Pop Up Anatomical Heart Chocolate Box

 

Over the cutesy red chocolate boxes that are everywhere this time of year, but still love the chocolate?  Why not give your box a ghoulish makeover?

Materials:

*12" x 12" sheet of scrapbooking paper in spooky paper pattern of your choice

*Red 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of cardstock

*Printer

*White printer paper

*Scissors

*Double sided tape

*Glue

*Pencil

Directions:

*Trace the shape of your chocolate box onto the back side of your scrapbooking paper.

*Cut out the heart shape.

*Tape the heart shaped scrapbooking paper to the front of the box.

*Print out your favorite anatomical heart image onto red cardstock.  You can find several different free options from the Graphics Fairy.

*Cut out the heart shape.

*Now we need to fold the paper supports that will make the heart pop out.  Cut four strips of plain white paper about 1/2" thick and 8 1/2" long.  Take two and place them perpendicular to one another, taping the ends together.

*Fold one strip over completely, so you still have a right angle, but now that strip is facing the opposite direction.  Do the same for the second strip.  Repeat the process, alternating which strip you're folding over.  This site has a bit better of an explanation of the technique, if you need more details.

*When you've folded your two strips as much as possible, glue the free ends together.  Trim any excess.  You should end up with something like this:

*Repeat the process with the other two strips of paper.

*Tape the two paper columns to the center front of the box, and attach your heart to them.  Now your heart should pop out from its surroundings.

DIY Zombie Manicure

 
Looking for the perfect manicure for your zombie Valentine's Day shindig?  These nails will have you looking like you just crawled out of the grave.

I've done a post on zombie nails before, but if you're looking for a simpler, more wearable undead manicure, this one may be a better bet.  Also, this one has a photo tutorial, so if visual cues are helpful to you, then this one may be more useful.

The fake bruising actually looks a bit more muted in person than the above photo shows.  I've included a picture from the book review photo shoot I was using this nail art for to give you a better sense of what the end result looked like:

Materials:

*Semi opaque nail polish in a shade close to your natural nail color (I used arm candy by Sally Hansen)

*Light purple nail polish (I used tempest by Sinful Colors)

*Dark purple nail polish (optional)

*Nail polish the color of dried blood (I used garnet by Sally Hansen)

*Nail polish base coat (I used the regular base coat by Holo Taco)

Directions:

*Paint on a base coat and let dry.

*Add 2-3 coats of your semi opaque nail polish, maybe even more than that if your skin is much darker than your natural nails.  Our overall goal is to make it look like the nails are peeling away from the skin, so you want to minimize the appearance of the line separating where the nail meets the skin.  It's okay if it's still visible at this stage, as we'll be adding more of our semi opaque polish later, but it should be less noticeable.

*Add some light purple nail polish going most of the way up toward where the nail meets the skin.

*I then dabbed on a little dark purple polish, but I ended up covering over it with the dried blood colored polish and it didn't really show through, so you can probably skip this step and still achieve similar results.

*Now it's time to add the dried blood color.

*The dried blood color shows up pretty dark initially, but with a few more coats of the opaque polish, you can reduce the intensity so it looks like bruising under the nail instead of blood on top of the nail.  The picture below shows what it looked like after a couple of coats of the opaque polish.  I think I ended up adding another coat after that.

I used these nails for a book review, so I didn't do my usual full zombie look.  (I was dressing in the vein of Gertie Shea from The Winter People.  She's not necessarily exactly a zombie, but she is undead.)  Here's what my finished look was like:

The nails may look a little less convincing up close, but from a distance, I think they look pretty convincing.

Got any zombie craft ideas?  General Gothic Valentine's Day ideas?  I'd love to hear them.  Message me in the comments, or tag me @amberscraftaweekblog on Insta.

Zombie Valentine's Day: Five Fave Posts

It's January, which means that it's time to start thinking about Valentine's Day crafting.  If you've been following my craft blog for a little while, you've probably noticed I tend to do zombie-themed Valentine's crafts.  I'm thinking about branching out in the coming years to more general Gothic Valentine's crafts (not decided yet, though), and so I thought it would be fun to look back on some of my favorite zombie Valentine's crafts I've made.  If you're looking for some spooky gifts for a special someone, hopefully this post can give you some inspiration.  Here are my five favorite zombie Valentine's crafts I've made, in no particular order.

Zombie Chocolate Box

Sick of red and pink chocolate boxes?  Find out how to give yours a zombie makeover with a little fabric in this post.

Felt Zombie Chocolates

Need something to fill your ghoulish chocolate box with?  Why not make some felt zombie chocolates?  

Zombie Altered Cameo Pendant

Got a special person in your life who likes jewelry?  Repaint a faux cameo pendant following the tips in this post to create a macabre take on this classic jewelry piece.

Zombie Valentine's Fortune Card

While this craft needs a graphic design overhaul, concept-wise, it's by far my favorite zombie Valentine's card I've made.  Find out how to make one of your own in this post.

Zombie Pop Pom Critters

If you're looking for a zombie Valentine's craft that's fun for the whole family, this one may be for you.  My tutorial does use fabric paint, so you'll want an adult or older child on hand to help with that part if some of your crafters are on the younger side.

What are your favorite zombie Valentine's crafts you've seen?  Any zombie crafts you'd like to see me tackle?  I'd love to hear your ideas.

New Year's Resolution Generator

The new year is nearly upon us, which means many of us will be making resolutions.  While annual resolutions are not the most effective strategy for self-improvement, they are a tradition, so I feel like I should set at least one.  My goal is to get the novel I'm revising into the hands of beta readers (the people who read and give feedback on the story before it goes off to an editor) before the end of 2021.

This New Year's Resolution Generator probably should not be used for your actual resolutions, but it may give you a few laughs.  Fill in the blanks Mad Libs style, and you'll have a slate of goals that are probably best ignored.  

I hope 2021 brings you much happiness and success.

Materials:

*Printouts of the game

*Pencil

Directions:

*Copy the text at the end of this post into a word program or your choice.  You may want to play around with the formatting for a bit, like placing the numbers below the blanks instead of on top of them.

*Print out on two separate pages, one for the word list and one for the set of resolutions. 

*Grab a pencil or pen and fill in the blanks to generate your resolutions. 

New Year’s Resolution Generator (Word List)

1. Adjective:

2: Plural noun:

3. Drink:

4. Food:

5: Verb ending in “ing”:

6: Number:

7: Verb ending in “ing”:

8: Plural noun:

9: Verb ending in “ing”:

10: Last person you texted:

11: Name of organization:

12: Adjective:

13: Plural noun:

14: Noun:

15: Noun:

16: Adjective:

New Year’s Resolution Generator

Now that the ___1____ year is upon us, it’s time to make some ____2____. This year, I resolve to drink more ___3____ and eat less ___4____. I will also take up ____5____, which I will devote at least ____6____ hours per week to. I will spend more time ____7____ with ____8____ and less time ____9____ with ____10___. I will volunteer at ____11____ and will donate more money to ____12___ _____13___. With a little bit of hard ___14____ and ___15____, I will make 2021 my ____16___ year yet!

DIY Christmas Tree Cake Nail Art

Here's one final holiday nail design idea, perfect for all you snack cake fans.

Materials:

*Red nail polish (or other base color)
*Nail polish base coat
*Clear nail polish top coat
*White acrylic paint
*Red acrylic paint
*Green acrylic paint
*Very fine nail art brush 

Directions:

*Apply nail polish base coat.  Once dry, apply base color.

*Using white acrylic paint and a very fine nail art brush, draw on a Christmas Tree Cake shape.

*Add stripes with red acrylic paint.

*Paint on sprinkles using green acrylic paint.

*Seal nail design with a clear top coat.

I hope you all have a fun and safe holiday season!

DIY Christmas Tree Nail Art

 

Looking for a fun, festive nail design?  These tree nails are adorable and the design is relatively straightforward to create.  The trick to getting the perfect triangle shape?  Painter's tape.

Materials:

*White nail polish
*Light green nail polish
*Dark green nail polish
*Nail polish base coat
*Nail polish clear top coat
*Small star rhinestone
*Painter's tape

Directions:

*Add your base coat and then paint the nail or nails you would like your tree on white.  Let dry for at least a few hours, although it may be best if you paint your nails white in the evening and let them dry overnight.

*Add painter's tape over the edges of your nails to form a triangular shape.

*Use your dotting tool to add dots of the lighter green polish in the triangle shape, leaving white space for the darker green polish.

*Use the dotting tool to add dots of the darker green polish into the white spaces, and then peel off the painter's tape.

*Use some clear nail polish to attach a small, star shaped rhinestone to the top of the tree.  Seal the nail design with a clear top coat.

DIY Book Ornament

 

Now that I've finished my PhD, I've finally had the chance to get back into reading, and have been chipping away at the edits on my novel, which has been in the works for a while now.  I thought it would be fun to make a book ornament for my tree to celebrate my writing progress as well as my return to reading.  I used scrap paper to make the pages for my ornament, and since the scrap paper happened to have text from my work in progress, I decided to make a mock cover for my work in progress.  Now my novel is actually a horror novel, so this mock cover does not at all give the right impression, but I didn't have a lot of time to work on it and there's a good amount of symbolism in it, so it worked for me.  I've included my mock cover below in the directions section, in case you wanted to use it, but if you google miniature book cover, you can find tons of printable book covers that are free for personal use.

Materials:

*Matte photo paper
*Scrap or plain printer paper
*Two jump rings
*Two pairs of jewelry pliers
*Sewing needle
*Ribbon or thread
*Glue
*Ruler
*Pencil
*Scissors

Directions:

*Print out a copy of your cover design onto matte photo paper.  I'm including the mock cover I made below, but you can also find tons of printable mini book covers online that are free for personal use.

*Cut out your book cover image and fold it into a cover shape.

*Using a ruler and pencil, section your paper into strips.  Mine were a little over 1.5" wide, the width of the ruler, but you may want to make yours larger or smaller, depending on the desired size of your ornament.  (I messed up on the first strip, so that's why there's a set of double lines.)

*Cut out your strips and accordion fold them to fit inside your book.

*Use a sewing needle to poke a hole in the spine of the cover and link two jump rings through the hole.

*Cluster your accordion folded pages together and glue them into the spine of the book.

*Slide some ribbon or thread through the top jump ring and tie it off to form a loop so you can hang up your ornament.

And that is how you can make your very own book ornaments.  I'm excited for this new addition to my tree, and hopefully in a few years I'll be able to make a different one with the actual cover for this novel :)