Harsh years can, I find, often elicit one of two states. Either you enter the start of a new year browbeaten, worn very nearly to your last nerve, or they stir up a powerful sense of wide-eyed optimism.

Both are understandable, normal, natural.

They are not the only two possible states, of course. I have experienced enough January 1^sts now at this point in my life to know though that they are amongst the most common.

As someone whose ingrained instinct is to see the glass as half full (though, at times, it does depend on whose pouring ), I often veer towards the optimistic side of things.

2021 put me and my husband – along with countless others around the globe – through the wringer and then some.

Was it, mercifully, the most brutal year of our lives? No, thankfully, it was not.

But it was deeply challenging, highly stressful, and a very far cry from ideal.

Like all years that I have thus far experienced, it still housed some positives, too. I’m not sure I would say that they outweighed the difficulties, but they certainly did their part to balance the scales a bit more.

Interestingly, I often find that the rougher and tougher a year was, the more I leap with Labrador puppy enthusiasm into the rebirth of January.

The year’s first month received its English name via Latin. It means the month of the Roman dietary Janus (who presided over doors, entryways, and beginnings).

One particularly noteworthy facet to the God Janus is that he is often depicted and described as having two faces. One looked the past squarely in the eyes, the other stared ahead, always ready to tackle the incoming future.

We as mere mortals down here on earth often embody a similar sense of duality as one year takes its final bow and the next comes barreling into town.

Looking back, we reflect and contemplate the twelve months that we just experienced. We know that all we went through then will contribute to who we are for the rest of our days.

There are some years we wish we could tightly cling to with all of our might and others that we are happy to drop faster than a bad habit.

And certainly, there are a good many that fall somewhere in between.

It can be hard, I readily acknowledge, to embrace January with intense optimism or hope – especially if the year that just transpired was a particularly challenging one.

Yet, much as it is not fair to assume that a new romantic partner might embody negative or undesirable traits or actions of an ex, so too should be given each fresh year a chance to prove itself before we jump to any judgements or conclusions.

We need to give the new year time to show us how different or similar it may be to the last twelve-month calendar we retired.

The first day of January does not, of course, erase all our troubles or set every wrong in the world right (if only!).

But is a fresh start, an intensely powerful liminal period, and the chance to begin again in some respects.

Yesterday evening, as clocks the world over chimed with the sound of midnight being announced, 2021 gave up its ghost.

We must let it go. Passing years are like breaths of air, we only continue onward because they occur.

I was thinking recently about the fact that each year has a ghost of sorts all its own. Some are friendly spectres, whereas others may, sadly, haunt us for the rest of our days.

In reflecting on these points, the idea sprung into my head to make a punny New Year’s card starring phantoms and a graveyard.

And so, as the final days of 2021 ticked away, that is precisely what I did. Creating and photographing the New Year’s card that stars in this post as December was preparing for its inevitable end.

Adorable Happy Boo Year (New Year’s) Card

After the year we just collectively endured, it would not have been out of place to go for a solemn, almost sympathy-like card for a theme such as this.

However, (and here’s that natural propensity for optimism at play again) I wanted instead to convey a sense of cheerfulness and newness.

In this card we see three tremendously cute ghostie friends hovering above a cemetery as snow – one of January’s common features in many parts of the world – waltzes all around them.

These are chipper ghosts. They have no ill intent or malice in them. They’re friendly spirits of the sort that, if one was to spend time with a ghost, you would be happy to call your friends.

The graveyard they are chilling in (winter pun intended) begins with a classic wrought iron fence – as well as a lock.

This lock was placed not in the centre of the gate, but to one side. This signifies that the proverbial gates have been opened on a brand new year (or maybe it also means these darling ghosties have a bit of mischief in them ).

I wanted there to be tombstones on this card, but not for them to steal the show. To achieve this, I stamped some tombstones in two different shades of ink. One barely-there grey, the other black. I then used both a taupe-y grey coloured marker and a silver Wink of Stella pen to outline the black tombstones.

The pale grey grave markers are intended to have a ghostly, shadowy air about them, so were not outlined or otherwise jazzed up.

To help the tombstones look they were grounded, not floating (much like the ghosts themselves) in midair, I hand drew and lightly coloured a hill using an icy shade of blue-grey marker.

The falling snow comes via a paper with that pattern on it. I did not enhance it at all. If you didn’t have a paper like this to hand, you could emboss cardstock or paper with a dotted pattern, hand draw dots with white ink (or paint), or use a polka dot stencil to create a similar effect.

Our precious little ghosties friends were all created using metal dies and white cardstock. I backed them with identical die cuts made from brown cardstock to give them a sense of depth and shadow, then outline each of these three cuties with the same silver Wink of Stella pen.

I’m on a mission this year to weave more techniques I either do not use often or have yet to try before into some of my paper crafting projects.

One technique that I’ve not utilized in a good while is die cutting words from printed paper. I opted to do so here with the word “Boo”, which I cut from the same black, brown, and grey plaid paper that appears in a background layer on this card.

To up the presence of snow all the more on this design, I placed a few silver metallic cardstock snowflakes around the ghosts. I also used AB rhinestone felt-back snowflake embellishments in six spots on this haunted graveyard card.

I adore how this card came together! It houses so many elements that I adore, such as spookiness/ghosts, graveyards (I am a massive taphophile after all), wrought iron, a gothy colour palette, snow (what can I say, I’m Canadian ), plenty of layers, and hits of shimmer and sheen.

Last year we took explored spooky takes on various seasons and holidays. Namely Valoween, Springoween, Summerween, and most recently, Creepmas / Cryptmas.

A spooky, Halloween-influenced New Year’s has yet to become a thing on quite the same level as those happenings, but I for one am really hoping that Boo Year’s will catch on in time as well.

Who knows, perhaps this card itself can help to get that (snow)ball rolling all the more.

If you’re feeling the spirit of this frighteningly charming New Year’s card and wish to create one of your own, read on for a list of all the supplies used as well as detailed step-by-step instructions.

Products used to make a haunted winter graveyard New Year’s card

-Lightly textured (or plain) white cardstock – Snow White cardstock from Colorbok

-Matte black mirror cardstock – Black Velvet Mirror Card from Tonic Studios

-Silver metallic cardstock – Silver Foil Cardstock from Recollections

-Grey kraft cardstock (or a suitable light grey cardstock of your choice – Grey Kraft Cardstock from Recollections

-Light grey cardstock (different from above)

-Sandy brown coloured cardstock

-Grey and plaid print paper – Christmas Plaid 12” x 12” paper pad from Craftsmart (Michael’s brand)

-Grey and white falling snow print paper – White Christmas 12” x 12” paper pad from Craftsmart

-Wrought iron gate die – Graveyard Gate Die Set from Stampin’ Up

-Ornate rectangle nested dies

-Elegant snowflake border die (or a snowflake design paper punch)

-“Boo” word die (or letter dies to spell “boo” with)

-Horizonal oval tag die

-Small ghost dies

-Small snowflake die or paper punch

-Light grey ink – Shadow Grey Archival Ink from Ranger

-Black ink – Jet Black Archival Ink from Ranger

-Silver shimmer pen/marker – GI Silver marker from Wink of Stella

-Brown-grey, blue, and grey markers

-“Happy New Year” sentiment stamp (you will be using the “Happy” and “Year” portions on this card)

-Tombstone stamps – Graveyard Gate Stamp Set from Stampin’ Up

-Felt and AB rhinestone snowflake embellishments (sourced from AliExpress)

-Glue gun and glue sticks (optional, but handy for attaching the felt snowflake embellishments)

-Dimensional foam, pop dots, or similar to elevate some of your layers

-Adhesive, such as a tape runner, of your choice (I often use my Scotch Tape Glider)

How to make an adorable ghost-filled Happy Boo Year card

Begin by making a card base from white cardstock.

Cut a piece of matte black mirror cardstock ever so slightly narrower but a touch taller than the card base. Adhere.

Cut a piece of brown and grey plaid paper slightly smaller than the matte black mirror cardstock layer. Adhere.

Using white cardstock cut the largest size ornate rectangle from your nested die set.

Using light grey cardstock cut the second largest size ornate rectangle from your nested die set. Adhere the two layers you just die cut together, centering the small die cut on top of the larger one.

Cut this die cut stack in half (unless you’re using a very tall slimline die set that would reach from the top to the bottom of the card) and adhere one half in the upper center of the card (let it jut out a tad beyond the top edge of the card base) and the other on the bottom center of the card.

Next die cut two pairs of ornate snowflake borders from white cardstock and two from silver metallic cardstock (or light grey cardstock, if you prefer). Arrange one of each colour so that the silver is on top of the white. Offset them a little to give a dimensional look.

Adhere each pair of snowflake borders together and then adhere one pair on each side of the center of the card base layers, as shown.

Cut a piece of matte black mirror (or plain black, as desired) cardstock slightly smaller than the piece of grey and brown plaid paper. Adhere to previous base layers.

Next, we’re going to create the snow-covered graveyard scene.

To do so, start by cutting a piece of “falling snow” print paper slightly smaller than the previous matte black mirror cardstock.

Run your silver Wink of Stella pen around the inner edges on all four sides of that piece of paper.

Using stamps from the Stampin’ Up Graveyard Gate Stamp set, stamp a few tombstones with black ink and a few with light grey ink.

Use taupe-grey and grey markers to add dimension to the black tombstones you just stamped, but not the light grey ones.

Using a grey-blue marker, hand draw the top shape of a hill. Use that same marker to lightly colour in the hill, leaving a small border uncoloured around all of the stamped tombstones.

Adhere this layer to the previous base layers.

Die cut three ghost shapes from white cardstock and three matching ghost shapes from brown cardstock.

Edge the ghosts all the way around with your silver Wink of Stela pen. Arrange the white ghost layers on top of the matching brown cardstock ghost layers, offsetting them slightly for added dimension. Adhere ghosts to falling snow layer using dimensional adhesives.

Using silver metallic cardstock, die cut two larger snowflakes and three smaller snowflakes (all sof them hould be on the tiny side though, so as to not steal the show from the ghosts). Adhere them around the ghosts as shown.

Die cut a wrought iron gate from matte black mirror cardstock using the Stampin’ Up Graveyard Gate die. Then, using scissors or a sharp craft knife and a suitable cutting mat, cut vertically down the middle of the gate to create two equal-sized halves of the gate. Adhere each half to the falling snow layer.

Using silver metallic cardstock, die cut a lock from the same Stampin’ Up die set. Attach through the bars of the gate on the left-hand side.

Die cut an oval tag-shaped piece from white cardstock. Rim the edges all the way around with silver Wink of Stella.

Die cut the word (or letters to spell the word) “boo” from the same grey and brown plaid paper we’ve used already on this project.

Center word in the middle of the die and, once you’re happy with the placement, adhere the letters down.

Next, use your “Happy New Year” sentiment stamp and black ink to stamp the words “Happy” and “New Year”. If you have one, I highly suggest using a stamping platform here so as to get the placement of these words right on both sides of the “Boo” die cut.

Adhere sentiment oval in the center bottom of the wrought iron gate die cut.

Lastly, arrange and adhere six felt and rhinestone snowflake embellishments around the card, as shown in the photos throughout this post.

And there you have it, one uber-cute ghost-themed New Year’s card that you can send or give in-person to someone special.

Happy 2^nd birthday to Witchcrafted Life

Precisely two years ago to the day, I launched this blog.

In that time, more than a hundred and fifteen posts have been published, readership and monthly visitor counts have grown substantially, and I have been fortunate to find my blogging voice again (after retiring my previous blog in early 2017).

This time around, the focus is on Paganism and witchcraft, paper crafting, taphophile, books, crafting in general, and more. These subjects are very dear to my heart and I delight in sharing about them here with all of you.

Little did I know when I hit the “publish” button on Witchcrafted Life’s first post that the world would soon be engulfed in a global pandemic that would still be going strong two years later.

I was unaware as well of the myriad fresh challenges (including serious health issues for both myself and my husband) that would lay ahead.

And likewise, I did not yet know that we – like a lot of people – would find ways to cope, grow more resilient, and even find silver linings amongst the profound changes to the way many of our lives had previously been lived.

When we slipped on our first face masks in early 2020, who amongst us could have guessed that the pandemic would keep going for two years and counting?

That it is and, sadly, this brutal illness (and its ever-emerging variants) shows little sign of slowing down any time soon.

Even with Covid still raging though, there is more to life than the pandemic. Serious, of course, as it is though, no two ways about it.

All around the globe, there continue to be births and deaths, weddings, holidays, achievements, heartaches, and reasons to smile.

The moon and sun still greet us daily, the seasons engage in their eternal dance throughout the year. And though it has been greatly altered in some ways, life continues onward.

Our planet takes a beating, but we’re not down for the count yet.

There is still hope, still (if only just barely) time for us as a species to save Mother Earth.

Just as there is hope for this brand new year.

I am anything but naïve or pollyannish. I know that 2022 will not be without its substantial challenges and hardships. Some can be predicted; others will likely hit us like a comet that no one saw coming.

Yet through it all, we will persevere.

It is human nature to keep going, to adapt to just about anything life throws our way, and to hold fast to hope.

Here, on the blogging front, I look forward to continuing to (all things willing!) bring you an average of 4 – 6 new posts per month.

Those entries will cover plenty of fresh craft projects (including monthly #MakeHalloween365 project shares – for which this haunted graveyard card is my first #MakeHalloween365 creation of the year), reviews (be it book or otherwise), interviews with fascinating individuals, self-care related subjects, inspiring ideas, helpful tips, holiday and sabbat happenings, Cemetery Journey adventures, updates on what’s transpiring in my life, and plenty more.

I would also like to collaborate with more companies and indie sellers here as well. If you have a business that you feel would be a good fit for this website’s audience, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me anytime (my email is: autumnzenithwitch@gmail.com).

One very exciting thing that I will be sharing more about here soon is the fact that I was recently asked to write a magazine article for an incredibly beautiful publication. Following which I was invited to become an ongoing content contributor to that magazine. This is a profound honour and something I know will help to enrich 2022 for me.

Whether you have been here since Witchcrafted Life’s first day of life two years ago, are discovering this blog here for the first time now, or anything in between, I thank you from the bottom of my immeasurably grateful heart for the support and kindness you have blessed this blog with.

I view my readers as friends and I am thankful for each and every one of you who shares your time with me in any capacity – be it here, on social media, via email, or otherwise. You are an integral part of the backbone of this blog.

It is safe to say that 2022 is not apt to be a walk in the park for most of us. Hopefully though, when all is said and done, we make it through and be able to join together at this same time next year to look ahead to what another fresh round of twelve months holds in store.

Joyful New Year’s wishes, sweet dears! May this year be a time of wellness, serenity, happiness, safety, creativity, meaningfulness, and no shortage of hope for all of us.

Do you have any predictions or gut feelings about 2022? What kind of content would you be especially interested in seeing here on Witchcrafted Life this year?

The post Adorable Happy Boo Year (New Year’s) Card + Witchcrafted Life’s 2nd Blogging Birthday appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

Earlier in the year we took a gander at Valoween, Springoween, and Summerween.

Today, with a mere half a month of December left, it is high time we explore the subject of Spooky Christmas (aka Creepmas).

We will be doing so both through the following paragraphs on the subject and via a festively adorable ghost themed Christmas card that I recently made.

Read on to learn more about Creepmas, as well as how to replicate this charming haunted Christmas tree card yourself.

What is Creepmas?

Creepmas is taking the Christmas season and applying a dark, Halloween-inspired spin to your décor, attire, menus, gift wrapping, holiday cards – you name it!

Objectively, there need not even be a straight-up Halloween element to Creepmas. The key element is to inject spooky, scary, and/or macabre qualities into the Christmas season.

They can be gothic, Halloween related, horror/slasher genre inspired, shift the focus from Santa Claus to Krampus, or focus on any other more eerily influenced spin on Christmastime.

Creepmas is not the only name for spooky Christmas. Indeed, the term “Spooky Christmas” itself is one of Creepmas’ alternative names.

Others that I have seen over the years include Cryptmas, Dark Christmas, Spookmas, Ghoulmas, Hexmas, and Gothmas (though the latter would, objectively, apply more so to those who identify as goths or deeply appreciate and understand the gothic subculture and its aesthetic).

I am particularily fond of the name Cryptmas myself.

(It should be noted that with the meteoric rise in the popularity of cryptocurrency, I have started seeing some products on Etsy – such as this Merry Cryptmas Sweatshirt that put a cryptocurrency spin on Christmas images. So this term now means at least two different things.)

Of all the holidays and non-fall seasons that have had a spooky, Halloween-influenced twist put on them, perhaps none has yet to top Creepmas in terms of its growing popularity.

Nor, in turn, the number of spooky Christmas-themed products that are hitting the markets these days. Particularly amongst indie sellers and smaller-sized companies (though some of the bigger alternative brands are getting in on the festive fun, too).

This makes a lot of sense for multiple reasons.

First and foremost, save for American Thanksgiving in the US, many of us do not celebrate any major holidays between Halloween/Samhain and Christmas (or Yule).

For those who are card carrying members of team #MakeHalloween365, this means come Yule and/or Christmas, we are often missing our beloved Halloween/Samhain something fierce already.

So, we figure, why not carry the dark, spooky elements that we cherish about October 31^st over to our December holiday season!

(The haunted Christmas tree card featured in this post is my #MakeHalloween365 project for this month.)

Another reason is that, much like Halloween, Christmas is a very popular and commonly observed holiday – be it religiously or secularly.

Depending on the faith and/or culture we were raised in, we may have grown up celebrating December 25th. And as a result, we tend to have a bevy of memories, traditions, and festive happenings surrounding the Christmas season that we adore and would like to put a Halloweeny stamp on.

Or, in some cases, perhaps it is the very adding of darker and more macabre elements that make Christmastime considerably more appealing to us in the first place.

In addition, while the Winter Solstice does officially usher in the more light-filled half of the year, in most corners of the Northern Hemisphere, we are not going to start getting a sense of those longer hours of daylight for at least several more weeks.

Christmas, early and mid-winter (and even late winter in some respects) can be extremely dark, cold times that have a certain ingrained air of mystery and even spookiness to them.

A point which many people in generations past – and some folks to this day – embraced with the classic tradition of telling Christmas ghost stories.

I suspect the fact that many Halloween lovers adore decorating and collecting (and/or making) items pertaining to All Hallows’ Eve spills over into the other holidays that we observe.

For as far back as I can recall, I have loved decorating for and celebrating holidays, birthdays, and all manner of special events.

Once I got old enough to start putting a spooky spin on things beyond the Halloween season itself – and even more so after I learned that others were doing the same thing – there was no looking back for me.

I enjoy and appreciate a wide range of holiday decor aesthetics, including many that differ significantly from my own.

At the end of the day though, my most beloved Christmas season aesthetic is one the combines a dark Victorian look with elements of both Halloween and my passion for taphophilia (so hence, no doubt, why I’m particularly fond of the term “Cryptmas” ).

If you feel the Creepmas spirit beckoning you, I wholeheartedly encourage you to find the dark/Halloweeny December holiday season aesthetic that appeals most to you at the moment.

You are, of course, not locked into that style for life and can switch things up anytime, if you so desire.

How to achieve a spooky Christmas look

If you’re keen to get in the Creepmas spirit, there are seemingly endless ways to do so.

Select a decidedly spooky/dark/gothic colour palette (or go eclectic and use a range of colours) such as any of the following colour combinations:

-Black, white, and grey

-Black, grey (and/or white), and purple

-Black, white (and/or grey) and red or burgundy

-Dark brown, pine green, and aged gold or brass

-Lime green, white and/or grey, and black

-Cream or ivory, white, and silver (this combo tends to have an especially delightful ghostly air to it)

-Black, pine green, and burgundy

-Charcoal grey, navy blue, and silver

-White, orange, and yellow (aka, candy corn colours)

-White, black, and orange

-Black or dark grey partnered with assorted aged metals

-Cream, dark red or burgundy, and black or dark brown

-Black or dark grey, dusty rose, and burgundy

-A timeless Christmas palette of red, white and green interspersed with some hits of black

Next, decide if you want to go all out or keep your Creepmas décor to a select area or two of your house.

Naturally, if you do not have many (or any) decorations that fit the Creepmas/Gothmas aesthetic right now, you do need to break the bank and rush out to purchase a bunch.

You can start small. Look through your current winter holiday décor as well as your Halloween decorations, plus your house in general. Are there pieces that can lend a spooky/mysterious quality to your Christmas décor?

Are there any Christmas items that you could paint (acrylic, spray paint, etc), re-cover, decoupage, or otherwise give a gothy makeover to?

Doing things as simple as using a black table runner and chargers or placements and black candles on your festive table or baking some skeleton gingerbread cookies can be terrific ways to begin injecting more of the Creepmas looking into your seasonal happenings.

If you are in the market for a new artificial Christmas tree, consider picking up one in black, white, silver, orange, or red. The darkest of dark green shades can work splendidly as well.

You can then DIY Your Creepmas Tree as the wonderfully talented Amber from The Dahlia Crypt has done.

And transform some run-of-the-mill dollar store Christmas decorations into gloriously spooky Creepmas versions care of this terrific video from The Gothic Homemaker (aka, Aurelio Voltaire – whose music, YouTube channel, and myriad other contributions to the goth community I have been an ardent fan of for many years).

You could also make some cheesecloth ghosts to tuck between garland, tinsel, or other festive décor around your house.

Hang black or grey stockings, read A Christmas Carol in front of the fire, cut snowflakes out of black cardstock or tissue paper and hang them around your home, or decorate, paint, or carve faux pumpkins with Christmas images such as bells, a Christmas tree, snowmen, candy canes, or Santa Claus.

Why not pick up a Creepmas sweater/sweatshirt/t-shirt or two (Etsy has an ever-growing selection of such garments and the offerings over on Dolls Kill are awesome, too), watch scary Christmas movies, deep dive into Spooky Little Halloween’s fantastic array of Spooky Christmas posts, top your tree with a black bat decoration, visit r/Creepmas over on Reddit, or put black Santa hats on some of your favourite Halloween décor?

Have fun with Creepmas/Cryptmas/Gothmas. Let your imagination run wild, build up your spooky festive décor collection a little more each year, make or purchase some Creepmas holiday greeting cards, and revel in the enjoyment that comes from merging elements of Halloween with December 25^th.

And if you are looking for even more Creepmas ideas and inspiration, pop on over to my Creepmas / Cryptmas Pinterest board.

Seasonal sentiments to use on spooky Christmas cards, other crafts, home décor projects, etc

The following is a selection of Creepmas, Cryptmas, Gothmas, and Spooky Christmas sentiments that I have compiled. They work splendidly for all manner of festive cards crafts, home decr projects and so forth.

-‘Tis the season to be spooky

-Scary Christmas / Creepmas / Gothmas / etc

-It’s beginning to look a lot like Cryptmas / Creepmas / Gothmas / etc

-All is merry and fright

-Merry or Happy Creepmas / Happy Cryptmas / Happy Gothmas / Happy Spooky Christmas

-Season’s creepings

-Happy skulladays

-We witch you a merry Christmas / Happy Holidays / Creepmas / Gothmas / etc and a Happy New Year

-I’m dying to spend the holidays with you (you could partner this sentiment with an image of a ghost, the Addams Family, the grim reaper, tombstones, or your favourite horror movie character, for example)

-All I want for Christmas (or Creepmas, etc) is you

-Have a creepy Gothmas / Cryptmas / etc

-Have a spooky Gothmas / Cryptmas / etc

-It’s batty how much I love Christmas / Cryptmas / Creepmas / Gothmas / etc

-Hail Santa

-Boo and happy holidays!

-I’m screaming of a white Christmas

-Here comes Santa Claws (you could partner it with an image of a cat or Krampus, for example)

-Slay bells ring

-Happy ten months and five (or six, depending on if you count down from December 25^th or 26^th) days until Halloween

-He knows when you are sleeping (from the Christmas song Santa Claus is Coming to Town – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus_Is_Comin%27_to_Town)

-Have yourself a spooky little Christmas / Cryptmas / Creepmas / etc

-On the thirteenth day of Creepmas / Cryptmas / Gothmas / etc

-Happy holidays from our crypt to yours!

-Time spread the holiday spirit (combined with an image of one or more ghosts)

Naturally, there are others that could easily fit the bill as well. Turning to lyrics from classic Christmas songs and poetry, as some of the examples above have done, can be a great place to find lines that could easily be made festively spooky by changing some of their words.

Note: Should you wish to use a Creepmas (etc) sentiments that pertain directly to death, please be mindful of any losses the receiptent may have experienced this year. As well as how people are presently doing in the face of the ongoing global pandemic that we are all collectively battling.

If you think that someone might be offended, saddened, or otherwise hurt by death-related wording, be considerate of this point and refrain from using such language.

Gothic haunted Christmas Tree Card

While there are Tim Burton-esque elements to this card – chiefly the black and white striped paper (very Jack Skellington!) and overall spooky theme – I wasn’t per se channelling this source of inspiration.

Not, mind you, that I take any issue with it being there. Far from it! Like many a Halloween fan, I have a great fondness for Mr. Burton and his work – very much including the Nightmare Before Christmas.

This was one of those card designs that just popped into my head as I sat down to craft recently and I knew that I had to bring it to reality immediately.

I had picked up a roll of white “fall snow” design tulle at Dollar Tree back around the start of October and was itching to craft with it.

(You can purchase a very similar looking white snowflake tulle on Amazon. The quanitiy provided there is a fair bit bigger than my roll from the dollar store.)

That tulle appears twice on this card, along with some festive shimmer via the red glitter cardstock, silver metallic cardstock, glossy black cardstock, and the silver tinsel trim on the Christmas tree.

Not to mention the hits of sparkle coming from the fun shaker mix that I composed out of red and black sequins, clear sequins/gems, white and black ghost-shaped sequins, and red and white polymer clay peppermint candy shapes.

The only patterned paper here is a black and white striped piece behind the shaker window, as I wanted to keep the emphasis more on the colour palette and haunted Christmas theme than on multiple different patterns of paper.

If you do not have, or as an alternative to, black and white striped paper, a black or grey snowflake print paper would likely look marvellous here as well.

I have been champing at the bit to share a Creepmas card with all of you and am delighted that I got a chance to do just that here this month.

Should you wish to replicate my sweetly spooky Christmas card, be sure to check out the list of materials used and the detailed step-by-step instructions that follow below.

Products used to make this elegant red and black gothic Christmas card

-Black cardstock

-Glossy black cardstock – Glossy Black Mirror Card from Tonic Studios

-Silver foil or metallic cardstock – Silver Foil Cardstock from Recollections

-Red glitter cardstock – Premium Glittersilk Cardstock from Darice

-Black and white striped paper – Halloween Party Bone Chilling paper from Echo Park

-Clear acetate

-Christmas tree die set with tree, tree stand, bow, and star dies (or assorted dies to create a similar-looking Christmas tree)

-Holly leaf/winter greenery oval frame die (I have had this one in my stash for a few years. You can currently get a similar looking holly oval frame die from Simon Says Stamp)

-Elegant decorative edge scissors – Victorian Paper Edgers from Fiskars

-Black pigment ink pad (or really, just about any black ink pad that works well for inking paper edges)

-Small clear sequins or gems – 3mm Sparkling Clear Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh

-Red sequins

-Black shimmery sequins

-White and black ghost-shaped sequins (check sites such as eBay, Etsy, and AliExpress for ghost sequins)

-Red and white polymer clay peppermint candy shaped pieces (available from various sellers on the aforementioned websites, including Etsy seller Diystencilca)

-White “falling snow” tulle (Crafter’s Square brand from Dollar Tree)

-Red and white micro pompom trim – Handmade Floral Embellishments #500153 Ribbons from Prima Marketing

-Silver tinsel trim – Designer Tinsel Trim from Webster’s Pages

-Black seam binding

-Black pleated ribbon trim

-Glue gun and glue sticks (optional, but especially handy for gluing the seam binding bow in place)

-Dimensional foam, pop dots, or similar to elevate some of your layers

-Adhesive, such as a tape runner, of your choice (I often use my Scotch Tape Glider)

How to make a gothic haunted Christmas tree card

Begin by making a card base from plain black (or charcoal grey) cardstock.

Cut a piece of white falling snowflake print tulle slightly smaller than your card base. Adhere.

Use decorative edge scissors to cut out a piece of red glitter card that is slightly smaller than the piece of white tulle. Adhere.

Cut a piece of black and white striped paper a little smaller than the piece of red glitter cardstock. Ink all four edges lightly with black ink.

Next, die cut a festive holly greenery oval frame in the center of the striped paper.

Die cut the same frame itself from red cardstock. Gingerly align the red frame so that it sits flush in the frame aperture that you die cut from striped paper.

Die cut two equal-sized ovals of clear acetate (or another suitable lightweight, flexible clear plastic material).

Create a festively spooky shaker mix using a blend of red, black, and clear (or white) sequins and/or small gems, white and/or black ghost-shaped sequins (bats would also be fantastic here!), as well as some polymer clay red and white peppermint candies and/or candy canes.

Sandwich the sequins mix between the two pieces of clear acetate and adhere their edges together.

Place this oval sandwich of shaker card goodness into the oval aperture of the holly greenery frame. You may want to use foam dots, pop dots, or a similar raised adhesive to give your shaker card an even greater sense of depth (that’s what I did here).

Back the aperture (open area of the frame design) with a piece of the same white falling snowflake tulle. Adhere.

Then adhere the frame layers, with the shaker portion, to the base layers of the card, making sure that the last layer behind the clear oval is the white snowflake tulle.

Next, die cut a Christmas tree shape from glossy black cardstock (you could also use black glitter cardstock or plain black cardstock instead). Die cut a small star and the Christmas tree stand both from silver metallic cardstock (or grey cardstock).

Assemble the tree, top it with the star and put the tree trunk in the tree stand.

Die cut three small red glitter cardstock bows (or use small bow-shaped cabochons or tiny bows made from real ribbon) and pick out five white ghost sequin pieces. Adhere the red bows and white sequin ghosts to the Christmas tree as shown.

Wrap a small length of silver tinsel trim around the tree, adhere it on the backside of the tree.

Adhere the fully decorated tree to in the center of the clear shaker window oval.

Make a multi-layer bow out of either plain or pre-scrunched (used here) black seam binding. Adhere above the shaker window.

Lastly, cut a piece of red and white micro pompom trim and a piece of pleated black ribbon and adhere them below the shaker window, as shown.

And there you have it, boos and ghouls, one delightfully cute + spooky haunted Christmas tree card that you can either keep and use as Creepmas décor yourself or give to a fellow Cryptmas/Gothmas adoring friend or relative.

All is merry and fright (for some of us at least )

Often, we have our sights firmly planted on the fresh new year that lies tantalizingly close to us throughout December and, as a result, all but forget that the present year will soon pass away.

Into the ethers of time and history it will slip, never to be repeated, unlikely to soon be forgotten.

Acknowledging and even celebrating the life and death of a given year is another component that one can readily tie into a Creepmas celebration.

The handoff between one year and the next is a powerfully liminal time.

As December winds down, I embrace Yule, and celebrate Christmas with loved ones. I lean into that liminal aspect of early winter both in my witchcraft and in terms of how I process, make peace with, and choose to honour the outgoing year.

As the only year-round spooky soul in my family, I am especially grateful for the community of Halloween lovers around the world who join me in embracing a dark, gothy Christmas time aesthetic.

Even if you do not feel pulled towards this style yourself, I hope that you enjoyed learning more about it here.

After all, it can be a lot of fun to see and be inspired by a wide range of different Christmas décor styles.

Year after year, I most certainly am and I delight in finding ways to interpret them in a fa-boo-lously festive Cryptmas manner.

Do you enjoy the Creepmas/Gothmas look? What is your current favourite type of holiday season aesthetic?

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