A dream swap...

When Lydia and I swap - we do it properly ;)
This is the latest swap-parcel from my sweet, generous and always positive friend Lydia, Purple Castle, whom I really am proud to call my friend - thanks a million times again!!!

Let's have a closer look at the content, shall we...?

First we have 3 from Pure Ice, a brand I have been wanting to try a while now, it's Speechless, Deja Vu (amazing purple/blue shift) and Last Chance. Further more two other to me new brands: Salon Perfect How Dare you! and the gorgeous holographic Jade Holografico Fascinio Violetta...

Next 3 Illamasquas from my wish list: Nudge (a true lemming), Venous and Superstition - and another new brad that I wished for: Mint Polish Original Mint and Dirty Sheila that shifts between pink/hot pink and fuchsia with an amazing shimmer...

6 L'oreals from my wish list, the first 4 from the Versailles Romance coll.: Royally Yours, Pisachio dream, Creme puffs, Lacey lilac and 2 from the TRENDsetter coll.: Royally reinvented and Not a cloud in sight...

Look at that gorgeous Julie G Cabana Boy, it's so gorgeous, and two other new brands in my collection is Covergirl Vio-last and Flower by Drew Barrymore NP8 Good Bud-dy and finally Nicole by Opi Stand by Your Manni from the Modern Family coll.

From Sinful we have 4 from the Sugar rush coll: Sweeth Tooth, Candy Coated, Sugar Rush and Sugar n Spice. And two other Sinful's Star dust and Amethyst...

- and last but definitely not least 3 gorgeous bracelets, made by Lydia.
Did you know that Lydia is a very talented bracelet maker?? If not - have a look at her Facebook page Purple Castle's Bracelets and Stuff - where you also can buy other kinds of home made jewlery - sooo pretty. And please give her a "Like" too...


Thanks Lydia for all these amazing polishes and bracelets - I'm so thrilled to have all of them my friend!!!

Flowers for a cutie pie

 

 

The base color is Chick Cutie Pie, a beautiful pale mint pastel with a flawless formula. I painted the leaves and quick, simple flowers with acrylic craft paint, and the top coat is Seche Vite. 

If I were to redo this, I would have added a little detail to the flowers, but they are OK as is.

Grundfarven er Chick Cutie Pie, en smuk lys mint der er let at påføre og arbejde med. Jeg malede bladene og de hurtige og enkle blomster med akryl farve og toplakken er Seche Vite. 

Hvis jeg skulle lave dette om, ville jeg give blomsterne lidt detajler, men de er nu OK, som de er.

Wisteria on pastel yellow

 

 

The base color is Manhattan Lotus Effect 21G, and I painted leaves and clusters of flowers that looks a lot like Wisteria in different shades of acrylic craft color. I’m not unhappy about them, but also not completely satisfied, and I know what to change the next time I paint flowers like this LOL. The top coat is as usual Seche Vite.

Grundfarven er Manhattan Lotus Effect 21G, og jeg malede blade og blomsterklaser som minder noget om blåregn med akrylfarve. Jeg er ikke helt tilfreds (men heller ikke utilfreds) og ved hvad jeg vil ændre til næste gang jeg maler blomsterklaser som disse. Toplakken er Seche Vite.

Pastel skittle with flowers - Artsy Wednesday

 

 

 

The theme in this Artsy Wednesday is pastels…
The colors I used are all Models Own. Thumb: Beth’s Blue from the “Ice Cream Sundae” collection, the rest is from the scented collection “Fruit Pastels” index: Banana Split, middle: Apple Pie, ring: Blueberry Muffin, little: Grape Juice.

I painted flower vines in pink and white using craft acrylic paints. The top coat is Seche Vite.

Check out the other girls Artsy Wednesday mani's: 
Michelle - Lab Muffin 
Melanie - Nail & Polish 
Jessica - Beauty Gnome 
Emily - An Accent Nail
Catrine - Unnakednails 
Ameerah - Valiantly Varnished
Wendy - M.A.S.P.O.O.A.S.E.

Guessing giveaway :)

During my blog leave I spent some of the time in the southern parts of Germany, and I did a *little* polish shopping...
To my defense I shopped for 4 other girls too....

So why not make a small guessing contest/giveaway - internationally open - and the prize is a gift card to an Internet nail polish shop of your choice, value $25 OR €20 or the equivalent in another currency - read "Terms & conditions".
The winner will be randomly chosen by Rafflecopter - and the right number of polishes in the photo above will be revealed when I draw the winner - but your guess - right or wrong - does not affect your chances to win - it's just for fun!
There might however be a LITTLE something if one of you actually guesses the right number, let's see about that...

The giveaway ends on June 4 - and the winner has 48 to reply to the email notification before I draw a new winner...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Micro Painting Monday - 24 - after my first exhibition

When I started my facebook page Micro Paintings by Maria the chairman for Vendsyssel Knivmagerlaug asked if I would like to exhibit on their annual "Knivtræf i Nord".
Knife makers from all of Scnadinavia - also our neighbor to the south, Germany, and other countries meet to show their amazing work and to participate in a competition. I can tell you that they have attention to detail, I'm in awe!
But they also invite other crafters to exhibit, my two stand "neighbors" showed and sold silver jewlery and glass, there also were and amazing girl who made beautiful things of  willow by braiding them, flies for fishing were showed and tied, a blacksmith made knife blades - there were so much to see...

Knivtræf i Nord is held in the huuuge barn of the old manor "Knivholt Hovedgaard", and since the weather was cold - so was the barn, so I have a sore throat and is not physically feeling well today, actually not at all - but I'm so happy!!

Showing something not seen before takes a little learning by doing....
On Saturday a lot of people just glanced and passed by with that empty look in their eyes, even if many did stop, so that I got a chance to talk to them and a lot of business cards was haded out.
But I decided to make improvements for Sunday.

 

It might be a bit difficult to see (unless you click on the photos to enlarge them) - but I wrote Hand Painted Micro Paintings - read for the wall or a frame - and that gave a whole new level of interested, and I sold the first piece first thing in the morning.

All in all it was a fantastic week end, most of all because it was so good to hear that people liked what they saw, and some even very impressed :)

 Of the not shown here on the blog sets, that was sold were these two, first "Mossy theme"

 

- and "Orange flowers and mushrooms" - here shown before and after mounting....

As always see more in my shop Micro Paintings by Maria HERE - and please, please click the Facebook LIKE button to the right next to the first photo in this post - or when you are in my shop, use the button in the left side banner - or go directly to my Facebook page HERE