BornPrettyStore: Halloween Stamping Plate BP-L057

So just in time for Halloween this rectangle stamping plate has lots of spooky (and not so spooky) images to use. It was sent to me by BornPrettyStore and even though you wouldn’t receive it in time for Halloween this year it is half price at the moment.

Fortunately it isn’t a one trick pony, it’s not all witches and pumpkins. I feel it has a nice balance of themed vs normal images. The obvious example of ‘usable’ images would be the skulls as they’re not soley related to Halloween. (I also include the spider webs, cats and bats within this category.)

Skulls were the first image I chose to stamp. I used my BornPrettyStore stamping polish and clear mallow stamping head and as you can see they came out pretty crisp! The plate didn’t need much prepping, I think this was actually only the second or third scrape before it picked up this strongly. Not bad huh?

I also used a second skull image to demonstrate that it’s easy enough to isolate a single element and use that. This one is a little patchy but that could be due to a few reasons; not enough polish, not prepped enough, clumsy scraping. To be honest though I think it kind of adds to the whole effect! (I love the fact he’s already missing a few teeth.)

And ta-da, the design as a whole! Not so Halloweeny right?

So now let’s actually get on to what the plate was designed for – Halloween! I chose another ‘stamp and go’ image, this time some skeleton cats. Some of them picked up better than others, again maybe the plate needed more prepping or I needed to use more polish.

I thought it was quite a playful image (I can’t have anything too spooky on my nails as I work with children) so felt that a neon ombre would be a twist on tradition too. What do you think?

Over the next week I’ll be using this plate again to bring you some more Halloween nails! If you order anything from BornPrettyStore, use my code ‘AZYW10’ at the checkout to save yourself 10% off all full priced items and remember free shipping. This plate is already half price, so go for it!

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Barbed Wire…

So I think this barbed wire is doing a pretty good job of keeping people off the fence. I used very fine jewellery/nailart wire to make it and oh boy, did it take forever – it was so darn fiddly… Way worse than making the staples for my wounded nails. I made the barbed wire as one big long strand and then cut it to size, using liquid latex to hold it in place at the side of my fingers. Obviously if you were crazy enough to wear these out and about, you might want to blend make-up over the latex so the magic isn’t ruined, but they certainly weren’t hitting the town on my nails and were rather quickly removed. I’m pretty chuffed with how they turned out!

 

Stripes and Spookies…

So this is a little more cutsie and fun than my previous Halloween design. The little spookies are nail stickers that I bought a few years ago from a shop called ‘Wilkos’. They turned a bit wrinkly in the middle once top coated, but at least their edges didn’t curl or stick up.

Flesh wounds…

So I doubt the person who did this surgical staple job went to medical school… They didn’t even bother to close the wounds before stapling them, I mean that’s a major risk of infection right there!

I made the little staples from some very thin jewellery wire. Rather than trying to bend the staples to have tiny short legs (?), it was was easier to make them with long ones and then trim them to size when I got ready to place them.

I painted two thick coats of the fleshy coloured polish, and then when it was semi-dry I used an orange stick to squash up the polish in to that wrinkled, ripped flesh look. After that I painted in the bright red for the blood and then added the staples. Because the fleshy polish was still technically wet underneath, the staples stayed put once pushed in.

I hope anyone isn’t too squeamish!

Monday Make: Pumpkin Garland…

So it occurred to me, as I was changing my home accessories to match the new season, that I was really lacking in autumnal themed objects. I decided I wanted to try and make one before heading to TKMaxx and purchasing one, and I’m so glad I did because I think what I made turned out super cute!

I picked up five polystyrene pumpkins from Hobbycraft at 50p each, and I already owned the needles, felt and jute. So technically this project cost me £2.50 and about 5 hours of my time on a lazy Sunday. Not bad huh?

I started off by roughly felting wool on to the pumpkin to create a base, and then went back over it with a second layer to fill in any gaps. Once I had the orange down, it was time to focus in on the detailing by repeatedly needling in between the sections to give it a proper shape. I attached the stalk and then needled in some jute string to enable them to be hung up. At this point I didn’t know whether they were going to hang at different levels as a bunch or in a garland.

I chose to felt two of the pumpkins in a darker rusty brown with a light stem and three in the classical orange with a dark stem. This was just to add a little variety, meaning I used four wool shades but technically if you were on a tighter budget, you’d only need two shades. I used one full pack and a bit for the three orange pumpkins so if you were planning on using the same colour for all 5 I’d suggest buying three 10gram packets of orange and only one of the green.

I chose to make them in to a garland as hanging bunch just didn’t quite sit right – they looked more like a radioactive bunch of garlic actually… At first I used slip knots to figure out where I wanted them all before tying them in to place a little more securely. The garland still didn’t look quite finished to me though: the tied knots and little tails of string looked untidy.

I decided that felting little balls on top of the knots was a nice decorative way to hide them, and I was much more pleased to call this it’s final look!

I am so happy with how it turned out! I think it’s cute and fun, and it felt way more satisfying making it myself than going out and buying something new. If we’re costing it up properly;

Jute String £1
2 x Orange Roving £3
1 x Rusty Brown Roving £1.50
1 x Dark Green Roving £1.50
1 x Light Green Roving £1.50
Felting Needle Tool £7
5 x Pumpkins £2.50

Grand Total = £18

Do you think that’s an okay total for a craft project? I certainly do. You’d have the needle tool for future projects, and you’d have the extra wool to play with too. I no doubt could have picked up something cheaper at TKMaxx but sometimes when creating handmade things saving money’s not the point.

Web…

I’ve been so busy lately, and I must admit this was a rushed effort to remind you guys that I am still out here!
Halloween’s coming up, hooray! So expect to see some more spooky designs soon – hopefully. And maybe I’ll be able to take a photo in focus  for once…

Happy Halloe’en