The Oh Mon Dieu Nail Art Challenge took a turn for the literary on day 13 with the theme of books. Seeing as my favourite book, The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, is wholly unsuitable as the basis for any kind of nail art (like, I can’t even imagine!) and having wanted to do some sweets-themed nail art for ages now, I decided to combine the two and drew inspiration from a favourite childhood novel, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie, in particular a wonderful passage depicting little Laura Ingalls’ first Christmas in Kansas in the late 1800s. I adored this book as a child (once faked the severity of a legitimate illness so I could stay home two extra days and read the other books in the series!) and I LOVED the chapter entitled “Mr. Edwards Meets Santa Claus” in which Laura and her sister are treated to a magical Christmas by a kindhearted neighbour. The girls receive a number of charming, big-deal gifts for the time – a tin cup! a penny! – but my favourite were the little heart-shaped tea cakes dusted with sparkling white sugar.
I may have gone a bit overboard with the depiction of these particular sweets, however, because molasses, jam filling and refined white sugar anything, as I’ve shown here, were not yet common foodstuffs; super special ingredients for super special occasions only, as they were pricey and difficult to come by. But oh, those sparkling little cakes!
As a bit of an aside, I think it’s interesting how (as a child and now) I totally glossed over the many dangerous hardships that made up daily living at the time and focused entirely on the baked goods. Because what’s disease, exposure and nasty run-ins with the locals when you’ve got cake, amirite?
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That nail art is super cute. How did you do it?
Thanks very much. 🙂 I did these nails free-handed with a really small detail brush. Just like painting, but with teeny tiny little canvasses.
You must have super steady hands lol. Very impressd!
Well, thank you. 🙂 But you should see what some people can do – mini masterpieces on their fingernails, it’s bananas.
Very envious. Need to learn so I can do at least something a little fancy on mine 🙂
You are right! Cake makes it all better! Faking an illness to stay home to read is most excellent in my book! I think you must go around smiling all the time with awesome art at the tips of your hands! Another beauty! Sooooo impressed.
Cheers dah-ling Sandra! Koko:)
Ha! Although, in my defense, I already was sick – but when I started feeling better by Wednesday, well, I just didn’t let anyone else know that! Have a great evening, doll. 🙂
That’s insane! I can’t even paint a nail without also painting half my finger. However can you manage this??
Aw, thank you – that’s nice of you to say. 🙂 Lots of practice is the boring answer to that question, unfortunately – nothing more special than practice. Because I’m SO not a visually art-y kind of person, and never have been. It’s all very weird!
I guessed as much, practice is always the answer lol.
But still, it’s amazing an and I don’t think I could ever practice enough for THAT!
Oh my goodness, too adorable! 🙂
Thank you much! 🙂
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