All The Cool Kids Are Doing It ...

Peer pressure ... that's my excuse.  Well, that & the fact that it's an absurdly great deal!  I'm talking about  Bundle Monster of course =)  In addition to the 21 plates that are making the rounds of the blogosphere, I also gave in to some rhinestone & other little nail art bits in wheels.  There was some duplication - I ended up with a ton of little red & pink beads for example - but seriously at the same $17 & change price as the plates for 10 wheels & what they say is over 14,000 pieces, I am in no way complaining:

So, I'm pretty well set for glittery bits for a while LOL.  I think I'm going to get some large-size labels & see how it works for backing on the plates, since they are so thin & sharp.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Claire's Calm/Wild Water Marble + Tutorial

Sooo... I know I said I would post this Wednesday.  But I forgot I had an appointment, and then Thursday I ended up baking cookies to take to work - a lime version of the glazed lemon ones I made for Mother's Day - and so although it's late I'm forcing myself to get these  pics up before any more time has passed!

I started out with 2 coats of Claire's Calm/Wild Mood Polish.  I like this much better than Innocent/Daring - the colors are just plain better, plus it's got some shimmer to it where the other was super-flat.  Like last time, my hands were cold enough at work that I only had one color most of the day, but here are a few pics of the funky french effect:

Then I marbled with Calm/Wild & Sally Hanson Midnight in NY.  I tried to get the pattern so that some of my "flowers" were purple & some were pink.  My favorite nails were my left ring & index, and my right pinky:

Here is the tutorial:

Still lots to catch up on:

• Milani Hi-Tech, plain & with Konad
• China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise, plain & with Hidden Treasure
• Some miscellaneous nature stuff that I've been snapping pics of & may or may not make it up here LOL
• Comments ... I started digging into my backlog last weekend ... and am still super-behind.  But I'm going to put in some more time this weekend.  If you've left a specific question, I promise an answer is forthcoming =)

Thanks for being patient with me ... and for reading =)

~Colette

Claire's Mood Polish: Calm/Wild

More to come ... I have so many pics of this to edit but here's a taste =) 

The tutorial is already up on YouTube if you're interested, I'll post it here with all the pics hopefully tomorrow, but I just ran out of time today.  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Books 11-22

Sooo behind with books, both posting & reading.  So I'm going to get caught up with at least the posting part =)  But in the interest of doing so quickly, I'm going to keep my commentary mostly on the short side:

#11

The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

Anthology

Paranormal Romance

This anthology featured short stories by:  C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp. Ilona Andrews, Kelley Armstrong, Anya Bast, Meljean Brook, Rachel Caine, Alyssa Day, Lori Devoti, Jeaniene Frost, Lynda Hilburn, Allyson James, Dina James, Jean Johnson, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Holly Lisle, Sara Mackenzie, Cheyenne McCray, Catherin eMulvany, Mary Jo Putney, Michelle Rowen, Eve Silver, Maria V. Snyde, Carrie Vaughn, & Anna Windsor

#12

Blood Magic

Eileen Wilks

World of the Lupi Book 6

Urban Fantasy

There were a couple of times I literally could not put this book down - I think I finished it in like 2 days, which used to be more normal for me but is super-quick compared to my pace lately.

#13

Flirt

Laurell K. Hamilton

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Book 18

Paranormal Romance/Thriller

Lots of zombies in this one, which is kind of nice, since the whole animator side of Anita's life sometimes gets put on the sidelines while she's dealing with killing things, rather than raising them from the dead LOL.  Kind of short, which was disappointing, but as the author explained in the afterword, this is really an "extra" book on the year - the inspiration for it interrupted her when she was writing the last book for her other series (Divine Misdemeanors if you're curious like me) and so she put out this book which at under 200 pages is more of a novella, in addition to the regularly-scheduled Anita book that will be out in June

#14

Kushiel's Scion

Jacqueline Carey

Kushiel's Legacy, Book 4

Historical Paranormal

The first time I read this, I was really disappointed that the protagonist from the first 3 books was no longer narrating the story.  This time I think I actually enjoyed the book more, because I knew when I started that it was told from Imriel's point of view.

#15

Moon Craving

Lucy Monroe

Children of the Moon Book 2

Historical Paranormal Romance

Werewolves, as you might guess, this second book took a couple of minor characters from the first book & expanded on their story.

#16

Silver Borne

Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson Book 5

Urban Fantasy

Things seem to finally be settling down a little for Mercy, although I can't help but wonder what the vampires are up to since they didn't make an appearance in this book.

#17

Demon Angel

Meljean Brook

Guardians Book 2

Paranormal Romance

Although this is technically the 2nd book of the series, this was actually the first full-length novel.

#18

Master of Fire
Angela Knight

Mageverse  Book 6

Paranormal Romance

Her last couple of books have been in other series, so it has been a while since the last book in this world & I hope it's not so long again because one of the characters disappears at the end & I'd really like to find out what happens next.

#19

Wild Thing

Anthology

Paranormal Romance

This anthology featured short stories by:  Maggie Shayne, Marjorie M. Liu, Alyssa Day, & Meljean Brook

#20

Serpent Moon

C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp

Tales of the Sazi Book 8

Urban Fantasy

This book wrapped up a lot of loose ends that had been left in the earlier books, kind of bringing everything together for a conclusion, although I don't think it's the last book in this series.

#21

Changes

Jim Butcher

Dresden Files Book 12

Urban Fantasy

Damn right changes.  I know I have several readers who also read this series so I especially don't want to give any spoilers, but let me just say that while I was happy he managed to keep from killing off too many of my favorite characters, EVERYTHING else changes in this book.  And it's also the first one that ended on a genuine, heart in my throat cliffhanger.  A cliffhanger so worrisome let me just say I immediately went to the author's website to reassure myself that there would in fact be another book.  Which there will be - but there's no release date out there yet.  I want it like yesterday LOL, but I'm thinking more likely somewhere between October & December if I'm lucky, or sometime in 2011 if I'm not.

#22

The Mystery Writers of America Presents:  Crime By Moonlight - Mysteries From The Dark Side

Anthology

Paranormal Mystery

This anothology featured short stories by:  Charlaine Harris, William Kent Krueger, Margaret Maron, Brendan Dubois, Harley Jane Kozak, S.W. Hubbard, Jeffrey Somers, Elaine Viets, Barbara D’Amato, Lou Kemp, Martin Meyers, Terrie Farley Moran, Jack Fredrickson, Steve Brewer, Mike Wiecek, Dana Cameron, Carolyn Hart, Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane, Parnell Hall, Toni L.P. Kelner

I actually really enjoyed this anthology, even though with so many authors the stories were extremely short.  Shorter than I'd prefer really.

So!  That's what I've been reading the past couple of months.  Not exactly on track for my goal this year of 100 ... maybe I'll read another 30 books by the end of June?  But I doubt it.  Apparently I'm busier than I used to be =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Stained Glass (Sinful Mint Apple + Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure + China Glaze Matte Magic)

Just a short post words-wise, but lots of pics =)  I wore Sinful Mint Apple plain for one day:

And then I snazzed it up with Hidden Treasure:

& then added black Konad with image plate m64 & Matte Magic.  LOVE!  It totally reminds me of stained glass  I did a flash shot of the combo glossy also:

Fairly pleased with my double-stamping on this, although obviously the left ring turned out best.  The pattern is pretty forgiving.

AND, since all of you that voted in my poll let me know that you like seeing impressive polish in motion, here's the video =)

This is where I was sitting when I took the video earlier today - it's my grandparent's back yard, there's a bench at the top of Grandma's garden.  It was the nicest, most peaceful moment I'd had in a while.

Here's some of what's blooming in the garden right now:

Thanks for reading.

~Colette