Lazy Sunday - 29th July

Hi Goddesses

Now, please, don't fall off your chairs, but we actually had sun in England this week!  Yes, sun!!  I am not actually a sun lover.  I get hot, bothered and all grumpy and crotchety, but I was glad to see the end of the damp weather.  (Well, for now, at least).

It's been a really good couple of weeks on the blog.   The Models Own posts have been really popular, every day has seen about 1000 page views, and I've been REALLY proud of some of the manis I've done in the last fortnight.  Somehow, somewhere, I seem to have turned a corner, and everything just seems to look a little bit more professional - very happy.

Nail World has been in uproar again this week after Sinful Colors "stole" photos from some well known bloggers without permission.  I'm only using " " because I didn't follow the full story, so I can't really give you the rundown.  Hopefully, SC are in damage limitation / grovelling apology mode.

Weirdly, our other recent drama kicked off again this week.  For some reason, the Lynnderella post has gone scatty again and has gotten over 1000 hits this week.  This now puts it at over 8000 hits over all - almost as crazy as the drama that spawned it lol!

So, let's look at some manis.  Here are some Summer Challenge highlights -

Golf

A Day At The Zoo - one of my favourites EVER





Summer Lovin - a neon glitterfest





Red, orange and yellow - someone said this reminded them of a cave painting and I LOVE that description :)





There's also been my favourite MSMD so far - pink polka dots.  This was a very popular post.







There has also been a Stamping focus on the blog, with Aqua Gold 





Models Own Glitterfish





And lets not forget Indie Week, which included some real crackers -


Strawberry from The Hungry Asian





Hoof Wrassle from Rainbow Honey





Dizzy Mizz Lizzy from Enchanted Polish





and the amazing Seuss from Whimsical Ideas by Pam





Finally, the stragglers - I did a Guest Post for one of my besties, Kirsten from Geeky Owl.  I really loved this combo, which you can see here

There was also a new feature called Time Capsule Tuesday where I want to look at manis I did a year ago which I now know I can do lots better.  Deborah Lippmann was the first polish swatch I did and the first one that went into the Time Capsule - thankfully, more people viewed this in 2 days than have seen the original in a year - phew!  (would have been a TAD embarrassing otherwise lol)

And tomorrow .... well tomorrow sees one of the most EXCITING THINGS EVER to happen to The Crumpet.  It does. Yup.  Be there, or be square :)




Enjoy xx :)

Lazy Sunday w/c 7/7

Hi Goddesses

Happy Sunday!  Apologies for missing this post last week, but I was proper poorly with my sinuses.  However, this week, I'm going to feature the best posts from the last fortnight, so that you don't miss any of the good bits!

Life has been very hectic this week - work has been super busy, and it took a couple of days for my sinuses to get themselves back with the program.  I also had an interview for a promotion at work, with all the prep that comes with it, so no wonder I got a bit run down.

I'm going to start with something exciting first. This week, OPI released details of their holiday collection, and as they usually do, released the details about 5 years before the polishes are due out.  THAT however is not the interesting bit.  The interesting bit is that over half these polishes look interesting - when was the last time we felt that about OPI ?

Colors shown from left to right: The Spy Who Loved Me, Casino Royale, You Only Live Twice, Die Another Day, Skyfall, GoldenEye, The World Is Not Enough, Moonraker, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Living Daylights, Live And Let Die, Tomorrow Never Dies.

There does feel to be some sameyness in that lovely orange and red section on the left, but to the right ... well, I don't know about you, but they look different AND exciting to me.   Fingers crossed they really do look awesome when they come out.

Luckily there's been no mouse trauma this week, but there has been some HELLA nail mail.  I'll save the photos for a haul post, but I have been very spoilt by myself, and some other people - 

* an awesome swap with Meann from My Online Shop - she wanted some polishes, and in exchange sent me LOADS of exciting stamping plates.  You'll see them very soon

* I was Employee of the Month at work and as part of my reward package I got some vouchers - I spent half of them on some British nail polishes, as I know you're dying to see more of them on the blog.... not many .... just 39 or so ....

* I finally received my Jade polishes - you know sometimes how everything that can go wrong DOES go wrong?  Well this package got returned to Ninja Polish without leaving the US and had broken bottles in it :(  Wonderful service from Rhonni tho - she replaced the breakages and got it back out to me in double quick time.  Yay!  Jades!!!

* and I got my set of Bundle Monster 3 stamping plates - all of which are SUPER cool.  Lots of fun to be had there.

And in other news, THIS amazing collection got released this week - 

If you haven't yet tried Cult Nails, you really are depriving yourself.  They are excellent quality, well priced and genuinely original.  Every collection is well thought through, and this particular one was designed and named by Maria's 13 year old daughter, Coco.  How cool is that?  Cannot wait for them to arrive :)

So, let's look at some manis shall we ?  I'm not going to show every post I've done for the Summer Challenge over the last fortnight, but these are my faves -

Beach Towels - 



Cricket - 





Independence Day (for which I still owe you a tutorial, sorry)



Summer Chevrons



Seashells with DS Glamour

Last week was Indie Week on the blog, and I posted 

Dollish Polish We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat



NerdLacquer Regeneration



Hungry Asian Sneeze Breeze



All That Glitters Spottie Dottie in light and dark



Red Carpet Lacquers Clover

The Giveaway came and went during this last fortnight - 15 lovely British polishes and a load of chocolate and sweeties.  Well done to Missy!   The main reason I do Giveaways is that they are my best way of getting feedback.  Although I have some brilliant followers who give me feedback ALL the time, the only way I can guarantee getting a couple of hundred suggestions / comments is a Giveaway, and I'm fine with that.    Thank you for all loving this blog as much for the writing as anything else - that means a LOT to me.

Ironically, the main request through the Giveaway was for more swatches of British polishes - so this week was Swatch Week and featured quite a few.  A VERY popular request was Nails Inc, so, in pleasing mode, that was the first one I posted .... and it bombed.  I mean like seriously, wings chopped off bombed.  Lol.   So either the people who wanted to see that post didn't see it, or you were lying on the Giveaway (I don't think so) or you hated the 3 polishes I chose.   I dunno.   But lol and maddening, all at the same time.

These are the best of the rest -

Models Own Blooming Pink teamed with Candy Lacquer Love Letters



the AMAZING HITS Hula and Salsa



and Bettina SPAM - here's Apple Green - wow!

Overall, I've been in a bit of a blogging funk this week.  Most days, I haven't even wanted to blog, which is not like me.  I think that was partly cos of stress at work, and also because Swatch Week didn't inspire me, so half the posts felt like a bit of a chore, rather than something I could get giddy about.

I'm also caught a little between the old world and the new world.  I know the exact format I want the blog to take going forward, and what types of post you can GUARANTEE to get on each day - like scheduled programming; also, my mum would cook the same meal every Monday, a different same meal every Tuesday ... routine can be good :) - and I'm itching to get to that place, but I have shitloads to empty out of the vault in the meantime :)

Luckily, everything that's going IN to the vault is of better quality than what's coming out of it, which is great, but I already have about 50 "new posts" in there - aarrrgh - maybe I'll just have to accept that.   So, as I was itching for newness, I spent 2 nights this week redesigning the blog, first the background, and then the header (which came from THIS brilliant tutorial).   I think I was starting to outgrow the old splatter background, and was looking for something a bit more "grown up".   The good news is, that now I know how to do it, I can change it whenever I want lol - yay!




I'm going to leave you today with some more giddiness - the new Zoya Collections.  Personally, I much prefer there being a short gap between the press release and the "going on sale part" (OPI take note; we get bored easily) and these babies go on sale today or tomorrow.  The very first post that went up left me a bit meh, but then yes, that Scrangie woman posted them and suddenly they all look amazeballs. I know we all laugh about it, but what IS her secret power ? How does she do it?   She can make ANYTHING look good, and if she can't, then you pretty much know it's rubbish.  She IS the Ultimate Goddess, so I leave you now with links to her posts on both Collections.  Drool away :)


Designer - http://www.scrangie.com/2012/07/zoya-designer-collection-fall-2012.html



Diva - http://www.scrangie.com/2012/07/zoya-diva-collection-fall-2012-swatches.html





Enjoy xx :)

Lazy Sunday w/c 24 June 2012

Hi Goddesses

I feel I've been completely behind the ball this week, racing to catch up and not quite getting there :)  Luckily,  I had a day off on Wednesday and got to create 15 manis, which was super fun, AND a crapton of polishes arrived on my doorstep too.  

So why don't I feel excited ?  I don't know!  Lol, maybe it's the anti-climax of the end of Celebration 500.  The month was soooo well structured, I didn't really have to think too much, and now it's over and I DO have to think, and owch that hurts!   Also, the end of Celebration 500 was supposed to be the dawn of a new era, and yet I start July with about 80 manis sat in the vault.  

So here's Crumpet, caught between the past and the future.  I've never been good at limbo, so as soon as I get my new structure sorted out, I'll be fine, even if it means I decide 80 manis never see the light of day.

So what did I get up to this week?   Well Summer Challenge, obvs, and this week had some hideous curveballs lol.

There was Wimbledon

and Underneath The Stars

and water marble

and blue, aqua, green - I chose to do a splatter.

There were guests posts from Roisin, Victoria, Louise, Bee, Helen.

I promised you another cat story last week.  Well, as I went to bed, Pumpkin and Parsnip were having a standoff in the bedroom.  I split them up and climbed into bed.  However, I then heard Parsnip darting around in the bedroom and the noise awakened a horrific memory - she was darting around trying to catch a mouse ......

Lamp on, go and see Parsnip.   Laundry basket is too close to wall and Parsnip can't get her paw or jaw in there - I move it away from the wall.  No mouse.   But Parsnip is still  obsessed and pawing at the base of the laundry basket, and then it dawns on me ...... mousey is UNDER the laundry basket.  Crap in a bucket!   So I lift the edge of the basket an inch off the floor, and before my eye has really registered it, Parsnip's paw dives in, retrives mouse, clamps it in her chops and carries it off to eat.  Under the bed.  Whilst I'm trying to sleep.   

Jeez, no wonder I turn to polish!  So this week I showed you my stamping polishes

my brushes and tools

my untrieds

and my latest haul

There was also the Superheroes v Villains Challenge, which this week landed on Disney.  I chose Cruella de Vil for my villain

and the Disney Princesses for my hero.

There was also some post swatches on the blog.  Nubar Peacock Feathers

DS Glamour

There was also Stamping Sunday which this week landed on Gothic - I was thrilled with how this turned out.

And finally, there was Friday Friends with Roisin, a post about my favourite blogging friends, and a post on some of the Best Bloggers on the Block.

Wow, what a week ..... AND .... it ended with a Giveaway - make sure you enter for your chance of winning 15 British polishes and a load of sweeties and treaties :)

See you next week for a new era in Crumpetland :) xx

The Lazy Sunday w/c 17th June 2012

Hi Goddesses

It's funny how things happen sometimes, isn't it?   So here I am, in the middle of my Celebration 500 month, where I've spoken of my love for writing, how the blog started, where it is and where it's not compared to other bloggers, and one Thursday night post later .... everything changes.

I still can't quite believe the reaction to my Lynnderella Rockafeller post.   As I'm sat here typing, it's had 4,000 hits, 111 comments, gained me 60 followers and 30 FB followers,  been shared and re-posted no end of times. My traffic sources tell me it's been viewed on Reddit and other forums .... and bizarrely it shows no signs of slowing down.

So .... what?  Well for me, as the blogger in the middle of the month where she is evaluating who she is and where she's going, and who LOVES writing, it's suggested to me that occasionally, I should play more to my strengths.  I've been delighted by the reaction and the comments on my writing, so I've decided that Lazy Sundays are going to be what they have been (a round-up of my week) but also a little bit more ..... and I do hope you enjoy :)

I'm going to start this week with the Superheroes and Villains challenge I'm doing with 5 other British lovelies.   I LOVED my Wonder Woman mani (here).  I did it on Sunday night, showed it off at work on Monday, didn't stop talking about it for the rest of the week and couldn't WAIT to post it on Thursday.  I was so proud of what for once was some Grade A nail art and I couldn't wait to see if I got more page views than normal .....

So what did I do ?  That's right, post a 4000-hit article JUST BEFORE I posted Wonder Woman.  Now I do love my irony, and the fact that the Universe gave me the response I'd asked for ... but bless her, she got a bit lost in the hooha.   

Talking of which, I learnt this week that hooha means different things on opposite sides of the Atlantic.  As does twat.  Bizarre thing, this language we share.

Anyway, my Villain this week was Catwoman, and you can check her out here.

The Summer Challenge has been a rockin and a rollin on, and this week we've had kites

ice cream sundaes

parrots (including a new nail art technique)

and picnic - where hilariously, almost all of us in the Challenge did exactly the same mani.  Priceless.

Elsewhere, I've had a week of double mouse trauma.  Let me share Episode 1 with you.  Pumpkin - that's the fat, one-eyed, lethargic cat you see here

is not a mouse-hunting monster, a bird eater or anything much of anything really.  She'll only eat food if you chop it up for her first.  She's the epitomy of the lazy cat.   So imagine her shock - and mine - when on Sunday night she somehow caught a mouse.  Yup, she did.   Now, being a friendly sort, she let the mouse down on the carpet, and kept stroking it with her paw, just wanting to play.  Awwwww.   (She wanted to eat it, don't get me wrong, but only if someone was going to kill it and peel it for her first).

Me, I do not like meeces.  Living in the country, they're a hazard.  But when dopey cats bring them into the house, they tend to hide in nooks and crannies where you can hear them but not kill them.    So, I promptly covered the mouse with a clear plastic tub from the nail room.  Phew.  Mouse can no longer run.   Howevvvvvvvver, Pumpkin still wants to play, and keeps patting the tub, trying to make the mouse (who, clever bugger, is pretending to be dead) move.

Now, my boyfriend is at the pub without his phone and I want to go to bed.  Pumpkin is fascinated by the mouse in the box and shows no signs of going to sleep herself (probably cos she's already slept for 99% of the day), and I realise I cannot leave mousey in it's box cos eventually Pumpkin will use her gargantuan weight to set it free.   So yes, I have to use another box to lift the corner of the first one, let the mouse scurry in, and then throw it out the window.  

Ugh.   I can go to bed now.  Poor Pumpkin though, keeps roaming around and sniffing, KNOWING she put the mouse down somewhere, but where the hell was it ??!!   She keeps turning, hoping her one good eye will reveal a clue.  Eventually, worn out by 2 mins worth of searching, she harrumphs and plops down in search of a nap.

Next week, I'll share Episode 2 :(

So what else happened in CrumpetLand ?   Lots.   I LOVED LOVED LOVED my stamping mani, which looked like either red mermaids or red lizards.  It happened totally by accident but I loved it - you can find out how I created it here.

It was also Stash Week on the blog as part of Celebration 500.   So far the blue and green box has been the most popular, which surprises me.  If you want to drool at what I've got, you can investigate them all here -

blue and green

red, pink, yellow, orange

indies

holos

monos

purples

glitters and flakie top coats

There's also been a ton of Guest Posts, from Sarah, Caitlin, Kerrie and a Friday Friends post from Missy.

Finally, I swatched the most perfect teal of all time (possibly) - Mystical Dragon by Fashionista

and a little known Nails Inc polish called Baker Street (here) lol

The other reason I want to expand this Lazy Sunday edition is coming atcha .... NOW.  I want to be able to comment on what's happening in the nail community, and help you pick up on the new trends and hot new polishes.  Example -    For months and months and months I have berated OPI for their lack of imagination, constantly recycling collections and ideas and colours, for not getting on board with trends, for being soooooo far behind the hype it's almost laughable .... and yet ....   This last couple of weeks, OPI has released a polish in France called Spotted.   What is it?  Well, it's all the things OPI hasn't been for a VERY long time - innovative, ahead of the curve, and WOW.

(image from Nailderella)

So ... apologies OPI, you deserve credit and kudos for this, and the clamour you've created for this polish.  Isn't it funny though how few of us have remembered to doff our caps to you .....  Let's hope you have a LOT MORE ideas like this in the pipeline.

Wow, that was a week, if ever there was one.  Thank you again for all your comments this week.  And if you're one of the 80 people following The Crumpet for the first time, I hope you stick around and enjoy the ride.

Oh, and don't forget .... next week there might just be A Very British Giveaway .... maybe.  As you've been so nice x

Enjoy xx :)