Picture Frame Light and Dry Erase Board { Tutorial }

This is the latest post in the Epic Decorate-My-Bedroom-With-Crafts blog series. Click {here} for more cool and admittedly crazy decor creations.

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Why, hello, there! I'll bet you have stayed up many a night, wondering how to put a nightlight in a place that has very little space.

No? How silly. I've stayed up a wee bit late for two full nights, pondering just such a crazy contraption.

And I call it... The Picture Frame Light and Dry-Erase Board!


*cue applause*

In order to maketh this materspiece, thou shalt require:

-An old picture frame

-Paint

-Decorative paper (and vinyl paper)

-A 5' strand of Christmas lights

-Duct Tape

-Dry erase markers

-A chocolate bar to munch on :)

You might recognize this picture, from the post where I talked on and on about my awesome new bedroom that I share with my little sister. 

Her bed is made from an old bunk bed and a really old, very hefty chest of drawers-- all nice and green and brown because they came from my brothers' old room. The chest of drawers serves as a shelf and would have been the perfect place to put her extremely necessary night-light... except for the fact that she kicks everything off that shelf while sleeping.

This light was designed to hang on the wall next to her bed.

We actually moved it to the "fort" beneath her bed, because it is insanely dark under there! So it is not being used as a nightlight, after all.

INSTRUCTIONS

  Take an old picture frame that still has a glass. It doesn't show in this picture, but this frame has seen many years and too many fall off of little boys' walls.

Paint the frame. Oh, yeah. This makes me feel like "one of the gang"-- while browsing the blogosphere, I have seen countless crafts that require painting a frame. I finally did it! (Albeit in my little sister's choice of colors!)

Attach the Christmas lights. (Side note: I've taken a very long time to get this tutorial posted-- I made this craft just a week or two after Christmas!)

If you are smarter than me you will use duct tape, not staples. 

(If you decide to do staples, be sure to staple around, not through, the wires.)

If you are smarter than me, you will also check and make sure that the cord you leave hanging is both long enough and on the correct side.

Cut out scrapbook paper and vinyl paper so that they fill the glass.

Why vinyl? My scrapbook paper was too thick and the light wouldn't shine through. Plus, my vinyl paper was insanely pretty.

(Worried about the safety of putting paper and vinyl up against Christmas lights? My dad is a forensic engineer and he said that it is safe, as long as the light is not on for hours upon hours at a time. Overnight is fine. Any longer would probably overheat.)

Tape the paper to the glass...

And put the cardboard picture-frame backing on. Bend down those funky little metals tabs whose name I can't remember.

The frame will not be able to shut completely because of the thickness of the lights. Use duct tape (or metallic duct tape) to help it stay shut... forever.

There you have it. A beautiful, decorative, and unobtrusive light.

(I meant it when I said that this craft is old. I hadn't even decorated my light switches yet! See them {here} )

But that's not all!

Oh, no.

That's not all!

The glass doubles as a dry-erase board!

Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. ~G.K. Chesterton

You can't make a much prettier dry-erase board!

If you wanted to skip the whole night-light thing, putting a piece of scrapbook paper or fabric behind the glass can make a beautiful dry-erase board! Much prettier than the typical white things.

Adelynn can't get over this. She loves it. She says it is "magical-- it's just like lightning bugs that you can draw on."

(Notice her drawing? She drew bunches of hearts with "16"s in them. Because 7 loves 16-- she is 7, I'm 16. Isn't it sweet?)

Here is is, hanging on the wall in the fort under her bed!

...under her bed, which is quite the mess. (Recognize the clothespin picture holder?)

Did this project inspire you to make something? Please share!

By the way... the comment box loves to eat comments, cookies, questions, chocolate, feedback, lasanga, and bits of fairydust. 

Check out other posts on { home decor} and { crafting my way to a prettified bedroom }.

Linking up to { these } lovely blogs.

A Set, Lost Pictures, and a Printable

A nice little medley for you today... Scroll down for the printable.

Last week, I got put in charge of painting a set!!!

Me. And the set. And the tree. Because there is a funny inside joke with that tree.

Read more....

It's a funny story-- my younger brother was in a play, and Mom told the director that I could come and help paint the set.

Before we began-- this was the painting that was already there

I showed up, was told what the director wanted done.... and somehow wound up in charge! It certainly helped that I had some of the most amazing and talented helpers!

The finished set-- click to enlarge

I'm not used to being in charge of people painting set-- I'm used to being the one who is told what to do! And only a couple of short times, at that.

We were also working with a shortage of paints! I helped paint for two days, and we didn't even have any brown paint until dinnertime on the first day.

Then, on the second day, we didn't have any black, red, etc, because they had not been left at the "theater." It all worked out, though. :)

Look at that lovely wood cottage! One of the dads built it and we painted it. Painting stone is fun-- it's kind of hard to loosen up and let people do it "their way" and not be too bossy, though.

It was a very fun experience!

Here is my brother, Blarney the Leprechaun!

I was having difficulties with getting images to load a couple of weeks ago. Remember this post? I was talking about making some accessories for my Confirmation dress. Here are the pictures: for real this time!

Earrings.... My favorite orbital chainmaille design, Swavroski pearls, and silver earwires (which were insanely comfortable and I've ordered more to use for jewelry in my Shoppe)

A pretty little beaded hair barette.

Shoe clips! Here is when I remind you that I have very weird feet, and the only shoes I can comfortably wear cost alot-- and therefore I can't just buy shoes to go with a couple outfits. So shoe clips are an awesome, DIY solution.

I'll post a tutorial someday. :)

These clips are fabric yo-yos (so much fun!) I made another, bigger, and more-beads yo-yo and attached a brooch clip to the back. As you can see in this picture, I wore it as a decoration on the ribbon belt.

I've had some requests for a printable of the "Messy desk quote" I used in this post about decorating a desk with paper.

Well, I've obliged! Here it is. :) Just print it out, cut it out, and hang it up wherever! I do so love doing typography. :)

(Instructions-- click the image to be taken to the large file. Right click and select "Save Image As." It will then let you download it as a file image. Free for any non-commercial use. :)

EASY Wire Ring Tutorial

Here is the last ring tutorial (at least so far!). It is a super easy wirewrapped ring. You can do it without any experience at all!

As usual, please excuse my UM's and the shaky camera. Gonna get better at that.

You will need:

Wire

A fat marker

Pliers

*optional* beads and other decorations

Click {here} to see my other ring tutorials!!!

Did YOU make a ring using this tutorial? Let me know in the comments!

Linking up at { these } veddy nice blogs.

How to Write In Elvish

 This is a post from my old blog, Nevdroonia. Since I'm on a Lord of the Rings kick right now, I thought I'd share it with all of you!

I don't claim to have this all correct. I wrote this post... when I was 13? 14? and was very confused about the info on Elvish. Please feel free to ask questions or correct me on any point.

And so... may I present to you ladies, gentlemen, and fairies...  

Shaylynn's Guide to Writing English using Elvish letters.

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Well, I don't know the language, but I can write English in Tengwar (Elvish letters)! (JRR Tolkien made an entire Elvish language, did you know?) I taught myself, peicing together snippets I found in various places. Most likely I have it all wrong, but... it looks impressive! These are the pages from my notebooks where I wrote notes on it.

The first page shows
1) the Elvish letter
2) the symbol that I think symoblizes the sound,
3) an example of how that sound is used in a word, then the name of the Elvish letter. It has only consonants on it.

The second page has more notes, and the vowels. I am still confused on those, but I use the symbols that say "typically these" by it, and I do not do the "y", as I write more phonetically.

Page three has more notes, esp. explaining that English can be written in Tengwar phonetically (based on sounds, like shorthand) and letter-by-letter (which is generally more confusing to write but easier to read).

These are two visual aids I made, to help you see how the letters fit together. The top one is Sindarin mode (which I use the most) and the bottom is Quenya. You cut out the peices, and arrange them into words. It helps you see how the vowels and consonants fit together.

Why Artfire?

I've had several people ask me why I sell on Artfire instead of Etsy or other platforms (well, I do have a just-getting-started Etsy store, but focus on Artfire). So I wanted to share some of my favorite things about Artfire...

• The price is awesome. If you are just starting up and wanting to "test the waters" of the online selling world... they have a totally free basic studio. I did that for several months. And if you get more serious, their PRO shop is only $9.95. You don't have to pay any additional fees (no commission, listing, etc)-- just $9.95 a month. For those (like me) with more than 100 items in stock at any given time, this price is a steal. AND you don't have to play that crazy, expensive re-listing game just to get to the top of the search ranks.
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Artfire is really good for this. They teach you how to write your listings so that you can rank high in search engines. I get tons of people coming to my Shoppe through a Google search for "Evenstars." Plus, Artfire submits your items to Google Shopping and automatically re-submits the items after their run.
• Best customer service I've had, hands down. Quick to reply and very helpful. 
• TOOLS! Ok, I go head over heels for the tools. Most are available only for the Pro studios (the Basic only gives you the bare necessities for selling online). My favorite has got to be the Global Editor, which lets you edit bulk listings.
• Customization. The Basic studio only gets a bit of customization-- an avatar and header, just like Etsy and other venues. However, the Pro studio lets you go crazy with colors and HTML coding. I'm still working on it, but I'm going to build some very pretty organization widgets that will make shopping easier. :) You get to be your own seller with your own look.
• You don't have to register just to buy. I've only had 2 buyers who were registered with Artfire. I think Artfire is unique in this...

Ok... this is a bit of shameless advertising for Artfire. :P Just because I loves them, precious. And because they have a contest going on right now... so I'm kind of being shamelessly selfish.

Go PRO and get your 3rd month free! 

(and it also means that I get a free month, so.... if you want to sign up for Artfire's Pro shoppe, please use my referral link! 'Cause we'll both get free months!!!)

Oh, and if you want to sign up for Artfire's daily collection email, you can have a chance at winning a $100 gift card to an Artfire seller of your choice (pick me! pick me!). (They do send out an email every day, though, so if you don't like a cluttered inbox...)

Elven Inspirations

*fangurl squeal*

Have you seen the new behind-the-scenes video for The Hobbit? You can watch it right here if you haven't:

Here is the Hobbit Movie News website. It sounds like they are changing things up from the books a bit... adding in more of the stories happening at Middle Earth during the time of the Hobbit (not just telling the Hobbit story). They started filming a couple months ago. I can't wait can't wait can't wait for this movie!

This brings back so many memories... makes me want to re-watch The Lord of the Rings ...makes me marvel at how much detail is in the set and how little you actually get to see in the movies (just look at that Rivendell!) ...and got me into a full-blown inspirational swing.

I'm now re-addicted to Elvish designs.

Last month was good for sales, so I had a bit of extra money to spend on the Shoppe. I splurged on new (albeit a wee bit more expensive) colors and styles of my favorite Czech glass leaf beads.

I'll take you through a picture tour of some of my new designs! (I say some because these are just the items that I have actually taken the time to photograph and upload to the Shoppe... and I still have plenty of beads left!)

Please have a peek at these new designs! Click each image to see more and larger pictures of the jewelry!

My Evenstar design has always been very popular. I rarely make the same exact Evenstar more than once (unless it is a custom order)... This one is reversible. One side is a shiny gold-green, and the other a pale sage. It features little swirls, genuine Swavroski pearls, and a 3-strand-half-braided ribbons in matching colors.

I've figured out a much prettier and sturdier way to make my second most popular design-- Enchanted Forest Earrings. 

So... I made Evenstar/Forest Earring sets! This one is reversible-- one side iridescent blues, and the other deep midnight tones. Also, check out the star beads on the Evenstar... aren't they exquisite? I was so happy to find them on sale!

Another Evenstar/Forest Earrings set... in Pixie Pink. With pink wire, oh yeah!

And now for some Evenstar variations! Arwen's Evenstar has more of a "droplet" look than my twist on the Evenstar. The above is my attempt to replicate the shape in the original Evenstar.

btw, just for fun, here is a picture of the Evenstar necklace from the movies:

I took the techniques that I use to make Evenstars and combined them with some brand-new and pretty difficult wirewrapping techniques that I just figured out. 

Click for bigger pictures-- I learned how to weave wire, attach beads ontop of leaf beads, and create a "zig zag" wire filler.

When I got the new leaf beads and had so many pretty colors and new techniques to work with, I just had to experiment! The above is a pretty, freeform pink and purple necklace.

Another freeform Elven/fairy necklace... It's all swirly. :)

FYI, several of these new experimental designs are OOAK (one of a kind, meaning I will never make them again)-- especially these freeform necklace. They were fairly difficult to make, using special beads, and there is no way I can replicate them exactly.

So, if you do get one of these, you'll be assured that you'll be the only one with that style necklace! And if one of these designs sells but you want a copy... I can't do it. I can do something inspired by the original design, perhaps similar, but won't be able to replicate it.

Hair combs! I looooove hair combs and was so glad to be able to make them!

Another new technique-- I've figured out how to form the Czech leaf beads into a flower!!! This necklace features details all the way up the string, and it is reversible. That means that it was alot harder to make... but I'm so happy to have figured it out! ...it "only" required breaking two of my beads...

This sweet little pendant combines my new wire weaving techniques and the leaf-beads-into-pretty-flowers-thing.

Ohmygoodness. I was so tempted to keep these earrings for myself (I wound up making myself some in a different color).

I figured out a very pretty way to wirewrap leaf beads (leftover ones that I don't have enough of that color of to make other Elven designs).

The ear wires are Elf-style earwires handmade by me. (Yes, I figured out how to make ear wires, harden them, and file the ends!!!).

The earrings look long, but that is just because they are so slender and elegant. They are actually shorter than my Enchanted Forest Earrings-- they are under 2 inches long total.

 I only had a little bit of pink wire left and decided to see if I could make even spirals, coils, and bead cages. Result-- pretty whimsical little things.

 I LOVE THE PARASOL! Is it bad to be so excited about something I made? 

I used all of my new techniques and it's so pretty. Pinks and golds... It looks like a parasol or seashell. And it's on one of of my 4-strand ribbons and hangs fairly long and I was so tempted to keep it for myself...

 A fairy bracelet cuff...

 Wirewrapped bracelet... My little sister called it a Princess Bracelet.

This bracelet features handmade wire beads! It's inspired by Steampunk, but I think it's also very fantasy looking, what'dya thunk?