jamberry challenge

Several of my sorority sisters started selling Jamberry nail wraps a few months ago.  I had avoided trying it thus far, but you can only see the pictures of perfect "jamicures" so many times before you just have to give in to peer pressure.  So after seeing the spring/summer samples, I decided to give it a try.
I had my friend, Tina, send me a sample of the Funky Cheetah design.  It came today and looked like this (without the 5):

Following the instructions that came with the wrap, I cut it in half so I could cover 2 nails.  Then applied it.
This was so simple.  Just heat it up for a few seconds with a blow dryer, stick it to your nail, then heat it for a few more seconds to set it.  Then trim off any excess with scissors and bam.  Done.  Takes less than a minute and zero dry time.
It looked like this when I finished.

So, also following the directions, I decided to take the jamberry challenge.  I painted my remaining nails with my usual polish.  I use Sally Hanson Extreme Wear, which is a quick-dry, extended wear polish.  

The goal of the challenge is to see which lasts longer.   So here's day 1.

I'll tell you what though, even if these only last a few days, I think they may be worth it in ease of use alone.  Let me tell you, putting on 2 nail wraps took me just a couple of minutes and they were done and dry.  There was no learning curve and there was no mess.  I could go and pick up my 13 month old without worrying about messing up my freshly "painted" nails.
Then I had to paint the rest of my nails.  I have short nails, so this is inevitable:

I had to do two coats.  And I had to wait for it to dry.  Of course Miles was curious, so I had to keep the bottle (and my nails) away from him.  He was wanted to climb all over me, so I had to figure out how to pick him up or put him down without messing up the polish.  Then he decided to dump a glass of water out.  So I had to clean that up right after applying the second coat.  This polish is quick dry, but not that quick.  Anyway, all things considered, I did pretty well - this was my worst casualty.

Anyway, the Jams are off to a positive start.  Check back in a week to see the progress. And in the meantime, stay Chelish :-)

day 5 | days 10/13

It's the little things...

I love pinterest.  I love looking through random boards and pinning things that look delicious, fun, artsy, gorgeous, etc.  Rarely, though, do I ever follow through with pinned material (expect in the case of dinner.  Pinterest is the only way I get new and different food on the table).  
One major exception to that was when I pinned something about making your own stamped metal jewelry back in November.  I looked at the pin, thought "this would be totally easy" and started scouring pinterest for more ideas and tutorials.  

Then I went to amazon and started a wishlist of all the things I would need to get my new hobby started.  There was a lot.  I started to feel defeated...but never fear (brooklyn is here!) - it was mom and dad to the rescue!  I turned 30 in early December.  It was the first time in my life that my parents were going to miss my birthday (they had moved out of state just over a year prior, but had been able to return for my birthday the year before), and they felt really, really bad.  This worked out in my favor, because it meant that they purchased just about the entirety of my wishlist - which consisted of lower and uppercase metal stamps, a stamping block, a jeweler's hammer, 2 texture hammers, and a how-to book.  They also gave me an amazon gift card that allowed me to purchase the remaining essentials to get started - metal blanks.

I took to stamping very quickly and started selling my pieces to some of my online friends.  After a few successful sales, I went into business mode.  I started a facebook page and an Etsy page.  I designed a logo, made business cards, and nice looking invoices, set up a company email, and bought a ton more supplies.
Business was basically booming in the beginning.  I was getting at least an order a day and I loved it. 

Then I got a huge 10 piece order.  Along with that came the opportunity to sign up for a vendor show that would give me a ton of visibility.  In completing that order and preparing things for that show, I realized how insanely time consuming stamping really is.  I can't do it when my kid is awake, because he wants me to play with him.  I can't do it when my kid is asleep because it's loud.  I can't do it when my husband is home, because he wants to spend time with me (not that I'm complaining...I usually like him).  It took me a month to  find the time to finish 1 piece of that 10 piece order, and then another month to do the rest (which I was only able to do because I had the day off work and sent the kid to daycare anyway (don't judge me)).

The show is in 2 weeks and I still haven't started on the 100 pieces I have to make so I can sell something while I'm there....Which reminds me, if you find yourself in the metro-detroit area, think about checking out the Spirit of Leadership Luncheon on May 15th.
Regardless of how it has sounded thus far, this really is a positive post!  Since accepting that large order and committing to the show, I have stopped promoting the business, because I don't really have time to take on additional orders at the moment.  I fully plan to get back into the swing of it after, but I need to focus on one goal at a time here.  Despite no promotion in over 2 months, I got 2 orders out of the blue yesterday.  With as stressed as I've been about finishing the other work, surprisingly I got SO excited to have new orders.  I guess it gives me a sense of validation.  Especially because one of the orders came from a completely random person with whom I have no known connection.  They just (seemingly) randomly found my Etsy shop and placed an order.  
I still have no idea when I'm going to be able to do these things, but I really love that I get to.  Just one of those little things that brighten a person's day, I guess.  


Until next time...stay chelish!

Momma & Miles Monday

My first weekly post!  Mondays are going to be dedicated to the most handsome little man I know, Miles.
This kid just turned 1 and I have no idea where the time went. 
Right now his favorite thongs to do are torture the dog, climb on the glass end table, and stack his blocks (and then knock them over.  This has been a big week because he also started walking!  He's still only taking a few steps at a time, but his confidence is growing and soon he'll be unstoppable!

We love taking selfies.  Just a couple of goofballs.  He's definitely inherited the chelish gene!

Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome!  

I'm Chelsea, also known as Chel.  Wife to Chad, Mommy to Miles, & Puppy-Mommy to Zuzu.  Career-woman (that sounds so strange), aspiring crafty person, & part-time jewelry designer.  I've been wanting to enter the blog-o-sphere for quite some time now, but never felt like I had the time or anything worthwhile to blog about.  Frankly, I still feel that way, but I've decided to bite the bullet and just go for it.  I realized that some of my favorite blogs aren't really topical.  They're just recaps of life in general.  I can do that too.  Granted, my life is not overly exciting (at least not to me), but maybe this will give me some motivation to shake things up a little.  As for time, I still have no idea when I'll actually find any to sit down and post.  I have, what seems like, no time for "me" as it is.  So...we'll see if this even goes anywhere.  I want to commit, I really do.  Real life can often get in the way of that, though.
This is already off to a positive start, isn't it?  Let's move on.

So...WTF is a Chelish?

Ah...yes.  Well, this is a far more upbeat topic.  It starts back in High School (how far back is that you ask?  far enough).  A friend of mine made the mistake of calling me "Chels"*.  I lashed out.  Like, I was irrationally angry.  Red in the face, increased heart rate, yelling, kicking, punching (well maybe not so much kicking & punching...but you get the idea) angry.  My friends were all 'woah, dude...calm down'.  But it was enough that they gave me a new nickname.  chelchel. Somehow, I decided that this was better than Chels and it stuck.  It became my AIM name, my new email address...everything was chelchel.  To this day, I use chelchel as my username for most accounts.

A few years later (though, still in high school), chelchel became just Chel.  Though in retrospect, I don't think the two nicknames actually had anything to do with one another.  A friend just naturally shortened Chelsea to Chel (because everyone has to have a 1-syllable nickname...it's just necessary), instead of the more common Chels.  I was OK with that though.  I liked it.  

Fast forward to my freshman year of college.  When my new roomies and I introduced ourselves, we were required to give a suitable 1-syllable nickname (because it's a thing...I already explained this).  I, of course, said they should use Chel and avoid Chels if they valued their lives. :-)

As we got to know each other and grow closer, my roommate KJ (or kaje for short), started noticing that I had some quirks that were unique to me.  Be it absent-mindedness, habits, vocabulary, whatever - she deemed these behaviors "Chelish".  As in, "that's so Chelish" (ah-ha!) or "that's such a Chelish thing to do/say". It wasn't necessarily negative or positive...it just was (or so I choose to believe).  For example, I wore a watch in college.  I wore it on my right hand, even though I'm right-handed.  ...that's so chelish!  It became so commonplace that they started calling me Chelish too.  I even went so far as to get a t-shirt printed that said Chelish across the chest (I'll have to dig it out and post a picture some day).  

Anyway, "that's so chelish" kind of died out after freshman year, when we all moved to new dorms and pursued our own individual things.  But when trying to come up with a fun name for a blog about me, Chel, it became obvious that Chelish needed to be resurrected.  So there you go ("So today here, we have apples and oranges. We all different now but in the end we're all fruit").

Moving On

I totally meant for this to be a short introductory post.  But, you can clearly see now how long-winded I can be.  Short story is not in my vocabulary.  I suppose that's why I did so well as a communication major in college.  But this is also a good explanation as to why time is going to be a huge factor for me.  I can't make a long-story short.  I'm incredibly wordy.  So, this will be fun.  Hopefully my long short stories will at least provide some enjoyment and a look into the very Chelish life I lead.  

*I have no idea why I reacted the way I did to being called Chels.  I just get really bad vibes, almost to the point of a panic attack when I'm called that, even now just writing about it, my chest is getting tight...ugh.  I attribute it to the mother of an old friend from elementary school who always called me Chels.  I didn't get along with her very well and thinking about her now grates on my nerves.  I don't know why.  She never did anything to me.  We just didn't mesh, and that has forever ruined Chels for me, I guess.