#6 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

Make ornaments and decorations together.

Most people love to create things with their hands, and there are tons of ideas for crafting with children, that are quite suitable even for adults who are not too used to make things with their hands.
Engage the whole family and friends.

Have one of the crowd read season appropriate books out loud for the rest of the group and arrange some nice things to be eaten, in the spirit of Swedish Glögg party or Super Bowl Night... (Yes, you could make eggnog. It's good for Ostara too. Or carrot juice ;-))

Silver knotwork of humankind

I really like creating scrapbooking layouts :-D
Now, I do mine in PSP8, and these are just layouts, no photos attached. (Yeah, yeah, the old song... can't afford... No. I choose to use my money on other things. THAT's what it's all about. Some people choose to buy scrapbooking materials, I choose to buy other things, like books and other kind of art materials. I'm totally addicted to colored pencils :-D)
So, this one - use a nice patterned paper as base, make a cute little pumpkin of small scraps of orange paper, and write some words on it that to you associate to Samhain. I have written "Tradition, Other World, Family, Don't Be Afraid, Harvest".

We use two words in Finnish for "family", "perhe" and "suku" - The first one is for the immediate family, mother, father, siblings, children. The second is for the extended family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, ancestors and grandchildren - the relatives. To me Samhain is the day of the year, when I really feel the silver lines from thousands of years behind me to thousands of years in front of me. Now, I don't have any children, and probably won't ever have any, so there really are no silver lines in front of me, but I'm still connected to the silver lines of my siblings... It's like a wonderful, great Celtic knotwork...

At this time of year I do believe in past lives :-D So the silver knotwork is in two layers - there's the family one, of ancestry and bloodlines, and then there's the one of witchcraft. I believe I am a witch, born witch, and I have always been a witch, that in spite of which bloodline and which culture I'm born in, I will be a witch. A shaman, a healer, a druid, a priestess... who ever works with magic and nature in that current culture and tradition. I believe I carry with me the knowledge

I really like My Ghoul Friday :-)

and The Toymaker :-)

Artsy Mama has always nice things. Like her 13 days of Halloween: garlands.

One leg on the other side...

Another really easy layout. You can use also a single color paper as the base. The white paper is for journaling, the grey area is for the photo. A piece of patterned paper, a piece of patterned vellum, stamps or stickers for cat and raven, then staple on some ribbons, and you're ready :-)

I really like simple ribbons like that :-)

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"A dying elderly is like a burning library"

October 1st is the International Day of Older People.

"Let your child spend time with older family members, a grandmother for instance. Encourage your relative to tell your child stories about the family. What is the family history - did someone immigrate from Ireland, Russia, and so forth? Did anyone grow up during the Great Depression? How did grandpa and grandma meet? Share your family stories with your children. Bring out old photos."

I'm sure your grandparents know some good ghost stories :-)

I was born in 1969, my parents 1935 and all my grandparents were born on the first decade of 20th century. They are all dead now, and I feel the void they left behind every time I think about them. I didn't know my mother's father very well, he died before I was born ;-) My father's mother died when I was 13, and I wasn't one of her favorites (to put it mildly), so I didn't know her much either. I like to think I had a warm relation with my mother's mother and my father's father, and I miss them both very much. I didn't really know what to do with grandparents, before now... and now is too late.

So, what to do with grandparents? Listen to them.
They have two lifetimes of experience more than you do, they have met a lot of people, seen much, heard much, thought much...
I would have wanted to know what was my grandfather's favorite book, and what did he think of the "new" inventions, like television... What was it like in the Olympic games in Helsinki 1952. What was it like to travel with my grandmother. I know they went to London and Copenhagen, but that's all I know. How much did he speak English? What did he think about Israel? How did he think about God and spirituality? Did he believe in ancestral spirits?
I will never know.

To something else:

I like this little book. You can make it also by using tape as hinges. I think the doors and mechanical elements fit especially well on Samhain. It makes it kind of a haunted house with surprises :-D

Black and white Halloween decoration.I personally like to add more color; pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, turnip ;-)
BTW, make a little experiment this year: Make four "pumpkin" pies - of these four vegetables... and see what you like the different flavors.

How to throw a black-and-white ball
Better Homes and Gardens' black and white halloween
Country Home's black and white halloween projects
Hmm... I saw in one of the blogs participating in Samhain Blog Party a course or something about making vintage ghosts...

Halloween spookspiration

Traditions and ancestors

Another simple scrapbook layout.
Nice paper on the bottom, on that a paper of one color, on that another nice patterned paper, on that some stamping (the same used previously - to bind it together), and on that the black base for photos. You can also add white borders around photos, that is add one more white layer. The subject line is stamped or printed on the same color paper as layer #2.


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I feel very close to the Chinese and North Asian spiritual traditions and one of them is Ancestral worship. I believe I come from a long line of witches, and even my non-witch ancestors are out there, capable of influencing this world, able to help me, advice me, mediate with me and Gods - if that was needed - and, just be there for me.

I am not very good at serving my ancestors, but that is one part of my spirituality I wish gets a bigger part in my life. I would very much like to built a Spirit House for my ancestors, similar to Queen Mary's Doll House. :-D After all, I am going to live in it too, one day, or the spiritual counterpart of it.
One thing that comes to mind is the Silent Supper (also Dumb Supper or Mute Supper).

Here's some really nice ideas on how to decorate for Halloween
and here's some more. I really like Country Living :-D


I also adore black-and-white china used with pumpkins and orange tablecloth :-)

I think these candy topiaries are great :-) You could also make a kransekake, or meringue croque-en-bouche as an edible base. And don't GLUE the candy on the cone. Use melt sugar or frosting.

I really hate it when people use edible things just as decoration, not to be eaten. But, I'm poor. Wasting food is a sin. (Not that candy is food, but we had like one box or bag of candy to be divided in 8, when I was a kid. Candy is luxury.)

BTW, don't use spiders or other things like that as dinner table decoration. Some people are really sensitive about food and loose their appetite, and dinner parties are supposed to be enjoyable for all.

Something different:
Blog Rewind: Paper Crave Halloween Freebies
I love these K & Company Autumn and Halloween Paper 
Love these owls
sip on this - Halloween drink serving suggestions