#15 String Art

        I'm so excited to share this project with you all! It's called String Art, it's super cute, easy, and fun. Unfortunately, I was not very good about taking pictures as I was making it... but we'll make do. I'll link you to pictures that are already online in case you feel like you need a visual aid to know what I'm talking about. I found out about it through pinterest which led me to this great tutorial right here. So I would definitely check that out for detailed step-by-step instructions. 
     

Materials

Cork Board

White Paint

Linoleum Nails

Embroidery Floss

      1. First you want to paint your cork board white. (I used cork board that was already framed and ready to put up on the wall, in the link I provided earlier she used rolled cork and layered it. Either way works out just fine, whatever you do make sure the board is thick enough for the nails) You are going to need to do a few different coats on the cork because it is absorbent. I did about 3 or 4 coats, but keep in mind that I wanted the board to be completely white and not have a tan-ish tint. If you don't mind the tint, it won't take that many coats.

      2. While your cork is drying, decide if you want to do a shape or a word. You can find the font I used here, but remember you can use ANY font that you want. Just make sure that it is wide enough for the string. Now, blow up the word on the computer to the desired size. (My letters were at font size 1600 and each letter printed out on two to three pages, but of course that depends on the size of your cork board) Cut out the shape or letters that you are using. If you're making a word, don't worry about cutting out the inside of the letters. Although, you should tape each letter together with a little bit of scotch tape.

      3. Now, grab your cork and position your word where you want it, tape it down with a little scotch tape.

      4. Take the Linoleum Nails and outline the letters. (Make sure you don't forget the inside of the letters!) Also, when you are putting them into the cork you don't need a hammer but it will make it a little easier on your fingers if you have one. Just be careful of not pushing in the nails too far. You want every nail to be level with each other.

     5. Slowly and carefully start to remove the letter outline. Make sure you go slowly because some of the nails will come out! Remove any extra tape left over on your cork board and you're ready to start stringing!

This is what mine looked like after I had removed the paper outline.
I didn't get to use all of those colors when I was actually stringing
because I ran out of room... but that's alright!

     6. This was my favorite part, adding the string! Get out your Embroidery Floss and organize it in the way you want the colors to go. Now you can start. Pick a starting point on the first letter, I started at the top left and went from there. Tie a knot around the first nail and start stringing in between the nails. When you're ready to switch colors just tie a knot, grab your next color, pick a starting point near your last end point, and tie a knot. There is no prescribed way 'string' just be creative and remember, you can always unwind and start again!

                                 

                                                                                       

This is the finished project. It was really fun and I think it looks pretty good! I can't wait to hang it up in my room. I apologize for the dents on the cork board, my cat walked on it while I was putting in the pins and by the time I moved her it was too late. So if you have nosy animals, it might be best to keep them out of the room ;) I hope you enjoyed this post, thanks for reading! If you try it out, leave me a comment below.

#12 Ombre Nails

          Hey everybody! Today I just really felt like doing my nails, so I decided to try one of the techniques I mentioned on the list. Today's activity is OMBRE NAILS! I tried my best to take pictures as I went to show you guys the way I did them. Sorry if they're a little blurry! Here we go:

Materials

Q-tips

Nail polish remover

A few different shades of polish

Sponge Paint brush

     1. First you must (obviously) remove any old polish still on your nails. Then pick out the colors you want. You can use as many colors that you can fit onto your nails, but I chose three and made each section a little bit bigger. The colors I used are pictured below. From left to right the brands and names are N.Y.C. (222B) SoHo, Sinful Colors (52) Cream Pink, and OPI (A16) The Thrill of Brazil.

    

  2. Now Paint all of your nails with the color you want on the bottom. I chose to go light to dark, so I used N.Y.C. SoHo as the base.

      3. Next, on one side of the paint brush paint the next color you want to show. I used Sinful Colors Cream Pink. Place the pink painted side of the brush over more than half of the nail. Be careful on this part, if you press too hard the color will spread completely over the WHOLE nail. Just lightly set the brush on the nail and hold for a second or two and then lift. Repeat this step with the next color but this time make sure you place the brush over less than half of the nail.

                                                                                                                         

(Wait for each layer to dry before you start on the next color)

       4. At this point you will have the different shades of polish all around your fingers. So once it dries, use the Q-tips and nail polish remover to clean up the excess polish.

                                                                                                               

                                                                

          There you go! I hope you found it useful, mine were a little jagged but for a first time I think they turned out pretty good. Leave a comment if you have any suggestions or questions. Thanks for reading!