Dia de Muertos 2018

How are you?

I've been..sleeping a lot!

Just can't seem to get my fill for some reason.

This is something I notice during this time of year..must be the pull of hibernation, lol

On November 2nd we celebrate Dia de los Muertos.

I created a mini shrine using an old salt container and Lisa Kettell Designs products..

I also made an altered wooden block using elements from the 

Hellgnome death digis design team.

I used the 'Dead man in the moon' digi stamp for this.

I used copic markers to color it then I covered the design in glossy accents

to give it a textured surface.

 I prepared the altar for Dia de muertos

using photos, mementos,candles and flowers.

I marveled at the way it changes..sometimes all I have are photos and a candle,

other times, it's huge, covering a large area.

I also make sure there's pan de muertos on the altar every year.

 

It is a sweetened soft bread shaped like a bun, often decorated with bone-shaped phalange pieces. Pan de muerto is eaten on Día de Muertos, at the gravesite or alternatively, at a tribute called an ofrenda. In some regions, it is eaten for months before the official celebration of Dia de Muertos. In Oaxaca, pan de muerto is the same bread that is usually baked, with the addition of decorations. As part of the celebration, loved ones eat pan de muerto as well as the relative's favorite foods. The bones represent the deceased one (difuntos or difuntas) and there is normally a baked tear drop on the bread to represent goddess Chīmalmā's tears for the living. The bones are represented in a circle to portray the circle of life. The bread is topped with sugar. This bread can be found in Mexican grocery stores in the U.S. The classic recipe for pan de muerto is a simple sweet bread recipe, often with the addition of anise seeds, and other times flavored with orange flower water or orange zest. Other variations are made depending on the region or the baker. The one baking the bread will usually wear decorated wristbands, a tradition which was originally practiced to protect from burns on the stove or oven.
Bread of the dead usually has skulls or crossbones engraved on it. It is believed the spirits do not eat, but absorb its essence, along with water at their ofrenda, after their long journey back to Earth.

 

We had a wonderful night, baking bread and making my parent's favorite foods..

Helena and I stayed up late into the night, listening to music, talking about everyone that passed and how

important this tradition is to us.

Thank you, once again for stopping by and visiting with me.

I'll be dropping by your blogs this weekend and catching up.

Happy Halloween Haunted Humpday!!

Happy Halloween!

It's such a special time for us here..it's a little bittersweet though..

we wait all year and it gets here and it's gone in a heartbeat.

Last night was our Great Pumpkin party..

Ive been doing this for my girls for about 24 years now.

When they were young, our trick or treating options were slim,

 I decided, after watching 

 'It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown'

to bring trick or treating to us..

on the 30th at midnight, the Great pumpkin arrives,
he brings candy and toys and leaves them on the front porch.
We have a huge dinner first though..followed by scary stories.

mummydogs

 eyeball brownies

I don't have many photos anymore, but here's a couple of my older girls on GP night..

  they were 2 and 3

3&4

Helena's first Great pumpkin

Here's Helena's 2nd Halloween..she wanted to be her older sister, lol

We still carry on the tradition..and hopefully even when I'm gone, they will keep it going.

one of the movies we watched tonight was

A teenage girl under house arrest
 discovers that the nightmarish urban legend of the Mexican boogeyman,
 El Cucuy, is true.

This movie was okay..not as scary as the cucuy I grew up fearing though.

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Here's  another DT project..

 I made a haunted mushroom house..

I'd love to live there wouldn't you?

Here's a project for the Hell gnome death digis design team..
I used the angry ocular digi stamp to create an ornament...

and a throw pillow...

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It's chilly here tonight..so let's get cozy by the fire, one last time..

When I was little, El Cucuy

was the scariest thing ever.. (so was La Llorona)
He's used as a means to discipline children..
kind of like a threat I guess..

Well, when I was about eight years old, I remember I was staying the weekend with my aunt..
My Aunt's stepson, Robert was also there..
He was Eleven years old and didn't bother with the "little girls" (my cousin and I)
He liked hanging out with my 14 year old cousin Michael instead.
On Saturday morning my cousin whispered to me that Robert had gone to the drugstore
the night before and stolen a pack of cigarettes.
We were both terrified..the Cucuy would surely come and punish him.
Stealing was at the top of the list of things that summoned him.
We made sure to steer clear of  Robert, & we were nervous all day.
Whenever we would go outside, I kept thinking I saw something up in the tree house.
I was always afraid of it..it was at least 15 to 20 feet high and it seemed impossible
to climb..the whole place was a mystery to me.
After dinner that evening, Robert and Michael made plans to go up there.
(most likely to smoke)
Robert climbed up, but  before Michael had a chance to follow,
my aunt called to him..probably to finish some chore or another.
While he was inside, we heard a horrible scream come from the backyard.
Robert had fallen out of the tree house and shattered his ankles.
He was crying and telling everyone that something had pushed him..
He's been sitting down, waiting for Michael when he was shoved out, hard.
He claimed that right before it happened
he had chills running down his spine
and he caught a glimpse of a pair of pale hands with long fingers..

My uncle went up to look around and came back down with the cigarettes.
As far as I know, he was not punished for having them, maybe they
didn't want to add  more pain to his life..
He needed many, many operations and months of therapy.
My cousin and I were convinced we knew who had pushed him.
sadly, he never recovered completely,
he had to use a cane for the rest of his life.

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Well, I'm afraid this is our cue to put out the Halloween fire and head home to our warm beds.
Thank you SO much for stopping by and sharing the joy this sweet colorful holiday brings.
I appreciate you very verily!!

Now, here's Logan, our spooky kitty, giving you a silly little wink!

Happy Halloween, my friends..take care and be safe out there..
See you soon!!

Almost Time!!

Happy Haunted Humpday!!

It's the second to the last one!

How?

I've been trying to create and bake and just savor

the delicious moments and memories that this season brings with it..

but it moves so fast!!
This weekend we made pizza and started watching
the exorcist..during the first half hour of the movie
half the string of orange lights one the mantle blew out and made our living room just a little bit darker.
let's just say we didn't finish the movie, lol

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This week Helena and I created some really spooky art.

Since we are both on the Hello Lisa design team,

we were able to collaborate with Fuji Film and AC Moore crafts.

This is what we came up with:

Helena's creations... 

Fall scarecrow shadow box..

Witchy Owl on the town 

altered box lid

Pumpkin Carnival clipboard

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These are my projects:

Witch's Market shadow box

October Cat clipboard

Little Witch's Tussie Mussie

All these projects were created using stock photos

from the Fuji Film Photo Creates Kiosk

you can find these in your local AC Moore craft store.

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We made a Halloween Funfetti cake again..

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Were you able to make to Holly's HorrorLand last week?

Her blog turned 8 years old..

She had a link on her blog that took you to the Funko Pop website

and you could turn yourself into a doll.

I had so much fun!

I turned everyone in my family into one..for now I will share the Marfi and the Helena dolls.

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Have you watched

Here's the trailer

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How about this one?

it has bad acting and a huge cult following...

trailer..

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So how's your weather been lately?

We are back up to 80's again..not surprising though.

But our nights are lovely, so I won't complain. 

Have you ever played with a Ouija Board?

I had one in high school..

my mother had no knowledge of it btw:)

my friends would come over and we would play with it..

ask it the usual stuff..

Anybody here?

Does (whoever it was) like me?

Am I going to have children?

Am I going to get married? (I never was the one that asked that question)

 Eventually I threw it out..

I had more fear of my mom finding out

than anything else, haha!

It did scare us a few times, don't get me wrong..

& it would threaten and curse at one of my friends in such a terrible way,

he vowed never to play it again.

This next story is about a person I've known for a while..

Joshua and his best friend, Ed were on their way home from school one rainy afternoon.

 As they walked by a pile of trash cans they saw a Ouija board and planchette sticking out.

They dug it out and raced over to Josh's house..his mom worked until late,

so there wouldn't be any interference from a parent.

 When they walked in the rain really started to come down hard..

They were very excited because it added a creepy element to an already creepy situation.

Josh grabbed some candles, 

including a heavy vanilla candle that had belonged to his grandmother.

The lights were off, the candles were lit and the session began..

The board did not answer their inane questions,

instead it spoke of the future and it told each boy one specific thing.
 after a short while the boys became very frightened.

They decided to put it away,

suddenly a huge flame shot up out of the vanilla candle,

before they had a chance to put it out, the entire candle had melted down to the table.

He said it took about 10 seconds.

They looked where the candle had been..trying to figure out how they were 

going to hide scorch marks from Josh's mom.

Instead of burns on the table they found a oddly shaped puddle of wax..

It was shaped like an angel with a crying face.

He said it was intricate..delicate, even.

It looked carved.

When they saw the face they became more frightened than they had ever been before..

Chills were running up and down their backs as they ran outside to throw the board away immediately.

The next day everything seemed normal until Josh

arrived home and found his youngest sister playing with the Ouija board that he had thrown out.

She claimed to have found it on her bed the night before.

Josh tried to take the board from her but she

very uncharacteristically attacked him.

She screamed hysterically and raked her fingernails down his face.

His mother pulled her off of him and took her out of the room.

He then he ran outside and burned the board.

His sister never recovered..
she began to waste away.

The doctors claimed it was an infection, but could never find a cure.

she was put in hospice and eventually she passed away.

He still has the scars on his face..he said the night he and Ed played with the
board, it told him that his sister was going to die before the month was over.

 (He couldn't remember what the Ouija had told Ed)

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Well, I'm about ready to go to bed...Helena and I went out just now and bought
hot cocoa and drove through one of the creepy neighborhoods, looking at the decorations..
we had so much fun!

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I hope this coming week is spooky and full of happy surprises for you!!

see you soon..

Halfway to Halloween!

Wow, we are flying through this month!

Do you have any plans for this weekend?

It rained again for us this week..

The water almost came in through the back doors!

We still managed to do some fun things though.

 It felt so festive and chilly outside the day after it rained, that we went to a place called

Donut Parlor to celebrate.

look at this maple bacon donut..I got a vanilla iced coffee  with it:)

Remember the ghost from last week?

I added a little bit of glitter to it..what do you think?

We carved this pumpkin while watching a scary movie..

guess what kind of monster it was about?

That's right..a vampire..

The movie was an old Disney one called

'Mom's got a date with a vampire' 

It's silly but it reminds me of when my girls were little.

The next night we watched Candyman..

Do you remember that one?

 it's based off of an urban legend..like bloody Mary.

You say his name five times..

he appears and ........kills you? 

I don't know, that doesn't sound fun to me..lol

The movie is really good though.

Here's one more we watched...

This one's pretty scary..

 

 

Two couples vacationing together in an R.V. 

from Texas to Colorado are terrorized

 after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual. 

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Speaking of the devil,

let's gather together again and try to keep warm..

never mind the stealthy noises you hear beyond the firelight..

One evening I was out in our front yard..setting up some of the decorations for Halloween.

Our young neighbor was there, untangling lights and tinsel..

He loved helping me out because his family did not decorate and it got him out of 

doing homework for a few hours.

We were busy stretching out a couple of the light strands when we noticed how quiet it had it become.

It almost felt like the volume had been turned all the way down

 on a radio that had been on full blast.

 I looked up and said..what happened?  

He put his finger to his lips, to shush me...

It remained quiet for about ten to fifteen seconds,

 then all of a sudden, the dogs, at the very end of the street started barking and howling..

pretty soon all the dogs on our street were carrying on, making a terrible racket.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, it was over..

the normal people/car/street sounds 

were all we could hear.

Again, I asked, What happened?

Louis, my neighbor, said,

"Oh, it's the devil. Haven't you ever heard that before?"

I shook my head slowly..

Allegedly, if you hear lots of dogs going crazy, at night, for no reason (like seeing a cat or something)

it is because the devil is passing through, looking for a soul to

 either inhabit or just terrorize.

When you hear the dog's warning,

you are supposed to stop what you're doing and stay quiet.

I thought it was a chilling little urban legend

creepy, but a bit silly.

 But when I'm outside alone at night and I hear all the dogs barking and howling,

Well, then  it's not so silly anymore.

Well, I'm off..

have a spooky week!!!