I'm on a horribly obsessive kick that involves skin care and fragrances. And heaven knows how much I've spent at the Dollar Tree during the past month...

Now I'm kind of hooked on the knock-off perfumes you can find at Dollar Tree. I never gave them much thought since the days when Tommy Girl ruled junior high (and the Tommy Girl knock-offs always smelled off and alcoholy) but I bought a few. Wow....just wow! I'm addicted to J. Lo Glow, used it ever since it was released...absolutely head over heels for the scent. I bought the imitation one and it actually smells like it! It's not the EXACT same scent but it is so freakin' close that for $1 it doesn't matter too much to me. But Glow is one of those perfumes that I'll probably always buy the authentic one just because of the quality/lasting power. But the imitation one will be perfect to use as a muti-purpose scent so that I don't waste the good stuff. I plan on using the $1 to spray my car interior, room, clean laundry, pillows & sheets, etc...

Last Monday I took a little trip to JoAnn's to get some goodies!



(Btw, the guitar case in the background houses my "new" sparkly Les Paul that I'd been waiting over a decade for! I'm so happy that I finally own it!)



Story time! I'm really digging bracelets right now, especially wrap bracelets, friendship bracelets (that one brings back oooold crafty memories) and bangles. My supply of embroidery floss that I've own for a good chunk of my life has diminished quite a bit over the years (especially from experimenting with actual embroidery) so my main goal was to find a big pack of the stuff...good grief the prices have gone up! I used to buy the 36 skeins packs of the cheap stuff for $4 and now they're at least $8! I intended to use a 40% off coupon for the 150 pack until I saw these sets. They were on sale for 70% off so they were indeed a better deal. One set contains 150 of the "regular" embroidery floss and the other set has 105 of the craft cord stuff that's a thicker, silkier, single strand embroidery floss (the yardage is also longer per skein). Though I was kind of worried about the color selection since you could only see a small sampling but when I opened them I was relieved, especially since the regular embroidery floss set had many multiples of the main colors I wanted (the pack I originally wanted was lacking on the bright pinks, blues, and purples).





Here's a simple necklace I made tonight using the cross and the clasps I bought last week.



This is a wrap-style friendship bracelet I made from the old stash, heh. I had a lot of fun making this. I plan on making more friendship style bracelets. I'm actually working on another wrap-style bracelet using the craft cord. However, I think I like working with the usual embroidery floss better but the cord gives the bracelet a nice texture and sheen.

Recently I made my first franken polish (yayness!). I debated whether or not to make a video but just taking pictures was easier sooooo here's a pictorial summary of this little experiment.

Supplies & ingredients

Dry sparkles

First bit of liquidy goodness

*shakey shakey shakey*

One coat (it twinkled irl, srsly)

3 coats (o hai there VNL)

One coat over ~undiez~

Needs more glittah!!!

Final result (one coat over Tickled Pink):

I lurve it!

More polish!!!

From K-Mart:

Wet n Wild Tickled Pink, Kaleidoscope

And I purchased these fun bracelets from Family Dollar. I totes want more!

~*Fun with polish*~

Pink-A-Boo, Kaleidoscope on sparkle nail

Tickled Pink (over Energy Source) topped with Sassy Sparkle, Kaleidoscope on sparkle nail

A few of my recent nail looks using L.A. Colors :

Splash topped with Aqua Crystals, sparkle nail: Sparkling Diamonds

Sea Siren, sparkle nail: Treasure Island

Radiation, sparkle nail: Treasure Island

Fiji Purple (btw, this color in incandescent lighting = not so hot), sparkle nail: Glistening Purple

More recent polish hauls from Dollar Tree and Family Dollar.

The are my first L.A. Colors Art Deco polishes. The red one had dried up polish around the cap from where it has leaked out at some point. It's the only one I've opened up and tried. I don't know what the deal is but I was testing it out by using it as a French tip over a painted nail, and after I was sure it was dried, I touched it and it was all gummed up and easy to scratch off. D: But there could have been several factors that caused that for all I know.

This batch came from Family Dollar. I'm kind of loving the L.A. Colors 5 Metallic Shadow palette in Tease. I used Urban Decay Primer Potion before applying it and was very pleased with the pigment pay off and the longevity of the wear.

Last Wednesday I had to take my mom to the doctor because she had been really sick for over 2 weeks. They did an MRI and then we had to go over to the cancer clinic to meet up with her oncologist. Found out she had a brain tumor, they had me take her straight to the ER, they admitted her, had us preparing her death just in case, and then they worked her into emergency brain surgery the next day. Now she's home and claims that she feels better. Omg, it's just been stressful ( plus they've been working me to death at my job) but now things have kind of settled down and I still have my Mommy, so yay. I did some shopping today but for this post I mainly want to go back to that previous haul.

Soooo, here's that 3rd haul from the last entry. All from Dollar Tree (yay for Dollar Tree).

L.A. Colors Base/Top Coat, Energy Source

Radiation, Live, Current

Maybelline Colorama Chill The Champagne, Flatter Me Pink, Rock Me

I painted my nails with a hot pink (I can't even remember which one at the moment) and used Rock Me on my glitter/sparkle nail. Absolutely LOVED the result (I'll post pics another time even though it didn't capture the ~amazingness~). I put up all my polish after doing those nails, and the next time I checked through my polish, that bottle was gone! I cannot find it anywhere! I'm so sad because that instantly became my favorite top coat. Though I think I have everything I need to dupe (franken...or whatever) it if necessary.

And then here's a brief look at the clothing (and bedsheets) haul from the big sale at work a couple of weeks ago.


I'll try to post pics of the polishes I've been sporting recently in the next entry.

As an alternative to wearing sparkly jewelry, I've decided to doll up zee nails! I'm really liking the whole glitter (accent) nail specifically on my ring fingers.

Lately I've been stalking my Dollar Tree seeking out nail polishes, especially from L.A. Colors, in colors that I don't already have. Over the course of 3 visits I've probably accumulated 20 polishes, heh... But I think for now I'll just post the first 2 hauls.

1st L.A. Colors haul:

Glistening Purple, Sassy Sparkle (especially love the name of this one because my doggie's name is Sassy)

2nd haul:

Fiji Purple, Exotic Pink, Lightning


Sparkling Diamonds, Fun In The Sun, Jewel Tone


Treasure Island, Splash, Sea Siren, Aqua Crystals

I also want to post my clothes haul from a recent big sale at work but I think I'll wait until the next post.

Since the last post I quit that dreaded job and got a much BETTER one! :) One of the great things about my new job is that I can wear nice clothes...and my jewelry! I've never been much of a jewelry wearer but after that last job, I'm itching to wear the fun, sparkly things I make.

I know I'm constantly complaining about it but this job is going to be the death of me... I'm in need of some creative therapy, for realio. I actually had plans to go to Hobby Lobby tomorrow since it's my only day for the week (and last Thursday was my previous day off) but I think I'm going to pass on that trip and try to get some other things done instead.

On a different note, I really want to go explore some areas in hopes of stumbling upon some interesting trinkets, whoseits, and whatsits galore. That would be fun, yes indeedy.

Attempting to watch the Oscars tonight but I'm not seeing any sign of my baby daddy a.k.a. Johnny Depp. No Johnny Depp, no Oscar watching.

I'm on a massive creative high but my job is still getting in the way. :/ They know that I don't want as many hours but they keep giving me more every week. It's part-time but even the full-time employees are getting more days off than I am. Boo.

But my next day off (which seems faaar in the distance) shall involve bead (and other shiny objects) shopping! :D

I haven't taken pictures yet of the pretties that I got from eBay but here's my recent hauls from Michael's and JoAnn's.

Michael's:

Sparklies! I couldn't help myself. I plan on using the seed beads mainly for my embroidered projects.

Jo-Ann's:

I label with "Bead Soup" caught my attention because I love a random variety of beads so I flipped the container over to check out the contents and saw a bunch of sparkley beads so I was sold.

Though I'm not a big fan of the mother-of-pearlish flower charms... And there are a ton of fish hook earrings, which are pretty useless to me since my earlobes are sensitive to metals. There are also a ton of small pin backs which is great because I'm into making brooches but they're way smaller than what I need.

However, here's the BEST part of this package!

Yummy.

I'm feeling all arts and crafty more than I have been in a good while. Though unfortunately I'm so tired and run down from my job that I do feel that I have enough energy to do anything. It seems like all I do these days is wake up, go to work, come home, eat, sleep. Blah. :(

I've been itchy to go to thrifting and get some yarny goodness but *sigh* work, work, work. I should be thankful and grateful that I even have a job and income. haha, though I use the reminder of all the shiny goodies I can afford BECAUSE of it.

Speaking of, in the past couple of days I "splurged" and bought some sparkly baubles from both ArtBeads.com and EBay. Can't wait until all of that deliciousness arrives!