Hello, all! Day 2 of the Digital Dozen does Winter Wonderland is here and I've got some black and white, stamp inspired nails to share with you! When I say stamp inspired, I mean a rubber stamp that you might use with an ink pad to gussy up any number of paper products.
In my search for winter wonderland-esque things to be inspired by, I came across this pin on Pinterest. Usually, when you see silhouettes like this, the colors are inverse of this (a white background with black silhouettes), so I was immediately drawn to how striking this image was. And then I realized it was the inverse of a rubber stamp and got very excited by the prospect of creating something like it!
I browsed a bit more for inspiring stamps online, but couldn't really find anything that spoke to me...so I came up with my own image and I have to say, this is one of my favorite manis to date! While I've liked many of the looks that I create, they aren't always ones that make me squeal in delight. This was one of those manis, that as you're painting it, you know it's going to be fantastic. Don't you just love that?!
I started with a base of Zoya's Willa (an amazing black from their winter/holiday collection that I will have a review of soon!) and then painted all the white detailing with white acrylic paint. I started off easy and painted the snow covered ground, then moved on to each of the trees. I tried my best to leave negative space between each of the snow covered limbs, but if I messed up, I just went back over it with some black where needed.
Next came the tricky part of adding in the reindeer. I absolutely love how he turned out, but damn if I didn't have to re-paint him 3 times! The whole time I was painting him, I had the "Reindeers are better than people" song from Frozen stuck in my head. Here is is for those unfamiliar with the movie.
Finally, came the swirling dots behind the entire scene. Each time I look at them I see them as something else. Maybe it's falling snow, or the wispy clouds, or twinkling lights behind the whole scene. I'm not quite sure, but I love the effect. This whole look was done with a trimmed down detailing brush and probably too much patience.
Overall, so so happy with how this came out. I wish my photos were a bit clearer and had less glare, but in person I can't stop staring at these. I'd love to hear what you think (maybe I'm crazy for liking these so much ;) ) and be sure to check out what the other ladies have created for today via the inlinkz below!
Happy Polishing :)
