• Fairy Tales and Costumes

    A few years ago, there was a missed opportunity for me to dress up my daughter as Red Riding Hood and my son as the wolf (a lumberjack-type werewolf to be exact) for Halloween, but my son had his heart set on being a different character, so I put the idea on the back burner. This year for Halloween the idea came back into my mind: I wanted to have a Little Red Riding Hood group to go out trick or treating. It would be fun. I tried asking my kids if they wanted to do the idea with me, but they are still young to understand the fun of being in a costume group. They have their own ideas and I love their imaginations and want them to dress-up as anything they wish. Alas, the Red Riding Hood group would have to wait. 
     
    Who Am I kidding? As much as I love to write I also love to create characters, and costuming is another one of my creative outlets. If my son and daughter wouldn’t be part of the fairy tale group I would make one with my husband (the woodcutter/ lumberjack), myself (Red Riding Hood), and my dog (the big bad wolf). This group will happen!
     
    Fairy Tales have been apart of my childhood and probably lit the fire for my love of stories and, at the very least, kept me in the dreams and wonder of where the fairy tales could take me. As a child, the fairy tales told to me or read by me were often the lighter versions of their darker counterpart, but as I grew older I began to explore the origins of these stories and, my goodness, were these ever creepy and sometimes down right disturbing. (Halloween and fairy tales seem to be a great fit, am I right?) 
     
    Despite the ‘grim’ stories (pun intended) there are gold nuggets among the pages. Many authors in the past decade have searched these fairy tales and put their own twist to these stories of old and have come out with amazing retold stories of their own. Red Riding Hood has been told and re-told time and time again, each with small changes that make it slightly different than the last. Some re-told Riding Hood stories have been changed so much that they are hardly recognizable. Two things remains the same. The person with the red hood and a depiction of a wolf. 
     
    Any hint of the essence of fairy tales being told in a story, consider my interest piqued.
     
    Tell me, what are your favourite fairy tales of old or new?
     
    Until next time, keep creating.
     
    Inkblade Writer.
    http://Photo credit: chiaralily via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC
  • Don’t Forget To Take Time For Yourself

    Hello again! These next few blog posts will be short and sweet. October will soon be upon us and it’s always a busy time of year for me. I make costumes quite often so naturally, October becomes costume making month as I like to make my kids, husband, and myself costumes for Halloween. I will soon be up to my elbows in fabric, boxes, paint, and tape. There will be princesses and creepers of plenty… 🙂

    As important as it is to write all the time it’s just as important to take time for yourself and for your family and friends. So, peel your way from your laptop or notebook. Go outside. Bake something. Drink tea (always drink tea) and say hello to your friends and family. They’ll love you for it.
    Also, read! Reading is very important to writing. Words are magic. Mmm… magical words. Oh goodness, I love October. I could go on forever chatting about magic. So, in the spirit of magic and October what are your favorite books to read that include the element of magic?

    Hopefully you can share some great magical stories with your friends and family.

    Happy costume and magic month!
    Keep creating.
    Inkblade.

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