Hunger Games Nails

Late summer of 2010 I had just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (in preparation for HP7 coming out that fall) and needed a new book to read. Jaime suggested the Hunger Games. I had heard of the book and thought I'd give it a shot so my mom brought it home one day and I got to reading. And 2 days later I was done (work, sleep and eating got in the way of me reading it even faster!) and dying to read the next two books. By the next week I had finished the series and was a Hunger Games fan. Friday afternoon, after I was done with class my friend and I went to see the Hunger Games. We just about jumped out of seats the entire movie we were so excited. We laughed and cried and ate a ton of food and it was all worth it. But before all that excitement we painted our nails.

We first started by painting our nails black. This is a nice background for flames of course.
Next was tricky. We used a yellow gold for this step. Ok now what you have to do is remove the polish from the brush (you know the drill, just getting the excess off using the neck of the polish bottle) then dip the tip in the polish so you have a small amount on the brush. Starting at the tip of your nail, brush lightly up. You'll want to flick it up slightly so it creates a wispy look half way up your nail. This is going to be the tip of your flames.
Now add orange starting at the tip of the nail again. This time go about 2/3 up the yellow. We still want to see the yellow.

Now add red at the tip covering up about half or less of the orange. With the orange and the red you don't need to be as careful when creating the wispy look since we're going to cover it up with sparkles.
Finally, to really make your flames burn bright, add a yellow and orange clear sparkle nail polish. Be generous at the tip of the nail and thin it out towards the tip of the flames. Go a little above the flames to make it really shine like flames. My friend also added a layer of larger gold sparkles to look like the fire was popping. It looked pretty dang good! Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor.

PS I added an arrow to one nail using a straight pin. Simply paint on the pin some yellow gold and transfer a straight line carefully onto your nail. Then paint the tip of the pin with a small amount of yellow and apply the tip and end of the arrow. Now you're definitely ready to see Katniss and Peeta...and Gale :)

Book Review: Stamped Metal Jewelry by Lisa Niven Kelly

For Christmas, I asked for and received two steel letter stamping sets like this:

 

 I used them for the first time on my Clay Conversation Hearts, but I knew they could be used on so much more. I need a lot of direction. I came across Stamped Metal Jewelry by Lisa Niven Kelly. I wanted to take a good look at the book to see if I liked enough to purchase it. I really didn't think my library would have it, but they did!

I read the 137 page book in about an hour. The beginning had a wonderful picture glossary of tools and materials.The pictures and descriptions were informative and helpful, especially for a newbie like me.  There were basic tutorials as well, like how to use a crimp bead (finally! I needed that!). The were clearer and more concise than others I'd seen and read online. The information was presented in a way I could understand.

One of the best parts about this book was there was an instructional DVD included. It was pretty well done, but I think it could have been a little better quality (maybe in the production, etc). It was just great to actually see someone hitting the hammer and to hear what it sounds like!

The projects were innovative and original. I loved learning not only about stamping, but metalsmithing and jewelry making. My favorite was learning about how to make a metal cuff.

I'd recommend this book because it really talks about the processes of making a good stamp in metal, the right tools to use, the right type of metal to use, and has original ideas. The tips and tricks were really informative and helpful. I think I'm ready to start stamping! I just found out that Lisa Niven Kelly teaches classes online at Beaducation.

I wish I was ready to stamp now, but it made me realize I need a few materials. Glad to know that though!

I was not paid for this review, I was not given this book or anything in exchange for this review. I just wanted to read this book of my own free will. =)