Nail tutorial

Well I finally have a widget for my new shop, Pattycake's Vintage. Please feel free to steal that code and add it to your blog:) The lovely Leigh-Ann over on FreckledNest created that for me! It is just what I needed. You can find the widget and its code over in the right side column of this blog. I highly recommend Leigh-Ann for all your designing needs! Just shoot her an email!

So tomorrow night me and my boyfriend will be attending a Christmas in July party. I wanted to do something festive with my nails and I came up with a very sparkly, snowy white look inspired by a friend from Brooklyn. Last week when I was out on Shelter Island I hung out with my friend Eileen and she had this very cool stone embedded sort of mosaic thing going on with her nails. Now I am not about all pretty pretty, floral and over done acrylic nails, but I do love to paint my nails different colors and keep them at a good length. I loved this particular look, it is very artsy and fun to me, and there are so many ways to go about creating a look like this. Yesterday I tested it out and today I decided to go with a white "winter wonderland" look for the party:)

I wanted to share a little tutorial on how to do this, just in case you wanted to do it yourself. I know, I know this is totally different for my blog or me, but I just had to share, who can say no to art, or nail art at that?

Here is what you will need:

1. First of all you want to wet your Q-tip, this is to help pick up all of those tiny rhinestones and place them on your nails. You will also need to prepare your rhinestones(I used self adhesive rhinestones which I cut from the design and also picked off as well), gemstones, whichever stone you choose. Have them all ready to go, you do not want to be peeling off or digging for rhinestones with wet nails, no good!

2. Start off with a clean, polish free nail. Choose a color of our choice an d paint all of your nail's that color. Allow that to dry.

3. Paint on a generous coat of glitter polish, this will sort of be like your glue to adhere on those stones. Do not allow to dry, I did one nail at a time with this step so there was no time for them to set before I got to them with the rhinestones.

4. Use the wet tip of your Q-tip to pick up one stone at a time, placing it dome side up on your nail. I did this part with no rhyme or reason, just a spattering of stones. Go back on those stones and press them down gently, being sure not to slide them around on your nail, messing up the bottom coat of polish.

5. After you applied the stones to your nail, take your base coat and apply a generous amount onto your stone encrusted nail. This will act like a sealant on that nail, attaching the stones even better so they last longer.

6. When the base coat dries, you can go back and then add another coat of glitter to make them extra sparkly.

7. That's pretty much it! They will last a long time if you do all of the above steps. To remove just soak in some nail polish remover and use tweezers if need be to remove stones.

Have fun and experiment!!!!

Simply ArTistiC

I am feeling proud of myself right at this moment, I am posting two days in a row!!! Well to me that's an accomplishment.


First of all I have a little announcement to make.......................I will be on a brand new design team starting August 1st. Now this is not your typical scrappy design team, we are an ATC challenge site called Simply ArtTistiC, so if you love to make artist trading cards then this will be right up your alley. Our first challenge is all about Alice in Wonderland, and I am think lots of glitter and lots of blue(just like Alice's dress of course) Be sure to stop on over especially on August 1st to see us kick off this new challenge site.

And now its time for some more vacation pictures!!!

Once again we stayed on the fabulous Fulton Steamboat(hotel that is)





Saw some great country side!


Rode my favorite train......The Strasburg railroad!


That's my mom on the train!


and that's me on the train.


And of course I had to take pictures of a store named after me(or was I named after it?)

Settling back into reality.

Man 3 weeks have come and gone. I am slowly nearing my return to work after some very awesome days off spent with friends and family. This has been a great summer so far, I still cannot believe that it is almost August. Although I really enjoy the fall and always welcome it with arms wide, very wide open.

Today I wanted to share with you a Thrifted file #3. During my time off I have been on the search for some different items for the shop, and also just for me. Recently me and my mom came across a brand new thrift store that is just so easy to navigate and pick up some really cool things from.
As soon as I found this retro cocktail shaker, I knew it had to come home with me. I was drawn to it because of its bright colors and its classic cocktail recipes listed on the outside. So far this one is hard for me to let go, but eventually I may because I honestly do not have the room for it at the moment. I picture this on an old bar set like my parents used to have, perfect for those summer get together.

Today I was featured in an Etsy treasury all about lemons, which was in deed called "Lemons". I really do love yellow, so bright and cheery, great to pull us out of those dreary days to come. The curator of this treasury picked out some really eye catching pieces, as well as my vintage Gemco lemon juicer.


The treasury it self was featured over on a really cute blog called S and O Productions(Sarah and Olivia) which is a blog two sisters share. On their blog they write about things they love, tips, inspiration and so much more(go check them out)
Yesterday I was featured in a 'Long Live American beauty treasury" which fits the name very well if I do say so myself. She chose my sugar and creamer diner set, which in my opinion could not get any more American. When I look at this set I think of many a late nights after a night out with friends, sitting at a diner and enjoying a very early breakfast.

(listed right here)


Go over and check out both of those treasuries,
they have some nice sellers being featured.
Now its time for a little vacation photo breakdown!


Days spent at some of the best beaches.

Time spent with friends and well some good drinks.





Joining everyone for the big firework show, well everyone wears glow gear.

Lots of experimenting with exposure and glow sticks:)

AND a lot more beaching it up.

Part 2 of trip pics tomorrow.

News

I have been having quite the time on vacation! The beaches were relaxing and beautiful, and the sleeping in late part really has made a difference:) Pictures coming soon.

I do have two things to share with you. One is, I am being featured on Lovely Clusters!!!
I have been so excited about this and I got the email last night from Rachel that I was up and ready to go.

You can find my little ole shop here.

Speaking of my shop, I have tons of new(well really old) items coming soon. One of my to do items on vacation is to pick up some new pieces while hitting all the thrift stores, garage sales and flea markets. I have found some really great items, and I will be adding them as soon as I photograph them so be on the lookout!

In other news, I have been asked to be a part of something very awesome come August 1st(will spill the beans when I am allowed to of course). Something like no other team I have worked on, and I am really looking forward to it. I will leave you though with one hint, one image that will start it all!


I got ya thinking, didn't I???
Be back soon!

Summer going ons.

Well I am about to venture off on a week long summer vacation out to the east end of Long Island to visit with my friends!!! I could not be happier. There should be lots of beach dwelling, fireworks, aquarium visiting, catching up, live music, wine, and lets not forget frozen drinks(whats summer with out frozen drinks??) I need this and I also need to pack, yikes.
In the middle of all of my summer going ons, I have been adding to the shop and trying to get some sort of exposure for it. I absolutely adore working on it and seeing my items go off to new homes. Its pretty fun and rewarding at the same time.

This past week I applied to Lovely Clusters and was notified the other day that I was accepted. Lovely clusters is such a great way to shop, just pick a color and there are all things orange(for example) there on your screen for you to browse and possibly purchase. I highly recommend it as a starting off place to shop from, promote your shop with, get inspiration from, or get your daily dose of eye candy from.

Also, about two weeks ago I was able to land a showcase spot over on the Vintage showcase section on Etsy. I waited and waited for a spot to open up and finally I got one for July 16Th!! So be on the look out.
*newly listed on Pattycake's Vintage*


When I get back from vacation I am thinking of renting a camera lens from this site for a bit. I really want a fish eye lens for my camera but I want to give it a test run first before I commit.

I love how you can rent any lens from them for 5 days all the way up to 2 months. After you have tried it out, you just pop it back in the box with its pre-paid label and send it on its merry way, back to the shop.

In other news, how about some blog love?

Been loving this blog as of lately
and this one and also this one.

Well that's all she wrote. Be back soon.

Hot, hot, hot!

Something cool for this heat wave we are having here in NY!

Thrifted files #2

Howdy! Happy 5th O'July. I am currently awaiting a nice dip in the pool, till then I want to share with you another one of my thrifted finds here on the Thrifted Files.

Last weekend we went on a wild garage sale adventure, pretty much. We started out in our neighborhood and drove all the way over to about three towns away. At first we were hitting horrible sales, people selling things for way to much, come on its a garage sale. They would not budge, would not bargain, they need to go get schooled in yard sale
etiquette. Eventually we did hit some good sales, and I was able to find some interesting things.


One of my favorite finds that morning was this Graceland/Elvis tumbler. Its all 24K gold overlay and in perfect condition. To me it screams kitschy, I mean come on, its an Elvis glass. This tumbler is made by a company called Culver glassware, they were a very popular glass company in the fifties producing tons of glassware with gold detailing on them. Now a days, these glasses are very hard to come by, at least in good condition because over the years people have placed these pieces in their dishwasher, ruining the gold overlaying.






So I took it home, cleaned it up a little(hand washing only) and added it to the shop. These are the kind of things I love coming across, love looking into, and love sharing with others.

*4th of July post below*

Happy 4th!

It's the 4th and I am not doing a single thing. Yesterday was our big "celebrate" day. About 6 of us took a little trip over to Coney Island and enjoyed a beautiful day of Boardwalk strolling, hot dog eating, beer drinking, ride taking, pre fourth celebration:) Before we headed on over to Brooklyn, I attended an hour long hula hooping class in Central Park, man was that a riot. Everyone seemed to get the hang of it except me and my friend Melissa. Well Melissa caught on sooner or later and I was still tossing that thing in the air and hitting myself in the head with it. By the end of the class, I was able to keep the hula hoop up for at least I say, thirty seconds. Maybe next time, if there is a next time, I will be able to keep it up a full minute.









As for Coney Island, well we always have the best time. During Our last trip there we did not venture into the Freak show and this time we did, and it was great. I happen to be a big history buff, and I loved how during the show the host went over a bit of the Coney Freak show history. When you think of it, Coney Island is filled to brim with years of stories. When my mom was a kid growing up in Brooklyn, it was her favorite place to go, probably till she was in her twenties. Eventually the place started to get shady and had a bad reputation of crime and drugs, but I have to say, I think it has come a round a little over the years.





Ok back to the Freak show. Man, I really enjoyed that show and the host, his name was Donny Vomit, fantastic name. But man did he have a style, handle bar mustache, a bowler cap, very early 1900's inspired, so fun. What an interesting life to live, what a unique career to tell people, "Oh I am an entertainer over at the Coney Island Freak show" now that is cool. Below is a video of the freak show that I found over on Youtube.




We did not get to ride the Cyclone this time, but we did get a whirl on the Wonder Wheel. I love this ride because you can see all of Coney when at the very top, it was awesome especially in the dark, seeing all the lights of the rides. Of course we enjoyed some Nathans, I had a corn dog, can't go wrong with that and some nice cold beer. Lots of laughs of course, lots of people watching.









Next time we are going to have a ride-a-thon, waiting till after you have drank and eaten all day to go on some rides is not the best idea. We all decided next time we will ride the rides and then we hopped on the slow D train and headed on out of Brooklyn.

Before I go, I am currently having a 4th of July sale over on my Etsy, be sure to go take a peek. I will be back tomorrow with a thrifted find file:)