BLESSED SAMHAIN - and my BOS materials

Merry Meet, everyone. Blessings on this magical evening. I hope this new Turn of the Wheel is full of good things.

I had hoped to have my Book of Shadows constructed by this night, ready to be blessed. But between hunting down supplies and the other things going on, the best I have is everything gathered. The only item you will not find in the pictures is the paper I will be using for pages. I have chosen an 8.5 x 11 caramel parchment. I want torn edges so the 400+ pages will take a bit of time. Those will all have to be torn on the three sides before they can be put in the book.

I'm mashing up two different BOS designs I found on YouTube. The first is for the basic construction of the outside by jamiebookofshadows. Jamie has done a lovely seven-part series in creating a replica of the BOS from the television show, Charmed. While I have no desire to emulate their BOS, I did favor his construction. Here are the supplies for my cover:

While I would like to have used a real leather, this Marine Vinyl from JoAnn's felt right when I picked it up. I bought enough to do a full 8.5 x 11 BOS as well as a smaller 4x6 or may 3x5 travel BOS. Not sure I'll be using the hinges but I do like the corner protectors from Tim Holtz. Jamie uses a cardboard tube to get his 'curved' spine. Since acquiring this piece from my friend/ store manager at my local Office Depot, I've learned that you can curve any chip board by scoring the length in 1/4" increments then gently conforming the scores to the shape you want. The paper will be my inside cover.  The only thing I don't have in the picture is the Tyvek I've also learned will help strengthen the spine. 

The suede lacing is for binding the pages together. I waffled back and forth between the different methods. I wanted the 8.5 x 11 (and have had the ream of paper for years for this project) so signatures wasn't going to work... though I may use that method for the travel size. I didn't like the 3-ring binder idea. I got a cold vibe from that form. But I fell in love with the method used by Isis Chandler at Pagan Scrapbook Supply.  I want to make my own BOS or I'd have been purchasing one of hers in a heartbeat. In the video below, she talks about their book construction.

So I'll be cutting binding strips and punching holes for awhile as well as tearing those page edges.

I'm not an artist by any means. I can't draw a decent stick figure (though I use to be good at horses - go figure!). But I am good with stamps and coloring so I'll be using those as well as stencils, die cuts for the insides. I recently ordered THIS set from CraftersCompanion. I should have the set in the next week or so.  I have other stamps in my huge supply to work with as well. 

Here is a picture of some of the interior supplies I've gathered:

I'm excited to finally begin putting my BOS together. As I said earlier, I've had the page paper as well as the chip board for the cover for years. I do have two writing deadlines I have to get past first, then I can devote a day or two for construction.

Many Blessings

~Rain

BOOK OF SHADOWS - Eden

I found her!  Her name is Eden. Here's the first of her videos that I watched. I just like her laid back style.

Eden will celebrate her first Turn of the Wheel this week and I am so happy for her. From the moment you step on the path, an incredible journey of self-discovery begins.

One of the things Eden brings up in this video is about how much, if any at all, of our BOS do we share.  I've heard this discussion surface in the past and am reaching a happy middle. I am blaming the Libra in me ;-)

I think that our BOS can be a very personal, if not the most personal, tool in our craft. And while I would not be comfortable sharing my spells with the world or letting others touch my book, when it comes to the artwork, I hope that I could inspire others as Amethyst and Eden have with theirs.

So what's your take on the Show & Tell of your BOS? I'd love to hear from you
Creative Blessings
~Rain

SOMETHING ABOUT AUTUMN

As the Aspens begin to fade out west, the Birch in the Ozarks are just beginning to find their color. The Dogwoods are also turning. Rain is in the forecast for the coming weekend when the Dogwoods would be in their glory. I'm hoping for a span of dry weather to enjoy them before the storms beat the leaves from their limbs. 

I've finally completely moved into the studio... in time to enjoy my space as a turn of the wheel begins. 

With the availability of a workable craft space again I've also been itching to create my Book of Shadows. I've always had the idea of what I wanted in the back of my mind and I still have some things to work out but I'm making progress.

One youtuber who's inspired my artistic side is Amethyst. I love her artwork...

One thing about Amethyst's book is the binding. I LOVE the binding. But her pages would have to have started at at least 17" lengths of paper in able to fold them into 8.5 signatures. I have a ream of standard 8.5x11 paper I bought years ago for this purpose. Since then I've learned more about book binding so am needing to figure out the best way to incorporate what I have rather than buying a massive amount of the larger sheets. Though I could buy parchement sheets by the case for about $20 at a restaurant supply and tea-dye the pages. Hmmm... the brain is processing as I type. I'll keep you posted.

I have another I found but am unable to pull her up right now. Silly me, I guess I was so caught up in her video I failed to Like the video so I could find her. And I'm not seeing her on my subscription list either. 

Next week I'd love to have a discussion on whether to 'show & tell' your BOS.

Until then, Creative Blessings!

~Rain

NESTING MODE

This is a common sight in my yard. What began as a family of three gray squirrels has turned into five... apparently a couple of cousins moved in from the timber. One of the little critters is a youngin', probably not much more than a year old. That youngest one will invariably climb into the feeder outside the living room window.

I do not run the critters off... except for the one who keeps cleaning out the woodpecker feeder. I just try to make sure there is enough food for everyone.

Then there is one of these... a garden spider. They  normally do not begin appearing until mid-late August. We are barely into week two of July and I found one hanging out by the potato tires yesterday. Way too early for them. Is this a nudge from Mother we should begin preparing for winter?

I spent most of my Sunday watching 'pantry' and dehydrating videos on YouTube. Mind you, some of them are preppers, but two are NOT about the SHTF folks... just ladies trying to make sure that whatever comes their way, their family is fed.

Here were three folks I particularly liked:

Linda's Pantry

An American Homestead

obsessiveprepperaz

In between videos yesterday, I put all of our dry pastas into glass jars and sealed them with my Food Saver. I love that kitchen gadget. 

This afternoon, I hope to get onions on the food dehydrator. We bought #10 of Vidalia from the Shriners a couple of months back. We've had so much rain that the humidity to try and run the dehydrator out in the green house would have been useless. But, we are looking at two or three dry days so I'm going to try and get those done.

Do you stock a pantry? Please share your tips.

Blessings!

~Rain

What a fab prize pack!  Miss Deborah is giving this away to a lucky person in anticipation of the release of Dangerously Charmed.. the first book in the Rider series. 

Deborah always delivers an entertaining read. To find out more, head over to her BLOG to register and see what all the excitement is about!

Good Luck and Many Blessings!

~Rain

ON HIATUS

Merry Meet, everyone!

I know I have not been here in forever and several moons. So much going on in my world and I am struggling for balance. Even work (though non-paying) has begun to see a decline.

Everything stems from my horrid OCD and not being able to put stuff just 'anywhere' in the new studio. The process is taking WAY longer than I want and the path has become depressing at times.

Add job issues for hubby and minor health issue for me and I've had to make the decision to step back from everything Social Media wise for awhile.

So with this post, I am taking the entire month of May off from ALL social media obligations and just learning to breathe again.

I will be back in June in time for Mid-Summer and hopefully have found balance again.

All my Blessings
Rain

A Gift

Seriously. Who could resist this face at their door?

I tried... Really. I have not wanted another inside dog since my Sheltie passed over several years ago. Although I love animals, when it comes to 'inside' I am a cat person. I love my two kitties.

So when this little guy showed up at my door almost two weeks ago, I tried everything possible to either find out where he came from or a home for him. Nothing came to fruition. I did know one very important fact... if the dog was still here when Bob got home on Wednesday night, he was permanent. My husband is a big softie. Bob came home on Wednesday night. By Thursday morning he had designed the new kennel... which included taking over the front deck I was finally getting to where I wanted it as a 'sittin' spot'. 

Meet Honey Butt:

Honey appears to be a Brittany Spaniel puppy - not even a year old. He may have a tad bit of beagle. He is loving and a big cuddler. It's a race to see who gets the recliner first. He's housebroke and leash trained. Right now he is experiencing separation anxiety. I'd had him for over a week without any accidents in the house (except one the first day). While I was gone over the weekend, and left him with Bob, he piddled twice in the living room... right in front of Bob. 

He needs to know we will come back when we have to go awake so we have a training program in place.

I am finally getting to a point where I can resurrect the blog. Today, we are spending the whole day in the garden. Progress reports as well as other goodies coming soon.

I'm still looking for books to review or authors to have as guests. Is there someone you'd love to know more about? Let me know in the comments and I'll see what I can do about setting them up as guests.

Creative Blessings!

~Rain

BLESSED NEW YEAR!

Welcome to 2016!
I can not believe we are here already. Time flies so fast these days. Or maybe I'm just so busy.

I have a couple of new things I'm bringing to the cafe this year. I think I may have finally found something I can work with. I hope you'll share your thoughts as I traverse this new path.

One of the things I'm adding this year is book reviews. If you have a book you would love for me to review, please leave a comment with your email and I will contact you.

I will update more in the next day or two.. but right now I must fly! Bob came home on January 7th and we are still trying to find a routine. Now that I have a shiny new office and he has a Man Cave, the routine will come in record time.

Blessings!
Rain