Welcome November

So October is over and November is here with a plethora of things, so I'm going to be one busy lady. Hopefully I can balance everything, but I must apologize if I become a bit absent before the holiday season.

So what will I be doing?

NaNoWriMo (also known as National Novel Writing Month)

A month long writing competition where you challenge yourself and others to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I had slightly late start this year, but it should be a lot of fun. I'm going to be writing a Steampunk NaNo this year very loosely based on Red Ridinghood and involving a variety of mayhem and adventure involving a particularly difficult delivery. You can follow my progress on the NaNoWriMo site or on my NaNo blog.

Don't have the time to write, but want to be involved - consider sponsoring my novel. Like a marathon runner (without all that pesky running) I'm writing for donations, which will help bring creative writing to young people all over the country - a truly worthy cause. My goal is $250, but anything helps - donate here!
And if you're low on cash, consider one of these options.



Steamcon II

Seattle opens it's doors to Steampunks for a second year with a three day convention of concerts, fashion shows, costuming panels and more. The theme this year is Weird Weird West! I missed it last year, so I cannot wait to attend this time. My partner in crime and I hope to make an appearance sporting some of my own designs. I shall post sketches and progress photos as that all goes along.



Le holidays...
And finally I have begun prepping for the holidays. Of course keeping up with Etsy's fabulous Holiday Boot Camp has helped to get me into seasonal selling shape. Visions of pine trees and menorahs are already dancing in my head as I come up with new things to fill my shop. There will be more about that in the next week or so, but I'm definitely thinking about it.


Happy Crafting!

Currently Reading: Blameless

Most of my life I've been an avid reader. Books are my source of inspiration, an escape to fantastical worlds and one of my favorite things on a rainy day. However, having time to read dwindled quite a bit during my college years (way too much work/extracurriculars), but somehow I've managed to bring reading back into my life.

At the moment, I've been devouring Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series with gusto and I'm already on the third book in the series "Blameless". It's full of Steampunk contraptions, fabulous Victorian fashion and supernatural creatures - all my favorite things wrapped into one portable package.


I'm reading that last one on the right - lovely!

It's been an enjoyable read so far - very much in the spirit of the first two books, although lacking some of the scintillating romantic bits of the first and second (but you'd understand if you were reading this book). Gail definitely provides enough mystery and adventure to keep you interested, as usual, and lots of interesting characters - some with fabulous attire. Also, more gadgets and inventions, which certainly pleases this Steampunk fan.

On a similar thread of reading...though technically about writing, I must mention that NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month, is right around the corner. And now that I've signed up, I'll be participating for the 5th time this November - yay! I've got a lofty goal of 100k, which is double the expected 50k. And despite being busy with Etsy and upcoming Steamcon I hope to make it.

Well, I better get back to work. I have a bunch of new fabulous goodies in the workshop and hope to reveal them soon.

Until next time. Happy crafting!

November hiatus...

Well...it's been a while. I been away for a little due to NaNoWriMo along with a few other non-crafting related projects last month. But I'm back and I bring news of my shop: stuff is selling.

Of course things are not selling as fast as I'd like but the shop isn't yet to 100%.
My goal is to sell jewelry, paper and fabric items. However, it's only jewelry and a few wallets/cases at the moment. I've simply been too busy to create anything new until now. So when the shop is ready, I'll start promoting.

And I have quite a bit in the works: brooches, larger purses, tote bags, shrugs, cuffs, collars, gift tags, notecards and notepads to name a few. Some I have done before but never for my Etsy shop, while others are completely new undertakings. So there will be postings about the projects and test runs over the next week, so do come back to check them out.

I've got a lot of work to do, but I'm excited.

I leave you with a little showcase of my shop currently:

Etsy Buy Handmade inkstrand

Until next time!

PS. I failed to post pictures and a breakdown of the final Red Riding Hood costume, but will as soon as I can take proper pictures.