Presently, we have the joy of being so to our sweet dog, Annie. (Who you may recall from my scrapbook page project share Only Love Let’s Us See or from my various Instagram posts about her over the years.)

After a string of places that either did not allow pets at all or permitted cats, but not dogs, we were elated when the home we moved to in February 2012 (the house that would, tragically, be lost about 4.5 years later in the devastating arson fire that we experienced) was dog friendly.

Both lifelong dog lovers, Tony and I were eager to add a canine companion to our lives and began keeping an eye out for a precious pup that would fit the bill.

Jump ahead to March of the following year. Tony spied a listing from someone a few hours south of us selling puppies that really resonated with him. Or, I should say, with both of us.

Though the timing wasn’t the best (I was mere weeks away from a fairly substantial surgery and its ensuing post-op recovery), we had a feeling that we’d found our dog, so decided to take a leap of faith, drive down to the city where she was located, and see this cuter-than-cute pup in person.

She was the last of her litter – all of which were incredibly cute – by the time we arrived.

Aside from clearly being harassed a bit by an adult chihuahua that lived in the same house, she was in fine spirits, looked (and was) wonderfully healthy, and melted our hearts faster than one could say “we’ll take her”.

Driving back home that very same day, our sweet pup snuggled in my arms throughout the ever-darkening night as Tony and I conversed for a good while on what to name our new bundle of furry joy.

Many possibilities were raised, stemming from ones based on her colours (black and white) to the city that she hailed from (Delta).

Ultimately though, it was the date itself that steered our final choice.

Tony and I celebrate both our wedding anniversary (in October) and the anniversary of the day that we first met back in 2004.

To differentiate between the two, we affectionately refer to the day we met as our “loveiversary”.

As we picked up Annie on the day before our loveiversary and had already decided that she would be our gift to each other that year for our special day, I proposed the name “Annie” – as in “anniversary”.

We both felt the name click and settled on it immediately.

Officially, her full first name is Annabelle (a subtle Poe reference, albeit with different spelling, that I adore) and we do call her that sometimes, but more often than not, she’s Annie.

Or Miss Annie. Or Puppers. Or Snoop (because her colouring reminds us of the classic Peanuts character, Snoopy). Or any one of a zillion other nicknames she’s had (and continues to have) over the years.

Annie was the first dog that either of us had owned as adults and it is safe to say that her early years were an eye-opening learning experience for all involved.

She was a major chewer for the first 1 – 2 years of her life, which wasn’t the easier thing ever to handle, but thankfully, between our training and her simply maturing in due course, Annie outgrew those tendencies (save for things like plush toys and throw pillows, which we still have to keep an eye on her around).

It was immediately obvious to us that Annie was as smart as a whip. She learned most of the commands we taught her very quickly, soon settled into the routine of our daily life, and knocked our socks off from the get-go both with her energy levels and her incredibly sweet, caring heart.

These days, our beloved Miss Annie is likely heading towards – to borrow a term from my Pagan path – her crone years.

As I type these words, she is just shy of 9.5 years old. Thankfully and joyfully, she still has the energy and stamina of a dog several years her junior and shows little sign of slowing down anytime soon.

While not a hard and fast tradition, some years, when possible, Tony and I love to give Mother’ Day and Father’s Day cards and/or gifts to give to each other as a way of thanking one another for the great job (humbly) that we both do of taking care of Annie.

The card featured in this post is the one that Tony will be receiving today. It is a shabby chic design rendered in a masculine colour palette of blues, browns, white, and muted gold.

But before we delve further into the specifics of this charmingly fun handmade Father’s Day’s card, allow me to share more about Annie with all of you.

Ten fast facts about our dog, Annie

1. While many people confuse her, understandably, with being a Border Collie due to her size and colouring, she is in fact half Labrador Retriever and half American Bulldog. This mix is, adorably, called a “Bullador”.

2. She is a very high-energy animal and, like many of her canine peers, delights in playing fetch, going for long walks, hiking, and playing at the dog park.

Speaking of which, as a true extrovert of an animal if there was one, Annie usually has zero trouble getting along swimmingly with other dogs and often assumes the role of (temporary) pack leader, if one is not already firmly established in a given setting.

3. Her BFF is our neighbour’s Shepherd mix, Nova, who they rescued as a puppy in 2019. Nova really looks up to Annie and clearly worships the ground she walks on (which is the cutest thing to witness). The two have been inseparable mix since the first time they met and enjoy multiple playdates in our backyard every month.

4. As is relatively common amongst dogs, especially medium and large-sized breeds (Annie’s height and weight classify her as being a medium-large dog), unfortunately, Annie developed cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) issues in both of her back legs that required major surgeries to help repair.

The first leg was impacted in the winter of 2017 – 2018 and surgery was swiftly performed. The second back leg showed the same telltale signs in the winter of 2018 – 2019 and again, the same surgery was rapidly undertaken.

Both procedures required extensive recovery periods during which her activity levels had to be severely restricted so that the injured limb could heal.

Thankfully, in both cases, with a few months of taking things super easy and providing at-home physiotherapy to her, Annie made a full recovery. You’d never know to see her these days that she has the canine equivalent of two hip or knee replacements.

5. Annie is very sensitive to other peoples’ moods, states of mind, and physical well-being, and will immediately spot if someone is down or feeling unwell. At which point, she all but velcros herself to them and does her best to lift their spirits.

6. She has an incredibly powerful bite. So much so that, while not intending to destroy them in seven seconds flat, Annie does inadvertently wreck most types of toys that she’s received over the years (even those from numerous brands that bill themselves as being nearly indestructible). Exceptions to this include some Kong and Chuckit products.

7. While experts say that highly intelligent dogs can learn up to 250 words, we are genuinely convinced that Annie may understand somewhere in the range of 300 – 500+ English words.

If this is true, we credit it in part to her extremely high IQ and also to the fact that both Tony and I have worked primarily from home her whole life, so she’s been around us (and other sources of audible language, such as music, video calls, and Netflix) for a huge percentage of her waking hours.

8. Annie is an excellent guard dog who alerts us the second anything that she deems a potential threat (local deer and ravens included ) comes to her attention.

9. By the same token though, unless it was to protect one of us against a serious threat or to defend herself in a true dog fight, Annie wouldn’t harm a fly. She gets on awesomely with other dogs, cats, and humans of all ages (and she adores kids to no end; happily, most of the ones she encounters love her back in return).

10. Annie’s favourite foods are salmon, peanut butter, eggs, any type of beef, cucumber, and watermelon (seedless, of course, for safety’s sake). Plus, naturally, bones, bones and more bones.

She eats a diet comprised of high-quality store-bought and homemade meals in which we try to include plenty of her favourites throughout the year.

(Interestingly, while she’ll gleefully eat them, Annie doesn’t do well gastrointestinally speaking with chicken and turkey. Of the two, she handles turkey better, but knowing this, we severely restrict her consumption of either.)

Masculine shabby chic happy Pawser’s Day card

And now, a fun fact about me…

I absolutely adore puns and other clever forms of wordplay. It is borderline ridiculous how much I enjoy these things and like many a paper crafter, I delight in weaving puns and wordplay of various types into some of my handmade projects.

(If puns are your cup of tea as well, I highly recommend the excellent book, The Pun Also Rises by John Pollak.)

I did not invent the term “Pawser’s Day”, but as I had not yet created a project featuring it, doing so for Tony’s ninth’s Father’s Day as a “puprent” felt like a spot of wordplay that was long overdue.

Creating cards for my sweet hubby is all the more pleasurable because he enjoys a wide range of styles, colours, themes and so forth.

This gives me a great deal of much appreciated creative freedom and means that the elements that comprise my signature paper crafting style are still able to come out and play when I make a project for Tony.

Naturally, though I stay mindful of what colours and other elements are apt to tickle his fancy in particular and like to weave our mutual tastes together in the crafts I whip up for him.

The colours for this Happy Pawser’s Day card were inspired by the returning summer weather and the earth beneath our feet at dog parks, nature trails, and our own backyard alike.

The blue and white represent the sky and clouds, the shades of brown are dirt (something most dog owners are intimately acquainted with ), and the muted gold symbolizes the glowing sunshine of June.

A fun doggo print paper enters the fold as well. It sports a similar colour palette and does not distract from the other elements at play here.

In an ode to Annie’s unceasing passion for bones, a quartet of them appear in the form of die cut shapes that I painted with Tim Holtz Picket Fence Crackle Paint.

Pre-fire, I owned most of Tim’s paints, these days, I just have a couple so far. Thankfully, it is hard to find a more versatile colour of paint than white, so it’s easy to alter Picket Fence’s hue, if needed, once it is dry.

You can do so with various mediums including inks, alcohol markers, dye markers, Wink of Stella markers, watercolour paints, and glitter glues such as Stickles and Nuvo Glitter Drops.

Keep in mind though, that the thicker and/or darker the medium you top white crackle paint with, the less the crackle effect may show through.

I left the paint in its natural state here, as white was my intended colour for the cute little die cut dog bones.

Adding cardboard is a great way to up the masculine look of a project, so I included a distressed piece of it as a lovely, rugged counterpoint to the abundance of teal glitter cardstock.

While I don’t have a cutting die that is a dead ringer for Annie, I had a fun trio of dog silhouette dies in my stash and used all three at the top of this Father’s Day card.

The center dog, while perhaps somewhat more Golden Retriever looking, does resemble Annie a bit and the wee pup on the righthand side definitely reminds me of Annie when she was a youngster.

As I didn’t have a die or stamp with the word “Pawser’s Day”, I turned to a tried-and-true trick of mine for occasions when I don’t have a premade product featuring a specific word or sentiment and simply spelled out what I wanted to say with mini letter stickers.

To create the tiny comma between the “r” and the “s” in Pawser’s Day, I simply hand drew one myself using a white gel pen.

This card was oodles of fun to make. I really hope that Tony gives it two big thumbs up. Just as I like to think it would get two approving paws up from Annie, if she could weigh in with her vote.

Should you be looking to replicate or take inspiration from this card yourself, read on for a full list of materials used and detailed step-by-step instructions for creating your own Happy Pawser’s Day card.

(Naturally, you can swap out the sentiment and utilize this design for a wide range of other occasions, too. Birthdays, anniversaries, retirement, thinking of you, congrats on your new pet, Mother’s Day, and both spring and summertime in general would all be great fits for this doggo themed card.)

Products used to make an adorable dog themed Father’s Day card

-White and dark brown cardstock

-Teal blue glitter cardstock – Glitter Silk Premium Cardstock from Darice

-Natural/kraft colour cardboard (this piece was recycled from a shipping box)

-Brown wooden board print paper – Kiss The Cook Baked Fresh paper from Bo Bunny

-Two-tone blue or turquoise floral print paper (or another pattern of your choice; polka dots would be fab here as well)

-Dog print paper – Dachshunds paper from Recollections (Michael’s house brand)

-Pawprint and bone rectangle frame die (I purchased this die on AliExpress a few years ago. A fairly similar-looking bone and pawprint frame die is currently available at the time of writing on eBay. As well, Whimsy Stamps sells an awesome Paws and Bones Border Die Set that I would absolutely love to add to my stash one day. You could use the dies in this set to create your own rectangle shaped frame.)

-Small sized dog silhouette dies

-Elegant frame die with curved corners (or another frame die of your choice)

-Scripty font “happy” word die (or use single letter dies or stickers to create this word instead)

-Fancy edge border punch – Flourish Scroll Border Punch from EK Success

-Teal blue ink – Dew Drop Teal Zeal Ink from Memento

-Medium grey ink – Dew Drop Grey Flannel Ink from Memento

-White crackle paint – Distress Crackle Paint in Picket Fence from Tim Holtz

-White gel pen – Uniball White Gel Pen from Signo

-Brownish rose gold coloured mini alpha stickers – Necessities Metallic Alpha Stickers from My Mind’s Eye

-Flax/muted gold coloured seam binding

-Glue gun and glue sticks (option, but helpful for securing heavier elements here such as the cardboard)

-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 masculine shabby chic Father’s Day card

Begin by making a card base from white cardstock.

Cut a piece of the dog print paper slightly narrower, but at least ½ an inch taller, than your card base. Ink edges of this piece with grey ink and adhere to card base.

Cut two thin strips of brown wooden floorboard print paper, two thin strips of teal glitter paper, and one piece of blue/teal floral print paper. Ink edges of floral print paper using teal ink.

Arrange and adhere the floral print paper in the center of the card. Adhere the teal glitter strips, then the brown wooden board print strips, on the top and bottom edges of the floral print paper.

Using the dark brown cardstock, die cut a curved corner frame die and adhere it to the previous layers.

Cut and lightly distress a piece of brown/kraft cardboard. Adhere to previous layers.

Top the cardboard with a piece of dark brown cardstock (lightly distress edges, if desired), a slightly smaller piece of dog print paper (ink edges with grey ink), a frame cut from teal glitter cardstock and the same elegant frame die used above, a piece of wooden floorboard print paper, a frame cut from the pawprint and dog bone frame, and a piece of white cardstock (to back the opening of the pawprint frame with).

Arrange and adhere these layers as shown in the photos.

Die cut the word “happy” from teal glitter cardstock and adhere to the white center portion of the pawprint frame.

Use brownish rose gold coloured mini alphabet letter stickers to spell out the words “Pawser’s Day”. Then use a white gel pen to create the comma on the letter “s”. Adhere below the word “happy”.

Die cut one set of dog silhouette shapes from brown wooden floorboard print paper and another from teal glitter cardstock.

Adhere the teal glitter shapes slightly offset to the brown floorboard shapes. Arrange and adhere at the top of the card, as shown.

Create a bow from flax/muted gold coloured seam binding (pre-scrunching/crumpling and drying seam binding beforehand, if you wish).

Lastly, die cut four small bone shaped pieces from white cardstock (or thin chipboard) and apply a medium-thick layer of Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint.

Allow paint to fully die, then adhere bones around the corners of the pawprint frame.

And there you have it, a delightful Father’s Day card that celebrates one’s passion for pups, marries cute with sophisticated, masculine with shabby chic, and which is sure to find favour with any pet parent or lover that you bestow it upon.

Fatherhood comes in many forms

Much as with motherhood, fatherhood is not a one size fits all situation.

While, in a human context, we tend to think of words like “dad”, “papa”, and “father” in the context of being a parent or guardian to fellow people, this word can also be extended to those who are pet parents.

I know that this makes some folks cringe, but personally, I don’t have an issue with it.

From day one with both Annie and our (late) cat, Stella, Tony and I have referred to one another as “mommy” and “daddy” in the context of raising and taking care of our pets.

In fact, as Tony and I rarely address one another by our first names (preferring nicknames or terms of endearment such as “sweetie” or “honey”) but will often say “daddy” or “mommy” when referring to each other around Annie, I’d bet you a jar of Annie’s favourite all-natural peanut butter that she thinks those are our names.

Tony is an excellent pet parent. Care, love, compassion, and a steadfast commitment to our animals are just some of the many positive traits that help to make him one.

He adores Annie with every fibre of his being (as I do) and relishes the responsibility and honour of getting to provide her with the best life we possibly can.

At nearly 9.5 years old, we know that Annie almost certainly has fewer years ahead of her than those she has already experienced.

We accept this heartbreaking fact and try not to dwell on it too much. There’s little sense in letting the natural course of life rob of us the joy of experiencing the present moments that we are blessed to have with Annie.

Right here and now, she is healthy, spry, energetic, (super) playful, and doing great overall. Be it on Father’s Day or any other day of the year, this is an invaluable gift.

As is having a partner in life who cares about and loves animals every bit as much as do (which is why I wanted to celebrate this fact via Tony’s Father’s Day card this year).

Not all of us are dads, of course. Nor do we all have relationships, for whatever reason(s), with our fathers.

This day can be challenging for some people. More than I could ever adequately put into words, believe me, I get and relate to this myself.

I sincerely hope though that it is possible for you to still enjoy Father’s Day or at least not find it unbearable. Think of those dads you’ve known throughout your life (be they family members or otherwise) who excelled in this role.

Reflect on favourite fictional or celebrity fathers, the way (if applicable) your partner is a great papa to your kid(s), and all the fantastic pet parents you may know.

Beyond that, there is the universal element of the divine masculine, male deities pertaining to fatherhood, and the fact that not a single human being would have come into being were it not for the combination of (biological) male and female DNA.

To all those celebrating, honouring, or remembering dads and father figures or archetypes today in any capacity (pet parenthood very much included), I hope that you have a terrific time doing so and that all the papas in your life enjoy a very happy Father’s Day.

A wish that, I have no doubt, Annie seconds all the way.

Do you celebrate the pet parent side of Father’s and/or Mother’s Day? What are your favourite occasions to make pet themed paper crafting projects for?

The post Masculine Shabby Chic Happy Pawser’s Day (Father’s Day) Card – Plus Get to Know Our Dog, Annie appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

Allow me to elaborate, dear readers.

While spring might technically commence during the third week of March, in reality, the season rarely gets underway in any sort of serious way where we live until around mid-April to early May.

It is not uncommon for snow to linger on the ground and/or keep falling well into April around these Canadian parts.

So while plenty of corners of the world have been enjoying spring’s return since February, March, or April, I often associate May with the full-on start of this energetic season.

Spring is usually comically short-lived in our corner of BC (much as it is in a lot of Canada). It is not uncommon for us to go from temps in the range of -25C to +35C in the span of just four to eight weeks.

This means that spring – in its idyllic, mild weathered, new bloom-filled sense – is often over before you can even slip your rain boots on.

As layer upon layer of ice and snow gradually retreat, cocoa hued brown earth still damp and chilly from winter’s receding deep freeze meets us beneath our feet.

Overhead, skies so blue it almost seems as if someone took a fluorescent highlighter to them cradle fluffy, cotton ball-esque clouds and the promise of a few brief months of warm weather before we are thrust back into the snowy season once again.

While winter houses plenty of enjoyable outdoor activities unto itself (skiing, sledding, snowman making, etc), it is in spring when a lot of us reconnect with our favourite activities that are enjoyed in nature.

Last year my mom bought her first e-bike. Like many of us, she learned to ride a bike as a young child and while she has owned numerous bikes throughout her life, she’d not had one for a decent while now.

She immediately fell in love with her new set of wheels, quickly embarking on rides with both friends and with my husband, Tony (who is an avid cyclist himself) throughout the spring and early summer.

Save for the absurdly warm heatwave that struck much of British Columbia around the end of last June/start of July, it wasn’t the temperature that put the breaks (pun mildly intended ) on cycling for many folks around these parts last year.

Instead, it was the genuinely dangerous air quality stemming from the plethora of brutal wildfires that swept through this province during 2021’s toastiest months.

By the time the smoke had dissipated, the fires had burned out (or very nearly so), and the risk of evacuation was behind us once again, it was pretty much fall already.

Rides, as you might imagine, were quickly savoured by many a cyclist during that all-too-brief window between summer’s end and the return of snow.

Now spring is back and that means my mom, Tony, and countless others who like to cycle can hop on their bikes – be they e-bike, traditional bikes, recumbent bikes, or any other form of bicycle – and take to the open roads and nature paths once again.

For Mother’s Day (which transpires on Sunday May 8^th this year here in Canada + US), I wanted to make a festive card that tapped not only into my mom’s rekindled passion for bike riding, but also the earth and sky colour palette of springtime that is surrounding us at the moment.

Early Spring Colour Palette Bicycle Themed Mother’s Day Card

By my layer + embellishment adoring standards, this card is neither chock-a-block with such things nor did it take very long to make (less than three hours – which for me personally, is very speedy on the paper crafting project front).

Much as with the elephant card that I made my mom for her birthday last year, it was not until I sat down to craft a cycling themed card that I realized how few bike related products are in my current stash.

Surely, I would have guessed beforehand, I must have at least one stamp set that includes a bike. Nope, not as far as I could unearth that day, at least.

Okay, what about metal dies? Save for a small-sized penny-farthing die, again, nada.

Hmm, this is getting interesting, I thought. Will patterned paper come to the rescue?

As you can no doubt see from these project photos, that it did. Big yays all around!

But even then, this was the only cycling themed paper I could find in my stash (and that includes going through any 6×6, 8×8, 12×12, etc paper pads that might possibly have included a biking related print or two).

Given that both Tony and my mom are keen cyclists, going forward I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for more bike riding related products.

The banner/bunting-shaped pieces here were simply cut from rectangles of brown cardstock and blue floral print paper, respectively.

To achieve the desired banner/bunting shape, flip your paper or cardstock over so that the backside is facing you. Take a ruler, align it with on bottom corner and at a 90 degree (or so) angle, make a straight line until you’ve reached the halfway mark of that piece of paper or cardstock.

Repeat the same thing from the other bottom corner, joining the two lines. You should now have the shape of a wide vee. Following the pencil lines you just marked, cut out that wide vee shape and, presto, your banner/bunting piece is good to go.

If you wish to create two or more layers of bunting/banners that will be stacked on top of each other, repeat the same process using gradually smaller-sized rectangles to create your banners/bunting pieces.

According to the Teleflora blog, approximately 1/4^th of all flowers sent annually on major holidays are purchased and delivered for Mother’s Day.

That is no surprise, really, as flowers are often one of the first things many of us both associate with Mother’s Day and which we are apt to give our moms come this special day that is held in their honour.

I was especially happy then that blooms appeared twice on the bike image that I fussy cut from a piece of Jillibean Soup bike patterned paper.

Not only do the flowers tap into that connection, but they speak to the eternal connection between spring/summer and blooms on this side of the globe.

Unlike real flowers, however, these beauties are not apt to fade anytime soon (which is another point in their favour).

I have always enjoyed working with brads in the context of my paper crafting projects but had not done so in a while. This prompted me to dive deep into my collection to see if I had any brown brads on hand.

Delightfully, the answer to the question was “yes”, and these good-sized cocoa powder hued cuties from We R Memory Keepers fit the bill to a tee.

A strip of heathered cream twill ribbon, complete with a matching bow, provides further dimension and visual interest to this fun Mother’s Day card.

Swap out the sentiment here and there is no shortage of other occasions that this same sort of card design would suit.

Birthdays, Easter, Father’s Day, thinking of you, happy travels, graduation, missing you, retirement, congratulations, or just because cards would all be good fits, amongst others.

If you are vibing with this charming bike themed card and would like to create one of your own, read on for a complete list of products used plus detailed step-by-step project instructions.

Products used to make this sweet and cute biking card

-Textured (or smooth) dark brown cardstock

-Textured (or smooth) mustard yellow cardstock

-Cream cardstock

-Blue-on-blue floral print paper

-Cream/flax and brown floral/damask print paper – Portrait of a Lady Collection Grace paper from Graphic 45

-Bicycle print paper – Spoonful of Soul Trust the Journey paper from Jillibean Soup

-Nested oval die set

-Tag/label die

-Circle design border punch – Double Bubble border punch from Fiskars

-Mother’s Day sentiment stamp

-Dark brown ink – Memento Dew Drop Ink in Rich Cocoa from Tsukineko

-Dark yellowy-orange ink – Memento Dew Drop Ink in Cantaloupe from Tsukineko

-Dark blue ink – Archival Cobalt Letter It Stamping Ink from Ranger

-Brown brads – Neutral Painted Brads from We R Memory Keepers

-Heathered beige coloured twill ribbon

-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 wonderfully fun bicycle themed Mother’s Day card

Begin by making a card base from textured (or smooth) cream coloured cardstock. If working with smooth cardstock, you could also run it through an embossing folder with an understated design for some added texture as well (such as small dots, hearts, lines, leaves, flowers, or stars, for example).

Cut a piece of dark brown textured (or smooth) cardstock a touch smaller than your card base. Adhere.

Cut a piece of Jillibean Soup bicycle print paper slightly smaller than the dark brown cardstock layer. Ink all four sides (edges) of this piece of paper with Memento Dew Drop Cantaloupe Ink. Adhere to the dark brown cardstock layer.

Take the blue-on-blue floral print paper and cut a rectangle a little over 1/3^rd the width of your card base. Ink all four sides (edges) with Ranger Archival Cobalt Letter It Stamping Ink.

Adhere this piece of blue paper horizontally in the middle of the card layers that you have assembled thus far.

Cut a rectangle of dark brown textured (or smooth) cardstock slightly smaller than the piece of Jillibean Soup bicycle print paper.

Use the Fiskars Double Bubble border punch on the bottom edge of that piece of cardstock. Adhere piece to previous layers.

Cut a piece of cream/flax and brown coloured Graphic 45 paper slightly smaller than the previous (brown cardstock) layer. Use the same Fiskars border punch on the bottom of this piece of paper as well. Adhere this layer to the previous brown cardstock layer.

Next, insert brown We R Memory Keepers brads through the top and bottom corners of these two layers, as shown. Adhere this stack of two layers to the previous card base layers.

Cut a rectangle of dark brown cardstock and a slightly smaller rectangle of blue-on-blue floral print paper. Turn the bottom of each piece into a banner/bunting shape using the method described in the section immediately above these instructions.

Ink the piece of blue floral print paper on all sides/edges with dark blue Ranger ink.

Adhere floral print paper on the dark brown cardstock. Then, take a small piece of mustard yellow cardstock, use the Double Bubble border punch along its bottom edge and adhere this piece of cardstock in the uppermost portion of the “vee” shape of your banner/bunting layers.

Adhere these banner/bunting layers to the previous card layers.

Run a piece of heathered cream twill ribbon/trim across the middle of the card, tucking its ends beneath the first dark brown cardstock layer of this card’s design.

Create a bow from the same twill ribbon/trim and attach it on the lefthand side of the middle of the card, as shown.

Die cut an oval from mustard yellow cardstock. Adhere to previous card base layers.

Die cut an oval from dark brown cardstock and adhere it to the mustard yellow oval piece.

From the same Jillibean Soup bicycle print paper that we’ve already used, fussy cut a single bike and adhere it to the brown cardstock oval.

Die cut a label/tag shape from cream cardstock. Stamp the Happy Mother’s Day sentiment in the middle of it with dark brown ink. Attach a slightly smaller sized (if you have two different sizes on hand, if not another two of the same size that you already used is A-okay as well) brown brad to each end of the label/tag.

Lastly, adhere the label/tag so that it overlaps slightly with the centre bottom portion of the oval pieces.

That’s all there is to this splendidly sweet card that is perfect for biking fans, lovers of spring, nature enthusiasts and plenty of others as well.

Given its relative simplicity and the speed that it takes to make this card, it would be a good design if you needed to make multiples for an occasion or event (including invitations).

Let’s ride!

As much as I wish I could, riding has been beyond the scope of my health for about twenty years now.

One recent summer, thinking maybe, just maybe, I could bear the immense pain + symptom flare-ups that cycling causes some of my chronic illnesses, I purchased a bike and rode it a couple of times.

Sadly, that was all it took for me to realize that no amount of hoping and gritting my teeth through the discomfort was going to make that possible in the long run. So, with tears in my eyes and heart alike, the bike was swiftly returned to the shop from which it was bought.

Thus, while actually jumping on a bike and hitting the open road is not feasible for me, thankfully, I can still delight in cycling vicariously through Tony, my mom, and other relatives who are avid bikers.

Plus, I can enjoy the ride in spirit via fun paper crafting projects like this, watching cyclists zip through our region of the province (including as part of the annual Ironman Triathlon that is held each summer about two hours south of where we currently live), and care of the tales about their rides that loved ones regale me with throughout the sunny season.

Whether you are a keen cyclist, have (as I do) fond memories of riding earlier in your life, or just enjoy images of bikes, I encourage you to take to your stash and whip up a biking related project or two this year.

They suit spring and summer marvellously and can be an awesome way to make meaningful projects that tap into the interest of friends, relatives, colleges, neighbours, teachers – your name it!

Are you a bike rider yourself? Do you enjoy making cycling themed craft projects as well?

PS: To all those moms, stepmoms, grandmothers, and others of all genders who take on the role of being a mama, may you have a radiantly beautiful and abundantly happy Mother’s Day tomorrow.

The post Early Spring Coloured Bicycle Themed Mother’s Day Card appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

Save for one male cousin who is in his twenties coming down with it last year (thankfully, he did not get terribly ill and bounced by quite quickly), no other close relative in our family had contracted this frightening illness until my sis fell ill a few days.

Mercifully, thus far, she has not needed hospitalization and appears to be gradually improving a little already (knock wood!).

As she is a lifelong asthmatic with some other health issues as well, I have worried a great deal since the pandemic began that my sister might end up getting Covid.

I would gladly come down with this illness a million times in a row if it spared her getting sick with it even once.

Alas, no entities or higher powers have shown up to offer me that sort of Faustian bargain and, sadly, the Coronavirus found my sister.

The past 2 – 3 years have been rather rough on various fronts for my sis (including multiple car accidents – none of which were her fault), and I am certain this is truly the last thing in the universe that she needed or wanted.

On my end, not for the first time since this blog’s inception, I genuinely wasn’t sure if I would be able to get a blog post up this week.

Thankfully, as the week wore on, I was able to briefly spend some time crafting which meant a post was still feasible (yay!!!). The end result is the darling Valoween project featured in this entry.

I needed something lighthearted, upbeat and festive – and in my books, this sweet Valoween card ticks all of those boxes.

The last few days have indeed felt long at times. However, January as a whole has whizzed by faster than a snowflake on a strong arctic wind and that means Valentine’s Day is rounding the corner again soon.

Hey, ghoul friend adorable Valoween Day ghost themed friendship card

Hard as it is to believe that we are almost 1/12^th of the way through 2022, it is even trickier for me to wrap my head around the fact that close to a year has elapsed since I first posted here about Valoween.

If you are not familiar with the concept of Valoween – which is essentially adding a dark/spooky/macabre/Halloween spin to Valentine’s Day – be sure to check out my post Dark and Romantic Valoween Shaker Wand and Card Set for the 411 on this frightfully fun spin on Feb. 14^th.

This year, I am planning on bringing you two Valoween project shares – with this super cute card being the first.

It is, admittedly, on the sweeter side of Valoween (which, I should mention, is sometimes also spelled as Valloween).

I doubt very many people would be frightened by the trio of squeal-worthily precious ghost friends here, nor the red-dominant colour palette.

While red does take center stage, other colours find their way into the fold as well. Grey, black, cream, and pink all play supporting roles.

I love the mix of red and white lettering. The white alphabet stickers are Thickers and made of foam, which gives them this fabulously charming quality that I find works sooo well into the context of nearly any type of ghost or otherwise spooky related project.

Naturally, as a project pertaining to Valentine’s Day, this Valoween greeting includes some hearts. This is not required for any take on Feb. 14th, of course, but the perpetual “lover of love” in me can rarely help including at least a heart or two when crafting for February 14^th.

Two of the central layering pieces are wonky/wavy-edged ovals, which I opted for as I felt they had a certain ghost shape element all their own that fit the theme here to a tee.

My perpetual addiction to metallic cardstock appears here again, as does my endless love for layers and embellishments.

This handmade Valoween card began with a project concept in my mind’s eye (as many do). However, when all was said and done, the end result deviated somewhat from how I had initially pictured it.

I know this is something that many a paper crafter – and creative soul, point-blank – can wholeheartedly relate to!

Happily though, in the end, I was (am) very pleased with the final result and will keep my original concept in mind for a possible future project.

This card design is quite easy to make. There is really nothing tricky to it and the most time-consuming aspect is simply manually die cutting out the various layers and ghost figures.

This is an enjoyable card that works great for Valoween/Valentine’s Day. While at the same time, it could also be used for a wide range of other occasions as well – provided you swapped out or simply ditched the “Happy Valentine’s Day” part of the sentiment.

I can also see this charming ghost themed card fitting the bill for events such as birthdays, Halloween, and Samhain – as well as thinking of you, missing you, congratulations, and just because cards. Assuming, of course, that the recipient is a fan of sweetly spooky creations.

And given the highly spirited (pun intended) October 31st influence at work on this card, it is my latest #MakeHalloween365 project share.

If you would like to make your own adorable Hey, Ghoul Friend Valoween card, read on for a complete list of materials used and detailed step-by-step instructions that will guide you through doing just that.

Products used to make this super cute ghost themed Valoween card

-Black cardstock – Raven Black Cardstock from Bazzill

-Light grey cardstock

-Cream cardstock

-Light red cardstock – Tim Holtz Distress Collection 4.25”x5.5 (mini pad) from Core’dinations

-Matte silver metallic cardstock

-Red metallic cardstock – Scarlet Organza Mirror Cardstock from Tonic Studios

-Pinkish-red metallic cardstock – Opera Red Mirror Cardstock from Tonic Studios

-Pink polka dot and damask-y floral print papers – Je t’Adore 8”x8” Multipack from Making Memories

-Decorative edge oval die

-Wavy/wonky edge nested die set (you can currently score a very similar looking Wavy Nested Frame Set from Whimsy Stamps.)

-“Wave” decorative edge scissors (Mine are unbranded and likely came from a dollar store at some point; you can, at the time of writing, find a similar pair of wavy edge scissors on Amazon.)

-Ghost and spider stamps – Ghosts 4”x6” Clear Stamp Set from Gerda Steiner

-Happy Valentine’s Day sentiment stamp – Perfect Match Stamp Set from Papertrey Ink

-Black ink – Jet Black Archival Ink from Ranger

-Very dark red or burgundy ink – StazOn Claret Solvent Ink from Tsukineko

-White metallic ink marker – White Metallic Marker from Forever in Time

-Small dark red alphabet stickers

-White foam alphabet stickers – Thickers Rockabye Foam Letter Stickers from American Crafts

-Mini stapler and staples – Tiny Attacher and Staples from Tim Holtz Idea-ology

-Cream/flax coloured paper raffia – Earth Tones Paper Craft Ribbon from Craft Medley (dollar store brand)

-White seam binding (or ribbon)

-Pink seam binding (or ribbon)

-Black rhinestone embellishment strips – Black Jewel Stickers from Crafter’s Square (dollar store brand)

-Grey rhinestone heart embellishments – Pyramid Gems Classic Hearts from Forever in Time

-Sparkly creamy-white gem embellishments – Say It In Crystals Pretty Pale from Prima Marketing

-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 Hey, Ghoul Friend Valoween card

Begin by making a card base from light grey cardstock (you could also use white, cream, medium grey, or black cardstock here instead).

Cut a piece of Making Memories light pink polka dot paper slightly smaller than the card base. Ink all edges with burgundy ink. Adhere to card base.

Cut a piece of Opera Red Tonic Studio Mirror Cardstock slightly smaller than the previous layer. Adhere to the previous layer.

Cut a piece of matte silver metallic cardstock a little smaller than the previous layer. Use the “wave” decorative edge scissors on all four sides.

Using black cardstock, cut two slender pieces about ½ of an inch or so wide and a little less than half the length of the card front long. Cut their outer (left) edge with the wavy decorative edge scissors.

Next, cut a piece of cream cardstock a little smaller than the previous layer. Ink all four edges with burgundy ink.

Tuck one of the black cardstock pieces under the top left-hand side of the cream cardstock. Adhere to underside of cream cardstock. Repeat the same process on the bottom right-hand side of the cream cardstock, then adhere the cream cardstock piece down.

Cut a black rhinestone (gem) adhesive bling strip piece in half and adhere one half to each of the two black (wavy edge) pieces of cardstock from the previous step. Repeat the process, only this time the other half of the rhinestone strip goes horizontally, as shown in the photos.

Cut a piece of elegant damask-y floral paper a touch smaller than the previous layer. Ink all four edges with burgundy ink. Adhere.

Run a piece of pink seam binding (red, white, grey, black, silver, or gold could also be used here instead) across the center of the layers that you’ve composed so far. Adhere in place.

(Note that most of this piece of seam binding will be hidden – you only see a wee glimpse of it on the right-hand side of the center of the card.)

Using the largest-sized die from the wonky/wavey oval die set, die cut one shape out of Scarlet Organza Tonic Studio Mirror Cardstock. Adhere.

Using the second largest wonky/wavey oval die, die cut one shape from light red cardstock. Adhere.

Die cut an oval-shaped piece using black cardstock and a decorative edge oval-shaped die. Adhere to the previous layer.

Use red and white letter stickers to spell out the sentiment “Hey Ghoul Friend” on the black oval layer that you just created.

Take a piece of light grey cardstock (the same cardstock that you used for your card base here) and, in black ink, stamp three ghosts and one adorable little dangling spider from the Gerda Steiner Ghosts Stamp Set. Die cut (or fussy cut) the ghosts out.

Colour the bodies of the ghosts and the whites of the spider’s eyes with the metallic white marker (or paint pen; in lieu of either, you could use anything from a white gel pen to white chalk and a chalk fixative to white Nuvo Drops).

Adhere the ghosts around the wavy/wonky oval layers, as shown. Adhere the dangling spider from the bottom right-hand side of those layers.

Use a stitched (or plain) edge heart die to cut three identical-sized heart shapes from cream, light grey, and black cardstock (one heart per colour). Ink the edges of the light grey heart with burgundy ink and stamp “Happy Valentine’s Day” in the same ink on that heart.

Adhere the three hearts together, offsetting them a bit (as shown) so that each colour is visible.

Punch a hole near the top of the heart stack and string a small piece of cream/natural (or white, black, grey, red, or pink) raffia, paper raffia, or other suitable trim through the hole. Tie the ends of this piece of trim around the pink seam binding layer (or adhere in place instead, if so desired).

Do not adhere the heart stack down to the card layers beneath it. You want the hearts to dangle and be able to move around freely.

Create a multi-loop bow from white (or cream, pink, red, grey, or black) seam binding. Optionally, crinkle the seam binding ahead of time if you are going for the same look as the seam binding bow shown here. Adhere on the left-hand side of the card so that the bow conceals where you tied/adhered the raffia/trim in place.

Adhere one grey rhinestone heart embellishment to the center of the seam binding bow and four others around the card in various spots.

Lastly, adhere a few sparkly creamy-white colour Prima gem embellishments around the card, as shown.

And there you have it. One over-the-moon cute Valoween, Valentine’s Day, or Galantine’s Day card to give to one of your favourite ghoul pals (naturally, you could swap out the word “ghoul” to the less gender-specific “boo” instead, if desired).

There is spooky, and then there is scary

The concept of Valoween as a whole can certainly be spooky, mysterious and/or eerie, but it is unlikely to evoke genuine fear in many people.

As much as I love spooky things – and even some very specific hair-raisingly frightening ones as well – I am rarely looking to be or to feel sincerely scared.

That is one of many responses, however, that most of us feel when somebody we care about falls ill or gets injured. And it is one that countless millions around the globe have contended with since the pandemic took hold.

Though the initial fear I experienced upon learning that my sister had come down with the Coronavirus was powerfully intense, it has subsided somewhat at this point and now sits at a mid-level worry.

I do not see that shifting downwards further very much until we know she is safely out of the woods and doing substantially better again.

Our family has been exceedingly lucky thus far regarding Covid-19 and not a day has gone by since the pandemic began that I haven’t given thanks for that being the case.

I am acutely aware that many others have not been able to say the same thing and that our own luck could vanish in the blink of an eye. As far as medical science knows, save for a tiny subsection of the population who appear to possibly be immune to Covid, this virus can strike any of us at any time.

In the face of the most real of threats and worries, it is perfectly normal (and healthy) for any of us to be scared. Who hasn’t experienced at least a bit of fear since Covid burst onto the scene?

Creating this card helped me to momentary relax and connect with the fun side of spooky for a few hours.

All the while, never losing sight of the ever-greater poignancy that concepts pertaining to death, the afterlife, and spirits have taken on for many of us over the past couple of years.

Know that whether you, your partner, your child, your parent(s), your sibling(s), or anyone else that you care about is ill or has lost their battle with Covid, my thoughts, heart, and perpetual understanding are with you.

And should you ever need someone to talk to on that front, please remember that I am always just an email away.

Here’s hoping that February is a vastly more positive month for all those who need it to be – and that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t feel quite as speedy. (#wishfulthinking)

On top of the second Valoween project that I will be sharing, I have some really cool content coming down the pipeline in the next few weeks, including an exciting author interview post with one of today’s most beloved + best selling Pagan authors.

So you will certainly want to keep your dial set to Witchcrafted Life as we embrace Imbolc’s return and do our best to stay safe and well all February long.

Have you and/or anyone close to you contracted Covid-19 so far? Do you enjoy the concept of Valoween or are you more a traditional Valentine’s/Galantine’s Day person?  

PS: On a largely unrelated note, earlier this week my browser crashed moments after I had opened up nearly three weeks of recent blog feeds in my feedreader and somehow that ended up marking them all as read and in turn instantly, irretrievably deleting them from my feed (what? how? why?!!! ).

As a result, if I missed commenting on some of your January blog posts (and I normally visit your site), please know that this is the reason why, my dear friends.

Many sincere apologies about that! It is unusual for my computer to freeze or crash (thankfully), even though it is getting on in years at this point.

When it does crash or freeze though, I find that more often than not, this happens so when I am doing something that I don’t want to risk losing or having to start from scratch with (Murphy’s Law all the way).

Oh well! Not a big deal of course, especially in the grander scheme of things – but I did want to mention it here all the same.

The post Hey, Ghoul Friend Adorable Valoween (Spooky Valentine’s Day) Ghost Themed Card appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

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.

In endless dwellings around the globe, preparations for tomorrow’s feast are being planned or started. Stockings, if not already hung (by the chimney with care) will go up before midnight.

Young and old alike turn their eyes skyward, still believing that maybe, just maybe, they’ll catch a glimpse of Santa Claus and his team of reindeer.

Twinkling lights provide a warm ambiance to the cups of eggnog, cut-out sugar cookies, thick slices of classic desserts such as panettone and stollen, festive appetizers, and mugs of hot cocoa that are often heartily consumed throughout the final days of December.

Christmas is upon us and for those who celebrate this holiday – be it religiously or secularly – there is often much to delight in and be thankful for come the return of jolly old St. Nicolas.

I adore the classic elements of Christmas, including its telltale colour palette. The darker, deeper and more old-fashioned the hues involved, the merrier I am.

It was to this timeless holiday season colour scheme that I turned when making the delightful Christmas card and matching Christmas rosette wand featured in today’s post.

Year after year, I never tire of crafting (or decorating our home) with the colours – deep red, dark green, cream, and gold – that these projects feature.

They, along with a few other colours, epitomize the colour scheme of December and never fail to get my creative juices (err, wassail? ) flowing.

Timelessly elegant Christmas Card with Matching Rosette Wand

By the standards of many of the cards I make throughout the year, this festive Christmas greeting is on the smaller side.

Not tiny by any means, but not particularly large either. The reason for that is that I cut the card base with a shaped die and as my Sizzix Big Shot can (like most manual die cutting machines) only accommodate dies up to a certain width.

I have an unceasing dream that one day I will be able to add an electronic die cutting machine that works with larger/wider dies to my craft supply arsenal (say, for example, the magnificent Crafter’s Companion Gemini Machine that cuts up to 9 inches x 12.5 inches – swoon!).

For now, though, my trusty workhorse of a Sizzix Big Shot does the trick for most sizes of dies and I am sincerely grateful that it’s still going strong after nearly five years of frequent use.

Anyhoo, all that to say, given the smaller small size of this card base, I had to scale down the other cardmaking elements involved here accordingly.

Ultimately, I was still able to work with various die cuts, layers, trims, and embellishments, so I didn’t feel like my usual crafting style was comprised or altered.

It was actually the matching Christmas rosette wand that I envisioned in my mind before the card itself took shape. And while I created the card first, I did so thinking about how I wanted the wand to look when all was said and done.

Happily, the two came together splendidly and were scarcely sooner completed than gifted to a very dear friend.

The “love” sentiment on this handmade wand could certainly be used romantically. However, in this case, it is meant instead to capture both the love that many of us have for Christmastime as well as the feelings of platonic love and appreciation shared between good friends the whole year through.

This particular wand – the general style of which is also known as a lollipop wand – does not house an actual paper/cardstock rosette or one made from a cupcake liner, as wands (including the Darkly Romantic Valoween Wand I shared here last February) of this nature frequently do.

Instead, the ruffled “rosette” element comes from the pleated lace that encircles the largest layer of this charming Christmas rosette wand.

I adore making wands. Each time I do so, I am reminded of this fact and find myself feeling tempted to whip one up to accompany most of the cards I create throughout the year.

That doesn’t always happen of course, but I hope to make at least a few fresh new rosette wands in 2022 and to share them, in the process, with all of you.

Naturally, it is too close to Christmas to make many holiday season 2021 craft projects right here and now.

That said, should you wish to get a jump start on next December, alter the sentiments used here to New Year’s appropriate ones, or adapt these general designs for other occasions, read on for a complete list of products used and detailed step-by-step instruction on how to create both of these Christmas papercrafts.

Products used to make both the sophisticated red, green and cream Christmas card and its matching Christmas rosette wand

(Note: When a product has the letters RW – for rosette wand – in brackets after it, that means it is only used on the rosette wand. Where this is not indicated, the product is used either on the card alone or on both projects.)

-Thin chipboard (that can be successfully run through your die cutting machine; RW)

-Smooth or lightly textured cream or ivory cardstock

-Light/pale red cardstock

-Pine, forest, or hunter green cardstock

-Red mirror/metallic cardstock – Scarlet Organza Mirror Cardstock from Tonic Studio

-Gold glitter cardstock – Premium Glittersilk Cardstock from Darice

-Christmas themed cut apart tags – Christmas Gift Tags from Carta Bella

-“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” sentiment piece – Christmas 3”x4” (cut apart) journaling tags from Carta Bella

-Ornate square (or rectangle) shaped frame die set (ideally the largest-sized die in this set should measure at least four inches in both width and height)

-Set of at least two double-layered poinsettia dies (or use two sizes single-layered poinsettia dies, if you don’t have a similar-looking poinsettia die to the one that I used here)

-Decorative (or plain) edged oval die set (RW)

-Ornate spiral (multi-arm, so to speak) die (RW)

-Layered poinsettia die (or a single layer poinsettia die – either works great here)

-Die cut “Love” sentiment piece – Jolie Collection Titles, Tags, and Quotes from Anna Griffin (RW)

-“Merry Christmas” sticker – ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Volume I stickers from Echo Park (RW)

-Pine, forest, or hunter green seam binding (ivory or cream could look really nice here as well)

-Cream or ivory seam binding (RW)

-Gold tinsel trim – Old School Vintage Tinsel Trim from Pink Paislee (RW)

-Cream or ivory ruffled or pleated lace (RW)

-Small cream coloured heart-shaped “pearl” flatback embellishments

-Small gold coloured gems (these ones don’t have a specific product name on them, but are from the Michael’s line, Studio G; RW)

-Kraft (or similar shade) paper drinking straw (RW)

-Glue gun and glue sticks

-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 timelessly elegant Christmas card

Begin by die cutting your card base with cream or ivory cardstock and the largest size of ornate frame die in your die set.

To cut out a card base with a die, fold your card in half and place the die so that the top of it juts out just slightly past the folded area (this helps to ensure that there is an actual fold at the top, not just that you’ve cut out two matching individual die cut shapes).

Leave the card folded, use low-tack washi or drafting tape (or similar) to hold your die in place and run the card base through your machine with both layers remaining folded so that the die will simultaneously cut through the front and back sides of the card.

If you have never cut out a shaped card this way before, practice a time or two with scrap paper to get the hang of it. Once you have done mastered this technique, cutting out shaped cards (and tags, too) this way is usually a breeze.

Cut a piece of dark green cardstock slightly smaller than your card base. Adhere.

Cut a piece of gold glitter cardstock ever-so-slightly smaller than the dark green cardstock layer. Adhere.

Use the second largest die in your nested frame die set to cut a frame from red metallic/mirror cardstock. Adhere to the gold cardstock layer.

From the Carta Bella Christmas Gift Tags paper, cut out two tags that each have a small house illustration on them.

Back each Christmas tag on dark green cardstock and fussy cut around them to leave the slenderest of dark green cardstock borders on all sides.

Using a handheld hole punch, an anywhere hole punch, or an eyelet setting tool that makes holes, punch a hole through the “grommet” section of both cardstock-backed tags.

Thread dark green seam binding (or dark green ribbon, if you don’t have any suitable seam binding) through the holes that you just punched. Tie a single layer bow in each piece of seam binding.

Angle tags so that the top of each one extends out past the edges of the cream card base just a wee bit. Adhere to card base layers.

Next, take the Carta Bella Journaling Tags paper and cut out the “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” sentiment square.

Cut a piece of dark green cardstock ever-so-slightly larger than the sentiment square. Adhere sentiment square to dark green cardstock.

Cut a piece of gold glitter cardstock a touch bigger than the dark green cardstock piece. Adhere dark green cardstock to gold glitter cardstock then attach that gold cardstock to the previous base layers of this handmade Christmas card.

Place two sizes of gold gems around the left side, right side, and top of the circle in which the sentiment itself is written (as shown).

Use light red cardstock and die cut enough shapes so that you have three small and one large six-petaled poinsettia flower bases.

Then use the red metallic/mirror cardstock to cut enough shapes so that you have three small and one large six-petaled poinsettia top layers (these are the open design top piece layers of the poinsettias).

Adhere top layers to bottom layers then assemble poinsettias into six-petaled flowers. Adhere them two small and one large poinsettia to the bottom left-hand side of the central sentiment panel, and one small poinsettia on the upper right-hand side of the central sentiment panel.

Top the two small poinsettias on the bottom left-hand side with gold coloured gems.

Top the large poinsettia and the small poinsettia on the upper right-hand side with cream coloured heart shape pearl flatback charms.

And just like that, you have a sophisticatedly beautiful holiday greeting to share with someone special in your life.

Read on to find out how to make the coordinating Christmas rosette wand.

How to make a timelessly elegant Christmas rosette wand

Start by cutting out one oval-shaped piece of thin chipboard with the largest size of nested oval dies.

Cut two identical pieces of red metallic/mirror cardstock with that exact same die.

Position the kraft coloured paper drinking straw in the bottom center of what will now become the backside of your rosette wand. Adhere it in place with hot glue or another type of very sturdy adhesive.

Once the adhesive for the straw is dry, adhere one of the red ovals you just cut out before the last step to the front and one to the back of the chipboard oval rosette base.

Measure out a length of ruffled cream/ivory lace that will fit around the outer edges of your wand head base.

Adhere lace around the edge of the wand head base, attaching it on the BACK (not the front) of this piece. I used – and recommend using – hot glue here, though a sturdy liquid adhesive would likely work as well.

Measure out a length of gold tinsel trim that will fit flush with the cream/ivory lace that goes around the wand base.

Adhere gold tinsel trim around the entire perimeter edge of the wand head, on the front side of the wand.

Die cut an intricate spiral shape from dark green cardstock (a similar-sized doily die cut would look great here, too). Adhere to red metallic/mirror layer on the front of the wand.

Die cut two identical smaller-sized oval pieces (from the same nested oval die set) from gold glitter cardstock.

Adhere one of these oval pieces to the back of the wand and one to the front.

When giving my paper crafts as gifts, I usually like to include a small tag with a handwritten sentiment such as “Handmade with by Autumn Zenith” on it.

If you wish to do something similar, cut out or use a premade small tag or banner-shaped piece of cardstock. Adhere this tag to the back of the wand (As this is an optional step, I did not include a small tag or banner-shaped die in the supplies list above.)

The back of the wand is now complete. On to the rest of the front!

Take the Anna Griffin “love” sentiment die cut piece and adhere it in the centre of the gold glitter oval.

Next, die cut enough base layers from pale red cardstock, and enough top layers from red metallic/mirror cardstock, to make two small six-petaled poinsettias.

Adhere top and bottom poinsettia layers together and then adhere these flowers to so that one appears on each side of the sentiment piece, as shown.

Top each handmade poinsettia with a cream/ivory coloured “pearl” heart-shaped flatback embellishment.

Adhere the Echo Park “Merry Christmas” banner-shaped sticker near the bottom of the sentiment piece, allowing the edges of this sticker to overlap both poinsettias a little bit.

To determine how much gold tinsel trim you will need to wrap the paper drinking straw, do a test run and arrange the angled placement of the tinsel as desired. Once this has been determined, cut tinsel to that length.

Use a little bit of hot glue (or very strong liquid adhere) to start looping the gold tinsel around the drinking straw. Once you reach the top of the straw (where it meets the head of the wand) hot glue gun the tinsel in place in place beneath the ruffles/folds of the lace.

Use the dark green seam binding to make a single-layer bow with somewhat long tails.

Cut one piece of cream/ivory seam binding and one piece of (the same) dark green seam binding. You can either make the same size as each other, or have one be longer and the other shorter, as you wish.

Fold them in half and attach to the wand base beneath the lace in the center of the wand, as shown.

Lastly, adhere the green seam binding bow you just made to the center of these seam binding “streamers” and top it with a single gold coloured gem embellishment.

I know that it might seem like there is fair number of steps involved with making this elegant Christmas lollipop wand, but I assure you that it came together both easily and fairly quickly for me (under two hours, even with die cutting and assembling the poinsettia factored in).

This wand is filled with the enchanting spirit of the holiday season and can be given as a solo gift on its own or combined with either the matching card or another Christmas card of your choosing.

This rosette wand is a gorgeous (if I may say so myself ) piece that works splendidly as seasonal home décor, too, should you wish to keep it for yourself or make multiples. Retaining and giving them away as you please.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year (or at least one of them )

Not everyone celebrates Christmas and not everybody who does so loves it with all their might.

It should go without saying, but both of those things are 100% okay.

For some, this month houses the observance of a single holiday or sabbat. For others, it may hold multiple special events depending on a person’s beliefs and culture.

Personally, December is home to Yule, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Eve and I really enjoy celebrating each of these special events annually.

For me, fall and Halloween + Samhain is the most wonderful time of the year. That said, I adore and appreciated December’s many special occasions, too (including those, such as Hanukkah and Kwanza, that I do not observe).

They help to make Christmas and Yule time one of the best and most special periods of the whole calendar.

A ton of people who observe Christmas rank it as their favourite holiday – my mom and sister both included.

It is easy to see why. We’re flush not only with the happiness and excitement that can often accompany Christmas itself, but also the anticipation and wide-eyed optimism that January 1^st has a natural ability to instill in a fair number of us.

This really is a magical point in the year and one which never fails to spark happiness, merriment, and nostalgia for both myself and countless others.

To all those celebrating Christmas – or any other December special event – this year, may you have an incredibly safe, cozy, happy, and meaningful holiday season full of all kinds of festive happenings that bring your heart contentment.

The post Timelessly Elegant Christmas Card with Matching Rosette Wand appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

Our respective nations share much in common, though also differ in a number of ways as well (from our political systems to the size of our populations, for example).

A point that falls in between, with certain similarities and notable differences alike is the observation of a day of Thanksgiving.

In this post, I will be sharing with you a vibrantly hued Thanksgiving card that I recently made for someone dear to me whose presence in my life is something I feel immensely thankful for all year round.

First, however, let’s take a quick look at the complex histories of American and Canadian Thanksgiving Days, respectively.

Note: I would like to preface the following discussion by saying that this is a brief and incomplete picture of the history of Thanksgiving in both countries.

There is much more pertaining to both days that is not covered here. I am simply touching on this subject in the context of sharing a handmade fall harvest season card, not to produce a highly detailed overview of a nuanced, multifaceted subject.

Nor am I delving deep into my personal views on Thanksgiving, how I observe it presently, or what this day means to me when viewed through the context of being a Pagan witch.

American Thanksgiving Day gets its start

In the US, this classic holiday traces its roots back to the pilgrims that landed at Plymouth Rock. This journey was a perilous one and not everybody who had boarded the Mayflower in Europe reached the Eastern shores of America alive.

Not long after the surviving passengers and crew of the Mayflower reached what would one day become a nation called America, (possibly) in October 1621, these voyagers shared a meal of Thanksgiving with some of the Wampanoag Natives in the area.

This event is widely considered to be amongst the first days of thanksgiving enacted by European settlers on American soil and from it grew the now centuries-old tradition of setting aside one day a year to feast on fall’s seasonal bounty and give thanks for the blessings in one’s life.

In 1789, Thanksgiving was officially recognized across the newly forged United States of America as an annual day of giving thanks and saying prayers of gratitude.

Thanksgiving floated around across various fall time dates, until, in 1863, President Lincoln declared that the last Thursday in November would be the official annual date for this fall time holiday.

That date stuck, and Thanksgiving has remained a cultural cornerstone of the American experience and calendar alike ever since.

Not everyone embraces Thanksgiving (and that is 100% okay!)

It is important in discussing the subject of Thanksgiving Day to acknowledge and respect the choices of those who opt not to observe this holiday.

The account of the pilgrim’s first Thanksgiving, when it transpired (1621, 1623, or 1637, or example), what was actually being celebrated, and various other factors are called into question by some people. And rightfully so.

The notion of a huge, picturesque feast shared between Native Americans and the pilgrims as it has been envisioned by many in the ensuing centuries is likely a long way off from the reality of what really went down at the meal that would contribute greatly to the day we have long called Thanksgiving.

Tragically, some of the early (and no shortage of subsequent) Europeans who came to what is now the US quickly began invading, bringing disease, stealing land, mistreating, enslaving, and killing local indigenous peoples.

As such, many who eschew or boycott Thanksgiving do so because of the wrongdoings that the pilgrims and other later (primarily) European settlers and their descendants inflicted on North American First Nations peoples for centuries.

This is a wholly valid and very important perspective. I can sincerely understand why Thanksgiving (especially the embellished “sunshine and roses” communal feast origin story of this holiday) does not sit right with everyone.

I believe, however, that it is possible to reclaim this day (or to set aside your own personal day of harvest season celebration) and create a vastly more inclusive holiday that focuses on the positive aspects of gathering and celebrating with loved ones, community members, etc in our lives today. As well as the universal gifts of the harvest season and the role that it plays in helping to support life on this planet.

This is not to gloss over the profoundly important history regarding the despicable treatment of Native American and First Nations people at the hands of Europeans and others over the course of history.

Instead, it opens up the question of if it is possible to evolve Thanksgiving, so to speak, into a day of unity, remembrance, harvest season celebration, and fairness for all.

Some might see that statement as woefully pollyannaish, but I do not feel it necessarily has to be.

The concept of universal peace, tolerance, and respect is one that we as a collective culture still have a long ways to go before we reach.

To my mind, there is little reason why Thanksgiving (or a newly created take on Thanksgiving with fresh origins and motivations) can’t be transformed into a day that focuses all the more on ways that we can each try to make global harmony a possibility.

While, in the process, never forgetting (or, goodness forbid, repeating) the appalling mistreatment of North America’s first peoples.

To this end, since 1970, some people have chosen to observe Thanksgiving as a day of National Mourning.

If you are not familiar with this important occasion, I highly encourage you to learn more about it – including, if possible, by holding space for Native Americans to share their stories, thoughts and feelings pertaining to both Thanksgiving and the broader picture of their history.

A great article to further your understanding of this topic is What Does Thanksgiving Mean to Native Americans on the Native Hope blog.

The origins and history of Canadian Thanksgiving

Up here, north of the 49^th parallel, while the types of foods enjoyed and the themes of fall time, the harvest season, and counting one’s blessings are common to Canadian Thanksgiving as well, our celebration does not share the same pilgrim roots as that our American neighbours.

Nor, interestingly, does it take place on the same day of the year.

In the US, Thanksgiving falls on the last Thursday in November.

Canadian Thanksgiving, however, transpires annually on the second Monday in October (this year it happened on October 11^th).

This date is a holiday in America as well, with Columbus Day also taking place on the 2^nd Monday of October. This turns that date on the calendar into a fall time holiday for both nations.

(Related side note: The latest date that the second Monday in October can fall is the fourteenth and as October 14^th just happens to be my and Tony’s wedding anniversary, every few years our anniversary takes place on Thanksgiving Day.)

Spurred on by the Protestant clergy at the time (who were inspired by America’s tradition of holding a fall time day of thanks), Canada’s first officially recognized Thanksgiving Day took place in 1859.

However, some believe that the origins of a meal and/or day of Thanksgiving stretch back considerably further in Canadian history. Possibly to Martin Frobisher’s arrival in 1578 or to a feast hosted by none other than Samuel de Champlain on November 14, 1606 (at which some male members of the Mi’kmaq People were in attendance).

Initially, during the 19^th century, Canadian Thanksgiving was intended by the church leaders who advocated for it as a day to collectively recognize and give thanks for the mercies and blessings of God.

Even at the time though, not everyone was wild about this merging of church and state (in the sense of the soon-to-be nation of Canada declaring a holiday, outside of Christmas and Easter that is, with such strong religious undertones).

Nevertheless, Canadian Thanksgiving caught on quite quickly, with observers simply including (or not) the degree of religion into the equation that aligned with their personal beliefs.

Following Confederation, the first Thanksgiving to be observed in the fledgling nation of Canada took place not in the summer or fall months that correspond with the harvest season, but rather on April 5, 1872.

In that same year, Thanksgiving was declared a national civic holiday, rather than a religious one.

A few days later, in 1879, Thanksgiving was moved to the first week of November to correspond with the harvest season as well as various anniversaries pertaining to the British monarchy.

For quite some time afterward, Canadian Thanksgiving would bounce around in terms of when it fell. Occurring, at one point, as late in the year as December 6^th.

As the 19^th century progressed and melded into the early 20^th century, the newly formed (in 1867) nation of Canada quickly began to expand ever westward. This included settling and establishing a thriving agricultural trade in the prairie provinces.

In doing so, Canada soon began growing a great deal of wheat, oats and various other grains, with large crops of additional classic fall foods such as apples, pears, grapes, carrots, potatoes, and corn being successfully raised in various parts of the country.

It is safe to say that the identity Canada took on as being one of the world’s biggest grain suppliers helped to further cement Thanksgiving as a harvest season event in this country.

In the wake of WWI, it was decided that Thanksgiving and Armistice Day (which was introduced in 1919) would be celebrated together on the first Monday in the week that houses November 11^th.

However, in order to accord the recognition deserving of those Canadians who had participated in the Great War, by the early 1930s, November 11^th had been designated solely as Remembrance Day.

Thanksgiving did not vanish when that happened. Instead, it held on and was bumped back a month to October.

It was not, however, until as recently as 1957, that Parliament officially proclaimed the second Monday in October as being “a day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.”

Despite the religious wording used, once again, Canadian Thanksgiving remained open to celebration by those of all faiths/beliefs and has long been viewed primarily as a civic holiday that honours the bountiful crops and wonderful harvest season that occurs across Canada each autumn.

As well as serving – just as with Thanksgiving in America – as a time when many people gather together with friends, relatives, neighbours, coworkers, members of clubs and groups they belong to, or anyone else they desire to share a delicious fall time meal on this holiday.

In the primarily French-speaking province of Quebec, Thanksgiving is called Action de grâce. And while observed by some, interestingly, this holiday has not been embraced by many Quebecois to the same degree that it has been across much of the rest of Canada.

As with the festive feast that often accompanies Thanksgiving, another element of this annual event that I eagerly look forward to is the making of harvest season and Thanksgiving Day cards for some of the special people in my life that I am grateful for.

Naturally, I’m not alone on this front and many a paper crafter enjoys creating Thanksgiving cards to exchange in person or zip through the post to loved ones near and far.

Humbly, the card shared in today’s post is amongst my very favourite Thanksgiving Day greetings that I have created over the years and I have been champing at the bit to share it here with you since the moment it was completed.

Warm colours of fall flower and leaf adorned “feeling thankful” Thanksgiving card

Being that we are a northerly nation with a real proclivity for winter weather, I have long felt that it makes a great deal of sense that Canadian Thanksgiving falls in the first half of October.

Nevertheless, plenty of us have experienced snowy Thanksgiving Days here in Canada. As a whole though, in most parts of the country, the relentless grip of wintertime proper has not taken complete hold yet at that point in time.

It was to the jaw-droppingly gorgeous days of September and October, when the leaves were at their most spectacular in our area and the local crops were being harvested, that I turned to for both the colour palette and overall inspiration of this card.

A card that, while not as in-your-face Halloweeny as say, this one, is fully autumnal and has enough fall time charm for it to easily classify as a #MakeHalloween365 project.

As such, it is my #MakeHalloween365 share for this month.

We live in a rural farming community and while not farmers ourselves, we love to experience and give thanks for the local bounty that springs forth annually from this region of British Columbia – and elsewhere in the country, too.

Tapping into the theme of harvest season on the farm, I included a piece of Carta Bella paper with a charming vintage pickup truck print on it.

The other side of that very same piece of paper offered up a beautiful orange and white plaid print that worked terrifically for the card design I had in mind. These two patterns serve as the only prints on this card.

This was done intentionally to let the rich, autumnal-hued cardstocks and bevy of fall leaves and blooms take center stage.

Quite a lot of people grow mums and sunflowers around these parts and late-season roses are by no means unheard of either.

These enchanting flowers, coupled with the breathtaking fall leaves with which Mother Nature paints our landscape each fall inspired the blooms and foliage here.

It is safe to say that in some parts of the world, including both Canada and America, no other vegetable is quite as closely linked to fall time as pumpkins.

Thus, I decided to sprinkle a few adorable 3D Mini Pumpkins from Tim Holtz amidst the fall leaves and flowers on my card.

These darling little pumpkins not only serve to further represent the fall harvest, they also echo the illustrated pumpkins nestled into the beds of the pickup trucks on the Carta Bella paper.

The two-word sentiment of “Feeling Thankful” might not be the longest greeting ever, but it accurately conveys how I feel about the person this card is destined for.

If you would like to create a similar-looking harvest season (to say nothing of autumn birthdays, anniversaries, thinking of you, missing you, just because, etc) card, you can find a list of supplies and detailed step-by-step instructions to do just that below.

Products used to make this charming, multi-layered fall harvest season card

-Dark brown cardstock, terracotta cardstock,

-Matte gold cardstock

-(Fairly pale hued) kraft cardstock – Kraft Cardstock from Carta Bella

-Orange plaid + fall pickup truck print paper (both sides of the same sheet of printed paper) – Hello Fall Great Harvest paper from Carta Bella

-Oval nested dies

-Small leaf dies (or a background style die that cuts out multiple leaves)

-Flower border rectangular die (any suitable rectangle die can be used here)

-Decorative edge scissors – Victorian decorative edge scissors from Fiskars

-“Feeling Thankful” sentiment sticker – Autumn by Steven Duncan Elements Stickers from Carta Bella

-Diamond print stamp – Diamon Pattern Play Clear Photopolymer Stamp from Altenew

-Dark brown ink – Acorn Archival Ink from Ranger

-(Second type of) Dark brown ink – Memento Dew Drop Rick Cocoa Ink from Tsukineko

-Mini plastic embellishments – Mini Pumpkins from Tim Holtz Idea-ology

-Orange mini paper roses (from Dollarama)

-Sunflower/Black-eyed Susan style fabric flowers (from Dollarama)

-Dusty orange coloured fabric flower – Fall Floral Accent 635169 from Michael’s (fall seasonal décor)

-Red and yellow felt leaves (fall seasonal décor item from Dollarama)

-Metallic gold stiff cardstock leaves – Christmas Belle Fleur Leaves from Prima Marketing

-Two sizes of orangey-peach coloured adhesive pearls (or similar flatback pearls that you adhere yourself)

-Glue gun and glue sticks

-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 beautiful country farm-inspired fall time card

Begin by making a card base from kraft cardstock (cream, ivory, and pale brown cardstock would all work nicely here as well).

Cut, by hand, four small, equal-sized triangles of matte gold cardstock. Position and adhere them slightly inward from all four corners of the card base.

Cut a piece of terracotta (dark reddish-orange) cardstock slightly smaller than the dimensions created by the matte gold cardstock. Adhere to your card base.

Using the decorative “Victorian” edge scissors, cut a piece of dark brown cardstock slightly smaller than the terracotta cardstock (if you wish, you can distress this piece of cardstock a bit before adhering it). Adhere to the terracotta cardstock base.

Cut a piece of the same kraft cardstock that you use for the card base. Using Acorn Archival Ink from Ranger, stamp the Diamon Pattern Play Clear Photopolymer Stamp from Altenew. Adhere this piece of cardstock to the dark brown cardstock layer.

Die cut an oval-shaped piece of matte gold cardstock, adhering it in the middle of the previous layer (as you can see in the photos, only a small portion of this matte gold cardstock layer is visible in the completed card design, so you could just cut a portion of an oval, if you wished to conserve cardstock).

Using the decorative “Victorian” edge scissors, cut a rectangle of terracotta cardstock. Adhere horizontally across the middle of the card base layers.

Die cut a flower design rectangle piece from the white and orange side of the Hello Fall Great Harvest paper from Carta Bella. Ink edges of this piece with Memento Dew Drop Rick Cocoa Ink from Tsukineko (or the Ranger Acorn Ink used earlier; objectively, there’s no need for two different dark brown inks here, so long as one of them works well for stamping) and adhere to the white and orange plaid layer.

Cut a somewhat smaller (than the previous layer) piece from the fall farm truck print side of the Hello Fall Great Harvest paper from Carta Bella. Ink edges of this piece with dark brown ink. Adhere to the white and orange plaid layer.

Cut (by hand) two small triangles of matte gold cardstock to use as photo corners on the top and bottom right-hand sides of the fall farm truck print paper. Adhere to that layer (the other two corners will be hidden by the flower and leaf cluster you’ll soon be making, so do not require photo corners of their own).

Die cut a small oval from terracotta cardstock. Freehand cut a curve-top-shaped sign/rectangle-shaped piece from dark brown cardstock (or use a similar shaped die, if you happen to have one) and die cut small fall leaves from it.

Top that dark brown cardstock piece with the “Feeling Thankful” sentiment sticker from Carta Bella.

Adhere the dark brown cardstock piece to the terracotta cardstock oval, attaching the latter to the fall farm truck print paper.

Next, attach three smaller (of the two sizes) orangey-peach coloured pearls to the top left and bottom righthand sides of the dark brown layer of cardstock that sits atop the orange plaid base layer.

Adhere a few of the slightly large size of peachy-orange pearls on the points of the diamonds on the stamped kraft cardstock layer.

Next, using the photos throughout this post as a guide, assemble a selection of vibrantly coloured felt fall leaves, fabric and paper flowers, and gold Prima Marketing leaves. Attach all of these components on the lower left-hand side of the card using hot glue or a strong liquid adhesive (such as E6000).

There you have it, one cheerful fall time greeting that suits Thanksgiving Day to a tee. And which could easily be used for a wide range of other harvest season occasions and events (including the Pagan sabbats of Lammas and Mabon) as well.

The world needs a universal day of Thanksgiving

Days of giving thanks – whether they pertain to the fall (or spring, south of the equator) harvest season or not – far predate the origins of both Canadian and American Thanksgiving.

People across the globe have often celebrated successful harvests with merriment, coming together as a community, and feasting for, if not since time immemorial, then at least since many early peoples adopted a more agrarian way of living.

It is likely that harvest season celebrations date further back still, reflecting successful harvests, so to speak, of forged and/or hunted foodstuffs.

Far fewer of us are solely dependant on collecting and storing all of our own food in the 21st century and, as a result, days of harvest season thanksgiving are not quite as widespread as they likely were for many of our ancestors.

Personally, I have long felt that we need a global day or two of Thanksgiving (i.e., one for the Northern Hemisphere, another for the Southern Hemisphere) that embraces the shifting seasons and acts as a time to reflect on what we are currently grateful for in our lives.

In saying that, I readily acknowledge that food availability/abundance is, heartbreakingly, far from a universal given. As such, that particular element of a universal Thanksgiving Day would need to be addressed.

Ideally, those nations with an abundance would share with others who needed a food supply boost.

Looking beyond the large meal so often connected to times of Thanksgiving, this day could have universal elements of gratitude and celebrating the shifting seasons.

Be it fall or spring, these chapters of the year are incredibly beautiful. Certain elements of nature are retiring, dying, or going into hibernation for a few months, but there is still so much vitality, beauty, and wonder to be had in these seasons.

Whether a universal Thanksgiving Day ever comes to be, I hope that the fall time stirs happiness in your heart, helps to remind you of the many blessings in your life, and brings a deep sense of inner contentment your way.

At Lammas and Mabon, as well as both Canadian and American Thanksgiving, I make a point of counting my blessings.

Big or small, short-term, long-term or perpetual, I know that even on the very roughest days of my life, I have an infinite number of things to be grateful for and strive to acknowledge them to the best of my abilities.

Coming together with loved ones for Thanksgiving and other autumn gatherings is one of my favourite ways to do just that. Creating and giving lovely Thanksgiving/fall harvest cards is another.

The true history of Thanksgiving Day may not always be clear and what this date means to those in the 21^st century will, understandably, differ a good deal from person to person.

Beyond the actual holiday of Thanksgiving itself, fall is one of the most incredible seasons.

As the year winds down, we can reflect on how far we have come in 2021 – as well as over the course of our lives. In addition to centring our thoughts on the history (good, bad, and truly horrific) of our ancestors and others who populated the lands many of us now call home.

Let us give thanks for the blessings in our lives, for the progress we have made beyond some of the darker chapters of world history, and for the leaps and bounds forward that will hopefully continue to occur as new pages are written in the history book of humanity.

To Canada’s American neighbours who observe Thanksgiving this month, may you have a safe, beautiful, happy celebration.

And to those who observe a day of mourning or otherwise consciously opt-out of Thanksgiving Day (be it Canadian or American), please know that you and the stances you take are seen, acknowledged, and wholly valid as well.

The post Warm Colours of Fall Thanksgiving Card & a Brief Look at the History of both Canadian and American Thanksgiving appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

For example, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Christmas – to name but a few.

However, for all the candy, cakes, pies, cookies and so forth both created at home and sold commercially for those events, perhaps no other day of the year is more connected to sugary eats than Halloween.

(In those countries and amongst those individuals who observe All Hallows’ Eve, that is.)

When you think of sweet foods and Halloween, what springs to mind first for you?

Miniature candy bars? Toffee apples? Lollipops? Marshmallows? Candy Corn? Festively shaped sugar cookies? Gummy sweets? Caramel Corn? Pumpkin spice cupcakes?

There are no right or wrong answers here. The foods – be they sweet or savoury – that you associate with October 31^st are apt to include certain widely popular choices as well as those that are more unique and personal to each of us, our families, and the culinary traditions that we hold dear.

While ice cream may not be the first sugary delight that leaps out at you when you think of Halloween (or perhaps it is – in which case, chances are we’ll be fast friends! ), there’s no saying this beloved dessert can’t be a part of your October 31^st feast.

Assuming, of course, that one enjoys and can safely eat ice cream (be it dairy, nut milk, coconut milk, soy milk, oat milk, rice milk, frozen banana, etc based).

Living in an area where snow on, or prior to, Halloween is by no means unheard of, ice-cold treats aren’t always my family’s first pick.

However, we have reached for this delicious dessert some years – especially those Halloweens that were a touch warmer.

The flavour commonly known as “Tiger Tail” – a mix of orange and black licorice flavoured ice creams swirled together in the same container – being one of our faves due to its festive colour palette.

The web abounds with tons of fun, creative, and lip-lickingly scrumptious fall and Halloween ice cream recipes.

If you are a fellow ice creamoholic (or are simply in the mood for some ice cream this month), I highly recommend seeking some of them out.

I enjoy a great dessert as much as the next person, but have never had the biggest sweet tooth. Instead, generally opting for the savour/salty option if presented with a food from each camp.

That said, I have a perpetual passion for ice cream that nothing – not even two decades and counting of extensive medically necessitated dietary restrictions – can diminish.   

As the long-standing fondness for ice cream across the globe clearly proves, I am by no means alone on this front.

A lovely online friend of mine has mentioned a time or two about how much she madly adores ice cream as well and that got me thinking…

Or, I should say, that got the hand crank on the old-fashion style ice cream maker that is my imagination churning.

Why not make and send her an ice cream themed Halloween card?

I have to say, I fell in love with this idea the moment it struck me and am delighted with how my vision for a Halloween ice cream card came to fruition.

Adorably Spooky “You’re Sweet” Halloween Ice Cream Cone Card

Presently, I can’t claim to have a lot of ice cream related products in my paper crafting stash.

However, I knew that I had a cute little ice cream cone die that would be the perfect fit for the card design that was brewing in my head.

I began by die cutting several scoops of ice cream from various papers in a 6”x6” paper pad from Pebbles called Thirty One, and went with some gorgeous coppery-brown coloured glitter paper for the cone itself.

Aside from how nicely it colour coordinates with the festive Halloween print papers, I specifically selected this colour of cardstock so that the die cut ice cream cone would better resemble a waffle cone.

At first, I thought I would top the cone with a traditional cherry. I quickly realized though, that I don’t appear to have a cherry die or punch in my stash. (Strange, really, as I adore cherries and items depicting them.)

No sooner had I discovered that point than the idea of placing a wee little jack-o-lantern pumpkin “cherry” atop the scoops hit me.

I used my tiniest jack-o-lantern die, cutting the shape from black cardstock and backing its facial features with the same copper coloured glitter cardstock (from which I also freehand cut the shape of a cherry stem).

The friend that I posted this card off to is a really kind, terrific person for whom the description “sweet” applies in spades.

As such, I dug around through my Halloween papers to find a sentiment that would convey both that message and tie into the inherent sweetness of ice cream itself.

Various layers of cardstock and paper, two different trims, and a quartet of pretty little pearlized white heart embellishments joined my All Hallows’ Eve themed ice cream cone to create the card featured in this post.

It was a ton – and I mean an absolute ton – of fun to create this delightfully spooky season greeting for my very sweet friend.

I hope that receiving it will be the cherry on her October – and likewise hope that you will give making your own Halloween ice cream card a go as well.

Products used to make this super cute Halloween ice cream card

-Black cardstock

-Grey kraft cardstock – Grey Kraft Cardstock from Recollections

-Dark orange/terracotta cardstock

-Cream/ivory coloured vellum – Ivory Vellum from Paper Reflections

-Copper coloured glitter cardstock – Heavyweight Glitter Cardstock from Darice

-Dangling spider print paper – Spook Hill 8”x8” paper pad from Recollections

-All other patterned papers used throughout this project – Thirty One 6”x6” paper pad from Pebbles

-“You’re Sweet” cut apart sentiment – Midnight Hauntings Midnight Sentiments paper from Pebbles

-Ice cream cone die

-Dotted edge oval die

-Elegant border edge die

-Flat (non-3D) bow die

-Tiny jack-o-lantern die (alternatively, you can die cut, punch out, or hand-cut a small circle shaped piece instead and draw or carefully cut out a jack-o-lantern face on it)

-Decorative edge scissors – Sunflower decorative edge scissors from Fiskars

-Black ink pad – Wicked Black Archival Dye Ink Pad from Color Box

-Orange and pale grey trim (from Michael’s unbranded line of budget-friendly products)

-Cream/ivory crochet trim – Cotton Lace Trim Ivory 2 from MultiCraft

-Small white pearlized plastic flatback 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 this darling Halloween ice cream cone card

Begin by making a card base from black cardstock (charcoal grey would work really nicely here, too).

Top your card base with a slightly small sized piece of grey kraft (or any medium grey) cardstock, destressing the edges on all sides. Adhere to card base.

Using decorative edge scissors (in this case “Sunflower” from Fiskars), cut out a piece of copper coloured glitter cardstock slightly smaller than the grey cardstock layer. Attach to grey cardstock.

Die cut two elegant border/edge pieces from dark orange or terracotta cardstock. Adhere one die cut border near the top of the card and another near the bottom, as shown.

Slightly layer pieces of both cream and orange + grey trim on both the top and bottom die cut border pieces. Adhere in place with sturdy adhesive.

From the Pebbles Thirty One 6”x6” paper pad, cut a piece of swirling grey and black patterned paper and adhere it in the center of the card design so that the orange + grey trim just ever-so-slightly overlaps on this layer. Adhere to previous layers.

Cut a piece of black cardstock the length of your card base. Distress the edges and adhere over all previous layers.

Top this with a piece of dangling spider print paper from the Spook Hill 8”x8” paper pad.

Die cut an oval from cream/ivory vellum and adhere it slightly off-centre on the righthand side of the dangling spider print paper.

Next, die cut your ice cream cone from glittery copper cardstock and your scoops of ice cream from various Halloween print papers. Ink the edges of the scoop with black ink.

Assemble your ice cream cone so that the scoops are slightly, playfully crocked. Adhere layers together and then adhere your ice cream cone to the dangling spider print paper layer.

Create a tiny jack-o-lantern “cherry” from black cardstock, backing it with copper glitter cardstock. Use the same copper glitter cardstock to die cut or hand cut a stem for the cherry.

Cut out the “You’re Sweet” sentiment. Mat it with a layer of copper glitter cardstock and a layer of grey kraft cardstock. Distress the edges of the grey cardstock layer.  

Adhere layers together and attach your sentiment at an angle over top of the vellum oval piece.

Die cut a flat (aka, not 3D) bow out twice. Once from black cardstock and once from dark orange or terracotta cardstock.

Stack and slightly offset the die cut bows so that the black creates the sense of a shadow behind the orange bow.

Adhere both bows together and then to your card. Top the bow with a small white pearlized heart embellishment.

Place four more of the same tiny heart embellishments around the corners of the swirling black and grey patterned paper piece that you have previously attached.

And just like that, you’re wonderfully sweet Halloween ice cream cone card is complete.

Be forewarned, much as with the real dessert that inspired this festive greeting, you may be tempted to go back for (aka, make) seconds, thirds, and so forth of this darling spooky season greeting.

Don’t be afraid to outside of the box when making Halloween cards

No one loves the classic images, themes, and colours of Halloween more than this ghoul. Sometimes though, it can also be highly enjoyable to think beyond the usual ideas and come up with something really unique and cool (ice cream pun intended).

Have a look at your paper crafting stash. What products could you use for Halloween that are not typically (or overtly) associated with October 31^st?

Let your imagination run wild, try something new out, and embrace the fun of All Hallows’ Eve via your cards, tags, scrapbook pages, and more this autumn.

Just about any theme or idea is fair game when paper crafting and that certainly applies to your Halloween project as well.

There is a palpable excitement and heady, incredible energy to the final days of October.

I cherish this point in the year and feel more fortunate than ever (especially as the pandemic rages on) to experience another Halloween season.

A single week now stands between us and the 31^st.

You can bet your favourite Halloween decoration that I will be focusing as much of my time and energy as possible on all things sweetly spooky, spine-chillingly macabre, and nostalgically festive during these seven magnificent days.

Just as I know many of you will be as well.

Go, team #MakeHalloween365!!!

This Halloween, why not start a new tradition by including ice cream – be it the real deal or a cone whipped up in papercraft form – in your October 31^st happenings?

May your Halloween countdown week be sweeter than all the ice cream and festive candy in the world, dear friends – here’s to celebrating and delighting in the magic and marvellousness of this incredible point in the year!

PS: If you want to go all-in on celebrating with ice cream this October, you could always whip up a thoroughly delightful DIY Ice Cream Sunday Halloween costume.

The post Adorably Spooky “You’re Sweet” Halloween Ice Cream Cone Card appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

Though young at the time (to paraphrase what Mary Sanderson says to her sister Winifred in the movie Hocus Pocus, I was a mere sping of a girl, clocking in at just 19 years old), I had already been involved in a couple of serious relationships and done some general dating by that point in my life.

One of those relationships was a horrific, abuse-filled multi-year nightmare from which I was genuinely lucky to escape with my life (and after which that ex stalked me for years).

I vowed that I would never allow anyone to treat me like that again – especially as I knew all along that what he was doing was stupendously wrong and that I did not deserve to be treated in such a deplorable manner.

No one, regardless of gender or any other factor, should ever be treated in any of the ways this person inflicted abuse and literal torture on me.

Thankfully, the ensuing relationships I would have were infinitely healthier, happier, and filled with respect. They did not pan out in the long run for various reasons, but even when I cared deeply for the other person, that didn’t phase me too much.

I saw so much of my life before me still, I was very focused on coping with the fact that in my late teens my health took a massive nosedive as I rapidly developed one severe chronic illness after another (I fully believe the abusive relationship I was in coupled with a severely traumatic, stressful, and also abusive childhood played a notable role in the swift decline of my health at such a young age), and honestly revelled in being single.

As a shy, extremely introverted person who had so much to heal to and move forward from before I’d even hit my 20^th birthday, finding Mr. Right – or even Mr. Right Now was lightyears away from the top of my priority list.

And yet…

Sometimes, no matter what we may think we do or do not need, the universe in its infinite wisdom has other plans.

In March 2004, as I was recovering at home mere days after a pretty substantial surgery for one of my medical conditions, my husband and I met online.

A lifelong fascination with and pull towards the Emerland Isle coupled with the fact I’m a passionate snail mail writer, led me to search for online pen pal websites in Ireland.

One such site was a combination pen pal and dating site (with members free to focus on one or both of those areas, as they desired).

Though a native son of Italy, the man who I would go on to marry (aka, Tony), had come to Ireland a few months prior to that point in time for a job in Dublin.

A naturally outgoing (he’s a total ambivert), friendly type and a huge romantic, Tony had joined the very same website as well and it wasn’t long before our paths crossed there.

As I like to say, it was pretty much love at first email.

We corresponded through online messages, which quickly progressed to phone calls and Skyping (this being long before services like Zoom entered the picture), and then to me boarding a plane to visit Tony in Ireland for nearly two months during the summer of 2004.

We hit it off all the more in person; our love deepening, our awareness and appreciation for one another expanding by the day, and our connection fusing with each beat of our young hearts. (Tony, I should note, was 23 at the time.)

Tony proposed to me during our visit and even though we knew that from an immigration standpoint things would be tricky for us once we wed, that did not deter us from setting our big date.

We were both broke as all get out, neither of us came from families with financial means, and we didn’t feel like we needed a big wedding at all. The latter point helped with the first two a good deal, let me tell you!

Given that we were living on opposite sides of the Atlantic, we planned to wed within a matter of months and to do so here on Canadian soil.

Come October 2004, we did just that when we tied the knot in a very small civil ceremony wedding that was held in the living room of the house my mom and (now) ex-step-dad were living at the time.

Blissfully in love and excited to start our lives together, and having determined that it would be vastly easier for us initially if I moved to Ireland (instead of Tony moving to Canada at the time) that is exactly what I did.

I sold or gave away nearly all of my worldly goods, taking just what could fit in two average-sized suitcases, my purse, and a camera bag.

We remained in Ireland for a couple of years before a true stroke-of-luck job offer led Tony to a position with one of the Canadian branches of an international IT company. The good fortune involved there is something that I still frequently think about and give immense thanks for to this day.

In the years that would follow, we went through the lengthy and, at times, very stressful immigration process that would eventually lead to Tony becoming a Canadian citizen in June 2012.

Now, you may be wondering why I’m telling you all of them at the start of a project share post.

The reason, dear friends, is that tomorrow is my and Tony’s 17^th wedding anniversary and the card featured herein is the one that I made for him to celebrate this joyful event.

Enchanting Blackbird, Full Moon, and Flower Wreath “I Thank My Lucky Stars For You” Anniversary Card

Tony, a fellow lover of autumn, and I both big fans of nighttime, just as we are birds (and animals) in general.

Partner that with the colour palette of dark blues and blacks that I’m vibing on big time this fall (as mentioned in my recent Chicly Spooky Multi-Window Halloween Ghost Shaker Card post), plus the fact that I had been champing at the bit to use this cute-than-cute bird die that came as a free gift with an issue of Cardmaking & Paper Craft magazine, and it wasn’t long before the design for this card materialized.

While we didn’t exchange wedding vows on the 31^st of this month, the fact that we were married little more than a couple of weeks before Halloween has always linked the two events closely in our minds.

I wanted to channel this point as well and opted for a card design that while not as overtly All Hallows’ Eve-ish as, say, a gaggle of ghosts or field of grinning jack-o-lanterns, could easily have been a Halloween card if the sentiment was changed to one that suited October 31^st.

Objectively, even as it stands now, this could be a Halloween card. There are numerous people that I would happily express this same sentiment to during the spookiest chapter of the year.

To highlight the card’s heart-touching sentiment, I used two different night sky print papers (one from Echo Park, the other from Ella & Viv), as well as a charming star flourish die that I madly adore.

A number of gorgeous, whip-smart ravens call the evergreen trees in our backyard home and we both delight in seeing these corvid friends all year round.

Thus, I went with a black-coloured bird for the sweet avian that I included on this greeting. It might look more like a blackbird, but I’m calling it a raven.

I used a pair of my beloved decorative edge scissors here to give some layers here the look of a postage stamp. This was a nod to the humble email and snail mail beginnings of my and Tony’s relationship.

(Even with all the awesome advancements over the years with paper punches and die cutting machines, I still adore and frequently used decorative edge scissors. Are you a fan as well?)

A wreath of pleated ribbon, tiny velvet flowers, and more star flourishes encircles the precious birdie as it branches on a slender grey branch.

This wreath symbolizes both the unity of our love and commitment to one another, as well as our wedding rings themselves.

I am elated with how this anniversary card for my darling husband turned out and hope that Tony will love it as well.

If you’d like to make a similar greeting for someone in your life that you are especially grateful for or if you wish to adapt the design for another reason/occasion, read on for the materials and how-to steps involved with this charming evening sky filled card.

Products used to make an enchantingly elegant blackbird, starry sky, and full moon card

-White and yellow cardstock

-Medium and medium-dark grey cardstock

-Pale greyish-aqua and dark grey cardstock – Cool Neutrals 12”x12” cardstock pack from Craft Smith (Michael’s brand)

-Matte black mirror cardstock – Black Velvet Mirror Cardstock from Tonic Studio

-Multi-colour star print paper – Summer Adventure Count The Stars paper from Echo Park

-Full moon print paper – Full Moon Night Sky paper from Ella & Viv

-Circle die

-Star flourish/shooting star die

-Small-sized bow die

-Bird die and branch die (both from) – Little Birdies stamp and die set (gift) from Issue 216 of Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine

-Decorative edge scissor – Mini Pinking Paper Edgers Scissors from Fiskars

-“I Thank My Lucky Stars For You” sentiment stamp – Stargazing Stamp Set from Stampin’ Up!

-Black ink pad – Jet Black Archival Ink from Ranger

-White gel pen – Uniball White Gel Pen from Signo

-Black pen – Pigma Micron 0.35mm Black Pen from Sakura

-Mini black and grey velvet ribbon flowers with white pearl centers (I got these quite a while ago; possibly on Etsy)

-Mini red ribbon flowers with clear rhinestone centers (from Ali Express)

-Ruffled black ribbon trim

-Glue gun and glue sticks

-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 cute blackbird and night sky themed card

Begin by making a white card base. Cut a piece of medium-dark grey cardstock slightly smaller than the card base. Trim all edges of this piece with the Mini Pinking decorative edge scissors (or any pinking scissors/shears of your choice) and adhere to the card base.

Cut a piece of pale greyish-aqua coloured cardstock slightly smaller than the previous layer and adhere to the medium-dark grey layer.

Next, cut a piece of Summer Adventure Count The Stars paper from Echo Park slightly smaller than the previous layer and adhere it to the greyish-aqua cardstock.

Using a basic circle die (or a circle stencil; you could also trace a circle around the bottom of an object, such as a small plate or a vase) cut out the portion of the Full Moon Night Sky paper from Ella & Viv that includes the glowing full moon.

Using black ink, stamp the -“I Thank My Lucky Stars For You” sentiment stamp from Stampin’ Up!’s Stargazing stamp set on top of the full moon portion of the Ella and Viv paper.

Die cut a circle of greyish-aqua paper and a slightly larger circle of dark grey cardstock. Adhere these two layers together, then top with (adhere) the full moon print circle of paper on top of these layers.

Adhere a border of black ruffled trim on the back of the dark grey cardstock base layer.

Next, adhere this sentiment layer stack to your card base using foam/dimensional adhesive (or hot glue).

Die cut four yellow star flourishes, two black mirror cardstock star flourishes, and two dark grey star flourishes.

Layer and adhere two yellow and two black star flourishes together in pairs, as shown. Adhere diagonally in the upper left and lower righthand sides of the card.

Layer and adhere two yellow and dark grey star flourishes together. Arrange and adhere on the “wreath” of black ruffled ribbon surrounding the sentiment piece.

Adhere (using hot glue or another suitable strong adhesive) two grey, two black, and one red mini ribbon flower to the same wreath area of the design.

Die cut two bows from black mirror card, using grey-ish aqua cardstock for the knot-shaped portion of the bows.

Assemble the bows and adhere them on the top and bottom of the wreath, as shown in the photos.

Die cut a branch-shaped piece from light grey cardstock. Adhere on the righthand side of the wreath, as shown.

Die cut a bird from black mirror cardstock, using yellow cardstock for its beak and light or medium grey cardstock for its legs. Assemble and adhere the bird together. Back the bird’s eye area with white or light grey cardstock

Use a white gel pen to add highlights here and there on the blackbird, if desired. Use a tiny tipped black pen or marker to make a tiny pupil on the bird’s eye.

Adhere the bird atop the die cut branch using foam/dimensional adhesive.

And there you have it, one seriously cute blackbird and night sky-themed card is now ready to give to anyone in your life that you thank your own lucky stars for.

Two radically different anniversaries

Twelve years into our life together, on the literal eve of our 12^th wedding anniversary (October 13, 2016), Tony and I experienced the biggest challenge we have ever come up against as a couple: The loss of our home, belongings, and beloved cat (Stella) in an arson house fire.

(If you would like to read more about that profoundly challenging event, you can do so in this Get to Know Me post and in a recent entry here about some of My Favourite Pre-fire Halloween Scrapbook Pages and Cards.)

I did not know back in early 2004 that before the year was over, I would not only met the man I was destined to spend my life with, but marry him a few short months later.

Who could have imagined that a combination of the universe and the internet would bring us together? (Especially since online dating was still something of a new and even eyebrow-raising topic at the time.)

This point and the gratitude that I hold in my heart for the elements that led our paths to cross is what inspired me to use the sentiment that I did on this year’s wedding anniversary card for Tony.  

Likewise, not a single day has passed since the fire when I (we) have not been immeasurably grateful to, and for, everyone who has supported, helped, encouraged, loved, cared about, grieved with, and otherwise been there for us since that fateful night exactly five years ago.

Words could never fully do justice to the gratitude that we have for each person who expressed kindness to us in any form.

It was, really and truly, the bedrock upon which we were able to begin piecing our world together again.

Tony and I grew even closer, our relationship strengthened all the more, and we became each other’s rocks in greater ways than ever in the face of this life-changing tragedy.

When we had virtually nothing material left in the world, when we were homeless, when we went through a series of stressful short-term housing arrangements, when we cried and mourned, and when we began to heal, we were there for each other.

Something like this could have easily torn some couples asunder. Mercifully, that was not the case for us.

There were brutally tough times, of course, and very little in our world was sunshine and roses in the first couple of years post-fire. We were committed though both to one another and to rebuilding our lives again from the ground up.

It wasn’t easy, but the job was made lighter by sharing the work and emotions involved between two people.

These days, while we continue to feel the ramifications of the fire in various ways and are still recovering + rebuilding on certain fronts, we have come an incredibly long way from where we were half a decade ago.

No one has the ability to know what tomorrow holds in store. I never imagined I would find true love at 19 or that, at age 32, I would stand there and watch as the home we had worked so hard to achieve and thrive in burnt to the ground.

I cannot predict tomorrow or what other challenges we may face, but I know – I absolutely know in the furthest reaches of my soul – that so long as Tony and I are each drawing breath, we will tackle them together.

Hand in hand, heart in heart.

And for that, and so much more, I thank my lucky stars every day.

The post Enchanting Blackbird, Full Moon, and Flower Wreath “I Thank My Lucky Stars For You” Anniversary 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.

Of course, most of us are wild for a sizable array of techniques and products and it would likely not be feasible to include all of them in just one make.

Sometimes though, a project is able to house quite a few of your favourites and the end result is a card (or layout, mini album, tag, etc) that you not only love, but which has an innate ability to feel perfectly in line with your present crafting style.

The cheery and charming springtime card featured in this post is precisely one of those projects for me.

Ample layers and embellishments? Check!

A shaker element? Check!

Distress, inking, and general shabby chicness? Check!

Flower and leaves? Check!

Seam binding? Check!

And so on and so forth.

In short, this card is jam-packed with many of my favourite paper crafting materials and supplies (not to mention colours), and is a project that I’m truly delighted with in terms of how it turned out.

I created this shabby chic card as a general springtime thinking of you greeting, but it could just as easily work (with or without a relevant sentiment added) for everything from Ostara to Easter, Beltane to Mother’s Day, birthdays to anniversaries, get well cards to a baby shower greeting.

Items used to this beautiful spring flower card

-White cardstock

-Green cardstock

-Pearlized (or plain) dark berry red cardstock – Cranberry Zing cardstock from My Colors Cardstock

-Double sided houndstooth and floral print paper – Vintage Autumn Basics No. III from Maja Design

-Floral postage stamp print paper – Bloom Collection Petal Postage from Graphic 45

-Clear acetate

-Ornate frame die with coordinating corner dies (in this case, I used the A2 Filigree Delight Die from Spellbinders)

-Small leaf or vine die

-Dark purply-burgundy coloured ink – Gothic Purple Ink from StazOn

-Plum coloured sequins – from Pretty Pink Posh (product not specially named on its packaging)

-Earthy green coloured sequins

-Plummy-pink sequins

-Pink metallic flakes – from Craft Décor (found at various dollar stores; product not specifically named)

-Small burgundy and white or cream paper roses

-White seam binding

-White cotton eyelet lace (or other white lace/trim of your choosing)

-Stamp edge decorative edge scissors – Paper Edgers Stamp Scissors from Fiskars

-Green embroidery thread

-Purple heart shaped buttons, pale purple rhinestones, and aged brass metal heart charm piece all from the Gorjuss Charm Pack from the brand Santoro London

-Glue gun and glue sticks (optional but handy for attaching 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 a layered and detailed shabby chic springtime card

Begin by making a card base from plain white cardstock (earthy shades of green, taupe/very light brown, cream, plum, and whisper soft pink tones would all be lovely choices as well).

Cut a piece of pearlized berry coloured cardstock slightly smaller than your card base and lightly distress the edges of this piece.

Cut a piece of houndstooth patterned paper slightly smaller than the berry cardstock and likewise distress its edges. Adhere that paper to the berry cardstock and attach to your card base.

Next, cut a piece of green cardstock a touch smaller than the houndstooth print paper. Ink the edges of the green cardstock with dark purply-burgundy StazOn ink.

Use postage stamp edged decorative edge scissors to cut out a piece of floral print paper that’s a little smaller than the green cardstock.

Ink the edges of the floral print paper with the same StazOn ink, then adhere it to the green cardstock piece and adhere that to the houndstooth print paper.

To make the shaker element, die cut your ornate frame from pearlized berry colour cardstock. Cut a piece of the houndstooth print paper to the same size as the frame. This piece will be the background of your shaker element.

Cut out the word “Bloom” from the Graphic 45 Bloom Collection Petal Postage paper and adhere it to the houndstooth print paper, as shown.

Cut a piece of clear acetate so that it fully covers the oval portion of the frame (there is no need for it to extend beyond that portion of the frame) and adhere to said frame.

Create a barrier with foam tape or foam pads around the oval window portion of the frame. Fill with sequins.

Remove foam tape backing and adhere the houndstooth print paper background piece to the shaker frame (bring the background to the frame, not the other way around, so as to not have your sequins mix fall out and potentially go everywhere).

Attach the shaker piece to the floral print paper layer using foam tape or dots, for an added hit of height and dimension.

Create two small rectangles of green cardstock, ink the edges of each piece, and top both with the same floral print paper. Place one at an angle towards the top of your card and one at an angle below the shaker element, as shown in the pictures throughout the post.

Attach a piece of white eyelet lace just below the shaker layer.

Next, fussy cut several floral postage stamp pieces from Graphic 45 Bloom Collection Petal Postage paper, as well as a strip of four continuous stamp images from the same paper.

Attach that strip immediately below the shaker element, allowing it to overlap somewhat with the white eyelet lace.

Arrange the fussy cut stamp images at lovely angles around both the left and the right side of the shaker element.

Once attached, intersperse small cream and burgundy coloured paper roses, two purple heart buttons (one on each side) laced with green embroidery thread, two pale purple rhinestone hearts, and some leaves/vines die cut from green cardstock amongst and/or behind the postage stamp pieces.

From the same stamp print paper, fussy cut two small butterflies, gently bending their wings upwards for an added sense of dimension. Attach one butterfly on each side of the shaker frame.

Die cut two ornate photo corner pieces from the berry coloured cardstock and attack them behind the layers on the front of your card, roughly at the halfway point of the overall design.

Lastly, make a multi-loop bow from white seam binding (I pre-crinkled mine before starting this project; it is not imperative that your seam binding me crinkled to work here).

Attach this bow to the middle of the card, just below the shaker frame. Top with an aged brass-coloured metal heart charm (or another embellishment of your choosing).

And just like that, your shabby chic springtime floral greeting card is complete.

Spring has officially bloomed on our end!

After a long, cold Canadian winter that began in mid-October and saw our final snowfall of the season on April 10^th, spring was the most welcome of returning visitors this year!

As much as I do favour the colder half of the year in many ways, I love spring and summer for a multitude of reasons as well.

There is something to be said for not risking frostbite when you step outside, daylight that lingers well past the dinner hour, and the vibrancy and optimism inherent to the warmer months.

This card was created to celebrate all those points – very much including the abundance of new blooms that are once again returning around these parts.

Another of my paper crafting favourites has long been the well-known brand Graphic 45, and their elegant cut-apart floral postage stamp print paper was a delightful way to inject even more floral charm into this shabby chic springtime project.

Spring is typically very short-lived in our area. Chances are we’ll likely experience summertime weather before May has wrapped up (it is not without good reason that the Victoria Day long weekend is often referred to as the unofficial start of summer here in Canada).

All the more cause to make and send springtime greetings while the sun is shining, birds are chirping, gardens are coming alive, and the joyful energy of this all too brief season is still going strong.

I hope that spring (or autumn, for my lovely readers south of the equator) has likewise sprung on your end at this point and that you have a safe, beautiful May – complete with blooms aplenty, be they the real deal or of the paper crafting variety.

The post Layered and Detailed Shabby Chic Springtime “Bloom” Card appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.