Tombstone Valentine's Chocolates

If you saw last week's post on repurposing a Valentine's chocolate box to give it a spookier touch, you may be wondering what you should fill your creepy chocolate box with.  Why not make some tombstone chocolates?  If you don't have any spooky molds on hand, keep an eye out around Halloween season.  I got the silicone tombstone molds I used from this project from Joann this past fall.

Materials:

*White chocolate baking chips
*Black candy melts
*Silicone tombstone molds
*Microwavable bowl
*Spoon

Directions:

*Pour some white chocolate baking chips into a microwavable bowl and add some black candy melts.  The black candy melts can be pretty overpowering, color-wise, so I'd recommend only putting in about a quarter as much of the black candy melts as you did the white chocolate.

*Microwave for about 1 minute, then take out and stir.  The candy melts and baking chips will likely not be completely melted yet.

*Pop back in the microwave for another 40 seconds, and then pull out and mix.  My chocolate was completely melted at this point in time, but if yours isn't, pop it back in for another 30 seconds.  Be careful not to over microwave, though, or the chocolate will harden up and won't pour correctly.

*Pour melted chocolate into molds.  Tap against a hard surface to minimize air bubbles and get the chocolate into the crevices of the mold.

*Freeze for 10 minutes.

*Pull the chocolate out of the freezer and pop it out of the molds.  Now you've got some spooky candy for yourself, or to give to someone special.

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.