Pinning Pictures of Inspiration




Have you heard of Pinterest?
It's a "visual bookmarking site." I'm totally addicted.

It's exactly what I need (I used to rely on my brower's bookmarks toolbar, but that makes it hard to find projects and artwork-- Pinterest's "picture pinning" is much easier), but at the same time, it's exactly what I don't need (another time killer because I enjoy spending waste time browsing other people's pins).


Please check out my Pinterest boards to see the things that have been inspiring me lately!
Follow Me on Pinterest

Pinterest is still in Beta mode, so if you would like to join the fun, email me at ShealynnsFaerieShoppe{at}gmail{dot}com and I'll send you an invite. :)

Guest Blogging!

Today I'm guest blogging over at Polish the Stars!

Head on over to learn how to make a super-easy Floating Bookshelf!

Thank you, Megan, for asking me to guest blog! :D And for the birthday wishes!

Sketchbook Tour-- Frodo Baggins

If my last post, full of recent drawings, is not enough art for you... here's the latest sketchbook in my Sketchbook Tours! All drawings done by an 11-12 year old me.

Why did I name this sketchbook Frodo Baggins? Well, Frodo Baggins is far more interesting than Sketchbook Number Five from Five Years Ago. Plus, there is a drawing of Frodo Baggins on the last page, and it is a drawing that I was/am very proud of.


(wow-- has it seriously been five years since I drew in this sketchbook? It feels like yesterday. Goodness. I'm 16. I shouldn't be feeling like an old lady).
I was not feeling the best when I made this video. This means there is a distinct lack of goofiness...
A good rule of thumb: If I am not hyper/goofy/crazy, I am generally sick/tired/doing school/cleaning.

Hopefully my cute little brother's appearance will alleviate your misery concerning my obvious lack of insanity.


P.S. Perhaps one of my technical-minded readers could explain to me why all of my videos have a large black border around them when I upload them to YouTube?

Colored Pencil on the Ceiling

"Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and
supreme experience if one only had a coloured pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."
~G.K. Chesterton
I love those weeks when the world sparkles with new beauty hidden in every mundane corner... just begging me to draw, draw, draw, and draw.

School has already been going for four weeks, and I've had several other projects keeping me busy, but an artist just can't resist the call of pens and pencils. :)

So, here are a few of the drawings I've done over the past month! Enjoy, and I hope you have a great holiday weekend! I'll be off spending my free time making some jewelry and drawing when I'm not hanging with friends and family!

(click to enlarge. the first nine are on deviantart-- click the image for a description!)
unfinished frontispeice for my sketchbook.
A comic for each hour of the day














A 3cm drawing of Samwise Gamgee.
(Facebook fans are familiar with this drawing-- only a few people guessed who it was! I need to work on miniature drawings, methinks.)


 Erm.... a self portrait. Have pity on me! It was my first real project at art class-- and my first time trying to draw me in a mirror-- and I hadn't touched chalk pastels for... I think literally for years. :) So have mercy on me... can you tell that chalk pastels don't like to co-operate with me?!

(eeep! you guys know I'm taking art classes now, right? i'm so excited, i've never done them before and my teacher is amazing! the watercolor painting above the self-portrait was done at art class, too.)


DIY Book Page Necklace Display

Royal Filigree necklace. Find it {here}.

   Once upon a time, in a land quite near you, there was a sixteen year old who made jewelry. She sold the jewelry to make money for art supplies and saving for the big, scary future. She took pictures of the jewelry to put online. She even did a craft fair or two.

     One day, while in the land of A Great Many Supplies, the girl saw a giant tower of shelves-- and upon them were items that she needed: jewelry displays.

     Happily she danced over to the aisle, but her heart fell when she saw the paper tucked inside of the display. Two numbers were writte on it. 2-0.

     For a little cardboard thing.

     Now, that wouldn't do. $20 is a lot. Even with the magic slip of paper that lessened the price... it was too much. So the girl, being learned in the ways of the DIY (do-it-yourself), decided to make it.


Necklace Display Tutorial
You will need:
Cardboard (I used a cereal box)
Scissors
Paper (I used book pages)
Glue (I used Mod Podge)
Tape
Knitting needle or other hard, pointy object
Sewing pin




This project is part of my Creative/Destroyable Books series. See other book crafts {here}.

Trace the shape of the necklace display onto the cardboard.
The front of the cereal box will be the front of the display. Line up your drawing so that the folds of the cereal box align with the folds of the finished display.
Click the image to enlarge it. Hopefully that will help you see the placement and shape of the template. You just have to wing it. Remember, it's just a cereal box and it costs nada, so don't be afraid to mess up.
(After I finished this project, I saw a similar type of DIY display that has a printable template for making the flat shape. Check it out here.)


Cut out the shape that you drew.
Note that my drawing included curvy lines-- don't cut those out, leave those marking for later.

Roll it into a somewhat round shape so that it stands on its own.
(Sidenote: see those toliet paper rolls? I made some pretty cool wall art with them. Check it out here!)


Remember those curvy lines I told you not to cut out? Trace over them with a knitting needle. I found that I had to trace them over on the front and then again on the back.

The knitting needle dented the cardboard so that it is easy to fold the curvy lines back. This makes the display more stable and pretty.

Secure the back with tape.
The Cheerios box isn't exactly pretty, now is it? Let's resolve that.
Grab a Destroyable Book and tear out some pages.
Then tear up the pages.:)
Decopauge the paper bits onto the Cheerios box necklace display.
(Put on a layer of glue, set down a piece of paper, put more glue over that, overlap another piece of paper, etc, etc.)

I thought that the book pages stood out too much, so once the glue had dried, I painted on a light layer of white gesso (acrylic paints works too).
Chainmaille cross necklace. . Email me if you want to know why. 
Ta-da! A beautiful, DIY necklace display.
(And in my opinion, book pages are waaaaaay cooler than the boring black velvet and stark white plastic that I saw in the Land of a Great Many Supplies).
Rivendell Twilight necklace. For sale {here}.
.

P.S. Sorry this is a day late. As I mentioned in my last post, I am being haunted by the evil Blue Screen of Death and the computer is being pickley. :)
By the way, a question for you dear blog readers: should I keep doing Sketchbook Tours? I have several more videos made, but my four most recent sketchbooks haven't been filmed yet.