Each of our answers to these questions is apt to vary. They hold some universal similarities, however, and attest to the fact that a good many of us, especially those who are presently self-isolating, are missing loved ones, be they near or far right now.

The majority of my own (small) family, lives within about a three-hour radius from our home. As we’re all isolating though, we haven’t been able to get together for several weeks now and it’s anyone’s guess as to when doing so will be possible again.

My family is far from alone in this boat. It’s a scenario that many of us are experiencing right now and is, for some people, proving to be amongst the most difficult aspects of life as it presently exists.

I’m missing my relatives something fierce and have begun making thinking of you cards to send to some of them, as the pandemic stretches ever onward.

Recently I whipped up this eye-catching, generously sized thinking of you card for a younger member of our family who is the picture of au courant style, modernity, and hip personal taste.

Well before this thinking of you card came into being, the moment I saw Carta Bella’s chic, gorgeous Spring Market collection, its imagery and colour palette made me think of this person, so I knew it would be just the ticket for a card destined for them.

Modern shabby chic thinking of you card

What is modern shabby chic?

Glad you asked!

While I doubt there’s an official definition chiselled in stone anywhere, I personally tend to view it as a 21st century adaptation of the classic shabby chic style that has a youthful, slightly less vintage centred aesthetic to it.

Feminine details (such as flowers, gingham, ribbon and bows) can still be present, as can pale colours, but this take on shabby chic welcomes you to use darker hues, modern patterns, and fun, quirky details (oversized plastic fern, anyone?) as well.

Were we talking home décor, you might even find some industrial or Scandi details thrown into the mix, and of course they can come out to play on your paper crafting projects as well.

I hesitate to call it the millennial take on shabby chic, but objectively, that would be a fair way to describe it, if one was so inclined.

This is a big card. Perhaps the tallest I’ve ever made. While plenty of store bought cards measure eight inches or taller, we don’t tend to see nearly as many oversized cards in the handmade card world.

I tend to favour larger cards to begin with, so upping the height of mine a bit more than (my) usual wasn’t tricky at all.

I won’t be reaching for a card base this size every day, of course, but every now and then it can be heaps of fun to play with a larger card front that almost feels a bit like a small LO or a good sized mini album page.

The sentiment cut-apart piece was the jumping-off point for the colour palette and embellishments that I used here. A mix of white, pink, red, soft green, light browns, and eye-catching black, as well as a few hits of light cream peppered throughout the design.

Putting this feminine thinking of you card together

To start with, I created a generously sized card base out of basic white cardstock, followed by various layers of patterned paper and coloured cardstock.

I then mixed harmoniously hued patterned papers from the same collection here to add to the stylish modern feel of this design.

Two heart-shaped doilies (one red, one white), an ornate die cut rectangle and its respective frame (from glossy black cardstock), tags cut out of patterned paper, the sentiment piece, and some die cut grey and light brown branches/springs came next.

Once those elements were in place, I added a green plastic fern leaf, some paper flowers in various sizes and colours, a skinny text print strip (at the bottom of the card), and a few grey enamel dots to pick up the grey that appears in some of the other elements on this card (including the sentiment piece).

Unlike a lot of my makes, where I scrutinize every last detail, rearrange things multiple times, and generally take hours to create a single card, I took a much more devil-may-care approach, if you will, here and went with my first instincts on the entire design.

I have to say, it was both strange and liberating feeling to put something down and essentially let it live there when all was said and done. While I didn’t glue my card elements in place until I was pleased with the final design, again, I did take things easy and let the moment guide me.  

This wasn’t a card that felt like it needed to be over thought to death and I rather love that about it. 

Card making tips and ideas from this project

–Use the negatives (borders/areas left after you cut out a die cut shape) from your die cuts on your projects. While some might not work well in this capacity, others, especially when they create frames or easily recognizable shapes definitely can be used and they are a great way to get extra mileage out of your paper and card stock stash.

-Raid the artificial flower selection of dollar, craft, houseware, and big box stores for materials to use in your paper crafting projects.

Plastic, fabric, and silk versions of leaves, ferns, branches, and blooms can all be put to work on cards, layouts and other projects. Plus, in some cases, you may be able to get more flowers (or leaves, etc) for your money than with similar pre-packaged selections from paper crafting brands.

–Let ornate doilies do the job of die cuts. You could easily use ornate (circular, heart-shaped, mandala, etc) die cuts here, if you wished, but as I had two lovely, fancy heart-shaped doilies on hand in colours that worked fabulously with my project, I opted to put them to work on this make.

And remember, you can altar the colour of many white or variously coloured doilies, if needed. I didn’t do so here, but had I wanted to, things such as light layers of spray ink, pencil crayons (colour pencils), pastels, chalk, ink, paint, glitter, and embossing power would have been ways of going about doing so.

-Repeat motifs in different sizes and materials. Here, the two heart-shaped doilies are joined by a dimensional cream coloured wicker heart to create that trusty design standard: an uneven number of similar elements.

-To convey a sense of shabby chic, tear or otherwise distress some of your papers and/or cardstock, as I did with one of the pattern paper layers.

-A card like this can get mighty busy, mighty fast, so aim for cohesiveness in your colour palette, pattern sizes, and the types of embellishments that you use.

-Sending or hand delivering bouquets or arrangements of actual flowers to perk up their day might not be possible at present, but we can convey a similar sense of floral cheer by including blooms of all sizes, shapes, colours, styles and designs on our cards.

-While I didn’t do so here, a card of this nature would take kindly to things such as a splattering of paint, gouache, or spray ink, if you fancied.

Products used to make this layered, contemporary style card

-White, dark red, light grey and light brown cardstock

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

-Various patterned papers – Spring Market 6×6 inch paper pad from Carta Bella

-Floral tag cut-aparts – Spring Market Floral Tags from Carta Bella

-Ornate frame die

-Branch, spring or slender leaf die(s)

-White and red paper doilies (or similar die cut hearts)

-Assorted sizes of black, pink, red, white and/or cream flowers

-Plastic fern, leaf or branch (or similar die cut piece)

-Cream or white coloured woven wicker heart (dollar stores, craft stores, eBay and AliExpress can be good sources for these kinds of woven heart embellishments)

-Grey enamel dots – Classic SS728D Enamel Dot Stickers from Forever In Time

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

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

Thinking of you cards are like hugs in our mailboxes

Given that a good many of us are presently in isolation, I realize that popping out to the mailbox (unless perhaps you have one located right near your house; which we do not) isn’t the easiest or potentially safest of tasks. As such, ending our handmade thinking of you cards out may not be a breeze right now.

If you are leaving your house, be it regularly or occasionally, that does make things simpler. If not, one option is to make cards and then take photographs or videos of them, sending those pics or vids to the respective recipients of your greetings.

When dashing out to the mailbox becomes feasible again, you can then post your greetings with a heartfelt personal message inside letting that person know how much they are (or were, if it’s after the fact) on your mind during the pandemic.

And, if applicable, perhaps inviting them together again once it’s safe to do so.

While I do plan to post this card on a future (rare) excursion out of the house, in general, that’s my approach between mailbox trips right now.

There are few things more heartwarming or meaningful than knowing you’re on the mind of someone who cares about you.

If you have the chance, I highly encourage you to whip up a few thinking of you, missing you, just because or similar types of cards for your loved ones to convey precisely that message.

Your thoughtfulness will brighten their day and hopefully help them to feel like the circumstances that are presently keeping you apart are a bit easier to bear.

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 card – 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 see can your beautiful creations.

The post Modern Shabby Chic Thinking of You Card appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

With light, airy, classic springtime hues still running through my mind – and across my desktop – I decided that I’d blend that seasonal palette with some of my beloved shades of black, grey, and white to create a scrapbook page starring a photo of myself as a baby with none other than my lovely grandma herself.

(Before I go any further, I just want to mention that I’m less than thrilled with the photos – taken at night under indoor lighting – that my iPhone 7 captured of this layout. My phone often struggles with pale coloured images in lower light/non-natural light settings. My apologies that these images are as clear, crisp or true-to-life, colour wise, as I would ideally like them to be.)

Thank You for Your Part in My Journey Scrapbook Layout

If you’ve read my inaugural blog post or my more recent get to know me post (or are otherwise aware of what happened), you may know that in October 2016, my husband and I experienced a total loss arson home fire.

This life-altering event destroyed a great deal, amongst which was every photo – both physical and digital that we owned at the time – save for those that were already uploaded somewhere online, such as on a blog or social media account.

I mention that here today, because losing more than three decades worth of photos in a single blow does, as you might imagine, have a serious impact on one’s ability to scrapbook a lot of events from their life prior to that point.

Thankfully, between those images that were online and relatives who have since shared scans and physical copies of some pictures, I’ve been able to put together a small collection of pre-fire photos again. And I now add to my new digital post-fire photo album with each passing week.

The image quality of the photo that I used here was not the exactly the best. It was a scan of a coloured photo from the mid-1980s that had been stored in one self-stick type photo albums that as many a scrapbooker knows, are anything but archivally safe.

Its washed out, yellowed tones almost made the image itself hard to see, so I converted it to black and white before having it printed at Walmart (prior to the current days of being in self-isolation due to Covid-19).

I’ve not been overly impressed with Walmart’s photo quality in recent years, but for the low prices they offer and with an image where gallery worthy colours or image sharpness are not an absolute must, I will sometimes use their printing service.

All that to say, having selected my image (which, I should note, I printed prior to planning this specific page, as I do like having at least a few un-scraped photos to hand for when the desire to create a new scrapbook layout strikes), I set to work deciding on the colours, papers, embellishments, etc that I wanted to use for it.

Once I had a general “scrapbook kit” for my page ready to go, I shifted my focus to what I wanted to convey with this page.

Much like with my cute Only Love Lets Us See layout about our dog Annie, this page does not include any printed or handwritten journaling. The image and corresponding pre-printed word elements do the talking in this instance.

The title here is a bit ambiguous, but in a good way, I think, as it allows the viewer to decide which of the three main text elements they want to interpret as the title. For me personally, the title resides mostly in the smallest of the three: the notch-ended banner strip atop the black frame that says “Thank you for your part in my journey”.

I realize that the wording of this sentence might make it sound like this layout was created in memory of someone who had passed. Thankfully such is not the case with my grandma, who is very much continuing to live life to the fullest as we speak.

Instead, it is meant to convey my sincere thanks for the role that she has played – and continues to play – throughout my 35 years and counting on this planet.

While we’ve had our ups and downs over the decades, I love my grandma dearly and cherish the memories of growing up with her being, in some respects, like a second mom to me at times.

Putting this scrapbook page together

For the colour palette of this grandparent themed scrapbook layout, I looked to both details of the photograph itself, along with colours and patterns that were popular during the 1980s, when this photo of baby me being held by my grandma was taken.

In the photo, you can see a little bit of the velour floral patterned living room seating set that my grandparents had at the time (chances are, if you grew up in the 1970s, 80s, or early 90s, you or someone you knew had a similar type of floral print couch; they were ubiquitous with living room furniture throughout those years).

I used that as the jumping off point for the inclusion of floral elements on this page.

The cute ruffles on my dress were the impetus for the frilly white lace that I included, and the dark pink tulle rose trim ties into both the ruffles and the flowers.

I remember there being muted yellow tones (along with creams, oranges and browns) in the above mentioned living room furniture, so I included some tone-on-tone wheat hued paper here as well.

But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself a tad. Let’s start with the base layer and work our way up, shall we?

A sheet of textured white cardstock got the ball rolling on this scrapbook page. I topped it with a piece of patterned paper that stars a grey and white polka dot background with a subtle (what might be called “ditsy” in the UK) floral pattern in shades of purply-pink and peachy-pink.

Using decorative scalloped edged scissors, I added a scalloped border to the whole of this piece of patterned paper, which I then inked the edges of with classic black ink. And for a further pop of visual interest, I added a hand drawn black stitched border around the edges of the paper.

I topped this with a layer of textured black cardstock, which itself was topped by an elegant, subtly pearlized piece of peachy-pink tone-on-tone scalloped edge paper. I accented the scallops with pearls, which appear again on this layout later via the pre-made pearl flourish.

Next came a piece of grey and white diagonally striped paper that, while timeless for sure, screamed 1980s to me – especially in the context of this page. This was topped with the wheat colour paper, a smaller piece of two-tone pink paper that I placed at an angle beneath my photo, a strip of text print paper running vertically along the left-hand side of the page, and a vertical piece of plain vellum to the left of that element.

I matted my photo on a die cut rectangle of medium grey cardstock and created a charming little border for it from thin pieces of white cardstock, which I draw hand stitching in black on (for added cohesiveness with the hand stitching on one of the background layers).

A sweet little sentiment strip that says “Smiles are proof of everyday miracles” was placed directly atop the bottom edge of the photo.

After that, I selected the “So very thankful” cut out element, which I placed at an angle and bordered on the top and bottom with some cute daisy flower trim (which makes an appearance again on the other side of the page beneath the vertical layers of white lace and pink tulle flowers).

I knew that I wanted the word “family” on my layout, but wasn’t finding a sticker, die cut or stamp that I loved for use on this page, so I took a natural coloured wood veneer piece and painted it with grey paint from Martha Stewart’s line (her acrylic paints are top-notch; I’d buy every colour she sells, if I could).

Once this piece was dry, I set to work arranging the various trims, embellishments, black plastic frame, pearls, rhinestone flatback pieces, hand-cut black photo corners, scrolling black and white chipboard pieces, and the paper flowers that were used on this shabby chic, highly feminine scrapbook page.

This page has a fair number of elements and it did take several hours to complete, but it wasn’t difficult to make, and I’m thrilled with how it turned out.

Much like myself, my grandma is a total girly-girl who adores frills, flowers, lace, pearls, bling and the like, so I feel that this page does a great job of celebrating a number of things we’re both wild about, while moreover honouring the wonderfulness of the special bond and love that we share.

Scrapbook page tips and ideas from this project

–Turn to the era that the photo(s) on your layout was/were taken during for design inspiration, be it colours, patterns, themes, embellishments, or any other element of your layout.

-New or old, don’t be afraid to convert photos to B&W. This can be especially handy if photos are aged damaged, faded, or if the colours in them clash heavily with the layout you’re envisioning.

The majority of both free and paid photo editing apps and software programs (as well as plenty of online photo editing sites) allow you to convert a photo to black and white in a snap.

-Inject one hit of standalone colour that harmonizes with the others that you’re using on your page. In this case, that colour was the soft wheat coloured patterned paper. It’s as good as a neutral and gets alone nicely, without stealing the show from, the abundance of pink, black and white on this layout.

-Play around with using two or more sizes of a design element, such as the small and large scalloped edges here.

-Combine hand drawn stitching with machine stitching and/or die cut stitched edges (such as those on the grey cardstock that I backed my photograph with).

–Work left to right. While this is not a universal rule, of course, many languages are read from left to right and as such, a lot of peoples’ brains are accustomed to finding designs that likewise work from left to right to be highly visually pleasing.

By creating an L-shape with my rows of ruffled lace, dark pink flower trim, and various other embellishments on the left hand side of the page, I help to organically guide the viewer’s eye from left to right (while also having these elements work like something of a broader frame for my photo).

-Don’t be afraid to altar wood veneer pieces. Paints, markers, embossing power (carefully – wood burns very easily!), glitter, flocking, stickers, rub-ons, microbeads, tissue paper, ribbon, twine, embroidery floss, and more can all be used to help change the colour or pattern of wooden die cuts.

Products used to create this grandma and granddaughter scrapbook layout

-Black, grey, and white cardstock (textured or smooth)

-Plain vellum – Premium Cardstock Vellum from Core’dinations

-Grey and pink mini floral print paper

-Pearlized pink scalloped edge paper

-Grey and white diagonal striped paper

-Light yellow/wheat coloured tone-on-tone paper – Fall Farmhouse 6×8 inch paper pad from Simple Stories

-Two-tone pink paper – Color Fresh Note It from Heidi Swapp for American Crafts

-Cut out sentiments – Blessed Collection Miracles from Kaisercraft

-Thank you cut out sentiment – Spoonful of Soul Bite Size Bits from Jillibean Soup

-Black ink pad – Cat’s Eye Archival Ink in Wicked Black from Colour Box

-Scroll design chipboard die cut pieces – Giving Thanks Chipboard Elements from Teresa Collins

-Pink and white paper roses – Garden Blooms from Blue Fern Studios

-Black plastic decorative frame (these can sometimes be found in the jewelry making section at craft stores and dollar stores, as well as on sites such as eBay and AliExpress)

-Pre-made pearl flourish – Boutique Fleur floral pearl embellishment from (Michael’s house brand) Recollection’s

-Silvery white coloured flatback pearls – Self Adhesive Pearls from Studio G

-Tiny white butterfly embellishment (handmade or storebought)

-Wood veneer die cut “family” word piece

-Grey acrylic paint – Multi-Surface Satin Paint in the colour Arrowhead from Martha Stewart

-White daisy flower crochet trim – Vicki B Wraps from Bo Bunny

-White ruffled lace trim

-Dark pink tulle flower trim – Bloomers Spring 2011 Trim from Webster’s Pages

-Black ink pen – 0.5” Pigma Micron Pen from Sakura

-Rectangular stitched border die (used on the grey cardstock behind the photo)

-Scalloped edge scissors

-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)

Fewer photos, more scrapbook pages!

While its true that the number of photos – let alone those from my youth – that I have is fairly small these days, I find that, in some respects, there are some positives to working with a tinier pool of images.

A desire to scrap as many of them as I can becomes easier to manage and put into action when I have a mere handful to choose from, not overflowing albums (or multiple file folders, USBs, etc) to search through. I can see what I have at a glance and print in small batches or as needed on a project by project basis.

Having so few photos from my childhood, it matters to me all the more that I scrap quite a few of them, as all of my pre-fire scrapbook pages about my early years were destroyed (along with all of my other scrapbook pages as well).

At the same time though, losing all of our photos has really inspired me to take, print and scrap plenty of pictures from our life these days as well – especially those from our travels and photos of loved ones that they share with me.

What we experienced is a part of my journey. It is not loving, sweet, and wonderful like my grandma, of course, but it is engrained in the narrative of my existence all the same.

And while I would never in a billion years have chosen to experience that nightmarish ordeal that we did, I am sincerely grateful for the lessons, blessings, and ultimately new paths that it led me down. One of which is this very blog itself.

If that isn’t a silver lining, I don’t know what it is.

Hmm, I suddenly feel the urge to create a scrapbook page about that very topic coming on…

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 scrapbook page – 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 see can your beautiful creations.

The post Thank You for Your Part in My Journey Scrapbook Layout 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.

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