All Things Bright and Beautiful

At this moment--

There are presents under the tree,

there are Christmas lights glittering,

there is the sound of friends' laughter,

there is the scent of orange danish and potato soup.

...I cannot begin to soothe the wounds that this country has felt this month, but I can echo the words spoken by Samwise Gamgee: "there is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for."

And so, at this moment, I am thankful for my family--who I am blessed to call friends.  I am thankful for my friends--who are as dear as family.

At this moment--

I am reminded of all things bright and beautiful...  

That my life is touched with grace, and my world is full of light.

And the Winner is...

Drumroll please!

I realized that I didn't have a hat...  So I used a festive
green dish instead.

I closed my eyes, reached in...
(once the piece of paper had been chosen, I took this picture--
for anyone wondering if I have mastered eyes-closed photography.)

And pulled out a name! 

And so, the winner is: Patricia Biri!

I will be in touch, Pat, to get your mailing information!

Thank you so, so much everyone for your participation!  Stay tuned in the coming months--because I plan to do more giveaways in the future!  

Happy Holidays, everyone!  :D

First-Ever Giveaway: Christmas Ruffle Scarf!

So, I have a lovely Christmas-colored ruffle scarf...

Christmas colors!  Red, green, light grey, and white.

...and it really needs a home.  

A nice, loving home.  A home that will give it attention this Christmas.  A home that will not just stuff it in a box and wait to post it to Etsy sometime next year.

So!  I'm doing my first-ever blog giveaway.

...Yeah, it was bound to happen.

About the Scarf:

It was hand crocheted by yours truly.  It is just over 80 inches long.  Because it is so long, it can be worn in a single layer--light and wispy--but it also looks really nice and full when it's doubled over on itself.

Ways to Win:

There are three ways to enter your name into the drawing:

#1 
Leave a comment on this blog, telling me something that makes you happy.*

#2
Favorite my store on Etsy and send me a convo, found: here.**

#3
"Like" my store on Facebook--and leave a message there!  It can be found: here.***

Other Fine Print

The time to enter the giveaway will go until 12:00 noon on Monday (EST).  At that time, I will pick the winner via the good old fashioned name-in-a-hat method.  I will then post the winner here, and contact you through email to get your mailing address.  

Regardless of the way you enter, please make sure that you give me a way to contact you!!

Oh, and to make things more fun: your name will be entered one time for each of those three options you do.  If you do all three, your name will be entered three times.  If you do one, it will be entered once.

So, good luck everyone! 

I am extremely excited to see this scarf go to someone who will love it!  :D

--

* - Some people have been having issues leaving comments on my blog...  I have tweaked the settings, so hopefully that has been fixed!  If not, you can try to contact me through blogger or email, which will also count.

** - You must have an Etsy account to do this.

*** - Be sure to leave me a message on my wall, otherwise I won't know that it was you who "liked" me!

Steampunk-Inspired Collar Necklace

What could this be?

Oooooo, shiny!

This, my friends, is a close-up of a steampunk-inspired collar necklace...  A steampunk-inspired collar necklace that I just so happened to list on my store today.

Honestly, I am beyond pleased with this necklace.  It took quite a long time to make... wire-wrapping the gears, making sure the pattern would look right when worn.  

It was worth it, though--the results are stunning.

And so, let me introduce to you:

The Inventor's Workshop

Collar Necklace

 

Here are some shots of it, not on the model...

And, here's the story:

Among outsiders, the technology of the Landus Fantasticus is not considered highly advanced. There are no watches or typewriters—and certainly no laptops or cell phones or cars. 

This does not, however, mean that the Landus Fantasticus is devoid of technology. Quite the contrary, in fact. There simply have been several unique challenges that their society has had to face that other countries have not. While they may not have steam powered locomotives, for example, they do have an extremely sophisticated alarm system to alert citizens of impending dragon attack. 

This particular invention has saved many lives, and certainly encourages more people to seek solutions to their country’s unique problems. Indeed, it is this desire and need for progress makes the Landus Fantasticus riddled with innovators and inventors—people whose ingenuity cannot be bridled. 

With mismatched metals and a touch of elegance, this elaborate collar necklace looks like it could have belonged to one of these inventors—made out of bits and pieces lying around the workshop, meant to be touch of class while working on ever-growing inventions.

---

So, there you have it.  Thank you for letting me share this with you...  As I said, I'm very happy with how it turned out!  

O Christmas Tree

It's always so hard, taking pictures of a Christmas tree.

For some reason, the camera is never quite able to pick up the nuances--the way that it glows, the way that it makes the entire room feel shimmery and magical.  

 

The way that it takes ornaments--so gaudy on their own--and turns them into the most beautiful things in the world... 

 

 
The way that glitter is no longer silly, but rather a reflection of stars.

  

 There are so many feelings that I associate with my Christmas tree--warmth, love, magic.

To some, it might be silly.

To me, it is all the magic and possibility of Christmas Eve--the Nutcracker ballet and laughter and dreams and quiet falling snow...  Perfectly content just to sit and enjoy the comfort, while waiting for the beautiful dawn.

Happy December!

It's December!  Yay!

Of course, this means that I've gone into hyperactive creative overdrive.  

It's a sea of Silmarils!
Some for a custom order, some for my store--and all very, very shiny.

In short: Ack-I-Need-To-Make-ALL-THE-THINGS!  

I need to buff up both of my stores with final Christmas inventory.  
 

'Tis the season...  to wire-wrap gears!

I need to work on Christmas presents.  

What, you thought I'd actually post pictures of Christmas presents?
Before Christmas?
Here, have a bird instead.  :D

I need to start making more inventory because I have another display table coming up next month and I have to prepare for that...

This happened last time that I had to prepare for a display table.
I hung necklaces from that there green thing--and they looked really cool.

Breathe.

I need to breathe.

I need to remind myself to take it one step at a time.  It is a rather narrow line to walk--between enjoying the season while being creative, and driving myself utterly to distraction.

And I need to remind myself that I cannot knit a present for everyone.

Even if I might want to try.



---

Today's accomplishment

Today, I focused on one thing: Shining Silmarils.  To that end, I:

•  took 700 item pictures (for 32 items, so about 21 photos per item)
•  organized all of said pictures
•  re-sized some of said pictures
•  used those re-sized pictures to post four more silmarils to my store

So, yay!  Four down...  only 28 more to go...

Velvet Sea

Quiet Dream

Spring Silk

Wizard of Earthsea

I consider that a success.

Now, to go stare at the Christmas Tree and take a break.  And perhaps drink some tea.

Yay for this lovely time of year!  

...And here's to hoping that I remember to enjoy it!  :D

Huzzah!

I won NaNo!

My official word total: 76,100.

I was going to make this entry about what I learned during this past November, and what I've been able to achieve in my novel(s)...  

But, honestly, I'm just so darned excited that I managed to write over 8,000 words today.  

Screenshot of my victory...  Make it bigger in order to read it.  :)

So, yeah, I went from about 68,000 words to 76,100 in under 12 hours--in a crazy rush of caffeine and perseverance and sheer ridiculousness.

And now National Novel Writing Month is over.

I am victorious!

Yay!!

*collapses into a contented, verbose, and exhausted heap*