Main | Best Halloween Costumes »
Handmade Halloween Cards
Published 10.09.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (15)
Who says cards are just for birthdays and Christmas?
By Brenda Ponnay
Back in high school I had a crazy friend who used to send me Halloween cards. She'd send me Happy-Thanksgiving cards and Valentines and thank-you cards. She was just the card-sending type. Which is funny really since we saw each other every day at school. When I went off to college she still sent me cards all the time. Sometimes she would send me a photo of her pet gecko. She was just thoughtful like that.
I would roll my eyes and tell her she was silly to waste postage on me when she could just say Happy This or That to my face, but after all these years I still think of her and her funny habits fondly. Once in a great while I still get the odd random card from her, but as our lives overlap less and less the cards get fewer and further apart. You know what? I miss her cards.
I'm not irritated when I see the holiday decorations poke their heads out at grocery stores and craft stores earlier and earlier each year. I don't care about Hallmark or whomever is trying to milk us for more and more money by reminding us about Be-Nice-to-Your-Dentist Day or World Crazy Socks Day. I think of it as a sweet reminder to send a card or a note or an email. Anything really. Maybe it's a silly holiday but it's an excuse to reach out. Even Halloween.
As my daughter gets older, I'm trying to teach her the great art of correspondence. In my dreams she will send a postcard to someone every day. Of course our days are busy and those sentiments are often lost among errands and laundry and potty-training but every day is a new day to try.
Lately our big thing is re-purposing her art. She's still young enough that she doesn't mind me "enhancing" her scribbles. I know the day will come when I won't be allowed to touch her masterpieces and I'm ready for that. In the meantime, I'm making the most of her art. I gently influence the colors she paints with. I show her by example how to color with crayon and then wash over it with black paint to make a spooky night scene. Sometimes she copies me. Sometimes she doesn't. But so far our collaborations have been way more interesting than anything that I would come up with on my own.
After we were done collaborating on our Halloween scenes, I sliced up her artwork and made Halloween cards. I had a box of cheap white envelopes but they weren't scary enough all plain and white, so I painted them with coffee (no cream or sugar, please!) and then sprinkled salt on them. Salt repels the water and creates really neat designs when it dries and you scrape it off. It works even better if you grind the salt up first with a mortar and pestle.
I think they turned out pretty cute. We'll probably send them off to relatives and maybe even my crazy old friend if I can find her address. Who knows, maybe I'll send you one.
Related Posts:- Make your own Pumpkin Patch
- Halloween Boo and I've Been Boo'd
- Trunk-or-Treat Halloween Tradition
- Great Halloween Crafts
- The Best Halloween Cupcakes
- Best Halloween Cookies & Crafts
- RSS/Twitter/Facebook
Subscribe- Follow Alpha Mom on Twitter
- Show us some love and follow Alpha Mom on Facebook
- Recent Posts
- Hanukkah Craft: Tiny Little Neighborhood
- Track Santa!
- Snow-Globe Soap
- Children's Art Ornaments
- The Magic of Macy's at Christmas
- Categories
- Archives
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
About this column
This is a year-round Holiday column. Kids love Holidays. As parents we have come to appreciate how Holidays seem to help structure our lives. Plus, any excuse to have fun sounds good to us!
We'll admit it, now that we're parents, we secretly look for Holidays to celebrate and between National, Secular, Unofficial and Bizarre Holidays, we think there are enough days out there to keep us inspired every week.
This column will be a place where you can get inspiration for how to enjoy time with your kids. Crafting projects and ideas will be posted on Thursdays by our brilliant contributors (see below). Other fun ideas will be posted here throughout the week as the inspiration hits us!
About our Craft Contributors
Ellen Luckett Baker is the author of the long thread, a blog about handmade goods. She has always enjoyed making things, but the flexibility of staying at home with her two daughters along with the creative inspiration they provide has led her to craft on a daily basis. Combining her love of graphic design and sewing, she has created an Etsy shop selling machine embroidery designs and sewing patterns.
Ellen lives in Atlanta with her husband and two young daughters. She holds a B.A. in Art History and a Master's of Public Administration with a focus in Non-Profit Management.
Cindy Hopper was fortunate to be raised in a family who appreciated the arts. This background led to a Bachelor's Degree in Art Education. With a keen eye for design and color, Cindy has continued her love of art and is now passing her creative skills on to her three children. Cindy's family and friends are the beneficiaries of her passion for fun and meaningful creative projects. Cindy's personal blog, Skip to My Lou, has taken her love of a project to new levels. Postings keep the family busy -– from testing new recipes for holiday treats to designing and building floats for a neighborhood parade to making fabric rolls to hold crayons to creating themed parties. Cindy seems to have an unending supply of ideas for gifts, parties and rainy days.
Marie LeBaron is a 30 something stay at home mom in Utah. Before life as a mother, she graduated with a teaching degree in Early Childhood & Elementary Education, after which she taught four years of Kindergarten. After her first child was born, she decided to read books and sing silly songs at home. She misses the classroom, but she now gets to bring the fun and learning into her home and ours. You’ll see her kids a lot in these projects as they are her guinea pigs and for whom she's creative. You can follow more of her projects at her personal blog Make and Takes.
Brenda Ponnay is a stealthy secret agent who juggles parenthood to her adorable daughter by day and freelance graphic design by night. Whether it's painting, baking, drawing, making castles out of card board boxes or just doing the laundry with flair, Brenda Ponnay has finally discovered (at the ripe old age of thirty-six) that what really makes her happy is being creative every single day.
Brenda lives in Southern California with her husband, daughter, three cats and thirty-seven pet birds. You can read about all her crazy adventures on her personal blog: Secret Agent Josephine.
Disclaimer
This column is only for entertainment purposes. Any recommendations or information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for advice by a trained professional. For a full statement of our site policies, please click here.
Comments (15):
Anna b-bonkers said:
Oooooo, love this idea. And love the pen pal idea, I am going to get Kaitlyn creating today....watch your mail;-)
Spoooktacular!
Posted on October 9, 2008 11:51
Jennifer said:
I love this idea. I love cards. I've been working on pen pals for my kiddos. Emily (6) has two right now. Snail mail is so fun to send and receive :)
Posted on October 9, 2008 11:58
Jodi B said:
These are really cute, and a good way to use all that "art" that your little ones create!
Posted on October 9, 2008 13:47
bethany actually said:
I've always sent Annalie's artwork to grandparents and friends, but it never would have occurred to me to cut it up and make classier cards out of it. Thanks for the ideas, always!
Posted on October 9, 2008 15:51
BeachMama said:
Very cool, great first post.
Posted on October 9, 2008 17:28
zakka life said:
I like how you cut out the images from one picture. You would never know by looking at the cards. They all look lovely.
jessica
Posted on October 10, 2008 11:38
Angella said:
Further proof that you are THE MOST CREATIVE PERSON I KNOW.
Posted on October 11, 2008 18:54
Neil said:
Creative person and good mom. Just one concern: the witch in those cards looks so friendly, she ain't gonna scare anyone!
Posted on October 11, 2008 22:42
Oh2122 said:
How nifty!
And now thy can be shared with friends and family!
Posted on October 18, 2008 21:41
SmilynStef said:
These are absolutely fabulous. What a great idea.
Posted on October 19, 2008 12:16
Wendy said:
Oh, I love these. They're so gorgeous. My daughter just had a birthday party and these would make fantastic thank you cards.
Thanks so much.
Posted on October 20, 2008 11:25
Rachel said:
These are GORGEOUS! I'm loving your blog so, SO much! I'll be linking to this post.
Posted on October 20, 2008 12:52
keiki gifts said:
Lovely story. Handmade and handwritten cards are so special. You've inspired me to take my kid's pencil drawings and make it into ooak cards. Thanks for sharing!
Posted on October 21, 2008 14:40
magpie said:
Love this.
I repurpose my child's art as wrapping paper - but your idea is good too...
Posted on October 23, 2008 14:28
megan said:
i love everything you do. and love you find the time to teach your daughter so much. the halloween cards are great and the envelopes are simply the best... i wish i had found you BEFORE Halloween tho.
i love the size of your easel too and i realize we probably don't live anywhere near each other but where did you find it? .. all i can find are tiny flimsy ones ... that will tumble to the ground if someone pushed to hard with a brush.
Posted on November 11, 2008 09:53