This cute little Party Animal Dog is front and center on a Halloween card and all dressed up in his spooky Halloween costume!  I just love the colors and the fun images for Halloween!

My main purpose for this card was to use the Stampin’ Up! Watercolor Pencils and Blender Pen. I selected this image that needed to be colored in from the Trick or Tweet Stamp Set in the upcoming Holiday Catalog.  As far as the Watercolor Pencils, the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog has a set just called Watercolor Pencils.  We’ve had those for a while.  But if you would like some additional colors, during August you can order the Watercolor Pencils Assortment 2.  It’s part of the Color Your Season Suite going on during August only!  The pencils are not included in the Blended Season Bundle that includes the stamp set and framelits dies.  But all of these products go away August 31 so don’t miss out!  Stampin’ Up! “may” bring back the pencils in another publication, but we don’t know so if you want them and don’t want to have to wait until another catalog, go ahead and order them now!

Watercolor pencils are easy to use, especially with a Blender Pen.  Just lay down some color (you don’t even have to color in every space) and the Blender Pen will sort of “melt” the color and you can smooth it out beautifully. You can also pick up the color from the pencil itself with the Blender Pen just by touching the tip of the Blender Pen to the pencil.  That probably gives a little darker shade of color.  You can also use an Aqua Painter or a small paintbrush. I’ve always like Watercolor Pencils for coloring!

The card is made with a base of Gorgeous Grape Cardstock.  The designer paper is from Toil & Trouble.  When I saw the ghost paper,  I thought that would be a cute background.  I wondered if it would be too much, so I checked and the back of the paper was purple-striped so I just used that different pattern at the bottom of the card layer.  To cover the seam of the two papers, I adhered a piece of Basic Black 3/8″ Shimmer Ribbon.

The little dog is stamped on Thick Whisper White Cardstock with Stazon Ink since it is waterproof. That means it will stand up to the moisture of the Blender Pen.  I also used some Sponge Daubers to sponge on some color on the tag so it wouldn’t be so stark white.  The tag is made with the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch and popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  I also tied on a piece of the black ribbon.  You might be able to see the shimmer a bit in the photo.

Check out the Color Your Season Suite and the Watercolor Pencils so you don’t miss the August 31 deadline!

Unless you have been inside a craft store, you probably won’t believe it is less than twelve weeks until Halloween!  We are in the midst of summer and back to school, but as a mom of three, I remember that there is just a small pause after school starts while kids get acquainted, before birthday parties start, before sports and activities kick into full gear, before big school projects get assigned. THEN it all hits and before you know it, it is Halloween and we know it is a slippery slope to all the rest of the holidays until the end of the year! So the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog comes out at a good time, early enough for us to take some stock into what we want to make for the holidays and get our supplies purchased and ready to go!

Since Halloween is right around the corner (ha!), here is a card I made to get us in the mood!  I love all things cute an lovely for fall and Halloween and I think this new Toil & Trouble Designer Series  Paper in the upcoming Holiday Catalog fills that bill! You’ll find cute witches and cauldrons, like the ones on this card, plus little spiders, bats, lovely pumpkins, and even some generic paper patterns that you can use for backgrounds or trim on Halloween cards or even on other cards.

I started with this cauldron paper, which lends itself to being cut into strips which can then be used in various ways.

For the card base, I used Basic Black Cardstock with a layer of Crushed Curry, then a layer of the designer paper with one of those “generic” backgrounds, the stars.  I chose a piece of Whisper White to die cut and layer on a scalloped piece of Crushed Curry.  I was just going to glue on the witch, cauldron, and greeting, but I decided it needed a little more spookiness!  I used my Sponge Daubers to sponge on some spooky colors of ink for the background. I just hand cut the images from the designer paper, but you can purchase the Cauldron Framelits Dies if you prefer. My greeting is from the Trick or Treat Stamp Set, also coming in the catalog.

Since the inside of the card is Basic Black I adhered a piece of Whisper White inside for a greeting.  To embellish it a bit, I added a strip of the designer paper on the side and even the little cat which is on the designer paper.  I like the way it turned out for my first Halloween card of the season!

Hopefully, your Holiday Catalogs are starting to arrive in the mail if you are one of my customers.  If you are looking for Stampin’ Up! products, just send me your contact information and I can mail a complimentary catalog to you!  We wouldn’t want you to miss out on these great holiday products!!

I hope this Toil & Trouble Halloween Witch Card gets you in the Halloween and fall mood.  I know I am in the mood, especially for cooler fall weather and time for crafting!

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If you want to make a quick and easy Halloween card, this Halloween Ghost Card is it! This creative idea is actually one of the things that made me sign up to be a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator fifteen years ago this month! Sometimes it’s the little things! I was already buying Stampin’ Up! products as a customer from my friend who introduced me to the company, when she suggested I sign up to be a Demonstrator, partly so we could go to the Convention together! When I visited her in October that year, she took me along to a team meeting of other Demonstrators and I got to see even more samples of cards and projects.  I was overwhelmed with all the creative ideas, but when I saw you could make a ghost out of half of a heart shape, I was sold! Who thinks of these things?!  And that thrill has never diminished for me as I see what other ideas stampers come up with!

This card base is Pumpkin Pie Cardstock with a Basic Black layer. The designer paper is Spooky Night.  The “Boo!” words are handwritten with the White Stampin’ Up! Chalk Marker.

This is all you have to do to make this Halloween card. Die cut various size hearts with the Sweet & Sassy Framelits Dies. Or perhaps you have retired heart punches…..or just cut out some hearts with Paper Snips. After you get the heart shape, just cut it in half! Add some eyes or face or whatever you like to make a ghost!  Then put you ghost peeking out from the side of the card or project!

Here is another card explaining the process with another sample!

I always love making Halloween cards and projects, but this was one idea, making ghosts out of hearts,  was one that really stuck with me!  Try it on any Halloween project you want to make!

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It’s certainly time for a Easy Spooky Night Owl Halloween Card.  I’ve used this Spooky Night Designer Series Paper a lot but hadn’t stamped the owl in the tree yet!  The paper comes printed with a partial tree and branch with the moon in the background, leaving space to stamp the owl from the Spooky Cat Photopolymer Stamp Set. I’m not into owls, but here is my token owl card since it came in the stamp set!

Except for stamping the owl and the greeting, this card is mostly about layering the various patterns of the Spooky Night Designer Series Paper.  The card base is Basic Black Cardstock with a layer of Pumpkin Pie Cardstock.  Then we have striped layer on top of the Pumpkin Pie with the owl and tree stamped piece on top of that,

At the bottom of the card are a couple layers of the Spooky Night Paper with the little banner stamped with “Happy Halloween” from the Spooky Cat Stamp Set.  The owl is also in this stamp set.

This card can be jazzed up more if you like, with some ribbon or Black Rhinestones. I was happy with it the way it was!

Click HERE to see a Halloween Treat Bag I made with the Spooky Night DSP.

Be sure you sign up for my Stamping With Karen Mailing List!  Get the latest news and offers from Stampin’ Up!, plus cards and projects from me with the supply list and instructions. And right now I’m sending out my special 12 Weeks of Christmas holiday emails once a week on Wednesdays with a new holiday project and instructions each week!  And it’s all FREE!  Sign up in the red box below!

I hope you enjoy my Easy Spooky Night Owl Halloween Card!  Just gather your stamps, ink,  and paper and make a Halloween card for someone special!  Have fun with this holiday!

This is the beginning of a Spooky Night Scrap Card For Halloween! Can you imagine this will become a card? It’s actually a fun way to use up scraps of designer paper that you may have to make a Halloween card. Of course you can use any designer paper and any cardstock to make a card for any occasion using the same technique!

I started with a card base of Basic Black and adhered these strips right on the card front.  If you preferred, you could adhere the strips on another piece of cardstock to layer on top of the card base. It’s better to do it that way if you want to wrap ribbon around the card front.

This card just began with laying one 3/4″ strip of the Spooky NIght Designer Series Paper diagonally across the card front.  Then everything else plays off of that piece.  You can make the pieces touch if you prefer.  I left a small space in between the strips.

After all the pieces were glued down with Multipurpose Liquid Glue (to give me some wiggle room to place them properly), I flipped the card over.  It’s easier to let the strips extend off the card than to try to cut them to an exact length and angle.

Take a scissors and trim the excess strips off from the back.  That’s the easiest.  You might have to clean your scissors later from getting a bit of glue on them but that’s okay.

After trimming the excess paper strips, the card front will look like this!  Then just finish embellishing the card or whatever you would like to do with it.  I stamped a greeting in the Spooky Cat Stamp Set.

Don’t forget the Designer Paper Sale going on through October!  Good time to stock up on the select papers!  Buy 3 Get 1 Free!

Try your hand with this technique of using scraps adhered to the card front and make something like my Spooky Night Scrap Card For Halloween.

The other day when I was stamping with the ghost in the Sweet Home Stamp Set, I got the idea to make a card like this Halloween Ghost Black & White Card. That little ghost is just a fun one to stamp!

This card couldn’t be simpler to make!  It’s all just black and white!  Of course you could change it up any way you wanted to, by adding other colors, for example! Maybe stamping fewer ghosts randomly on the card front. Whatever suits your Halloween fancy!

The card base is Basic Black Cardstock. The stamped layer is Whisper White!  You probably guessed that already!  I stamped that little ghost just randomly on the paper trying to fill up almost all the space. Since it was a photopolymer stamp I used my Stampin’ Pierce Mat just in case the stamp needed a little cushioning. In order not to get ink on my mat, I covered the mat with a scrap piece of computer paper so I could stamp ghosts off the edge of the cardstock in places.

The greeting is from the Spooky Cat Stamp Set. First I tried punching the greeting with the Classic Label Punch and layering it on Basic Black, but I didn’t quite like that small size. Next I stamped the greeting again and die cut it with an oval in the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies and then layered that on one of the scalloped dies in the set in Basic Black.

The ribbon is the Basic Black 3/8″ Shimmery Ribbon.  I think you can see a bit of the shimmer in the photo.  Very pretty ribbon and perfect for Halloween! And finally I added a few of the Black Rhinestone Jewels on the greeting. I tried them randomly scattered but didn’t like that so I just put them in a row!

This Halloween card reminded me of a baby card I made HERE in this post.

If you need some quick and easy ideas for Halloween cards, try this Halloween Ghost Black & White Card!

How fun to make this Sweet Home Haunted Halloween House Card with the Sweet Home Stamp Set that came out last year. I’d almost forgotten about it.  Be sure to look at ALL your stamp sets from time to time and not totally get caught up in the current seasonal catalog!  There are great sets and products in the regular Stampin’ Up! catalog, too!

The card base is Pumpkin Pie Cardstock and I was going to use Basic Black for a layer but then decided to use Dapper Denim Cardstock to match the ink I was using for the sky. The black you see is just the paper I laid the card on for the photo, but it does look good with it so you could have the card base be black if you wanted!

The Sweet Home Stamp Set has images for little houses that can be designed for any season.  There are matching dies, the Home Sweet Home Thinlits Dies , that can be used to cut out the various pieces and even make the homes 3D. For today I just wanted a stamped haunted Halloween house. After stamping the house and the various parts on to it, I stamped and cut out two ghosts and the banner.  I used a Stampin’ Write Marker to draw in some grass at the bottom of the card, because, well, you should have grass and because there was a slight stamped line out of place that I needed to cover up!

The sky is sponged in with a Sponge Dauber and Dapper Denim Ink around a punched out cloud from the Tree Builder Punch.  Then I went back over the clouds likely with some Smoky Slate Ink.

The ghosts and banner are popped up with the Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals. Boy, were those handy on those small pieces!  Be sure to get some on your next order!

The “Happy Halloween” greeting at the top is from the Spooky Cat Photopolymer Stamp Set. There are other ways you could embellish this card even more but I was sticking with relatively simple today!

Here is another card I made with the Sweet Home Stamp Set, so you can see how versatile it can be!  It’s a fun stamp set to have for lots of holidays or any occasion, and if you like a physical little house, be sure to get the Home Sweet Home Thinlits Dies.

Have fun making a Halloween card for a friend or loved one like this Sweet Home Haunted Halloween House Card.

This is an easy and fun way to make a Halloween card using scraps of Halloween designer paper!  You can do this type of card for any occasion using any paper, even just plain cardstock in different colors. This card could even be embellished more but I chose to leave it simple.

The card base is Basic Black with a slight Very Vanilla layer. The paper strips are actually glued on to a piece of Pumpkin Pie cardstock. It’s easier to glue strips on to a piece of cardstock, trim the ends, and then layer that on the card than to try to get everything straight directly on the card. This is a great way to use up some scraps you have leftover from other projects. The strips can be the same size or they can be different widths. Just play around until you make them fit on the card. If you are layering on a piece of cardstock, you don’t have to worry about the length of the strips.  Just glue them down and then trim the ends from the back of that cardstock before adhering to the card front.

On this card I just tied on a piece of Basic Black 3/8″ Shimmery Ribbon.  I could have punched out a cat or cut out a pumpkin or added a greeting, but since the Halloween words were part of the paper, I just let that be the greeting.

The Spooky Night Designer Series Paper is a fun package to use for Halloween, and not all the sheets are exclusively for Halloween.  They can be used for other fall cards and projects.

Be sure to check out the Spooky Night Suite of products in the Holiday Catalog!