Polish on Digital Paper

Crabby Bento

2012-02-07T18:33:00.001-08:00

So I've been looking at getting a sausage cutter until I thought "hey I an do that with a knife!". Well the answer to that is: you could, but it may look like ass. Well, I give you my ass-crab lol. Nah it's ok.

Bottom tier is a turkey dog crab on pasta with broccoli beside a bed of plain and blue tinted barley. He fishes are made out of cheese!

Top tier is a fruit medley next to cheese and jam sandwiches (which were apparently a hit!). Ben is getting quite fancy with his fruit presentation!

Night Garden Bento

2012-02-07T18:25:00.001-08:00

Aren't peas fun!? Yea not really, but Kai loves em so we try to use them as much as we can!

So on the bottom tier we have pea flowers on a ground of pasta and a barley sky with a cheese moon. There is also a cheese bunny resting on a breaded chicken rock.

Top tier is fruit and cheese and jam sandwiches (which is an experiment by Ben. Not sure how those are gonna taste :/ )

Super Bowl bento

2012-02-05T20:44:00.000-08:00

Whoo! Giants win the Super Bowl! And thank God, cause if not I'm sure Ben would have pitched a fit!

So to commemorate their win we did a Super Bowl bento!

The bottom tier is green tinted barley with mushroom soup, edamame bean players, cheese lines and logos and ground beef as the crowds!

Top tier is a strawberry and blueberry mix (Giants colours!), and foot ball cheese and chicken (ahem, left over chicken wing meat lol) sandwiches.

Football Family!

Did you guys watch the game?

Gold Wave Nails Did

2012-02-02T20:40:00.000-08:00

I challenged myself to do a 15 minute manicure while I was still the only one in the office early this morning. I originally want do some sort of ornate dotting and swirling pattern then I realized it was 8am and I just wasn't going to get that to happen lol.

So I ended up thinking of the people on my 2nd floor at work, the good old people in radio! So in tribute to them who were all probably working as early as I was I did a take on the radio wavelength.

I used China Glaze 2030 as a base and then simply lined in some waves with a nail art pen in black! Simple, quick, modern, and I like it.

Chevron Nails Did

2012-02-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

Well I set out to do a military kind of theme and then somewhere in the design things started to go wrong. And then I kinda just went with it. It actually looked much better than it managed to photograph...

Maybe I have to get some khaki polishes for actual military inspiration! lol.

I used Nubar Forest with a layer of Nubar Wildlife as the base, then used painters tape to block out some triangles and then used China Glaze 2030 to fill it in. Lastly to cover the edges I used a black nail art pen swiper.

Meh...its okay.

2012-02-02T20:12:00.000-08:00

Not gonna lie, the other night was a laaazy night. I made some healthy shepards pie with mashed cauliflower and decided to just use that. But I spruced it up with spelling Kai's name in peas right? RIGHT?

Next to that we have some edamame with carrots and little sesame seeds. Top tier is pineapple and kiwi with cheese and chicken melt sandwiches.

What Came First bento

2012-02-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

We have to use up our quail eggs and left over chicken so we decided to do a chicken theme!

Bottom tier has a layer of orzo pasta with tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, and cheese. Then we hard boiled our last quail eggs and put carrot feet and noses and nori accents. The one yellow quail egg we stripped to just the yolk. The other chickens (and rooster) are cut out of pounded chicken breast and have carrot beaks and wings.

Top tier is a fruit mix and tiny sandwiches of cheese and salmon cream cheese!

Seriously Kai gets more for lunch than I do.

In the Garden Bento

2012-02-01T11:20:00.001-08:00

I'm trying to teach Kai how to smell flowers rather than eat them but I guess this doesn't help my case. :/

Bottom tier is omelette wrapped hotdog with mashed cauliflower, peas and spinach.

Top tier is a fruit medley and chicken and cheese sandwiches shaped like birds. Which is a little macabre now that I think on it lol.

Pom Pom and Rainy Day Bento

2012-01-30T20:08:00.000-08:00

My computer and I are fighting right now. Who knew it would be so hard to install Lion OSX and backup to timeline!? Seriously it's been a three day battle! So that is why I have a backlog of TWO bento to show you!

Okay so I've had a major headache for three days and threw this together, stepped back and said "I guess it's cheerleaders?" so that's what we're going with! The cheerleaders are made of meatball, nori faces, cheese collars, and of course hotdog pompoms. Beside that is some alphagetti with peas and cheese. Top tier is a medley of strawberries, kiwis, and

blueberries beside some cheese sandwiches.

Tonight's bento is more of a rainy day theme. The bottom tier is spread with alphagetti (boy likes his pasta!), meatballs, spinach, peas, and a cloud and rain made from cheese with a nori and tomato face.

Top tier is a kiwi, mandarin, and blueberry mix alongside chicken and cheese sandwiches shaped into cars!

Phewph! Now if my computer will stop fighting me I'll get up a nail post next!!

Who Lives in a Pineapple Bento

2012-01-26T20:23:00.000-08:00

I don't think Ben watched an episode of Spongebob Squarepants in his life but he really wanted to do this bento today featuring the characters so we whipped this up together.

Spongebob is made out of an omelette with cheese eyes and shorts, tomato mouth and seaweed accents. Patrick is made from a folded slice of deli turkey with egg pants, cheese eyes, and a tomato mouth resting on some peas with a jelly fish made out of a cheese slice. To keep within the underwater theme, Spongebob is on a bed of pasta with tilapia tomato sauce!

In the top tier we have some cheese flowers (yes we ran out of bread lol) and a fruit medley with strawberries, raspberries, and mango!

Do you know about Julep?

2012-01-26T16:48:00.000-08:00

I was looking around for some new nail polish brands that I have yet to try when I came across Julep Polish and nail care collection. Has anyone used this yet?

Some of the colours look SO amazingly rich! Here are the one's I'm lemming over:


A Forest Green called Emelie


A really saturated violet called Anne

Taylor, a sky blue


Leah, a grass green

I'm really loving the greens!!!
And what makes it even more appealing is that they have this thing called Julep Maven Service which is a nail polish subscription service, which I'm totally new to, which sends you different polishes selected for you each month. And $1 from every purchase goes towards Julep's charitable service that helps to empower women. You can read more in this Julep Maven Review.

Now each polish is $14 which is why I kind of like the idea of the subscription service, AND really the Sephora by OPI line isnt much cheaper by comparison.

Plus I'm a sucker for deep hues. I may just have to get a few of these for some landscape nail art!

What do you guys think??

Into the Wild Bento

2012-01-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

We missed yesterday's bento becase Kai didnt actually end up going to daycare. He had a pretty big fever so I just kept him home where he proceeded to throw food all on the floor...probably because they weren't in cool shapes like usual :P

So today we have the ground made of barley/mushroom soup mixture, flowers and deer cut from sweet potato, quail eggs and hotdog leaves!

Top tier is tuna sandwich stars (a big thank you to the lovely Meghan, Shelby and Simone for gifting us a set of cutters that included this star!) and a medley of strawberries, raspberries, and honey mandarins!

Goin' Ape Bento

2012-01-22T18:00:00.000-08:00

Ben is off watching the Giant's play SF or something football-like, so I'm flying solo on Kai's bento tonight!

On the bottom tier I laid a sky barley tinted blue with 1/2 a drop of food colouring. I used soba noodles for the ground with a sprinkle of sesame seeds. The trees are brocolli and the swinging monkeys are made from yams. The vines are plain spaghetti. Lastly, the sun is made from a sliced and hard boiled quail egg.

On the top tier we have a berry medley and tempura chicken with cheese flowers!

Showing Some Blog lovin'

2012-01-20T08:02:00.000-08:00

Its been a long while since I've sent out some blog love! Here are a couple of links to some sites you should check out :)

WOW Nails - she likes to blog about local polish finds and I'm ALL about that. Check out some of these very cool swatches!

Toronto West Enders - blogging from my hometown, this couple is crafty and pretty funny. Check it out!

My Yelp - You know what I've been doing when I obviously haven't been polishing my nails? That;s right! Eating! Well I eat and then I ridicule it on the internet. Check out my reviews on Yelp! Okay its not a blog...but I'm pretty funny LOL

If you'd like me to check out your blog - post a comment or write me at my email!

Niki*

Birds of a Feather Bento

2012-01-19T19:46:00.000-08:00

One complete week of bentoing! Its all downhill from here people! LOL.

Since Kai LOVED the barley in mushroom soup we laid that down as a nest for birds made of omelette with blackberry eyes, cheese wings and nori feet. Then the penguin bodies are made from shrimp balls with nori faces, cheese cheeks and carrot beaks.

On the top tier we have a blackberry and blueberry medley with cheese and turkey rolls!

Dress Em Up Pink Nails Did

2012-01-19T19:33:00.000-08:00

I wanted to go with something simple and fun - and I wanted to use that Eyeko Punk Polish again. There is just something about neon pink that I love to hate but you have to admit it looks good on pretty much everyone!

So I used Eyeko Punk Polish for Neon Nails as a base then with a black striper pen drew out little ties and buttons. Now my nails are dressed up for a night on the town. Unfortunately I'll be going to bed since Kai thought it was cool to start pulling my hair at 5:30am. It wasn't.

Cater-bear Bento

2012-01-18T18:41:00.000-08:00

If you haven't figured it out yet we really only have a bear cookie cutter and a tulip cookie cutter right now! More are in the mail lol.

Cause I *had* to go shopping tonight for some additional work clothes, Ben took the reins again and made Kai's bento.

He made "dirt" from barley with mushroom soup, then laid caterpillars made out of carrots with sesame seed eyes and rosemary spices antennae on top. The bears (complete with saffron lips and black pepper eyes) and tulip are cut from a piece of chicken.

Then on the top tier is a blackberry and blueberry mix with little roast beef and cheese sandwiches! I think Ben is getting to be a pro at this!

Daddy Bento

2012-01-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

You know most of the time you would just think that Ben is just not the type, what with the football and frat meetings and all but he is quite creative! I can't take credit for this bento for Kai tonight cause it was all Ben.

Bottom tier is a sea of cheesy wheat noodles with cauliflower and hotdog coral. Complete with carrot fish with nori eyes.

Top tier is a fruit medley of oranges, apricots and blueberries with hard boiled eggs and Pac-Man cheese sandwiches!

Vroom Bento

2012-01-16T18:45:00.000-08:00

Kai ate ALL of that last bento and Ben is now saying that he's looking skinny (he's still in the 75% for age :/ ) so we amped it up a bit today with some extra protein!

On top of a lettuce leaf we laid a bed of cheesy whole wheat noodles and a slice of roast beef for the road with nori accents. Trees are made with broccoli and cauliflower and there are sweet potato clouds. Lastly using an egg mold we shaped a hard boiled egg into a car and cut it in half.

In the top tier we have a fruit medley of blueberries, blackberries and apricot. Add in some cheese tulips with weird faces that Ben insisted on and we're done!

Octopi Bento

2012-01-15T19:55:00.000-08:00

Kai is one lucky man. I'm on a diet right now trying to finally shed this baby weight and I want pasta dammit! He's also been a bit sick so he hasn't been eating most of what I've been cooking so I tried to make some of his favorites today.

Two types of pasta: whole wheat in cheese sauce, elbow pasta with mushroom soup. Topped with some cherry tomatoes, carrot circles and hotdogs shaped like octopi with nori faces!

Then some blueberries with apricot and cheese bears! He better eat it dammit!

BAM POW Nails Did

2012-01-15T19:50:00.000-08:00

So, one year has come to a close and I officially start back to work tomorrow after a wonderful time on maternity leave with Kai. Where has the year gone!?

So to get me over this hump I thought I could use some bright colours to pump me up. Pair that with my love of comics and you get comic bubbles!

Thumb: Joe Fresh Cobalt, Joe Fresh Pineapple, nail art pens
Pointer: JF Pineapple, nail art pens
Middle: OPI The Thrill in Brazil, nail art pens
Ring: Nubar Green Tea, nail art pens
Pinky: Eyeko Punk Polish, nail art pens

BAM POW wish me a good day back in the office!

Fish n Chicks Bento

2012-01-12T19:29:00.000-08:00

Look I go from posting nothing to what? 4 posts in one week? YAY! LOL. Granted 2 of them were about Bento's and this one is too but I plan on doing my nails again tomorrow so look forward to that.

Tonight for Kai's lunch tomorrow we (and I say this because Ben was a huge help tonight) made him roast beef and cheese sandwiches shaped like fish with carrot eyes, pasta with mushroom soup sauce and broccoli, omelet cut into inch pieces and rolled to make the stalks of the carrot tulips, and little bite sized chicken nuggets. And of course fruit: blackberries and strawberries for desert!

Caterpillar Yum Bento

2012-01-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

First off let me just mention that I did NOT choose the nori face for this caterpillar which makes it kind of look like a very odd dog - that was all Ben. But I guess you get the gist anyway right?

So the caterpillar is made of plain rice balls with nori hearts and face for accents and is nestled in a kale leaf. It's antennae and feet are slices of shrimp. Then we tried to get some veggies in there by adding a few pieces of sweet potato, brocolli, mushroom and cauliflower.

For his second tier we made him some gouda and cheddar bears with carrot crescents and corn puffs with raspberries and strawberries for desert.

And yes, my 1 year old REALLY eats this much. He's a fatty lol.

Remembering Bali Nails Did

2012-01-11T19:09:00.000-08:00

It will be 5 years in May since Ben and I had our honeymoon in Bali and I miss it so much! I'd love to go back one day soon. When we were there seeing a performance of Balanese dancers at the end we had the opportunity to buy a plate with our image on it that they made in all of 2 minutes for about $2 so we couldn't pass it up. Its actually quite a nice keepsake.

So I thought that I would use it as some inspiration for my next manicure!

For the base I used Orly Royal Navy which by the way I always have a longing for to wear as is its just that nice! Then painted on some white flowers with a nail art pen, topping that off with some nail art pen in gold sparkle. Then I used OPI Thrill in Brazil with a small art brush for the red and a touch of China Glaze Light as Air from the Up and Away collection.

Kai's first bento made with love

2012-01-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

So since my son's daycare requires that I sent all of his food and drinks I figure I may as well make it pretty right?

Today Kai has a birds nest made of soba noodles with some sesame seeds complete with two quail eggs (which I molded faces onto using an egg mold but I didnt do it while the eggs were still hot so they're kind of unsuccessful). Then I made a little garden with carrot and cheese flowers and a face made from nori. To top it off some kiwi and strawberry pieces and a few bear shaped cheese sandwiches!