Pride Nails

     Happy Pride everyone!  I had been hoping to do a video tutorial on my pride nails this year.  Unfortunately, when I'm doing nail art that requires a fair amount of precision, I have a tendency to angle my hands upward, away from the camera.  This means that the footage I took wasn't stellar, and there are lots of points during the video where my hands are angled in such a way that you can't actually see what I'm doing.  So I decided not to do the video and instead just do a written tutorial.  Hopefully I can redo the video tutorial at some point in the future.

Thumbnail: 8 Color Philadelphia Pride Flag

This variation on the rainbow pride flag includes black and brown stripes to represent People of Color in the LGBTQIA+ community.  Although People of Color have been instrumental in the struggle for equality, their contributions are often overlooked (e.g., Marsha P. Johnson, who took part in Stonewall and co-founded with Sylvia Riviera the organization STAR, which provided assistance and housing to homeless trans and queer youth and sex workers [1]).  They are also more likely to face more discrimination and violence due to their multiple marginalized identities.  For example, black trans women are murdered at a rate more than seven times that of the general population [2].

Materials:

*Base coat
*Black acrylic paint or nail polish
*Brown acrylic paint or nail polish
*Red acrylic paint or nail polish
*Orange acrylic paint or nail polish
*Yellow acrylic paint or nail polish
*Green acrylic paint or nail polish
*Blue acrylic paint or nail polish
*Purple acrylic paint or nail polish
*Fine nail art brush
*Holographic nail polish top coat (optional) or glossy top coat

Directions:

*Apply nail polish base coat.  Let dry.

*Apply a thin horizontal stripe of black paint at the top of your thumbnail.  The width of the stripe depends on the length of your nails.  To get a sense of how wide each stripe should be, measure the length of your nail and divide that number by 8.  The resulting number will give you an approximate width.  (Honestly I just eyeballed it, but if you're worried about spacing, math can help.)

*Apply a thin stripe of brown paint in the same fashion.

*Continue applying the remaining colors in thin layers, starting with red and progressing to purple in rainbow order.

*Seal with a top coat, either a clear top coat or a holographic top coat for some rainbowy sparkles.

Index Finger: Trans Flag

Someone who is transgender has a gender identity than doesn't match the sex they were assigned at birth.  (The term for people whose gender identities match the sex they were assigned at birth is cisgender.)  While we hear about women who were assigned male at birth and men who were assigned female at birth, someone does not have to be a woman or a man to be trans.  Many people who are nonbinary, gender fluid, or agender, for example, may also consider themselves trans.  However, not everyone who is nonbinary, for example, will consider themselves trans.  This is partly why many of these communities have their own flags.

Materials:

*Nail polish base coat
*Light blue acrylic paint or nail polish
*Light pink acrylic paint or nail polish
*White acrylic paint or nail polish
*Fine nail art brush
*Holographic or clear nail polish top coat

Directions:

*Apply a clear base coat.  Let dry.

*Paint light blue horizontal stripes at the top and bottom of each nail.  If you're not sure how wide to make each stripe, take the length of your nail and divide it by five.  The resulting number will give you the approximate width each stripe should be.

*Paint pink stripes below the top blue stripe and above the bottom blue stripe.

*Fill in the middle of the nail with white paint or polish.

*Apply a clear top coat, or a holographic top coat for some extra shine.

Middle Finger: Bi Pride Flag

While some people have come to associate bisexuality with being attracted to both women and men, many bisexual people find themselves attracted to people of genders outside of the binary, for example, people who are nonbinary or agender.

Materials:

*Nail polish base coat
*Magenta acrylic paint or nail polish
*Purple acrylic paint or nail polish
*Blue acrylic paint or nail polish
*Fine nail art brush
*Holographic or clear nail polish top coat

Directions:

*Apply a clear base coat.  Let dry.

*Paint the top part of your nail magenta.  The purple stripe on the bi flag is often thinner than the pink and blue stripes, but I've seen a lot of people use equal widths too.

*Paint the middle of your nail purple.

*Paint the bottom of your nail blue.

*Apply a clear or holographic top coat.

Ring Finger: Asexual Pride Flag

One thing to know about asexuality is that it is a spectrum.  While some people who are asexual have zero sexual attraction, others (sometimes called gray asexuals or gray aces) do experience some sexual attraction.  The attraction could be infrequent or limited to a small number of individuals.  Demisexuality is often considered as a subset of asexuality.  Demisexual individuals have to form a connection with someone first before they can become sexually attracted to this person.

Another important thing to note about asexuality is that sex and romance are not the same.  People who don't experience romantic attractions are called aromantic.  While some asexual people are also aromantic, many are not.  Much like some people can have sex without developing romantic feelings, other people can have romantic feelings without a desire for sex.

Materials:

*Nail polish base coat
*Black acrylic paint or nail polish
*Gray acrylic paint or nail polish
*White acrylic paint or nail polish
*Purple acrylic paint or nail polish
*Fine nail art brush
*Holographic or clear nail polish top coat

Directions:

*Apply a clear base coat.  Let dry.

*Paint the top of your nail black.  To figure out how wide to make your stripe, take the length of your nail and divide it by four.  The resulting number will give you the width of each stripe.

*Paint a gray stripe below the black one.

*Paint a white stripe below the gray one.

*Paint the bottom stripe purple.

*Seal with a clear or holographic top coat.

Pinkie Finger: Pan Pride Flag

For people who are pansexual, gender is generally not a factor in their attractions.  While some people who are bisexual may experience the same thing, and some use the terms interchangeably, pansexuality makes it explicit that people who use this term are attracted to a multitude of genders, not just two.

Materials:

*Nail polish base coat
*Magenta acrylic paint or nail polish
*Yellow acrylic paint or nail polish
*Blue acrylic paint or nail polish
*Fine nail art brush
*Holographic or clear nail polish top coat

Directions:

*Apply a clear base coat.  Let dry.

*Paint the top part of your nail magenta.  To figure out how wide to make your stripe, take the length of your nail and divide it by three.  The resulting number will give you an approximation of how wide each stripe should be.

*Paint the middle of your nail yellow.

*Paint the bottom of your nail blue.

*Apply a clear or holographic top coat.

[1]https://www.workers.org/2006/us/lavender-red-73/
[2]https://unerased.mic.com/

Key Necklace Maid of Honor Gift

     My sister has been such an important person in my life for as long as I can remember.  Literally.  I was so grateful to have her at my wedding as my Maid of Honor.  I wanted to give her a small token of appreciation to remind her how much I value having her in my life.  Since I was wearing a key necklace for the wedding, I thought it would be fun to make her a key necklace as well.

Katie and me at the wedding.  You can kind of see the necklace in this picture.

Materials:

*Necklace chain (I bought one that already had a clasp attached)
*Jump rings
*Jewelry pliers
*Key shaped charm

Directions:

*Open jump ring using jewelry pliers.

*Slide the key charm onto the jump ring.

*Place the jump ring around the necklace chain.

*Use pliers to close the jump ring.

Alice in Wonderland Heart Wedding Nails

     For my wedding nails, I wanted a design that was relatively simple, but still had an Alice in Wonderland feel.  I opted for this heart nail design.  With perhaps some modifications to the base color, this heart design could work well for weddings, Alice in Wonderland parties, Valentine's day, etc.

Here's what my "other hand" looked like.  The hearts are a little more lopsided, but in my opinion, not too bad.

     I have both a photo and video tutorial for this video.  The video tutorial is included immediately below, but for a photo tutorial, keep scrolling.

Alice in Wonderland Inspired Heart Wedding Nails

Materials:

*Light blue nail polish
*Clear nail polish base/top coat
*Red acrylic paint
*Sparkly red nail polish
*Ultra fine nail art brush

Directions:

*Paint on nail polish clear base coat.

*Paint nails with light blue nail polish.  Let dry.  Add a second coat if needed.

*Using the red acrylic paint and nail art brush, draw red hearts onto your nails.  Let dry.

*For the ring finger nail, go over the heart shape with sparkly red nail polish to create an accent nail.

*Seal with a clear top coat.

Our Alice in Wonderland Virtual Wedding Ceremony

     Brian and I got married on Friday, May 22nd, 2020.  While the ceremony was certainly different from what I had envisioned six months ago when I started planning, it was one of the best days of my life.  The joy of seeing so many friends and loved ones, either virtually or in person, and standing up with the love of my life celebrating our union, kept the perfectionist in me from noticing the little things that fell by the wayside.  Sure, we were late to the venue, and didn't have the time to put up some of the decorations I had painstakingly created for this event, and we had plenty of Zoom and internet issues, but these were nothing more than blips on my radar.  If you are currently planning a wedding, especially if things are now up in the air or you've had to change your plans substantially, I want to say that while stressful now, in my experience, none of those issues will matter in the end.  I was so happy to be marrying Brian that it did not matter on the day of if not every detail was Pinterest perfect.
     For the rest of this post, I'll walk you through the day with photos, but I also made a brief video of our day, which I have included below:

Our Wedding

     Brian and I got married at the ornamental gardens at the University of Maine.  The funny thing was, when we started talking about getting married, the gardens had been our first idea, since it is a lovely venue and UMaine is where we met.  We ended up selecting Penobscot Valley Country Club instead because it was more wheelchair accessible and I wanted to have a venue that my grandmother could navigate easily.  Unfortunately, once COVID hit, we realized we would no longer be able to have my grandmother there in person, and so when we got to the stage of downsizing and changing venues, we knew the gardens would be the right choice.  I love the flowering trees, and they were in full bloom that day, making for the perfect backdrop for our ceremony.  We still hope to do a vow renewal ceremony at PVCC next May.

     I figured I would include this zoomed out shot to give you a sense of where our guests were situated for the ceremony.  My brother was also there, although he did not make it into this picture.

     Here Brian is, reciting his vows.

     And here I am, reading mine.  Some say you should make sure your vows and your partners' vows are roughly the same length, but we didn't bother with coordinating vows.  Brian's were short and to the point, which suited him well, and mine were long and sentimental, which is very me.

     The downside to an outdoor venue - sometimes nature gets mean.  Brian is running away from a hornet in this picture.  But not a murder hornet; those haven't made their way up to Maine yet, as far as I'm aware.

     The ring exchange.

     Brian getting chased by the hornet again.

     Taking some pictures with the family.  Even though I didn't have time to put up some of the decorations I'd made, the gardens were so lovely that it didn't really matter.  It didn't feel like we were missing something.

     I don't know if the Hathaway family knows how to take a normal picture.

     The Toner family isn't necessarily good at normalcy either.

     We had our reception in our backyard.  Here's our wedding cake.  My dad picked up these Little Debbie Fancy Cakes for us to use, and I made some cake toppers to give them a little extra flair.
     Even though our wedding was small and not at all professional, it was a great day.  I truly am lucky to have such wonderful family, friends, and partner - now husband - in my life.
     If you like wedding crafts or Alice in Wonderland crafts, stay tuned.  In the coming weeks I'll show you how I made the bouquets, the card soldiers, and how I turned a romper into a wedding dress, among other crafts.

Shark Hair Bow

     This adorable little bow is a fun hair accessory for all ages.

Materials:

*Gray felt
*White felt
*Small black button
*Black thread
*Sewing needle
*All purpose adhesive
*Metal barrette
*Scissors

Directions:

*Cut out a strip of gray felt as wide as you would like your bow to be, and about 12" long.

*Glue the ends of the strip together.

*Cut a triangle out of one end of the felt.

*Cut out a V shape from the white felt such that when you set it inside the ribbon, the white peeks out beyond the triangle that you cut.

*Cut teeth into the V shape.

*Glue teeth inside the bow.

*Sew a black button on to make the shark's eye.

*Pinch bow in the middle.  Secure with a couple of stitches.

*Cut a shark fin from the felt and glue it to the shark's head.

*Glue the barrette to the underside of the bow.

*Cut off a strip of felt a little longer than what you would need to wind around the middle of the barrette and glue it to the back of the bow.

*Wind felt strip around the bow and secure the other end.

Zombie Gretel (from Hansel and Gretel) Costume

     This costume came about because of a romper I found at Charlotte Russe a year or so ago.  I saw it and it just screamed Hansel and Gretel to me, not that it is anything like what a historical Gretel would have worn.  I love costumes, as many of you are aware, and so I figured I'd pick it up and save it until I had the opportunity to put a costume together.  I know this romper is a very specific garment that most of you probably won't have lying around, but if you have an old fashioned, storybook-esque dress, that would work just as well.  The props are, I think, the key to this costume.  If you haven't seen my previous posts on the props, here's how to make the lollipop and here's how to make the gingerbread plushie.

Here's another pic of the costume.

     Earlier in the day, I dressed up as a non-zombie incarnation of Gretel, as you can see in the above picture.  I only painted the blood spatters on one side of the lollipop, so if you reverse it, it looks like a normal lollipop.  At some point in time, I also want to make a cutesy gingerbread plushie to complete the non-zombie Gretel look.
     Also, if you ever need to make fake blood in a pinch, add a little red food coloring to caramel sauce and you're good to go.  If you need it to stick, you'll want to use a thicker variety of caramel sauce.  I had it on my face for at least a couple of hours, and it stayed on my face.
     I had a lot of fun with this costume, so if you're thinking about holding a quarantine costume party, I would definitely recommend.  If you do, I'd love to see what costumes you come up with.

Zombie Gingerbread Plushie

     This zombie gingerbread plushie may be my favorite part of my costume.  Not feeling the zombie aspect?  Leave off the blood splatter and give it normal eyes, and this tutorial works fine for making a cute gingerbread plushie.

Materials:

*Light brown felt
*Light brown thread
*Sewing needle
*White paint
*Fine paintbrush or nail art brush
*Oven bake clay
*Green acrylic paint (or other gumdrop color)
*Purple acrylic paint (or other gumdrop color)
*White acrylic paint
*Red acrylic paint
*Black acrylic paint
*Brown acrylic paint
*Scissors
*Metallic marker or chalk
*Pillow stuffing
*Iridescent glitter
*All purpose adhesive

Directions:

*Print out or draw a gingerbread template.

*Cut out two copies of the gingerbread shape from the brown felt.

*Using a fine paintbrush and white paint, decorate one of the gingerbread shapes so it looks like a gingerbread cookie, except if you're going for a zombie aesthetic, give it x's for eyes.  If you have puffy fabric paint, that would probably work even better, but I didn't have any on hand, so I just used regular white acrylic paint and it worked out fine.

*Sew the two gingerbread pieces together, wrong sides together, using a blanket stitch.  Leave an opening in the gingerbread's head to add stuffing.

*Stuff and sew closed.

*Form two gumdrop shapes from oven bake clay.

*Bake the gumdrop shapes in the oven following the directions on the packaging.

*Paint the gumdrops in your chosen colors.

*While the paint is still wet, sprinkle on some iridescent glitter.  It will look a little like the sugar sprinkles on some gumdrops.

*Once the paint has dried, glue the gumdrops to the gingerbread plushie as buttons.

*Add small amounts of black and brown paint to create a crimson color.  Add crimson bloodstains to your gingerbread.