Indulgent Intermission: (Belated) Happy Canada Day and My (mis)Adventures in Full Nail Design Stamping with the New Bundle Monster Plates

I apologize for the ridiculously long post title (I'm starting to think I'm too wordy for my own good, but that's another post right there) but it was the best way to summarize exactly what you'll be seeing in this particular post. First off, a (belated) Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians and a Happy 4th of July to our neighbours south of the border! We had an awesome long weekend (that's partially extended to today as Mr. J is working from home) that was nice and relaxing. Hammie wasn't particularly happy that I skipped out on our usual Monday post, but hey, it's a long weekend! At least he got to enjoy some awesome corn on the cob at that barbecue he went to (and didn't invite us, boo). We had a nice three days of relaxing; no stress at all. We did a marathon of Grimm (a show Mr. J is particularly taken with) and a few movies (Rise of the Planet of the Apes surprisingly made me cry). Also got in some nice gaming time with Dragon Age and spent a couple days with the Cutie Pie (aka the niece) which was mostly spent running after her. No wonder her parents cancelled their gym membership!

Anyway, I doubt you came here to hear about how I spent my weekend so let's get on to the nails. Earlier last week, I had some pretty awesome nail mail that comprised the new Bundle Monster plates and a bunch of Cult Nail polishes (Cult Fairy Tale and Naked collections). I've been itching to try both so I ended up with Baker (at the suggestion of the lovely Marta) as a base. I, then, stamped on one of the full nail swirly designs with some black polish (Wet N Wild Ebony Hates Chris).

 These photos were taken after I've already worn the design for 5 days. Yep, 5 days and barely any tip wear at all! (I did manage to smudge the design on my pinky when I applied top coat though..)

 I inverted the design on the index and middle finger to create more interest. It was hard to capture the pretty golden shimmer but it's there.

 This was, after all, an impromptu photo session so I ended up posing with what was readily on hand --one of my new favorite hand creams that the wonderful Esther sent me. (Thanks again, Esther!)

Here's what most excited me about the new plates: a full nail design that actually fits my thumb and doesn't require double stamping!!

I rarely sport full nail stamped designs mostly because they almost never fit my thumb. Having just the thumb "naked" isn't really a look I'd go for, either, so I usually only use full nail designs on accent nails. That way, I don't need to deal with double stamping. But here's one design that actually fits perfectly! Definitely thrilled about this one. I have high hopes for the rest of the other designs.

Now, after I wore this for 5 days straight, I figured it was time for a change. In honor of Canada's 145th birthday, I went with Canada themed nails:

 I love how I was able to use another of my new Cult Nails polishes: Evil Queen. It's a gorgeous blue based red jelly that's absolutely perfect for summer. The white on the accent nail is Borghese Bianco White Tip.

 I found an ingenious way of using another craft item: a puncher. I have a small maple leaf puncher so I took that and punched a maple leaf outline on a label sticker. I placed that over the white and used it as a stencil, painting Evil Queen on top and quickly removing it to get the maple leaf design. Easy peasy!

 I took these photos right after I painted my nails so I was scrambling to find distinctly Canadian items. This was one I unearthed: a hockey puck.

 Here's another distinctly Canadian candy: Aero! Love this stuff; I swear, they're so addictive.

Again, (Belated) Happy Canada Day!

I originally wanted to put the maple leaf on my middle finger for symmetry and for it to look more like the Canadian flag. Mr. J didn't think it was appropriate so he suggested I place it on my ring finger instead. I wanted to keep it simple and clean so no glitter or flakies this time around. I would, however, love to play around with a red jelly sandwich using Evil Queen. I bet it'll look amazing!

So there you go. I might be late a day, but hey, at least you get two nail designs. I hope you had a wonderful long weekend and an awesome week ahead!