Hybrid nails!

[LenaGardner]

I saw everyone posting about hybrid nails (http://www.thehybridchick.com/2011/09/the-digi-nails-a-hybrid-manicure/comment-page-1/#comment-69816) on Facebook 3 weeks ago and bookmarked it for when I had the chance...and today I did it! I love how it turned out! Has anyone else tried it?

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff258/bellagypsygirl/Stuff%20De%20Lena/nailsweb.jpg

I posted more about it on my blog if you're interested.

[Jengerbread88]

1) I did not know you were a designer, but I love love love your stuff now.
2) Those are awesome. I have to try it!

[neenee]

Holy Moly! That is just too stinkin' cute and creative! I have got to do this with my girls!

Thanks Lena!

[glumirk]

So cute! Do you have a laser or an inkjet printer?

[scrapperjade]

Lena - did you use an inkjet printer or laser? I tried this with my inkjet, but my ink wouldn't come off onto my nails. I was SO sad!!

[HeatherKS]

I've been wanting to try this every since seeing it on that blog post. I was wondering if my inkjet printer would work or if I needed to send some pages for dh to print at work. lol

[rach3975]

That is the coolest hybrid project EVER! Looks like I need to get some things laser printed at an office supply place.

[LenaGardner]

Thanks everyone! I used a laser printer, but not my own. I made an 8.5x11" canvas, filled it with 60 0.75"x0.75" blocks and filled with 12 blocks of 5 different patterns for variety. I could have fit more than that on there but I wanted to leave plenty of room for cutting and laziness. I saved it to a flash drive and printed at Office Depot for 49 cents. However, I live in a very urban area and can literally see Office Depot from my yard so it's not like I had to go out of my way :p

A tip, though. I dipped my nail in the alcohol, then applied the paper to my nail...if I could see that the paper wasn't 100% saturated right away, I dipped the pointer finger of the opposite hand in the alcohol and pressed on top of the paper to finish saturating it. I also applied light pressure and rubbed (while keeping it stationary) the way you would rub a rub-on or temporary tattoo before gently peeling away the paper. If, upon peeking under the corner of the paper, I could see that the design wasn't fully transferred, I put the paper back down, re-wet my fingertip, and applied more pressure to the nail. And by pressure, I don't mean anything painful :) It sounds complicated and convoluted, and I promise it was neither...it just took 10 minutes and I used fast-dry nail polish so I mean 10 minutes in TOTAL :)

[isaacsmom]

How cool is that?!? I saw that post the other day, but figured it was uber complicated so didn't even check the whole thing out. Now you're making me want to go try it! :)

[SeattleSheri]

What a super fun idea, thanks for sharing!!

[Kenzi]

Wow! That's so cool!!

[Milmomma]

Thats really kinda awesome. I saw the ones with news print but never thought to do sb paper :)

[Jengerbread88]

I jumped on the bandwagon, too, using the Libby Pritchett kit "Frog Lips." There's a frog on my thumbnail, too, but my cell phone camera was not working with it, and I couldn't find the other camera charger at the moment.

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/320239_2314634063968_1192920204_32486357_116151236 0_n.jpg

Cell phone photo doesn't do it justice.

[marnel]

Too cool, I'll have to try that!

[AmberK]

This is too cool! Thanks for the tip! HAHAHAHAHA- no pun intended.

(I crack myself up! )

[breakingbrie]

I so want to try this!! Might give it a shot tonight after everyone is asleep here :)

[rach3975]

Lena-what top coat did you use? It looks like you used something with some shimmer or glitter, but I couldn't find anything but clear topcoats when I looked at Target today. I'd rather use something fun!

[aly321]

These look so fun! I will definitely have to give this a try! I will let you know how it turns out! :)

[LenaGardner]

Cute, Jenni!

Rachel, I used Pure Ice Don't You Wish (http://www.baricosmetics.com/product.aspx?id=553)

http://www.baricosmetics.com/_images/productoptions/553.JPG

[rach3975]

Thanks! Looks like 1 of the Wal-marts near here has it, and I also saw some thing similar online at Sephora. I'll have to see which one I can get to first!

[LenaGardner]

updated to argyle :) Doing rainbows later this week for Naomi's rainbow-themed 5th birthday party Sunday! :)

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff258/bellagypsygirl/Stuff%20De%20Lena/argylenailsweb.jpg

[Andrea G]

I saw this on your fb today and was totally fainting!

Question, so photo paper from Costco, would prolly NOT do the trick then?

I have an incredibly lame printer at home...

Does it have to be some super fancy smanchy printer? And the ink comes off onto the nail from the paper because the of the alcohol?

Still, the argyle nails are ::killing:: me they are SO dang cute! :)

I think it would be cool to shellac the top coat of this... have you done shellac? Apparently Amazon will sell things like shellac (that require a license) to people who are not licsensed (like me) and I do my nails at home now, it ROCKS!

There's got to be a way to make your ::super:: cuteness LAST for a few weeks with shellac... I'm determined to play with this... but it may have to wait until next week! LOVE this idea, Lena! :)

[Jengerbread88]

EEK! The argyle gets me! I want!

Next week if I have time, I am switching to stripes...

[LenaGardner]

Andrea, I would call Costco and ask if they use a laser printer...also it needs to be on regular plain old paper :) As long as it's laser and regular paper, you'll be A OK :)

Also, I put on my blog (http://lenagardner.blogspot.com/) the file I printed for my argle nails if anyone wants it :)

[Andrea G]

Thanks so much for sharing your argyle artwork! That's so sweet of you! I grabbed it!

I do have a new printer in a box that came with my Mac back in April, and I haven't had time to pull it out, but this might just make me ::want:: to deal with all that and set it up!

Such a cool idea! I'm still just dying over it! :)

Thanks again, cute Lena!

[xboxmom]

Dang those are fun! I will have to try it once my mani I just got this weekend is worn out.

[crazyt]

this would be cool as halloween nails too!!! awesome tutorial!

[breakingbrie]

Thanks for the inspiration Lena!! I finally got some me time to try it out. I originally had a funky black and orange checked paper pattern I was going to use, but it didn't come out very well... Not sure why, tried it on all my nails, but am thinking maybe it was because it was a grungy-type paper and already looked kind of faded out in spots. I had printed up some colorful stripes, too, because if it worked I wanted to give my girls fun patterned nails too. When my first pattern didn't work, I decided to try the girls' stripes on me, and it worked nicely!! lol, after the first nail came out so nice I kept on going, and now I have the stripes! They're going to be upset in the morning when they see I did mine, but I may have enough to do both of theirs left...

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f364/nesterfamily/Brie/PA155708copy.jpg

[Kjersti]

My ink won't transfer off of the paper. Mine is an Epson (inkjet). STINK.

If it works for you - let us know what printer you have!!

[xboxmom]

hummmm i am not getting it to transfer at all :( I have a lazer printer i am using it and regular paper it just wont transfer :/ Mine is a Dell 1230c Color Laser Printer

[breakingbrie]

I tried inkjet a few days ago, and it didn't work for me either. I had to put the files on a flash drive and take it in to staples to have printed on their laser printers.

[Kjersti]

Looks like I'll have to go to Staples. My girls are so excited to try this!!! Their nails are painted white and they are ready to go!!!!

[annieworm72]

I tried it too. I had my husband print it at work, off his laser printer. The ink barely transferred. I wonder what the trick is. A brighter pattern? The right brand of nail polish?

[ripal]

I got mine printed at work(laser) and ink didn't get transferred at all! Except for one bright spot. So, I was thinking brighter colors might do the trick, but then, I printed the file Lena have and that didn't transfer either. Not sure what's up with that. I walked around with white nail polish for 3 days and gave up! LOL I did notice that my print was too shiny/glossy? Maybe we need to get it printed on midange printers. Not the one used at home(the ones that come for free with purchase of desktops) and not high end printers at work!

[rach3975]

The original blog post said it worked with laser prints and color copies. Has anyone tried a color copy yet? It wouldn't surprise me if there is less variation in that ink than in laser printers.

[Sarah8914]

I want some!!