Where the Hell have I been??!!!

I KNOW I KNOW!!! Where on Earth have I been?! It's been a crazy weekend. On Friday, my mom got screwed over by our bank, so that set me back a few bucks (by a few I mean like $100, gah!). And then my best friend, Panther (totally his real name, btw), came down from upstate for a whole 24 hours. We haven't seen each other in about 2 1/2 years!!! Crazy right? But we manage to talk and text really often. So we spent Friday night at Busch Gardens for Howl-o-scream it was crazy fun. Neither of us had been. They dress up the entire park with amazing decorations and starting at night fall they have people hiding all over the park who will jump out at you randomly to scare you as you walk around. that's not to mention the crazy amount of people they have already dressed in character as mummies, zombies, witches, and shadow people. The have haunted houses and mazes placed all over the park. It was really fun. in the end we played some carnival games and he scored me a giant penguin that came up to our waist and we even scored some corny best friend pictures from the photo both. Best day ever? Yes, you could say that. He left the next morning, but we managed to catch some brunch at Waffle House. I've never eaten there before but they have the best waffles ever! MMmmmm, waffles.

On Sunday, I reconnected with my local best friends, Jenn and Shelby, and we hung out and played with my god daughter/niece. It was well needed since I have been in isolation for about three months! Afterwards Shelby and I visited a local farm that puts on an AMAZING Halloween Festival every year. The have a Village of the Dead, Haunted Hayride, and Field of Screams (aka corn field of DOOM!!!). It's was well worth going. All in all I had a very haunted and Halloween filled weekend. Sorry for the lack of pictures. They don't really allow pictures in these things. But their websites have some up.

Monday and Tuesday have been crazy as well. I'll keep it short and say that an epic battle ensued between myself and the 2nd jobs work computer, setting back me being hired until today. The force was with me and I emerged VICTORIOUS!! Hello extra bill money! And now here I am. I realize I have missed Food Freaky Friday, Magickal Monday, and today is supposed to be Witch Hat Wednesday. So here is the deal (more so to get my big butt in gear that for you). Tonight I will come home and Do my Magickal Monday and Witch Hat Wednesday. Tomorrow I will work on some Foodage/Freakyness. And starting Friday things will start to get more on track. Hopefully. I'm so terrible with time lines. UGH!My goal is to keep the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday activities up even after Halloween is over. But we shall see about that. lol. Any who, See you later for Magick and Witch Hats!!

I love surprises after a long weekend

Guess what...... I've been on hiatus the past weekend. I know..... SHAME ON ME! I came back to and these waiting for me.

Amazing right? This is the first award I've gotten and it's all thanks to Dragonfly over at Witchery Grove. Thanks so much Dragonfly!!!



So here are the rules:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Pass this on to 15 other great bloggers you recently discovered.

4. Contact the selected bloggers and tell them about their awards.



Ok, so here we go. Seven things about me.

1. I love to write poetry. No not that crap I used to put before all my magickal posts, but actual full on poetry. I've been writing since I was a child.

2. My favorite shape has always been a star. Long before I discovered Wicca. Coincidence? I think not.

3. I collect four leaf clovers. I don't really look for them, they just pop up in my life. I have managed to save 7 so far.

4. There is nothing more exciting and relaxing then laying back under a pine tree.

5. The smell of fresh picked basil is exquisite! I just love to carry a piece around and sniff it all day ;)

6. Halloween/Samhain is the absolute best holiday/sabbat in the entire world. Next to my birthday which falls on Ostara this year ;)

7. I love the sound of Christmas bells, I keep some up all year.



For the next part. 15 blogs: Gosh that's a crazy amount! lol. Would it be disrespectful if I stuck to maybe a top 5? I hope not. A lot of blogs I read already have these awards. I wanted to stick to the ones that didn't.

1. Dancing with a Spatula Wand
Love this blog, it's so tasty!
2. Witchy Godmother
She has the best stories. I look forward to all her posts.
3. Aux Demilunes
She's very talented and has the cutest kids! She is always making something new.
4. Sew Misunderstood
She's a rocking chick who plays in a band, rocks old school fashions, and loves horror.
5. All Things Crafty
Amazingly wicked craft blog.


As for contacting. I'm lazy. lol. And shy. So I think I will just leave that up to them to figure out. Thanks again Dragonfly!

Witch Hat Wednesday!

Too bad it's not a Friday! It would be a knee slappin, toe tappin hellova day! (excuse me, my southern is showing) ;) Not much went on today, besides it being pleasantly cool, and perfect hoody weather...... mmmmm.... hoody... I love you! I live for the days where I can wear a hoody. The sky was a perfect overcast with tiny open spots allowing the sun to spit through every now and then. The kid I watch and I went to the park and enjoyed a nice picnic and then went leaf and acorn hunting. We didn't score too much. Seems the squirrels had eaten most of what had hit the ground :( But oh well, better luck this Saturday when we go to a different park.

So today I made my hat! One a Wednesday at the least, two a week is I'm feeling frisky. ;) So this week I used some material that has a vintage feel. I was excited to finally use some of it. I've had it for over a year and I bought a yard and a half of it because it was on super clearance at Joann's Fabrics. I was going to shoot for a romantic Victorian feel. But after making it and putting it on it really reminds me of a rustic farm girl. lol. Suits me I guess. So I present to you, Rustic Days.

I know, the name needs some work. But it's almost midnight, I'm tired, and I'm having a brain fart. As for the hat, it's not too bad. I might redo the ribbons with something a bit more rustic. But for the moment the point is to make the hats out of what I already have in my stash. And that's all the white ribbon I have. I have tulle but I don't think it's a tulle kind of hat. Oh, and I'm out of interfacing as well. So I had to use my SUPER interfacing. It's the really strong stuff used for really

heavy duty projects. I had bought it to use for interfacing in a pair of boots I was fixin to make. But I haven't got up the nerve to draft the pattern for them yet. Much like the bloomers I've been meaning to sit down and make all week. I really need to get off my bum, huh? lol. One of these days. I'm hoping tomorrow to take pictures of the hat's I've made so far during the day so that the lighting is better and not just my camera flash. Wish me luck!

On the 12th day of Halloween.......

Yes, I know, It's the 13th. I was going to post some crafty goodness last night when it decided to fall apart on me. Frigin polyclay, I loathe you!

I got bored while waiting for NCIS to come on last night. Oh Timothy McGee you are not as nerdy hot when you're skinny. I preferred you with some meat on your bones. Please eat a few more sandwiches! But I digress. So I being lazy I decided to dabble with polyclay. I say lazy because I keep my box of clay beside my bed and not in the craft room since it has proven throughout the summer that the temperatures in the craft room reach hot enough to actually bake my clay! Can you believe that?! Ridiculous! So last night I made a few pumpkins. I was originally going to make them into earrings, but my jewelry stuff was in the craft room and I was lazy, so they are just pumpkins. Not too shabby if I say so for myself. I lack mad clay skills. Actually, on the range of mediums I work with I put clay in the extreme hate category. Mostly because I've never been properly taught to work with it. The most instruction I've gotten is from an art teacher in the 5th or 6h grade while making an ash tray. I kid you not. From there I just randomly dabble in it and pray for the best. I think I did pretty ok last night. The muses were with me. Nooooo, not with the pumpkins. I'm not bragging on my mad pumpkin skills. I'm talking about this dude. Ok, So he's not a looker per se. But what Headless Horseman is? I mean, he's missing his head!! This is him pre-face lift. Mad poly skills I has not, however, I don't think he's too bad for the 3rd figure I've ever made. The problem with him is that his legs fell off after baking. I made them separate, stuck a piece of metal in the base added that polyclay glue that hardens into clay once it's baked and then connected them. The arms are done the same way, and they stayed on just fine. The legs? Not so much. Look at the poor guy. Breaks my heart, it does. Until I can buy him some super glue I have named him the Legless Horseman. ;) The Legend of the Headless Horseman is one of my all time favorites from childhood. You may know it from the movie The Legend of Sleepy Hollow starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. Perhaps I love it so much for it's German roots, or perhaps I just thought it would be pretty damn cool to have a pumpkin for a head. Who knows. Either way, best Halloween story ever. And this is my ode to the Headless Horseman who is said to still haunt the little valley of Sleepy Hollow in New York to this day.

Magickal Monday - Herbal Candles

So, last week on Magickal Monday I talked about writing letters to the dead. I kind of wanted to keep the theme going. So today I made herbal candles, Jessica Version. I'm gonna be honest. I had heard about herbal candles in a witch magazine, can't remember the one off the top of my head, but it had talked about a shop in NYC that sold them. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to go search out the shop while I was in NYC in April, but I made a promise I would find a way to make them myself. Well, after searching for ages, I have come up with absolutely NOTHING! I cannot find any tutorials or any kind of random information on them. Well last night, I got to thinking about the candles again. I thought it would be rather cool to have one of two for Samhain that had herbs for the sabbat and for spirit communication in it to help with the letters and with ritual. So I woke this morning and decided I was gonna make me some candles!! And I did. I did some research on what I wanted to use for the herbs and I set to work.

Look at my magickal cabinet, it's so well stocked and organized. I owe a good portion of it's ingredients to K.Michele who rocked my witchy socks in a Lammas swap. :D :D The rest is from my garden this year and s few odds and ends from the local magick shop. So I gathered my goodies, and went to work. I used Frankincense (protection and divination) and Myrrh (spirituality and the sacred) resin. I pounded those into a nice clumpy powder first. As I added an ingredient to the mortar I stated out loud it's purpose: Sage (protection), Patchouli(amplify the senses), Yarrow(divination, clairvoyance, and banishing negative energies), Calendula(prophetic dreams and workings), Cedar(workings with the dead, success, and workings with magick), Rosemary(remembrance), and Hops (divination). I stirred these together in my mortar and then added them to the melted wax on the stove (I had that melting while I was putting together the ingredients).

I added a few pinches of Dandelion (powerful protection and pure intentions) last to seal the "spell," I guess that's what you could call it. I stirred it all together in the wax and then put them into the candle molds. I happen to be fresh out of candle molds (or in other words I don't own any), so I took two cookie cutters and surrounded them TIGHTLY with aluminum foil and them filled those. I tied the wicks to a little skewer and let them sit. When they were cool I popped them out and BAM herbal spell candles! Cross your fingers that they work! Oh, and pay no mind to the broken one. It was supposed to be a heart and it took it breaking for me to finger out that I needed to slide a knife in between the wax and cookie cutter to pop it out. Oh well. I'll just remelt it and try it again.

I'm thinking the rather unattractive color is from using light yellow candles. I melted one and a half yellow tapers to yield two cookie cutter candles. I think white might have made it a bit more pretty, but I used yellow for spirit. In the sun though it looks a nice nature green almost. lol. Meh. Beggars can't be choosers right?

Witch Fit (WF)

That's right, I'm having a Witch Fit. Also known to most people as a bitch fit. Basically a period of ranting and bitching sparked by something that has made the person upset and angry. And this is the Witch Fit version. Enjoy.

OMFGs!!!!!!! So on the 10th day of Halloween, I spent tonight watching Paranormal State. I hope you Ugh and *sigh* as much as I do when people say they watch this show. Some of the shows just go overboard and leave me questioning the integrity of the show. Also, the extreme Christian view is a bit much for me. The current show that is on just made me yell at the TV. I know you're saying, "Jess, don't you do that anyways?" Yes. Yes, I do. However, this one made me angry. So this couple is having trouble with a shadow person in their house. Like all other shows, the paranormal team has deemed it to be some sort of demon. But this one, wait for it.... are you ready?.... This shadow person was conjured up by the couple's brother who at the time was practicing witchcraft. The dude had a pentacle tattooed on his arm and this caused the main host, Ryan, to ask about it what it meant. The guy was like "this was from when I used to practice witch craft." He admitted to casting a circle in the home with the the couple because they expressed curiosity in spirits. The brother decided... out of all the damn spirits to conjure or try and contact he decides, Oh, Let me conjure a shadow demon...... *FACEPALM* WTF?! And this, this is why witches have gotten terrible reps. So he conjures this demon, it appears, it scares the couple and they run out of the house breaking the circle. The brother, who knows why, apparently just left things as they were and never returned the demon and never closed the circle. So many moons later (a couple of years) they are still being tormented by this demon.

I'm pretty sure I don't need to say much at this point. If you're reading this your probably already saying inside your head (or out loud at your computer screen like me) "DUDE, WTF?!" I'm not sure where to start. One, why is it that every portrayal of Wicca, Witchcraft, or Paganism on TV always brought on by people who dabble in things that they are obviously never fully informed about. I would think that it is pretty much Witchcraft 101 for you not to mess with demons and spirits unless you are emotionally and mentally prepared for it. It's not something to ever take lightly. And a demon,dude? Really? Why a demon? Why not a spirit guide, an ancestor, or something else that on the lower side of the spectrum. No, you want to be a bad ass, you want to call up a demonic spirit. And on top of that you want to leave the damn circle open! I think I want to write this man a strongly worded letter of disappointment and outrage. If you have the knowledge to open a circle and call a demon then you had to at least do some research on what you were doing. I'm sure he crossed a few warnings. it's not like you were 12 playing with a Ouija Board. He was a grown ass man. And grow assness means when deciding to practice a religion or even to practice sorcery or magick that you owe it to yourself and the people who's well being you are infringing upon to be fully aware of your actions and the effects that are even remotely worst case possible. GAH! Pourquoi?!

Ok, I'm done. I've released as much energy on this as I'm willing to. As a quick side note, I didn't craft any today. I spent the whole day out and about with mom getting my car right and picking up decorations for the yard.... OH! and I cut and dyed my hair! Big changes to close this year!! WOOT! Happy Sunday yall!

Oh, 9th Day, I loathe you

Today has been a day that I would have rather left in bed when I woke up this morning. ARGH! I got a flat tire, broke a bolt changing the tire because the place that put on the tire put the lug nut on at an angle, which means it wasn't coming off peacefully any how. I went and got a quote from a place and for a tire and the bolt it's going to cost me almost $200. HELLO! Poor college grad here. I can't even pay student loans. *HUFF* In case you haven't guessed yet that means, once again, no Poe house visit tomorrow. This is two weekends in a row. I'm feeling a conspiracy here. And I don't appreciate it. So other than spending my one day off a week running around getting my car fixed, I think I will try and focus on some positive. WHOOSAH!!!!

Ok, so in an up mood, kitty is eating again! YAY! I went to the vet and got his pain meds this morn and when I came home from work he was in such a good mood! Either that or he could sense my distress. Whatever it be, he was extremely lovey and has been eating on and off all night. I'm so happy!! I was getting worried again about him not eating. It's amazing the difference I've seen in him tonight. :D

OH! And I came across these a week ago or so and decided I HAVE to have them!

Yep. That's right. THOSE ARE PUMPKIN BLOOMERS!!!!!! WHAT?!?!?!?! You can find them here. Unfortunately, as you have been reading, money is not in the pocket right now, so like all good crafters, I plan on making my own pair. That is my task for tomorrow. I have some scrap blue jersey fabric that I will use as a practice run since I fail at making pants (God I hate making pants!). If I succeed at the mark up pair then I will search the high seas for orange jersey, which of course will be followed by black for a skeleton pair (mais oui!). It's only natural in my opinion. I also think a nice green franky pair would be awesome. Who knows, I have to get past the original mark up. I'm having trouble about what face to put on the blue ones. It's a nice light blue. Maybe I'll do a winter theme. I found a few tutorials online that are kind of helpful for making your own bloomers. I just hate making patterns for myself. I can draw up a pattern for someone else in no time flat. For me, it's a terrible process that requires me measuring and I hate measuring. I mean, who doesn't. Blah. In case your wondering I'm a rather attractive figure... in my head. On the outside I tend to be quite square or rectangle like.... So goal tomorrow, make bloomers and maybe even another witch hat. Sewing always eases my whaos.

So my loves, I will leave you with this. Damh the Bard's Samhain Eve. He's one of my favorite Pagan artists and he's coming the Michigan for Beltaine!! I've already decided my new second job is going to fund my trip up there to see him perform. I know it's a good 17 hour drive from Virginia but he's from the UK and I don't know the next I will be flying over there to see the grands. Plus, who doesn't love a good road trip to a 4 day pagan festival? Enjoy Loves! See you tomorrow!