Happy Halloween from Matilda

Friends, it's the night before Halloween and my friend Matilda is stopping in to wish you a Happy Halloween!

By this time tomorrow evening, she will be sitting at a large round table with a group of strangers, each one anxious to have 'Madame Matilda' summon their dead loved ones.

They will all gather in the 'Occult Room' of Matilda's large, dark, musty Victorian house. First, she will dim all the gas-lit lamps. Then she will instruct the group of strangers to close their eyes, and when they do, she will raise her arms and commence to move them in a counter clockwise direction. She will then call out to the unkindness of ravens she keeps as her assistants and they will gather on the rooftops. They will flap their wings and cackle loudly. The winds will blow and the gas-lit lamps will flicker, and Matilda, now in a trance, will beckon the dead as they float and rise above the table. And the strangers, terrified, will call out their grief loudly as they learn the secrets of their dead ancestors - secrets they were never meant to know... 

The strangers will beg Matilda to cease her summoning. Matilda, still in a trance, cannot hear their pleas. Suddenly the ravens have mysteriously gotten inside the house and are flying inside the room with the dead ancestors, croaking, cackling and hissing at the strangers! Matilda, laughs maniacally, picks up her wand and thrusts it into the air. A bolt of lightening crashes into the house and the light, now bright and blinding, flashes! Suddenly all the dead ancestors vaporize and the table is littered with shiny black rocks that look like ravens.

The next morning, Matilda is walking slowly through her garden, tending to her flowers, plants and trees. A stranger walks by and lets out a loud croaking, cackling noise. Matilda pretends not to notice and the stranger croaks and cackles even louder. Matilda raises her arm, then brings it down quickly, pointing to the ground. The stranger, animated and lively in their demand that Matilda look their way, suddenly becomes mute.

Matilda smiles, picks a bouquet of orange chrysanthemums, walks into her house, and shuts the door.

The Big Send with Vote Forward

Friends, an important election is coming up here in the United States and I would like to invite my fellow cititzens to join me in writing non-partisan letters to registered voters.

It's very easy.  Just go to VoteForward.org, create an account, 'adopt' voters to write your letters to and start writing. The guideline is easy - write a short sentence or two telling the recipient why you vote.

Here's a few examples of what I am writing in my letters:

(I vote because) "I want to live in a society where our collective voices are heard, honored, and respected."

(I vote because) "I want to live in a society where the people can elect officials that will represent us in our pursuit of life, liberty and happiness."

(I vote because) "democracy protects the people from potential harm and its goals are to move the country towards equality and freedom for all."

You can write as few as five letters or as many as you can. 'The Big Send', or date the letters will be mailed, is October 29th.

I hope you will consider participating in helping to boost voter turnout for 2022!

DIY: Decoupage Chinoiserie Mini Pumpkins

Hello friends! October is here and it's time to get crafty with some faux mini pumpkins! As one who enjoys making scrapbook pages, decoupage is another fun way to be creative with paper. And while I'm new to this wildly popular activity, despite some challenges, I managed to come up with the three designs shown.

It's actually very easy, just tedious and messy.

So let's gather our supplies:

You will need:

• faux pumpkins in size(s) of your choice (I used this set)
  
• white acrylic paint
• paper napkins of your choice (ginger jars, birds & florals)
  
• paint brushes and paper towel for blotting
  
• scissors
• Mod Podge
• gold leaf kit (optional)
• ribbon (optional)
  
• newspapers and parchment for your work surface

Step 1 - Apply white acrylic paint to the surface of each of your pumpkins. The paint will provide 'grip' for your napkins to adhere to. I used white because my pumpkins have a lot of negative space showing. You might consider the colors in your napkins as to what your choice of paint color would be.

Step 2 - Separate the printed layer of your napkin from the other one or two layers. You only need the printed layer. It will be very thin.

Step 3 - Fussy cut your desired elements from your napkin. This is not an exact process - you don't have to cut on the lines and your cuts do not have to be perfect.

It's a good idea to cut little snips around the perimeter of your cut-out shape. It helps the image ease onto the round pumpkin better.

Step 4 - Apply a small amount of Mod Podge to your pumpkin in the area where you want to adhere your image. Lightly tack your image to the wet medium and adjust as needed.

Apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to the remaining areas behind your tacked image. Now you'll want to work quickly using a generous amount of Mod Podge on your brush to apply the medium over the top of your image using light pressure and working from the middle (where you tacked the image) outward. Keep your brush wet with the medium and gently 'push' the paper into place. Be careful because the more wet your paper becomes the easier it will tear. Don't worry about the wrinkles - they will take care of themselves. Once your image is adhered, use your brush to gently smooth the image to the surface. Again, make sure your brush is wet and use light strokes. Repeat for the remainder of your cut-outs.

Here's how I cut my napkins to make the other two pumpkin designs:

And here are a couple of ideas I had for embellishing the tops of two of the pumpkins:

Step 5 - The last step is applying the gold leaf to the stems of the pumpkins. The gold leaf kit has three parts - the adhesive 'size', the metal leaf (thin sheets of metal) and the sealer. (Tip: pull the stems of your pumpkins up about 1/4" so there is a gap - this will make applying the gold leaf easier.) First, apply the adhesive size with a paint brush. The size is very watery so use caution when dipping your brush into it. Be sure your brush goes into the crevices of the pumpkin stem. Let the size dry to a tacky consistency.

After the size becomes tacky, cut a piece of the gold leaf. It should be larger than the surface area that you want to cover. Hold the gold leaf up to your pumpkin stem and use a dry paintbrush to gently push the leaf onto the stem. When you see the leaf is adhered to the stem, gently work the leaf into the crevices with your brush.

Push the leaf with your brush so that it goes under the stem (see tip above). Gently work your way around the stem with your brush until the leaf is adhered to all the tacky areas. As you cover the size, the still dry parts of the leaf will begin to fall away.

And lastly, apply the sealer to the stems with a paintbrush and let dry completely. Now you can push your stems back down onto the surface of your pumpkins.

Step 6 - Tie some ribbon to the stems and you are done! Now you have a beautiful hand made craft to enjoy every autumn season for years to come.

If you made it this far, thank you for looking! If you have any questions, please leave a comment.