Marbled Blacklight Pumpkin DIY

October 9, 2018 by Alexa Leave a Comment

If you’re a pumpkin crafter, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of nail polish pumpkins. The thing with nail polish pumpkins; however, is that you have very little polish to work with and you generally can only dip smaller-sized pumpkins with them. Also I personally think using nail polish is a lot more stinkier than spray paint (this may be a personal preference). Anyway, after seeing this post a few years back Alisa Burke marbleizing paper and ornaments, I knew I wanted to try it with a pumpkin and I’m actually happy with how mine turned out. Let me show you how easy and fun these are to make!

What you need:

— faux pumpkin
— various colors of spray paint (I used neon so they’d look good under blacklight)
— large bin filled with water
— Gloves (get the gloves, see below)

Before you begin:
Fill a large plastic bin with water. You want enough water so you can submerge your entire pumpkin.

Spray the first color on top. It will spread out as you spray into a halo shape in the water.
Keep spraying and adding more colors till the surface of the water is totally filled with colors.

Once you’ve sprayed the surface, immediately dip your pumpkin.

It takes a little force to push the pumpkin below the water. It was hard for me to capture on camera, but once your pumpkin is totally dunked, you need to pull it up lifting off the paint from the surface of the water.

If there’s an area of the pumpkin that you’ve missed, you can dunk it back in and focus on that area. You may layer over top of a. section you’ve already covered, but because this is abstract and random, it’s hard to mess it up!

Remember when I said you needed gloves. This is why. I got the spray paint on my hand and it took a couple days for it totally to be off my hand. There was a lot of hand washing those two days. LOL.

Here’s what it looked like when I set up my blacklight. I was wanting the neon to really pop and pop it did! I am looking forward to putting this in my glowing decorations this Halloween!

Rainbow Rhinestone Pumpkin DIY

September 13, 2018 by Alexa 3 Comments

Forget the orange and black pumpkin decor this year and really do it up BIG! Cause nothin’ says BIG like unloading a freakin’ rainbow of color onto a mini pumpkin. I’m kinda obsessed with this little DIY cause it combines both sparkle and color together for an absolute feast for the eyes. And this is something you can make in just under and hour. Let me show you how it is done!

What you need (links below include affiliate links)
— Mini pumpkin
— Paint in a rainbow of colors
— Mini rhinestones (with adhesive backing)
— Paintbrush and paint palette

I have to admit something before I begin telling you how to make this pumpkin……it is so insanely easy to make. The majority of the work involves painting on the paint and letting it dry. I went around the pumpkin, separating the colored sections by the ribs. Go around the pumpkin once, then go around it again to get two solid coats. Let dry thoroughly. Make sure to turn over and finish off the bottom (or don’t worry about it if the bottom isn’t going to show).

Next, use the coordinating color rhinestone sticker and position in the coordinating color section. This is literally a pull off and stick process, but you will want to make sure you space them in random polka dot style all around around your pumpkin.

And here’s the finished result. SWOON!!!!!!

This is a super fun craft to make for your rainbow-obsessed friends to give as a fall gift for their office or home.

If you aren’t a fan of rainbow, consider painting your pumpkin a solid color, then adding tone on tone rhinestone dots. You could also use a complementary color for fun contrast!

I’d love it if you checked out my other rainbow pumpkin creations…

How to Make a Rainbow Glitter Pumpkin
Rainbow Crayon Drip Pumpkin
Crayon Scribble Pumpkin
Glitter Drip Pumpkin

Reverse Glass Painting for Summer

June 20, 2018 by Alexa Leave a Comment

There’s nothing more fun than a good summer craft session. I have heard for a while about “reverse glass painting” but hadn’t tried it for myself, and I loved the results I was seeing. One of my fave things to draw are cute girly girls, it has always been that way since I was myself a little girly girl. LOL. I decided to create some true summer vibes in this painting…BEACH PLEASE!

Supplies you need:
– Acrylic paints in various colors (including sea colors & skin tone color)
– Various-sized paint brushes
– 8×10 frame with glass
– 8×10 drawing of your choice; I drew a girl on a seascape, but you could do anything you wanted
– Hairdryer
– Paint palette

Follow along on the video below or my step by step directions as described below the vid!

View Do reverse glass painting on Darby Smart.

Reverse Glass Painting DIY
1. Draw a design on an 8×10 piece of paper that you would like to transfer onto glass. If you aren’t super confident about your drawing skills, copy a coloring book page!
2. Using a black acrylic-based paint marker, place your pattern under the glass from your frame and trace the design. Let dry thoroughly.
3. Use your desired paint colors to fill in between your marker lines. Paint two to three coats, letting dry in between coats. If you want a looser, more transparent look, only do one coat of paint.
4. Let your paint dry thoroughly. If you need to, use a hair dryer to speed up the process.
5. Wipe down any paint from the edges of your frame and place back inside frame. Now wait for the compliments.

I made this project for my friends at Darby Smart. I create cute and snappy DIY videos for them in the app and there’s videos by all kinds of different creators that will get your ideas flowing. You can download the Darby app here.

How to make Rainbow Clouds – a fun color experiment

May 28, 2018 by Alexa Leave a Comment

I love a fun artful experiment. My fave crafts and DIYs to make are the ones that are easy to do, but are very visually satifying. This rainbow cloud experiment definitely fills that bill. With just a few household supplies including shaving cream and food coloring, you can have this fun color exploration with the kiddos (or create cool photo ops for your Instagram feed or story) and learn about diffusion in the process.

What you need
– Shaving cream
– Small containers
– 3-4 colors of food coloring
– eyedropper
– clear bowl or vase
– water

This experiment showcases the process of diffusion; diffusion is the mixing of molecules due to their random motion, whether in a liquid or a gas. With food coloring, the water remains a solvent while the food coloring is the solute. When they are mixed, they make a solution.

Start off by mixing 4 to 5 drops of food coloring with two to three tablespoons of water in a small container. I used small plastic containers made for storing dressings, sauces, etc. Next add water to your vase, filling it 3/4 to the top. Squirt out shaving cream on top to make a pile that looks similar to a cloud. Use your eye dropper to squeeze in your each color of your food coloring. Drop in one color at a time and watch it as it diffuses into the water. It is super satisfying to watch, so make sure to get your camera ready. Add in drops of other colors. The more drops you will add, the more you’ll notice how the colors start blending together into a muddy color. At this point, you’ll want to start the process over and pour out your water and shaving cream and start again.

View How to make rainbow clouds on Darby Smart.

I created this project for my friends at Darby Smart, where you can find it on their Darby Smart app! It’s a super fun app filled with tons of cool DIYs, beauty hacks, slime recipes and so much for. There’s even a cool video editor tool that lets your film, import, and speed up and add titles to your videos. It makes is so easy to get creative and make your own DIY videos!

I hope you enjoyed this project and it inspires you to create and experiment with supplies you already have on hand.

How to Make a Mermaid Makeup Bag

May 27, 2018 by Alexa Leave a Comment

Are you loving the mermaid trend right now? From the scales to the dreamy aquatic colors, this look isn’t going away anytime soon. Let me share with you how to DIY this cute makeup bag with supplies you already have in your craft stash.

What you need:
– Cotton canvas clutch (I got mine at JoAnn)
– Fabric paints in light blue, teal, and turquoise
– Dark blue and light blue fabric marker
– Medium-sized stickers
– Painters sponge

View How to make a mermaid bag on Darby Smart.

This video was created in partnership with Darby Smart. I have a DIY channel on the Darby Smart app, where I share a lot of fun videos like this one. If you love making DIY videos, it has a lot of cool features in the app that make it easy to produce your own (including adding titles, speeding up your video, and adding cute stickers).

Anyway, back to the project! For this project follow these simple steps:

1. Use sponge to blend fabric paint colors together. I blended them together so it was a subtle shift between colors. Let dry completely.

2. Use your light blue fabric marker to draw on scallop/scale designs over the fabric paint.

3. Lay down the letter stickers to spell out the word MERMAID, then trace with the dark blue fabric marker. Peel up stickers and add any definition to the letters that you’d like.

4. Draw on the word “gang” or if you’d rather – “vibes”. You can also do this part with stickers if you don’t feel confident with your handwriting.

You could easily add some sparkle with some glitter fabric spray or regular glue and glitter brushed on to add some sparkly details.

That’s it, now you have a super cute mermaid bag to stash all your lippies and makeup supplies.

Make a Pretty Abstract Recycled Painted Vase

April 17, 2018 by Alexa Leave a Comment

Don’t throw out that plastic or glass container the next time you finish using it. With a little paint, a paintbrush, and some time, you can have an artisan-looking vase for only a few cents!

For this project you’ll need:
– a plastic or glass tub/container (I used a Talenti container)
– paint in a pastel color palette
– paint brush
– no skill (I mean it!)

View Recycled container to painted vase on Darby Smart.

Follow along in the video above as I show you how easy it is to make this colorful DIY. This is the perfect way to decorate a container to give to mom for Mother’s Day -or- to make a cute storage accessory for your space! Simply brush on colors, blending loosely as you go. The cool thing is, if you feel like there are any mistakes, you can always go back in and cover it up once the paint has dried.

To dry, I let this set on a plastic surface, so that I could easily remove any paint that might have dripped down. This did produce a slight drippy effect on one side of my vase, but I liked it cause it made it much more abstract and cool!

Display flowers (faux or real) inside, or use it as a cool organizer or change jar! Now I want to make more of these in lots of different colors!

For more fun projects like this, download the Darby Smart app in the Apple app store.

Personalized Watercolor Frame for Mom with Darby Smart

April 17, 2018 by Alexa Leave a Comment

personalized-watercolor-mothers-day

My latest video for Darby Smart is all about the most important person in our life…MOM! This frame is super easy peasy to make and you can create it even if you feel you aren’t super crafty or artsy.

All you need are some watercolors from your local Michaels store and a permanent marker to make your lettering design. And of course your unfinished wooden frame!

View Mother’s Day Watercolor Frame on Darby Smart.

When I created this project, I used a 3/4 inch paint brush and dabbed it into the water, then into my watercolor palette. I dabbed on the color onto the frame, trying to mix together the colors to make brown.

After only 30 minutes, the frame was dry and ready to create my personalized lettering. I chose a line that was an adaption of a John Mayer song; I believe it’s from the song “Daughters”. I always loved that line and thought it is an appropriate statement for Mom too!

After personalizing, add in your favorite photo of you and your mom. I don’t have a great photo of myself with my mom, but I did use this cute photo of my niece and me, so I put that in the frame. I technically could have been old enough in this photo to be her mom. Let me just say, I really love being that girls aunt…we always enjoy a LOT of crafting time together.

If you love this video, watch more on my Darby Smart profile online and on their Darby Smart app. You can download the Darby App now in the Apple app store!

How To Paint Your Own Pennywise Pumpkin

October 16, 2017 by Alexa Leave a Comment

This Halloween season, Pennywise, from the movie IT is the go-to movie to see. I’m seeing all kinds of articles on how you can rock this clown custom for Halloween 2017, but I thought I’d turn Pennywise into my kinda craft- a pumpkin, of course. Let me just tell you, taking the above pic was pretty amusing. Instead of scouting for models, I went scouting for gutters in my neighborhood. LOL. I think the end result turned out pretty sweet. And fun fact, I’ve never seen this movie or the original that all my friends were scared of when I was a child of the 90’s. I do recognize a viral character when I see it, and knew I had to get on the clown action.

What you’ll need:

– White medium-sized pumpkin
– Red, black, and white acrylic paints
– Tacky Glue
– Paintbrushes
– Red feather marabou boa
– Scissors

Before you begin: I painted the off-white pumpkin with white acrylic paint to give the clown a more pale complexion.

Next pull up a pic of Pennywise for reference…I did my project freehand, but you can plot yours out with pencil if you’d like.

I then painted my pumpkin as shown below…I started with a liner brush drawing the red on the lips, I then went back in around the lips adding outlines and shading. Around the grin, I added lines to accentuate.

Next I drew the red lines that go from the grin to above the eyes. After I did that, I added in more additional shading detail and started to draw the eyes and frown lines.

I finished up the face with additional shading and red eyes. For finishing touches, I added some chin and face shape definition. Also clean up any messy details with white paint after everything has dried. My last step was to mix a little glue and paint to make faux cracks and gritty details to the forehead and face. The final step is to cut, then glue on the feather boa to the top of the pumpkin in a horseshoe fashion.

This turned out pretty fun (and creepy). When I get into the zone painting, I realize how much I enjoy it.

Taking photos of this pumpkin may have been more fun than actually painting it. For this one, I hid the pumpkin in some bushes and peeked through to get this shot. Nothin’ quite like a creepy clown lurking in the shadows.

And I thought the dead grass and wooden fence at sunset made for a nice backdrop as well.

Let me know what you think of my pumpkin and if it creeps you out. And fun fact, I actually like clowns…I grew up with paintings of them in my room as a toddler. They were mainly the hobo and circus clowns type. I don’t know if I should watch this movie or not and change my perception.

If you love this project, share it with your friends, and check out this cute stop motion video I did using the steps above to create this DIY project. I made this little vid for the Darby Smart app! If you want ot make your own DIY vids easily using only your phone, give this app a try. Available now in the app store.

Save

Making your own Glowing Blacklight Slime

October 8, 2017 by Alexa Leave a Comment

Halloween is right around the corner and the blacklights are glowing bright! Scare up some fun for the kids (or the kids at heart) with a batch of glowing slime that shines brightest under blacklight. This slime only takes a few ingredients and will be the hit of the Halloween party!

What you need:
– Clear glue
– Neon glow paint
– Baking soda
– Saline solution
– Spoon and bowl for mixing

I created this project for Darby Smart, a DIY app you can download in the Apple iTunes app store. What makes this app so great is that you can shoot, edit, and post your own tutorial using the handy features in it! You can also follow my channel where I share more videos like this one and there’s a lot more artists in the app to discover as well.

DIY your own Pumpkin Slime and Jar

October 8, 2017 by Alexa Leave a Comment

If you’re planning a party this Halloween season for kids, this might be the perfect party gift they can make at the festivities and take home with them! In this tutorial (an exclusive I made for the Darby Smart app), I show you how to make the slime and the container in some super easy steps!

Here’s what you’ll need:
– Aleene’s Clear Gel Tacky Glue
– Baking Soda
– Orange Food Coloring
– Saline Solution
– Orange Glitter
– Green Multi-surface paint
– Small Mason Jar
– Black Puffy Paint
– Paintbrush

Watch the video below to see all the steps!

I did this tutorial for Darby Smart, where they partner with cool companies like Retail me Not to bring cool DIY videos to the masses. You can see more videos on the Darby Smart app from more awesome creators. Download it here and watch some cool videos and make your own.

The Swell Designer

Random musings of a crazy, crafty, pop culture-obsessed girl!