right hand I painted some cent symbols on my ring finger. Big Money! I am a high roller, what can I say?

I have uploaded all of the entries for my 500 Followers contest. You can check out the entries on Facebook by clicking here. Please vote for your favorite by 'liking' the picture. Votes will be accepted through Friday, February 24th, 2012 at 5pm Pacific Time. Good luck and thank you to everyone who entered!

Wedding Part Deux

Hi everyone! I am sorry I haven't posted in a while. I went to Reno to renew my wedding vows over the New Years holiday, and then I had some vacation time at home. I also got sick, (I hate the canned air on airplanes!!!) so I have been resting up. Here are the nails I did for my renewal in Reno.

There's the Chapel of the Bells sign on my thumb, gold hearts on my index finger, a purple heart with 'Me + You' inside, Elvis on my ring finger, and a blinged out heart on my pinkie. 

I started with this lovely OPI shade called... Chapel of Love! Ha! See, the Chapel of the Bells is where we originally got hitched and where we went back to renew, so I had to do it. I like this color!

I made a purple heart using a stamping plate I got from Rebecca of Rebecca Likes Nails. It is soooo cute and I really adore it. You should see what Leslie did with this stamp, so awesome. I also used acrylic paints to make the Chapel of the Bells sign. 

I tried to paint Elvis Presley on my ring finger, since we all wore Elvis glasses at my first wedding. This did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but some people did recognize it as Elvis, so that's cool. 

Here's Elvis nearly finished. I think he ended up looking more like Tom Sizemore than Elvis Presely. What do you think?

On my right hand I painted Elvis glasses on my thumb and a feather boa (yes, that is supposed to be a feather boa) twisting along my other nails. It would have looked better with a different background. We all wore feather boas at my first wedding. 

Here's my Chapel of the Bells Nail with the sign in the background! The ladies who work there really liked it and didn't believe that I had hand painted it. 

Here's some of us crazy peeps on New Years Eve after my first wedding. (My friend Bogie, my hubby, me, my brother, and his wife.)

This is me and my sweetie after our wedding this past New Years Eve. I think my hubs is either doing a gang sign or indicating Wedding Part Deux! Whatevs, we had fun! 

I will soon post the nails that I did for the wedding party (including my bother's nails!). Have a great weekend!

Redwood Empire Food Bank

Today's nails are in honor of one of my very favorite charitable organizations. Redwood Empire Food Bank serves 78-thousand Sonoma County residents every MONTH. Every MONTH! And they don't just help the hungry in Sonoma County, they also serve Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, and Lake Counties. On my bento blog, I donate $1 per post to the Redwood Empire Food Bank. I am excited to be talking with the lovely people from the Redwood Empire Food Bank during my show this afternoon to spread the word about their Winter Food and Funds Drive and ways that our community can help feed those in need. Listen at about 5:35pm online at ksro.com. Here are my Redwood Empire Food Bank (REFB) nails!

It's the REFB logo on my thumb and a Campbell's Tomato Soup can (a la Warhol) on my ring finger! These were really fun to paint. 

I started with a base of white polish. I used a new white polish that was recommended by Leslie of Nail Polish Art Addiction, thanks Leslie! This is just one coat of Snow Me White by Sinful Colors. I'll never go back to Sally Hansen Whirlwind White!

The soup can was the hardest thing to draw. I used acrylic paints for all of the art on the nails. There are so many tiny details on the soup can, I did the best I could. 

Here is the beginning of the REFB logo. So cute, a heart inside of an apple inside of a box of food. It is very evocative and has a clear message. 

On my right hand I painted an apple (it turned out really photo-realistic! I am so proud!) and also the letters 'refb' for Redwood Empire Food Bank. I painted this with my non-dominant hand.

Here are the two hands together. I really like how both of the items of food are red, which brings the design together. I also like that one item is non-perishable and the other is fresh fruit. Redwood Empire Food Bank is able to distribute both shelf stable and perishable food to our community. It is really an amazing effort. 

Here are my thumbs with the REFB logo and the letters 'refb'. I had to ask my friend Lauren to take this pic at work for me, LOL. 

Polishes used in this manicure: Seche Vite topcoat, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, and Essie All In One Basecoat. The nail art was all done by hand with acrylic paints. 

You still have time to enter my 100 follower giveaway! Click here to get your name in the drawing. Deadline for entry is November 14th, 2011. Good luck!