So you may (or maybe not) have noticed that no cards came out last week from my Halloween Series.  It wasn’t because I gave up on the series, or I love my love for Halloween suddenly.  It wasn’t because I wasn’t actually creating.  In fact, I made all three cards I had planned for the week.

But I struggled to get here…I struggled to get onto the computer and write up the posts.  And the reason is simple….October is a really hard month for me.

I know here I don’t normally go into too much personal information here and simply share some fun cards and simple art pieces I have created.  I try to keep my family and my art separate.  However, for this one post and this one instance, I am going to share a little without going into too much detail (and share my Halloween cards that I failed to post this week).

I think this happens to a lot of people, especially in around the end of the year(or the beginning of the next) and the holidays.  People get blue.  People get sad.  People have some trouble finding motivation to do the things they normally do.  A sessional depression that doesn’t need medicine (persa) but needs support from at least loved ones if not medical professionals.

That is the end of October for me.  It happens every year, and has for some time.  And surprisingly, it catches me off guard and surprises me (if you can believe), and this is what happened last week for me.  I won’t really go into specifics on why this happens, but the long and short of it is from the death of a friend, a severe personal violation (#metoo), a loss of a pregnancy, and a child who got ill all happened in the month of October towards the end.  No they didn’t all happen in the same year, or same season of my life…they just all happened.  And while I have (mostly) dealt with all of the events, they still haunt me in the month of October right along with the ghouls and ghost parading around with the season.

So why do I write this today… in all honesty to let someone else know that if they suffer from this seasonal sadness (or depression), to let them know that they are not alone.

You are Not Alone.

Talk to someone, tell a friend, tell a spouse, tell a doctor.  Acknowledge the sadness.  And if the person you tell disregards your feelings, tell someone else.  Your feelings are real, and you are allowed to feel them.

For me, when I recognize why I feel the way I do, tell someone, and talk openly about it, the sadness lifts a little and everything gets a little easier.  It doesn’t really pass for me totally till the month ends, but it does get easier.

And most importantly, I always remind myself, I am not alone.  This doesn’t just happen to me.  It happens to people everywhere for all kinds of reasons (and frankly for no reason at all).  Just don’t suffer alone.

And for a complete change of subject, some stilly little Halloween cards… and while they may seem inconsequential compared to what I just said, this is how I help get through the sad times.  I am not really going to comment on the cards…I think I have already said enough, but I will share the pictures so maybe you can find a little halloween happiness too.

Halloween Card 14 using CC Designs rubber stamp image and CDD sentiment.
Colored with Brusho and Zig clean clear real brush markers

Halloween Card 15 using (I think but it is so old I didn’t save the name of it) a Recollections stamp set.I colored this with my copic markers and die cut it with a Craftin Desert Divas Die.

Halloween Card 16 using some Art Impression Stamps.Colored with Zig Clean Clear Real Brushes, die cut with a Craftin Desert Divas die and a matted with black card stock die cut with a Honey Bee Designs die.  Embellished with CDD sequins and Nuvo crystal drops.

And finally if you find this post upsetting because you come here just to see cute cards, don’t worry, I am not changing how my post work…I just had some words, and thought for one day…today, I would share them.