More favourite things: adhesives

I love a good adhesive. A bond that is strong and dependable. It's dorky, I know, but I'm fairly particular about my glues. Here are my two faves at the mo'...

Aleene's Tacky Glue
As far as white glue goes this is my fave. Elmers is a running sopping mess compared to Aleene's. The trick is to get a nice thin smooth coat that will dry in no time at all. My only complaint is that it dries to a gloss finish. If this stuff came in a matte version, with the same consistency and bonding, well I don't think that I'd ever convert to anything else.

2 Coat Rubber Cement
This is some of my most favourite stuff on the planet. It really is the best for bonding paper together. Imagine sticking two bits of paper together with no wrinkles, and not having the sticky after effects of spray adhesive (what nasty effin' stuff that is!) I've encountered a bit of confusion about the use of this most fantastic gelatinous goo so here is a wee run down on how to use the messy stuff.

I'm just going to glue these two pieces of paper together. Easy peasy.



When you unscrew the lid you will very likely find a brush built into the lid. The cement itself is s goopy, gross and smells... but it's pretty neat stuff. If you've got a small area to fill use the built in brush and paint the entire area to be glued. Make sure you go all the way to the edge for a perfect bond.



Now cover the area that you going to attach the first paper to. If the area that you are covering is rather large, pour some of the rubber cement in the middle of the area you are working in and then use an old plastic card to spread it around in a thin layer. If your cement is getting too gummy you might want to thin it out with some rubber cement thinner. Thinning gives it a much better viscosity when working with large areas to be covered. For a perfect seal go beyond the area that you need to so your edges don't stick out.



When the two sides are almost dry, carefully put them together. A good idea is to sort of line up one edge then 'roll' the rest of the page down to avoid trapping air. If it's not exactly where you want it, you can unstick it and try again! If you wait until it is completely dry, repositioning becomes much more difficult. When you have it where you want it, smooth out the paper to remove any air pockets.



Leave your project for a while until it is completely dry. Take your finger (or a rubber cement eraser) and rub the areas where the rubber cement went 'out of the lines'. You will find that it will ball up and rub right off! Pretty neat eh? Best of all you have a pretty perfect bond and very little after mess.



The downside? The stuff is super flammable so don't even think of juggling torches while using it and it may stain some papers... check a small area first to see if it leaves a trace.

Ouija Street

Finally I can show something off! Weee!

A while ago I bought a Ouija board for about $1. Sweet deal! I knew it would make something cool... but what? Long story short, I was on round three of the Chunky House Swap on craftster.org and inspiration struck! I'll make a whole Ouija village! And so 13 lovely little cottages were born from one abandoned Ouija board.





Ouija boards are funny things. Some people are totally freaked out by them, others think they are total bunk and in between there are all manner of opinions.

When making the houses I wondered if chopping it up sucked all the mystique and power from it. Does breaking it up destroy it? Perhaps what I was really doing was making comfortable homes for spirits to visit. Or maybe they are just bits of cardboard, shaped into houses, and decorated with whimsy.

Whatever the case I really sort of love them and hope they all end up with nice families :)

See more Ouija Street photos here...
Shop for a Ouija Street home at my etsy shop...

My Favourite Arty Tools

Since I still can't really show anything off at the mo I thought that it may be interesting to share some of my favourite, most useful, artsy/crafty tools.


I suppose the most useful thing of all is my fingers/hand. I know it's rather obvious but I just use my hands so much.

While my right hand may do most of the painting my left hand acts as my trusty pallet. You can always tell when I've been painting because my left hand and arm are covered in paint. I never did like using a proper pallet. For some reason I find that I can leave just the right amount of paint on my brush when I use my arm, my paint is the perfect consistency, and my pallet is never out of reach.

My fingers smudge glue into place. I am so damned impatient when it comes to glue. It kills me to wait for the stuff to dry and there have been many times when I have looked up to find that something has slid out of place because of my impatience. I have found that if I put a tiny dab where I need it and then use my finger to make a smooth thin layer, things are dry in no time at all!

My fingers also smudge paint and pencil. Sometimes there is no tool as precise as your finger. It will go exactly where you want it to and apply as much pressure as you demand. Sometimes that extra brush or tool just gets in the way.

For smudging, picking, measuring, deciphering angles, scratching, holding and drawing my hands and fingers really are my greatest artist tools.

My Day Job

I still can't share my latest crafty ventures but I'm really happy with what I did at work this week so I'll share that instead.

Our paper did a sort of tribute to Kurt Cobain this week, the 15 anniversary of his death. Christ, has it really been 15 years!?! Anywho, here's my tribute to the grungy rocker...



Kurt is cut out of different photos and assembled and scanned. The background, same deal, paper cut, assembled and scanned. I'm pretty chuffed with him :)

Bargain Hunting

I've been working on a number of things but all of them for swaps so I can't show anything off at the mo'. What I can show you is my most favourite recent purchase...

I picked up this well loved record album for 50 cents at a local "Re-use Centre".



The cover looks a bit beaten but it's actually in really good condition.




I'm not entirely sure what I'll do with it yet. I do love all the hand written titles and notes throughout as well as the hole left for reading the album titles. It's a really wonderful object.

Another recent buy was this player piano roll. I spent a whopping $5 on this. That's a pretty penny as far as my spending habits go.



What I was most interested in was the box, which has been worn down in the most lovely way, and the title "Mother" which I'm certain I can work with. I'm pretty sure that I can use the player paper for something crafty... though I would feel the worst pang of guilt for cutting

Anatomical Lighthouses

This isn't witchy or crafty but it's kinda funny so I'm posting it :)

We went to visit my family in Ottawa last week for March break. My uncle was on a business trip when we arrived but came home on the second night we were there. My uncle calls to my son "Hey, look, I've brought you a souvenir." and hands my kiddo a box of gummy lighthouse candies.



I open the box to dole out some sweet goodness and discover that the candies don't exactly look like lighthouses. They are kind of a lighthousey shape, but they are soft and bending over to the side slightly. There also isn't a lot of detail to distract from the fact that they are shaped, very similarly, to a certain body part.



I can't begin to tell you how awkward I felt handing these out to the wee kiddies. The grown ladies had a pretty good giggle about them though.

hunk-o-plastic to colourful shrine in just 2 years

I bought this gaudy mess a couple of years ago. I had big plans. I was going to make it gorgeous. I cleaned it up. Then it sat on a shelf for two years waiting to made into something.

A few weeks ago a challenge was put forward to make a shrine on the Misc. Topics board on craftster.org Aha! The perfect push to transform that plastic hunk. And so after a few late nights I'd like to show off my Stash Bustin' Family Shrine.



I really love it. It's got old and new bits. Photos from the 'death/funeral' cards of long dead relatives. Little bits of goodness and colour :)

One down... four luchadors to go.

I've finally finished (kind of) D's wrestling painting! Woo hoo Rey Mysterio! It's 12" square. I've also got 4 smaller luchadors on the go but they still need a little lovin'



I missed the birthday deadline but that's alright because I'm going to put together a 'swap' package for him. He's terribly jealous of the packages that arrive for his dad and I so I'll make a box of wrestling goodness for him. If I can finish it next week it'll be a great diversion for the long car ride up to Ottawa.

In other news, D had a great birthday. How 6 little children can make so much noise I'll never know. It was a long day and the kids were troopers. The clocks moved ahead, birthday party madness and then a hockey game... that's a lot to ask of a group of 5/6 year olds.



Oh, and BTW those pom poms WERE blue! It was just the crappy lighting in my house that made them look purple. Woo hoo!

Stupidity and splendor

First I'll tell you the dumb thing I did.

I went to the $store to get some stuff for D's birthday party and saw some blue and silver pom poms. I thought to myself "That would be a fun thing to stick in the goodie bags! The boys can shake them around and cheer for the team... they're even a team colour." I bought them, I took them home, took them out of the bag. All is right with the world. Then I caught a glimpse of them the other day... a glimpse of purple. They aren't blue! They're purple! I yell at P "Do these look purple?" He says "Yeah. I was wondering why you were buying them." WHAT! Why didn't you say something? "I thought you knew what you were doing."

Bastard.

On a much nicer note I've made some lovely dishcloths. I'm terrible at knitting and crochet and completely envious of everyone who can make lovely yarn creations. One of my newest most favourite things are handmade dishcloths. I've gotten a couple in swaps and adore them. I figured that a square might be just the thing for me to attempt and apparently it is! They aren't fancy but I'm terribly proud of my little lovelies.



Here posing with my cottony dishcloth goodness is a small brooch I picked up at an antique shop last week. I asked how much and hoed and hummed and the lady halfed the price! I can never pass up a bargain so I swiped it up. I love the little stitchy thing.



Lastly, I got an email the other day from esty.com telling me that one of my shadow boxes was chosen for a little sort of competition they have for St. Patrick's Day. Sure enough, there's my King of Luck shadow box!

If you're interested in checking it out and casting a vote for your favourite item you can follow this link...
http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?ref=voter&room_id=34

How cool is that?

You can be better than you are...

I bought this clock a few months ago. It was dated, tired and only $2.99 from a local thrift store. I knew that it would make something wonderful but I was still tossing ideas around in my wee head.

One day I logged into craftster and saw that the crafty challenge for March was to craft a favourite song. Eureka! I knew exactly what I was going to do to my poor old clock.




And so, I've taken that poor old clock and turned it into an ode to one of my favourite songs, Swingin' on a Star.




"You can be better than you are,
You could be swingin' on a star"

I'll do my best to take some 'glamour shots' in the sunlight tomorrow and hopefully post it before the deadline :)

I'm feeling inspired so why am I sitting at my desk?

Last night I convinced the mister that I needed to go to the craft shop for some decent glue. He looked at me sideways then agreed to drive me over. Paul took D into the electronics shop and I was able to wander all by myself. I thought that it was a bit odd that Paul and D didn't come and drag me out but apparently that was because they couldn't find me! Ha! I was very likely hiding behind the glitter :)

One bit of kinda/sorta bad news ... D found my luchador paintings. They were placed well above his head because I wanted to surprise him with one for his birthday. I'm terrible at secrets so it really shouldn't have shocked me when he came into the room and said accusingly "Mummy, what are those luchador paintings doing in there?" *sigh* I suppose I should add a 51 to my things to do... find a better hiding place.

Anyway, here is the 'tiny thing' I made from my 50 things to do list.



I feel like I totally should not be sitting at my desk pretending to work. I should be at home, on this rainy, dreary day, making lovely little things and playing with my crafty purchases.

The Birthday Bonanza

Our wee fella is turning 6 next Sunday. (6? Wasn't he just 2 three weeks ago?) We've known for quite a while that we were going with a hockey theme because I managed to swipe a bunch of tickets for the game on his birthday. Yesterday it dawned me that I hadn't done the invites! Wracking my brain it finally struck me... Hockey Card invites!



They are actual hockey card size and printed on a card stock. D loves them... I kinda do too :)

Now for the rest of the planning.

An update on "50 things to do"

So, I've actually managed to make a bit of a dent in my "50 things to do" list!

Here's an update...


# 3. Luchador Series
I've got a good start on 5 paintings. I have to finish at least one before March 8th because it's D's favourite masked wrestler and that's his Bday!:)


# 4. Fairy Godmother Book
Is done and was put in the post this morning! It took quite a while to finish but I think it was worth it.

#5. Clock
I bought an old clock a couple of months ago and had a round about idea what I wanted to do with it. The perfect push came when I read the craftster challenge for March... craft a favourite song. I'm probably 70% done!


#6. Knit something for D
This was my first crafted project of 2009... I did it on New Years Eve and finished in the wee hours of the morning, A skull beanie


#8. Knit a sweater
I knit a sweater. It's ugly and doesn't fit quite right but it's a sweater and I knit it. Job done.


#11. 'Gypsy' Quilt Block for charity
Done and sent!


#12. Finish Shrunken Heads
One head is still waiting for it's hair but the other is totally finished.

#30. Try to cook something new once a week (okay, maybe once a month)
We've been doing pretty well at this. Almost every Sunday a we (okay, the mister) have made a big batch of soup to heat up during the week.

#42. Make something teeny weeny
I made a wee fairy tin.

#46. Crochet something other than a grannie square
I'm about 80% through a shrug that weighs about 5 pounds.

I'm pretty pleased with the amount I've managed so far! Let's just hope that the momentum keeps up!

What I'm up to and other stuff...

I've been working long and hard on a swap item for fellow craftster Rackycoo. It's been a labour of love and I'm well chuffed with the results. Take a gander here! I think it's pretty spiffy.

I've also been working hard to use my craft area rather than letting my crafting take over the entire house. I've cleaned up my space a bit and taken a few photos...









I've got loads of projects that need to be finished. It's not that I don't want to finish them, it's finding the time to do it. The other issue is that current projects and future projects have so much appeal to them. Hopefully I can muster some the lost momentum of those past projects and get them done. My plan is to keep the items in plain view so that I can't forget about them any longer. Let's see how that works out...

A wee bit of exciting news to share too. Peanutbutterpie profiled little old me on her blog! How cool is that? Here is the lovely entry (on her lovely blog). ALSO the fantastic superhooker asked me if I would like to be a featured artist in the Misc. Topics section of craftster.org. Are you kidding me?! I gave a big fat 'yes'! You can see the 'interview' here.

A to do list....

I'm not a big fan of New Year's Eve, and I don't go in for resolutions, however I decided that it might be fun to draft a list of things I'd like to do this year. Most of the things on my list are crafty things I'd like to do, and some are unfinished projects.

1. Paint portrait of hubby's grannie
2. Portrait of Dawn French
3. Luchador Series *started on 5 paintings!
4. Fairy Godmother Book *back stories started
5. Clock
6. Knit something for D *Done! Skull Beanie
7. Knit something for P
8. Knit a sweater *only one sleeve left!
9. Finish Alex's Quilt
10. Portrait of Blackadder
11. 'Gypsy' Quilt Block for charity *done and sent!
12. Finish Shrunken Heads
13. Ferret Painting for Nathan
14. Magnificent Halloween Window
15. Do something with the zillion glass xmas balls that are in my stash
16. Create a coven of witches
17. Create a "Sin Eater"
18. Start a Grimoire from the stampbook
19. Knit a Dr. Who scarf
20. Finish fairy box series
21. Create side-show themed something
22. Finish the black shrine on the go
23. Create a large shrine for the House
24. Make pineapple-upsidedown cake
25. Luchador costume for D
26. Make skirts from stash
27. Make outfit suitable for fancy attire
28. Make fabulous brooch and accessories for fancy dress items above
29. Make D's Halloween costume
30. Try to cook something new once a week (okay, maybe once a month)
31. Create a giant collage of D's drawings and school work
32. Make t's for Paul
33. Tree Man Box
34. Create 'memory boxes'
35. Photo's for hallway
36. Finish painting walls/ceiling that are sitting half done
37. Create an experiment with colour
38. Finish oil paintings (ug!)
39. Make book of D's photos
40. Make Fruitcake for x-mas
41. Make something spectacularly Halloweeny
42. Make something teeny weeny
43. Finish Christmas snowmen
44. Make Michelle's recipe box *box bought, now on to the making
45. Paint a bigger painting
46. Crochet something other than a grannie square
47. Make a family cookbook
48. Make some monsters
49. "Last Supper" pillow
50. Fondue!

I really want to bust my stash of crafty supplies this year. I want to see just how much stuff I can make. How far can I push myself? I have loads of things that I've picked up from second hand shops and I really need to do something with all of it. It will be exciting to see just what can be done in a year.

Yule is on the way!!!!!!!!

I'm really, really, really excited about Yule and Christmas this year. I can't wait for more snow and for that real wintry feeling. It has snowed here but now I'm greedy and want more! I love the white stuff... just enough to have fun in, not enough to leave me waist deep in a snowbank.

Last year most of our gifts were hand made and it was great to give prezzies that were so well received but it took A LOT of time and effort. This year I'm scaling back and concentrating on the two other Knickertwists. It's so hard to reign it all in but when the wee fella says what he is most looking forward to is our feast... well, I know where to put my efforts.

I'm hoping to start a few new traditions this year including
- not lighting the Christmas tree until winter solstice to represent the coming of the light
- leaving gifts (bird seed/twine balls) for the nature spirits on winter solstice... I have an idea and I'll post it if it happens to turn out.

What I'm really hoping for is nice, cozy and happy. I think those are pretty good hopes.

It's 1am and I'm afraid to go to sleep.

I've been having nightmares lately. Over the past couple of weeks I've had some doozies where I wake up, quite literally, scared stiff and don't really want to go back to sleep. Being the total sleep hog that I am, I do manage to drift back off.

Tonight, I'm not looking forward to what awaits me when I close my eyes.

Earlier today I had heard a number of accounts of a body laying in one of the main intersections downtown. I thought that it was a terrible thing but really didn't give it too much thought. That is, until someone gave me an account of the gory details. Apparently someone she knows saw the accident first hand and she felt compelled to share. I really didn't need to hear it.

I love movie violence. I adore Hollywood blood and gore. I root for the zombies. The more disgusting the better as far as visual effects go, is what I say. Real violence and gore... not so much. Christ, if I were a witness to anything like that, I'd need therapy for life.

I'm not exactly the most sympathetic person you'll ever meet. After people relay a sad story to me I've often been told that I'm heartless or mean. I think that people misinterpret my reactions as cold when they are really just logical. After all, most of those sad stories could have a completely different ending if someone had just applied common sense at some point.

Despite what others may think, I'm not totally indifferent to the affairs of others. This accident has really gotten to me. What about the poor driver who hit the girl? The victim? Her family? Her friends? The people passing on the street? The police who had to work the scene? There must be hundreds of people affected by this. I was nowhere near the place, don't know a single person involved, and yet I still do not want to go to sleep for fear of having a dream about the damned thing.

So, I've been trying to keep myself busy tonight by making things, but glue needs to set and paint needs to dry and I must go to bed at some point because there's a meeting tomorrow and loads of work to be done. If only it weren't so hard for me to clear my mind. Perhaps I'll try focusing on something pleasant instead. Pumpkins. Lovely, pumpkins. Fingers crossed I'll only dream of lovely orange pumpkins with Jack-o-lantern grins.

It's that time again...

The harvest is upon us which means that the Mr is away. I haven't seen a whisker in two days :( He's gone before I wake up and gets home after my tired ass has fallen asleep putting the wee fella to bed. Although it's very nice to say 'I'm a graphic designer and my husband is a winemaker' the truth of the matter is that at this time of year it's not a very nice reality.

In other, not so depressing news, I've been making my fingers to the bone. Here are a few of my newly made things...



I'd really love to get some items up for sale but I despise pricing things and I seem to make things best when I'm making for someone in particular. *sigh* One of these days, very soon, I'll put a few things up for sale. The Mr is getting right annoyed at the amount of things just sitting about.

Perhaps I'll be more inspired to do some selling after visiting the crafty Thanksgiving fair in Vineland this weekend. I love seeing other peoples loverly things :)

Packing in the oils...

I'm restless.

Another creative spurt has struck and I have no idea what to do with myself. I'm sitting at work at the mo' thinking what I can possibly splash across the blank canvas that is waiting for me at home.

I've sketched up another faerie portrait which I rather like far more than the last... somehow pencils have made themselves comfortable in my hand :) I haven't really pencil sketched in ages so it's a nice change of pace. Creating with pencils is lovely. All that smudging and erasing... oooohhhhh.



Perhaps it's the sort of lack of 'hands on' that it frustrating me with oils. I really thought that I'd love them. I don't. Oils are messy, and not in that fun way that other mediums are. Ick.

Just to ensure that I didn't lose my arsty painterly touch I picked up my old friends the acrylics and did a portrait of Dexter bowling. He's not totally done (I'm always bloody saying that) but here he is a detail of his face so far...
I'm fairly chuffed :)

I'd rather be at home

We've just had a lovely long weekend together. Playing and doing loads of nice things as a family makes going back to work very hard. There is so much more I'd rather be doing than sitting at my desk. When I'm not swamped at my 'day job' it does give me some time to become inspired by all of the wonderful stuff other people are doing. Here is a really swell link full of inspiration that I've stumbled across today... Elemental Craft Blog

I seem to be quite sleepy lately and have let my creative midnight habits go by the wayside this past week or so, falling asleep with my wee one rather than keeping myself awake doing any sort of making. That said I've got a few things on the go and there are a number of ideas floating around in my head.

While I wait in frustration for my oil paintings to dry I've started making a few faerie portraits. I've based them on some old photographs that I bought off ebay a while ago. Here is the first done in watercolour and pencil crayon.

Next on my list is a rather large shrine... fingers crossed that I can find the perfect base for my mad creation :)

Church Camp for our Little Pagan

We've sent D, the littlest Knickertwist, to a church day camp this week. Why would we set a little pagan among a sea of Christian children? My good friend, and the mom of D's bestest buddy, asked if D could attend a day camp offered by the church she teaches Sunday school at. I have to admit I had some reservations (and so did Mr. K) but it's turned out quite well.

Under the theme "Rain Forest Adventure" the kids learn about the rain forest, the animals that live there, and yes, some Christian teachings. While the songs and bible passages aren't exactly up my alley, the messages are the same as what we already teach him. To share, to be kind, and to be thankful to god... or in our case, gods. This isn't Fundamentalism, or an aggressive ploy to 'save' my child. It's a demonstration that to most people, what is really important, is being a decent human being who cares about the world and people around them.

This experience has been pretty positive for us. D's beliefs have not changed, he had fun, made some new friends and even learned some new things. I could do without the christian kids music cd he brought home, but if that's my biggest issue, it's one I can deal with. Most enlightening was that D's beliefs have been more thoroughly challenged in his every day life than they have been at church camp. I'll take that as a big wake-up call. The best thing that has come out of this is our confidence that D is strong in his beliefs, and that being a good person is really the most important thing of all.

I really should be working...

It was my first day back at work today after a week spent camping and otherwise funning it up with the family. I was stuck in the office until 8pm and I have loads and loads of work that I need to be doing but somehow can't bring myself to do. *sigh*

What I would rather be doing is painting, making and updating our site.

I have to admit that we've let the Knickertwist site slide for quite a while but I think that it's really done us (ok, me) a world of good. I've been focusing on creating stuff purely for the love of it and to push my abilities and creative process. I've managed to create quite a bit in the past months and I'm really happy with the progress that I've made. If it wasn't for the break I don't think that I'd be nearly as happy with the revamped site.

Our reinvented site is far closer to who we really are and our vision. I'm hoping to steal some time and add a slew of fresh new content... but I want it good and proper... something we can be proud of... so I won't rush it :)

What's with the breeding negativity?

This morning I checked my email, and looked through a few posts on a message board I subscribe to. I realized rather quickly why I seldom bother to look at them any longer.

When I look at my sagging bookshelf there are a number of titles from Llewellyn. Some are good. Some not so good. I think that this is pretty common with any publisher. Why has Llewellyn become such a sore point for many pagans? I see it all the time "Just don't buy anything from Llewellyn". Why not? Raymond Buckland, Scott Cunningham, and Raven Grimassi, all big pagan names, all have titles published under Llewellyn. I'm certain that most publishers put out a fair number of titles that aren't exactly brilliant.

"They are just out to make money" is another quote I often see. So what? Isn't the point of running a business to turn a profit? I suppose I just wonder what is so wrong with making money and how you survive without it. I don't think that anyone pointing and making this accusation is managing to live without money. I'd wager that most have a job to make money themselves.

It's not just Llewellyn. It's this author, or that book, or path, or group... If you don't like something that's fine. Shout it from the rooftops! Just make certain it's your opinion and you have valid reasons for it. Let's not perpetuate negativity just because it's easier than finding something positive to say. Maybe someone could say "I'm not fussy on that book but a great title you might want to read is ... " Isn't that more productive?

The reason this really gets to me is that I've met loads of people who have had an interest in paganism and witchcraft only to be completely put off by the snobbish load of rubbish that members of their 'pagan community' have handed them. If someone finds their path through a pink book about love spells who cares? They have taken their first steps... isn't that what's important?

But wait... apparently this isn't good enough for some. Some people actually believe that to be a witch you must be special. You must be chosen! Sorry, but I think that's bunk. If your interest has been piqued then the goddess may have nudged you in the direction of the occult/new age section of the book store for a reason... If someone is making an effort why belittle them?

Being a witch is not about being special. Being a witch is not about joining a coven, it's not about reading and memorizing 300 books on Wicca. Being a witch (for me anyway) is about striving for balance in every aspect of my life. It's about using spell craft to become an active participant in my life. It's about continually learning and applying that knowledge I have gained. It's about connecting with the gods and goddess' that touch my life. It's about being as true to myself as I can possibly be.

I'll let you in on a little secret... you do not need validation from others to confirm what you already know to be true. Follow your path and do it proudly.

WTF?

I don't usually jump on to the protest bandwagon. In fact if I am asked to sign a petition, or send a letter, 90% of the time I decline. The truth is that often these types of things, while stemming from good intentions, get befuddled in misinformation or miscommunication. A quick look into most 'causes' will show that there is a big difference between what is being protested and what is actually going on. So when I read about Miss Toronto Tourism slighting someone for being a witch I rolled my eyes and thought "Oh, not another one." Unfortunately, it seems that indeed we have a case of discrimination on our hands.

Here's the jist... Reigning Miss Canada Plus was asked to act as a judge for the Miss Tourism Toronto pageant. When the officials read her bio and saw that she listed reiki and tarot cards on her hobbies list they un-invited her witchy ass!

The Toronto Star article quotes Karen Murray, Miss Toronto Tourism pageant director...

"Our board of directors has eliminated her as a judge as tarot card reading and reiki are the occult and is not acceptable by God, Jews, Muslims or Christians. Tarot card reading is witchcraft and is used by witches, spiritists and mediums to consult the dark world."

The letter went on to quote a couple of passages from the Bible, including one from the book of Leviticus that warns, "Do not turn to mediums or seek out spirits for you will be defiled by them."

"We hope that Stephanie Conover will turn from these belief systems and will repent from her practice of them," the letter reads.

When did we all jump in a time machine?

Here's a couple of little snippets taken directly from the Miss Toronto Tourism website...

"Miss Toronto Tourism and The Runner Ups are chosen for their interest in charities, intelligence, persomality (sic), love of Toronto and goodwill towards others. Miss Toronto Tourism is chosen for her charisma, personality and inner beauty."

and

"Miss Toronto Tourism 2007 is represented by our present title holder, Jessica Barone who helps promote different Events and Charities in the City of Toronto. Miss Multicultural promotes Multiculturalism, as Toronto is the City of all cultures."

Me thinks that these people don't quite understand that Wicca is an religion and that witchcraft has it's place in many cultures. I wonder if they know what reiki is? The whole thing is all sorts of sad.

Anywho, here's links if you are interested...

Miss Toronto Tourism
An article from the Torontoist
The Star article

Boy Scouts

We've been thinking a lot about having the little one enrolled in Boy Scouts. It's a real conundrum.

There's the whole 'gay scout troop leader' thing from a few years back. The Knickertwist's have a few gay friends and we just don't get all the hubbub. What does it matter what people do in their own bedrooms so long as no one is getting hurt? I care about what my gay friends do sexually as much as my straight friends... very little. One thing I do care about is the treatment of all of those that I call "friend". Should we just forget that incident or should we remain wary of an organization that showed intolerance?

Then there is the oath...
"On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight."
On the scouting site it says that a scout should respect the beliefs of others but I'm still a bit leery about the 'duty to God' and 'morally straight' bits. What about the Goddess'? and using the term "Gods" instead of God? and what do they mean by 'morally straight'? Whose morals? Perhaps I'm making a bigger deal out of this than is necessary but we care about our beliefs and in no way want the wee one to feel that what we believe is wrong or bad. We also don't want to compromise and perhaps confuse the kiddo. We want him to be as proud of his path as we are.

That said, the scouts promote being a good person, kindness and healthy living.

Any fellow pagans with kids in this organization out there? I'd consider Spiral Scouts but I don't think that there is a circle near us.

Happy New Year

I've been away for a wee bit so here is a recap of my holidays... Christmas was great, new year's was dull and I've been sick for three weeks.

I hate being sick. I know what I need is rest and sleep and to stay away from the healthy people in my life but lets face it, I can't very well take three weeks off. Dishes need to be done. Laundry laundered. Life goes on even if I don't feel up to participating in it for the time being.

I took a bath today using one of my tub teabags and I have to say that I felt like a million bucks afterwards. I was so achy and didn't want to move a muscle when I hopped in but when I got out I actually managed to hobble downstairs to make Mr K's bday cake for tomorrow. I'm still feeling ok and hope that my drugs kick in and I manage to sleep well and get off to work tomorrow.

Because I've been a bit icky and sickly I did what always cheers me up (and keeps me still for a few hours).... tossed in a DVD. My most favouritest things at the mo' are Corner Gas and Little Britain. The humour on Corner Gas is so sweet and nice and it makes me laugh out loud every time I watch it. Little Britain is sketch comedy by a pair of British lads. It's a bit crude, and shocking at times but it's oh so funny. I swear I'm madly in love with David Walliams... how can I resist a tall drink of water that can make me snort with laughter. All I want to do is walk around saying "but I'm a lay-dee" even if it doesn't have the same effect because... well... I am in fact a lady.

I have no idea where this blog entry is headed. I think that my drugs have taken effect and I've gone a bit loopy between the neocitron and the brandy. Perhaps I should be off to bed.