Hoop-style!

 We didn't get a picture of the process (I don't ever remember to!) but we did get one of the final product...came out pretty good!   :)

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Maroon & white represent our school's colors, Hollie is #13 this year & of course the ball of the season.   ;)

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It really was pretty simple, though a touch of artistic talent is required.  (Not much, I swear!)

We just used nail art polishes to create the designs.  All sealed in with top coat.

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GO EAGLES!

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Sam & Hollie

~ Nail Day! ~

Well now that Miss Hollie has gotten a tad more interested in her hair, nails, etc...she has stopped picking at & biting her nails so that we can play with them!  Yayyy!!!   :)

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We only got pictures this time because I actually remembered to take them!  Lol.

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First...make sure nails are clean & dry.

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Then we applied the base coat.  We used Pure Ice brand polish (a fave of mine because it's pretty tough, affordable & dries quick!) in the color "Magic".

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Next, we applied some nail polish strips.

I cut them at angles & applied them at an angle for a different look.

 (lighting is SO not working tonight!)

We used Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips in "Laced Up".

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For a little pop, I added white line!  :) 

L.A, Colors Art Color

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Finally, we used Pure Ice One Stop Shop 3-in-1 top coat to seal in edges and the complete nail.

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 DONE!  She's happy.   ;)

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A few tipz

There are a few tips and/or tricks we've learned over time that we wanted to share...

*You don't always have to go expensive to get the best.  We've tried many brands of polishes & have found that Pure Ice (WalMart), Love My Nails (WalMart) and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails XTreme Wear (WalMart, drugstores) are the best ones.  They all dry pretty quickly.  The XTreme Wear not quite as quickly but it is a nice, thick, pretty tough polish.

*Art Deco nail art polishes are avaliable at the dollar store, they have lots of colors!

*We've also found a lot of our nail stickers at dollar stores.  Check around, you may be surprised at what you find.  :)

*When doing French style tips, they don't HAVE to be white...color, color, color!  We use seasonal colors. Around the holidays we may use cranberry, gold, etc.  Spring we use bright colors.  

*Our manicure set we bought at KMart for less than $2.  It came with the metal file, cuticle pusher, cuticle trimmer, clippers, & buffer.  We added a couple more regular files & tweezers.

*The cuticle pusher & tweezers come in handy when applying designs.  I think we use them more for that than what they're actually made for.  Lol

*Nail polish strips don't necessarily have to cover your entire nail...be creative!  (They're also expensive so making the most of what you spend is a plus!)

*Sometimes plain is fine.  If you find a hot color, rock it!  Any way!

*BE PATIENT!  It really does take some time to master one big problem I'm sure most of us have...doing the opposite hand.  I know we sure did!  You can get one hand done, perfectly.  The other looks like you let a 2 year old have at it!  Well, it truly does just take a little practice (and probably a lot of nail polish remover) to master it.  But we're sure you can.  :)

*THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!!  

Our "inventory" :)

Here's our "inventory", our collection of things we use for our nail designs...

 Nail polish, of course   ;)

 Nail Envy, Nail polish remover, Top/Base clear coat

Manicure kit.  Nail buffer, files, cuticle trimmer & pusher, tweezers, clippers

Fun stuff!  Stickers, art pens, nail polish strips, art polishes, etc.

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Up & running! :)

Yayyy!  First step accomplished...SweetNailz is now officially up & running!  Now, it'll just take us a little time to get some posts going but with my lovely assistant it shouldn't be too long.  ;)

First, how about an intro to us & why we chose to start SweetNailz...

Not quite a girly-girl, at the fishing derby last year.                                      

Mmhmmm...the momma took this photo.  Not too hard to capture her beauty  :)

This is Hollie.  Being our only daughter, it's not too hard to be the princess.  She's eleven & in a 5th grade Accelerated Academy.  Yup, girl's got brains!  She's not only smart but also creative, sweet & just plain the best!

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Hollie & I...not too recent but I like it.   <3

I am a stay-at-home mommy of three amazing children.  I love doing tons of things...gardening, DIY projects, crafts, photography, etc.

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So that's who we are.  Now, why are we here & what is it we're doing?

Our blog name...well, since my main blog is called SweeTidbitz (yup, sweet little tidbits from our lives), we figured to go with the theme & call this blog SweetNailz.  I think it works.

Girly-girls or not (neither of us is, we're country girls!  We like to get dirty & play just as much as we like having pretty nails & to look good...a nice combination I think.) it's expensive to go to a salon & get a manicure, pedicure or your nails done up.  

I'm a pretty frugal lady, which I've unintentionally passed on to my munchkins, so they're always coming up with various creative ideas.  Hollie & I both love to do our nails but there is no way I can accept spending what most places charge.  I mean, just to get them painted can cost a lot!  So we do them ourselves.

We have come up with some pretty nice designs & have decided to share.  (I've been asked before where I get them done & some people are pretty surprised when I tell them "...ummm, at my kitchen table.")   :)

We've never spent all too much on anything used to do it with either.  Some of our stuff even comes from the dollar store!

We'll tell you what you need, provide instructions & share pictures.  

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So, what it all comes down to is that we just want to share & show how to have beautiful nails...without spending a bunch of money!