Of all the colours, purple – despite the fact that I find many shades of it to be arrestingly gorgeous – and I have never completely clicked.

Growing up in the 1980s and 90s, a time when the toy market was thriving like there was no tomorrow, (provided more than one colour option was made available) a great deal of the products released for young girls were either purple or pink.

Sure, plenty of them – from Keypers to Popples – included versions in both of those colours, and others could be found in hues such as sky blue, butter yellow, vivid fuchsia, and tropical vacation-worthy coral. Yet, to my mind – and certainly here in North America – it was pink and purple that garnered the lion’s share of the toy market for girls.  

Be it then, prior to that point, or in the decades since, these colours have remained popular with youngsters and chances are, they won’t be fading away from toy store shelves anytime soon.

Reflecting on my childhood, for as far back as I can recall, I was gaga for the colour pink.

One of my first bedrooms had pink walls (topped with a cute pink and green wallpaper border that depicted teddy bears doing ballet – ahhh, the 80s ), a lot of the clothing I wore in my youth was pink, and I found that I gravitated to pink considerably more than purple.

There is nothing wrong with that, of course, but I believe the first strains in the relationship between myself and purple likely took hold when I became a card-carrying member of team pink.

Interestingly, purple is my mom’s absolute favourite colour (though she has never been the type to make their fave colour a centrepiece of their wardrobe or home décor).

I have always been a very independent soul and even in the days of pre-school, I can remember wanting to have different preferences in many instances to those of my parents.

Thus, it is entirely possible that I gravitated towards pink (whether consciously or subconsciously) so as to differentiate my favourite colour at the time from that of my mother.

Purple is a rare, regal colour that for much of human history was one of the most difficult to come by and therefore often amongst the most expensive as well.

Before artificial purple dyes were created scores of centuries later, the primary source of purple dye throughout much of the ancient world came from the mucus produced by a type of sea snail called murex snails which reside in the Mediterranean Sea.

Sources, including Pliny the Elder, tell us that thousands of these snails (which underwent a rather pungent-smelling ten-day brining process in a lead pot over low heat) were required just to make a single ounce of purple dye. Thus, the cost of obtaining items that were dyed purple was something only the wealthiest members of society could even begin to contemplate doing.

As a result, purple has long been associated with the elite, people of power, and, perhaps above all others, royalty.

Shifting from the days of My Little Ponies and Cabbage Patch Dolls to my tween and teen years, societally, purple continued to be a popular colour in many spheres as we inched ever closer to Y2K.

I can well recall several friends – and plenty more of my peers in general – being obsessed with the colour purple during that time.

It came into play with our Kabbodles, Lisa Frank school supplies and stickers, chunky glittery makeup (ahhh, the 90s – surely you saw that coming ), hair accessories (scrunchies, mini butterfly clips, and alligator clips, oh my!), clothing, Trapper Keepers, platform sandals, and so much more.

And throughout all that time, while I certainly never shunned purple, I remained loyal to pink.

As years of middle school morphed into those of high school, I didn’t feel the need to have/wear/decorate my room with “all the pink” anymore – but it still remained my favourite colour.

In some respects, it still is – particularly dusty rose, which is the shade of pink I most adore.

However, over the years, other colours such as black (which, I know, is technically not a colour but the absence of such), grey, red, burgundy, and aged metallics have long given pink a run for its money.

At no point, did any purple hue make my top five – despite the fact the fact that it is a decently common/popular colour in both the vintage and goth fashion worlds (these being the two subcultures that I have been most immersed in from my teens onward).

I tend to strongly favour having a cohesive colour scheme in my home (and wardrobe, too, for that matter). To date, neither of them has yet to feature purple in any major way.

And yet, all that said, I do not dislike purple in the slightest.

In fact, I would go so far as to say I love many shades of it. And purple will forever hold a special place in my heart given that it has been mama’s favourite colour throughout her whole life.

Much as with my clothing and home décor, my craft supply stash tends to lean towards certain colour palettes as well. There, too, purple does not tend to take top billing very often.

I can go multiple months running without a single spec of purple entering any of my craft projects.

This makes it seem like I am at odds with purple. Rest assured that I most definitely am not. Purple just tends to wait patiently on the sidelines until an outfit or craft project calls it up to bat, if you will.

Be it the palest shade of lilac or the richest eggplant (which, along with plum, shares the title as my favourite purple hue), purple is a versatile, dynamic colour that can convey so much.

It can be peaceful and evocative of youth, dark and vampy, upbeat and summery – and much more!

I was reflecting recently on how, for all my undying love of Halloween, I rarely weave purple into my All Hallows’ Eve or Samhain-related craft projects.

Lately, we have been bopping along through Springoween. Now that June has officially begun again, we are teetering on the cusp of Summerween. This point on the calendar seemed like a terrific time to reach for one of both of these season’s most iconic and adored colours.

Instead of pairing it with orange or green, as this colour often is in a Halloween context, I opted instead to lean heavily into the dark, bewitchingly elegant side of purple by teeming it with black, white, and gold.

The end result is a delightfully spooky Halloween card that I can now give to my mom or to one of the numerous other purple adoring souls in my life.

And, as you have likely suspected already, this purple Halloween card also happens to be my June 2022 #MakeHalloween365 project share.

As always, sweet friends, please do not hesitate to use this fun and festive community-focused hashtag anytime you share a creative Halloween project anywhere online.

Gold ghost shabby chic purple Halloween card

In for a penny, in for a pound as they say, so having decided on making a purple Halloween card, I began with a purple cardstock card base and wove this colour into various other components of my design as well.

Much as I had a hankering to work with purple again, so too was I really in the mood for some classic shabby chic paper tearing/distressing that day and therefore it also appears throughout this festive handmade Halloween card.

I am wild about the vintage-style illustration of a ghost rendered in gold metallic ink on the Prima Thirty One Collection paper that provides the star image for my latest handmade October 31^st greeting card.

It is gothy, (quite literally) spirited, and ever-so-pretty, to boot!

To carry the gold theme further, I included both metallic gold cardstock, glittery gold adhesive gems, and some fabulous gold coloured Webster’s Pages (oh, I miss that company!) tulle here as well.

I adore how the tulle resembles a gold-hued take both on spiderwebs and tattered fabric – say that of the disintegrating curtains in a long-abandoned haunted house.

However, as I was aiming to ensure purple remained in the lime (or, should I say, lavender) light, I made sure to pepper this Halloween card with purple.

It appears as the card base, one of the matting layers beneath the ghost images, in a fabulous piece of light purple and black Echo Park bat print paper, in the fun little Prima ephemera pieces, as the only ink colour used in this card, and even shows up in the “Happy Halloween” sticker that I used for my sentiment.

If purple is your jam (err, grape jelly ), that of someone dear to your, or you are looking for a wonderfully gender-neutral colour palette when making your own Halloween cards, read on for a detailed list of the products used in this project plus step-by-step instructions on how to make one of your very own.

Products used to make this hauntingly charming vintage ghost Halloween card

-Black cardstock

-Purple cardstock

-Metallic gold cardstock

-Vintage ghost illustration paper – Thirty-One Collection All the Treats Paper from Prima (I used another portion of this same sheet of paper as part of my recent Happy Springoween Pocket Letter.)

-Black and purple bat print paper – Bewitched Witch Hat Paper from Echo Park

-Wavy stitched edge rectangle nesting dies (Plain, straight stitched, cross stitched, or just about any other type of rectangle nesting die set could be used here as well.)

-One or two different flourish dies (I used two different dies on this project.)

-Light opaque/chalky purple ink – Distress Oxide Milled Lavender Ink from Tim Holtz

-“Happy Halloween” sentiment sticker (This one is from a package of Crafter’s Square [Dollar Tree brand] of Halloween stickers that did not have a specific product name. I bought these stickers within the past couple of years, so they may be available again at Dollar Tree come the Halloween 2022 season.)

-All ephemera pieces used on this project – Rose Quartz Ephemera from Prima

-Black seam binding

-Metallic gold netting/tulle – Vintage Inspired Netting Collection 2 from Webster’s Pages

-Glittery gold gems – Say it Crystals Midnight Garden Self-Adhesive Embellishments from Prima

-Black gems – Balloon Blast Off Self-Adhesive Classic Gems from Forever in Time

-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 gold ghost shabby chic purple Halloween card

Begin by making a card base from purple cardstock.

Cut a piece of black cardstock a little smaller than your card base. Tear the right-hand edge in a random, intentionally imperfect manner. Cut a slender piece of Webster’s Page gold tulle/netting the length of the torn black cardstock. Position it so that this layer is flush with the left side border (aka, the fold of your card). Adhere to the underside of the black cardstock.

NOTE: All paper, cardstock, and netting/tool layers that follow are also to be arranged so that they favour the left side of this card’s design.

Then, cut a slender piece of the Echo Park bat print paper a bit smaller than the black cardstock and likewise tear its right-hand side.

Cut a piece of black seam binding several inches longer than the width of the two pieces you just adhered together. Run it across the upper third of that area and adhere in place. Tie the two ends together into a bow on the left-hand side of the card.

Attach the bat print paper to the underside right-hand edge of the black beneath the bat print paper, then adhere this group of components to the card base.

Cut a piece of the Echo Park bat print paper a bit smaller than the previous layer. Tear its right-hand edge as well. Adhere.

Next, cut a piece of black cardstock a little smaller than the previous layer and, here too, tear the right-hand edge. Adhere to the previous layer using a dimensional adhesive such as Pop Dots or another type of foam squares/tape.

On the right-hand side of that (black cardstock layer) position and adhere a small piece of gold netting/tulle as well as the Prima light purple ruler and ticket stub pieces, as shown.

(Fun side note: While it is in reference to a US location, that lovely little ticket stub has the placename “Vernon” on it, which just happens to be the name of a neighbouring town located less than twenty minutes south of us.)

Using black cardstock and metallic gold cardstock die cut two pairs of matching flourish shapes. Arrange and adhere each matching-shaped flourish together with the black ones as the top layer. Off-center them a little so that a glimmer of the gold layer is still visible.

Tuck these flourish stacks under the lower left-hand side and upper right-hand side of the latest (torn edge) black cardstock layer that you created.

Using a larger-sized wavy stitched edge rectangle nested die, cut a rectangle from the same purple cardstock that you used for your card base. Adhere using dimensional adhesive.

Cut the central ghost panel image from the Prima Thirty One Collection All the Treats paper and ink all of its edges with Milled Lavender ink.

Then cut a gold metal cardstock matting layer a smidge bigger than the dimensions of that piece. Adhere the two together.

Die cut a smaller wavy stitched edge rectangle piece (that is large enough to work as a matting layer for the gold cardstock layer you just made) from black cardstock. Adhere previous gold cardstock + ghost image layers to this piece of cardstock and then adhere it to your previous layers.

Next, cut nested layers (by hand, with dies, etc) of gold and black cardstock, respectively, to mat beneath the sentiment sticker. Adhere those layers together then top with the sentiment sticker (optionally inking the edges of the sentiment sticker with Milled Lavender Ink, as I have done here). Adhere these elements on the lower righthand side of the card.

From the Prima ephemera, arrange and adhere a small alphabet piece so that it is sandwiched between the bottom of the central ghost image panel layers and the sentiment sticker layers, as shown.

Then, tuck a light purple domino and a light purple raffle style ticket under the left-hand side of the sentiment, angling them to the left a bit.

Place one of the largest sized gold glittery Prima gems on the middle of the black seam binding bow (you may wish to add some extra holding power to the adhesive that is there already by reinforcing it with hot glue, strong glue dots, or a heavy-duty crafting glue such as E6000 to ensure this gold gem stays put) and then position one somewhat smaller sized gold sparkly gem on the lower left and upper right-hand sides of the wavy stitched edge purple cardstock layer.

Surround each of these gold gems with two small black gems on either side, as shown.

And there you have it, one eye-catching purple, black, white, and gold Halloween card that can be made in scarcely more time than it takes a ghost to say “boo”.

Compared to many of my projects there are not, relatively speaking, all that many steps nor a huge volume of different materials required to make this eerily fun Halloween card.

If one used a template, paper trimmer, or scissors to cut out the rectangles and, optionally, nixed the flourishes, this delightful ghost-themed Halloween greeting could be made without the need for a die cutting machine.

This design is one that marries sweetness with spookiness (a perpetual fave combo of mine) and which is both timeless and ideal for October 31^st fans of all ages and genders.

From spirituality to coal tar, a (super) brief look at the meanings and history of purple

As much as we tend to associate purple with spring and summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it can certainly work well as a year-round colour.

Purple is a colour with strong ties to many things, including both spirituality/mysticism and creativity/artistry – not to mention a long-standing history of use within the LGBTQ+ community.

Given that it is the lovechild of red and blue, purple embodies elements of both fiery warmth and serene coolness.

For all the pale, pastel shades of purple out there, one finds even more that are bolder and more commanding.

Perhaps that is why – especially when combined with its relative rarity in the natural world – purple leaps out at us in many settings.

It might not be as glaring as bright yellow or orange or as tranquil as a soft blue, but it is apt to grab our eye all the same.

Both in terms of colour psychology and the meanings often linked to purple in the witchy/Pagan realm, this purple can represent such areas as intuition, peace, independence, beauty, sensitivity, understanding, empathy (and empaths), the unknown, power/status, pride, dignity, protection, wisdom, creativity, devotion, enlightenment, health and healing, openness, psychic abilities, the crown chakra, magic(k), and death – amongst numerous other things.

In fact, so closely tied to death and mourning was the colour purple to the Victorians, that it was one of just a few colours that were permitted back into a person’s wardrobe when they were in a period of half-mourning (following various lengths – often depending on the mourner’s relationship to the deceased – of full morning, which was also known as deepest mourning, during which only black was supposed to be worn).

Doing so was made all the more possible by the fact that in the very same era (in 1856, to be exact), one of the first synthetic purple dyes was invented.

Originally dubbed “aniline purple” by its then eighteen-year-old inventor, William Henry Perkin, this dye – which would later be known by the name mauveine – was created out of coal tar.

In the years and decades to follow, many other synthetic purple dyes – some certainly safer than others – came onto the market as well.

As a result, purple began to be a colour that was within the reach of more people and, accordingly, was frequently seen not only in times of half-mourning but in the day-to-day wardrobes of many Victorian individuals (it was wildly enjoyed by both women and men).

Purple also made a splash in terms of home décor, the art world (purple pigments and paints had been available prior to that point, but were often very costly and did not always promise long-term colourfastness), and as a result, was a much-favoured choice in terms of flowers + floral arranging, too.

As time went on, more and more forms of artificial purple dye were invented and used to colour a huge range of goods (including certain food, too, such as candy and grape soda).

And while, these days, purple has still managed to retain ties to the rich and famous, royalty, and religion, it is very much a colour that the majority of people around the world can access, if so desired.

In addition to the purple correspondences touched on above, spiritually speaking, purple is also associated with such things as the element Air, the number seven, the planet Jupiter, the cardinal direction of east, the fae, wands, cauldrons, spiritually significant jewelry and clothing (very much including robes/cloaks), the spirit world, and Pagan pride.

To circle back to where this post began, it is true that purple and I have not always been the closest of friends, but we share a bond that spans my entire lifetime and I have never viewed purple in a negative light or disliked it for a moment.

This is not the first paper crafting project I have made over the years that starred purple (in terms of those since the creation of my current blog, this Shabby Chic Springtime Bloom Card really stands out for me) and it is a safe bet to say that it won’t be the last either.

Especially since, again, this royal shade is my mom’s favourite colour.

Not wearing, decorating, or crafting with purple all that often as makes the times when I do opt to do just that all the more special and standout-ish to me.

Two adjectives that apply abundantly as well to my – and countless other peoples’ – cherished Halloween.

And therefore, that is all the more reason for me to reach for shades of purple spanning lilac to mulberry, orchid to mauve – and, of course, that most witchy approved of purples, amethyst – when creating some of my numerous annual Halloween papercrafting projects.

Are you a big fan of purple? Do you enjoy including this versatile and very pretty colour in some of your creative projects as well?

PS: I am well aware that if you try to say the name of this blog post five times fast, it instantly becomes a tongue twister.

The post Gold Ghost Shabby Chic Purple Halloween Card appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

You will have to experiment and try things out for yourself and you will not be sure of what you are doing. That’s alright, you are feeling your way into the thing. ~ Emily Carr

The card in today’s post is definitely one that I feel falls under the header of what (fellow) British Columbian and world-renowned early 20th-century artist Emily Carr was speaking about in the quote above.

I’m not going to lie, this isn’t my absolute favourite card I’ve ever made. However, I do not dislike it and the more time that passes since I created it, the more this spring themed project is growing on me.

Thus far, I don’t have a lot experience when it comes to using pencil crayons with stamped images – let alone ones on black cardstock.

In setting out to do so here, I knew that I wanted to go for a soft, chalkboard-like look to the way the pencil crayon colour lay on the black cardstock. Happily, I feel like that was achieved.

The inspiration for this card lay in springtime itself (with the colour palette here tapping squarely into Springoween) and in various Victorian design elements.

Make no bones about it, I am not saying this card is not authentically Victorian looking. It most certainly is not. But it was inspired by various styles, colours, and textures of that era.

Actually, when all was said and done and I stepped back to look at this card (something I do with all of my paper crafting projects, as I find it helps me gauge if I need to change and/or add anything before calling a given project complete), I was struck by how it looked both a bit 19^th century and somewhat 1980s at the same time.

Hey, why not? I adore both of those time periods and am all for a fun, creative merging of the two.

This card was an experimental one for me and that’s totally okay. Not everything we create is destined to be our personal favourite, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn and grow (our skills) from it. Nor, just as importantly, that our recipient won’t appreciate the end result just as much as if it was our all-time favourite make.

Victorian Inspired Pencil Crayon on Black Cardstock Spring Greetings Card

On top of the inspiration mentioned above, the stunning Arabesque Medallion Stamp from Altenew (a wonderfully kind gift from a fellow paper crafting friend in the States) was a jumping-off point for this card.

The flowers in its design s struck me as being perfect for spring and were all but begging to be coloured with pencil crayon. Who am I to argue?

The sentiment stamp that I used here is not part of the Altenew Arabesque set. It is from a run-of-the-mill quality AliExpress spring-themed stamp set.

Unfortunately, as with many fine/small sentiment stamps (especially inexpensive ones), the size and intricacy of the stamps that I used for the embossed sentiment have a somewhat blurry end result. This is particularly noticeable in the portion of the sentiment that says “greetings”.

I’m not wild about that fact, but it looks a touch less pronounced in person, so I can live with it. I just wanted to mention that point here so that you don’t think my photos themselves are out of focus.

And, in the same vein, I am aware that despite prepping my black cardstock, a little bit of stray silver embossing powder stuck to the cardstock surrounding the Arabesque Medallion Stamp design.

Not much though, luckily, which is great. And honestly, in an appreciated bit of happenstance, it actually seems to help telegraph the look of chalk on a chalkboard all the more.

Also in person, the tulle trim and the colour of the (pencil crayon coloured) leaves in the stamped image are closer in tone than they rendered in these photos.

As I wanted to ensure that the stamped image remained the star of the show on this card, I didn’t embellish it nearly as much as I do many of my other cards.

Instead, I opted for numerous layers of cardstock, three different trims, and a pretty pink pearl flourish.

Even with the colouring, this card was quite quick to make (about three hours from start to finish) and I did sincerely enjoy colouring on black cardstock.

While not the first time I’ve done so, it’s been a number of years since I last partnered the two and this project helped to remind me of just how enjoyable an act that can be.

(Note: I did not use a colourless blender pencil, gamsol, or any other blending products with my pencil crayon colouring here. I simply laid down and lightly overlapped, in some areas, the colours and left them at that to heighten the chalk colouring look I was aiming for.)

Products used to make this elegant stamped and embossed spring card

-Black cardstock

-Pinky-light purple cardstock

-Light blue cardstock

-White cardstock

-Silver metallic cardstock

-Nested scalloped edge rectangle shaped die set

-Corner rounder punch – 10mm Corner Rounder Punch from X Cut

-Assorted colours of pencil crayons (I used Prismacolor Premier Pencil Crayons on this project)

-Large floral medallion design stamp – Arabesque Medallion Stamp from Altenew

-Springtime sentiment stamp

-Watermark (or other embossing suitable) clear ink – Watermark Stamp Ink Pad from Versa Mark

-Silver embossing powder – Silver Embossing Powder from Ranger

-Heat embossing tool

-Pink pearl flourish – Self Adhesive Pearl Flourish from Zva Creative

-Dusty teal-grey coloured tulle trim – Trendsetter Designer Trim from Webster’s Pages

-Grey crochet trim – Artsy-licious Kohl Splendid Ribbon from Chatter Box

-Narrow black velvet ribbon – Artsy-licious Kohl Splendid Ribbon from Chatter Box

-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 springtime card using coloured pencils on black cardstock

Begin by making a card base from black cardstock. Cut successively slightly smaller pieces of pinky-purple, black, white, and black (again) cardstock, respectively. Adhere together and then adhere to the card base.

Cut pieces of white, pinky-purple, and light blue cardstock a little smaller than the width of your card base. Round the corners of each of these pieces, then adhere them one on top of each other. Adhere this layer to the back of your card base (aka, the back of the card).

If you wish, you can then cut a larger piece of cardstock or patterned paper of your choosing to cover the back of the card and (somewhat) camouflage where the cardstock is attached.

Alternatively, you could place the rounded corner layers beneath the first cardstock layer on top of your card.

Next, cut a piece of black cardstock slightly larger than the Altenew Arabesque Medallion Stamp.

Prep the black cardstock for embossing by using an embossing bag or similar antistatic tool.

Stamp the Arabesque Medallion Stamp in watermark ink. Top with silver embossing powder and heat emboss.

Using a selection of at least two different shades (one lighter, one darker) per colour, select pencil crayons in springtime-y shades of blue, pinky-purple, yellow, and green.

Colour in portions of the stamped and embossed Arabesque Medallion Stamp design as shown in the photos throughout this post, or however you desire.

Once you have completed your colouring, die cut a frame from silver metallic cardstock that leaves most, or all, of your stamped and coloured image visible. Adhere the frame to that piece of black cardstock and then attach the two combined layers to your existing cardstock base layers with foam squares, foam tape, or dimensional pop dots.

Adhere a pink pearl flourish to the lower left-hand side of the card design.

At the top of the card base, adhere a piece of silver metallic cardstock die cut with the same frame die that you used to surround your coloured image (you only need to die cut one of the four sides of the die here) and a strip grey crochet trim.

Towards the bottom of the card base, adhere a piece of grey-blue tulle trim topped with a strip of narrow black velvet ribbon and a piece of the same grey crochet trim.

Using two of the smaller sizes from the nested die set, die cut a piece of black cardstock and a piece of silver cardstock. Adhere together. Position both so that they create a diamond shape, as shown.

Prep the black cardstock for embossing, stamp your sentiment using watermark ink, and emboss with silver embossing powder.

Attach your sentiment “diamond” to the lower lefthand corner of your card using dimensional foam or a similar dimensional adhesive.

If you wish, arrange some of the pink pearl flourish so that it overlaps with the sentiment piece.

And there you have it, one eye-catchingly unique springtime card design created using a stamped and coloured image on black cardstock.

Making springtime cards while the sun shines

Much as the classic expression “make hay while the sun shines” reminds us to seize and utilize the moment, so too does each season encourage us to celebrate it with creative projects of all types.

I’ve felt even more pulled towards creating springtime cards this year than I have in ages. However, as the current season is starting to wind down, I’ll soon be shifting my paper crafting focus to summer and fall makes.

And, honestly, it wouldn’t hurt to get a jump on my winter holiday season projects, too – though I might be getting ahead of myself a tad there!

And, while I’m at it, this summer I’m planning to embrace Emily Carr’s words all the more and dip my toes into the pool of experimentation on a regular basis.

Why not hop in with me? The water is warm and, at the end of the day, even if an experiment is a total write-off, chances are you learned something and may have developed some of your paper crafting skills further in the process.

That is a win in my books, regardless of how your project turns out. (Plus – and trust me on this – we are often far harsher critics of our own skills and projects than most others ever would be of our work.)

The post Victorian Inspired Pencil Crayon on Black Cardstock Spring Card appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

In today’s post, we’re going to explore another fa-boo-lously festive chapter of the year: Springoween.

What is Springoween?

I’m delighted you asked and equally happy to answer.

Whereas Valoween relates to a specific date (February 14^th), the term “Springoween” can embrace the whole season of spring.

As you may have guessed from its name, Springoween marries various elements and styles of Halloween with more traditional springtime themes and aesthetics.

Springoween gives spring a darker, spookier edge. However, it does not necessarily bypass the sweetness, new life, and upbeat spirit inherent to this season.

Much as with Valoween, the precise origins of Springoween are shrouded (aptly) in an air of mystery.

Some of us who embrace goth, alt, witchy, and/or “Halloween 365” lifestyles have been making each season (and most, if not all, of the holidays we observe) correspondingly dark and spooky for many years now.

As such, it may be possible that Springoween arose rather organically, was fostered by the internet (including Instagram), and will continue to grow in popularity all the more as time goes on.

There are no shortage of ways to embrace a Springoween mindset and aesthetic.

I personally associate Springoween with what is known as a “pastel goth” aesthetic.

That is to say, a style in which the classic blacks and greys of gothiness are married with a softer, sweeter pastel colour palette of shades such as light pink, mint green, lilac, peach, and baby blue.

Pastel goth is a popular subgenre of the goth scene, which tends to find favour amongst teens and young adults in particular – though there are certainly pastel goths (and admirers of the style) all across the age spectrum.

(YouTuber Julia Zelg has a great, short video on how to get started with wearing pastel goth, if doing so is something that appeals to you or if you’d simply like to learn more about this lovely goth subgenre.)

Springoween doesn’t have to involve pastels though, and can be interpreted pretty much however your heart desires. The larger point, I would contend, is simply the blending of Halloween elements with those of springtime.

How to achieve a Springoween style

The idea of merging spring and Halloween together might seem a bit strange to some people and I fully understand that this style/aesthetic is not for everyone.

However, being equal opposites on the calendar, spring and autumn (when Halloween transpires in the Northern Hemisphere) actually makes a fair bit of sense.

Spring ushers in the start of the warm half of the year, gardens burst to life, the days are longer, and the temperature is likely to be quite pleasant most of the time.

Fall is summer’s pallbearer, laying to rest the warmest season for another year. Much as with spring, however, autumn is a time of mild weather and an emphasis on the natural world.

Whereas spring is the season in which much of the agricultural and natural world begins anew, fall greets us with the harvest of those very crops and helps to remind us of how vital the ebb and flow of the seasons is to life on earth.

As well, it’s wonderful to remember that at any point in the year when spring is happening on one side of the equator, fall is transpiring on the other and vice versa. This perpetual connection on opposite ends of the globe links autumn and spring together all the more powerfully.

If you’re looking to decorate your house for Springoween, create some Springoween themed crafting projects, or dress in a Springoween inspired way, be sure to check out my Springoween Pinterest Board, as well as the Springoween ideas that Miranda has shared over the years on her stellar blog, Spooky Little Halloween.

To achieve a Springoween style, I’d suggest starting with either traditional fall/Halloween elements and reaching for a pastel or otherwise springtime-y colour palette. Or, conversely, beginning with springtime elements and rendering them in a fall/Halloween palette (such as grey, black, orange, and aged metals).

From Halloween terrariums to springtime floral crowns in Halloween colours, Easter eggs painted or dyed in fall colours or designs to goth gardens filled with inky black, purple, burgundy, dark brown, and silvery-white flowers and other plants, there’s no limit to the ways you can incorporate Halloween into your springtime happenings.

As you might imagine, I’m especially fond of creating Springoween related paper crafting projects, such as the one highlighted in this post.

Sweetly spooky oversized slimline Springoween card

It’s scarcely a state secret in the paper crafting world that slimline cards have been having a major moment as of late.

While this elongated style of card is far from new, and many a card maker has tried their hand at creating slimline cards over the years, I’d venture to say that slimline designs have never been more popular than they presently are.

Quite a few paper crafting brands have jumped on the bandwagon, releasing dies, stamp sets, stencils, and so forth specifically for slimline cards.

These products are awesome, of course, but they’re by no means essential to making slimline cards.

I don’t personally own any slimline card-specific items yet myself. I may pick some up as time goes on, but can certainly get by if that never happens.

Many of the products that you’d use on other sizes of cards can be put to good use on slimline cards. There’s no reason to break the bank just to keep up with card making trends (yes, I am a proudly frugal crafter ).

For this slimline Springoween card, I actually opted for dimensions that were a touch bigger than the standard slimline card size of 3.5 x 8.5 inches/8.89 x 21.59 centimetres.

Because, you know, I rarely make small cards, so why should my slimline designs be any different?

What can I say? Chalk it up to the die-hard scrapbooker in me, but I just love working with a larger-sized card canvas, so to speak, a lot of the time.

But anyhoo, back to the card at hand.

For this fun and festive Springoween card, I opted for a vertical slimline card and a colour palette of grey, black, pale peachy-pink, and a wee bit of rose gold that enters the picture via my choice of letter stickers.

As eggs are often associated not only with Ostara and Easter, but with springtime in general (especially the earlier weeks of the season), I knew that I wanted to include some die cut eggs on my Springoween card.

However, I also wanted to bring the classic smiling faces of jack-o-lanterns into the equation as well.

To achieve the marriage of Ostara/Easter egg and Halloween pumpkin, I die cut three eggs and then, using a die I have the cuts out jack-o-lantern faces, aligned it on each of the eggs and ran them my manual die cutting machine again.

I was delighted with how this approach turned out and highly recommend it if you’re ever looking to turn eggs into pumpkins. (You could, of course, stamp or hand draw jack-o-lantern facial features onto die cut or hand cut eggs as well.)

I debated drawing faint lines like the natural groves common to many types of pumpkins on my eggs, but worried that in doing so, they’d look a lot less like eggs and far more like oval-shaped pumpkins.

Keeping the egg look was important here, so I refrained from drawing any lines on the eggs themselves. I did, however, lightly ink the edges of the eggs to help them pop out from the background a bit more.

A wonderfully spooky piece of Martha Stewart paper starring black bats on a moody grey sky made for a great backdrop upon which to place my generously sized eggs and the “Happy Springoween” sentiment that star on this charming Sprinoween card.

And let me tell you, by my standards, this slimline card quick and soooo easy to make! Read on to learn how you can whip up one of your own.

Products used to make this pink, grey, and black Springoween card

-Black cardstock

-Medium grey cardstock

-Light grey cardstock

-Light pink or peach cardstock

-Bat print paper – Halloween Speciality 12” x 12” Paper Pad from Martha Stewart

-Egg shaped die

-Jack-o-lantern face die that can fit inside of the dimensions of your egg shaped die

-Elegant banner/sign/flourish shaped die

-Vine design border punch – English Ivy Border Punch from EK Success

-Ranger Distress (or Distress Oxide) Inks in Black Soot, Hickory Smoke, and Tattered Rose (or similar shades of ink from the brand/brands of your choosing)

-Marbled pink and rose gold letter stickers – Rose Chipboard Letter Stickers from Forever in Time

-Black “happy” word sticker and small black star shaped stickers – 3D Motion Stickers from Jot (Dollar Tree brand)

-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 oversized slimline Springoween card

To make this oversized slimline Springoween card, begin by creating a slimline card from white cardstock that is slightly larger than the standard slimline size.

Cut a piece of Martha Stewart bat print paper slightly smaller than your card base. Adhere to card base.

Cut a piece of light grey cardstock (or paper) slightly smaller than that piece. Use the EK Success English Ivy border punch on all four sides of this piece of cardstock. Adhere to previous layer.

Next, cut another piece of the same Martha Stewart bat print paper a touch smaller than the grey cardstock layer and adhere it to that layer.

Die cut three egg shapes, one each from light pink (or peach), medium grey, and black cardstock.

Lightly ink the edges of each egg, using Black Soot Distress Ink on the black egg, Hickory Smoke Distress Ink on the grey egg, and Tattered Rose Distress Ink on the light pink egg (you can use either standard or oxide Distress Ink here).

One by one, carefully align the jack-o-lantern face die on each egg and run the eggs through your die cutting machine (if you have an electronic die cutting machine, you may be able to create an all-in-one jack-o-lantern egg design with your machine’s software as well).

Save the facial feature elements of each jack-o-lantern and arrange them in alternating colours (between the pink, grey, and black eggs, respectively), so that each “pumpkin egg” has a different coloured body and facial features.

Place the die cut eggs down the righthand side of your vertical slimline card, angling and overlapping the eggs slightly to give them even more visual interest.

Next, die cut an elegant sign or banner shape one from medium grey cardstock and another of the same banners/signs from light pink (or peach) cardstock.

(If your banner/sign shape does not have a cut-out piece in it like the one shown here, you can either opt to use just grey cardstock or you could cut/die cut/punch out a circle and top your banner/sign with it, as desired.)

Place the light pink circle in the middle of the grey banner, as shown. Adhere to card base layers, allowing the top of this piece to extend beyond the top of your card, as well as for one of the pumpkin eggs to overlap with it a bit.

Top this banner/sign piece with a black “happy” dimensional word sticker. Or, alternatively, use letter stickers, die cuts, chipboard letters, rub-on letters, or a computer printed and fussy cut word to create a similar look.

To create the “Springoween” word, arrange square letter stickers on black cardstock. Leave a tiny boarder of visible black cardstock on all four sides of each letter sticker. Trim apart between each letter, so that you have a set of black cardstock-backed letter stickers.

Adhere foam tape, foam dots, or dimensional glue dots on the back of each letter sticker and arrange the letters to spell “Springoween” down the left-hand side of your card, offsetting and slightly overlapping each of the letters as shown in the photos throughout this post.

Finish your sweetly spooky oversized slimline Springoween card by placing three black foam star stickers around the jack-o-lantern eggs. (Other types of similar looking black star stickers, die cuts, chipboard or felt pieces could just as easily be used here as well.)

And that, my dears, is all there is to this quick and easy, fun, and festive Springoween card!

Which, I should add, is my latest #MakeHalloween365 project, as it definitely embodies the spirit of Halloween enough to be labelled with this crafting community hashtag.

Every day is Halloween

Tim Burton famously said that, “Every day is Halloween, isn’t it? For some of us.”  

Truer words were never spoken when it comes to those of us for whom this sentiment rings true.

Springoween helps to remind us not only of the fact that we can put an All Hallows Eve’ inspired take on any season we please, but that, objectively, fall’s return isn’t actually all that far off at this point.

Sure, in most areas north of the equator, we still have a few months of spring and summer to experience before we reach that point. But at the same time, we’re no longer slogging through the bone-chilling days of winter and now that we’re well into April, the start of fall is a mere five months away. (*Happiness squeal!*)

That’s right, just five months! Trust me, for better or worse, they’re apt to fly by faster than a bat across a harvest moon filled sky.

Right here and now though, we get to experience the beauty and charm of spring, followed by the sizzling, sultry heat and eternal allure of summer – that most intensely warm and languid of seasons.

You can bet your last chocolate bunny that I’ll be savouring these gorgeous seasons to the best of my abilities, all the while whipping up plenty more fall and Halloween-themed projects – be they Springoween related or otherwise.

If you observe and enjoy Halloween (and/or Samhain), I encourage you to do the same. After all, much as with our winter holiday greetings, it’s never too early to get a jump on creating this year’s handmade Halloween cards, tags, home décor, and all manner of other crafty projects.

Happy springtime, happy Springoween season, and happiest crafting to one and all!

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