Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Meet Mrs McTartan...The Scary Scottish Witch

Hi folks...crikey it's hard to believe it's October already, the month when we kiss goodbye to Summer (still waiting for it to arrive here if I'm honest), the month that heralds the beginning of Autumn, when the leaves change colour and fall from the trees, the month when the clocks change and it's pitch dark when I hop out of bed, the month that's associated with Halloween.
Halloween has never been a big thing in the UK although it is becoming more popular and the supermarkets are starting to fill up with pumpkins in all shapes and sizes. Back in the day, many many spooky moons ago, instead of Trick or Treat, it was called Penny For The Guy when all the neighbourhood kids would dress up and go guising or in other words, knocking on doors and begging for treats or money to buy fireworks in anticipation of Bonfire Night on 5th November, when we made a Guy Fawkes figure and burned him on the bonfire for his dastardly attempt to blow up Parliament. And I'm sure that none of us had ever heard of such a thing as a pumpkin, our lanterns were hollowed out from neeps (or turnips if you're not from my neck of the woods), sourced illegally from a local farmer's field and I have happy memories of evenings spent at the kitchen table with my Dad armed with spoons and a knife to create the eyes, nose and mouth with lots of scary looking teeth, a hollow for the candle to sit in (in this day and age Health and Safety would have a field day with that one), threading string to carry it and replacing the top to make a lid. And not so fond memories of the smell which lingered in the kitchen for weeks.
So after that little stroll down Memory Lane, I'm sharing a Halloween card with a "just for fun" Scottish twist featuring Tim Holtz/Sizzix Witchcraft Thinlits and a gorgeous plaid paper from the new Christmas Paper Stash...time for you to meet Mrs McTartan the Scary Scottish Witch and McTavish her equally scary cat.
this card was inspired by my obsession/addiction...call it what you will...with this gorgeous Plaid Design Tape in Tim's new Idea-ology Christmas collection making the perfect Scottish Tartan border...
with more than a sprinkling of the glittery stuff...
and when you're already covered from head to toe in Black Soot Distress Glitter you just have to embrace it and run with it so I'll be back tomorrow with slightly different Tim Holtz/Sizzix Thinlits Halloween cards with a Glittery Scottish Twist.
In the meantime those falling Autummn leaves are making our morning doggy strolls a rather slippery affair for this two-legged human so it's time to bring my faithful old wellies in from their hibernation in the garage but before I dip my toes in...I will be checking, double checking and checking again just to make sure that no scary spiders have decided to take up residence for the winter within.
Toodle-oo for now
Hugs Kath xxx