:YOURS Summer Vibes Stamping Plate Collection – Yours Loves Fee

I am super thrilled to be back on the team for :YOURS Cosmetics this summer! This collection of 8 plates launches in June 2018, and I love every single one of them.

In this blog I’m going to talk about the 3 new plates designed by me and the nail art I have created with them so far. If you want to check out the full collection, including designs by Nataliya Al-Ta’ai and Dee Timmer, follow this link to the link —> :YOURS Summer Vibes Collection

When the guys at :YOURS Cosmetics asked me to create designs for 3 new stamping plates, I knew right away that this time I wanted to do things a bit differently.

The first time I designed plates for :YOURS I used patterns from other artists and graphic designers, curating a set of designs that provided the stamping plates I wanted. My first two sets, and an Xmas plate, came about this way.
You can check out that first set here in this blog –> Nail Art Stamping – Rules to Live By! Step by Steps & Troubleshooting
The Urban Collection came next, you can check it out here —Yours Loves Fee Stamping Plates – Urban Collection>

Next time I was asked to design plates, I decided to try my hand at creating the patterns from scratch on my computer. I am no graphic designer, but with support from those in the know, I was able to translate my design ideas into digital images on my computer. It was awesome to have the freedom to do whatever I wanted, without having to find images created by other artists that fitted with the end result I was after.
Blog link –> :YOURS Loves Fee Stamping Plates – Summer Days Collection

This time around I was keen to try things another way, drawing the designs by hand. I’ve been a nail artist for 20 years, but I’ve never been more than an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to drawing and painting. I decided to start drawing more seriously earlier this year when the snow was so bad we were stuck in the house for 4 days. Since then I try to draw something every day. It brings me a lot of pleasure and I have found it a great way to calm down and focus when my mind is racing or if I feel anxious – so it’s a great self care tool! I started an Instagram account for drawings, you can check it out if you are interested.

I can not tell a lie, I am OVER THE MOON with how well the plates have turned out. My favourite part of drawing the designs by hand was being able to really ‘feel’ the thickness of the lines and get them just how I wanted. From the tiny dots to the chunky lace, I’m truly delighted!

Drawing the designs by hand was not as easy as I thought it might be! Once I had the designs finalised on a small scale, I had to re-draw them on a much larger scale in order to get the quality of resolution needed for the manufacturing process. It took a long time and was pretty challenging, but it was great fun!

I love how hand drawn the designs look once stamped on the nail! I mean, I guess that makes sense and seems obvious, haha! But I really was astonished to see it in real life!

Most of the designs were inspired by a need. Something we didn’t already have , or didn’t have enough of, in a stamping plate. The Artful Aperture plate has lots of little voids (or ‘apertures’) perfect for framing little glitter jewels and embellishments.

Creating these little jewels is so effective and satisfying, but also very easy – much easier than it looks!

On Monday 4th of June, the plates launch in the UK and Ireland, the awesome Gemma PT will be on Facebook LIVE on Sweet Squared’s Facebook Page at 8pm. Gemma has already created some beauties with the new plates!

Gemma used the hand-drawn lace pattern from the Models of Magic Plate here for some simple bold accent nail stamping. Another technique I find this lace pattern works well for is stamping with Shellac and applying Lecenté Foil to the stamped on design once cured.

Here is another simple look using this same plate. CND Shellac Offbeat with a bit of black lace stamping, so elegant and striking, but so quick and easy to do!

Thanks for checking out the blog! I’ll be on my Facebook, Instagram and back here with new tutorials on the blog and on my YouTube Channel.

Would love to hear what you think of the plates in this new collection, here in the comments of over on Facebook. Thanks again! 😀

Products available here..

In the UK & Ireland you can purchase the stamping plates, Lecenté products and everything from CND including CND™ SHELLAC™ & VINYLUX™ visit http://www.sweetsquared.com

For :YOURS Stamping products around the world, check out the list of :YOURS international distributors. If you don’t see your country on the list you can buy direct from the :YOURS WEBSHOP, they ship worldwide!

For a list of Lecenté distributors outside of the UK & Ireland: go here: http://www.lecente.com/distributors/

Check out CND’s List of international distributors to find a distributor in your area.