Hi Goddesses
And so to my final mani of DD week. To all the girls I didn't recreate, I still love you, but I only had 5 manis, and there have been so many of you.
Today I honour a lovely lady who has been part of DD since the beginning, Katee from A Girl and Her Polish. I've seen Katee's style evolve over the years, and these days she's pretty much a double stamping queen.
When she did this mani, I squealed because it was so perfect. It also comes from Childhood Week (the theme which bookends my week) and it honours books - a passion we both share. Here's Katee's mani -
Obviously, I wanted to personalise the mani a little, so I took Katee's style, and mixed it up a little to be truer to me. Here's how it looked before the top layer.
The base images are a history of my love affair with books -
- thumb - childhood craft books, using Cici & Sisi 05
- index - witches and magic, an obsession, and the root of my childhood reading, using MoYou Festive 16
- middle - shelves of books! the story of my life :) using Vivid Lacquer VL029
- ring - fingerprint - I love thrillers, it's my favourite genre - Vivid Lacquer VL009
- thumb - money - I love robberies, heists, the intellectual puzzling of the perfect financial crime - Cici & Sisi 12
I then used the Live Love Laugh motif from BM-405 on top of my bases. That's what books help us do - live other people's lives, fall in love, laugh - it's life, all on paper.
I had an absolute blast creating this mani, and actually, it turned out to be my favourite of the week. I hope you've enjoyed this week as much as we have.
Hi Goddesses
There's a certain irony to today's post, so please bear with :) I've written about my battle with depression lots on this blog, and today I wanted to celebrate some of the things that keep me sane. Ironically, I'm in the middle of a bout of depression at the moment, which makes this almost amusing.
I've learnt over the years what things help me, and what things don't. Just as I've had to adapt certain things to reduce my migraines, I've found there are things that help me deal with the world.
I tend to have a positive outlook. My current work colleagues call it my Glad Face. My ex husband called it my Positive Psycho Bullshit. Whatever, it gets me through most days. Not all, but more.
I remember reading, in 1989, an interview with Kate Bush where she was asked to name what she would most like to eradicate in the world. Her answer was "negativity", and she went on to explain how it was such an empty and pointless emotion, something that achieved nothing, and I had an epiphany. From that moment on, I tried to be more expansive, more open, and definitely glass half full.
The nails are filled with little mottos - Keep Calm, because getting stressed doesn't solve anything (although this is not always controllable). Live Love Laugh, my motto as much as I have one. Then there's a symbol for positivity, and on the pinkie a pair of headphones - turning the music up high, or using them to silence and exclude the world both help. And don't forget all the bright happy colours to reinforce the bright happy things.
The ring finger features 2 profound statements (and some shockingly bad lettering, sorry!). One of them is my religion - Everything For A Reason. Everything DOES happen for a reason, even if we can't always instantly understand why. It is what it is, and we need to accept and move on.
The above quote by Henry Ford was a life-changing moment for me. It summed up so much of what I believed, and also stressed how most of what we want CAN lie within our power - if only we'd let it.
So sometimes it gets strained, sometimes it cracks, and sometimes it plain old rips at the seams, but for the most part, my positive mental outlook keeps me tethered to this life. So, thanks :)
