DIY: Handmade Halloween Pumpkin Card

On Sunday, the weather turned, and all of a sudden, it feels like fall around here. Thanks to the slight chill in the air and the falling leaves, we've had Halloween on the brain. For that reason, I decided it was time to create a Halloween card. Although I love all of the Halloween motifs, I decided to make a pumpkin card.

Here’s what you’ll need to join me in the card making fun!

- A variety of colored card stock - In this case, orange, black and green

- An envelope

- A cutting mat

- An Xacto knife

- A metal ruler

- Paper glue

- Basic scissors

- Sticker letters

Start by using your mat to find the center of your card base (5.5 ” for this card). Then score it by running the knife lightly down the center once or twice. Fold in half.

Using your scissors, round off the short sides of your card, taking care not to cut too much off the folded side.

Grab your envelope, and made sure you leave enough room for your pumpkin's stalk. Glue the stalk to the card case.

Cut out three triangles (your pumpkin's eyes and nose). I free-hand the first triangle, and then use it to cut out the other two. This way I know they are all the same size.  I also cut out a half circle for a mouth. If you want your pumpkin to have teeth, carefully cut two rectangles out of the half circle. Arrange your face to make sure everything fits nicely. Trim the pieces down if necessary.

Once you're happy with your face, glue the triangles and half circle to your card base.

Open your card, and use your sticker letters to write a happy or spooky message. I chose a happy message for this particular card. Add your personal note, and you're ready to send a friend or family member some Halloween cheer!

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Creating a DIY Ribbon Picture Hanger

I recently inherited my great-grandmother's marriage certificate. In 1920, marriage certificates were so much more lovely than they are now! To top it off, it's in a really nice old frame, so I knew I wanted to display it somewhere. However, the metal picture hangers were attached to the front of the frame and tied to them was a dingy piece of raffia. Not lovely at all! As the raffia didn't fit the romance of the piece, I decided to use some vintage ribbon to create a new picture hanger. It was a very simple project that only took a few minutes! Here's how I did it:

- I found some really pretty ribbon that suited my frame and picture. It's vintage pink satin that I picked up from an estate sale for a song. It complemented the marriage certificate perfectly.

-As the metal hangers were on either side of the frame, I knotted one end of the ribbon to one of the picture hangers two times. Before I pulled the knot tight the second time, I added a dot of hot glue for strength.

- I measured out the length of ribbon based on the size of the frame, how high I wanted my bow to be and how big I wanted my bow to be. Then I added a little extra ribbon to that (just in case) and cut it.

-I repeated my double knot on the other metal hanger, added my glue and cut the second ribbon, using my first ribbon as a guide.

-I decided how high I wanted my bow to be and tied a knot before tying my bow. Once I was sure it was centered, a good height and the perfect size, I untied the bow (but not the knot) and added a little dot of glue. Then I retied the bow, trimmed the ends and hung my picture!

This project is totally feminine and perfect for a bathroom, lady's dressing area or little girl's room. I can't wait to hang mine this week!

DIY: Handmade Balloon, Cake and Ice Cream Birthday Card

Although I have a fancy (for me) new printer and scanner as of last week, I have been making handmade cards all year and don't want to stop! Here's what you'll need to join me in the card making fun!

- A variety of colored card stock

- An envelope

- A cutting mat

- An Xacto knife

- A metal ruler

- Paper glue

- Basic scissors

- Embellishments (I chose rhinestones)

- Markers (Mine are fine-tip Crayola)

- Yarn

- Hot glue and glue gun

I started by cutting out the shapes. I cut out a cake (a rectangle with one rounded side - color 1), two pieces of icing (long, skinny rectangles with wavy sides - color 2), three balls of ice cream (medium-sized circles - I cut one out, and then traced around it to create the others - color 2, 3 and 4), one ice cream cone (cone shape, of course! - color 5), three balloons (teardrops - color 1, 3 and 4), three balloon ends (tiny triangles - color 1, 3 and 4), 8 candles (tiny rectangles - color 3) and 8 flames (tiny teardrops - color 4).

Use your mat to find the center of your card base (color 6 - 5.5 " for this card), and then score it by running the knife lightly down the center once or twice. Fold in half.

Glue your cake and cone to the front of the card.

Add your icing, ice cream, candles and flames to the front of the card.

On the inside of the card, glue down your balloons and ends.

Using your glue gun, carefully attach the yarn just below each balloon.

Add your message and some rhinestones for sparkle. You could also add glitter glue to each balloon to make your balloons shiny.

To finish out the card, add a few rhinestones to the center of the cake. If you have chip board or sticker letters and/or numbers, you could also add the person's name, birth date or age to the cake. Again, if you like the shiny look, you could also add some glitter glue to the flames.

Here's a personalized version of this card that I made for my sister's birthday earlier this week.

As you can tell, I like shiny!

If a parent cut out the shapes, scored the card and replaced the hot glue with Elmer's glue, a child could definitely assemble this card.

Happy card making!

DIY: handmade "thinking of you" card

What says "I'm thinking of you" more than a handmade card? It's a lovely gesture that is both charming and one of a kind. Today I'll show you how to make a simple card of your very own.

You'll need:

- Card stock (I chose teal, yellow and khaki) - An envelope - Cutting mat - Xacto knife - A metal ruler - Paper glue - Basic scissors - Several chipboard shapes, a mini paper bag and other embellishments of your choice - Washi tape - Crafting scissors - Sticker letters - Pens (I like Micron and Sharpie)

First, I selected an envelope. I had a 6.5 x 6.5 inch envelope on hand, so I cut my card down to 6.25 x 9.375. Why 9.375? I wanted the front side (3.125) to be half the length of the back (6.25).

To make the fold for my square card, I turned my card sideways, measured off 3.125, lined up my ruler and carefully ran my Xacto knife from the top to the bottom. I only did this once, and it looked like this after I turned it the right way:

Next I cut a piece of yellow card stock to 4 x 6.25.

I ran a strip of paper glue along the top front of the yellow card and attached it to the bottom of the front flap of the teal card. It looked like this:

Next I cut a 2.5 x 6.25 inch piece of khaki card stock and used my crafting scissors to make a scalloped edge along one side. I attached it to the bottom of the front flap of the card with the paper glue, leaving a little bit of the teal peeking out below:

Once the glue dried, I added washi tape for a little extra decoration.

The recipient of my card is a photographer, so I customized the card with a vintage camera chipboard shape I found in my craft drawer. Although the shape had glue on the back, I added a little extra paper glue to make sure it would stay put.

Next I moved to the inside of the card and added another strip of yellow paper (4 x 6.25) to complement the top of the card. Again, I used paper glue to secure it to the middle of the bottom inside panel.

I went back to my crafting stash and found this sweet little paper bag that is the same khaki color as the strip on the front of the card. I glued it down and added some washi tape over the top of it. Next I added another chipboard piece in a teal color, as well as a note in the mini bag for my friend. I tied everything together by using the crafting scissors to add a scallop edge to the top of the note.

I raided the craft drawer one last time and found some sticker letters in a variety of sizes, so I used them to add my message to the top inside panel.

As my envelope was yellow, I cut another piece of teal card stock to 6.5 x 6.5 inches and glued it to the front of the envelope. For a final touch, I added another strip of washi tape across the top. I also sealed the envelope with washi tape. It's the best!

When it comes to card making, the possibilities are endless. Here's another card I recently made that uses a similar design but different colors...

Remember that when it comes to handmade card making, it's the thought that matters most!