DIY Misdreavus (Pokemon) Necklace: Pokemonbounding Ep 6

     It's October, which means spooky season is in full swing.  For this month's Pokemonbounding project, I thought it would be fitting to go with a ghost type Pokemon and opted for one of my favorites: Misdreavus.  I've also done looks for the ghost type Pokemon Gastly, as well as Meowth, Magikarp, Vaporeon, and a Pikachu Fan Trainer Costume, so if you're looking for Halloween costume inspiration and love Pokemon, be sure to check these posts out.
     This is a great last minute costume idea, especially if you already have some wooden beads on hand, or a pink costume jewelry necklace.  I have both a video tutorial and a written tutorial for the necklace in this look.  I've included the video tutorial below, and keep reading for the written tutorial, as well as some more pictures of the completed look.

Misdreavus Necklace

Materials:

*One 20 mm wooden bead
*About twenty 16 mm wooden beads (you may need more or fewer, depending on the neck size of the person you're making it for and how tight the person would like it to be)
*Pink acrylic paint (if your beads aren't already pink)
*Paintbrush (if your beads aren't already pink)
*Elastic cording
*Scissors
*Clear nail polish (optional)

Directions:

*If your beads are not already pink, paint them pink.  Let dry.

*Cut off a length of elastic.  I like having plenty of extra elastic at the ends for tying, so I cut off a segment that was large enough to wrap around my head and then some, but the amount you cut off will depend on how tight you want the necklace to be and how comfortable you are tying elastic.

*Slide your largest wooden bead onto the center of the elastic.

*Add about 10 smaller wooden beads on either side.  You could also use a few different smaller sizes to get a more tapered look, closer to the "necklace" Misdreavus has, but that will require more beads.

*Knot the ends of the elastic together.  If the elastic you're using is slippery, to keep the knot from coming undone, you can cover the knot with a little clear nail polish.

Putting the Look Together

Materials/items:

*Misdreavus necklace (see above)
*Navy blue clothes
*Colorista Hair Makeup in raspberry, or other pink temporary hair color
*Navy blue eyeshadow
*Pink lipstick

Tips:

*For the strongest Misdreavus vibes, pick flowy navy blue clothes, if possible, since Misdreavus is a ghost type Pokemon.  A flowy navy blue dress or maxi romper could be an excellent choice.

*If you want to dye the tips of your hair for this look, make sure to pick a dye suitable for your hair color.  I personally like the Colorista Hair Makeup for brown or black hair because it shows up vibrantly in my hair.  However, if you have really light hair, make sure to get hair color for blonde hair, as the temporary colors for dark hair may stain your hair.

*If you're a dark blonde (the tips of my hair could be considered dark blonde, so that's the color I'm talking about here), the hair colors made specifically for blonde hair may not show up well one you since they're usually designed more for platinum blonde hair.  You probably can get away with using the temporary colors for dark hair.  However, I'd recommend testing it on a few strands on the under layer of your hair where it's not very visible to make sure it washes out before you go ahead and color your tips.

Misdreavus Look

     That's it for my Misdreavus look.  I'm not sure which Pokemon I want to bound as next, but I'm thinking maybe an ice type here soon, since we're moving into winter.  (Maybe I'll save that one for December, though).  If you have any Pokemon you'd like to see me bound as, feel free to suggest one.
     Happy spooky season, everyone!  I hope you have a safe and fun October.  Stay tuned for more Halloween fun, and more Pokemon projects.

DIY Alice in Wonderland Paper Doll Costume

     Looking for a relatively inexpensive yet cute costume idea?  Why not try making a paper doll costume?  I opted for an Alice in Wonderland look. but you can use these techniques to make your own custom design too.  Add some cartoon makeup if you'd like to give your face a paper doll vibe (I just winged it, but there are tons of tutorials out there on how to do cartoon makeup.  Here's one that looks pretty good, and certainly more skillful than my attempt).

Materials:

*1-2 sheets of blue poster paper.  I was able to get away with just one, but it was a tight fit.  A good rule of thumb would be that if you are making the costume for someone who wears about size 12-14 kids clothes, then you can probably get away with just one sheet, but if you're making it for someone who wears larger sizes or is tall, then you probably will need two sheets.
*1-2 sheets of white poster paper.  Since the pinafore apron is narrower and shorter than the dress, you probably have a little more leeway here, but I'd still pick up an extra sheet of poster paper if you're unsure.
*Red cardstock, poster paper, or construction paper
*Black marker
*Scissors
*Pencil
*Glue
*Black or blue ribbon
*Duct tape
*Dress or romper with little stretch
*Ruler
*Black poster paper
*Headband
*Form fitting clothes, ideally ones close to your skin tone, to wear underneath.

Directions:

*Take a dress or romper that fits you or your intended recipient well and isn't stretchy.  Lay it down on the sheet or sheets of poster paper you're using to create the dress.  If you're making this in two pieces, I'd recommend lining things up so the top of the dress lies on one sheet of poster paper and the skirt or shorts portion lies on the other.

*Trace around the dress, leaving about an inch or so extra space along all sides.  One tricky part of making this is that if you don't want what you're wearing underneath to show through the costume, you'll need the dress to be wide enough to hide it.  This is why initially you want to add a lot of extra room.

*Cut out the dress shape.  Put on the clothes you'll be wearing underneath the paper doll costume, ideally something form fitting like a cami and shorts or leggings, and hold the dress up in front of you.  See if there are places along the dress that need to be trimmed or taken in, keeping in mind that anything you take away can't be added back.  If the dress is in two pieces, you can tape the two pieces together with some duct tape along the back.  We'll reinforce the waist seam later, but for now you just need it to hold together.

*Make adjustments to the dress as needed.  Here's what my dress looked like after alterations:

*Once you're happy with the shape of the dress, it's time to start working on the pinafore apron.  I made the apron by tracing the shape of the dress onto the white poster paper and using a ruler to draw an apron shape inside the dress shape.  That way, I knew the apron should fit the dress perfectly.  I've included a picture of what I did below.  Note that I had to turn up the contrast a ton so that the pencil lines would be visible.  This works best if you can make the apron as a singular piece (it adds more stability at the waist and will hide the waist seam, so even if you had to make the dress in two pieces, I'd recommend making the apron as one continuous piece if possible.

*Glue the apron to the dress.

*Optional: Cut out a red heart shape from your red paper of choice and glue it to the apron.

*Use a black marker to define the edges of the pieces and make the dress look more cartoony.

*Next it's time to make the tabs.  Sketch out six tab shapes on the leftover poster paper using a pencil.  Follow the pencil line with a black marker, making dashed lines like you will often see on paper dolls.

*Glue one tab to either shoulder and tabs to either side of the waist.  Set aside two for the bow.

*Draw a bow shape onto black poster paper and cut it out.

*Use a black marker to add an outline and details.  The details may not show up super well, depending on how dark the black of the poster paper is.

*Glue tabs to either side of the bow.

*Next it's time to figure out how to fasten the dress on you.  I've seen some people attach Velcro to the dress and also to the clothes they will be wearing, so the dress just sticks on.  However, since I didn't want to mess up the clothes I'd be wearing under by permanently affixing Velcro to them, I decided to use ties instead.  Cut off two lengths of black ribbon which are long enough to tie comfortably around your waist.

*Turn the dress over and glue the ends of the ribbons to the waist area.  Let dry.

*Glue two to the shoulders as well.  Let dry.

*Once dry, reinforce the ribbon with a little duct tape.

*If you cut the dress from two different sheets of poster paper, you may want to reinforce the waist.  You can cut off strips of excess poster paper and glue them across the waist seam in the back, or perhaps use some thin cardboard, like what you might get from a cereal box.

Tip: One tricky piece to this costume is that since it's 2D and we're 3D, it's easy for the costume to shift and show what you're wearing underneath.  Wearing tight fitting clothes will help minimize the impact, and wearing clothes close to your skin tone will make it less noticeable.  I was wearing a pale pink romper under my costume for the photos.  Here's a picture of me turned slightly to the side, so you can see behind the costume.  Since the romper is so close to my skin tone, I feel like it's less noticeable than if I'd worn a high contrast color, like hot pink or neon green.

Monsters are Real Quote Art

Content warning: Anxiety, panic disorder

     Today's post is not a typical craft post.  Sure, there is a craft, and if you just want to print this quote art I designed and use it for your personal use, it's at the end of the post.  However, I wanted to use this space to tell you a little about how this art came to be.
     The beauty of Stephen King's "Monsters are real..." quote is that it resonates with many of us, even if our struggles are different.  We all have our own monsters and ghosts that we are grappling with.  When I see this quote, my mind goes to the main monster living inside of me: anxiety.

My Anxiety Journey

     Before we get into my inspiration, I want to give you a brief overview of my anxiety journey.  Feel free to skip this section if you already know what it's like to live with anxiety and don't want to be reminded of how much it sucks.
     I have exhibited symptoms of anxiety from a young age, but it took me until I was in my mid-20s to piece together what was going on with me.  Up to that point, I thought I was just cautious and a bit of a worrier.  I didn't realize that there was something atypical about the way I reacted to the world.
     Everything changed during the summer of 2014, when I had to get my wisdom teeth removed.  During the weeks leading up to the surgery, I had to attend a couple of consultations with my oral surgeon.  Something about these appointments triggered in me not only anxiety, but also panic.  To quote from my old anxiety blog I started that I never did anything with, "I would sit there in the waiting room sweating buckets, my heart hammering away a mile a minute as my stomach churned like a washing machine, wanting to flee to the safety of the car and feeling trapped and helpless because I couldn't."
     In retrospect, I had probably had many panic attacks before this series of events.  Since I did not know panic disorder was a thing, I thought what was happening to me was a physical ailment.  I have dealt with bouts of gastrointestinal unrest since childhood, and these instances often seemed to correlate with events happening in my life.  For example, during my first two years of college, I would feel sick for the first week of the semester, missing some, if not all, of the classes that week.  I was afraid each time a new semester approached that I would get sick and - lo and behold - I would then get sick.
     So the issues had existed long before my wisdom tooth extraction, but what happened after my surgery was that any time Brian and I would go somewhere, I would feel anxious, and that anxiety would quickly escalate to panic.  We would get three quarters of the way to our destination and then it would become too much and I would be on the verge of tears, begging Brian to turn back.  This was when I finally realized that I wasn't getting sick all the time; I was having panic attacks.
     I've been in treatment twice for my anxiety and hopefully will be back in treatment again here soon.  I was hoping that once I finished my Ph.D., I'd finally be able to relax and get things under control, but then the world turned upside down and here I am, as anxious as ever.  I was rereading my old anxiety blog as I was writing this post, and even though these entries were from four years ago, so many of the issues I was experiencing then I'm still struggling with.  Anxiety sucks.

The Meaning Behind My Quote Art

     Anyway, that's enough about my anxiety.  Now let's talk about what this quote art represents to me.  I wanted to find some way to visually represent my anxiety.  Since it is a part of me, I thought I could achieve this by having two Ambers in the image, one to represent me and one to represent my anxiety.  The Amber that's curled up behind the tree crying?  That's me in the throes of a panic attack.  The Amber with the red cape is the physical manifestation of my anxiety.  To me, anxiety is red.  It is screeching red, alarm sirens blaring ad infinitum red.  That's why anxiety is wearing a red cloak and red lipstick.  Anxiety can bring with it feelings of helplessness and despair, which I envision as pitch black, the hopeless color of a starless night.  This is why the rest of anxiety's outfit is black.  I'm sure there's a lot more symbolism you can read into this image, but if there is anything else there, it probably wasn't something I consciously invoked.

Printable Monsters Are Real Quote Art

Materials:

*Printed 8.5"x11" "Monsters Are Real" Quote Art
*8.5"x11" photo frame.

Directions:

*Print out a copy of this quote art, ideally on matte photo paper.

*Place the image in the photo frame.

The Completed Harley Quinn Costume

     Here we have my finished Harley Quinn look!  To be honest, when I started piecing together the full look, I was not sure how it was going to come out.  I had put so much time and effort into sewing the parts of the costume that I was hoping that it would work, but there was a piece of my mind insisting that I couldn't pull off Harley.  However, I tried it anyway, and I'm so glad that I did.  I love how my look came out.  If you haven't seen them yet, here are the links to the tutorials for the top, shorts, bat, and jacket.
     I originally intended to do a video tutorial for this, but I can't apply makeup without staring into the mirror, so I wasn't sure how to accomplish the filming process while still making my makeup turn out okay.  I've included a written tutorial, but if you're looking for a video tutorial, you may want to check out one of these ones.  I haven't tried any of them because I just kind of winged it with my look, but they look like they could be useful.
     This post is organized in two parts.  First up I have a bunch of pictures of the costume so you can get a good sense of what it looked like.  After that I have somewhat of a tutorial.  I had good success with the makeup I used, so I've included links to all the products, but feel free to use whatever products you have on hand.  These are not sponsored products, just what worked for me.

Harley Quinn Costume Photos

     You can probably tell by how vibrant the picture at the top of the page is that it was taken using a filter.  These first three pictures were taken without a filter, though, and you can see that the hair and makeup are still vibrant.

     The picture above Brian took using the camera's red filter.  With the desaturation like that, this picture kind of looks like one of Harley's black and red looks.

Harley Quinn Makeup and Hair

Makeup:

*Face primer (I used e.l.f. cosmetics's tone correcting primer)
*Eye primer (I used Urban Decay's Anti-Aging Eyeshadow Primer)
*Foundation (I used e.l.f. cosmetics's foundation in porcelain)
*Black pencil eyeliner (I used Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil in Perversion)
*Black liquid eyeliner (I used Urban Decay's Perversion Waterproof Eye Pen for the upper lash line and e.l.f. cosmetics's liquid liner in Jet Black for the heart detail)
*Black mascara (I used Urban Decay's Perversion Waterproof Mascara)
*Red eyeshadow (I used the red from the Harley Quinn palette from Hot Topic)
*Blue eyeshadow (I used the color chaos from Urban Decay's Wired palette)
*Setting spray (I used Urban Decay's All Nighter Setting Spray)
*Translucent powder (I used e.l.f. cosmetics's HD powder in sheer)
*Red lipstick (I used F*ck Kavanaugh by Lipslut, which is currently out of stock)

Tools:

*Makeup sponges
*Eyeshadow brushes
*Two hair elastics
*Cotton swabs

Hair colors:

*Blue hair color (I used Colorista Spray 1-Day Color in Blue)
*Red hair color (I used Colorista Spray 1-Day Color in Red)

Makeup Directions:

*Apply your face primer, eye primer, and foundation like you normally would.

*Apply a black eyeliner pencil to your lower lash line and water line.

*Next comes the eyeshadow, and this is where it gets especially tricky to explain things.  The nice thing, though, is that Harley's makeup often looks messy, so you don't have to worry about perfection here.  I started by applying red eyeliner to the lid and underneath my eye using a makeup brush, and did the same thing to the other eye with blue shadow.

*If you look up pictures of Harley Quinn's makeup online, you'll notice that she often has these makeup smudges under her eyes.  To create this effect, I used a cotton swab to drag some of the eyeshadow down beneath my eye.

*I also used a cotton swab to blend the eyeshadow along the upper part of my eye a little.

*Apply black mascara.

*Use liquid eyeliner for your upper lash line.

*Add translucent powder to set your foundation and mattify your face.

*Apply red lipstick to your lips.

*Draw a little black heart on one of your cheeks with black eyeliner.

*Set your makeup with a setting spray.

Hair Directions:

*Divide your hair into two roughly equal sections and pull into pigtails.  Secure with hair elastics.

*Over the bathtub or some other area of your house that you don't mind getting messy, apply your hair color following the directions on the packaging.  If you're using a spray color, I highly recommend wearing gloves to apply the spray.  Even though temporary color should wash off your hands fairly easily, it's less mess and less hassle to just wear gloves.

*I've found that spray dyes tend to transfer a lot.  I had red and blue patches on either side of my neck a few hours after applying the hair color and I couldn't touch my hair without getting color all over my hands.  If you're looking for a less messy option, I'd recommend Colorista Hair Makeup in pink and blue.  I've used their bronze auburn color before, and it does not transfer nearly as badly.  I'll be using that next time I attempt this look.

DIY Vaporeon Fin Headband: Pokemonbounding Episode 5

     For September's Pokemonbounding video, I finally got around to putting together the Vaporeon look I've been talking about.  I have both a video tutorial and a written tutorial.  However, I forgot to take pictures to accompany the written tutorial, so if I'm not clear in places, the video can probably help.  I've included the video below, and keep reading for the written tutorial as well as some more pictures of my completed Vaporeon look.

DIY Vaporeon Fin Headband

Materials:

*9"x12" medium blue felt sheet
*9"x12" light yellow or cream colored felt sheet
*Scissors
*Fabric pen or metallic marker
*All purpose adhesive
*Dazzle tac or other strong adhesive
*Copper wire
*Wire cutters

Directions:

*Print out a copy of each of the fin templates given below:

Side of Head Fin Template

Top of Head Fin Template

*From the light yellow or cream colored felt, cut out two copies of each of the full fin shapes.  You'll want to trace one copy from the front side of the template and one from the back, so that when you cut them out, you'll have pieces that are mirror images of one another.

*From the medium blue felt, you'll want to cut the uppermost segment on either fin out and trace that onto the felt.  You'll need two copies of each upper fin piece type, again cutting one with the template facing printed side up and another with it facing printed side down.  Once you've cut out your pieces, you should find once again that they mirror one another.

*Glue the medium blue fin pieces onto the top parts of the respective cream fin pieces.

*To create the ridges in Vaporeon's ear fins and add stability, cut off small sections of wire and glue them to the backs of the fins along where the fin lines on the template are.  Let dry.

*For the top of the head fin, glue a piece of wire in where the fin line is on one of the pieces of felt only.  Then glue the two top of the head fins together, wrong sides facing.  Let dry.

*Turn the top of the head fin so that it is oriented like it is on Vaporeon's head.  Cut off a long, narrow strip of medium blue felt and glue that to the front of the fin to hide where the cream colored felt is showing through.

*Using Dazzle Tac or another strong adhesive, glue the side fins to the sides of the headband.  Make sure you are in a well ventilated area, if your adhesive calls for this.  Let dry for a couple of hours.

*Drape the headband over an object (I used a folded drying rack) so that you can attach the top of the head fin.  Let dry for 24 hours, or however long your chosen adhesive calls for.

Vaporeon Look

     Here are some more pictures of my completed Vaporeon look:

In this close up, you can see that I have some pale blue teardrop earrings on.  I chose them for this look because Vaporeon is a water type.

I just thought these blue filter pictures Brian took looked cool.

This post wouldn't be complete without an AR photo.  Unfortunately I forgot to take one until the evening, when the lighting wasn't great.  I guess I'll probably have to wait until another time to get the perfect Vaporeon AR photo for my photo dex.

     Enjoying my Pokemonbounding series?  Stay tuned for a spooky bound next month!  Also, if there are any Pokemon you'd like to see in particular, let me know.  No promises I'll be able to make the looks, but I'll definitely give them some consideration.

DIY Creepy Toy Box

     Thinking about dressing up as a creepy doll for Halloween?  Why not make yourself a spooky toy box prop to go along with your look?  Or if you have some haunted dolls to add to your Halloween decor, perhaps they could use a spooky toy box of their own.

Creepy doll Amber emerging from her spooky toy box.

Materials:

*Large cardboard box
*Black acrylic paint
*White acrylic paint
*Red acrylic paint
*Brown acrylic paint
*Orange acrylic paint
*Wide paintbrush
*Thin paintbrush
*Removable vinyl
*Scissors or die cutting machine
*Metal brads
*Black duct tape
*Box cutter
*Water
*Paint palette (I use plastic container lids for my palettes)

Directions:

*Take your cardboard box and cut off the two shorter flaps.  Set them aside, as you will need them soon.

*Next, cut off one of the longer flaps and then attach it to the remaining flap using the duct tape to create the lid of your toy box.

*To stabilize the newly formed lid, cut one of the short flaps you've cut off in half "hot dog style" (as in, instead of folding it the hot dog way, we're cutting along what would be the fold line if we were instead to fold it).

*Use duct tape to attach these segments to the inside of the lid to provide the lid with added stability.  Make sure that your added cardboard segments are going across the seam in the middle of the lid, as this is likely the weak point in the lid.  Depending on how stable or flimsy your lid seems after this step, you may want to cut apart the other short flap and tape it on as well.

*Using scissors or a die cutting machine, cut out the lettering for your toy box from removable vinyl.

*Affix the letters to the front face of your toy box.

*Take some black paint and add just a little bit of water, then brush it across the front face of the box.  Let dry.

*Once dry, take some white paint, add a little water, and brush it over the front face of the box.  Let dry.

*Take some slightly watered down black paint and brush over any places where the white is too bright.

*Paint the remaining sides and top in the same fashion, starting with some black paint, then adding white, and finally adding some black in any needed places.

*Gently peel the removable vinyl off the front face of the box.  It's okay if some paint has seeped underneath the letters, as long as you can still see where you need to paint.

*Paint the letters red.  You could either use plain red paint, or add a little bit of black and brown to your red paint to create a more bloody red.  Let dry.

*Using a thin paintbrush, paint thin black lines to create the appearance of boards.  You'll want to do this to the sides and top of the toy box.

*Tape around all the edges of the toy box with black duct tape.

*Combine orange and brown paints to create a rusty color.  Paint the tops of four metal brads with this mixture.  Let dry.

*Poke the brads through the corners of the front of the box to give the appearance of nails.  You could do this with the other sides of the box too, although I didn't because I didn't have enough brads.

*If you're going to be opening the toy box a lot or leaving it open, you may want to paint the inside black to conceal any awkwardness in the duct tape.  I didn't this time around, but if I make another one of these in the future, I will probably do that.

Foam Tombstone Carving Plus Halloween Cemetery Tour

     I'm super excited to share with you my newest foam tombstone.  If you've been following my blog for a while, you may recall that I have posted several foam tombstone tutorials in the past.  For the first time, though, I now have  a video tutorial as well as a written tutorial.
     The video is part foam tombstone carving tutorial, part Halloween cemetery tour.  In the first part of the video, I go through the tombstone construction process, from the design stage up to the finished product.  In the second part, I'll show you my Halloween cemetery and tell you a little bit about each of the tombstones.  My Halloween cemetery is one of my favorite Halloween decorations each year, and I'm jazzed to be sharing it with you all for the first time in video format.

     If you're looking for a written tutorial on how to construct a foam tombstone, keep reading.

DIY Foam Tombstone

Materials:

*Pink insulation/crafting foam (can be found at home improvement stores)
*X-acto knife or box cutter (preferably with a fresh blade)
*Pencil or pen
*Painter's tape
*Fine grit sandpaper
*Sanding mask
*Goggles
*Hand saw or other implement to cut foam to size
*Metal tombstone stakes
*Drill (optional)
*Paper
*Scissors
*Paintbrushes in various sizes
*Gray acrylic paint
*White acrylic paint

Directions:

*Decide what size tombstone you would like and cut your foam to size.  I was working with scrap foam that was already the appropriate size this time, but in the past I've used a hand saw or a box cutter to cut the foam.

*Sand down the edges using fine grit sandpaper.  If the edges are really rough, you could start with medium grit paper and then work your way down, but I've found fine grit works well.  Make sure to wear a mask and goggles to keep from inhaling the foam particles or getting them in your eyes.

*Before you start adding design elements to your stone, you'll want to insert your tombstone stakes.  If you insert the stakes at an angle accidentally, the stakes may poke through the front of the foam, ruining your stone, so it's best to do this early in the stone making process.  Insulation foam tends to be soft enough that you can poke the stakes through the bottom of the foam, which is what I do, but if you are experienced at drilling, you can minimize the chances of damage by drilling.

*Now it's time to focus on your design.  I've included the rosebud design I made for this stone if you'd like to use it, but there are all kinds of designs you could use.  If you're new to foam carving, though, I would recommend keeping things fairly simple, as it can be a bit tedious and challenging cutting out a lot of fine detailing.  The design is also completely optional.  I've done a lot of stones with just an inscription, and they have turned out pretty well in my opinion.

*You'll also want some sort of inscription.  Again, if you're new to this, I'd recommend keeping it fairly simple and using a larger font to make it easier to cut out your letters.

*Cut out your design and inscription, leaving some extra white space around the edges, and tape to your foam with painter's tape.  When you're taping your design pieces down, try not to tape over the image or text, as doing so will make in more difficult to imprint your design on the foam.

*Trace along the design and outline your letters using a pencil or pen.  This will leave a faint imprint on the foam that will guide you with cutting.

*To darken the imprint, you can trace along it using a pencil or pen.  If the imprint is clear enough for you to see without doing so, then you can omit this step.

*To carve your stone, begin by tracing the imprinted lines using an X-acto knife or box cutter.  Make sure your blade is reasonably sharp, as duller blades may not cut through the foam as well.

*To remove the excess foam, I use a scraping technique, where I slide the blade into the foam that I'm trying to remove and lift up, pulling out a small chunk of foam.  See the video for a demonstration of this technique.  This is what gives the foam around my design and inside the letters a speckled appearance.  Be careful especially when working in small areas of the design, as you can nick the design or scrape out foam you weren't intending on removing.

*Once your stone is carved, it's time to paint.  I usually begin by painting the whole stone a solid gray color.  Make sure to paint all of the crevices really well, using a second coat if needed to make sure no pink foam shows through.  Let dry.

*To make the lettering and design pop a little more, the next thing I do is I paint the raised surfaces of the stone with a slightly lighter shade of gray.  You'll probably want about one part white paint for three parts of gray paint roughly.  Let dry.

*Once your stone is dry, pop in the stakes and stake it in the ground.