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halloween baby

It's my birthday today!

And my friends/coworkers surprised me with the most adorable spread of goodies at lunch. How awesome is the ghost cake they made me? Of course, I can't take a serious picture, but I think you get an idea of how happy I was. I love them all so much. Best friends ever. =)

photos by Julia

diy painted pumpkins

Every year, without fail, I carve a Halloween pumpkin. Last year I wanted to switch it up with painting, but I never got around to it. This year I wasn't going to let it happen again and I was determined to paint one - or two. In looking for tattoo inspiration I came across some pretty amazing henna, and I decided that the designs would double up as a great painted pumpkin. The design is free-handed  so if you're not the best painter, I suggest you go with the second striped pattern. It's ridiculously easy, but nonetheless, extremely cute. 

You'll Need:

acrylic paint (gold, blue, red, and white for the henna; red, white, and blue for the stripe)

medium sized paint brush

small detail pint brush

something to put/mix your paint in

a cup of water

paper towel to pat your brush off

Directions (henna design):

1. The first thing you'll want to do for either design is to paint the pumpkin white. First paint the top half with two coats and let it dry. Afterward, paint the bottom half with two coats and let that dry as well.

2. Next you'll want to paint the stem gold. Then, using a medium sized brush, paint three large paisley shapes, giving everything two coats.

3. Taking a small brush, paint in the small gold detail lines. 

4. Still using your small brush go in with your accent colors, blue and red, to outline chosen sections.

Directions (simple stripe design):

1. Load up a medium sized brush with bright red paint. Using a white pumpkin, paint from the stem to about halfway down the pumpkin. Do two coats and let dry.

2. Mix a blue that you like, and then brush the second middle stripe onto your pumpkin. There's no need to be exact, part of the character in this design is that you can see the brush strokes, giving it something of a dip-dye look.