šŸ‚ Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE - Magick for the Season

Challenge Entry

Last night i wrote out the starts to my book of Beltane. I got most of the correspondances and ways to celebrate in. So now its a matter of figuring out what i want to do for the challenge. Im working extra day this week and its all in a row whuch with extra day lasy week too ( my time off n recovery feels like its being undone in two weeks of morecwork than normal but im hanhing in there)ā€¦ but it means ill need to try get it done today if im going to do anything. Im sore and exhausted already and just glad i dont need to leave the house today at all. But lots to do. Im thinking maybe as been really getting into my divination and self reflection i might look through the Beltane spreads ive pinned on pinterest. Maybe look at what crystals i wrote in my book of beltane and carry or maybe do meditation with crystals. Or maybe update altar space. Maybe look at inner temple and see what can do there.

Its weird cause at work we are looking at halloween coming up abd making decorarions for that but we are in Beltane season cause in southern hemisphereā€¦ but i know in my head its cause opposite ends of wheel cause south and north hemispheres.

I know when wrote how to celebrate beltane there were a few ideas i liked liked planting seedsor go for nature walk or picnic. I was thinkung maybe kings park for picnic n nature walk but id have to go after challenge is done. But the seeds, i can do. N maybe replant my sunflower plant. Ive done others and they are growing so well. I cant wait till flowers show. Im excited. Maybe since theyve been ones to grow the best i could plant some more sunflower seeds. I love idea of sunflower garden even uf they are all individual recycled tin jar things. My other plants are going ok too but i might need a bigger bed to replant them in to put them in if replant. They are in glass jars as planted them in cotton balls to begun with.

Lol i feel like because halloween is celebrated accross the world at this time of year im almost celebrating samhain at work through halloween stuff ( which we have been makibg crafts and exploring songs and the theme) and beltane at homeā€‹:joy::joy::joy:. No im not confused at all. Lol wgen we did black cats i was meowing like cat but then one of kids said no your a dog. I was like oh i must be having an identity crisis then. Lol then they said i was a butterfly and then some other animal i cant remember the last oneā€¦ but tgen i joked that oh i must be really confused then cause im not sure what animal i am. Lol i can do realistic animals especially my dog bark ( which i joke i often think i must of been a dog in previous life but i do wonder )ā€¦ thats why they said i was a dog, its a nicknane i have and i joke i will habe it written on my tombtone. Which im ok with, i like my nickname. Lol but yeah i digress. Tommorow i rhink i had planned for making bats for halloween display. One person had suggested witches (:grin:wasnt even me) maybe can make some little brooms and witches hats. And read Room of the broom. Thats a good story. Ill have to look at what else to doā€¦ we have done ghosts, pumpkins, black cats and spiders. Ill just need two other things to do. . Ooh skeletons. Hmm ill have to think bout the last one. I cant really talk about the veil being thinner at this time as they are too young for that. Cauldronā€¦ witches cauldron. Ive been using finch app and they had a cauldron. Lol in a way i am able to celebrate both sabbats onevat home and one at work but with work in my head its samhain connection but outward be halloween because it needs to be ok for kids. And i cant openly practice outside home. I have one person a best friend who knows and my psych but its not safe to tell ppl outside of the comnunity and coven/family here. And while i know in southern hemisphere its not tecnically samhain its beltane, i also acknowledge that in the land of my ancestors who are from tge north hemisphere its is samhain. Which is one thing that the research on celebrating beltane said, one was to show respect to ancestors or sonething along those lines. I havent done much ancestor work yet, i dont know where to start and i worry if any of them dont approve of my path or practice would they come afyer me?? But i can at least show respect for tge land they come from in acknowledging both sabbats from where i live and where ancestors cone from such as Icelandic i think its called. The place around where norse lived, but i know i get some of tge place names mixed upā€¦ its like norway and the place which starts with i lol but i cant think if the name right now , and uk. I also saw i had at least one anvestor from north america. But mostly england and scotland, little german but also around the place i cant think of its norway and i ā€¦
Anyways lots of ideasā€¦ maybe a way to tie both sabbats in for this challenge is to show respect and acknoeledhe land of ancestors(way to celebrate beltane) by tie in samhain (that which northern hemisphere are celebrating) with my Beltane celebrations. Even if around sabbat mainly focus on sabvat of land live in, i can still show respect for and acknowledge the land of ancestors for this timw of year. Ill have a think n post when ive figure it out lol my heads got so many ideas at the moment :joy::joy::joy:

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CHALLENGE ENTRY

When I was little, during the Samhain season, my mother used to do what now as an adult witch I know itā€™s a protection spell sachet for my sister and I.

First, she lit a white candle, lit an incense stick and passed it over our heads, hands, arms, legs and feet. Then, she picked a seed, (I dont know the name in english, in Spanish we call it ā€œOjo de Bueyā€ or Evil eye), a whole nutmeg, three bay leaves and an obsidian, she put those ingredients in a black sachet, she closed it with tree knots and she sung:

ā€œCon el ojo de buey, la negatividad no vereis,
con el laurel, protegidas estareis.
Con la nuez moscada, la buena suerte sera mi aliada
y la obsidiana a los malos espiritus espantaā€

In english has no ryme, but its something like this:

ā€œWith the porthole, you will not see negativity,
With the bay leave, you will be protected.
With nutmeg, good luck will be my ally
and obsidian frightens evil spiritsā€

After that, we had to sleep three days with the sachet under the pillow (October 30th, 31th and November 1st) and we kept that sachet in our left pocket when we had any exam or when I felt scared.

Now, Iā€™m still do this spell every October 30. :heart:

I hope this entry counts as as appropriate challenge entry. It brings me some childhood memories and now I cant stop smiling!

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This is an ā€œojo de bueyā€ or Evil Eye

EDIT: Another thing I just realized reading the recipe in my BOS is that I always use rue inciense sticks instead of sage for the cleansingā€¦ I think I may change that and start using sage!!

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Challenge Entry

Before I get into my entry, I wanted to let everyone know that for ease of finding the Challenge Entries within the conversations, all I have done is made the words saying Challenge Entry larger & bold. If you would like to be able to do this yourself, all you have to do is type ## then a space & then the words. :smiling_face: So if you see an edit from me thatā€™s what I did to make it larger & bold.

Like this:
Screenshot 2022-10-23 061828

Anywho, so itā€™s definitely the Autumn Season :leaves: hereā€¦ I think :thinking: Mother Nature has settled on it being Autumn :fallen_leaf: now :laughing:

We have large oak trees :deciduous_tree: & because of the weather patterns changing here, my husband went & was puttering while I was doing somethingā€¦ I collected fallen leaves :fallen_leaf: & acorns. Then we cleaned the patio & reset my Pentacle chandelier by the firepit (Iā€™m not sure what else to call it). Then we had our first fire :fire: in quite some time due to drought conditions previously. Both of us worked together to keep the coals hot & burning so we just kept adding to the fire as it would get down to smoldering.

However, Iā€™m me :grin: :mage: so because we hadnā€™t used the pit in a while & I know that I will be out there for Samhain (once the trick or treating ends for the night :face_with_hand_over_mouth: ) I unraveled a cleansing bundle of cedar, juniper, & rose petals. Then I separated the leaves & such to sprinkle over the smoldering coals just enough so they were burning but able to smoke & cleanse that fire pit out before I start using it for anything to do with Samhain :skull_and_crossbones:

Since we have some, frisky :face_with_monocle: and brave squirrels :chipmunk: (honestly I think they each have a slingshot & are just firing acorns towards the house & over it :flushed:) They are like shot at the roof & cars :laughing: So I cleaned some of them up (while dodging the ones coming up & over or across) :rofl: & I have about a handful of complete ones for my work with The Morrigan on Samhain.

We continued to kind of clean up the yard & get it ready for the upcoming seasons & changes. New England weather on the coast is a good time, wait 15 minutes, and it will change :joy:

I havenā€™t gotten it all put together the way I would like because itā€™s been nothing short of a rollercoaster :roller_coaster: for a good couple of weeksā€¦ that being said, I did receive my Connecting with the Morrigan box from @SilverBear that I am absolutely in love :heart: with & I canā€™t wait to do that ritual :heart_eyes: & I have the items with my other Morrigan things but plan on using them for Samhain on the table in front of my fire pit with my chandelier lit using tealights. Iā€™m also going to make sure that on a section of the table is a setting for my loved ones that I have lost to connect with them using my copper & quartz pendulum & large mat that has letters, numbers, runes :othalan:, yes, no, maybe, rephrase, hello :wave: & goodbye. (Itā€™s the size of an altar cloth, black with white writing & the only time I use it is on Samhain :grin:)

Itā€™s also a part of Scorpio :scorpius: season & my Sun :sun: sign is Scorpio so I plan on using items that connect with the Morrigan :raven: & Scorpio Season on Samhain :ghost: ā€¦ all 3 :triquetra: of them go right along with each other nicely. The only thing that will be excluded this year is Shadow Work, so instead I am going to do some regular journaling :fountain_pen: about how far Iā€™ve come in the last 4 or so weeks & anything that seems to stick out from my ritual & connecting with my ancestors & loved ones this year :blush:

Iā€™ve been pretty busy looking around my area for things that kind of say:

  • ā€œHey, itā€™s Autumn on the Cape!ā€

Things like:

  • Driving the road into Woods Hole & watching the different colored leaves float to the ground, going through the old bridge surrounded by the trees & foliage of the area before the coastline. Iā€™ll be honest one of my daughter & Iā€™s favorite things is driving or walking & there are leaves slowly drifting to the ground in different shades of yellow, green, red, brown, orangeā€¦ itā€™s so pretty to watch & relaxing/calming. I will drift off :thought_balloon: somewhere peaceful :woman_in_lotus_position: watching it happen if we are watching from our backyard Like watching the snow drift to the ground or blow around before itā€™s been touched & is a perfect white blanket on the ground & trees & plants. When we would go to NH in the mountains :mountain: the foliage is just gorgeous & covered bridges or walking through or up a mountain :walking_woman: or looking over the landscape :sunrise_over_mountains:ā€¦ I canā€™t even express in words how gorgeous it is to see & watch the changes for this time of year.
  • Collecting acorns & leaves :leaves: from the yard
  • Fires & hanging out with my friends & family by it. Sometimes that leads to helping them when they donā€™t necessarily know that is what you are doing. :hugs:

If you made it this far! Thank you! :hugs: It is much appreciated! If I can grab some pictures today when itā€™s not so early in the AM, I definitely will add them to the post. Yesterday afternoon & then during the night I kind of unplugged & just connected one of my playlists to the speaker & put my phone :iphone: on ā€œDo Not Disturbā€ while we were out back yesterday afternoon & then put my phone away again while we watched a movie together & got to spend time with my daughter, oldest son, & a large beach ballā€¦ in the living room :laughing:

My husband & I being able to have some time where it is just us 2 is something we are working on more of since our kids are all pretty independent & have plans or work on the weekends. We go through moments of:

  • ā€˜Waitā€¦ we have no kids around us? What do we do with ourselves?ā€™ :woman_shrugging: :rofl:

:infinite_roots: :two_hearts:

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Iā€™ve baked bread like that!
Have you ever watched ā€œJourney to the center of the earth?ā€ Thereā€™s a scene where they find bread from Atlantis that essentially crumbled or was hard as a rock.
My bread, like my biscuits, are like stone. sighā€¦
Bake on girl, bake on
Blessings
Garnet

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@Medea
Wow!, just Wow!
Garnet

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Challenge Entry

Well, I wrote something but canā€™t get it to rhyme. But thatā€™s okay, I think itā€™s good anyhow. Here ya go:

Samhain Prayer by Amethyst

Blessed Crone, the veil between our world and other worlds thins,

the nights are getting longer, and the sun is weaker. Winter is coming.

It is a time of endings, of beginnings, of change.

Grant me the courage to look inside myself, to see what I need to harvest for the winter months.

Blessed God, we miss Your light. It is the time for you to rest among our ancestors, our blessed dead. Let my parents know I miss them, that I think of them often and wish they were here. Protect me from those spirits wishing me harm, and release them to the light with love.

Thank you for listening to me, now and always.

Blessed be.

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That looks simply delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

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Challenge Entry

Iā€™ve always loved this time of year in the Northern hemisphere as it draws us back in - into our homes, into our inner lives and worlds. Also, itā€™s the start of so many holidays designed to keep us busy and active as the days grow shorter.
Baking and cooking have traditionally been important parts of this season as well.

I have this recipe listed as a Fall Pancake recipe, but in reality, itā€™s great any time of year.

Fall Pancake Recipe
Basic recipe:
4 cups flour
1/2 - 1 cup of sugar to taste*
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2.5 cups milk
1 cup of vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
3 eggs
2 tsp salt

Optional extras for Fall:
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ginger
or alternatively 2 tsp pumpkin spice or allspice
3-4ml Vanilla extract
2-3ml Rum extract
1/2 cup coconut shavings
1/2 raisins
1/2 chocolate chips
1/2 toffee pieces

  • For diabetics or anyone wanting to reduce sugar intake, consider a sugar substitute. I often use 50/50 sugar and sucralose, or only sucralose.

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Lightly mix the liquid ingredients together in a separate bowl. Then pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, whisking until well incorporated, but not too much!
Empty a full ladle of batter onto the frying pan until lightly brown on both sides.
Enjoy with a cup of coffee, tea and condiments such as syrup, jelly or chocolate sauce.
Alternatively, this batter can be poured into a muffin or cake pan and topped with streusel (equal parts flour and brown sugar, some cinnamon and enough vegetable oil to make it crumbly).

Thanks!

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@Wysteria_Norn hi!

  • I wanted to let you know I just made the words Challenge Entry larger & bold while keeping it in Italics for ease of finding the entries within the general conversations :blush:

I absolutely love :heart: the recipe though for the pancakes. My family loves pancakes & we are always looking for new ways to make them or add to them for the season or upcoming holidays & sabbats!

I hope you donā€™t mind if I add the recipe(s) to our collection with credit to you for it. I think they will be great as the days continue to get shorter & we are inside more. Plus, sometimes we have Big Breakfast for dinner :hugs:

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Challenge Entry

This year will be our first year celebrating Halloween as the witchā€™s new year. Iā€™m excited! Though Iā€™ve been weaving in pagan traditions and folklore for a few years.

I love this time of year. Before embracing a pagan path, Iā€™ve always loved Halloween. Even though both of my kids are basically grown, my daughter and I still love it and celebrate it. We always watch Disneyā€™s ā€˜Skeleton Danceā€™ on the first of October (something I grew up with), and we try to take time to enjoy the fog, falling leaves, cold, and snow once it falls. We love embracing the spooky, witchy feeling of the season, but also death as part of the cycle.

As part of our yearly tradition, sheā€™ll be carving a pumpkin as well. :jack_o_lantern:

Hereā€™s a link to Skeleton Dance, if youā€™ve never heard of it. Itā€™s almost 100 years old.

We set out more decorations outside this year, including two ghosts in one of our trees, and more skeletons for our graveyard.

I also made patchwork witchy skirts for my daughter and I. We included some magical fabric that has witchy tools and cats, as well as glow in the dark skulls!

Things we plan on doing for Halloween / Samhain:

I hope to do a ritual fire again soon. My daughter and I love fire gazing and spending time outside, especially late at night. A month ago, I purchased our first small fire pit with clean burning wood pellets. Weā€™ve always wanted our own fire.

A photo of our little portable fire pit

I plan on doing a small death ritual on Halloween during the day with my daughter, based on a recent weekly coven ritual here. Iā€™ll be using this tarot card:

Death card from Mystical Cats Tarot

I hope to also bake cookies with her on Halloween. Itā€™s a recipe I found online, but Iā€™m calling it ā€˜moon cookiesā€™ from here on out, as we will dip them in powdered sugar (half / all / none) based on the moon cycle. We mostly honor the new / dark, half, and full moons. This Halloween will be a perfect half moon, so weā€™ll be dipping the dough balls half in powdered sugar.

Fun fact: I was born on a perfect half moon, so the half moon has always been a big deal to me!

Hereā€™s the recipe:

Most importantly, weā€™ll be remembering our ancestors, specifically my father.

He was incredibly close with my kids while they were little, and was a huge influence throughout my life. Iā€™ve felt him close to us through the years after he passed. His presence has been fading, but on Halloween night over the past few years, I feel him strongly. I bought a candle that made me think of him (I use the candle each year), and we buy his favorite candy and sit it out all night while we have corn bread, chili, and watch Dracula (Bell Lugosiā€™s, of course!). Weā€™ve had that dinner tradition based on doing trunk or treating with my father when the kids were little. I feel like heā€™s still there with us each year when we set out the candle and candy for him.

(I might try to also do salted caramels for my brother. I feel heā€™s fully moved on, but I miss him too.)

Hereā€™s the candle and my dadā€™s favorite candy, along with a cat statue I repainted like a skeleton. This was a photo from the first year we set things out for my father.

Happy coming Halloween / Samhain to everyone who is celebrating it!

Edited for missing photos and formatting.

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@crystal5 Ok, Iā€™m confused. First of all, these pictures are absolutely beautiful, but are they taken in the same day? I ask because in Upstate New York we can have all four seasons in one day. Blessed Be

@SpanishWitchy I think that is awesome that you still keep a family ritual going that can put a smile on your family. Family values are diminishing. Thanks for the positive entry, Blessed Be

@Garnet That is only a few thatā€™s public knowledge. There are many more but I have some of my own personal experiences and miracles. Maybe there will be a Weekly Witchy Challenge that I can incorporate some of them in the Challenge. Blessed Be

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When you mentioned The Cape I was thrown right back to my grandmothers house that was there. The smells, the Spells, the curiosity I had as a child. Thank you for bringing me back to that space!

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It is a pretty magical place for those of us that practice :face_with_hand_over_mouth: & we are a bit of an outdoorsy family. Where my husband works they do a lot of work in the Woods Hole & Sippewisset area so Iā€™ve learned all kinds of ways to ā€œnativeā€ travel through backroads & see the different areas of beaches & lighthouses then thereā€™s farm land & the different woodsy areas & conservation walking areas the bike pathā€¦ we really donā€™t get too bored thatā€™s for sure! Somehow I missed all the outer ways to get down to Woods Hole aside from that main road right off the highway that are much more fun to drive & the scenery is gorgeous through there, in the last 20 yearsā€¦ 7 of those years I worked in banks that had branches in Woods Hole that I would help out at :laughing: but the branches were a straight shot & not very far into the main town at all so there was thatā€¦ :grin:

Iā€™m glad it brings back such great memories & entices your senses to all good things too! I tried living away from the this coast beforeā€¦ I wound up being called back. I remember just saying I miss my oceanā€¦ & that was when I was in Austin, TX. When I went to KYā€¦ I was beside myself that I couldnā€™t go to the beach when I needed to for space or to think or to watch the wavesā€¦ whateverā€¦ it almost hurtā€¦ so I know that I definitely canā€™t live in a landlocked state & that a major ocean :ocean: has to be within driving distance to me :rofl: I came back in 1998 then moved to Cape Cod permanently in 2002. I had always lived on the coast of MA though or the South Shore? Not sure what that area would be called really because we have our own slang for it, so sorry if there is a bit of confusion :confused: with that one.

I still tell my kids about when I would spend summers here as a kid at my Grandmotherā€™s house with my mom & my Dad would commute from the Cape to closer to Boston for work every day so we could be on the Cape & playing on the beaches :beach_umbrella: & doing what kids :swimming_woman: :fishing_pole_and_fish: :shell: :motor_boat: :sailboat: did then that lived on an island in a town made of peninsulas :joy: Those memories are good ones for me too. Playing flashlight :flashlight: tag in through the entire neighborhood with all the kids was always fun tooā€¦ when you could stay out until 10 PM or 11 PM running around & your neighbors just went with it as long as we didnā€™t get too rowdy or anythingā€¦ their yards were free game to hide in too :smiling_face:

Okay ramblingā€¦ Iā€™ll stop now :stop_sign: Thank you @SacredBee! :blush: Iā€™m very happy that it brings you back to a wonderful place & time :two_hearts:

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@crystal5 your altar disk is so beautiful! And I love your little gnome :heart:

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Yes, Fall turned to Winter within a day. At 2pm, I watched our rain freeze into sleet and then fall as snow. By evening, we set a new record (the last record was set 125 years ago) with 3.6ā€ of snow.

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Weekly Witchy Challenge Entry:

The weather this week helped me with my entry. We are having our first freeze so I had to prepare my plants and finish harvesting. I gathered some wild items that I know I will need during the winter. Itā€™s hard to find anything on the ground once it is covered with snow!


(Sorry itā€™s blurry, this is a rack I made to dry herbs on)

I gathered Mallow leaves, fruits, and roots for future uses. I washed and hung them up to dry.
I gathered pine cones specifically for a pine cone protection spell I read about but I plan on customizing it for my needs. Pine cones are the focus for my challenge entry.

Pine cones are associated with consciousness and enlightenment. The pineal gland (third eye) is named after the pine cone. They are protective against bad weather and hungry animals.

That brings me to the spell work I will do this winter for the birds that reside here. I will put peanut butter on the pine cones, roll them in bird seed, say a little prayer and hang them up in my trees to feed the birds.


(I have more bags of pine cones in the garage, 3 kinds!)

I changed the chant/prayer a little but it goes like this:

ā€œI trust the light I see within even though darkness may abound, I conjure this cocoon of light to keep the animals safe and sound.ā€ From the book ā€œMagic for your Homeā€ by: Aurora Kane.

I brought most of my herb plants inside. Itā€™s going to warm back up so they can go back out for awhile after this cold snap. Iā€™m making another attempt at an indoor herb garden for this winter.


( I adjusted the color so it would show in the picture better.)

So far I have Mugwort, Thyme and Oregano hanging in my kitchen window. I used command hooks to hang little buckets directly on the window. I have lemon balm and bergamot that are too big for the window so maybe I will try to grow them as they are if I can find space inside. I need more southern windows!!!

I have been picking and drying leaves all summer so I do have some saved if they die. My basil and rosemary have survived winters indoors so Iā€™m hopeful :wink:

I will make an edit with some pictures later. Itā€™s hard to get out of my warm cozy bed!! :sleeping_bed:
:butterfly:

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We donā€™t have any pine cones yet here :cry: we will get them in a few weeks but I collect them & use them to make kind of intention ornaments & then on Imbolc when I have my fire I burn them. We have used them in the house for decorations before, I honestly never thought of rolling it Peanut Butter & Bird Seed! I :heart: LOVE :heart: that idea!

Iā€™m going to have to remember that when the bigger ones start to fall too! :hugs:

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I am honored. Thank you and I hope you enjoy it.
My hips & I have for many years :wink:

Also, I clicked the B(old) option in the menu, & can definitely see the difference. So, thanks for making it even more clear!

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Youā€™re welcome @Wysteria_Norn! I really donā€™t mind at all! Itā€™s part of what we do :upside_down_face:

The easiest way to make it larger & bold is to put ## a space & then type the words Challenge Entry & make the words Italic. :hugs:

Honestly, thatā€™s all I do, is add ## & a space before the words that are stating itā€™s a challenge Entry at the top of the post & then make sure that if it was in Italics it stays that way :smiling_face:

I know that I have done it without leaving a note & Iā€™m sorry to anyone who was confused! It makes it easier to find the entries within the conversation. :blush:

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