Usually, my nails are chipped, peeling and broken. Usually I am treating them abominably, so no wonder.  I was surprised then, to find all ten of them intact and of approximately equal lengths. On the same day, too. Time for a quick manicure, I thought. Right. Quick.

Earlier that week I’d picked up a bottle of bright blue lacquer at the dollar store so that seemed the logical place to begin. Two coats later, I was dissatisfied and noted how good the green graphic design on my T-shirt looked against its royal blue background. Okay, a diagonal slash of the green polish from a visit to the same store last winter was applied and repeated. Hmm, it looked pretty, but was missing something. It needed a sharp line of oh, maybe silver, to demarcate the two coloured segments. No silver nail polish in the house and I was not going out. This had started as an impromptu project and was going to continue as such with whatever I could find at home. A search through the craft supplies yielded an enormous tube of black acrylic paint but no brush of an appropriate size. The question of why someone who owns a huge tube (or more) of acrylic paint and no usable brush may never be answered, but I had to find something small and pointed with which to apply this stuff. But what? That question is easily answered, as are so many, with a multi-purpose item found in most homes. No, not duct tape, though I will file that idea away for further exploration on a later brainwave. The answer is: toothpicks! One toothpick, to be exact. A small amount of black paint on the pointy end should make a fine line, finely made. And it did, much to my astonishment. To my further amazement, the lines made on the nails of my right hand, by my left (and non-dominant) hand, were not nearly so wavy and smudgy as I’d feared. Okay, they were nearly as bad as I’d feared, but not quite, and therefore acceptable. There are times to aim for perfection and more frequent times to accept that it is not going to happen. This was one of those times.

The black lines were followed by a clear top coat that has lasted a surprisingly long time. Manicure day was last Wednesday, and photo day was Monday. I have not shied away from any of my normal tasks such as pots and pans scrubbing, and have even indulged my crafty nature with a couple of afternoons spent on my latest basketry project and spent a day learning trying to learn beadwork. I gave the green tips a slight facelift before camera time, but am overall very happy with my manicure.

I am very excited to try  a red and white application for Christmas!

***This Tuesday, ladies (or anyone, really), try this!***