Free Printable Halloween Goodies, 2011 Edition

Can you believe that Halloween is just about two weeks away? Today, I’m sharing a little roundup of free printable Halloween goodies that will help you get ready for the spookiest holiday of the year. Lots of good stuff here, so let’s get started!

Free Printable Halloween Goodies

Row 1 : Halloween cupcake toppers by all of the talented ladies at We Love to Illustrate. Seven different sets are available.

Row 2 : Adorable ghost and owl place cards by Jinjerup (left), and printable owl invites by Brightside Prints at One Charming Party.

Row 3 : Ghoulishly great Halloween paper toys by Macula.

Row 4 : A cute spider Halloween note card by Paper Glitter (with editable text areas).

Row 5 : Printable Halloween tags and a treat bag craft from Design Editor.

images from their respective owners

3D Paper Art by Noelia Lozano

Noelia Lozano 3D Paper Art

It always makes my day when I’m introduced to a talented, new paper artist, and Noelia Lozano’s 3D paper sculptures have me feeling totally jazzed.

Noelia, a Spanish graphic design student, originally started out studying journalism and telecommunications but realized that design was where her passion truly was. Since then, she’s been enthusiastically building a portfolio filled with her clever, colorful paper sculptures, which include everything from student projects to contest entries to her own, personal endeavors.

Noelia Lozano

3D Paper Sculpture

Coolway Paper Sculpture

Noelia Lozano

In addition, Noelia has created some very cool videos that document her creative process and show just how much time and effort goes into building her pieces. Check out this one for her “Mi Mundo” sculpture (above, top):

A Guy-Friendly Happy Birthday Card

I know that many of you are always on the lookout for cool, guy-friendly and masculine birthday cards, and this Matchless letterpress card by Shed Letterpress instantly caught my eye. It has a sort of suave, 60’s vibe that I’m really digging – the textured, navy blue background is great, and the match graphic is seriously cool.

Matchless Guy Birthday Card

The card is also available in yellow, if you prefer something sunnier:

Matchless Birthday Card Yellow

images from Shed Letterpress

Weekly Wrap #90 : How to Make Confetti Envelope Cards

Confetti Mini Envelope Cards

Don’t forget to enter to win a $50 gift certificate to the Felt & Wire Supply shop, where you can find the Mohawk Loop Antique Vellum Urban Gray cards that I use in today’s craft!

It’s such a treat for me to be able to use some of the fantastic new paper crafting supplies from Felt & Wire Supply for this Weekly Wrap project, which is part greeting card, part gift package, and part gift. When I was first browsing around the shop, I immediately honed in on the Mohawk Urban Gray cards and envelopes and thought it would be fun to experiment with light colors against a rich, gray backdrop, so that’s just what I did.

I love the confetti trend that’s happening right now in the stationery world, and I cannot resist mini envelopes, so I combined the two to create a gift card holder that doubles as a birthday card. One of the best parts of this project, besides the fact that it’s so quick and simple, is that you can use any color combo that you’d like. Choosing a color palette is always one of my favorite parts of craft and design projects!

Supplies Used

Mohawk Loop Antique Vellum Urban Gray A2 Card
Paper Source Peacock Baby Envelope
Pencil with a Clean Eraser
Scrap Paper
Paper Towel
VersaMagic Dew Drop Ink Pads (Cloud White and Pink Grapefruit)
ColorBox Ink Pads (Wild Hare and Celadon)
Clear Embossing Powder
Darice Heat Embossing Tool
Tombow Double-Sided Adhesive
Hero Arts Little Happy Birthday Stamp
White Cardstock
Fiskars 1.5” Circle Paper Punch

Directions

Confetti Envelope Card Craft

Place your card on top of a piece of scrap paper. Use the eraser of your pencil as a stamp to create confetti dots in a random pattern on the card, and reload with ink after every one or two times that you stamp. After you’re finished with your first ink color, wipe off as much ink as you can with a paper towel. Continue the stamping process with your remaining ink colors.

Heat Embossing Craft

I decided to heat emboss just the pink and teal dots, leaving the white and gray dots to dry flat. This gives the final card a bit of textural contrast, and it helps the brighter colors pop even more against the gray. Liberally cover the dots that you’ll be embossing with clear embossing powder, return any excess powder to its container, and emboss using a heat embossing tool.

Stamped Confetti Card

Voilà! Your confetti covered card is finished. The embossed dots will be glossy and slightly raised, which you can’t really see in this photo. Trust me, it’s a pretty cool effect.

Finished Confetti Envelope Card

Center your mini envelope on the card, and attach it using double-sided adhesive or glue.

Gift Card Envelope

These little envelopes are a perfect fit for standard-size gift cards. You could also slip some cold, hard cash in there, if you prefer.

Happy Birthday Embossed

Stamp your sentiment onto white cardstock and heat emboss, just as you did earlier with the dots. Then, use a 1.5” circle punch to punch out the sentiment.

Stamped Happy Birthday Seal

Attach the sentiment to the sealed envelope using double-sided adhesive or glue. Slide your finished greeting/gift into a matching A2 envelope, which you can also decorate with confetti dots.

Confetti Mini Envelope Card Finished

Making confetti (at least the eraser stamped kind) is completely addictive, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself looking for an excuse to break out your pencil eraser and ink pads again soon!

photos by Kristen Magee