6th Day of Christmas -- the little schremlin's "tengwar Hobbit notebook"

Today I'm delighted to share about the little schremlin, a darling little shop with items like polymer clay jewelry "inspired by science fiction, nature, and food!"

Here's a bio of Sarah, who runs the shop:

 i am a big fan of sci-fi, fantasy, the planet, and animals. not a fan of capitalization, cloudy days, or current 'music'. my shop currently has a lot of food jewelry which i will continue to make, but i'm also adding more science fiction and fantasy jewelry, notebooks, pencils, and book marks. stop by, look around, and check back for new stuff in the new year!

Basically, another wonderfully quirky shop to geek out about! There are many unique items...

like this hummingbird necklace!

hummingbird and flower necklace

and Luna Lovegood's Dirigible Plum (radish) earrings!

dirigible plum earrings

and Star Trek: The Next Generation in miniature polymer clay! TNG was my first introduction to Star Trek. We watched hours of it back when we were trying to sell our house and had weeks when Dad was at his new job and not at home; it was Mom's favorite way to spend a long evening. It was her first intro to Star Treck, too. TNG has a special place in our hearts. Mostly because of JEAN LUC PICARD and DATA! Yah! Anyways, back to little schremlin's lovely creation:

TNG crew: ST

Sarah of the little schremlin makes more than polymer jewelry, check out this lovely tengwar notebook!

personalized tengwar notebook

What's "tengwar," you may ask? (If you don't have to ask you already have +1,000 awesome points).

Back in the ancient days when my grandma was a child, J.R.R. Tolkien was writing The Lord of the Rings. He also happened to be a linguist by trade (and hobby). He created two entire Elvish languages (Quenya and Sindarin). Tengwar is the alphabet that he designed for these lyrical languages. It's a really beautiful script. :)

tengwar - the hobbit - LOTR // personalized mini notebook & twig pencil gift set

This mini notebook is hand cut + bound, and made of natural, high quality materials. The cover is made using Mr. Ellie Pooh’s Elephant Dung card stock (more on that here), and the notebook is filled with white paper and bound with baker’s twine.

The super cool parts are: 1) I will ink your name on in Tengwar on the cover, and 2) i made a paper pencil to go with it that reads "in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit". 

the little schremlin is giving away one of these really unique handmade notebooks!
AND she's offering a coupon code just for my blog readers! You guys sure are lucky ducklings.
coupon code: shealynn ... 10% off any item, including sale items. valid through january.
 Use the rafflecopter widget below to enter by Jan 12, 2012!

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P.S. I hope all you wonderful blog readers are having a great Christmas and New Year's break! I'm enjoying having no school. Very much. We just said goodbye to some 40 family members (we had a BLAST) and I know this post is coming out late. But hey, it's before midnight, so it's technically still the 6th Day of Christmas!

P.P.S. Also, she has a blog! Forgot to link to it before. :)

5th Day of Christmas -- Erika Heins "Hobbit Notecards" Giveaway!

Long(ish)time readers will recognize Erika Heins from the lovely guest post she wrote last year about how much Tolkien's works have meant in her own life. Seriously, go check it out.

Erika runs an Etsy shop selling stationary made with her own gorgeous artwork. Isn't her linework and penmanship spectacular? Just look at this wonderful Hobbit collection she recently created!

And guess what? One lucky reader will receive these cards! Enter below for a chance to win "The Hobbit Assorted Notecards"!!!!!!!!!!!!

This set of images from the first part of Tolkien's masterpiece includes one each of four designs, printed on high-quality 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" notecards. The cards come complete with envelopes and sealed in a plastic sleeve. 

"Bilbo's Doorstep"--This card features the first line from the book, with a picture of Gandalf walking up Bilbo's front walk. 

"Over the Misty Mountains"--This card features one stanza from the dwarves' song, with a vista of the mountains. Bilbo looks on from the corner of the drawing, seated on his pony. 

"Adventures"--Bilbo's quote on adventures is paired with a drawing of Bilbo first looking at the trolls. 

"Go Forward"--Bilbo bravely feels his way through the Misty Mountain tunnel, holding Sting ready.

Have any questions? Contact the shop owner.

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4th Day of Christmas -- Foxwise Stamped Jewelry Giveaway

Today's giveaway comes from the amazing shop foxwise. This is jewelry for geeks! Just look at all the geekdoms in her site's sidebar!

The shop is run by Rose, who stamps all the jewelry by hand. Just look at this glorious stuff!

Timey Wimey Wibbly Wobbly Spiral Pendant

"Shiny" Firefly Bracelet

"Aragorn's Speech" Bracelet

Guitar Necklace

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Foxwise is giving away the winner's choice of either the Deathly Hallows Ring or the Accio Keychain!

These are totally awesome, and I'm so excited for whoever wins! Enter the giveaway with the Rafflecopter Widget below!

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3rd Day of Christmas -- Third Wind Studio "Arkenstone Necklace" Giveaway

Today's giveaway comes from Third Wind Studio, a really neat shop full of beautiful handmade glass ornaments and jewelry!

Think handblown icicles:

 

Ruby Red blown glass icicles                                  Handblown Christmas vintage-style crystal icicles

And jewelry like this necklace, "Galadriel's Phial"

Or this Victorian Necklace: 

Aren't they LOVELY? I don't know how he does it, glass is very difficult to work with (coming from someone who has never attempted it but who once spent a half an hour watching open-mouthed as a glass artisan worked at a local fair).

Third Wind Studio is giving away one beautiful Arkenstone necklace!

"Hobbit inspired pendant "Arkenstone" "Heart of the mountain" Crystal orb, Bronze filigree wire wrap, quartz crystal encased in molten glas"


Also, check out the sale going on for 25% off all Christmas items at Third Wind Studio!

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1st Day of Christmas -- Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe Giveaway

I thought long and hard about what item to give away this year to kickstart the 12 Days of Christmas giveaway extravaganza, and then I thought... why not let you choose?

One very lucky winner will get their pick of any item from Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe! 

The winner could pick something from my range of bracelets, earrings, rings, and necklaces made from guitar and violin strings:

Purple Crystal and Rhinestone Beaded Guitar String Bangle

...or my classy wirewrapped jewelry:

Imladris Filigree Necklace

...or chainmaille jewelry:

Blue Snowflake Flower Star

...or the ever-popular Evenstar Fantasy Jewelry Set, which I can make for the winner in her own choice of colors!

Rivendell Reversible Evenstar Set.

The giveaway is open internationally. The prize will be shipped USPS First Class for free. The giveaway will close January 12th, 2012.

The giveaway is limited to items at or under $30. At the moment, this includes everything in stock in my shop-- but I will be working on bringing my inventory back up after the holidays, so by Jan 12th there may be a few items worth more than $30, which will be excluded from this giveaway.

The winner may choose a custom item which does not exceed $30 as the prize.

If the winner chooses a prize which requires customization, he or she will be put at the bottom of my custom order queue and the prize may take up to 4 weeks to make. Customizations limited to colors that I have in stock (a large selection but not *every* color). 

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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I hope you all are having a very, very Merry Christmas!

Now it happened that when the angels had gone from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go to Bethlehem and see this event which the Lord has made known to us.'
So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.
When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him,
and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds said to them.
As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.
And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as they had been told.
Luke 2:15-20

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Be sure to check back during the following 11 days for MORE giveaways! Hopefully you'll find several other artisan's shops to fall in love with. :) There will be one new giveaway each day, and all the winners will be announced Jan 12th! I hope you are one of the lucky ones!

Announcing the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway Extravaganza

image via

Merry Christmas Eve, my dear friends! I hope you are having a lovely time with family and friends! Be sure to pray for those who cannot be with their loved ones this Christmas season.

Speaking of the Christmas season, the proper celebration of Christmas begins tomorrow-- on the 1st Day of Christmas! Once again, just like last year, twelve wonderful artisans have kindly offered to give away some of their beautiful pieces here on my blog! We'll spread some Christmas cheer and show you some wonderful shops to fall in love with!

(Update: I actually only have eleven artisans because one of them is very busy, so if you would like to give away something and have your own small business/blog/website featured on my blog, email me at shealynnsfaerieshoppe@gmail.com)

I can't wait until my cousins come over a couple days after Christmas. There are 30-some of us and it's always a blast! We'll probably have lots of good food and discussions about engineering and education as usual, along with some hairbrained inventions being shown off (like the levitating magnet toy that my little brother designed a couple of months ago).

 What are your favorite Christmas and New Years' traditions?

Giveaway at Arda Nessimava

Would you like to win an Evenstar Jewelry Set in your choice of colors?

Head over to the lovely and brilliantly geeky blog Arda Nessimava by Dec 27th!

Ear Cuff Tutorial: The Double-Loop Technique

It's been a bit since I've done a proper tutorial, hasn't it? Don't worry, I'll be doing some craftsy ones soon-- but fellow jewelers are in luck today! I've photographed the making of another kind of ear cuff (which I'm calling the "Double-Loop" because you kind of loop it twice... I'm having a really hard time coming up with names for these different ear cuffs!)

For those unfamiliar with ear cuffs, they are awesome and comfortable pieces of jewelry that simply wrap around the cartilage of the ear-- no piercings required! They are easy to put on and really stay put!  If you aren't up to making some yourself, be sure to visit my Shoppe, where I sell some and also do custom orders.

Before you begin, I recommend that you check out my tutorials on the basic ear cuff and the swirly ear cuff. You should be able to create both styles proficiently. You can also check out the bow-tie ear cuff tutorial (which is about the same difficulty as this ear cuff). 

Now then. With a few cuffs behind you, it's time to get started with this fun technique! 

We are creating a left ear cuff. Simply mirror the design to create one for the right ear.

This particular design is a bit more understated than the other ear cuffs because the decorative swirls are limited to the bottom of the cuff!

You will need:

- 8 inches of 18 ga wire

- needle-nose pliers

-a marker (see my discussion of the type of marker or mandrel you will need)

- (optional) beads, other wire for decorative wrapping, headpins to add dangles, etc.

Cut a length of wire at least 8 inches long.

Bend it at the three inch mark. Make sure that the small loop this creates is actually a loop-- it's not as comfortable to wear ear cuffs in which the wire is pinched together tightly.

This is where the "double loop" comes into play.

First, bend the wire into a 1 inch zig-zag (just as you did with the swirly ear cuff). The next part is a bit tricky if you are working with tough wire like me (hard copper is not recommended to begin with). Take the tail end of the wire on the right-hand side and fold it down and around the right-hand loop. 

Did that make sense? Here's a picture of the finished double loop:

The next few steps are just like the other ear cuffs, so I won't narrate these photos...

Okay, now you get to have fun. How do you want the ends of the wire to look? What beads will you add? What loops and swirls and decorations will you make with the wire? Have at it!

I found that I had a bit of a hard time keeping mental track of the placement of the ear cuff, so I kept putting it on the marker (or my ear) as I designed, in order to make sure the swirls and beads were just perfect.

If you are adding beads, be sure to very, very slightly bend the wire just above and below the beads in order to hold them in place.

I only recently perfected this design, so I don't have any more double-loop ear cuffs to show you. Soon!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Please be sure to leave a comment if you used it!

Also, please note that you may use this tutorial to make your own jewelry to sell, but only if you credit me for showing you how. It does take time for me to make these tutorials! Thanks!

Númenna Music Video

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We intended to release this at the same time as The Hobbit premiere but my internet connection was doing funny things. I'm sorry that the quality is really fuzzy and has the strange extra several seconds of black; if anyone has tips on getting videos to upload to YouTube properly, please let me know!

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A few months ago, I sent my friend Julie an email: "So, this is probably going to sound crazy, but what do you think of trying to do a music video in Elvish?"

Most people, I think, would have either backed away slowly or rolled their eyes. Not so my geeky and talented friend.

She spent a while translating Into the West, the song sung by Annie Lennox in the credits of The Return of the King, into Quenya. She began with a version on the website Quenya 101, but took some creative liberties with the lyrics and pronunciation in order to fit the words to the music. Kelsey very kindly offered to accompany the song on the piano.

None of us really knew what we were doing. I was the techie; I used an old keyboard, a Guitar Hero mic, and GarageBand to record the song. We had to do three or four takes before making a recording that did not have any coughs, sniffles, or missed notes. By the end of the final recording that afternoon, Kelsey's hands were shaking and Julie kept taking deep breaths. It was rather funny in a not-funny sort of way, because they were uptight and nervous for a solid two hours of recording-- but I got to relax on my bed and listen to beautiful piano and singing all afternoon.

We got some very interesting background noises that I couldn't totally eliminate-- but it was an experiment! Experiments are allowed to go badly in the hopes that they actually go quite wonderfully.
Julie says that next time we're recording a song that is actually in her range.

The video was a TON of fun to shoot, even though I now know many things that one should never do with a camera. The shakiness... yeah... it's really bad... Hey, this was my first time making a video that doesn't consist of simply pointing the camera at my hands as I demonstrate an arts and crafts technique!

My favorite part of this project? (Besides hanging out with friends, learning to use awesome software, and being unabashedly geeky?) Listening to the song over and over as I edited the video. :)

By the way, the lovely red-and-blue dress was made by Laura Cook, whose blog Sew Many Seams is definitely worth checking out! This was the dress she made me in exchange for the Entwife jewelry.

Here's a little photoshoot we did:

NÚMENNA

Á caita lissë ar lumba carelya

Lóm lantëa; utliel mettann lendava

Á humë sí álen óla quenion tuller nó

Tultëantë olla haira falassello

Man nyénlyo cast? Man nier sinë antalyassë?

Rato istuvalyë ilyë caurelyar autuvar

Varn rancunyats, nalyë er lorna

Refrain

Man polil cen i menllénassë?

Mana i cast i ninq maiwi ramar?

Olla i ëar marya Isil orta

ciryar utlier colien mardenna

Ar lli queruv telp calcanna

Cala i nenessë, ily fear^autar

stel sinta i ambarenna lómva

Ter lëor lantëar t enyal_llo ar lúmello

Áv quet utlielvë sí i mettanna

Ninq falss tultëar, le^ar ni hostuvar ata

Refrain

Ar nauval sís rancunyats, er lorna

Ar lli queruv telp calcanna

Cala i nenessë, sind ciryar autar

Númenna.

Leave a comment if you think that Jules' singing rocks and that Kelsey's piano is awesome-- I'd love to show them your feedback!