Witchie Crafts

Make A Besom
Materials:
1-Four foot dowl or stick (1 inch in diameter)
Ball of twine
Scissors
Straw, twigs, or herbs for the bristles

Take the straw, and allow it to soak overnight in warm, lightly salted water. (the water softens the straws to make them pliable, and the salt soaks out former energies)
When you are ready to make your besom, remove the straws from the water and allow them to dry a bit, but not to much that they lose the suppleness you will need to tur then into your besom.
Find a work areawhere you can lay out the lenth of your dowl, and begin lining the straws along the sides of the dowl.
Starting about three inches from the bottom, lay the straws, moving backwards, along the length of the dowl.
Begin binding these to the dowl with twine.
You will need to tie them very securely.
You can add as many layers of straw as you wish, depending on how full you would like your besom to be.
When the straw is secured, bend the top straws down over the twin ties.
When they are all gently pulled over, tie off the stwas again a few inches below the orginal tie.
Leave the besom overnight to allow the straw to dry.

The dowl part of the besom can be stained, painted, or decorated with pagan symbols, your craft name, or any other embellishments you choose. decdicate your finished besom in your circle as you would any other ritul tool.

Make Your Own Book Of Shadows

Materials:
3-Ring Binder(1/2'-5' your choice)
1/2 yard of material
Tacky Glue
Scissors
Decorations such as ribbon,stones, and charms,ect..

Take the binder and center it on the material for fit. Take one end of the material glue and tuck it under the metal binder spine. Measure the opposite end of the material, then cutand do the same under the other end of the binder spine.(NOTE: You may wish to spot glue he material to the inner and outer sides to keep materail in place.However if you get a good and tight glue ad tuck under the binder spine spot glue is not necessary)
Cut the material that is extended from the top and the bottom of the binder to 1/2'-3/4' from the ends.
On the corners, cut a slit on the material so you can fold and glue each half individually around the binder and tuck the ends.(This is sort of like wrapping)
Glue nd tuck any "corner-ears" thay may formed, and flatten nicely. Let the binder dry 3-4 hous, then decorate to our desire.(note use ribbion to cover any seams you may have)
Now the hard part, decide what information you want to include in your BOS

Samhain Tree
By:Barbara From All Witches Magic

There as so many different things you do for a samhain tree. Start by decorating your tree with little effigies of witches and black cats. If you can't locate any ornaments like these, purchase Halloween greetings cards with different covers. Cut out the pictures and fasten them to poster board for stability. Cut a small hole in the top and hang them from different brancheswith black nad orange ribbon. Maost craft and dime stores now sell "Halloween" lights. Insted of ribbions, beads, or garland, drape you tree in fake spider webs. Cover the entire tree. Remember, the more you strech the webs out, the more realistic it looks. Attach little plastic spiders into the web. The little tissue ghosts you made as a child look fabulous on a Samhain tree.Gather two white tissue per ghosts. Lay the first tissue out flate. Roll the second into a tight ball and place in the center of the first tissue. Gently squeeze the first tissue around the ball in the center. Tie off with a thin black ribbon. With a felt tip pen, draw a little face on your ghost. Hang them from the branches. For an iteresting and unique Samhian tree topper, purchase a costume witches hat. Simply set it over the top of the tree.