31DC2014 Day 28: Inspired by Tibetan Prayer Flags

Hello lovelies! Today's Challenge prompt, inspired by a flag, may seem a little random to some. It's actually one that I look forward to because I am a little bit of a flag aficionado, if such a thing exists. For today's inspiration I went with prayer flags. There is a beauty in their colors, delicateness, fluidity and purpose. I tried to capture some of that beauty in this mani.

Scottish Festival and Highland Games

This weekend my family and I had a fun time at the annual Highland Games held here. The weather was perfect (it was strangely cold for the middle of June but eventually warmed up), so we were able to spend a few hours there. We listened to bagpipes, watched a dancing competition, my son battled a medieval knight, and did a little shopping too. Last year my husband picked up a kilt, a Douglas Clan tartan. This year we shopped to find a sporran to go with it.

Of course I had to have nails appropriate for the festival, so this is what I came up with.

31DC2013 Day 28: Inspired by a Flag

As you learned from my Day 24: Inspired by a Book post, I am a map nerd. I believe it naturally follows that I also love flags. There were a number of viable options I kicked back and forth. Finally I decided on the Gadsden flag because I think it's so cool. According to Wikipedia, it's named after the general who designed it during the American Revolution. I recently read "1776", which gave me so much insight and renewed interest into the War's history. I just love the attitude that this flag represents.

And since we're on the subject, here's a little story for you. When I was little I had a hiding spot on top of our roof. It was like my little kingdom. I gave it a name and drew a flag for it. I seem to recall I even tried creating my own nation anthem. If I still had that drawing I would totally do that for today's prompt. 

I have the diamonds to represent the eastern diamondback rattlesnake. I used striping tape to create the shapes. I filled them in with polish and quickly removed the tape one at I time. I made sure to lay down the tape on each finger in the same order so that I would remember the sequence to remove them. They ended up bleeding when I applied Out The Door top coat (grr..). So on my thumb and ring finger I used big globs of Seche Vite and didn't have any problems with the images smudging.

What I used:

Sephora by OPI Yellow My Name is Betsey- yellow

Sephora by OPI I Come In Peas- green

Sephora by OPI Studs and Stilettos - brown

It's So Easy Stripe Rite in black

The other thing that I like about this flag? The motto is also a title of an awesome Metallica song! It's kinda been stuck in my head this entire time.