Tutorial Tuesday — Last-Minute Halloween Cards with Cute Stamps

Hello Friends, and welcome back to Tutorial Tuesday!

Halloween is THIS Saturday, so today's card is quick, bright and happy. Nothing scary here, just a cheerful orange pumpkin, a whole lot of polka dots and a wiggle of ric rac.

The star of this card is the paper. It's from The Haunting Stack by DCWV, a 48-sheet pad of 12x12 cardstock from 2009. Pumpkin orange, witchy purple, slime green and midnight black, with black cats, skulls, potion bottles, spider webs, stripes and dots. I fell in love with the green polka-dot sheet with its grungy, distressed edges. It says Halloween without being spooky at all.
The supplies:

1. The Haunting Stack 12x12 paper pad by DCWV (I used the green polka-dot sheet and on the inside I used a scrap from the Echo Park line.
2. An orange card base (A2, 4.25" x 5.5")
3. A yellow panel for the center - textured and I used some ink to smudge the edges.
4. A pumpkin stamp with a "Happy Halloween" sentiment from Soloz.
5. White cardstock, black ink and and a variety of markers
6. Orange jumbo ric rac
7. Purple twine 
8. Foam squares and adhesive tape.

Let's make it:

Stamp a whole sheet, not just one. I stamped my pumpkin, plus a sugar skull girl, a little ghost and a second pumpkin from my Imaginisce Snag 'em stamps, all on one piece of white cardstock. One for today, the rest for later.

I colored all of them but chose the pumpkin. 

1. Color the pumpkin bright orange, give it a green stem and leaf, and make the little stars yellow.
2. Fussy-cut the pumpkin with a narrow white border, keeping the sentiment attached.
3. Trim the green polka-dot paper a little smaller than your card front and glue it to the orange base so a thin orange border shows all the way around.
4. smudge the yellow panel with an ink color of your choice and layer it in the center.
5. Wrap the purple twine around the front a couple of times on a slant and tie it off on the back.
6. Glue a strip of orange ric rac along the bottom edge.
7. Pop the pumpkin up on foam squares, right over the twine.
8. The inside surprise: mat a skinny strip of spider print for the My Minds Eye Blackbird on black and glue it inside the card.
   

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
    Every card deserves a little something when you open it!
   

Don't waste those extra stamped images! Color the sugar skull girl, the ghost and the other pumpkin, then turn them into treat bag toppers like the ones I shared last Thursday. A whole Halloween party, from one stamped sheet.
Shop the paper: The Haunting Stack is retired, and I have a few pads still sealed in their original wrap in my Etsy shop. You can grab one here. Forty-eight sheets is a LOT of Halloween cards!
Shop the stamps: I had extras of my Halloween stamp sets, still sealed, and they're in my shop as bundles, priced to go before Saturday:

Imaginisce Snag 'em Halloween stamps, 6 packs 
Studio G Soloz clear Halloween stamps, 16 packs 
Studio G red rubber Halloween stamps, 16 packs 

Polka dots or stripes for Halloween? Tell me your favorite in the comments.
Find your sunshine today,

PumpkinSpice Hugs 🧡

Last-Minute Treat Bag Toppers

 Hello Friends,

Can we talk about how Halloween is NEXT WEEK? Where did October go? YIKES!

When Pumpkin and Spice were little, Halloween at our house meant a kitchen table covered in candy, cardstock, and glue sticks. Every classmate got a treat bag, and every treat bag got a topper. Those little bags were never fancy, but they were made with a whole lot of love (and maybe a few too many sprinkles of glitter).

So today I'm sharing my favorite fast-and-easy project: treat bag toppers you can make in an evening or even minutes if time creeps up on you, as it does for so many of us.

Here's what you need:

• A strip of cardstock, about 4" x 6", folded in half - either direction, depends on your bag design.
• Clear cellophane or paper treat bags - and if its too late for a trip to the craft store, sandwich baggies also work great!
• A seasonal stamp set and ink
• Twine or ribbon, and a stapler

Stamp your image on the front half of the folded strip, add a little sentiment, then slip it over the top of a filled treat bag and staple or tie it closed. That's it! Make one, and then make twenty.

I used products from my stash of Halloween supplies. Bag toppers are really fun, and quick to make for any occasion, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day and even just a Thinking of you.  I've given out "Thinking of You" bags with some Tea and cookies, the recipients loved them.  Who doesn't like a simple little 'no occasion' treat?

Are you a treat bag family or a big candy bowl family? Tell me in the comments!

Find your sunshine today,

PumpkinSpice Hugs 🧡