Daily (often multiple times) for weeks now, I have been checking to see if Bloglovin’ was back up again this month. As of the time of writing, it still is not.

Prior to adopting Bloglovin, which is a free service with no cap (that I am aware) on the number of sites users can follow, I used Google’s feed reader.

This was a terrific feed reader and I would still likely be utilizing it were it not for the fact that Google shut it down ages ago now (despite impassioned pleas from users for them to keep it alive).

There are certainly other feed readers beyond Bloglovin’ out there. However, the majority of them only allow you to have a relatively small number of blogs that you can follow for free with their service (25 – 100 tends to be the norm across freemium feed reader providers).

Beyond that cap, they want to charge you to upgrade in order for you to be able to follow a greater number of sites. Such costs are typically applied monthly, quarterly, or annually.

Ideally, I would prefer not to have to pay for a feed reader. That said, if Bloglovin’ continues to be down for long periods (or never returns altogether), I will have to come up with some sort of alternate solution here – be it free or paid.

As will, no doubt, many others who have stuck with the Bloglovin’ platform over the years – even after its mid to early 2010s heyday.

To add insult to injury, not only is the feed element of Bloglovin’ down, but the very same error message (in the screenshot above) appears when I click over to the page that normally shows me the extensive list of blogs that I follow.

Nooooooo!!!

Therefore, if I cannot gain access to that list (which I do not have recorded anywhere else), I will need to refollow those of you who comment here through whatever alternative to Bloglovin’ that I end up going with.

I am hoping that things don’t come to me having to abandon Bloglovin’, but by the same token, missing out on commenting on many of your sites in recent weeks is not something I want to continue experiencing all summer (or longer!) by any means.

If I am a regular or even semi-regular commenter on your blog, could you please leave me a comment below with your site’s URL so that I can start composing a new list of my regular blog reads to use if/when I do have to switch to a different feedreader? (Thank you very much in advance!)

And by the same token, I know that a fair number of you follow this site via Bloglovin’. So that we don’t risk losing touch, please feel free to sign up for my newsletter (located on the upper right-hand sidebar of this site).

At present, this simply emails each new post I publish on Witchcrafted Life to your inbox, so you won’t be inundated with actual newsletters (though, one day, I may start sending the occasional one out) and will still be able to follow along here if you are not planning to decamp to a different feedreader yourself.

As well, if you happen to use or know of any reliable, enjoyable feedreaders that are either free or very well-priced, likewise please share it/them in the comments below.

(I will be investing a number of Bloglovin’ alternatives featured in this post on the subject, but would love to hear more about your faves and recommendations, too!)

And, as you likely deduced after reading the above paragraphs, this is the sole reason why I have not been leaving blog comments on many of your sites over the past 3 – 4 weeks. I am very sorry about that, everyone, and really hope to get this issue sorted out ASAP!

Now, on with our latest edition of Magick, Crafty Makes, and Me.

In Leo Tolstoy’s renowned classic, Anna Karenina, he penned the line, “spring is the time of plans and projects.”

This is a sentiment that I very much agree with. However, I do feel that it usually rings even truer for me during the fall.

After all, they don’t call Samhain / Halloween the Witch’s New Year for nothing! And what new year would be complete without a few new hopes and ambitions?

As winter waned and the first telltale signs of spring returned – despite the ever-worsening state of my physical health (I do not have any positive updates to report there, unfortunately, and so will say no more on the topic for the time being) – I was suddenly struck with one of the biggest waves of creativity that I have ever experienced.

It struck me like a bolt of lightning sent down by my muse and, I am very happy to say, is still going strong.

I have been floating on a crafty cloud nine all spring long and have jotted down literally hundreds of possible project ideas over the past few weeks.

This has been a joyous state to experience and one that is doing wonders in the process for my mental health, which is a terrific added bonus.

Periods don’t like this don’t come along every day for a lot of us and I am trying to soak up and be grateful for every second of amped-up creativity.

Weather wise, despite the fact that snow stopped falling in our neighbourhood a touch earlier than most years (late March vs the usual some point in April), we had next to no proper spring this time around.

Cool weather tinted in shades of worn pavement and faded blue flannel filled the bulk of our days. Enough rain to have one wondering if Amazon sells ark kits torpedoed itself at the ground for days – sometimes even weeks – very nearly on end.

Now, to be fair, I rather adore cool, grey weather and share Wednesday Addams’ sentiment that it is, “so nice and gloomy”.

Yes, I am one of those souls who tends to find damp weather, mild temps, and the need for multiple layers well into June to be an enjoyable experience.

That said, I am not averse to sunshine and can scarcely wrap my head around the fact that with the Summer Solstice/Litha having come and gone for another year, the days will now grow shorter until winter’s rebirth at Yule.

I don’t know if I would personally go so far as to say that I feel seasonally shortchanged, but I am definitely looking at my receipt very closely as I exit the weather store.

To my mind, the best positive to experiencing a far damper and cooler spring than usual is that it has done wonders to keep the annual horrific wildfire season that consumes (quite literally) much of BC in its fiery bite each spring/summer/early fall largely at bay.

So long as I live, I doubt I will ever forget the incredibly vivid red and orange coloured skies of last year’s forest fire season, as we spent days on end hosing down our house and yard to try and keep any live embers in the air from igniting our property.

(See this post of mine for unedited photos of exactly what I am talking about.)

All the while, sitting for about a month on evacuation alert, our most important documents, electronic devices, and a few treasured items neatly piled near the front door to grab at a moment’s notice had an evacuation come in.

Mercifully, that did not happen. Nor was our home or yard damaged by the huge blazes that roared loudly mere kilometres away.

However, the record-shattering heatwaves last year did do damage to some of the lofty evergreens in our backyard, with a decent smattering of their branches still bleached a distinctly rusty brown hue.

This spring was unquestionably a nippier than usual one, but that does not necessarily guarantee that we will be in for a gentle next three months.

Few things can turn more quickly on a dime than Mother Nature’s mood and it is anyone’s guess as to where the temps, total hours of sunshine, and wildfire levels will each land when all is said and done for another summer.

In the introduction to the Winter 2022 Edition of Magick, Crafty Makes, and Me, I made the war in Ukraine the focus of those initial paragraphs.

Though I was hoping beyond measure that come the next edition of MCM&M, his horrific conflict would be over, the realist in me knew that such was, objectively, quite unlikely.

And as we surely all know, this devastating sham (on Russia’s part) of a war still rages on fiercely. Its end even less certain than the outcome of a whole season’s weather report.

Though media coverage (as it is apt to do) has let up a bit regarding this bloody conflict, I continue to follow credible news sources very closely regarding the war in Ukraine and have every intention of doing so for as long as the fighting continues.

Far closer to home, this spring has not been without its fair share of serious happenings as well.

As some of you may recall for the spring edition of this series, my sister came down with Covid in the winter. Thankfully, she did not require hospitalization and was gradually able to recover. However, no sooner had she started to feel a bit more like her usual self again than she contracted this terrible illness for a second time.

Very luckily, it was milder for her than the first experience and she is once again on the road to recovery.

Still, it is almost unbelievable that she fell ill with Covid twice in such a short time frame. Though no doubt her immune system was weakened by the first bout (as surely just about anyone’s would be) and that made her more susceptible to contracting this virus a second time.

Again, while my sister is doing fairly well at this point all things considered, sadly, I cannot say the same for my paternal grandfather.

Earlier this month, completely out of the blue, he suffered two very serious strokes in rapid succession. Tests quickly revealed a blood clot in his brain which is too large to safely be operated on and so will need to be managed through medication.

Right now, his medical team is optimistically saying that in time, with PT, meds, and so forth, he may be able to regain about 70 – 80% of his pre-stroke abilities and motor skills.

Naturally, everyone in our circle is hoping and praying for that to ultimately prove to be the case, but it is far too early on at this stage to know for sure.

He and my grandma are both in their early eighties and have been married since the 1950s. They have weathered their fair share of serious health issues over the decades, but this is definitely the very worst medical situation to strike either of them so far.

I worry not only for my grandpa himself but also for my grandma and know this will, understandably, take a very serious toll on her.

Everyone who can is rallying around them and trying to help in any way possible.

Given that once a person has one stroke (let alone two), your odds of experiencing another one are quite decent, I don’t think any of us will ever feel like my grandpa will be safely out of the proverbial woods on this front.

Hopefully, though, he will be able to make a sizable recovery and continue to be active and enjoy life (including gardening, which is one of his biggest passions) for a long time still to come.

There is scarcely any good way to segue out of such a heavy topic, so instead of switching subjects again in this intro section, let us proceed with the Spring 2022 Edition of Magick, Crafty Makes, and Me.

Which, for those of you who are joining this series for the first time, is a link love post featuring online content that caught my eye during the past three months, coupled with a peek into what has been transpiring lately in my own life.

Magick, Witchcraft, Paganism, and Spirituality

–How to Make Your Own Scrying Mirror: Scrying is one of my favourite forms of divination and ways to enter into a meditative state of mind alike.

Should you wish to try your hand at scrying or are already a fan who is looking to add a new scrying mirror to your spiritual toolbox, this lovely, easy-to-follow DIY scrying mirror tutorial from Moody Moons has you covered.

–How to Write Powerful Poetry Spells: Long one of my very favourite ways to utilize the written word in my spellwork, magickal poetry is a powerful, expressive, and deeply personal approach to creating spells that anyone – whether they consider themselves a poet already or not – can engage in freely.

This eloquent and insightful look at the subject is bound to have you reaching for the nearest quill and paper.

–Signs a Deity is Calling You: Not all witches/Wiccans/Pagans believe in and/or work with deities, but a decent percentage currently do or would like to integrate this element into their practice.

If you have ever wondered about how to know if/when a goddess (though the general premises laid out in this post apply to the gods as well) may be reaching out to you, this wonderfully in-depth look at the topic has got your back!

–Ten Reasons Tarot Is Super Effective and How To Make It Work For You: Over the past decade or so, I have enjoyed witnessing tarot (and oracle) cards skyrocket all the more in popularity. While, perhaps not surprising then, at the same time the general public is gradually becoming more aware of what tarot actually is (a powerful tool for insight, growth, guidance, and divination) and what it isn’t (a magical fairy tale type of way to instantly know the future).

In this post on the official Llewellyn website, author Sasha Graham guides tarot newbies through some of the wonderful perks of working with this much-beloved tool. And, by extension, reminds seasoned card slingers of some of the reasons why we are such devoted fans of this awesome item.  

–Threshold Magick for Troubled Times: A supportive and thoroughly apropos – given all the immense problems that are rife in the world these days – look at a great form of magick that can easily be utilized by just about anyone who has access to a (safe) threshold.

–The Secret Names of Magical Herbs and Plants: This enjoyable piece delves into the subject of why, historically, certain plants + herbs were known by alternative folk/magical names and how both those who may still need to conceal their practice today (as well as others who are out of the broom closet) can utilize these old school monikers for some of the world’s most magical green offerings.

–Witchy Apps to Keep on Your Phone: Truth be told, outside of a select few, I have never been the biggest of app users (or, for that matter, cell phone users, point-blank). However, there are a handful of apps that I adore and I am always open to adding more entries to that list.

Penned last October, this handy post from the blog #Lazy is a terrific roundup of some of the best and most relevant phone apps for those who veer in a witchy/Pagan/contemporary spirituality direct.

To no one’s surprise, I’m sure, given that I am a Cancer, the Moon app in particular nabbed my eye. Which one leaps out at you the most?

Cardmaking, Scrapbooking, Paper Crafting, and Other Crafts

–Altered Vintage Bottle Tutorial: As of late, I have felt a strong pull towards making altered items. While not new to the act, I haven’t created too many of them in recent years and (much as with pocket letters) have been missing doing so.

Having recently read Anna-Karin’s tutorial post for how to make a vintage-inspired altered bottle, I am chomping at the bit all the more to hopefully make some “off the page” papercrafting/mixed media project this year.

If you are as well, swing on by her post and lap up the creative gorgeousness at work there.

–DIY Farmhouse Candle Holders: It is safe to say that contemporary farmhouse décor had taken off like wildfire in recent years and that it is a trend which is fast becoming all the more of a classic in its own right.

Though my personal décor tastes don’t veer too much in that direction, I admire the style and find that smaller farmhouse-y pieces can often be a cinch to weave into a wide array of home decorating styles.

The selection that Andrea rounded up in this post is inspiring – especially since there is no stopping one from following the general premise but putting their own creative décor spin on these great DIY candleholders.

–Easy Repurposed Antique Chair Spindle Wind Chimes: Like many a crafty/artistic soul, I tend to be drawn towards finding ways to reuse, repurpose, or otherwise find uses for items of all sorts that still have life left in them.

By far one of the most ingenious projects of this nature that I have hit upon in recent months is this super creative approach to turning old chair legs into beautiful wind chimes. B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T!!!

–How to Make Beautiful Tissue Paper Pompoms: Beautiful is an understatement! These generously sized DIY tissue paper pompoms are flat-out gorgeous – while also being relatively easy to make.

You could whip up a few for year-round décor, create sets to cycle throughout each holiday season, use them for parties and weddings, or gift a bouquet’s worth of tissue paper pompoms to someone special in your life.

(On the same blog, Crissy’s beginner’s tutorial on How to Make Fabric Covered Flowerpots also leapt out at me.)

–How to Make Affordable Scrapbook Paper Wall Art: Though this post is currently eleven years old, the idea – turning beautiful pieces of scrapbooking paper into wall art – is no less at home in today’s DIY décor arena than it was in the 2010s.

–How to Make Paper Bead Jewelry: Much as with dried pasta, in our childhoods a fair number of us whipped up creative jewelry that involved making paper beads.

This resourceful type of DIY bead tends to cycle in and out of vogue a bit but has remained popular amongst plenty of crafters and jewelry wearers alike – especially when you end result is as lovely as the examples Amy shares in this great tutorial post.

–101 (free) Fall Sewing Tutorials: Much like the staff at many magazines, crafters often work on projects months in advance of a particular season.

With that thought in mind – and being a lover of all things autumn related – given that fall’s return is a mere three months away, I wanted to share this wonderful roundup post which features 101 different free autumn sewing tutorials for the sewers amongst my readers.

What’s Shaking in My Life and On My Radar

Having covered some of the heavier things that occurred in our lives this spring in the opening portion of this post, I will switch to more upbeat fare instead.

As mentioned above, my creativity has been going a mile a minute lately! And while my health does not allow me to keep pace with all of my crafty ideas, I have still managed to get in some paper crafting this season with (very realistic) plans for more as summer unfolds.

In addition, I have deep-dived again into another craft that I have adored and participated in since I was about 5 or 6 years old: cross stitching.

I love, love, love cross-stitching!!!

For me, it is relaxing, super enjoyable, and conveys a sense of the time-honoured tradition of needlework that has been an important part of countless peoples’ lives over the centuries.

Much as with the rest of my craft supplies and finished projects, the arson fire that we experienced in October 2016 annihilated my cross stitch stash and what was, up until that point, very nearly a lifetime’s worth of work. Dozens of projects spanning my childhood to my early 30s were gone in the blink of an eye.

And, though in hindsight I have no clue why I didn’t do so (perhaps because I started stitching many years before digital cameras hit the mainstream market? ), I had never taken photographs of them. Therefore, the only place they live on now is in my memories.

Life might knock me down, but I always spring back again and that sentiment applies to the majority of my long-standing passion as well.

Though I have done a small bit of cross stitching in the ensuing post-fire years, the bulk of my crafting attention has, objectively, been devoted to paper crafting. Rest assured that I do not see that changing anytime soon.

However, it can be a lot of fun to alternate between two or more different craft pursuits (which in this case, can sometimes even overlap – such with handmade cards that feature small cross stitch designs on them or stamp sets that mimic the classic Xs we all associate with cross stitchery) and I love that this recent surge of creativity has led me to connect with cross stitching again all the more.

Now, as a crafty witch operating on a very tight budget, I have been happily trawling the web for free and low-cost patterns that align with my current tastes in cross stitch designs.

Having hit upon a number of great sources (which I am thinking would make for a fun post here unto itself) and with some aida cloth and embroidery floss that I picked up a few years back, I now have a couple of fun new WIPs (works in progress) on the go.

I have also been binge-watching the cross stitchery side of YouTube as of late, where many who post about this passion tag their videos with the charming word “Flosstube”.

Doing so allows others with an interest in the subject to search for this term and be greeted with more video choices than there are colours in DMC’s current colour palette.

In time, as I have hopefully completed more projects, I plan to share some of them here with you – especially since I know that there are plenty of fellow cross stitchers amongst this blog’s readership.

In other news, this Friday was my little brother’s birthday (though as he is currently living outside of the country, it is not possible to celebrate it in person with him). A mere sixteen days from now, my own (GF) cake day will return.

Yep, we are both Cancers. Though being fairly close to on the cusp, I feel that he actually embodies a lot of Gemini characteristics.

Then, twenty-six days beyond that point, my sweet hubby will get to blow out his own set of candles.

The three of us are pretty much the only summer birthdays in our immediate family, which is a lovely point to share in common.

Fun, related fact: Hand on my heart, I was conceived on Halloween 1983.

Really, is it any wonder then that I would grow up to live a life where I #MakeHalloween365 and celebrate my most beloved (and spiritually significant) point on the calendar the whole year through?

And speaking of All Hallows’ Eve, from the day after my birthday onward, I gear up for spooky season all the more. Pretty much viewing July 11^th to October 30^th as one long, fabulously exciting countdown to the BIG DAY!

Which reminds me, with everything that has been going on in our lives and in the world at large so far in 2022, I have scarcely had a moment to sit down and ponder my Halloween costume for this year. Will I bust out a past fave again or opt for something new?

That is a question that I will hit upon an answer for in the next few months, as I prefer to have my Halloween ensemble planned out well in advance.

If you dress up for October 31^st, how early in the year do you tend to start thinking about your costume choice?

Alrighty, as few things in the universe make me as happy as Halloween season, this seems like a good place to wrap up discussing some of what’s been going down in my/our life lately.

Now, let’s hop with both feet forward into a fun mixed bag of various online stories that caught my eye, inspired me, or otherwise stood out over the past few months.

–Embroidery Artist “Paints” Lush Landscapes Using Only a Needle and Thread: Prepare to pick your jaw up off the ground when you gaze upon these stunning works of embroidery art created by the immensely talented Jade Deanna.

–Five Organization Tricks for Highly Sensitive People: Being an HSP myself, posts that relate to this topic are ones I tend to lap up with gusto. As well as often nodding along in agreement as my eyes scan from one paragraph to the next.

That was certainly the case for me when I read this Apartment Therapy piece absolute some great ways HSPs can successfully organize their homes.

–How Stanley Tucci’s Big Night Helped Kick off an American Dining Revolution: No doubt like many other people, I can clearly remember a lot of the more “grown-up” movies that my parents allowed us to watch when I was little.

For me, at the age of 12 – 13, one of those was The Big Night.

Though life (aka, my health) took my future in a different direction, growing up I was deadest on becoming a professional chef with their own restaurant(s).

As such, the plot of this now-classic film from 1996 imprinted itself in my memory all the more and The Big Night still remains one of my favourite movies twenty-six years after it was released.

This look at how The Big Night impacted something far broader – the modern food revolution – is an engaging piece that has a lot of merit to the premise it puts forth and which is apt to resonate with foodies, chefs, and fans of both contemporary dining and modern cookery TV shows alike.

–19 Ways to Get a Little Self-Care Outside: This post is a wonderful look at a plethora of different ways many of us can experience/engage in realistic self-care in the great outdoors. In addition, it is a lovely reminder to all of us that few places are more peaceful, soothing, or enjoyable than when we are in the arms of Mother Nature.

–Six Different Types of Stones Used for Graves: This one is for all my fellow taphophiles, history lovers, and family genealogists out there – as well as anyone else who may be keen to learn more about a handful of materials that were used to construct headstones throughout the centuries.

–10 Famous Authors and Their Favourite Libations: This charming post takes a gander at the favourite tipples of ten world-famous authors (from Maya Angelou to Oscar Wild) and may very well have you reaching for your own personal fave by the time you’ve finished reading it.

–13 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying Anything For Your Wardrobe: Living in a small house with laughably little in the way of closet space, I try to be very mindful of what I buy as I know wardrobe real esteem is at a premium.

Though I do not follow the “one item in, one item out” approach religiously, it does come into play sometimes – as do a number of the points in this handy post that is a must-read, IMO, for fashion fans with closets of all sizes.

The Promise of Brighter Days Ahead

It has long been said that hope springs eternal. One need only look at the course of human history to see the truth in that statement.

Many of us have an ingrained sense of hope that runs so deep it might as well be part of our DNA.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that we are pie-in-sky optimists, wildly pollyannaish, or naïve. Rather, that we hold tight to the possibility that the majority of difficult/stressful/even seemingly dire circumstances we encounter will prove to be ones that can ultimately be overcome or able to be well managed.

Hope has long made me think of sunrises. Just as our good friend Sol comes barrelling back into our lives each morning, so too does hope have an incredible ability to reappear time and time again.

It is a form of comfort, resilience, and self-preservation. We need hope and, in order to exist, hope itself in turn needs us.

Hope has been out in full force all the more across many of our lives in recent years. Between the pandemic, numerous serious global conflicts, the soaring cost of living (which inflation has failed – in much of the world at least – to keep pace with for decades now), a wide array of natural disasters, and plenty more, if hope was a tradeable commodity, it would be the hottest stock on the market.

I love hope. It has genuinely saved my life on more than one occasion and is something I steadfastly hold tight to in the face of just about any situation. Worst case, it doesn’t help. Best case it does and in the process, hope makes getting through dark, difficult times a little less challenging.

Spring and summer are seasons that lend themselves all the more to hope and the ability to look at the glass (of lemonade) as being half full.

In the sun-bathed months, it is sometimes a touch easier to deal with our worries and troubles, anxieties and stresses. Now always, and not for everyone, of course. But for some of us, that is the case and no doubt plays into why we are particularly fond of the balmy side of the calendar.

I adore each season and lean into the perks of all four. While at the same time, continually growing and learning as a person thanks to the challenges inherent to every one of them as well.

Summer’s return unto itself is rarely enough to set every wrong right. Thankfully though, it can help to lift our spirits and provide us with wonderful new memories, languid days of relaxation, and, I find at least, scads of nostalgia.

Both literally and figuratively, summer comes with the promise of brighter days ahead.

Rare is the summer my mood is not lifted at least part of the time and even the most difficult summers of my life have been peppered with fantastic experiences that I look back on with great fondness.

It is anyone’s guess as to what the state of the world or of their own lives will look like when, in roughly three months’ time, the summer edition of this post will appear here.

Hope tells me that at least a few things may be better. Or baring that, not considerably worse off than they presently are.

And in the process, it enthusiastically reminds me that we are a mere three months away from the return of pumpkin season!

No matter what the coming sizzling hot weeks may throw at us, that fact alone is darn near enough to keep a perpetual jack-o-lantern-worthy smile on my face all summer long.

At the same time though, I will try to savour the present season and appreciate the blessings and challenges alike that it holds in store for us.

From the bottom of my heart, sweet friends, I wish each of you a tremendously safe, happy, wellness-filled summer that is illuminated as much by hope as it is by sunshine.

Which of the links above caught your eye the most? What are some elements of summer (or winter in the Southern Hemisphere) that you are most looking forward to experiencing?

The post Spring 2022 Edition of Magick, Crafty Makes, and Me (Also, is Bloglovin’ Dead? – Please Read!) appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.