Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Nail Art Decal Printable Mat Template (design and placement guide)

Printable download in .pdf & .jpg format.   For full-scale fingernails, print in actual size, in landscape mode, at 100% scaling.  This works well for petite adult fingernails of average length.  8.5X11" paper.  Do NOT create decal directly to the paper copy!  Place the guide under a clear cutting board or a clear storage or freezer bag, or sheet protectors, and apply polish to it!  This guide sheet can be cut apart and repositioned under the mat to customize the layout and if you goof it up, just print yourself another one!

I designed this mat for use with clear cutting boards sold in a 2 pack at Dollar Tree, but you can also create your polish decals on Ziploc storage or freezer bags or sheet protectors.  After hearing many complaints about the high price and awkward design of various silicone mats my stamping buddies experienced, as well as the difficulty they had in safely removing decals, I opted to use clear cutting boards I purchased at my local dollar store.  My sister thought I was crazy, but when she lifted a decal off of my mat, she was convinced to use them herself.  I love the clear mat because I can turn it over to see my work at any time.  I can also slide colored papers under to swatch background colors without committing to a polish color as I'm building the decal.  But a blank mat needed more structure, so I created my own printable mat guide.  I find that it helps me with placement of stamping design with center and diagonal marks, eliminates waste by defining the nail size (from pinky to thumb), and I also utilized the sizes of popular stampers for additional references.  I created a white set and a black set of nails, but you can print them on colored paper in the foundation colors you like to work with most.  The round circles should correspond to any round stampers you have and work great for smoothy or smoosh techniques.  Thin coverage of these often require swatching a base color, so it is the perfect thing to create on a clear mat.

Highly recommend using the GLOSSY side of the dollar store cutting mats.  They are a nice size for protecting your table surface, defining your workspace.  Mine came in a 2 pack so you can create with a stamping buddy too!

NOTE:  I made this guide available very cheaply, so I hope you will encourage your beauty buddies to download rather than sharing the document you purchase.

© Kinsmade 2017

No comments: