31 Day Challenge (v.2!) Day 13: Animal Print!

Morning Ladies! Before I post my challenge mani for today, I have to warn everyone that I am changing my comment settings. I have been getting an insane amount of comment spam, so I'm going to be accepting comments from registered users only - no Anonymous comments. I hate to do it, but "Anonymous" is spamming me like crazy!

Now, onto the mani!

Today's prompt is Animal Print, and since Leopard, cheetah, zebra, tiger, etc pop up often (although I love them and was very close to doing leopard print), I decided to take it a bit more literally.  I'm silly that way.  I also chose to show them right side up since I didn't want anyone to have to flip upside down to see what my accent nail is. ;)

For this literal mani, I used OPI I Vant To Be A-Lone star as my base color (I love this color. I used it last time I did the challenge as well), and used black acrylic paint for the nail art. I also added some sparkly blue and silver for a little teeny tiny pop. Check it out!

Kitteh! Kind of a lumpy kitteh, but it's still a kitteh! And hey, paw prints are technically animal print, right?

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, even if my kitteh is a bit wonky. It's hard to create a standing cat on a tiny nail! Kudos to those who do it well!

Be sure to check out the Varnished Vixens and their Animal Print Manis! These ladies rock!

 Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints 
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish 
- Robin Sparkles  

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

31 Day Challenge, Day 27: Inspired by Artwork! **Pic Heavy**

I can't believe I've made it to Day 27. There have been times when this has seemed like the impossible challenge for me. Some days work was in the way, others my kiddos needed extra love and attention and being able to work on these challenges and post was the last thing on my mind. But ya know, the one thing that never fails to relax me is to work on a mani, and even after a very long day, sitting down to work on this challenge really has been fun.

I am very proud of today's mani (hence the numerous pics), and I apologize now for all the links to this post that you guys will probably see over the next day or so. I've never attempted a mani like this before, and I am so amazed and proud that I managed to pull it off. I'm not one to float my own boat, but I think this mani is one of my best, and reflects just how much I have learned in the 4 months I have been doing this.  The cats on my ring and thumbnails are free-handed entirely. The paw prints were done with a dotting tool.  My sister saw these and asked if the cats were stickers! I *think* that's a compliment! :)

For Today's challenge I chose Théophile Alexandre Steinlen's  "Tournee Du Chat Noir". I have this piece hanging in my living room, and it has always been one of my very favorite pieces. Tournee Du Chat Noir was actually a 19th Century Cabaret created by Rodolphe Salis out of the Montmartre district of Paris.  If you're interested, you can read about it here.  This is the  piece itself (image from Art.Com):

I took these pics in the lightbox; some with flash, some in just natural light since I was trying to capture the details of the mani as opposed to striving for color accuracy. The base color is L'Oreal's Amazon's Flash, which I just love and really wish that I had taken some pics before starting my nail art! I'm not normally one to wear a bright and flashy gold, but I couldn't pass up the foil-like finish on this one.  I'm a sucker for anything even remotely resembling a foil finish. It did have a ton of cuticle and tip drag,  which is a deal breaker for me. I can't say I'll wear this again unless it's a base for some stamping or nail art.

Here, Kitty, Kitty!

Thumbnail:

Ring Finger:

Twins!:

Both hands (Stuck to paw prints for my right hand since there was no way I could free-hand the cats with my left hand!):