Today’s nail art design is a re-creation of my previous Knitted Gnome Sweater from way back – but with a new muse. Interestingly, that post is still the most viewed on my blog. Over 1,000 times! Since it was so popular, I thought you’d like to see one more. Besides, it was a great excuse to add another gnome to my home. Sorry, the pun just had to be written. 😉
And, just like the little gnome, this post will be short & sweet.
There’s just something about a fluffy sweater in soft colors that makes me want to cozy up in front of the fire with music to drown out the howling winds. Or, go out to a fancy restaurant that has a fireplace. Either way, there’s got to be the fireplace. Am I right?
Now, this little girlie gnome is just adorable, isn’t she? My aunt Debbie is crazy talented with knitting and other crafts. Lately, she’s quite the busy lady making lots and lots of holiday gnomes and spending weekends at craft fairs. If you’d like to see more, you can visit her Facebook page: Gnome-Work.
Once again, it was a lot of fun making nails to match her handiwork. Fortunately, there’s no end to finding nail inspiration!
Isn’t she precious’!!
Design Details
This nail art is basically a simple stamping design. I used the same gradient stamping technique as in my original gnome inspired design. But this time, I added more polish colors. Because I wanted the stamping to be as similar to the yarn colors as I could get them, I mixed two polishes together for each. So, it ended up being a double gradient. Is that a thing? If it wasn’t, maybe it is now.
Below is a picture of what my stamp plate looked like just before I scraped. I dropped two blobs of polish side by side and then added another smaller amount of similar shades right on top. Then, I scraped the polish over the image 2 or 3 times to get them to mix.
I ended up being very happy that I used the gradient method because the variation in colors added interest to the stamp image. It felt more realistic and looked like yarn to me. Since the stamp image is quite magnified, making the knitting pattern so enlarged, the mixture of colors softened what would otherwise be very bold. What do you think?
Funnily, I made a stamped gradient for the background too. But, because I used polishes that were too close in color and to white, it is completely invisible in both these pictures an real life. However, I will say, it made a nice even, opaque background underneath the sweater stamping. To better demonstrate, I’ll do it again soon, but with polishes that better suit the technique.
You can see all of the polishes I used, as well as the stamping images, in the photos below.
Polish Palette
Background
- OPI | My Vampire Is Buff
- Polish My Life | Birthday Suit
- Fab Ur Nails | Stamp Plate: FUN 24
Sweater
- Orly | Snowcone
- Twinkled T | FriYay
- China Glaze | Dancy Baby
- Revlon | Enamor
- ITNOP | Baby Shit
- OPI | I Just Can’t Cope-acabana
- Dixie | Stamp Plate: DP-02
- Vivid Lacquer | VL 004
Basics/Tools
- Moyra | Stamper: PiXL Clear Stamper No. 12
- Vapid | Liquid Latex: Catsuit
- Love Angeline | Glossy Topcoat: Topped With Love
- OPI | Matte Topcoat
- Fab Ur Nails | Clean-up Brush: Angular Kolinsky
Give the images a click to see the stamp plates larger.
I always intended to show these in a matte finish; again thinking it portrayed the knitting effect better. Most of the photos in the post are with matte, but here is one with just the glossy topcoat:
And here’s a look at the ball of yarn on my thumb:
That image is the same one I used in the red & grey gnome nails, just turned and placed differently. In case you were wondering. 😉
Finally, one last look at the nails and the gnome:
It was enjoyable rummaging through my polishes, or as the cool kids say these days – shopping my stash, finding the colors to best match the gnome’s apparel. Now I’ve got the urge to go through my sweaters in my closet for more inspiration. LOL
Well, that’s it for today. Hope everyone has a great weekend…and if you’re cold, maybe think about putting a sweater on your nails!
As always, THANKS so very much for checking out my post today!
Till Next Time,
