Cherry Blossom Nail Art

A while back I saw some Cherry Blossom Nail art by Kayla Shevonne, and I loved it!  I may have pestered her a bit asking for a tutorial and last week she totally came through!  She made it look so easy, but she is an evil trickster! I tried twice and mine didn’t look nearly as good as hers.
I’m just telling myself it’s because I'm new and don’t have as many materials to work with. It makes me feel better.
First, I tried with these colors…

Catrice Snow Motion, Miss Sporty Pink, Essence Let’s Get Lost, Essence Mysterious Black Nail Art Tip Painter.

It’s funny because I like this a lot more in the photo than I did on my nails.  When I had it on my nails it looked too dark, the blue and black didn’t have enough contrast and the pink dots looked too dark as well.  I liked it but something nagged at me that I should have used another color on the background. 
I left it on for most of the day but later that evening I decided to see how it looked with other colors.  A lighter background that would show off the other colors a little better, so I tried with these.

Catrice Snow Motion, Miss Sporty Pink, Essence Stamp Me! White, Catrice Easy Peasy,Lemon Squeezie, Essence Mysterious Black Nail Art Tip Painter.
I mixed the pink with some of the Snow Motion to make a lighter pink.

I probably should have waited until the next day when I wasn't so tired, but I am a total impatientpants and wanted to see if it was any better on a lighter background, so I got to work…

It’s funny because this is the opposite of the other photo. I liked this a lot more on my nails than I do in the photo!
I wish I’d taken my time more with the branches, which I think were shaped better on the blue, but the colors worked better with the green, I think. 
In any case, they aren’t quite as good as Kayla's but still pretty good for one of my first free hand nail art designs considering I didn’t have some of the tools I would have liked to be able to use.  I have kept this on longer than a lot of other manis I’ve done, almost five days!  It has started peeling though so I’m going to have to remove it and do something new soon. 
It’s ok, I already have a few ideas!
I almost forgot…. even with two layers of base coat the blue color totally stained my nails. They look just like this again. Argh.
Both manicures have a double layer of Seche Clear Base Coat and Seche Vite top coat.