October Countdown to Halloween~Day 7

Hello! Tonight's post is an ATC collection that I made last year for a swap that didn't happen. An ATC is an Artist Trading Card, a 2.5" x 3.5" piece of artwork. I did post pictures last year but lost the post, so I decided to re-post them. The digital image backgrounds are from Moonlight Journey. Awesome collage sheets and they are having a BOGO sale until Oct 10, hurry! The "heads" and the "witch" are free from The Graphics Fairy. Thank you so much Karen, your blog and your willingness to do all of that work is amazing.

8 Spooky Houses, Witches, and Full Moons

 Have a great week everyone! See you tomorrow for more spooky fun....
~Lori

October Countdown to Halloween~Day 6

Ancient Origins of Halloween

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. [click here to read the rest at History.com]

 Thanks for visiting!
~Lori

October Countdown to Halloween~Day5

I had fun taking these pictures. I took them in the dark, (not total), without a flash. It worked, my camera was set correctly!!!

Candle Flickering

I used one of the recycled jars, that I have been collecting. Glass jars are so useful and much better than plastic for food storage, but let's save that rant for another day. Anyway.....With a 1/2" paintbrush and watered down multipurpose glue I attached these vintage Halloween postcard images. The images are once again from, Magic Moonlight Free Images. I placed a wide ribbon on the inside of the jar at the top.

Candle Barely Flickering

This is the first time I have purchased and used battery operated candles. They are awww-some! They were $5.99 for a set of six L.E.D. Flickering tea lights at Hobby Lobby. I never knew how good they looked in real life until now, huh, discover something new everyday.

A Second Postcard

A Third Postcard

I enjoyed showing you shots of the different levels of flickering candle light. Maybe not a big deal to many of you, but I was pretty happy with my new discovery. *wink*
Have a great day, make something spooky! Tell me what you try!
~LORI
I'll be sharing at these great parties:

October Countdown to Halloween~Day 4

Here is little project, that I made using vintage images put together by Magic Moonlight Free Images. Thank you Blanca, it is most generous of you to find, fix and share vintage images.

This is what I did:
-searched around Blanca's blog
-printed the images I liked onto regular copy paper
-glued to clothing tags from a new pair of pants I just purchased (you can use tags, card stock paper, chipboard, cereal boxes, Kleenex boxes-anything)
-'painted' glue around the edges and added chunky glitter
That's it! Pretty simple, huh?

This says- s'posin 'a ghost ran after you-oo-oo'  Okay, scary, I guess.....

The next tag looks a bit 'wintery'. I wasn't sure how the white chunky glitter would look. It came out as clear pieces of glitter mostly, so I covered the entire thing. Looks like snow to me, but I like the image anyway. It says, 'The goblins will catch you if you don't watch out!'.

Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoy a spooky month of fun!

~Lori
Sharing Here:
Wildly Original Bewitching Fall 
Thrifty Things Friday 
Home Sweet Home
Happy Hour Friday 

October Countdown to Halloween Day 3

Welcome to day 3! This is my hand cut, silhouette, Raven. I used a template from  

Country Living-Halloween Headquarters  

Fussy cutting is one of my favorite techniques in paper crafting. I love how this guy came out, and plan on making more. There is also a smaller template, but the branch and stand don't cut out as nicely. We'll see what comes of that.

Thanks for stopping by, it was a short post, but so was this project, enjoy!
Hope you give this a try, let me know if you post it on your blog or a linky party.

Playing Here:
Look What I Made at Creations By Kara
Treasure Hunt Thursday 
Home and Garden Thursday

 

October Countdown to Halloween Day 2

I hope you all enjoyed reading my first Halloween post, 'Some of the History of Halloween Part 1', all about superstitions. Look forward to more of these history lessons and crafty goodness.

The first craft of my October Countdown to Halloween series is a Glittered Spiderweb Hurricane. I can't take credit for the idea, but I knew I wanted to make it for Halloween this year. This idea comes from my friend Priscilla, the brilliant mind behind the 'Thrifty Crafty Girl' blog. This is one of the ideas from her, '31 Days of Halloween' series of last year. You can download the spiderweb template from Martha Stewart Halloween.

Check out Thrifty Crafty Girl for photos and detailed directions. I purchased this frosted glass at a thrift store, but TCG shows you how to paint frost onto clear glass.

My container is a different size and shape than TCG's, so as you see, it
can be done with a bit of tweaking here and there.

I had to mess around with my template, trying to make it fit, so my lines aren't perfect. But guess what? It looks fine anyway!

I will probably refer to Thrifty Crafty Girl throughout the month, so you might as well follow her, too. She is so funny and honest! Have Fun creating for Halloween.................B O O

~Lori
Sharing at these linky parties:
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
You're Gonna Love it Tuesdays

Some of the History of Halloween Part 1 [October Countdown to Halloween~Day 1]

Here is a bit of information for the month of October, the month of Halloween, spooks, and treats. It has become one of my favorite seasons of the year. This is a fairly non-scary start to ease our way in. It all started out normally, but we will see how society, heavily influenced by the Christian Church, has twisted it. I be posting what I hope you find interesting and informative history lessons over the next month. This is from History.com, with a link at the end.

Halloween Superstitions

Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition. It began as a Celtic end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends. For these friendly spirits, they set places at the dinner table, left treats on doorsteps and along the side of the road and lit candles to help loved ones find their way back to the spirit world. Today's Halloween ghosts...

...But what about the Halloween traditions and beliefs that today's trick-or-treaters have forgotten all about? Many of these obsolete rituals focused on the future instead of the past and the living instead of the dead. In particular, many had to do with helping young women identify their future husbands and reassuring them that they would someday—with luck, by next Halloween—be married. In 18th-century Ireland,... [more at History.com]

~Lori
Visiting these parties:  
Meet Me Monday 
Anything Goes at Eye Heart Mondays
Make the Scene Monday
Make it Pretty Monday 
Krista is having a Halloween Linky Party! I'll be linking all month right here...While He Was Napping Halloween Linky Party