Happy Mabon! Fall is here. I have been busy decorating my apartment for fall/ Samhain. I set up my goth ghost tree. I sipped cider and listened to classic Halloween tunes as I did. I painted wooden ghosts white, orange and black and hung them up on the tree. I found a few cool items at the dollar store and added them to the tree. I hung a black leaf garland on the bookcase, and wound orange lights through the garland and then added orange fabric pumpkins to the garland. I love how it all looks- playful and wicked at the same time. That is the spirit of fall. For those of you who are already keen to decorate, then keep reading.
I roasted pumpkin seeds, brewed a pot of cider and I just found my halloween altar cloths, tapestries and a brown tablecloth I made myself. I repaired my black lace maxi skirt and washed it. The skirt is ready to wear. I am so happy about that. I plan to wear it to the Paranormal Symposium. I feel the magical chill in the air as fiery leaves trickle to the earth. It’s the Season of the Witch, for sure. I love this time of year.
I even made a tree skirt for my goth tree. I used a grey spider print plastic table cover. I cut a hole in the centre for the centre of the goth tree pole then I arranged it around the tree. You can’t see it in the photo above but it is cool and my cat sits on it. I am ready for Samhain now and I hope you are too.
Decorations don’t have to cost a whole credit card or your entire life savings. I barely spent any money on my decorations. October is a magical time of year but it is only once a year. I never feel that I have to spend a fortune. If you keep that in mind and buy decorations that can be used more than once a year, then you will find better items to purchase. That is how I always look at it.
I use items from nature and herbs. I harvested all the Chinese lanterns. They ripen to a lovely orange colour. Pumpkins can be used for decoration of course, as well as acorns, pinecones, and gourds. Don’t buy the fake ones from the store. Forage for your own goodies! You can use them in spells as well. You can draw up more energy for spells from a real gourd or acorn. I never buy plastic pinecones. I live near a nature trail so it is easy for me to find nature treasures. Nothing I love more than harvesting and foraging for acorns, pinecones, apples, herbs. If you want tips on how to clean them to avoid pests, then peruse the past blog posts.
My garden is winding down. The leaves turn gold and red. I still have celery, tomatoes (a few, thanks to the hurricane), and green peppers growing. It is hardly the harvest I was hoping for. I’m keeping an eye for when the frost hits and I still haven’t planted garlic. I still want to grow carrots. Carrots can handle a frost. I strolled through the nature trail. Sadly, I am not sure what happened to the elder shrubs but there are not nearly the same amount of elderberries as last year. I want to make elderberry syrup but I may have to buy the berries at the organic food store this year. The shrubs were almost bare of berries. That had to be due to Hurricane Lee.
Do what works for you and reflects your personal style. You can go with a theme of ghouls, zombies, or more classic and subtle halloween decorations, whatever strikes your fancy. It looks like Samhain all year in my apartment but that is just me. Let me know what inspired you in the comments.
I watched an episode, Demon under the Stairs, from the Haunted Museum recently. As I did, I suddenly experienced the worst pain in my jaw. It might be coincidental but the timing sure is worthy of note. Like I am not kidding, it was the most painful thing I ever experienced next to the nightmarish experience I had at the dentist’s office. Needless to say, I am no longer visiting that dental office. I am buying a big chunk of selenite to protect me from anymore possible ‘attacks’. I mean you know, just in case.
I watched a video about demons on YouTube in the past. As I watched, I felt a big muscle spasm between the shoulder blades. That really hurt too. Maybe it was coincidental or maybe I need to up the ante of this pain I suffer when watching certain videos. For any of you who are reading this, I do have psychic protection posts I wrote in the past on this blog.
Energy is real and all around us. Energy makes everything happen. We are composed of electromagnetic energy. The Universe is energy. A leaf has an energy as does an orange. As I type, rain falls from a grey leaden sky. I keep pining for summer but winter is here. Sometimes I have seen so much ice and snow in my backyard it seems that summer would never return, but it does. I hate winter but I know it passes. The change of the seasons never ceases to amaze me. Everything is energy and nothing is finite.
I am inspired to sew a scary doll. She is not haunted but she will be hopefully if I take her places that are speculated to be haunted. The photo shows the layout of the pattern pieces. The body of the doll is white. The hair which will be mostly made up of black and some purple yarn, she will have buttons for eyes, and her dress is a black and white spider print fabric I stashed in the sewing cart. The sleeves are the same fabric as the dress. The stockings are a grey fabric with a black bat print and the boots are black. She will get a witch charm necklace, a broom and a witch hat. I think she will be so Goth and cute. I can’t wait to work on the doll! Then of course, she will need a name. No, I will not name her Morticia. There are a thousand dolls named Morticia. Claudia would suit her though. Maybe she will need fangs and a driving hunger for blood?
Ha! The entire doll – the body of the doll and the dress has to be sewn with a 1/4″ inch seam allowance. I had to find out how that is done. My needle plate shows a 3/8″ inch, 5/8″ inch and 7/8″ inch seam allowances. So the 1/4″ inch seam allowance is before 3/8″. You can now imagine that means a tiny, narrow seam allowance. Now I know where that is indicated because 1/4″ inches is 2/8″ inch. I have to see slowly and carefully. Wow. I will never be so precise as now. I made a doll in the past and I was never this careful. That’s because I am now using a pattern. To make it worse, the body of the doll and the clothing which will forever be a part of the doll is white. It will all show if I screw up. I will mark with tape where the mark is where I have to sew. Sewing slowly and keeping an eye on it will be the only way to get this done. This is not a rush job. I have never needed to sew in a 1/4″ inch before. Needles to say, I don’t look forward to it but it is not impossible. That’s why marking rulers and understanding math can come in handy- and patience!
I can’t wait to stuff the doll and sew the costume. But that comes after patiently sewing the doll and minding the seam allowance. Or it is all for naught. Too much work to go through for nothing. But anything worth doing is worth doing well. I will post photos as I go along. This will be a fun weekend project. I googled goth scary witch dolls. I am going for a scary cute goth look. The buttons I wanted to use might be too big for her face. I ordered black skull buttons online at Amazon. I don’t want to use regular buttons on the doll. I need a button at the collar and on her boots. Skull buttons will make her look edgy and with attitude.
If you want to make this doll, use the pattern by Kwik Sew 4390. That is the pattern I used. You have to have all the fabric at hand that you will need. The clothing is sewn to the doll’s body and is never intended to be separate from the doll. The body of most of the doll is white. The stockings and the booties (See legs of doll in the photo) are the clothing. The arms are white and the face and neck. The hair piece that gets sewn to the head of the doll has to be the haircolor and the yarn has to match. Since the yarn hair was black, I used black cotton for the hair front and hair back. Be sure to use matching thread. Sew the eyes on last or before you attach any other parts to the doll. I wanted to use big buttons for her eyes but the buttons were too big. Here are some photos I took on the progress of the doll:
When you sew the arms and legs, you cut out four pieces. The arms have to look right on the doll and are reversed of each other. One right arm and one left arm. The same goes with the legs. Our arms and legs face a certain way. It is no different with a doll.
When you sew the head to the body (front), keep a straight seam allowance. If you want to, you can use a pencil and mark a very light straight line from the notch marked on the forehead all the way down to the neck. The seamline of the head of the doll to the body must be straight. The notches and points have to meet. It is the same with the back of the doll. I stuffed the arms and legs tightly and packed the stuffing down firmly using a wooden dowel but not hard enough to tear fabric or seams. You have to get the details of the doll’s body right or otherwise don’t bother.
Leave the back of the doll open for turning and stuffing. Take your time with this. Take your time making the entire doll. This is an act of creation so go slowly. Sew the doll with love and it will show. I sewed the smile on and traced a light line on for the smile with pencil then stitched over the pencil marks. I sprinkled in mugwort and mandrake then stitched the back of the doll by hand. Once you have correctly and nicely sewn the body, you can progress with the clothing.
The right arm of the doll’s sleeve cap features spiders. The left arm of the sleeve cap features the webs (where the spiders hide!). I drew an eyebrow on her brow very carefully with a sharpie pen and I did the same with her lashes. The pocket fabric is upside down and the collar fabric is wrong side up but it somehow works. The pocket can still hold spells!!! For the hair braids, you sew the braids to the head where the darts are. You can use whatever color yarn you want, but have lots of it on hand. If you want, you can sew a weft of the yarn hair and then sew it on by hand. You have to sew the yarn on by hand, Mark with a water soluble marker where you want to sew on the yarn. I have included a video here to better demonstrate how to sew on the yarn. Before you sew anything, watch this excellent video!:
I highly suggest you sew on the yarn by hand. If you use a hot glue gun, you will regret it. It won’t have that seamless look. Hot glue makes a mess. Sewing with needle and thread spares you lots of agony. I made the doll a dress and tacked it on to her body the same I did with the collar. I sewed on a pocket to the dress before I sewed the dress together. I had to sew the dress by hand because for some frustrating reason the machine refused to sew this fabric together. The dress comes with a slip. I gathered the fabric together but I had more luck just cutting the fabric to truly fit her body and I pinned the slip to the doll. Make sure to use thread that is the same as the yarn and the head of the doll.
I made the doll!!!! I love her and she is just sooo cute! I was successful in sewing the slim seam allowance. I stuffed the arms and the legs then I sewed the back of the doll’s head to the body. I sewed the back of the doll to the front of the doll. If you want to make your own doll and are trying this, you can’t catch the seams of the arms and legs when doing this. Then I finally stuffed the doll. Tear the wool into little pieces then put the stuffing into the doll. Be sure to pack it in carefully. You also have to stuff the doll’s head firmly because you don’t want the doll’s head to be floppy. I recommend watching how the woman in the video sews the doll body if you are inspired to make a doll yourself. It is incredibly helpful. I love my doll Miranda Spiderella. She is cute and scary! A perfect combination.
I might hunt a little rocking chair for her for a nice place to sit. I am sure I will eventually find something. This will be fun and hard work. I will let you know how it turns out!!
After this project is complete, I want to sew myself a brown winter coat.
I conjured up salt dough decorations. I am here to tell you how I did it so you will know how to create your own. A little about me: I own a tall black goth tree. The goth tree is tall and gnarly- perfect for a gothic Yule tree. I use that all year round but this year, I decided to go Nightmare Before Christmas.
I took my tree out from its usual corner. I cleaned it up and set it in my kitchen. I hung the usual decorations but I wasn’t happy with it totally. I wanted more and I found out what that more was. My tastes have changed. I have changed.
So I tossed out all my old or broken decorations. I donated what old decorations- an angel, colorful balls, tinsel etc. I was left with what I loved and cherished. I set that out, especially the gifts from a friend of mine. I then created the salt dough ornaments.
You can google the recipe but basically you blend salt, dough and water in a bowl. You then knead and roll out the dough on a floured surface. I cut out pumpkins, bats, cauldrons and a big jack Skellington disc. When they had dried, I painted them. I painted the bats and cauldrons black using black tempera paint. I painted the pumpkins orange and then ran out of the orange paint. I mixed yellow and red paint together to make the color orange. It was a deeper warmer orange shade. I let them all air dry again then I painted a sealant on them. They looked blue then the sealant dried. That prevents them from molding. They will last longer. I also set down wax paper before painting the ornaments. I can’t tell you how cool they looked. I shall include a photo. Painting the ornaments can get very messy.
When I was done, I rinsed my paintbrushes and washed the glass bowls. I prefer bowls over painting on a palette. It gives me more freedom than what a palette offers. I love using acrylic paints on everything. Be sure to poke a hole in the ornament to run a string through. If the hole fills in, then string a needle and run it through the ornament.
Knot each loop through the cookie. Than hang up ’em up on your tree! You can google all this. For the Skellington disc, I downloaded a template. I painted the Jack Skellington white. I etched the design of his face onto the disc using a knife. Then I used a black sharpie to draw and fill in the details. I poked a hole through and ran a string into a loop.
I wish I thought of attaching the bat. Ah well I love how it turned out! I still have salt dough remaining. I am not sure yet what to do with the rest of it. I hope this post inspires you to create your own decorations and traditions for Yule. It’s almost here!
I painted five popsicle sticks blue. I glued them together to form a pentacle. I ran string through plastic white bones to make a garland of bones. I knotted the string several times and ran a bead through at the beginning and ends of the string. That was to prevent the thread from slipping out. I hung it on the tree with care.
The tree is adorned with a book of spells ornament, stars, pumpkins, cauldrons, an owl, a fiddle, a ghost, black leaf Garland, a Garland of bones, a blue pentacle, a doll, a green xmas tree salt dough ornament from a past Yule, crescent moon, black bats, a black ghost a gold bell, blue crescent moon, silver stag, witch ornament- fright this way, and a brown cat.
Let me know what your own traditions are at Yule! P.S. I do want to try making a fragrant cinnamon stick star! Also, pinecones can be dried in the oven, painted and sprinkled in glitter for that touch of Winter Solstice magic! I hope you enjoy making your own decorations as a way of getting into the spirit of Yule! Be creative.
Move over, Skellington. The Queen of Halloween is here! I will tell how I finished the wreath so you can have your own!! It’s easy and affordable to do!
I let the wreath dry overnight on a black plastic bag. I removed the wreath from the bag, it was sticky, and set it down on the countertop. I gathered a hot glue gun, a glue stick, and the large black widow spiders I bought at Spirit Halloween. I also had a jar of tiny black spiders- not real!
I arranged the black widow spiders on the wreath in the best spots for them. I glued them on using the hot glue gun. Then I glued the skull on. But it didn’t stick so I will soon add a black widow spider there where the skull was. Then I glued the tiny black spiders to the wreath.
I cleaned the wall and the candle holders where I wanted to hang the wreath. Then I hung the wreath above the stove. I wanted the wreath to be where I would always easily see it. It may hang there all year. I washed the candleholders with soap and hot water. I returned them to the tealight candle holders. I lit them and the effect was truly spooky!
Here is a photo of the snake and spider stew wreath!
Cool huh? You can do it yourself. It is so easy! I love my wreath. I hope you like it too. I hope this inspires you. Spiders are my totem and have always aided and protected me.
You can add whatever you want to your wreath. The possibilities are endless. A wreath is a circle, a circle of continuity and symbolism. So since this is the Witches season, our time, pick what totem or symbol really stands out to you.
It shows that if you use your imagination, you can create some beautiful – or spooky!
I am really in the mood for Samhain. Yesterday afternoon, I was busy crafting up a storm! I thought I would share my own crafts with you to get you in the mood for our fave spooky Sabbat. I painted gourds, created a cool garland and conjured a candle. I will share here in this post how it was all done. So grab your craft supplies and a coffee!
The pumpkins were the easiest craft to do. Gather newspaper for the paint so it doesn’t stain everything else, flat paintbrushes, black acrylic paint, a palette or dish to hold the paint, and a pumpkin. The picture above shows the gourds when the paint dried. Brush a coat on being sure to cover over all the green or original orange coloring. Get the paint into every spot. Let the paint dry between coats. Leave the gourds on the newspaper in an area where they won’t be disturbed to dry. Then store them with your other Halloween decorations. Black, orange, gold and white colors are good choices.
Yes that is an Ouija board mousepad peeking out the photo there!
The Garland The garland was a bit harder to do. I had a thick stack of brown paper lunch bags just sitting there in a linens basket. I really wanted to do something special in terms of decorations this year. I cut out a 7-inch square of the lunch bags and thought about how I would decorate them. Paint each square orange. I decided that the papers would spell out ‘Trick or Treat’. Each bag or paper would be one letter except for “OR’. Hole punch the top right and left corner of the bag to work the string through later. Measure the bags. Each one should be seven inches long roughly. Measure with a pencil or other marker 5 inches vertically. Then mark that on the bag. Don’t make the markings too obvious. Cut the bottom of the lunch bags to form a point. See the photo to see what I mean. The edges of the paper curled. So I cut out typing paper using one of the painted lunch bags as a template, and painted them black. When the paint dries, I will glue the black papers to the orange papers, remembering to hole punch the black pieces. When you string them up, be sure to have all the letter papers in the right order before you begin. Leave plenty of string. Don’t cut the string till you are sure you like how it is all arranged and you have hung the garland up on a mantle or window. One more tip: Have the black painted papers facing out not in.
Here are a few more suggestions on how to decorate your home for Samhain. If you don’t have any cobwebs, cheesecloth is a good second choice. Save and paint fake (unless you are me and I save, clean and bleach chicken bones). Paint them gray, white or black. Arrange them for a Halloween/ Samhain centerpiece on your table or mantle. Let the guests wonder if they are real. Use fake vampire teeth to act as a napkin ring.
Lay a white tablecloth down on your table. Layer a black spiderweb lace tablecloth over the white cloth. Set down a black tray or a gold tray, depending on your preference. Then arrange all your beautifully bewitching painted gourds around a (fake-up to you-) human skull or animal skull. Tuck in the bones, maple leaves, gemstones, and maybe some sphagnum moss if you have it. Arrange tall black taper candles in used wine bottles behind the skull. Now you have a charming and magickal centerpiece on your table sure to spark conversation!
I was on a walk near the graveyard the other night and I took some photos. I didn’t see the orbs in the picture until I uploaded them. It’s cool I was able to capture orbs on my digital camera. Let me know in the comments if you can spot them.
I have been slowly working on an ancestor worship altar. I have put the photo of my beloved grandfather up on the Witches Coven Circle- the area on my bookcase where the witch figurines are gathered round the cauldron. I placed an animal skull near the photo. I found the skull on a hike. I plan to take the small animal skull in the photo above to a museum so I can know what animal it is. That way, i can better honor the animal and maybe communicate with it. I might work up the nerve to order a cast resin skull. Maybe it’s just me but touching a real human skull which you actually can purchase gives me squeegees.
I want to delve deeper into ancestor worship and try it. I want to be more serious about my practice of the Craft. I also hope to attend the upcoming Christopher Penzak workshop in September titled The Mighty Dead. I can’t wait to go. I will scrimp and save every penny to go. It should be exciting and this is one of those rare opportunities.
Please do not steal or copy from this blog. If you do, be prepared to be stomped on by the Fates and karma for your bad character. I can be reached at :
heddyjohannesen @ gmail.com
