The Christmas Tag

Hello everyone!
Today I am doing the Christmas Tag. I was tagged by the awesome Fran from Elevator Brain. I feel very cool doing a tag because I've never done any. So, let's go right into it:

1. What are your favourite Christmas films?
I really like "Love actually" and the Barbie version of "Nutcracker".

2. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
Christmas morning.

3. Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?
Not really. But I enjoy Christmas every year.

4. Favourite festive food?
Hot chocolate! Although I drink it all year round so I'm not sure if that counts as "festive". I like salmon too.

5. Favourite Christmas gift?
A Totoro plush hand-sewn by my brother.

6. Favourite Christmas scent?
I'm not a fan of spices like cinnamon or other typically Christmas-y scents. But I like chocolate so smelling it is almost as good as eating it.

7. Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?
I watch Barbie Nutcracker with my sister because we used to watch it every year as kids with my parents and my brother. We carried on the tradition.

8. What tops your tree?
A golden bow and a star.

9. As a kid what was the one (crazy) gift you always asked for but never received?
I don't remember asking for really crazy things but I probably asked at least once to have lots of bunnies.

10. What's the best part about Christmas for you?
I love seeing people's reactions to the gifts I chose for them (if it's a surprise). And of course, I enjoey spending time with my family.

So here it is! Thank you Fran for tagging me.
I tag Bela from A Bit Amusing and Marie from Rainbows and Unicorns. It's your turn ladies!
Love, Elsa

Christmas Collab! DIY Felt Stocking Ornament

 Hello everyone!

I am very excited today because I am collaborating for the first time. I'm very happy because this collaboration is with the lovely Fran from Elevator Brain (even her blog title is cool!). On her blog, she posts sketches and paintings made by her talented self, inspirational posts and some tips. You should definitively check it out because it's awesome! We decided to do Christmas DIYs. She made a Christmas tree out of magazines!

I chose to do a felt ornament. I made this little monogrammed sock. It's very easy and takes a bit of time if you decide to hand-stitch it like I did, but I did it while watching a movie with my family so it was really nice. Fabric glue or hot glue are fine though, since you normally shouldn't have to wash it.
 You'll need: felt in two colors, ribbon, scissors, a needle and thread in two colors (or glue), paper and a pen.

Cut out 2 socks in one color. Then, in your other color, cut out little embellishments like two heel patches or that band that goes at the top. (be careful: if there is a right and a wrong side to your felt, you should cut one and then reverse it to cut the second one) To make the letter, I first drew out a few 'J's on paper until I was happy with how it looked. Then I cut it out of the paper and used it as a pattern to cut it out of the felt.

Sew the letter on one of the sock shapes. After it's done, sew the two sock shapes together.

Sew the little heel patches on both sides of the sock.

Put the white band at the top of the sock on each side, and put your ribbon in between. Sew it all together and you're done!

I hope you liked this tutorial and will use it. I made this little ornament for my class's Secret Santa. The guy whose name I had picked is allergic to lots of things, including chocolate so anything edible wasn't an option. I decided to make this because it's personalized and everyone loves hand-made gifts, don't they?

Don't forget to check out Fran's DIY and have a nice day!

Love, Elsa

DIY: Snowflake Candle Holder

Penguin candle: PRIMARK

Hi friends!

Today I want to show you this simple candle holder I made. I used a glass yogurt jar, white acrylic paint and a tiny paintbrush. It was quite simple but also a bit long. It took me a bit less than an hour to cover the entire jar with snowflakes. You also have to hold your brush as still as humanly possible if you want thin lines. Once I was done, I waited for it to dry completely and put a small candle inside. If you make this, you could also use it to store pens, make-up brushes, or anything else you can put in a jar! This could make a cute small gift. I really hope you'll try this out.

Love, Elsa

Fall nail art: Plaid!

 

Hi friends!

Today I wanted to show you this really nice nail art inspired by plaid. I did not come up with this design. I have no idea who got the idea first but it was a genius! This look is super cool especially for the colder month. What's nice too is that you can do it in any color combination you like. What colors would you choose?

Love, Elsa

Taking a break

Hi friends!

As some of you may have noticed, I haven't posted in a while. I've been really busy with schoolwork and just wasn't feeling like posting. Anyways, I want to improve on my drawing skills and I've gone through tones of magazines to rip out pages that interested me. I like to draw from pictures so magazines are a great source for pretty faces with interesting features. This is a little something I made to practice. I hope you're having an awesome day and bye!

Love, Elsa

My favorites: Halloween Nail Art

Hi everybody!

Halloween is only 2 days away and I decided to do a little round-up of my favorite halloween themed nails. This first one is from Chalkboard Nails is from 2012! I was going trough the archives of her blog because I admire her so much and I can't get enough and I found these! Beautiful, aren't they?

These adorable ghosts are from Emma over at Dahlia Nails.

And these are from Coewless Polish for the 29th day of the 31 Day Challenge "Inspired by the Supernatural". Perfect for Halloween then!

This nail art is a bit more spooky: eyeballs! You can find a tutorial on burkatron.

These look super elegant and can be worn all year long! But they also work for Halloween. There's a tutorial at Chalkboard Nails. I hope you find this list useful and you'll feel as inspired as I am by these talented ladies.

Love, Elsa.

Nail Art Tutorial: Black Cat

Hi friends!

Today I wanted to show you how I made this little cat on my nails for last year's Halloween mani. It's not that hard and looks really cute! What I like about this is that you could also wear it on any day.

First, paint your nails with base coat and the color of your choice. I went with a very light lilac (444 by HEMA). Let dry.

Once it's dry, paint a half circle in black. You can use the brush that comes with the polish for this. Then, use a striper or a thin brush with black polish and make two triangles on each side for the ears. Wait for it to dry completely and after that, make small white ovals for the eyes. They should be opaque so two coats might be necessary. Once the white dried add some green or yellow polish over the eyes. Finally, draw the pupils with some black. This is the hardest part I think. Take your time so they are approximately the same size. The colors I used are from HEMA too (851 Black and 809 white).

Finish with some top coat and you're done! I think this little cat would look great as an accent nail but you could also make a cute kitty on each nail by changing the size and shape of the ears each time so it's not boring! I really hope you give this a try. Tell me if you do!

Love, Elsa

Drawing 004: Butterfly

Hi everyone!

Today I wanted to show you this drawing I did for an art project. It's actually part of a 6 drawing series but this one is my favorite. I'm happy to have done a landscape because for once it's not a portrait! I hope you're having an awesome day and bye!

Love, Elsa

Halloween Nail Art

Hello everyone!

Today I was going through my bloglovin feed and I saw so many halloween diys and it made me realize: Halloween is just around the corner! In France, it's never a big thing but I always like to dress up and hand out candies to the very few children that come. The picture above is actually something I did last year. Except I didn't post it in time (on my previous blog) so I kept it in a folder on my computer and I thought I should finally share it! I love all of these designs. My favorite is the black cat and the spiderweb. Which one do you like? I was thinking about making some tutorials maybe and since I only have one week of school left before the break, I will have more time on my hands. It makes me sad to not have enough time to blog more than once a week but this school year is really busy! Anyway, tell me which of these designs you'd like to see a tutorial of and bye!

Love, Elsa

DIY: Fall/Autumn watercolor artwork

Hi friends!

Today's post is not about nail art! I'm happy to show you some watercolors today. As much as I love nail art, I'm happy to be finished with the challenge so I have more time to do other stuff. I chose to make something for fall/autumn (depends how you call it). It was really easy and it looks so cute! And you can easily do it too. Here's how:

You'll need one or two thin brushes, some water and of course watercolors! Here are the colors I used. I used red, orange and yellow the most. The brow was only for small details so it's not that important.

I am assuming you know the basics to watercolor but if you don't I would advise to watch some tutorials. I myself learned watercolors on youtube. I'm really not an expert at them but it's quite easy. So, to make the leaf, draw the outline (and fill it in) with a pale color so you'll be able to add more color on it. Then, use your lighter color at the top of the leaf (yellow). After that, put your medium color around the middle (orange) and the darkest color at the bottom (red). Don't forget to blend it in with a bit a water, it makes all the difference!

I did the same for the writing. Use a pale color first and then add more, blending between each color to make the gradient nicer. As you can see from this picture, I did several mistakes but you can only see them from really close so they don't bother me that much. Also, I painted the writing on a different piece of paper and added it after because I was afraid of messing it up. Of course you could just write directly below the leaf.

I hope you liked this tutorial and if you try it out, please give me a link in the comments! Love, Elsa

31DC2014: The End!

 

 awesome badge found on Chalkboard Nails

Today is the last  day of the 31 days nail art challenge. I was supposed to do a nail art to "honor nails I love" but as I told you yesterday, I loved so many I couldn't choose just one! So I decided to do a link up with all the nail art designs I loved the most and I'll recreate them in the next few weeks. So here's my list (in chronological order, not preferential):

-This crab manicure by Chalkboard nails

-That violet watercolor nail art by the same artist

-The very classic red roses by Chalkboard nails

-This confetti mani by the Nailasaurus

-Those beautiful flowers by Paulina's Passions

-This very autumnal Canada flag inspired nail art by Coewless Nail Polish

-That marble mani is awesome! (By the Nailasaurus)

-This fun banana nail art by Paulina's Passions

-This colorful nail art by the Nailasaurus

-These cute ghosts would be super cute for Halloween! (by Coewless Nail Polish)

I also enjoyed Petite Peinture's nail art in general.

Now I know that this list is pretty long so it will take a while to recreate but I just really wanted to honor those amazing designs! If I really had to choose just one, it would have probably been the watercolor nail art by Chalkboard nails. If you followed other blogs who did this challenge, what were your favorites? And which one of my manis did you prefer?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 30: Inspired by a tutorial

Hello!

Today is inspired by a tutorial and I'm not entirely happy with what I did. I really like how this abstract mani looks (though I understand it's probably not everyone's taste) but I wanted it to look more like this. So I think I'll retry it some day to see if I can recreate Pshiiit's design. I can't believe we're so close to the end of the challenge! I'm not sure how to do tomorrow's prompt. It's "honor nails you <3". I've seen so many amazing nail art designs by a lot of really creative girls and I'd like to honor each of them so I was thinking about maybe recreating several ones through the month of October and maybe even November. So I thought maybe I could do a link up tomorrow and then recreate those manicures in the weeks after that. Do you think that's a good idea?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 29: Inspired by the supernatural

Hi friends!

I really wasn't sure I could post this pic today because of some internet issues I've been having but I managed to. Today is inspired by the supernatural and I chose to do something inspired by beautiful mermaid scales. I had the perfect color! Then I just drew some scale-shapes with a white striper. What do you think?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 28: Inspired by a flag

Hello!

Today is inspired by a flag day and I chose to do Canada right away. I always loved maple trees because there were some in the school's courtyard so there were one of the first tree names I learned (in french it's "érable"). It was actually quite easy. I really like it. :) I've never been to Canada. How is it?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 27: Inspired by an artwork

Hi friends!

I was really excited when I realized that today was inspired by an artwork day! I just love seeing other people's art and I follow so many people on pinterest or tumblr. So today wasn't about finding inspiration, but about choosing. I decided to do something in honor of Fifi Lapin, because I just love that adorable bunny fashionista. I had trouble with the black lines smudging but I didn't want to do it again so I decided to show it to you anyways. This blog is about my passions and what I do and I don't feel like I should only post the perfect stuff. I like to post the real stuff. I kept yesterdays nails and just redid the ring finger nail. Even if the lines are smudged, I still love today's nail art because bunnies are one of my favorite things and Fifi Lapin is really cool! Do you like it?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 26: Inspired by a pattern

Hello!

For the inspired by a pattern prompt I really wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. Maybe it's because English isn't my first language but I was a bit confused. To me, a pattern is a repetitive design. So that's what I did. Small hearts repeated lot's of times on my nails. I changed up the color on the pinkie to make it cuter. I really like how simple this was and how lovely it looks (in my opinion at least ^^). Do you like it?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 25: Inspired by fashion

Hi everyone!

Today's theme is inspired by fashion. I really didn't know what to do. As much as I like clothes, I'm not a big fan of trends. And I love looking at high fashion clothing in the magazines but nothing really stood out to me. And then I realized that I went to a fashion exhibit in Paris (the 50s in the musée Galliera, if you live near Paris, check it out! it's awesome) and that I could do  nail art on a dress I had seen there. I chose the "Antonia" by Pierre Balmain. It's a really gorgeous embroidered dress. If you want to see what it looks like, just type this in your search box. 

I'm not sure if I like this mani. I like the colors but I don't think I gave the dress justice. What do you think?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 24: Inspired by a book

Hello! How was your day?

Today is inspired by a book, and I didn't even have to think about that one. The first one that came to mind was Harry Potter. I know there's a lot of people saying that it's not a good book because the language used isn't good enough but it is a children/teenager's book. I started reading the series when I was 8 and finished when I was 11 and I didn't care one bit about the words used. I loved (and still love) the world, the magic, the friendships... And so I chose to honor this book that I love by painting my nails. I illustrated the 7th book more than the others because the symbol on my thumb is only mentioned in the last book but it does play an important role in the story, even if we don't know about it in the beginning. I drew a thunder on my ring finger to represent the character of Harry Potter. I chose the color black as a background because even though it starts as a very innocent magic story, it does become darker and more serious in the end. Have you read the books or seen the movies? Do you like them? I'd love to know more about you <3.

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 23: Inspired by a movie

Hi friends!

For my movie-inspired nail art I decided to illustrate The Devil Wears Prada. I know it's actually a book and I have read that book (and its sequel) and I like it but I love the movie more. In fact, it's one of my favorite movies and I have watched it so many times I've lost track! So I drew the very classic devil's pitchfork/heel and the title of the movie with that little thing on the V. Usually, the shoe and writing are red and the background is black but I wanted to change it a bit so I did black on red. The red polish is redder than in the picture, I'm not sure why it's looking so pale. Anyway, you get the idea. So, do you like that movie? What movie would you have chosen to illustrated/be inspired by?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 22: Inspired by a song

Hi!

Today's theme is inspired by a song. I was really looking forward to this day because I wanted to illustrate one of my favorite songs ever: Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri. Unfortunately, I tried several times and failed and I was running out of time so I decided to do Heart of Glass by Birdie instead. It is not a favorite song of mine at all but I do think it's a classic and I really wanted to do something with a heart. What do you think and which song would you have chosen?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 21: Inspired by a color

Hello!

For today's challenge, we had to do a nail art "inspired by a color". Like a lot of other people, I was a little confused by what that meant. I decided to do something inspired by a polish's name, because I saw other bloggers do it last year and liked the idea. However, most of the polishes I own don't have names so I didn't have such a wide collection to choose from. Actually, that was probably a good thing because it probably would have been harder to decide. I chose H&M's "pink macaroon". However, I recently learned the difference between macaron and macaroon and I am pretty confident that they meant macaron, the french pastry. I started with a french manicure (see what I did: french manicure?) as a base and it was something I had never done because I just didn't find it that nice. But I now think it looks really elegant! This is a perfect example for the fact that you have to try things before deciding if you like them. Anyway, I then drew the two macaron shells with the H&M color and painted the lighter pink with "marshmallow" from Angelica. (I like that this also has the name of something sweet!) I outlined it all with 288 from Kiko mixed with a bit of white. To finish it off, I put on some top coat (HEMA) and voila!

Do you like french macarons? I love them and practiced making them this summer. But I didn't make any pink ones because I prefer chocolate over everything! ^^

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 20: Water Marble

Hi everyone!

I was really not looking forward to today because the few times I have tried water marbling were complete fails! But today is here and I couldn't hide. I couldn't even use the excuse to not have enough time since today is saturday. (I do have a lot of homework though :/ ). So I tried. The first attempt was terrible, but I tried again and it kinda worked! I then added small dots in the same color I used to make the water marble in order to make it look more finished. The dots also hide some previous mistakes :). Have you ever tried water marble nail art?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 19: Galaxies

Hi friends!

Today is galaxy nails and I was really excited for that day. I made a very simple design with black, purple, white and a bit of pink. I also added glitter for stars. I really like the result but still think I need a bit of practice to make it look really awesome. Anyway, galaxy nails are always pretty.

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 18: Half Moons

Hi!

Today is half moons. I had never ever done half moons nail art so I made something simple. A pink base (you should be able to guess by now!), a white half moon and a golden glitter border. All polishes are from Primark. They don't have names or number but the pink was from a 4 polishes pack with "P.S." written on it and the white and gold are stripers.

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 17: Glitter

Hi everyone!

Today I wanted to make something simple but still sophisticated for the glitter themed day. I think I did a pretty good job at it. It's really easy to recreate it. Just apply a base color (and a base coat under it if you want) and then use a glitter striper and draw short and longer lines at the tip of your nail. And here you go! Will you try it out?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 16: Geometric

Hi friends!

Today's theme is geometric. I tried to recreate this beautiful nail art by Pshiit. She is a french nail artist and blogger that I admire. You should really check her blog out if you don't know it. It's written in French but there are beautiful nail art that you can enjoy even without understanding the text. I prefer her version of this nail art but I think mine is still cute. Do you like it?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 15: Delicate print

Hello!
Today is "delicate pattern" day and I wasn't sure what it really meant. But then I thought, let's just interpret it my way! To me butterflies are very delicate so I tried replicating their beautiful wings. I don't know if this nail art is really "delicate" but the idea of butterflies is to me, so I'll say it goes with the theme. To make this nail art, I used this tutorial by Caged Canary but just didn't put those white dots because I didn't think it would go well with that dark pink. What do you think? Are those delicate?
Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 14: Flowers

Hi everybody! How are you doing?

Today is flower themed and I was really looking forward to it but at the same time I didn't want to do the classic roses nail art. So I did roses, but outlined with black to make them a little cartoony, and with dots to do some pattern mixing. I really like these, they might be my favorites for this challenge (with the rainbow ones). Which ones are your faves ?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 13: Animal Print

Hi friends!

Today is animal print day. I was thinking about making some leopard nails but then I decided that little paws would be cuter. A few weeks ago I saw a video from The Nail Trail. The technique is really easy and I could have thought of it myself but since I didn't, I prefer giving credit. I did add little claws on one of them to change it up. Both polishes used are from HEMA.

Do you like these little paws?

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 12: Stripes

Hi friends!

Today is stripes and if I'm gonna be honest, I didn't wanted to do anything but I really wanted to continue the challenge. Especially because I would be okay with skipping one day if I have too much homework but not because I'm feeling lazy. Anyway, I did the classic pink and black (well it's a classic for me at least!). The pink is " Pink Macaron" from H&M and the black is from HEMA.

Love, Elsa

31DC2014 Day 11: Polka Dots

Hey! I hope your day has been great.

I can now say I have already achieved more than 10 days of the 31 day challenge! Which is pretty awesome. I really didn't think I would be able to do my nails everyday. Although I'll tell you a secret: most of the time I only did the left hand since it's the only one that gets photographed. I hope that's not cheating but oh well, now you now! So today is polka dots. I really love polka dots so I couldn't decide if I wanted to do small or big ones and finally decided to do both! I also love pink so what background color to choose wasn't such a hard question. My favorite dots are the tiny ones on the pinky. What are your favorites?

Love, Elsa