At what age did you discover your love of Halloween?

I have loved Halloween my whole life.

What is your fondest Halloween memory?

I guess my childhood days would be my best Halloweens. Back in the seventies most the kids wore paper masks, but my Mom would make us elaborate costumes from old gowns and dresses she wore to wedding parties or other special events. She would ask us in September what do you want to be this year?

We would go to Linville orchards in the fall. They had hayrides, and candied apples and we would get the red kind not the caramel. In the shop she would buy some dried flowers in autumn colors to make lovely bouquets for the table. She would decorate the whole house for Halloween inside and out.

On Halloween night my sister and me would go out trick or treating and my Mom would say “I just saw a witch flying on her broom into the wood behind our house”. She made you believe it the way she said it and I would get excited. After trick or treating we would come in to a beautifully decorated table. She would buy Hallmark printed cups plates and tablecloth and add her own creations. She always had orange soda to look like Halloween; Back then purple was not a Halloween color. She always had her homemade Devil’s food cake with buttercream frosting and decorated it with some sort of Halloween theme using food dyes and her Wilton pastry bag.

We lived on a little dead end street with all seniors and woods behind and my Mom would complain no kids ever come trick or treating With us being the only ones with lights on and decorations the kids avoided our tiny dead end street. So one year we heard the doorbell ring and it was my Dad all dressed in black with a paper bag on his head and a trick or treat bag laughing. I remember Mom talking about witches and ghosts and making up stories to entertain us.

This year will be the first year I will not Have my Mom to celebrate with. She passed this year; but I think on Halloween night I will look up at the sky and imagine I see that witch on the broom and remember my mom who always made the day so much fun.

When did you start creating in your medium and what training have you had?

I been crafting my whole life and we really go through a long dry season without any fun holidays I never got excited about the Fourth of July, so I find myself thinking about Halloween all year and by crafting and creating Halloween things year round It keeps my magical time of the year alive year round.