Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Bye bye 2013. I love you.

2013 was a great year for me. It started out as a struggle and unfolded in one full of blessings.

It was a year in which I discovered my passion for baking and nail art.

It also presented the opportunity for us to go on a really long holiday to London and Scotland, one where I got to celebrate my birthday roaming in the rain and watching my favourite movie Despicable Me 2.

Well I lost my much loved Samsung S3 a day before my birthday on the streets of London. So :(

This year allowed us to spend most time with our adorable Brielle, my niece and the apple of our eyes. I got to spend so many wonderful moments with my cousin and her husband. Mariella thank you for giving us a roof in London and Conrad for the amazing food. You are truly a chef extraordinaire.

My brother too got married. So we have a new addition to the family. Welcome Priya.

And my best girl friend popped! I have a nephew too now, one who I am yet to meet but I can assure you I am going to spoil him rotten.

Finally, I got to spend Christmas at home in Goa. There aint a real celebration like how we do it in Goa. My Mama and Papa were glad to have a housefull this year with all of us down even cousins.

So yes 2013 was awesome. Thank you God for the wonderful year. I know 2014 will have it's own set of surprises.

NailsbyJo: Christmas Nails for the Family

This Christmas was amazing. I was back with my family. I got a huge family of extended cousins and almost everyone was down. So, it's only natural that I had to do everyone nails for Christmas.

Here are a few of my designs.

My Mama's nails 
My little cousin Unaine's nails
My nails

My cousin Emily's nails



And my small little toes



Friday, December 13, 2013

NailsbyJo: Holiday Cheer

The holiday season calls special nails. 
So, here are three easy steps to sporting your own fabulous holiday nails.

1. Put on a coat of red paint. I used Revlon Deep Red. A single even coat did the job for me. 
2. Get out your stamping plates. I used cheeky plate numbers 6 and 17 which had the holiday designs. Use the white nail paint for stamping. 
3. Tadaa... Finish with a transparent coat. 


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

BakesbyJo: Blue Ombre Cupcakes

To make Blue Ombre Cupcakes all you need to do is separate your batter into three equal quantities before you mix the colour in it.

In this case I increased the number of drops to get a deeper colour. Start off with 1 drop in first mixing bowl, to two in the next and three in the last one. You can choose to add more colour to deepen the shade. 

Then put this mixture in three separate piping bags.

To fill your cupcake liners, start with the darkest tone and give it a light squeeze filling 1/4 of the liner. Then use the middle tone, squeeze till it fills 1/2 of the cupcake liner, followed with the lightest tone till it fills 3/4 of the cup. 

Now bake as per your recipe. 

Soon you'll have a cupcake that looks like this on the outside.

























The cupcake will like this on the inside.

























You can choose to decorate the cupcake with butter-cream like I did.





















Monday, December 02, 2013

NailsbyJo: Gold dots on purple

My little nails in purple with highlights of gold. The purple is by Models Own. Unfortunately you do not find this brand in India yet, but if any of you visit the UK you can find it in stores around. 

Saturday, November 30, 2013

3D snowflake


A couple of days back my neighbour from Goa shared an interesting post. It inspired me so much that I knew I had to try it. And here's the result. 

Pretty cool, huh? I also added my own touch to it. 

While the tutorial did say to make use of a stapler, I must say glue just worked fine with me.

Check this video too, of the other ones I made. 

If you want to know how it's done, follow this link http://www.handimania.com/diy/3d-paper-snowflake.html


Thursday, November 28, 2013

BakesbyJo: Bath

Bath is a goan delicacy made out of coconut and semolina.
This batch was baked with the recipe my Mum brought over, it's a family secret so don't ask me a recipe to it. :)


Monday, November 25, 2013

BakesbyJo: Blueberry and Black Currant Muffins

In addition to my doing my nails, quilling, writing, painting, and cooking. Well I bake too.

This week I made Blueberry and Black Currant Muffins. Followed a recipe. You can Google for one online, or drop me a message for the recipe.

I must say am pretty pleased at the way they turned out.



Friday, October 18, 2013

This Day

Very rarely there's a time that you stop everything and ask now what?
Especially when you've had a guiding hand all the while
You think
Really think if you will be able to do it
But then you remember all the things that you've learned
Never compromise
Never forget your basics
Never doubt your creative talent
But most importantly never forget what made you YOU

It's time to move on
Am I sad?
Yes
But am grateful
For everything I've learned
For the opportunity
For having a guiding hand
Thank you

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

NailsbyJo: Red Edge

These nails are easy to do, while they may look complicated, I can assure you they are not.

All you need is a little scotch tape and patience.

First, apply the base coat. I used my trusty Sally Hansen Golden I. Two coats should do the trick. Now wait for it to dry. While Sally Hansen nail paints are of the fast drying type, I suggest you still wait a while before doing any nail art on them.

Now take the tape and cut it into squares so that you have a nice edge to it. Place one corner at the centre of your nail and paste down the rest. Use the next colour. I used two coats of Maybelline's Crimson nail paint.

Wait. Like really wait for about 30 minutes or so before you out on a transparent top coat.

Let me know how it goes. Share your pictures too to my blog. 

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Garlic Chive Prawns

Masterchef Australia and the various shows I watch on TLC are the inspiration for this dish.    

I came up with this recipe one Friday evening when all I wanted was to cook some prawns without a lot of hassle. Do try it and let me know how you liked it. Let a comment, I'd  like to hear from you.


For the ingredients you'll need 1 whole pod of garlic skinned, a few stalks of fresh chives, prawns, and olive oil.

For the prep, add a little salt and olive oil to the prawns and leave it to rest for a few minutes.
Roughly chop the chives and garlic too.

Now let's start cooking
 
Step 1: Pour some olive oil in a wok. Bring it up to a sizzle.
Step 2: Add the chopped garlic. Cook till lightly golden.
Step 3 Add the chives to it and cook for a minute.
Step 4: Add a little more salt for seasoning.
Step 5: A little bit of pepper.
Step 6: Add the prawns and cook on a medium flame,
till the prawns turn pink.
Step 7: Cook on a low heat for another 5 minutes
till the prawns are golden brown. Serve hot.


Saturday, October 12, 2013

Thursday, October 10, 2013

NailsbyJo: True Blue

I absolutely love this shade of blue. It's Models Own True Blue. And am going to say it again, I love it.

For the accent finger I simply dabbed on some of my Gold nail paint stronger towards the tip, and voila!

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

NailsbyJo: Graduated Greens

Step 1: Put on a base coat. This one is Sally Hensen Green with Envy. I love the pastel nature of the shade.Use two coats if you must.

Step 2: Get a sponge with a nail gradation of both the tones. For the darker tone, I used a dab of Models Own True Blue to get a deeper green tone.



Step 3: Finish the tips of your fingernails with a deeper shade of blue. Clean off the additional nail paint from your fingers before you apply the top coat.  

And here you are, your graduated greens. 

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

NailsbyJo: Mixin' it up

For this manicure, I mixed it up. Does look interesting doesn't it?

Like I said in my previous posts, there ain't any rules to beautiful nails. Simply do what you must do. And while you are at it, have fun.

This time I used Sally Hensen Green with Envy for the green coats, Sally Hensen Golden I for the accent finger, and a transparent glitter coat on the thumb and accent finger.

Friday, October 04, 2013

Thursday, October 03, 2013

NailsbyJo: The Blue Manicure

I love a french manicure, but those white tips are simply boring.
There's a new trend going around, one of highlighting a finger, usually the ring finger, but there's no rule.

For this manicure I used Lakme Absolute Fast & Fabulous Aqua Blue nail paint. The top coat is the transparent one from Maybelline Express Finish.

The transparent coat is my absolute favourite and use it over any nail polish to give it a long-lasting finish.

How to get a clean tip finish? For this I used the manicure tape. You can use scotch tape too, just make sure you remove the adhesive well by rubbing it on your skin before putting it on your nails.
If you have good control over the brush, I suggest simply following the curve of your grown nail.

Try it and let me know how it goes.

Keep it stylish ladies!

Nails by Jo

From today, I'll introduce you to the amazing world of fashionable nails.

First things first, buff your nails. I am a big fan of block nails. They look much cleaner, healthier and prettier.

Here's my 3-step method to block nails.

1. Grow your nails for a period of time, say a week or two, without cutting or shaping them.
2. When your nails are of a decent length, take a nail file and horizontally buff your nails.
3. Lightly round the edges.

And there you are! Fabulous block nails.


Do write in with your comments and wishes, I'd love to hear from you.

Yo,
Jo

Saturday, February 16, 2013

No Facebook - Day 2

Passing time while in travel transit but can quite boring. But it's just day two of no Facebook self imposed ban and there must be some other way of killing boredom. 

voila lets observe people instead at the airport.  Did you know some women in the name of fashion will wear ridiculously high heels and strut as if on the catwalk. Hey am cribbing.  I'll take any entertainment I get here.  While men will secretly immerse themselves in newspapers or the hand held devices but no woman would go unnoticed. 

so yes I did survive. thought there are so many times I inductively reach out to tap the Facebook icon on my phone.  But guys what I even removed the app from my phone. 

Friday, February 15, 2013

No Facebook - Day 1

Staring yesterday, I gave up Facebook. I had no reason too, just put it down to boredom. I did not delete my account, however just got off it. Right now I have kept a target of a month. Let's see how it goes.

Those who know me, will also know what a technology freak I am. I cannot live without my smartphone and the compulsive need that I have to keep checking should I miss a single update. This got me thinking what update? I don't need to know what you are doing. Where you are partying. And how drunk you are. Or that your child has burped for the first time.

So when I posted my last bye-bye update this is what a few people had to say








Facebook is much a part of our lives. And I am not even from the generation who grew up with it. I was simply an early adopter. I think Facebook has been a part of my life the last 5 years.

This blog will now come to be a log of my daily rambling and survival techniques without Facebook. I know am sounding dramatic but yea sometimes it's just not possible to live without it.

So yes, starting yesterday there we like a million times I almost typed www.face... and pressed enter as it appeared in my cached dropdown. Damn! And almost every 10 minutes I checked my phone, on am impulse was going to click the Facebook button.

If you wondering if I got any of them withdrawal symptoms. Hell, yes!
And today morning I am still wondering what you could have been upto.

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