u/splashedcrown

I have these really strong childhood memories of getting to visit FAO Schwartz as a kid.

We lived about 3 hours from the Seattle store, so those visits were special occasions. The whole store was a little kid's dream, but I remember the Steiff section specifically. I spent so much time with my nose pressed up against the glass trying to decide which one I wanted the most.

However, they were expensive enough that I never got one.

But cut to many years later, and I am adult with adult money! 😁

I rediscovered Steiff last year. I was thrilled to see they were still in business even if that FAO Schwartz is long gone.

I searched through their whole site, excited looking for a plush that would speak to me like they did when I was kid. There were a lot I liked...but none I loved. Not even the super special collector's line. 🫤

But a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across a picture of the new Halloween Steiffs while hunting for something else entirely. My inner child was pressing her nose up against the glass again asking pllleeeeeeease?

I finally clicked the order button and Batilda the bar bag clip and Nibble the vampire penguin arrived yesterday. I couldn't be happier with them. 🥰

I don't know if you could make a giraffe any less giraffe looking but also still being recognizable as a giraffe.

My little friend here is still nameless. I made her a little purple necklace as an homage to Milani the giraffe.

In honor of the X-Files Movie director's cut that was just released, I pulled out my EdM X Files stamping plate and went to town.

Products used--

Thumbs:

1x KBShimmer's Stay Put base coat, 1x MC Emo for Life, 1x Clionadh's Polar Nebula, 1x Cuticula's Limitless QDTC, and then a combo of Pueen's white, black, and silver stamping polished plus a frankenpolish for the green. Finished with 1x Cuticula's Limitless QDTC.

Everything else:

1x KBShimmer's Stay Put base coat, 1x MC Emo for Life, 1x BKL Sacrifice, 1x Cuticula's Limitless QDTC, and then stamped with Pueen black stamping polish, that frankenpolish again but this time with a lime green chrome powder from Artdone on Amazon. Finished with Cuticula's Limitless QDTC.

Stamping plates are EdM's X Files plate (EDM47) and just the cow from Moyou Enchanted 04 plate.

If you're looking for a budget friendly stamping starter set, I've been pretty pleased with Pueen's 12 polish sets. It's $2.67 a bottle.

I'm so happy I got this to work. 🥲

Products used:

1x KBShimmer's Stay Put base coat, 2x Uno Mas Casa de Heaven, 1x BKL It Doesn't Know Any Better, But You Do (magnetized with a loose glass bead), 1x Cuticula's Limitless QDTC, 1x Born Pretty Dark Blue/TE11, and a final 1x Cuticula's Limitless QDTC.

Stamping plate is EdM's art deco plate (EDM40).

This is one of my favorite BKL magnetic's. I think it's underrated as a topper and it works wonderfully over any House of Hades dupe.

The stamping polish I used was *fine* for this, but overall Born Pretty's polishes are pretty meh. I got them to frankenpolish some more stamping colors. They're okay for that, but several colors are more sheer than I prefer for a stamping polish.

I've been dying to do something watery since I got this polish. It has just taken me *this* long.

I also finally got to used my adjustable size jelly stamper. It's this weird little random thing I found on Amazon with a screw base on it. These whales were a bit too large for my current shorties, so I shrunk them to fit my thumbs.

Products:

1x KBShimmer's Stay Put base coat, 2x BKL The Water Remembers, 1x DRK Magic Effect, 1x Pueen white and black for the stamps, 1x Cuticula's Limitless QDTC

I magnetized these for a handful of seconds, glass bead with a 5D spinner, in the lazinest way possible to let them intentionally spread out a bit more.

The plates were also some random ocean themes from Amazon. The bubbles are from "Arbuya" and the whales are "Panda Hall".

I'm quite chuffed with how this came out as my first attempt. 😊 Although I scared the snarf out of my poor chickens videoing this! Suddenly they're having Jurassic flashbacks and their owner is dressed up as an apex predator. 🦖

I was aiming for Dilophosaursus, but that's nearly impossible to tell without the crest. The head for this is on my to-do list, although I'm going to work on a unicorn+spinosaurus head first.

(Reupload, now with 100% less of my personal address 😂)

I'm pretty sure those are teeth marks, and naturally, there were fire ants in it.

Miraculously, \*the polish is fine.\*

I passed by this a couple times before I realized it wasn't random trash. We live off a busy road, and we get a constant peppering of people throwing trash out their windows.

We also get a steady flow of things being mailed by animals although usually it's my neighbor's hoard of cats and they haven't gone after packages...yet. Plus, if those are bit marks, they're way too big unless the neighbors brought home a mountain lion.

Package includes my back up bottles of Beach Please and Indigo Away I grabbed after their retirement announcement. My heart stopped thinking the bottles could be exploded and irreplaceable. 😭

I might have a type

The chicks are reaching the rejected muppet stage. In a couple more months, they'll gradually look more normal-chicken-like and showing their final color around 4-5 months old.

Chick perching hand is:

1x KBShimmer's Stay Put base coat, 2x ILNP High Tide, 1x Cuticula's Limitless QDTC