Seasonal Stationery: Halloween Cards

It’s October, which means it’s officially the month of Halloween! Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays as a kid, and now that I have my own children it’s even more fun. I know most of us think about pumpkin decorating ideas and costume ideas before greeting cards, but Halloween cards can be a fun way of sharing the holiday with far-away family or friends. Or, if you have school aged children, grab a few favorite designs for them to exchange with their classmates. Here are a few favorite Halloween cards for you to choose from!

2017 Halloween Cards!

From top right:

1. A minimalist take on the classic ghost motif from Ink Meets Paper

2. OMG. Only Dear Hancock could manage to combine The Shining with bunnies and make them absolutely terrifying!

3. My sentiments exactly from Fox & Fallow

4. Not exactly a traditional Halloween card (and definitely not kid appropriate), but this card from E. Frances Paper just makes me laugh and I couldn’t help but share it here!

5. And a slightly more traditional design with watercolor pumpkins and  from E. Frances Paper

6. Witches and broomsticks and bats, oh my! From Rifle Paper Co.

7. Tricks and treats and cute illustrated black cats from Mr. Boddington’s Studio

8. Hey Boo! from ilootpaperie

9. How cute is this little die cut ghost card from Sugar Paper? This would be the perfect card for those of you thinking about doing classroom Halloween cards.

10. A cute illustrated Halloween card with a sweet hand lettered message from Hennel Paper Co.

October Desktop Downloads!

Happy October everyone! Is anyone else super excited for October?? It’s the first real month of fall on the East Coast, which means changing leaves, cozying up under blankets and sweaters, oh, and a little old thing called Halloween! Ah! This month we have three beautiful wallpapers for you to choose from, ranging from slightly spooky from Katie at The Good Twin to something a bit more warm and cozy. As always, the wallpapers are available in both desktop and phone size, so you can pick two favorites for two different devices! Which one will you choose???

October Ouija Wallpaper by the Good Twin

iPhone | Desktop

October Mask Wallpaper by the Good Twin

iPhone | Desktop

Autumn Watercolor Wallpaper

iPhone | Desktop

For personal use only. All illustrations by Nole Garey and The Good Twin for Oh So Beautiful Paper

If you’re a designer or illustrator interested in contributing your own designs to this column, please email your design to submissions(at)ohsobeautifulpaper.com with the subject line “desktop downloads.” If it’s a good fit I’ll add it to the post for the following month!

Happy Weekend!

Happy Friday everyone – and Happy National Coffee Day! Although every day is National Coffee Day in my house. After a few busy weekends of birthday parties, family trips, and other events, I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend at home. It’s supposed to be cool and crisp here this weekend, which sounds absolutely perfect after a couple weeks of summer-like heat. Yay! But in the meantime…

Union Market Heart Mural

One of my favorite DC murals: the heart wall at Union Market! Photo by me.

…a few links for your weekend!

Kind of obsessed with this family Halloween costume inspired by school supplies!

Madewell is offering up to 30% off through Monday – and they never do sales! I’m really loving this sweater, this bell-sleeve top, and this drapey shirt, and I’m highly considering getting one of these sweater coats

Yay! We finally have a Jeni’s ice cream in DC!

It’s Premier Day over on West Elm and their family of brands – today only! I’ve got my eye on this gem cut brass side table, this copper oil and vinegar set, and this gorgeous floor lamp. Plus, get free shipping with code PREMIER!

So into dark exterior house colors right now

Loving all the bright colors in the latest collection from Oscar de la Renta

BTW – are you on the mailing list for Common Room Studio? We’re getting ready to announce our first workshops and events! You can also follow us on Instagram here!

 

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

Obsessed with this colorful DIY Matisse-inspired cut paper garland

Oooh! Hot pink watercolor wedding invitations

Behind the Stationery with Tiny Bones Press

Wedding stationery inspiration for brunch weddings!

Well Said Type: Raindrop

I made a video using the Samsung Galaxy S8+ – the camera is so good!

 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend – I’ll see you back here on Monday! xoxo

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

Today we’re all about playful cut paper shapes and a citrus-inspired color palette! When Fiskars asked me to create something to help them celebrate the 50th anniversary of their famous Original Orange-handled Scissors, I knew I needed to come up with something really special. I’ve been wanting to do a project inspired by the Matisse cut outs for a while now, and this was the perfect opportunity! You can make this DIY Matisse-inspired cut paper garland to create a colorful statement piece for any party — layer several garland pieces behind the bar or cake table for indoor parties, or drape between trees to add some color for a backyard get-together!

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

Using the iconic bright orange color of the scissors as my starting point, I chose a citrus-inspired color palette of orange, coral, peach, yellow, pink, magenta, mint green, and aqua. These colors are SO fun and work really well together, but you can use pretty much any color palette for this project. I recommend using at least 5-8 colors to give yourself enough variety within the garland (I ended up going slightly overboard and using twelve different color papers). BTW – did you know that the scissors were originally intended to have black, red, and green handles?? I’m so glad they stuck with the orange, which actually came about from a happy coincidence when a prototype was made with orange plastic leftover from a juicer!

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

I honestly can’t imagine my life without the Orange-handled Scissors. Fiskars has been part of my life as long as I can remember, starting with the Blunt-tip Scissors when I was a kid and now the Orange-handled Scissors as an adult. I can always count on my Orange-handled Scissors for a sharp edge and precision cut, which is especially important for DIY projects! This garland involves quite a bit of cutting, so I’m especially grateful for the ergonomic handles and sharp blades that cut all the way to the tip. They even managed the tight curves and tiny details of these Matisse-inspired shapes without a single problem!

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

The inspiration for these shapes came from this amazing book all about the Matisse Cut-Outs. Holy color and pattern inspiration! I chose a few favorite examples from the book, drew the shapes by hand on a piece of paper, and created three botanical designs and two geometric designs to use in the garland. The Matisse-inspired cut paper shapes are layered onto semicircle bases that drape and hang beautifully once the entire garland is assembled. Let’s get started!

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

Supplies

Original Orange-handled Scissors

Printable template

Card stock in 5-8 different colors (I used orange, coral, peach, light pink, bubblegum pink, magenta, aqua, mint green, and four shades of yellow)

Craft Mat

Ruler

Bone Folder

Artist-tac adhesive or glue stick

School glue (optional, but useful for smoothing edges)

Three-piece eyelet setter set (to punch holes for hanging)

Twine

Double-sided tape or hot glue

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

To make the DIY Matisse-inspired cut paper garland:

Step 1. Download our printable template and print onto card stock in your chosen color palette. For most of the designs, you can get both the half-circle shape and smaller shapes from a single sheet of card stock, but there are a few of the larger cut paper shapes that needed to be on their own sheet of paper. The total amount of paper you’ll need depends on the total length of your garland, but I printed 4 or 5 of each template on different colors of card stock to create approximately 20 feet of garland.

Step 2. Use your Orange-handled Scissors to cut out all of the shapes, including the semicircle base shape. Don’t worry too much about getting perfectly smooth edges on all the shapes – the hand cut nature of the shapes is part of the charm of this garland! Depending on the length of your garland, this can take a while, so I highly recommend doing this while binge-watching your favorite tv show.

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

Step 3. Use your three-piece eyelet setter set to punch a small hole at either end of each semicircle base shape. This is eventually where you will run a piece of string or twine to hang the garland. Using a ruler and bone folder, score a straight line approximately half an inch from the edge of each semicircle base shape and fold the paper down along the scored line.

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

Step 4. Before we start gluing shapes down, I recommend taking a few minutes to lay everything out and decide which colors you want to layer together. Once you have all of your garland pieces laid out, it’s time to glue the cut paper shapes to the semicircle shapes! You can use a glue stick for this process, but using these Artist-tac adhesive sheets makes the process soooooooo much faster. Just peel back the adhesive film and lay the cut paper shapes on the sticky adhesive sheet. Press the shapes onto the sheet, replace the film, and burnish the shapes on the adhesive sheet. When you peel the shapes off the adhesive sheet, the adhesive will stick to the back of the shape to create a sticker. Arrange the sticky cut paper shapes on your semicircle card stock and press down until all edges have adhered. If you have any problematic edges, you can smooth them down with a dab of school glue.

Step 5. Once you’ve assembled all of your individual garland pieces, run a length of twine through the holes on the back of the garland so that the twine is hidden under the folded part of the paper. Use double-sided tape or hot glue to adhere the folded part of the paper to the back of the semicircle so everything lays flat. Continue until your garland is long enough for your space, then hang and enjoy!

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

Raise your hand if you also grew up using Fiskars scissors – I want to hear your Fiskars Orange-handled Scissors story! Perhaps it’s a memory of the first time you used the Orange-handled Scissors? Or a favorite craft project made using the iconic scissors? Help us celebrate the 50th anniversary by sharing your story in the comments below!

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

For more information on Fiskars crafting products, check out their website and learn how they’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of their iconic Orange-handled Scissors – or follow Fiskars on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest!

DIY Matisse-Inspired Cut Paper Garland

Photo Credits: Nole Garey and Yetta Reid for Oh So Beautiful Paper

This post was created in partnership with Fiskars. All content and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make Oh So Beautiful Paper possible!

Samsung Galaxy S8 – and Samsung Galaxy Studio DC!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Samsung. All content and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make Oh So Beautiful Paper possible!

Like everyone else, I basically live on my phone. Email, social media, calendars, running lists and notes, reading on the Kindle app – and of course, taking photos. I drag my big DSLR camera out for blog photo shoots and travel, but I pretty much always use my phone to snap a quick photo of my kids or style something for social media. This means the camera component of my phone is SUPER important to me. I’ve heard good things about the camera in the new Samsung Galaxy S8 (especially the video quality!), so I was thrilled when Samsung gave me a Galaxy S8+ to try out. I took the Galaxy S8+ with me on a recent family trip to Upstate New York, and I thought I’d share the results with you today! And for those of you in DC, Dallas, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, you can check out the new Galaxy S8 in person at one of the Samsung Galaxy Studios, which have a bunch of fun interactive experiences – read below for more info on my visit to the DC Studio!

OSBP x Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung Galaxy S8 + Samsung Studio Pop-up in DC!

Photo by Yetta Reid Photography

Okay, so first things first. I’m not a techie person who can rattle off megapixels and display resolution facts at the drop of a hat. But I know how things look in a camera, and I know image quality. And you guys, the camera on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ is just SO good. For those of you who do follow techie talk, the Galaxy S8 has a 12 megapixel back/rear camera and 8 megapixel front-facing camera. And the phone is both dust and water resistant, just in case you have a three year old that thinks it’s super funny to drop your phone in the toilet. Sigh.

OSBP x Samsung Galaxy S8

I took this photo with the Samsung Galaxy S8+!!

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ have an Infinity screen display that stretches from edge to edge and can display 16 million colors (!!) with over 4.1 million pixels. One of my favorite features on the Galaxy S8, aside from the camera of course, is that the Infinity screen gives me the ability to use two apps at once. No more toggling between apps while trying to look things up or follow a new recipe – I can do them at the same time!

Samsung Galaxy S8 + Samsung Studio Pop-up in DC!

Samsung Galaxy S8 + Samsung Studio Pop-up in DC!

Photos by Yetta Reid Photography

Okay, back to the camera. The phone offers multiple camera modes ranging from panoramic to slow motion, all with a F1.7 lens that lets in tons of light. For those of us with experience using a DSLR, the Galaxy S8 and S8+ offers a Pro mode that allows you to control and adjust everything from the ISO and shutter speed to exposure value and white balance. It even has a “Food” mode that automatically blurs everything outside a particular radius. Perfect for detail shots!

OSBP x Samsung Galaxy S8

The Smart Auto Focus tracks every face in the frame to make sure every shot stays sharp and in focus – even in low light or while in motion. The Galaxy S8 even takes multiple shots with every press of the shutter button and instantly combines them into a single photo, so the final image looks crystal clear. It’s seriously like magic.

OSBP x Samsung Galaxy S8

I’ve been wanting to make more of my own videos, and the Samsung Galaxy S8 shoots full 4k video. I shot a bunch of footage while exploring a local creek in Upstate New York with my family over the weekend and edited it all together into a quick little film – the whole process was just so easy! I can definitely see myself using the Samsung Galaxy S8 to make both family videos and quick DIY tutorials in the future!

Music Credit: Bensound

OSBP x Samsung Galaxy S8

OSBP x Samsung Galaxy S8

OSBP x Samsung Galaxy S8

You can see all the Samsung goodies in person at the Samsung Galaxy Studios in DC, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas, Chicago, and New York. For those of you in the DC area, our Samsung Galaxy Studio is located at Union Station in the food court level! They have the Galaxy S8 and S8+, the brand new Note8, and all their accessories – including the very cool S-Pen – along with a Samsung 4D Gear VR theater, fitness tracking demo, interactive art experiences, and Gear 360 camera demo! I really loved the Samsung 4D Gear VR theater demo – it was my first experience with virtual reality! And the interactive touch screen that they use to explain all the different features of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ is so cool – I heard several visitors say that they wished they had one at home! BTW, did you know that you can use Samsung’s Bixby to shop for products online? If you see a gorgeous hat in a photo, you can select just the hat and ask Bixby to find it for you – and it automatically browses Pinterest to find buyable options! So easy.

Samsung Studio Pop-Up at Union Station in Washington, DC

Samsung Studio Pop-Up at Union Station in Washington, DC

All images and video in this post were taken with the Samsung Galaxy S8+, with the exception of the images featuring the phone, which were taken with a DSLR. Can you even spot the difference?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Samsung. All content and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make Oh So Beautiful Paper possible!