By Lamplight

Today's nail art is special to me because it is inspired by my late grandfather. He was awesome in every way a person could be awesome. He was funny, and crafty, he could fix anything, or make anything you could put in front of him. He didn't retire until he was in his late 70s, and get this, he was a Construction Worker. In his seventies. Seriously. He was a man who never showed pain, and to me (and I'm sure the rest of my family) he was invincible. Six years ago he passed away after discovering he had lung cancer, and I was devastated. I still cry every time I talk about or think about him, it just goes to show that life is short, and we need to appreciate the time we have with people we love. I remember every Christmas he would allow all of us kids to go into his stained glass workshop, and he would help us make Christmas ornaments from shapes cut out of his scrap glass. Before he passed away, he asked if I wanted to have his stained glass tools and everything, and of course, I did. I've taken classes and practiced, and I hope that ONE day, I'll have an ounce of his talent at it. Today's nail art was inspired by one of his hobbies, stained glass, and is actually the design from a lamp that he made that I inherited.

I used Sally Hansen Moonstone as a base, with a mixture of butter LONDON Minger and CND Electric Orange picked up on the brush to create the stained glass marbled/swirled effect. For the flower centers, I used Barielle Unravelled Rust, and for the leaves, I used L.A. Girl Army Green, and Pure Ice Wild Thing. For the soldered lines, I used American Apparel Hassid. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.