How are you doing as the 2^nd month of the year gets underway?

Plenty of things have been hopping around this end – starting with the launch of my YouTube channel a few days ago.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everyone who has subscribed, commented and liked my content there already. You guys are seriously the best!

My foray into the world of YouTube content creation isn’t the only new thing happening around these parts at the moment. No siree, Bob!

In this post I’m going to be talking about what Valoween Day is, plus share a darky romantic Valoween card and shaker wand set that I recently made.

First, however, let me share some of what’s been transpring lately on my end.

I’ve got a new photography set up!

As those of you who have been with my blog for any length of time have likely heard me lament, the lighting situation – coupled with using a cell phone to take my photos – at our house is far from ideal. Especially at night, which is when I usually end up photographing my craft projects.

As of late, I’ve been fortunate to be able to obtain some new photography equipment. I now have a Canon Rebel digital camera (it is actually the very same make and model of digital camera that I shot with for a while before the fire, so it’s extra special for me to connect with a familiar friend again), a 50-millimetre Canon lens, a lightbox, and two small desktop style LED lights to use when photographing my projects.

This setup works awesomely for cards, tags and smaller projects. The 50-millimetre lens + lightbox isn’t quite as ideal for layouts and larger projects, but hopefully I can make things work there, too – even if it means shooting my scrapbook pages outside of the lightbox.

So while I’ve got a bit of refamiliarizing myself to do with shooting DSLR, figuring out the best specs for this photography set up and so forth, starting from today’s post onward I plan to take most, if not all, of my craft project photos using my Canon Rebel from here on out.

To say that I am one seriously happy camper would be the understatement of the century!

The project share photos in today’s post are the first I’ve taken with this new setup. What do you think of them?

(I should note, in the right lighting conditions, modern iPhones take incredible photos and am not anti-iPhone photography in the slightest. Goodness, no! I shot a ton of different images all year through with my iPhone and doubt that will change anytime soon.)

A more streamlined approach to my project share posts

Next on the list of things I want to discuss in this post is that, after months of careful deliberation, I’ve decided to streamline my project posts a bit. (Okay, maybe baring this one , as I’m covering multiple topics in it, not merely highlighting a project.)

Much of what I have been sharing with my project posts over the past 13 months – including multiple photos of each project – will remain the same.

However, I want to be able to share as much as possible with all of you, be it here, on Instagram, and now on YouTube.

As such, if I can streamline the process on any of those fronts a bit more and help the whole of my collective productivity online out along the way, I’m all for it.

I hope that you’ll enjoy this approach as well and would love to get your feedback on it in the comments below.

(Note: If you like the paper crafting tips and ideas I’ve included thus far in my project share posts, watch for future ones in blog posts and YouTube videos devoted to roundups/lists focused on such, as well as still sprinkled here and there in some of my project share posts.)

What is Valoween?

Valoween is a fantastic amalgamation of Halloween and Valentine’s Day.

It sees a darker, spookier, gothy-er aesthetic that involves many of Halloween’s most beloved icons, subjects, and colours woven into the classic themes of love, romance, and passion that call February 14^th home.

My research has yet to uncover just who precisely invented Valoween or who, for that matter, named it.

Perhaps it is one of those concepts that came amount rather organically from a slew of different sources all combining to make one marvelous end result.

So while an exact origin story may be shrouded in mystery, Valoween – which is also sometimes also spelled as Valloween – has been discussed online for several years now (one of the earliest mentions of it I’ve found to date is in this 2009 post from the blog Taffy Talk).  

Some people even go so far as to called Valoween a second Halloween.

As someone who is a firm believer in living a #Halloween365 life, I’m all for this concept.

In truth though, Valoween isn’t exactly a second Halloween. I doubt many (if any) folks are trick-or-treating for it, Valoween falls in February not October, and there are plenty of other differences, too.

That said, it wholeheartedly embraces the spirit of Halloween and melds it with Valentine’s Day, a concept that I am behind one million percent.

Valoween is very much in the same vein as darker/spookier/Halloween related takes on other holidays and seasons, such as Springoween, Summerween, and Creepmas.

I plan to make Valoween a regular annual fixture on this blog, as it could not be more up my dark and spooky, Halloween + gothic loving alley.

Here are some fa-boo-lous links to fellow goth and Halloween related blogs that have posted about Valoween (or Valoween appropriate) topics over the years:

–A Bewitching Guide to Halloween

–All Hallows’ Geek

–Halloween Head

–Me and Annabel Lee

–My House is Cuter Than Yours

–Shivers of Delight

–Spooky Little Halloween

–The Dahlia Crypt

–The Spooky Vegan

–The Witch at One and Seventy

Valoween reminds us that there are multiple ways to look at, decorate for, and embrace various holidays.

For those whose hearts reside with Halloween the whole year through, it is a means by which to welcome a hefty dose of our beloved October 31^st into the middle of February.

And, in doing so, Valoween helps to make the wait until fall returns a bit more bearable. Not to mention eerily enjoyable!

Dark and romantic Valoween card and shaker wand set

With the Yule and Christmas decorations now packed away for another year, my mind started to shift to Valentine’s Day.

Or, as I now choose to primarily celebrate it, Valoween Day.

Naturally, paper crafting related thoughts soon followed.

I awoke one morning not too long ago with the idea to base a project (or in this case, two) on the concept of that most classic of marriage vows “To (or ’til) death do us part”.

The wording of which is chocked full of inspiration for Valoween and anytime you wish to take romance in a darker, more macabre, Halloween, or even horror-related direction.

Naturally, this led to thoughts of my all-time favourite fictional couple, Morticia and Gomez Addams.

While Morticia and Gomez didn’t appear directly on either of these creations, the spirit of their eternal love (not to mention their beguiling aesthetic) was a guiding factor in the creation of this darkly charming shaker wand and matching card set.

I began by making the shaker wand. To do so, I backed two layers of glittery red cardstock – which I die cut with a decorative edge nesting circle die set from Spellbinders – together.

This was topped with ruffled black ribbon trim, a layer of grey striped patterned paper, a handmade cupcake rosette made from a Halloween cupcake liner, some wonderful black eyelash trim, a hanging vine covered heart die cut from the same red glitter cardstock, three cute bats die cut from black cardstock, and the eye-catching black coffin shaker element.

To make the coffin, I die cut the shape a few times from thin chipboard (saved from some product packaging) and topped it with the same coffin shape cut from glossy black Tonic Studio cardstock.

I lined the coffin with the same striped grey and black paper, as well as the (skull image) center of the Halloween cupcake liner that I used for the rosette.

Into the shaker, I put a mix of bat-shaped and round sequins, small clear plastic gems, die cut red glitter hearts, and small red pearlized heart embellishments.

For the stick part of my shaker wand, I used a white and black striped paper straw (which can often be found at dollar stores, party stores, home goods stores, eBay, Etsy, AliExpress, and various other online suppliers).

For the finishing touches, I die cut the word love from white cardstock that I topped with pearly white Nuvo Drops, and added some delightful whisps of black eyelash trim, sheer black ribbon, and narrow red ribbon.

And voila, my Valoween shaker wand was complete.

For the card, I used many of the same supplies. In this case, I started with a dusty red cardstock base, utilizing the same grey striped patterned paper, red glitter cardstock, plain black cardstock, glossy black cardstock, black ruffle trim, black eyelash trim, sheer black ribbon, and red heart embellishments, as well as the coffin die.

The latter was used to cut out two coffins (one from glossy black cardstock, the other from plain black cardstock), which I topped with a black and creamy-white coloured skull and cross bones cameo flatback cabochon.

As well, I included some grey and white heart print paper, Graphic 45 paper, a set of heart border dies (from Alina Crafts on AliExpress), an elegant journaling card from Creative Imaginations, vintage style white trim, and a classic black-on-clear sentiment stickers (brand unknown).

I love how the sentiment – complete with an infinity symbol – on this card taps directly into my jumping off theme of ‘til death do us part.

I’m a huge fan of shaker wands and love to create them. This is the first one I’ve made and shared here on my blog. I highly doubt it will be the last!

These items are both going off to the same friend. She is a die-hard year-round Halloween lover like myself, so I hope that she’ll enjoy this gothy Valoween duet.

And if you’d like to get a more interactive view of this Valoween set, I’ve created a YouTube project share video of it.

Products used to make this handmade Valoween card and shaker wand set

-Black cardstock

-White cardstock

-Red glitter cardstock – Darice

-Dusty red coloured cardstock – Craft Smith

-Glossy black cardstock – Glossy Black Mirror Cardstock from Tonic Studios

-Thin chipboard

-Black and white heart print paper – Maggie Holmes Carousel Carried Away paper from Crate Paper

-Valentine’s Day text strip paper – Mon Amour Collection One and Only paper from Graphic 45

-Two-toned grey striped paper

-Clear acetate or other thin translucent plastic to use for the shaker window element of the wand

-Scalloped edge nesting die set – Nestabilities Picot Edge Circles from Spellbinders

-Nested heart boarder die set – Alina Crafts on AliExpress

-Bat dies

-Foliage heart die

-Coffin die

-Love (word) die or individual letter dies that can spell the world love

-Elegant cream and black journaling piece – Narratives by Karen Russel Journaling Frames from Creative Imaginations

-Black text on clear background sentiment sticker (you could also use a rub-on, stamp an image on velum, emboss a stamped image, or handwrite a sentiment of your choice for the card)

-Halloween skull and spider print paper baking cup (cupcake liner) – Dollarama

-Sequins, including bat shaped sequins (picked up 2 – 3 years ago on AliExpress)

-Tiny red pearl style flat back embellishments

-Black and white/cream plastic skull and cross bones cameo flatback cabochon

-Tiny clear plastic gems (used in shaker mix)

-White enamel drops – Ivory Seashell Crystal Drops from Nuvo

-Sheer black ribbon

-Black eyelash (tinsel) trim

-Skinny red ribbon

-Black and white striped paper straw

-Glue gun and glue sticks

-Dimensional foam, pop dots, or similar to elevate some of your layers

-Adhesive, such as a tape runner, of your choice (I often use my Scotch Tape Glider)

Whether you celebrate Valoween, Valentine’s Day, both, neither, or something else entirely…

This February, I hope that you both feel loved and have many things and/or people in your life to love dearly.

The state of global affairs is anything but perfect these days. Life is harder than forged steel for many of us still and there is no shortage of things to get us down.

Holidays and special occasions – even if they differ from how we may have traditionally observed them – are, to my mind, more important than ever.

They are powerful reminders of happier times, of the importance of traditions, and of how we humans have the ability to select certain dates from the calendar and make them into events that are not just special, but often greater than the sum of their parts.

We need holidays and special occasions. And however we opt to celebrate them, the concepts behind such times are familiar threads that link us both to generations past and to our present-day fellow human beings the world over.

I’ve got a very cool witchery related post planned for Valentine’s Day this year, so be sure to stay tuned for that a bit later in the month.

Thank you all for joining me in my joy about the new starts and positives that are transpiring in my life right now. I truly hope that others will continue to follow as 2021 unfolds, both for myself and for each of you as well.

Much always!

The post Dark and Romantic Valoween Shaker Wand and Card Set (Plus a New Photo Setup at Long Last!) appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

Be it Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Cleopatra and Marc Antony, Romeo and Juliet, Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe, King Arthur and Guinevere, or Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, many famous fictional couples have become household names.

And it is not uncommon for future characters to be built upon existing literary or mythological figures. For example, the couples in The Flintstones were heavily influenced by the 1950s Honeymooners sitcom.

I’m a dyed-in-the-wool romantic and have a great fondness for a lot of different fictional couples. None, however, hold quite as big or deeply rooted a spot in my heart as that devoted to Morticia and Gomez Addams.

They are #relionshipgoals. They are #lifegoals.

They are the last word on the perfect romantic couple in my books.

How the Addams Family started

Morticia A. Addams (née Frump) and Gomez Addams, along with many of their now-familiar relatives, were spun to life by American cartoonist Charles Samuel Addams for The New Yorker magazine back in the 1930s.

Fascinatingly, when these characters first appeared in The New Yorker, they were nameless and remained as such until the 1964 television series debuted.

At that time, Charles Addams himself gave the characters their monikers, selecting the homemade name of Morticia for the matriarch of the Addams clan.

It is a riff on the word mortician (as well as “mortis”, Latin for “death”), which tied into the themes of darkness and death that have always permeated this most spectacularly spooky of families.

Yet, for the Addams Family, every day was akin to All Hallows’ Eve and far from being aware that their look deviated from the norm, they frequently saw others as being the odd ones out.

They eschewed sunny days, flowers with blooms on their stems, and contemporary dinner table fare, amongst many other things.

For the family’s father, Charles Addams suggested either Repelli or Gomez, leaving the final choice up to the actor John Astin, who would portray the Addams Family dad in the sixties series. As you likely know, Mr. Astin selected the name of Gomez – and the rest, as they say, is history.

Though familiar to readers of The New Yorker from the late 1930s to the early sixties (they made their magazine debut in either 1937 or ‘38, depending on your source), by and large, the Addams Family were unknown to the general public prior to their TV debut in 1964.

It’s safe to say that from the very get-go, the entire family stood out.

With an exception made for The Munsters, there was nothing else quite like the Addams Family to be found on television at the time.

Back then, few people had even begun to conceptualize something akin to a goth lifestyle – let alone were yet living in a way that paid such homage to all things spooky, macabre and mysterious at any point in the year other than perhaps Halloween.

Each member of the Addams Family, including those who resided in the Addams’ home at 0001 Cemetery Lane (later changed to 1313 Cemetary Lane), such as Uncle Fester, Grandmama, the Addams’ children, Pugsley and Wednesday (with the addition in the 1993 Addams Family Values movie of baby Pubert); Thing, and the family butler, Lurch, had their own distinct style and personality.

They were quirky and fun, engaging and entertaining. And their near cavalier regard for how anyone else saw, thought or spoke about them appealed to me wildly as a child. It still does to this day.

Yet, it was the relationship between Morticia and Gomez Addams in particular that stuck with me most powerfully.

They were, and are, the perfect husband and wife couple as far as I’m concerned.

How the Morticia and Gomez Addams taught me what a happy, healthy, loving marriage could be

To say that my biological parents had an unhappy and highly dysfunctional relationship would be a serious understatement.

I didn’t grow up with the proverbial loving (towards one another) parents as they were portrayed on TV shows and movies of my generation. My home life didn’t resemble that of the Keatons, the Huxtables, the Taylors, or even the Connors.

Though, as a child, I could appreciate (and at times, powerfully yearn for) it, I did not know that sort of cheerful sunshine-and-roses stability firsthand and had few other couples in my family to look to as positive role models in this regard.

Instead, I found that I gravitated most towards the Addams as the pillar of what a strong, committed, supportive and incredibly loving relationship (and family home life) could be and look like.

Morticia and Gomez shared a rock-solid, blissful, healthy marriage that was fostered by both togetherness and individuality.

The element of their uniqueness, their ability to disregard how they were perceived by others and to find joy in being who they really were spoke to me in a way that nothing in the fictional world ever had before – or has since, for that matter.

Gomez and Morticia Addams love each other. Not a little. Not just when it suits them. Not to get what they want out of the other person or anything of that nature, but because they are really and truly, head-over-heels, magnificently and completely in love.

Though they have the occasional tiff (as all couples do), at the end of the day, you know, you just know, that Morticia will always have Gomez’s back and that he has hers every bit as much.

They were a united front, a power couple before the term was even mainstream, a joy to watch, and a pair that any of us, no matter our personal histories with romance, can take some serious inspiration from.

Morticia and Gomez don’t just love one another, they make a point to work on their relationship.

They shower each other with compliments and praise, they support the other person’s interests, they nurture and care for one another, and they can’t fathom existing without their darling partner in this life or the next.

They would go to the ends of the earth for their beloved, they share fabulous sweet talk and pet names, they delight in the awesomeness that is their love and the fact that they found one another, they’re terrific parents to their children, and they melt like young lovers day after day – no matter how long they’ve been married for.

Plus, they have a rockin’ love life, they’re kind and accepting not only to/of each other and their relatives, but of pretty much everybody who crosses their path, and their picture could easily appear in the dictionary alongside the word “passion”.

It’s safe to say that Morticia and Gomez Addams have a love that will last until the end of time.

Celebrating true love in the spirit of the Addams Family

Today is my and Tony’s wedding anniversary.

On this day sixteen years ago, in a very small, very simple civil ceremony that was held at my mother’s house, the two of us tied the knot.

We were young, we were in love (our marriage took place just seven months after we first met), and we knew that much like Gomez and Morticia, we wanted to spend every last one of our days together. 

It brings me great happiness to say that we’ve been doing just that for over a decade and a half now.

We might not live in a rambling old Victorian mansion (oh, how I dearly wish that we did!) or have a pet lion, and all our relatives look like your average human.

Yet, humbly, I like to think that we have the sort of relationship that would make Morticia and Gomez Addams proud.

We started out with almost nothing to our names and began from scratch again following the arson house fire we experienced precisely four years and one day ago.

We have weathered immense storms, lived on two continents, gone through the complex Canadian immigration process (for Italian born Tony), battled countless health issues (mostly mine, but also a few of my dear husband’s), and have grown from near-teenagers with our own respective difficult pasts to fully-formed adults together.

Tony and I are unconventional for a host of different reasons (e.g., we met online at a time when such was much less common than it is now, we grew up in different cultures, we do not have children, I’m a Pagan witch and he’s a staunch atheist, etc), and at the end of the day, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Blending in with the rank and file is neither of our jams.

My husband isn’t just my best friend, he’s my rock and my guiding my star. I love him with a fire the heat of which would make molten lava feel like ice.

I would defend him against anyone or anything, and I respect, honour, cherish and adore him something fierce.

I support his dreams and goals, know his quirks inside and out, make him laugh and smile, comfort him, cheer him on, and still get goosebumps sometimes just looking at him.

And I am truly blessed that he feels the same way about me as well.

We do not take our relationship for granted. We work at it, we nourish and tend to it, and we put in the leg work – all of which pays off for us in spades.

Today we celebrate another year together, our hearts full of intense felicity about this fact.

Like Gomez and Morticia, we’re not your average couple and we delight in this fact – which we both believe has only helped to strengthen our bond and bring us even closer to one another.

I am very grateful for my husband, as he is for me – and perhaps to no one’s surprise, if you’ve read this far, we both adore and look up to the Addams.

They have a love to last the ages, and on this day we toast not only our own committed relationship but theirs as well.

Join me then, won’t you, in raising a glass – or an antique goblet with cobwebs wrapped around its stem – to Morticia and Gomez Addams.

Morticia and Gomez are one of the most inspiringly incredible fictional couples of all time. They have given pop culture, society as a whole, and especially those people who do not see themselves as being like most others a great deal.

And for that, and so much more, they have my unflapping adoration.

The post An ode to my favourite fictional couple of all time: Morticia and Gomez Addams (on my and Tony’s wedding anniversary) appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.