Carving pumpkins!

I love this time of year.. I decided this year... I am going to make my own, from scratch (not can) pumpkin pies and cookies and more!! I can't wait!! (I did get extra pumpkins)

We carved pumkpins.. Gotta love how serious they get when doing this..
I don't have the finished products, we need to get candles and I will post them later..

But for now.. here is some history of the "Carving of Pumpkins"
Take it with a grain of salt..
I found many different stories, but most lead to this basic info from:

History.com:

People have been making jack o'lanterns at Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed "Stingy Jack." According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn't want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree's bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.


Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as "Jack of the Lantern," and then, simply "Jack O'Lantern."

In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack's lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. In England, large beets are used. Immigrants from these countries brought the jack o'lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make perfect jack o'lanterns.

Wikipedia:

Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time encompassing customs of medieval holy days as well as contemporary cultures. The souling practice of commemorating the souls in purgatory with candle lanterns carved from turnips, became adapted into the making of jack-o'-lanterns. In traditional Celtic Halloween festivals, large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces, and placed in windows to ward off evil spirits.
The carving of pumpkins is associated with Halloween in North America where pumpkins are both readily available and much larger – making them easier to carve than turnips. Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their doorstep after dark.
The American tradition of carving pumpkins preceded the Great Famine period of Irish immigration and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.

I am learning lots about Halloween..so I will have more on this later, I just wanted to share the basics on Carving pumpkins. :)

Extending the giveaway Until Halloween!

Since no one seems to want free stuff right now.. I will extend my giveaway until Halloween. You will have until 12:00 noon MST to enter. Leave a comment on this post or the Giveaway one below it to enter! Tell me what item you would like most and you will get $40 free to purchase anything from CSN stores!!
Easy Peasy!

The rules:
you must be a follower
you must leave a comment on either post regarding the giveaway telling me what you would like
you need to have a valid email attached to your comment or blog so I can contact you if you win..

That's it!

A giveaway!!! Extended!!!!

I have been honored to have been selected to host a giveaway!!!
My first!! yay!

Does anyone need to do some re-decorating?

CSN stores has offered up one of my followers a $40 gift card to Dining Rooms Direct

They have so many wonderful items on their site. They have over 200 online stores to choose from!

Dining tables, dining room chairs, accessories and much more!

Take a peeksy at the link above and let me know in a comment on this post what you would like to get! You will have the option to use the gift card at any of their online stores!

I will keep this open until Sunday @ 8:00 pm MST so you all have a chance to browse. (Extended until Halloween)
I will choose one at random and let you know, so please make sure you have a valid link or email.

The fine print:
There may be shipping charges for Canadian addresses, and as far as I know, it's open to everyone..

Oh and you must be a follower to qualify :)


Have a great day!

Good Monday Morning!

Welcome to my little blog..
For those that are visiting from Mrs B, thank you for stopping by!
For those that have been followers through my insanness (is that a word?) Thank you!!

I don't have much to report today, Sunday's dinner with the dead was great. It wasn't quite what I expected but it was still pretty cool..

We started off by having salad and soup.. I learned that eating tomatoes in any form was considered a magical act, since the tomato was called "the love apple" and considered a poisonous fruit that only Witches could consume.
so.. We had tomato soup. :)
There was so much to learn, I tried to remember it all.. But, after we were done, the hostess gave us a paper with all the meanings behind the courses and foods. :)

Then we lit candles, turned off the lights, and listened to poems, harp music and singing while silently enjoying the company of our dead loved ones. It was pretty emotional for most, there were tears and smiles, but everyone, I think, was spending the time they needed to reconnect or just be there with their loved one.

After the silence and darkness, we came back to this world with dessert. I did have a piece of pie, it was soooo good!

Here are a couple pics I took with my phone when we were allowed.. They aren't very good but still..

This is my mom's place setting. You can kind of see her offering I sent her with. The little cup has some tea in it :)

this is really hard to see, but in the bottom left corner.. My hubby's sister Tami. She is who we honored also.

this was a great experience and I hope to do it every year.

I am truly glad I found this great group of Pagan's. Everyone is so nice and open. Willing to teach a newbie the ropes :)

There was so much more to the supper, but I just don't have the time to post it all.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you stick around.

Just a couple pics of my awesome space to create

I just wanted to show a few pics of my little crafting area now that I have decorated for Halloween..
Most of this I will keep up the rest of the year, and since I am participating in Smeared and Smudged 31-days-of-halloween on my other blog.. I will have at least 15 more projects to add to my collection!
The black skull is one I just made! It is hard to tell, but it is glittery and shiny..

This is part of my collection of homemade decorations..

 My "witchy" corner :)

 Lacey (youngest daughter) made this little piece of art.. She squished a skull in some red clay and added some spider webby stuff and wound some skulls around on ribbon, I am going to display it with honor

A little spider web youngest made.. She made at least ten of these! I have them hanging everywhere!!

I will have more soon!

Have a great day and stay tuned.. I have a surprise for Monday and hope to have something awesome!

something to share on Samhain

I found this while searching for things to learn about Samhain. Since I am pretty new to it all, I want to know what it is really all about.  I hope to share what I learn here, as I am getting it all in my BOS. :)

The Witches’ Spell

Act IV, Scene 1 from Macbeth (1606) by William Shakespeare


A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.

Enter the three Witches.

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.

2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin’d.

3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—’tis time! ’tis time!

1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;

In the poison’d entrails throw.—

Toad, that under cold stone,

Days and nights has thirty-one;

Swelter’d venom sleeping got,

Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot!

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,

Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,—

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;

Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf

Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark;

Root of hemlock digg’d i the dark;

Liver of blaspheming Jew;

Gall of goat, and slips of yew

Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse;

Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips;

Finger of birth-strangled babe

Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,—

Make the gruel thick and slab:

Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,

For the ingrediants of our caldron.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon’s blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.



Have a great day!

Why I love Sara!!

Check this out from Sara @ Babblingflow/blogiversary-arc-giveaway

SIGNED ARC of Matched, by Ally Condie


It even has a "to:" section, so you can fill your own name in :)

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.


Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.



SIGNED ARC of The Marbury Lens, by Andrew Smith

Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is kidnapped. He escapes, narrowly. The only person he tells is his best friend, Conner. When they arrive in London as planned for summer break, a stranger hands Jack a pair of glasses. Through the lenses, he sees another world called Marbury.

There is war in Marbury. It is a desolate and murderous place where Jack is responsible for the survival of two younger boys. Conner is there, too. But he’s trying to kill them.

Meanwhile, Jack is falling in love with an English girl, and afraid he’s losing his mind.

Conner tells Jack it’s going to be okay.

But it’s not.


ARC of The Mockingbirds, by Daisy Whitney

Some schools have honor codes.

Others have handbooks.

Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds.



Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way--the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds--a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers.


ARC of Dust City, by Robert Paul Weston

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

His son, that's who.


Ever since his father's arrest for the murder of Little Red Riding Hood, teen wolf Henry Whelp has kept a low profile in a Home for Wayward Wolves . . . until a murder at the Home leads Henry to believe his father may have been framed.



Now, with the help of his kleptomaniac roommate, Jack, and a daring she-wolf named Fiona, Henry will have to venture deep into the heart of Dust City: a rundown, gritty metropolis where fairydust is craved by everyone and controlled by a dangerous mob of Water Nixies and their crime boss leader, Skinner.



ARC of Witch & Wizard: The Gift, by James Patterson and Ned Rust

When Whit & Wisty were imprisoned by the wicked forces of the totalitarian regime known as the New Order, they were barely able to escape with their lives. Now part of a hidden community of teens like themselves, Whit and Wisty have established themselves as leaders of the Resistance, willing to sacrifice anything to save kids kidnapped and brutally imprisoned by the New Order.


ARC of A Tale Dark & Grim, by Adam Gidwitz

In this mischievous and utterly original debut, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other classic Grimm-inspired tales. As readers follow the siblings through a forest brimming with menacing foes, they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses, and outwitted witches.



ARC of The Wolves of Andover, by Kathleen Kent

In the harsh wilderness of colonial Massachusetts, Martha Allen works as a servant in her cousin's household, taking charge and locking wills with everyone. Thomas Carrier labors for the family and is known both for his immense strength and size and mysterious past. The two begin a courtship that suits their independent natures, with Thomas slowly revealing the story of his part in the English Civil War. But in the rugged new world they inhabit, danger is ever present, whether it be from the assassins sent from London to kill the executioner of Charles I or the wolves-in many forms-who hunt for blood.


Go check it out and let her know I sent ya!!

Just wanted to share

I have been loving October this year. I have enjoyed all the fun on the 31 days of Halloween Over at Smeared and Smudged.
I have loved seeing all the new blogs shared by Mrs B At Confessions of a Pagan soccer mom and I can't wait till it's my turn..
I have been creating my own decorations this year.. to add to the many I have..which I will share later.
I just wanted to share a few of the things I've made (I have most of them posted on my Crafty blog)

This is a little wooden box, about eight inches tall., that I picked up at a thrift store sometime ago. I had no idea what to do with it, until October! It has a "door" that slides up and off..so I decided to paint it, cover it with black paper, and then "collage" it with Halloween paper.

Then inside, I made a little scene with some stamping images and voila! A lovely Halloween Decoration for my windowsill.

This next one has a few pics so bear with me :)
I used an empty Protein powder can (I recycle) and covered it with some Halloween paper.
then I used some bamboo sticks and topped them with various stamped images. I added ribbon and some skulls and taa-daa! A cute decoration again, for my windowsill!

 And finally the last one I will share for now..
this is a little wooden coffin I covered with Silver paper and added a stamped image inside., Attached my little grumpie to accordian-ed paper so he will Pop out! and yep..another windowsill trinket!

Have a great night!

Dining with the dead/Children's festivals

I am so excited for Halloween this year.. I found a place (very well hidden in Utah) that will be having a Dinner with the dead. We will be invoking spirits of loved ones that have passed on. I have no idea what to expect, but I hope to enjoy it.
Then, that same weekend, they are holding a Samhain festival for the kids. They will get to dress up and have spooky stories told, play games and have tons of fun.
I am so glad I found this organization. I wish I could share more details, but there aren't much as of yet.
But I just had to share my excitement!

I have sadly neglected this lil blog... I hope to get more going but, October is a busy month..
Then November... writing time!! woohoo!! I am participating in NaNoWriMo I am so stoked! I have lost my mojo and hopefully I get it back soon!

Have a great day!

Happy October!

Please disregard the construction and watch your heads! I am currently working making my blog Halloween friendly...it may take a bit..


I am so excited that October is finally here!
I have already been shopping in the Halloween isles and stocking up on goodies to add to my "decorations"

I am participating in the 31 days of Halloween @ Smeared and Smudged by creating a Day of the Dead or Halloween project and posting it on my Crafty blog every day in October!

Not only that I am joining in on the fun with Mrs B  over at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom!
This is going to be insane and sooo fun!!! I am participating in the blog tour also..so stay tuned!!

Since I was totally unprepared...Here's a small sumpin to get you goin!