Create the design in Silhouette Studio and save it in SVG format
This design is totally doable within XCS, but since I can do them a lot faster in Silhouette Studio, so I did the designs in Silhouette Studio, save them to SVG and upload them into XCS.
Here is my design for 2 pairs of earrings and the tree stand in Silhouette Studio:
Set up the M1 machine and Import the design to XCS, setup, and process
Import the SVG files to XCS.
For the tree stand, I cut it with cardboard. with the setting of 70/10/1, but totally is doable with wood, I probably will choose 3mm plywood or MDF. Since the cardboard I used this time, has black and white patterns on one side, this side works great for a Halloween scene.
And for the earrings, I use 1.5mm basswood here and cut with the setting of 100/4/1.
Assembly
You can choose not to paint it, I explore them with acrylic paint this time. enable to achieve the poison apple look, the Alizarin Crimson, a deeper red is chosen for the apple, and black for the poison dripping on top, giving a dark evil look, then of course brown for the stem. I ended up using a little glitter glue on the black dripping to give an extra pizzazz.
And for the ghost, since I'm out of white acrylic paint, I supplement with pearl white watercolor for the body, and grey-blue is added for the shadows.
After the paint is dried, then it is time for the assembly.
For the apple design, since there is a separate piece for the black poison dripping, a little bit of super glue can put them together. For the simplest earring hardware, you only need jump rings, and earring fish hooks, nickel-free will be a hypo-allergenic choice, then you will need a jump ring opener and a jewel nose plier.
**Tip for painting: lay a piece of packing tape on the work surface, sticky side up, and stick your design piece onto the tape, so you can paint it with ease.