DIY Halloween card for kids (2016)

I wanted this year’s card to be different than last year’s, because I’m giving the cards to a lot of the same kids. However, I had a lot of the same supplies to use up, so they ended up being similar!

I used:

• dark purple cardstock (12″ x 12″) – I used my paper cutter to trim these to 4″ x 5.5″ to fit in envelopes
• spooky ribbon to line the bottom of the card
  • Recollections “Halloween Boo” ribbon (pack of 5) [Michaels]
• pumpkin letter sticker – but since I’ve run out of a bunch of letters, I didn’t always get to use the first letter of their name (as shown)
• silver metallic Sharpie for the words I wrote on (child’s name and mine)
• printed out spooky-lettered “Happy Halloween!” onto white card stock and rounded two opposite corners before gluing on
  • font: Nemo Nightmares [here]
  • Martha Stewart corner rounder [Michaels]
• sparkly/gemstone pumpkin sticker [sheet of 25 stickers: Hobby Lobby]
• envelopes – The Paper Studio value pack – 100 white [Hobby Lobby]
• Elmer’s Craft Bond Extra strength glue stick – to affix white “Happy Halloween!” paper
• Elmer’s Craft Bond quick dry dual-tip glue pen (the small side) -to affix ribbon

 

For the kids whose cards I will mail (not my students), I included a couple of sheets of stickers and a jack-o-lantern eraser. (stickers and erasers from Target – that section in the front where everything is only a few dollars)

I also put a sticker on the back of the envelope.

For the kids whose cards I will hand-deliver (my students), I added stickers to the actual cards and that was that.

the rectangle of green paper is over the student’s name for student’s privacy

 

If my post inspires you, and you blog about it, I ask that you credit me! Also, I’d love to see it!

DIY Birthday Display Craft

Before we get too far into 2015, I have got to share a craft I made to enjoy year round.

I had a small family, but I married into a huge one! I now have 11 nieces and nephews, as well as 7 siblings-in-law.

Something else you should know about me is how much I treasure birthdays. I think they are fantastic and deserve to be celebrated by children and adults alike. I love to celebrate with the birthday people by mailing cards and making phone calls. I have birthdays on my calendars, including as a recurring event on my iCal (those recurring events – so helpful!) but I wanted to treasure them by putting them on display in a whole different way.

I chose a color of background card stock for each month, and a coordinating pen and marker color. I used a different color of background paper for almost each month, and tried to make the color scheme correspond with a big holiday in the month. October is black and orange due to Halloween falling in October, for example. I made the squares 3.5″ and then cut out the white (with small colored flecks – reminded me of birthday cake) paper slightly smaller with decorative scissors.

The months are written in cursive in a color. Down the left side, in numerical order, are the days where birthdays lie. The birthday person’s name is written in black to stand out, and lastly the year they were born (so I can always figure out how old they are, and for adults, if a milestone birthday is approaching!)

I also included anniversaries with a heart next to the last name of the couple. The heart is dark enough that it makes it easy to differentiate from birthdays. And yes – I observe the anniversary of our proposal and the day we started dating as well. (Actually, these are on the chart mostly because it helps me remember the years these things happened!)

I used my hole punch to make a hole above the month name and threaded some gold string through, double/triple tying a knot to create a circle. They hang on a giant pushpin pushed into the bulletin board near my front door. When a month is over, like January is, I just move it to the back by taking the entire pushpin out and slipping the passed month over the point and all!

This is also handy because the kids in the family are too young for Facebook birthday reminders! 

Do you love birthdays too? Let me know in the comments how you remember your family members’ birthdays!