nails

Vampire Nail Art (for Julep’s Halloween Nail Art Contest)

Vampire Nail Art (for Julep's Halloween Nail Art Contest)

Hello World,

Abbey, the Community Outreach Coordinator at Julep, reached out to me last week and let me know about their fun Halloween Nail Art Contest. They want to see your spookiest, Halloween-inspired nail designs. As a fan of nail art, of course I am entering! I decided to do a bloody vampire mani with nude and dark red polishes, and sealed with a glossy top coat.

Vampire Nail Art (for Julep's Halloween Nail Art Contest)

I did this design on my nails last week, and it looks like Julep and I were on the same wavelength, because they have a bloody manicure in one of their latest blog posts, 5 Minimalist Halloween Nail Art Ideas.

In the spirit of the season, Julep has also put together the following step-by-step Halloween nail art tutorial, exclusively for select bloggers:

Julep's Halloween Nail Art Contest

Feeling inspired? Then check out Julep’s site to see all their fun nail polish colors. If you want to enter the contest too, use #julepinstagrim on Instagram!

Happy Creating!

PS- I was not paid to talk about Julep, I just love nail art and a good contest.

DIY String Art

Hello World,

It seems that thrift shops have been raising their prices. I used to come home with a bag full of finds almost every time I went shopping, and now I tend to only buy one or two items. I was in luck last week though, when I found this wooden plaque for only $0.25!

I originally was going to hand paint a design on it, but decided to switch it up and make some string art instead. Check out the tutorial below to see how to make your own:

stringart1

1.  Gather your supplies: wood, metal nails, hammer, embroidery floss, a printed design, tape, paint, and a paintbrush.

2.  I used Avenir ® Next Bold for my design and decreased the kerning around the ‘O.’ I printed it, trimmed my paper, and taped it down to my wood.

3.  I hammered nailed into the corners of my letters first. Make sure you hammer your nails deep enough into your wood. I had a few of mine come loose, and I had to teach them a lesson.

4.  After securing the corners of my letters, I eyeballed the spacing and added more nails to each letter.

5.  Remove your paper at this point.

6.  If you have any paper pieces leftover that are difficult to remove with your bare hands, use some tweezers to remove them.

7.  I painted my wood and nails at this point because I wanted them the same color. If you don’t care about your metal nails standing out, it would be better to paint your wood prior to hammering all your nails in place.

8.  Tie a knot around a corner nail. Twist the tail end of your thread around the rest of your thread to secure it.

9.  Outline each letter by working your thread around the outer edge of your nails.

10.  Fill in each letter by randomly wrapping your thread around the nails, pulling tight the entire time. Tie a knot around a nail once you are satisfied, and trim your tail end.

11.  Continue this process with the rest of your letters.

12. And tada, you have your own custom string art!

I love the shadows created by the strings on the wood!

Happy Crafting!