Hi Everyone
I’m Debbie, from The Crumpet, and the Digit-al Dozen was my
idea. Today, as we launch ourselves into
our future, I thought I’d share with you how we came about, how we developed,
and how it feels to be part of this very special nail art group.
I started the group in July 2012. The original aim was to have just 9 members,
because 9 is a magic number and there were 9 muses. For a few weeks, we called ourselves Polished
To The Nines.
During Summer 2012 I had gotten a bit sick of nail art
challenges, partly because I created a great big beastly Summer one which was
about 80 prompts long. I found I hated
the neverending-ness of it, and also resented the specificity of each prompt –
what I found myself craving for was a nail art theme that was looser, and broader
in its definitions.
Thanks, to the ladies of Digit-al Dozen who welcomed me into the group. I wasn't an original 12 but was asked if I would be interested in joining in December 2012. I think some of my most creative mani's have been as a result of the challenges. I strive to just keep up to the other ladies endless talent as there is simply so much creativity and nail art skill in the group......the only nail art I do is stamping and for the most part, have been lucky enough to be able to stamp a mani for most of the challenges but even then, the challenges have been forcing me to go out of my comfort zone by trying to come up with a tape mani for example! So honoured to be a part of the group ..so thank you ladies of the Digit-al Dozen!! TAMMY aka Canadian Nail Fanatic
So, I asked by best polish friends at that time if they
would like to be part of a different type of group. One where we only committed to one week a
month, but could use our imagination to interpret the theme in whatever way we
wanted. All of these people had done challenges with me before, or were people I wanted to work with (Victoria). By now, we had 10 members, so we decided to go the whole hog and become a dozen. Here are the original 12 -
It was Bee who christened us the Digit-al Dozen, a play on
the word “digits”, and also on our social networking. Some of us had a little practice run in
August, doing red manis, and then we officially launched on 10th September 2012 with Blue.
I've been in the Digit-al Dozen since it began. I was honored then and still am to be part of this group. It's great to be among these ladies the polish community look up to. And I'm numbered among them in this group (say what!?) though my blog isn't as well known. They make me strive to be better each month.
I love that this group is so close, we have helped each other with all types of issues and problems (blog or personal). We are friends. This isn't a group to me, it's a sisterhood, a sisterhood of polish that I am glad and forever grateful to be a part of. KIRSTEN aka Geeky Owl
After a couple of months, it became clear that 12 members
was not enough. Life happened, and some
members couldn’t post for a couple of months – perfectly natural. It bugged me we were called The Digit-al
DOZEN and yet most of our posts only had 9 contributors, so we decided to get a
little larger, so that if people did move house, have babies, need a break etc,
we would always have 12 people posting. So, in November 2012 (ish), we added -
Leslie * Heather * Sue * Jacki * Whitney
As one of the first Digit-al Dozen members, I can definitely attribute this group to being a huge influence on my blogging, my skills and my life in general. I truly feel like this group is a family. We can be dysfunctional at times, have disagreements, but at the end of it all, this group of women really do care about each other and have so much respect for one another. I think we can each say that we have made the others better at their nail art and every woman in this group is kind and helpful. We share our lives, tips, advice and a lot of laughter. I've been in my small share of nail groups and this one is definitely the best fit. There are no big egos or drama, and I think every single person here feels appreciated and respected, regardless of their blog size or skill level, which is the best part to me. I hope the future brings nothing but better nail art and deeper friendships for all of us! MISSY aka Gnarly Gnails
A couple of months after that, Stephanie (who had wanted to join originally, but couldn't due to her university course) had the time to join us, and we also added Tammy and Ashley. After that, Laurie, who I am in other groups with, said she needed a challenge .... and became a member too :)
The Digit-al Dozen is truly amazing, all the ladies past and present are so inspirational and keep pushing me to better my nail art and my blog. I am truly humbled to be in the same group as some really amazing bloggers and they treat me and my little blog as an equal. They are full of helpful advice and are really supportive. Not only that but I am proud to say I am firm friends with everyone, the Digit-al Dozen is far more than a nail art group it is an integral group of close knit people with a deep passion for nail art blogging and ounces of creative flair. I can 100% say that any growth and improvement in my blog is down to the Digit-a Dozen and I hope to be a member of the group for a long time to come! KERRIE aka PishPoshandPolish
Until recently, the group hasn’t changed very much from that
line-up. But then a couple of people
asked if they could join the group, and so … we added a few more, to take us up to the round number of 24. This month sees the debut of Nory, Emily,
Jolene and Shelly, and I can’t tell you how excited I am to see what they come
up with.
With our array of monthly challenges, the girls in the group have pushed me to become a better, more adventurous nail artist. The girls have also supported me through tough times and are a regular source of laughs and friendship. VIC aka Glowstars
Will the line –up change again? Undoubtedly.
Life happens. Blogging is also a
demanding mistress, and lots of us have suffered some sort of burn out at various
times. If we’re lucky, that only lasts a
few days, or a week or 2, but I totally understand why some bloggers (and group
members) have needed a 3 or 4 month break.
I’m often asked how people can join the Digit-al Dozen, and the
simple answer is – not very easily. This
was designed specifically to be a very small group, and as you’ll see from
everyone’s comments, that’s what has made us feel like sisters, the fact that
the group is small enough that we can support and encourage each member.
Whilst some people have asked to join and been admitted,
usually it’s the other way round, and I will invite someone to join. We’ve had a couple of misfires along the way
too, where people have joined, only to find the group is not for them (the
rigidity of a theme, the demanding schedule) and we’ve even had some people
turn us down (because this style of challenge doesn’t fit with the way they
like to blog / be inspired). We’re all
different :)
Mostly, we’ve found that success comes from inviting people
we know, and people who already have a busy blogging schedule – those who have
the discipline to post every day (or close to it), understand the scheduling of
the challenges. Oh and it also helps if
you’re awesome at nail art :)
I had always loved reading the DD posts throughout the blogosphere. When Debbie asked me to join I was so ecstatic and honored. My blog was so small, and I honestly didn't think other nail bloggers were paying attention to my work. I felt like a groupie was finally accepted to the in-crowd.
I value DD because of the awesome friendships I have made with everyone, and the challenge it presents to me to think outside he box and try things I normally wouldn't. It also pushes me to improve on my skill - being in a group with such talented ladies is never easy, but so much fun. HEATHER aka Peace Love and Polish
And that leads us to now, and this website, and what we
want it to be. We are all in this group
because we have a passion for nail art.
We tend to follow nail art blogs, and want to try the latest
techniques. And now we want to share
that with you too. We want to help you
by sharing our mistakes, and celebrating what we’ve learnt, and to make this
the go-to place for everyone who LOVES nail art and wants to get better at it.
To give you a flavour, these are some of the topics we’ll be
posting over the next few weeks –
* What camera do you use?
* Our next theme – what it is and some examples of
how you can do it
* How did our newbies find their first challenge?
* A Dozen Easy Nail Patterns
* A Dozen Halloween Patterns
* A Dozen Mistakes We've ALL Made
My blog had turned into hardly any nail art after my son was born and when I was invited to join The Digit-al Dozen, I was so excited to have monthly challenges to get back into nail art. The past year has turned my blog back to my initial plan and I owe it to Debbie and The Digit-al Dozen for inspiring me to get back to my true nail love. JACKI aka Adventures In Acetone
And the list goes on :) We’ll be posting twice a week,
hopefully on themes you find interesting, informative and FUN! If there are specific things you’d like to
see, either comment below, or post them on our Facebook wall HERE, and we’ll do
our best to help you out, even if it’s via a monthly FAQ post.
And above all else?
Enjoy xx :)
