There is something lovely about seeing a collection take on a life of its own in someone else's craft room. Our design team member Samantha Kennard of Mamthy's Crafts has turned the Romantasy Fall Expansion into a beautiful handmade card, and I couldn't wait to share it with you.

Card and photograph by Samantha Kennard, Mamthy's Crafts.

A little autumn magic, made by Sam

The deep plum background, golden leaves and celestial details set the scene beautifully. A reader tucked beside a glowing window becomes the focal point, while the pale ribbon and ornate sentiment panel bring a softer touch to the rich autumn colours. The narrow gold border pulls it all together.

I love how Sam has given the artwork room to shine. It is such a pretty reminder that a junk journal collection can find its way into cards, happy mail and little gifts for the readers in our lives, too.

See Sam's original Romantasy card post at Mamthy's Crafts. Please pop over, have a look around and leave her a little love!

Make something magical with the Romantasy Fall collection

If Sam's card has you reaching for your scissors, you can find the Romantasy Fall Expansion printable junk journal kit in our Etsy shop. It is a digital download for printing and crafting at home; Sam's finished card is her own creation.

For a card inspired by this look, try a richly patterned background, one main character or illustration, a narrow coordinating strip and a sentiment. Arrange the pieces before gluing, and leave a little space around your focal image so it stands out. Choose the size to suit your own card blank and printer.

Shop the Romantasy Fall Expansion on Etsy
Browse all My Grandma's Teacups printables

Thank you, Samantha

Thank you to Sam for sharing another beautiful project with us. It is a joy to see these story-filled papers become something someone can hold, send and treasure.

You can find more of her handmade cards and creative adventures at Mamthy's Crafts.

Would you use these autumn colours for a card, a journal page or a little bookish gift? I'd love to hear what you would make.

For more printable project ideas, creative inspiration and subscriber freebies, join the My Grandma's Teacups newsletter.

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A little Highland magic for your writing desk

A beautiful digital bookmark can become so much more than a place to hold your page. For this project, I am using the Scottish Highlands fall bookmarks to turn a clear paper-insert pen into a tiny piece of autumn artwork. Golden skies, heather, castles and Highland stags look lovely wrapped around the barrel, and the clear outer casing gives the paper a polished finish.

This is an easy project to make alongside a matching bookmark or reading journal. Once you have worked out the fit for your particular pens, you can prepare several inserts from the same sheet.

What you will need

• The bookmark sheet from the Scottish Highlands Harvest Festival / Fall Expansion collection on Etsy.
• Blank paper-insert pens with a removable clear outer casing, inner cylinder and pen clip.
• An ordinary colour printer and thin, printer-compatible paper. Start with plain paper; heavy cardstock may be too bulky.
• Scissors or a paper trimmer, a ruler and a pencil.
• A scrap of plain paper for a fitting template.

Browse bulk paper-insert pen options on Amazon.ca (affiliate shopping search). Check the listing photographs and assembly details before buying: you need a pen that opens to accept a paper wrap around an inner cylinder, with a clear outer shell and a clip. This is a shopping search, rather than a recommendation for a tested pack. Ordinary transparent pens, beadable pens and opaque sublimation blanks may not have the space needed for this project.

1. Open one pen and make a paper template

Follow the instructions supplied with your pen to remove the clear outer casing. Lay the parts in order and take a quick photograph so you can put everything back correctly. Keep any small springs and fittings together.

Measure the usable straight section of the inner cylinder, leaving threads, end fittings and moving parts clear. Wrap a scrap of thin paper around it, mark where the edges meet, and trim a rectangle. Test it inside the clear shell. The paper should sit smoothly and the casing should close easily without forcing it.

Our approximate starting size is 1½ inches around the cylinder × 4½ inches along the pen (about 38 × 114 mm). Different pens will need different measurements. Allow yourself a little experimenting to find the correct size, including whether a tiny overlap fits or the edges need to meet without overlapping.

2. Resize your digital bookmark

Keep your original download untouched and work from a copy. The Scottish Highlands fall sheet is designed for landscape US Letter paper, 11 × 8½ inches. At that intended page size, the individual bookmarks are approximately 2 inches wide.

For a wrap about 1½ inches wide, start by printing at 75%. The calculation is 1.5 ÷ 2 × 100 = 75%. This reduces both the width and the length proportionally. It does not automatically create an exact 1½ × 4½-inch rectangle: you will still trim the length to fit your pen.

1. Open the bookmark file in a program that lets you control its printed dimensions. Set the original sheet to 11 × 8½ inches, landscape, if the image does not already have a defined page size.
2. Choose a custom print scale of 75%, with no additional Fit to page, Fill page, borderless expansion or multiple-pages-per-sheet scaling.
3. Print a plain-paper test and measure the actual bookmark width with your ruler.
4. Use your fitting template to trim the length, moving it over the artwork first to choose which details you want to keep.

If your printer app does not offer a reliable percentage control, crop a single bookmark from a copy of the sheet and place it in a layout program at 1½ inches wide with its proportions locked. Crop the length to 4½ inches rather than stretching the artwork. Print that prepared layout at 100% / Actual size.

Different pens require experimenting. Seventy-five percent is a starting point for this sheet and this approximate wrap width, not a universal setting. To adjust a test, use: new percentage = current percentage × desired printed width ÷ measured printed width. For example, if a 75% test prints 1.6 inches wide but you need 1.5 inches, try about 70.3%. Recheck the length and the paper thickness as well.

3. Print and trim your chosen design

Once the plain-paper template fits, print your artwork on thin paper using the appropriate printer settings. Let the ink dry fully. Cut straight, clean edges and trim away any white border you do not want showing through the casing.

Choose the section of the design before cutting: keep the stag’s face, castle or heather where it will be easiest to see. Remember that some artwork will curve around the back of the pen. Check the design’s direction against the pen tip and clip so it will face the way you want when the pen is held.

4. Wrap the inner cylinder

Gently curl the printed paper around a smooth pencil or similar rounded tool to encourage a curve without creasing it. Wrap it around the pen’s inner cylinder with the printed side facing out. Position the seam towards the back or beneath the clip when the pen’s construction allows.

Start with a dry fit. Avoid bulky layers of tape or glue, and do not cover the threads, ink mechanism or moving parts. The clear casing should hold the insert in place once everything fits properly.

5. Replace the clear casing and test

Slide or refit the clear outer shell carefully, following the pen’s assembly instructions. If the paper catches, bunches or twists, stop and remove it. Trim a sliver, reduce the overlap or try thinner paper, then test again. Do not force the shell closed.

Refit the tip and any other parts, check that the clip sits properly, and test the click or twist mechanism and the writing tip. The paper should remain smooth and clear of the mechanism.

A few little fixes that make a difference

• The shell will not close: check the wrap length, overlap, paper thickness and clearance around the fittings.
• A white seam shows: trim the white edge or reposition the paper; only add a small overlap if your pen has room.
• The design looks too small: measure the printed result and check for extra printer scaling before changing the file.
• The main image disappears around the back: rotate the wrap or choose a different crop before making the next one.

Make a matching little gift

Pair your pen with a full-size bookmark from the same fall sheet and tuck both into a simple paper sleeve. It is a lovely small gift for a reader, journal keeper or someone who enjoys pretty stationery. Save your successful measurements, paper choice and print settings with the pen supplier’s details so the next batch is easier.

Explore the Scottish Highlands Fall Expansion on Etsy, or browse the My Grandma’s Teacups printable collections for another world to bring to your desk. These listings are digital downloads; pens and printed supplies are purchased separately. Check the licence included with your files before selling finished items, and never redistribute the digital artwork.

Join our newsletter for more freebies, tutorials and cosy creative inspiration. I would love to see which bookmark you turn into a pen!

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Some designs deserve a little time outside the journal. For this project, we’re taking the foliage artwork from the Dark Fantasy Fall Extension and turning it into decorative candle wraps using waterslide decal paper.

Styled with loose grapevine and autumn leaves, the finished candles make a wonderfully moody centrepiece for a bookish table or fall display.

Choose LED pillar candles for this project whenever possible. If you decorate real wax candles, keep them unlit and use them for display only. The decals and clear coat do not make a candle safe to burn.

Gather Your Supplies

• Dark Fantasy Fall Extension artwork — the printable papers used for this project
• Waterslide decal paper suitable for your printer
• Epson EcoTank ET-2800 or a compatible inkjet printer, using ordinary printer ink
• LED pillar candles — smooth surfaces are easiest to decorate; test adhesion first
• Scissors
• A shallow dish of water
• A soft cloth or paper towel
• Clear acrylic spray sealer, if required by your decal paper
• Loose grapevine and artificial autumn leaves for styling

Check the instructions supplied with your waterslide paper before beginning. Printing, sealing, soaking and drying requirements vary between products. Clear decal paper allows the candle colour to show through; a pale candle helps the artwork remain visible.

1. Choose and Size Your Artwork

Choose a foliage design from the Dark Fantasy Fall Extension papers. Measure the height and circumference of your candle, then size the artwork to fit the area you want to decorate.

A quick test print on ordinary paper is helpful here. Wrap it around the candle to check the placement before using your decal paper.

For LED candles, keep the design clear of switches, battery compartments and other working parts.

2. Print and Seal

Print on the correct side of your waterslide paper using the settings recommended by its manufacturer. Allow the ink to dry.

If your paper requires sealing, apply the recommended clear coat before soaking. Work in a well-ventilated area and follow the spray label’s drying instructions.

Don’t rush this step. An inadequate seal can allow the printed colours to run or the design to break apart in the water. Use the number of coats and drying time specified for your paper and sealer.

3. Trim and Soak

Trim the design neatly, removing excess blank space where appropriate.

Place the decal in water for the time recommended by the paper manufacturer. It is ready when the printed film begins to slide gently on its backing. Avoid pulling or forcing it.

4. Slide the Design into Place

Make sure the candle surface is clean and dry.

Hold the decal against the candle and gently slide the backing paper out from beneath it, keeping the printed film supported as you go. Work slowly around the curve.

Use a damp, soft cloth to smooth from the centre towards the edges, easing out trapped water and air. Handle the film gently while it is wet—it can stretch or tear.

For LED candles, keep water away from the battery compartment and electrical components.

5. Leave It to Dry

Set the candle upright and allow the decal to dry fully according to the paper instructions. Avoid handling the decorated area during this stage.

Only apply an additional finish if the product instructions recommend it and it is compatible with your candle’s surface. Test unfamiliar materials on a small, inconspicuous area first.

6. Build Your Autumn Display

Arrange the finished candles on a tray with loose grapevine and a scattering of artificial fall leaves. Let the vines curve naturally around the arrangement for a relaxed woodland feel.

The dark foliage brings a touch of enchanted forest to the table—just right beside a stack of autumn reads.

Use the glow from LED candles only. Decorated wax candles must remain unlit, and the entire arrangement should be kept away from flames and heat.

Give Your Printables Another Life

This is such a lovely way to carry a favourite collection into your seasonal decorating. A paper chosen for a journal can become the detail that ties a whole display together.

Shop the Dark Fantasy Fall Extension on Etsy to find the artwork for this project. This is a digital download; candles and craft supplies are purchased separately. You can also explore all My Grandma’s Teacups printable collections.

Join our newsletter for more printable projects, creative ideas and subscriber freebies. There are plenty more ways to take these designs off the page!

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This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.

There is no rule that says a colouring page has to stay tucked inside a book. Sometimes your ghosts deserve to get dressed up, take their pumpkin drinks outside, and become part of the Halloween decorating.

For this project, I took the three friends from Best Ghoulfriends and turned them into an 11 × 14-inch canvas, surrounded by red and orange autumn foliage and a raised silver cobweb border. A big bowl of candy nearby feels entirely appropriate. They do look like the sort of girls who would insist on checking the treats.

The important part of this project is the paper: we used waterslide decal paper for both the coloured focal image and the four foliage sections. This is a waterslide project, rather than paper decoupage.

What I used

I print everyday artwork with an Epson EcoTank ET-2800 using ordinary inkjet ink.

• An 11 × 14-inch canvas
• The Best Ghoulfriends colouring-page image, printed in portrait orientation on letter-size inkjet waterslide paper
• The autumn foliage background, printed as four separate waterslide sections
• A plain sheet to cut alongside the focal image and save as a positioning template or mask
• Blue painter’s tape
• Scissors
• Alcohol markers
• Acrylic paint in fall colours, with a lighter colour for the centre
• Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch 2X Ultra Cover clear gloss—the can labelled Clair lustré
• A pencil for light registration marks
• A shallow container of water large enough for the decal sections
• A soft brush and a soft lint-free cloth or paper towel
• A hot glue gun and silver glue sticks

Follow the instructions for your particular waterslide paper and clear coat. The timing between coats, soaking time and drying time need to come from those products.

1. Cut the ghosts and save their matching mask

Place the printed colouring page over a plain backing sheet and secure the sheets together with small pieces of painter’s tape. Trim away the excess paper, then cut carefully around the outside of the whole scene.

Keep the ghosts, table, cat and pumpkins together as one focal piece. There is no need to cut every little space between the table legs.

Separate the two sheets after cutting. The plain silhouette is worth keeping: it matches the focal image and lets you plan the placement without repeatedly handling your coloured decal. It can also serve as a mask if you add painted details around the image later.

2. Colour your ghostly gathering

Colour the printed focal image with alcohol markers. I used green for the reading ghost’s bow and book, pink and purple for the middle bow, and grey and black for the bow on the right. Orange pumpkins, autumn leaves and a warm brown table bring the scene together.

Leave the ghost bodies white. Their bright shapes are what help them stand out against all that autumn colour.

The focal image stays at the size printed from the colouring page. It does not need to fill the canvas; the space around it gives the woodland background room to show.

3. Seal the waterslide prints with four layers of clear coat

We sealed the printed waterslides with four layers of our Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch 2X clear gloss before putting them in water.

That includes the coloured ghost image and the printed foliage sections. Allow the marker colouring to dry first, then apply the clear coat according to its label, observing the required intervals and drying time before soaking.

This is a step to take slowly. Coverage needs to be even, and the printed areas need protection before they meet the water. Four layers describe what we used for this project; check that your own paper and sealer are compatible, and try a spare printed scrap first.

Spray in a suitable well-ventilated area, following the can’s safety directions.

4. Paint the canvas in fall colours

Paint the canvas with a fall-colour base, keeping the centre lighter and working warmer, deeper colours around the outside.

The lighter centre gives the ghosts a place to sit without disappearing into the red and orange foliage. Think of it as a little clearing in the autumn woods.

Let the paint dry fully. The receiving surface also needs to be smooth and sealed enough for the waterslide to move into place; an absorbent or heavily textured surface makes positioning much harder. Prepare and dry that surface according to the products you are using.

5. Make light registration marks

Before soaking anything, arrange the four foliage pieces on the canvas with their paper backing still attached. Check the orientation and where the branches, tree trunks and foliage meet.

I drew light registration marks in the centre of my canvas to help line up the four sections.

Keep those marks faint and check that the artwork will hide them, especially if you are using transparent waterslide paper. A straight-on photograph of the dry arrangement is useful, too.

Use the plain ghost silhouette to check the focal placement. Make sure there is room for the silver border around the outside.

6. Apply the four foliage sections—touching, not overlapping

This is the part that needs the most care.

The foliage is made from four separate waterslide sections. Their edges need to meet neatly: touching, but not overlapping.

An overlap can produce a darker line or a doubled piece of artwork. A gap can leave the painted canvas visible between the sections. Take time to match the actual branches and foliage as well as the outside edges.

Work with one section at a time:

1. Soak it according to the waterslide paper’s instructions, until the film releases easily.
2. Lightly wet the area where it will sit.
3. Bring the section to the canvas while its backing still supports it.
4. Ease a small edge into position, then gently withdraw the backing underneath.
5. Align it with the centre registration marks and the neighbouring artwork while it is still movable.
6. Gently smooth and blot away excess water without dragging or stretching the film.

Continue with the remaining pieces. Keep checking that each join meets cleanly before moving on. Avoid pulling at one corner to force a match; that can distort the image.

Let the background dry as directed before applying the focal image.

7. Add the coloured ghosts

Return to the position you planned with the plain silhouette.

If your focal image is on clear waterslide paper, unprinted white areas will be transparent. Make sure the area beneath the ghosts is white if you want white bodies; a merely lighter centre will still show through. White waterslide paper provides its own opaque white base.

Soak the sealed focal decal according to its instructions and slide it into position, keeping the backing beneath it for support as you work. Take particular care around the bows, leaves and pumpkin edges.

Gently ease out trapped water and air. The aim is for the whole image to lie flat, with no curled edges or folds. Allow it to dry thoroughly before adding the border.

8. Make a silver hot-glue cobweb border

Use silver glue sticks to create a raised cobweb border roughly one inch wide around all four sides of the canvas.

Keep it beginner friendly. Start with a simple fan-shaped web in each corner: a few spokes, joined with two or three curved lines. Then connect the corners with smaller repeating web sections along the edges.

You do not need tiny, intricate webs. Open shapes are easier to make and let the autumn colours show through.

Practise a few lines on a suitable heat-resistant scrap surface first. Work in short sections and keep the hot nozzle away from the decal surface. A slightly thicker join, a wobbly curve or a little glue blob is part of the handmade finish. We are decorating with cobwebs, after all. The spiders did not bring rulers.

Let the glue cool completely before moving the canvas.

9. Take your ghosts to the entryway

Hang the finished canvas near your Halloween treats, with a generous bowl of wrapped candy underneath.

I like it with a pumpkin and those wispy cobweb decorations that come bundled in a bag and stretch out between corners. Keep the stretched webbing around the display rather than across the ghost faces—you have done all that colouring, so let it show.

And there they are: three friends who have escaped the colouring book and found themselves a place in the Halloween decorating.

Make your own

You can find Best Ghoulfriends in my printable shop:

Get the Best Ghoulfriends colouring book on Etsy

Use the colouring artwork as the starting point, then make the colours and finishing details your own. The four-section foliage background is a free companion download linked above; the ghost colouring artwork comes from the Best Ghoulfriends book.

More little things worth making

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