Crafty Yule present for me!

I don't get many presents at Yule time. Our focus is mostly on the kiddo. He also has his own Yule "advent" calendar.  I was thinking to myself, I wish I had my own advent calendar... one that give me an awesome treat every day!

And then I thought of this. I made little boxes and glued them together, decorated them and made "Mama's Merry Yuletide Spirits" advent calendar. Rather than stopping at Yule (which is not the same day every year) I went to the 24th, because I needed the even number of boxes and also though Yule ends for me before xmas, I still spend time with family for xmas... and maybe I still want to keep getting little "gifts" for myself to fortify myself for the season. ;)

I think it turned out fantastic and I can't want to use it all next month!

witchy knitting

I'm just learning to knit.  I've knitted several washcloths of a few different patterns from a book I have.

I was looking around on ravelry and found this pentacle washcloth pattern and decided to try it. It turned out pretty cool. I suspect the pentacle pattern would be more visible in a solid color yarn, but I don't have any at the moment. I might make another later. This was not hard at all, just required counting!

I just recently bought some fancy expensive yarn to do my first non-washcloth pattern... a pair of fingerless mitts to wear under larger mittens for driving school bus. I am intimidated! lol

Mabon 2014

#nakedcoffee

My coven spent Mabon camping together at a local campground. Super awesome! We had so much fun! We like campfires, drinking and hanging out. :)

One of our members is pregnant and wanted a blessingway. We had a wonderful little ritual. We pampered her, hennaed her belly, made a special birthing candle and did some magick for blessing her.  It was lovely.

We also had a big "family" Mabon harvest celebration meal. Our meal gatherings are so awesome. Most of my coven is vegetarian, so we always have vegetarian potlucks. I love it because though I'm not yet vegetarian, I'm working in that direction. The potlucks help me find things I like, give me ideas on what works. My son doesn't realize it, but he and I were vegetarian that whole weekend.

witches knitting

In the evening, some of the boys spun fire, and we drank and hung out some more.

Sunday was cooler, overcast with occasional sprinkles. We were all kind of slow moving from our weekend of partying, not to mention a little sad that our weekend was drawing to a close. We mostly sat around chatting and knitting. :)

A lovely weekend together, we were sad it ended. Mainly because one of our covenmates and her family are full-time RVers, and they were planning to hit the road south in a few weeks, and we weren't going to see them again for months. Lots of wonderful memories though, and that's what matters!

crafty earrings

I was messing around with my new cutting machine, just seeing what materials it could cut and what other things it could do. It has a pen holder in it, and can draw just about any design, and then cut it out.

So I got out this material called "grunge paper" which has a texture like suede, yet it's made from paper. I used ink to change the color, then used my machine to draw neat designs on it and then cut the circles out. I punched holes in them and attached them to earring findings.  Cool instant jewelry. :)  I'm particularly fond of the bees and the compass designs.

Sweater!

Ever seen those lovely sweaters on etsy, the ones pieced together from lots of different sweaters? I've always wanted one.

Saren of Vespertine Fabrications made this sweater, isn't it awesome!

I just love it, it's perfect for festival wear or just when I want to feel magical.  Thanks Saren!

A little crafting...

I recently bought a new cutting machine for scrapbooking, however this machine is supposed to cut all sorts of materials, including iron-on vinyl. I've always loved this skull design, so I cut it with iron-on and put it on a t-shirt. 

Now I have a new t-shirt for Samhain season. ;)

Pagan Spirit Gathering 2014

Opening ritual

Greetings! This post is just going to be mostly photos. We went to Pagan Spirit Gathering for the first time ever. Not my first pagan festival, but it had been several years since we'd been.

Selena Fox

I will say that our first PSG was hard... We spent the first few days fighting high winds, so we were constantly fixing our encampment. It rained a lot as well, which kept us under shelter instead of enjoying the festival programming. And then on friday night I fell and hurt my wrist, which we found out later was broken. But, we still had a great time!

Tuatha Dea Concert

 Selena is the founder of Circle Sanctuary, the organizers of PSG.

PSG is a week long festival that culminates in a celebration of Midsummer/Litha, but there are numerous rituals and celebrations all week long, in addition to workshops, concerts and other activities.

the God Pole

I loved meeting folks, the tarot workshops, the Tuatha Dea concerts. Kevin spent much of his time at the Tween center, where kids his age could go in the afternoon to do crafts, play, and hang out while parents went to workshops. 

My covenmate Melanie, selling raffle tickets

millions of tiny toads... everywhere

Labyrinth

If you ever get the chance to go, you should! It is about an hour and a half from Chicago in a lovely private campground.

I can hardly wait for next year!