Comic Style Nail Art

Considering a comic-themed Halloween costume this year?  Why not paint your nails to match?

Here was an attempt of mine at cartoon makeup.  The nails go quite well with the look, in my opinion.

Materials:

*Nail polish base color (in my case red, but could be any color)

*Nail polish base coat

*Black nail art pen or black acrylic paint

*White acrylic paint

*Ultra fine nail art pen

*Nail polish top coat

Directions:

*Apply nail polish base coat.  Let dry.

*Apply nail polish base color.  Let dry.

*Using a black nail art pen or black acrylic paint, paint around the perimeter of your nails.  Let dry.

*Using white acrylic paint, add white highlights to look like light reflecting off of the nails.  Let dry.

*Seal with a clear top coat.  I only have glossy top coats, but a matte top coat might work better here so you don't have actual glinting light on your nails in the photos.

Halloween 2021 Earrings

One of my favorite things to make each Halloween season is a new set of spooky earrings.  I don't always share them with you, because I've already done a tutorial on how to make basic earrings, but I thought you might appreciate seeing the new earrings.  Plus, it's a relatively straightforward craft, so if you're looking for something you can actually make, this is a bit easier than foam tombstones or hand-sewn cosplays.

Since did write a tutorial for making earrings previously (see above link), there isn't a tutorial with this one.  However, I did want to tell you a little more about where I get my Halloween charms.  Joann is my go to, and their Hildie & Jo charms and strung beads feature heavily in my Halloween jewelry.  

Here are the beads, charms, and jewelry I bought from Joann this year.  As you can see, I haven't had a chance to make all of them into jewelry yet.  The tombstone, crow/raven, spiderweb with spider, and skeletal hand charms appear to be new to Hildie & Jo's 2021 Halloween collection.  You can buy them here, and you can see their full Halloween 2021 charm, bead, and jewelry collection here.  There are so many cool pieces this year, and I definitely recommend checking them out if you love Halloween jewelry.  The rounded charms are also from Hildie & Jo.  I bought them last year, but it looks like they have returned this year, and you can find them here.  The charms are already 40% off at Joann, so if you're interested, you'll probably want to grab some asap.

The tarot card charms are from Etsy.  If you do an Etsy search for "tarot charm," you'll turn up all sorts of neat designs, although some are pretty pricey.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you a peek into my Halloween jewelry this year.  Are you planning on making some Halloween jewelry?  I'd love to see what you come up with.

Cheers to Ten Years

Amber's Craft a Week blog turned 10 last week!  I'm in the thick of a major project right now, and didn't have time to write a post on the actual blogversary, but I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your support and interest in this blog for this past decade.  It means a lot to me.

When I started this blog ten years ago, I had no real plan for it.  I just wanted to create some sort of blog, and I was kind of good at crafting, so a craft blog seemed like a natural choice.

Producing enough new crafts to keep this blog going has given me plenty of opportunities to hone my crafting skills.  I have been able to create projects I would not have dreamed of attempting when I first started out.  I am grateful for all that I have gained through maintaining this blog.

Halloween is usually my big season on this blog, especially in recent years.  In fact, about a quarter of all the crafts I've posted I've tagged as Halloween.  I do have big plans for this Halloween season, but I'm not sure if I'll get to all of them, or if I'll be able to post detailed breakdowns of the projects I do create each week between now and November first.  You see, for this past year, I've been working on finishing up a novel I've had in the works for longer than I've had this blog.  I've completely overhauled it and am finally getting close to the home stretch.  Getting that off my plate in a timely fashion is my priority at the moment, which may mean fewer or less detailed blog posts until that is done.  But we'll see what happens.

Thank you to all of you for taking the time to view my blog, whether you're new or you've been here since the start.  I really appreciate it.  Here's to ten more years.

Like the glitter drip wine glass in the photo at the top of the page?  Here's how I made it.  I thought it would be fun to incorporate one of my older crafts into this post, and it fit well with the "cheers to ten years" theme.

A Craft that didn't Make the Cut: Audrey Jr.

I make a lot of crafts.  In fact, as I've been posting a new project just about every week for the past decade, that means I've shared with you somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 crafts.  However, as you may guess, not every craft I make ends up on the blog.  Some are abject failures, but others are kind of good, but with issues.  Audrey Jr. falls into the latter category.

I have a couple of zombie garden gnomes that Brian's mom got me for Christmas ages ago.  They're pretty neat, but I usually just stick them by my doorstep because I'm not sure what else to do with them.  Last year, I decided to give them a couple of creepy plants to watch over.

I made a couple of little plants reminiscent of Audrey Jr. from Little Shop of Horrors.  I used clay to shape heads, toothpicks for teeth for one of them, and stems from artificial flowers for stalks.

They came out looking okay, but the big issue is that they're lacking in structural integrity.  The clay heads are pretty heavy and cause them to lean.  Also, they don't have any sort of base.  Brian and I just buried them as deep as we could and it kind of worked?  Which is fine for my personal use, but not really something I'd feel comfortable writing a tutorial on.

So there you have it, one of the many crafts that I've made that hasn't appeared on this blog before.  It's certainly one of the nicer ones, and I thought it was still worth showing, even if I didn't think it merited a tutorial, since it has some issues.  Would you like to see more of these unblogged crafts in the future?  Let me know in the comments.

DIY Jigglypuff Ears: Pokemonbounding Ep 10

Here's a fun and relatively inexpensive item to make for your next Pokemon-inspired look: Jigglypuff ears.  You can also use this technique for making other ears.  Just modify the ear shape and felt colors to suit your critter.  Otherwise, the steps are the same.

Materials:

*Headband

*Pink felt

*Black felt

*Scissors

*All purpose adhesive

*Fabric chalk or pen

Directions:

*Draw and cut two Jigglypuff outer ear shapes from pink felt.  I think I used my Meowth ear template for this, but you could also freehand the ear shape.

*Draw and cut out two Jigglypuff inner ear shapes from black felt.

*Glue the inner ear pieces to the outer ear pieces.  Let dry.

*Glue the ears to the headband.  Let dry.

DIY Ursula Shell Necklace

Ursula's gilded shell necklace is a key piece of her aesthetic.  Both stylish and functional (great for storing voices), this may be the perfect accessory to finish off an Ursula cosplay, costume, or Disneybound.  See this post for one of my Ursula Disneybounds which uses this necklace, as well as more information about Disneybounding.

Materials:

*Oven-bake clay

*Gold paint

*Paintbrush

*Toothpick

* Jump ring

*Knife

*Necklace chain

Directions:

*Roll out clay into a log shape that is thick at one end and thin at the other.

*Beginning at the thin end, wind the clay into a spiral.

*Once you have wound the clay into the desired spiraling shell shape, trim any excess clay with a knife, if needed.

*Insert the jump ring into the top of the shell.  Use the toothpick to smooth over the clay around the jump ring.

*Use a knife or toothpick to score three lines in the clay, mimicking the look of Ursula's necklace.

*Bake clay in accordance with the directions on the packaging.  Remove from the oven and let cool.

*Once the clay is cool, paint gold.  Let dry.

*Slide the necklace chain through the jump ring to finish off your necklace.

Clay Tentacle Earrings

Looking for a fun, spooky accessory?  Why not try these clay tentacle earrings?  I've used the purple ones for Ursula Disneybounds, and the green ones give me strong sea monster vibes, so I'll probably be putting together a look based on that at some point.

Here's what they look like on me.  This was one of my Ursula Disneybounds.  I also made the shell necklace, so if you want more details on that, let me know, and I'll make sure to include it in a post.

Materials:

*Oven bake clay

*Nail art dotting tool

*Paint in colors of your choice

*Jump rings

*Ear wires

*Round-nosed pliers

*Fine paintbrush, such as a nail art brush

Directions:

*Form clay into two tentacle shapes.

*Insert a jump ring into the top of the tentacle, covering it halfway in the clay.

*Create small disks from clay.

*Use the nail art dotting tool to attach the disks and give them a suction cup shape.

*Bake in the oven in accordance with the directions on the packaging.  Let cool.

*Paint in a color scheme of your choosing.