Yet, in many corners of the world, it began, two, three, or perhaps even as many as four months ago (I have, for example, experienced snow in September while living in certain parts of Canada) and that can mean that we are already more than a little eager for spring to return.

Alas, save for those lucky folks in some particularly warm and/or mild climates, we need to exert saint-worthy patience for a bit longer.

However, as entrenched into the bone-chilling heart of winter as many of us are, subtle signs of spring’s impending return are – or will soon be – perceptible again.

Not trees in bloom, perfectly tender asparagus and delectably sweet little strawberries perceptible, but the forebearers to those kinds of seasonal changes and many others that will greet us as winter takes its bow and exits stage left.  

In the 2 years and a couple of weeks that Witchcrafted Life has been online, I have penned 1 – 3 dedicated posts a piece so far for each of the Pagan sabbats. Such posts have focused on things such as the history, traditions, associations, correspondences, colours, foods, herbs, plants, animals, crystals and so forth of each of these sacred days.

You can bet your favourite winter scarf that I won’t stop writing those kinds of posts anytime soon.

However, as one of the guiding inspirations for this blog’s creation was to not “merely” share some posts that focused on paper crafting and others on Paganism/witchery, but to combine the two on various occasions, that is what I am planning to do more of throughout this year (and beyond!).

There have, of course, already been a handful of posts that combined both.

However, starting this month, I am on a mission to create and blog about at least one craft (be it paper or otherwise) project for each of the year’s Pagan sabbats throughout 2022/2023.

Ideally, continuing to do so on a fairly regular basis beyond then as well.

The first sabbat to transpire after the New Year, Imbolc (aka, Imbolg), is rapidly approaching again and as such I decided there was no better time to get the ball rolling on my roster of sabbat-focused projects than with an Imbolc themed creation.

Elegant winter meets spring colour palette Imbolc card

Much as with the seasons themselves, there are certain colours that are broadly associated with each sabbat.

Those which are – in the Northern Hemisphere – often ascribed to Imbolc include colours that echo both winter’s chill and the inaugural glimmers of spring’s upcoming return.

Fire, light, and sunshine are integral components of many an Imbolc celebration. This often leads to colours such as white, yellow, bronze, gold, and red being connected with Imbolc.

Others with strong ties to Imbolc include (but are not limited to) cream, pale pink, green, light blue, brown, grey, and silver.

As I envisioned the card at the heart of this post, I knew that I wanted to utilize a colour palette that tapped into both the dark heart of winter and the jovial, far more lighthearted (as a general rule) nature of springtime.

Imbolc is often viewed as being the first spring sabbat, even though it is housed at the start of February.

As with many sabbats, solstices and equinoxes, this perception stems in no small part from the days when our ancestors lived in tremendously close proximity with nature and the perpetual ebbing and flowing of the seasons.

Whether for hunting, planting crops, being able to dig into the soil to set posts or lay bricks for new homes or myriad other happenings, the seasons dictated and shaped a great deal of how civilization has unfolded.

Early February does not usually have the warmth or greenery of Ostara or Beltane, but it is far enough away from the Winter Solstice to afford it the title of spring’s unofficial start.

Or, if you personally feel that it is simply too deeply buried in wintertime proper still, then Imbolc serves as a midway wintertime sabbat celebration that embraces elements of the present season and the one that lies ahead in near equal measure.

The colours used on this card tap into both winter (black, grey, and white) and early spring (grey, white, and green).

Much like Imbolc itself, they serve as a reminder that it will not be too much longer until the world rouses from its wintertime slumber and slips into its springtime finery once again.

In addition to the colours themselves, this card represents the seasonal duality of Imbolc by the presence of both snowflakes and greenery (the bloom bedecked branches/vines).

Given that the snow in our backyard is still up to my knees and may very well rise higher again before winter officially throws in the towel, this chilly season component is one that I – like many of us – associate closely with Imbolc.

Yet even as I light a flock of twinkling candles, invoking both literal and metaphorical warmth and light back into the world once again, I am already daydreaming about the lush foliage and life-affirming properties of spring. These too are honoured come the year’s first sabbat.

I find the colours at play on this card to be very soothing and peaceful. They are not as bleak as the harshest days of winter, yet nor are they as vibrant and breezy as those of, say, late spring or early summer.

Much like Imbolc itself, they are comforting and ancient, a marriage of two seasons that is, in fact, the precursor to the death of one and the rebirth of another.

Products used to make a festive black, grey, green, and white Imbolc card

-White or off-white (which is what I used) subtly textured or smooth cardstock

-Sage/light green cardstock – Soft Tones Cardstock from Paper Accents

-Dark (pine/forest/hunter) green cardstock

-Grey cardstock

-Black cardstock

-Green metallic cardstock – Foil Cardstock Paper from Recollections (Michael’s brand)

-Grey plaid paper – Christmas Festive Ornaments Paper from Carta Bella

-Pine tree print border strip of paper – Christmas Border Strips Paper from Carta Bella

-Fir/pine bough patterned paper (used in the center of this card) – Christmas 4”x4” Journaling Cards from Carta Bella

-Ornate circle die

-Snowflake border die (or a similar snowflake border punch)

-Two-part snowflake die (a single layer/part snowflake works just as well here, too)

-“Blessings” word die (or letter dies, stamps, stickers, wood veneer pieces, or rub that can spell out the same word)

-Small vine/branch with flowers die

-Fir/pine branch die – Fall Foliage Dies from Spellbinders

-Off-white and grey flat back adhesive pearls – Opaline Designer Half Pearls from Basic Grey

-Black and green enamel dots – Green Fields Enamel Dots from Alte & New

-Dark green ink – Memento Dew Drop Northern Pines Ink from Tsukineko

-Black and white tiny letter stickers (product not named but from the Stickah brand sold at Dollarama)

-White or off-white embroidery thread (very thin crochet thread could also be used here)

-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 elegant winter meets spring Imbolc card

Start by making a card base from either white or off-white cardstock.

Cut a piece of green metallic cardstock slightly smaller than the card base. Adhere.

Cut a piece of black cardstock slightly smaller than the green metallic cardstock layer. Adhere.

Next, cut a piece of the grey plaid Carta Bella paper so that it is slightly smaller than the width and about 60% off the height of the previous layer. Attach it to the top portion of the black cardstock layer, as shown.

Cut a piece of sage/light green cardstock so that it is slightly smaller than the width and about 40% of the height of the black cardstock layer. Attach it to the bottom portion of said black cardstock layer.

Die cut (or punch out) a border strip with three good-sized snowflakes from black cardstock. Use white or off-white embroidery floss to stitch through the edges of this piece (alternatively, you can use an opaque white pen or marker to hand draw stitching instead).

Adhere in the center bottom of the sage/light green cardstock layer. Top the center snowflake with an off-white and grey pearl embellishment.

From the Carta Bella Christmas Border Strips Paper cut out a pine tree border strip and adhere it roughly 2/3^rd to 3/4^th of the way down the center of the card layers that you have constructed so far.

Using both sage/light green and white/off-white cardstock, die cut two nesting snowflake shapes. Place the smaller white or off-white piece inside of the larger green snowflake piece. Adhere to the sides in the top 1/3^rd of the center panel of the card, as shown.

Top the center of each white inner snowflake with an off-white and grey pearl embellishment.

Use the Spellbinders fir/pine bough die to cut two branches from each the sage/light green, dark green, and metallic green cardstocks.

Starting from the darkest to the lightest colour, arrange these bough pieces around the edges of the center of the card, allowing them to overlap a bit with the snowflakes and the pine tree border strip. Adhere.

Die cut two flowering branch/vine pieces from black cardstock and another two from grey cardstock. Top the black pieces with the grey ones, off-setting them a little so for an added sense of dimension. Adhere both pairs together and then atop the center of the fir/pine bough area that you just created.

Using the Alte & New enamel dots, adhere green and black dots on the flower portions of the flower branches/vines, as shown in the photos throughout this post.

From green metallic cardstock, die cut an ornate circle shape. Using pop dots, foam squares, or another dimensional adhesive, adhere this circle to the center of the card front.

Cut out the winter foliage (with a dark grey background) piece from the Carta Bella 4”x4” Journaling Card paper, then this piece into a circle shape. Adhere it to the green metallic layer from the previous step.

Next, use the small white and black letter stickers to spell the word “Imbolc”, alternating between light and dark green cardstock, adhere and then fussy cut out each sticker so that it has a very thin border around it from either of those two cardstocks.  

Repeat the cardstock process again, this time alternating colours so that if the letters were first backed with light green paper, their second border (backing) layer is dark green and vice versa.

Arrange the letters in a playful slightly uneven (from one another) manner in the top portion of fussy cut circle created in the previous step.

Use the “Blessings” word die to die cut three identical words, one each from sage/light green, dark green, and white/off-white cardstock.

Arrange these layers starting with the sage/light green, then the dark green, followed by the white/off-white so that all three layers are slightly off-centre from one another for an added sense of depth.

Adhere the layers together and then beneath the “Imbolc” letter stickers.

Use three sizes of matching coloured off-white or white adhesive pearls to create a frame/border around the top and bottom portions of the fussy cut green paper piece, as shown.

For the final step, use three sizes of black Alte & New enamel dots to adorn the top corners of the grey plaid paper layer and three sizes of green Alte & New enamel dots to adorn the bottom corners of the sage/light green cardstock layer.

And just like that, you have a sophisticated, wonderfully seasonally appropriate handmade Imbolc card to send off or present in person to someone special.

Alternatively, if you use a different sentiment this same design can be used for various other wintertime (or summertime if you are south of the equator) events as well. For example, Yule, Christmas, New Year’s, winter birthdays and anniversaries, just because and thinking of you cards, and even as a very heartfelt sympathy card.

One foot in winter, the other stepping towards spring

As with each of the Pagan sabbats, those who choose to observe them have free range over when they opt to do so. Nothing on that front is written in indelible ink and those of both Pagan/Wiccan/witchy leanings and otherwise that make the sabbats a part of their lives can do so whenever they desire.

That said, a good many of us opt to do so on either February 1^st or February 2^nd.

As a general rule, I lean towards February 1^st. As with each of the year’s eight beautiful sabbats, however, aim to encapsulate the sacred day itself with at least a few more days on either side. Thus, instead of “just” one day, Imbolc and each of its other sabbat siblings become mini seasons of celebration unto themselves.

I adore Imbolc and while that is, objectively, true for each of the eight sabbats that comprise The Wheel of The Year, there are some that I feel all the more pulled towards.

Imbolc, situated as it is as the counterpoint to Lammas six months later (on this side of the equator), is a cozy, soulful period that invites us to reflect on where we have come not only since January 1^st of the present year, but since this point last winter.

As well, it taps into the return of new life + gentler weather that will soon pop back up much like a crocus exuberantly bursting through a mantle of snow to soak in the year’s first warm rays of sunshine.

I do not hate winter (far from it!) and can scarcely imagine living somewhere that did not experience a frozen segment of the year.

Winter – much like fall – stokes the fires of my creativity, my energy, my productivity and much more in ways that spring and summer are not always able to do to same degree.

Many is the year that I have felt a splash of melancholy as winter breathed its last. However, those post-winter blues are rarely long-lived as the endearing vitality and breathtaking colour palette (to say nothing of the scents, tastes, and sounds) of spring dance merrily across the landscape once again.

Right here and now though, in our wee corner of Western Canada, the mercury sits below freezing, many local bodies of water have ice on them that is thick enough to safely skate or fish on, and there’s plenty more snow forecasted in the coming weeks.

Come February 1^st and in the days that buffer it on either side, I will embrace winter while it is still here. And at the same time, I’ll steer the rutter of both my witchy workings and life as a whole towards springtime.

Each season and sabbat is a gift, and Imbolc – with its emphasis on fresh starts, new life, and finding light in even the darkest times (aka, the middle of winter) – is no exception.

Just as the wording on this handmade greeting card states, with all of my heart, I wish you each a blessed and truly beautiful Imbolc. May it, in due time, unfold into a low-stress, high enjoyment spring for all of us!

Whether you observe Imbolc or not, what do you view as the unofficial start of spring? Which colours do you most associate with this point in the year?

The post Elegant Winter Meets Spring Colour Palette Imbolc Card appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

Imbolc (also known as Imbolg), is a meaningful and magickal point in the year. Rooted though it is in the heart of winter for plenty of folks around the world, Imbolc’s return helps to align us all the more with the journey towards spring. This road is one that quite literally comes about thanks to the power of light – specifically, sunlight.

Many of us honour, embrace and celebrate this fact at Imbolc by ensuring that candles are an integral part of our sabbat rituals, working and festivities.

Their warmth and light representing that of the sun, while also reminding us of a time in our-not-so-distant collective past when candles often played a vital role in helping people get through the long, dark months of winter (just as they still do, even in this age of electric lighting, for many in today’s world).

This winter, I started to feel Imbolc’s rejuvenating energy quite early on. Shortly after it made its presence known to me again, I decided that I wanted to create a handmade tag that acknowledged and expressed the importance of light at Imbolc.

Oversized “lit from within” candle tag

It’s been a hot minute since I last made a tag!

What better time, I thought to myself, than the year’s first Pagan sabbat to do just that again.

I began with a jumbo-sized premade tag base. You could easily create a tag yourself here instead, either with a ruler, pencil and scissors or with a metal die and a die cutting machine (or electronic die cutter).

This tag base measures 8.5 inches/21.5 cm tall and just over 4 inches/10.1 cm across/wide.

Paper crafting colour options for Imbolc projects

Numerous colours are traditionally associated with Imbolc. These include, but are not limited to, red, black, white, cream, pink, silver, blue, yellow, and gold.

Personally, I tend to associate each of the sabbats with the colours that are most prevalent in nature at the time that these special days occur.

Here in the wild woods of Western Canada, that means plenty of icy whites, muted browns, pale creams, faded blues, and the deep verdant shades of evergreen trees.

While blue and green did not make an appearance on this project, the other colours just mentioned – coupled with gold to further symbolize the returning light of spring – were used on this generously sized tag.

Some other possible colour combinations that could have looked lovely here, and which work great for Imbolc craft projects in general, include the following:

-Grey, silver, and white (and/or light blue)

-Red, black, and white

-Green, brown, and gold or brass

-White, silver, and pale pink

-Navy blue, white, and gold or silver

-Icy blue, white, and silver or platinum

-Brown, green, and cream

-Gold, red and white (or brown)

-Silver, red and pink

How to make the “lit from within” candle element of this Imbolc tag

Once I’d settled on my colour palette and selected the papers and cardstock that I’d be using for it, I went to work creating the star element of this tag: the glowing candle in the middle.

To do this, I first die cut a candle from cream colour cardstock. I then used Copic Ciao markers to outline the candle and the area that looks like dripping wax, as well as to colour in the flame.

Copics do tend to feather (bleed) a bit on ordinary cardstock, the one that I used here included. I wasn’t concerned in this instance, though, as I’d already planned to nestled the die cut candle underneath of some vellum.

While it is somewhat harder to see in these photos verses in real life, I placed the candle and yellow circle of paper on light grey and white snowflake print paper.

You can see this paper more clearly at the very top of the tag, as I used the same paper on that portion of this project as well.

I wanted the candle to look as though it was illuminating out into the world from a window, as snow fell peacefully outside. This is a scene that is very common to me all through the winter and which often occurs at our house on Imbolc itself.

If you do not have a candle-shaped die or access to a digitally equipped die cutting machine, some alternative options include the following:

-Stamp, colour and fussy cut out a candle-shaped piece.

-Pre-made candle die cut, sticker, or chipboard piece.

-Draw a candle yourself and then fussy cut it out.

-Cut out the image of a glowing candle from a photograph, illustration, magazine page, or similar.

-Print and cut out a digi stamp of a candle.

-Use clip art or dingbat font with a candle shape from your word pressing program or an online source. Print, colour (if it is not already coloured) and fussy cut the shape.

To help further convey the sense of a glowing candle, I die cut a small circle from golden yellow coloured paper and placed it behind the flame area.

Alternatively, you could easily use a circle punch, circle stencil, or freehand a circle shape instead.

Once my candle was assembled, I backed it against the snowflake print paper. I then dug through my stash for the creamiest coloured vellum that I had.

I specifically wanted the vellum to look aged and for it to give the candle a somewhat opaque appearance, again, as if one was viewing it through a snowy, frosty, or icy window.

I combined two different brown papers (one plain, one text print), positioning them at a horizontal angle both for visual interest and to represent the divide between the darker and lighter halves of the year.

I then die cut a lovely elongated/primitive style heart shape from the two brown papers. I backed this area with the cream vellum and placed my “glowing candle” beneath it, with the grey and white snowflake print paper behind the candle itself.

Next, I cut out a smaller frame in the same die cut heart shape and positioned in the aperture area. I specifically went with metallic gold cardstock in this spot as I wanted to further convey the sense of warmth and light that accompanies lit candles.

Embellishing an Imbolc tag

To further embellish this Imbolc tag, I selected some dimensional flowers, a curly branch/vine piece, cream coloured fabric leaves, and cute little painted white wooden snowflakes (one even has a tiny heart cutout in the center, which I chose because it complimented the die cut heart aperture here).

I also used a small sticker with the hashtag #blessed on it, as I feel Imbolc – like all of the sabbats – is a time of immense blessings and positive energy in our lives.

I freehand cut a notched-end piece of brown plaid paper and die cute a larger notched end piece from both gold metallic and brown cardstocks. I layered these two pieces together and topped them with some white Thickers letter stickers, which I used to spell out the word Imbolc.

Let’s face it, there aren’t exactly a lot of premade Pagan sabbat related paper crafting products out there. In most cases, you’ll need to create your own titles and sentiments for sabbat themed projects.

To top things off, I selected two shades (beigey-grey and light gold) of seam binding and a cute white and brown polka dot print ribbon, which I looped through the hole at the top of the tag.

Tag making tips and ideas from this project

-If you don’t have cream or ivory coloured vellum to hand, use white instead or apply a light layer of pale ivory or very pale grey, taupe or brown ink to the underside of your vellum to tint it (ensure the ink is dry before proceeding to layer the candle beneath it).

–Combine two or more papers diagonally, vertically, or horizontally to break up larger areas, add visual interest, and potentially use up some of your paper scraps in the process.

-Instead of wooden snowflakes, you could easily use snowflake-shaped die cut pieces, stickers, chipboard, resin pieces, flatback charms, or even cute little hand-cut snowflakes instead.

-And by the same token, if you didn’t want to use snowflakes, how about hearts, leaves, stars, or crescent moon shapes, sequins, enamel drops, rhinestones, metal charms, or other dimensional embellishments instead?

–Any shape of opening (aperture) that allows the candle portion of the tag to show could be used here. Circes, ovals, diamonds, triangles, squares, rectangles, stars, and snowflakes are just some of the possible options.

-While vellum works like a charm in this setting, alternatively, glassine, wax paper, cellophane, densely woven tulle or lace, sheer fabrics, acetate, and even tracing paper could be used instead.

-No gold metallic paper or cardstock? Use silver, platinum or rose gold metallic cardstock instead. Or how about white, silver, or gold glitter cardstock?

Or you could change the colour of your cardstock (starting with a white cardstock base) with gold embossing powder, gold glitter, gold paint, metallic gold coloured pencil crayon, gold leafing, gold Nuvo Glimmer Paste, or gold gilding wax instead.

–You could easily turn this same design into a card front instead, either with or without the actual tag component itself.

Likewise, you could use this elegant “lit from within” candle technique on scrapbook pages, mini albums (how gorgeous would it be on the cover of an album?), and many other types of paper crafting projects as well.

Create “lit from within” candles for other occasions

This candle works wonderfully for Imbolc – just as it would for other Pagan sabbats, particularly Samhain and Yule.

It would also be fantastic for a multitude of different occasions as well. These include:

-Birthdays

-Weddings

-Anniversaries

-Thank you wishes

-Get well wishes

-Sympathy wishes (including the loss of a pet)

-Support and encouragement wishes

-Supporting or thanking members of the military or police for their service

-Graduation

-Candlemas (February 2^nd)

-Valentine’s Day (what’s more romantic than candlelight?)

-Mother’s Day

-The 4^th of July

-Halloween

-Remembrance Day

– Hanukkah

-Christmas

-Kwanza

-New Year’s Eve

-Eid

-Diwali

Products to help you recreate this “lit from within” Imbolc tag

-Oversized tag base – I used a Ranger Ink Dylusions Media Tag

-Dark brown cardstock

-Light brown cardstock

-Golden yellow cardstock or paper

-Metallic gold cardstock or paper – I used Kodamaa Metallic Special Bright Gold Paper

-Brown and white text print paper – I used Respirer l’air de la Mer from Prima’s French Rivera collection

-Grey and white snowflake print paper – I used Beautiful from Bo Bunny’s Winter Wishes collection

-Cream, white or very light grey coloured vellum

-Candle shaped metal die (or use one of the alternatives suggested above)

-Circle-shaped metal die (or use one of the alternatives suggested above)

-Heart-shaped metal die (or use one of the alternatives suggested above)

-Banner die (or hand-cut a banner instead)

-White gel pen – I used Signo White Gel Pen (for the hand-drawn faux stitching detailing). Sakura’s White Gelly Roll Pen would be another good option

-White letter stickers – I used Rockabye Thickers from American Crafts (you could use die cut or stamped letters here instead)

-Brown and white or cream plaid paper – I used a piece of paper from the 6×6 inch Cider Woods Mat Stack by DCWV

-Various shades of brown ink for edging some of the papers and cardstock – I used Memento Dew Drop ink in Toffee Crunch, Rich Cocoa, and Peanut Brittle

-Markers of choice to colour the candle and flame with (you could also use pencil crayons, watercolour paints, acrylic paint, inks and a fine point ink applicator tool, Faber Castell Gelatos, gel pens, Distress Crayons, or another suitable colouring medium.

-Word sticker (optional) – I used the #blessed sticker from the Fall Market Element Sticker Sheet by Carta Bella

-Various dimensional flowers, leaves, and (optionally) vine/branch embellishment – for the branch, I used Leaf Spray 460867 from Recollections

-Wooden snowflake embellishments (or use one of the alternatives suggested above)

-Various colour coordinated ribbons and/or seam bindings or other trims of choice

-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)

Other ways to use candles in your Imbolc papercraft projects

The snowy sky is the limit when it comes to ways of using candles in your Imbolc projects.

Some other ideas would be to use papers featuring candle prints (images of the sun would be a great fit as well), stamp and colour candles on your project, adhere actual mini candles to your projects (such as birthday candles or chiam candles), use melted wax or melted wax crayons, create 3D candle-shaped projects, or use a candle themed stencil or embossing folder on your makes.

In general, themes of light, warmth, hope, prosperity, cleansing, renewal, fertility, love, comfort, strength, and renewal are natural fits for Imbolc.

Candles can help convey these messages and are a beautiful, classic symbol both of this sabbat and of wintertime itself (which, let’s face it, isn’t budging for many of us until at least March or April).

Bright blessings of Imbolc from my heart to yours!

Project share

Pin the image below – or any other in this post – to Pinterest, pop it into your Instagram Stories, post in on Twitter or Facebook, or share it anywhere else you wish to help yourself find it again and to inspire others at the same time.

If you make a project based on or inspired by this Imbolc tag – or want to share any of your other handmade crafts with me – please use the hashtags #WitchcraftedLife and #WitchcraftedLifeMakes on social media so that I can see your beautiful creations.

The post Lit from Within Candle Tag for Imbolc appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.