Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Challenge of Literature Blog Hop: Girl On Fire

Hello sweet friends and lovely blog hoppers!  I am so excited about this challenge!  Can you tell?  Do the exclamation points tip you off?  I have always loved books, always!  My mother read to me as a very little one and by the time I was four I was starting to read on my own.  I grew up a Navy brat and we moved around a wee bit... books were one of the great constants in my life (some of my dearest friends, in fact).  A rather awkward and odd child, I fell in love with Shakespeare at the age of seven.  I remember wandering around the Kitsap County Library, bored with they children's books and finding a slender book (the Yale Shakespeare, you know the ones, blue cloth covers?  Still my favorite!) with the gold lettering on the spine that said "Romeo and Juliet"... even I had heard of the star-crossed lovers.  Curiosity piqued I couldn't help but pull the volume from the shelves and sat down in the rather dark aisle and began to read.  At such a young age I didn't understand all I read, of course, but the language captured me.  It was magical to my young mind and from then on I thirsted even more for words, words that painted pictures, words that evoked emotions, words that inspired my imagination to fly.

Since that time I have read so many books, so many wonderful, magical, inspiring books.  I have read books from a wide variety of genres, time periods, authors... and I have very rarely found a book I truly didn't like.  I loved reading so much that I chose English as my major at the UO and loved it.  Loved!  I have many favorites... Beowulf (which I own in Old English), Emma by Jane Austen, Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare (though I love all Shakespeare, it is one of my oddball favorites), The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas, almost anything by Mercedes Lackey, Emily Dickinson's poetry, John Donne's poetry... plenty of classics and modern literature alike.  I won't deny I loved every single Harry Potter novel, I have a huge weak spot for Patricia C. Wrede's Dealing with Dragons series, and I did indeed enjoy Twilight... OH!  and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon!  Jamie makes me swoon-y.  ;).  There are many others I can't think of at the moment, but they are there... hundreds of them lol.

I know, I know, you have other blogs to hop!  Cut to the chase woman!  Ok!!!  Of late I have caught the Hunger Games bug... a good friend of mine recommended it and I couldn't put it down.  What drew me to the novels was Katniss, the main character herself, the three novels can be seen in so many ways... but it was the parallel between the greater plot and Katniss inner struggles that truly captured me.  I don't want to spoil anything for any of you who have not read it and I am worried if I try too hard I will blab on and on... so I am going to cheat a wee bit and borrow from Wikipedia's article on the novel:

"The Hunger Games is a young adult novel written by American television writer and novelist Suzanne Collins. It was first published on September 14, 2008, by Scholastic, in hardcover.[1]It is written in the voice of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where the countries of North America once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, holds hegemony over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle until only one person is left." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games)


One of the themes throughout the entire series is fire.  Katniss' district is in charge of coal mining, when she ends up a participant in the Hunger Games her stylist, Cinna, and his female counterpart, Portia, choose fiery costumes to represent District 12.  From there all of Katniss' "promo" (remember this is a televised event, scary reality tv) outfits involve the look of fire in its many forms... earning her the nickname "the girl on fire".  To me the fire theme is so perfect for that parallel between Katniss and her world... she is like a phoenix... going from ashes to coal to fire and back again as she grows and changes... and the journey is never easy for her, her world is a very harsh one.  Enough of my rambling, here is my piece inspired by the "Girl on Fire"


Challenge of Literature:  Girl on Fire

Challenge of Literature:  Girl on Fire

Challenge of Literature:  Girl on Fire

Challenge of Literature:  Girl on Fire

Challenge of Literature:  Girl on Fire

Featuring Fallen Angel Brass Co. brass chain, wire, and bead caps, a stunning boro by Amanda Cargill Austin of Sea Shore Glass, garnet chips from Legendary Beads, faceted onyx rounds, and a brass stamping blank from B'Sue Boutique.

I hope you enjoyed my piece :)  Now, off to see the others!  I can't wait!



Challenge of Literature 2012
<div align="center"><a href="http://treasures-found.blogspot.com" title="Challenge of Literature 2012"><img src="http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg508/tesoritrovati/booksbuttonv2.jpg" alt="Challenge of Literature 2012" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Thank you all!

~Jenn

The Giveaway Winners Are...

I will keep this entry short and sweet :).  I am sorry it did not go up yesterday, but my computer is still being cranky lol.

Here we go!  The first winner will receive this bracelet:

Key to My Heart Wrap Bracelet

And the winner is...
Erin Fickert-Rowland!

The second winner will be receiving this lovely set of bracelets:

New bracelet fun

And the winner is...


ZombiesAteYou!!

If both of you would please contact me with your addresses I will ship these off to you!   Thank you everyone who commented, it was such a pleasure to read about why you love May!!

Please come back again tomorrow to see my post for the lovely Erin Prais-Hintz's Challenge of Literature Blog Hop!!

Challenge of Literature 2012

~Jenn

Monday, May 21, 2012

The War Against My Machine...

Every time I think I am finally going to be able to stay on the blogging bandwagon something happens... illness, family crisis, or in this case... the war between my netbook and I.  My netbook's name is Morrigan (yes, that Morrigan... also called Morgan le Fay), apparently naming her that over two years ago was a mistake because boy does she have a bad attitude ;).  The good news is I had a friend help me out and she seems to be mollified for the moment, though I believe a new computer is inevitable *sigh*.

Anyway!  I had planned on writing out a happy little post with my first of two (or maybe even three) giveaways celebrating my one year shop anniversary over a week ago!  I am so behind thanks to Morrigan *grumbles*.  So, on to the giveaway!  I will be giving away this lovely wrap bracelet to one lucky winner:

Key to My Heart Wrap Bracelet

I will also be giving away this set of four bracelets (seed bead fun :) ) to a second lucky winner:

New bracelet fun

All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment and tell me... your favorite thing about May :) (oh and PLEASE leave my your email address unless you use blogger and have email turned on already, otherwise I can't contact you to tell you you have won! :) ).  For a second/third/etc entry share this giveaway on FB, Twitter, or your blog (make sure to leave separate comments for each entry leaving me a link :) ).  I will draw the two winners next Tuesday (May 29th)!  I am also having a sale for my FB fans, so go check out my FB page for the coupon code :).

And on to other news...  here are some of the things I've been working on :)

Earth's Embrace Earrings

Key to Dreaming Necklace

Midnight Flowers

All three items are currently for sale in my shop :)  Soul's Fire Designs on Etsy.

Thank you all of you for dropping by and good luck in the drawing!

~Jennifer

Friday, May 4, 2012

One Crayon Color Challenge: Pollyanna Yellow


Hello and welcome to my stop on the One Crayon Color Challenge Blog Hop!  This is hosted by the wonderfully warm and talented Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime.



Our mission was to design in a monochromatic color scheme.. my crayon challenge?  Yellow!  Yellow is a challenge color for me and that is for certain.  I love it, but am usually a bit hesitant to use it.  Why?  Perhaps because it is so powerful.  It is the color of sun, joy, warmth, smiles, laughter, energy... or at least for me it is  Gladness is yellow, I am certain of it, and that is why my set of bracelets are named after Miss Pollyanna herself


Why bracelets?  Because I am a bracelet addict these days, I love them.  I love to mix, match, stack, play...  I was sad when I realized I didn't have any sari silk to add to these (another addiction of mine lol). This set is full of gemstones (lemon quartz, honey jade, and citrine chips) with a handful of czech glass and a crazy attempt at a steam punk focal that I made.


I have been preparing for a craft fair (which is tomorrow... or today, depending on where you are lol) and am a bit behind on just about everything.  I had big plans to make a matching necklace and earrings.. but alas, no time.  So I may just have to do those in the next little while post show and put them up :).  Thank you so much to Sally for organizing this, you are amazing!  So go on, go see what the other crayon hoppers have pulled out of the old crayon box :)

~Jennifer


hosted by:

Red

Orange

 Yellow

Blue

Rebecca Anderson  http://songbeads.blogspot.com
Alicia Marinache  http://allprettythings.ca
Sandi Volpe   http://sandivolpe.com

 Green

Jenny Davies Reazor   http://www.jdaviesreazor.com
Elizabeth Auld  http://beadsforbusygals.com

Purple

Jennifer Judd Velasquez http://jenjuddrocks.blogspot.com

Brown

Black