What Brings You Here?

A PROLOUGE TO THIS POST

A prologue (Greek πρόλογος prologos, from the word pro (before) and lógos, word) is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details. -- Sir Wikipedia

This is the post that disapeared.

It existed one moment and was gone the next.

It went POOF.

And it made me so sad. It has been two weeks since my original post apparated off the face of the blogosphere, and I'm afraid that much of the content of this post packed its little bags and marched right out of my memory. I don't want to think about how they escaped my brain. Perhaps by crawling out of my ears. This has always been a frightening thought for me, ever since the day I saw a magician pull a scarf out of someone's ear.

But I have to remind myself of that ubiquitous poster, so innantely British, (and also from the 1940's, a period of history that I love to study): "Keep Calm and Carry On."

I shall carry on. And if this post don't shine like the top of the Crysler Building, you must forgive me. Allons-y.

CHAPTER ONE

CONCERNING KEYWORDS

Back in January-- my how time flies-- I noticed an interesting trend among bloggers. They shared some of the keywords (those words you type into Google) that brought people to their blogs or websites. People like Jennifer Fulweiler who is one of the top hits for "socially awkward person" (and she loves to talk about it!). Or Heather the Story Monster. There were many more people, but this is a shobby attempt at re-doing a post and I really don't have the energy to look up any more.

The top keywords for my blog are pretty obvious. Some are more interesting.

The number 1 Google search bringing people to my blog is, strangely enough, "Hermione Granger Yule Ball Dress" and a hundred bajillion permutations thereof, including "harry hermione granger goblet ball dress blue really for sale."

Two years ago, I did a colored pencil drawing of Hermion Granger from the Harry Potter series. I loved her dress in the Goblet of Fire movie, but the book purist in me hated that it was pink and immodest. I drew it in the original periwinkle that J.K. Rowling wrote about. I posted the most HORRIBLE scan ever, and then a very blurry photograph of the image.

For some reason Google thinks that that old, quick post is more important than the really good posts I've spent lots of time on recently. :)

Go see the post here.

This was the most popular post on my blog at the time that I first wrote this post (now the Book Clock Tutorial has that honor).

I decided to see why it's so popular:

So cool.

The second most popular search is "narnia lucy" and variations on that such as "lucy pevensie," "narnia drawing," and "llw costume." (LLW stands for "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.") This leads to an equally bad scan of a colored pencil drawing...

Here's the original post.

The Evenstar is another popular post and a big keyword. This is the first keyword that I expected! I obviously talk about Evenstars a lot, considering that I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan and I make Evenstar-inspired jewelry... I also get a lot of hits for "Elvish," "elven," "lotr," "lordoftherings costumes," etc.

One of the Evenstar sets.

The Book Clock tutorial isn't big in the Google keyword list, but it's currently the most-read page on my blog.

I find it funny that the Book Clock has become so popular on Pinterest and various crafting blogs. I think it's a really great project, of course, but currently it's sitting on my dresser (as pictured above, when the dresser was clean), surrounded by stacks of paper, bobby pins, post-it-notes, Easter candy, and random other knickaknacks that wind up on top of dressers.

The clock isn't even working right now. I had to take the batteries out to put in a camera. It's amazing how batteries are never in the battery box, and how the batteries that are in the battery box are broken batteries. I'm semi-famous for a project that isn't even functioning right now. :P


By the way, that picture I just showed you of the book clock? I didn't show you what was on the wall next to my dresser.

This is typical for me. Those are notes for my research paper on WWII-era cryptology, and post-it-notes filled with Celtic Knots and math-y stuff, because I'm attempting to figure something out. Hey, I like working with big spaces where I can move things around and arrange them in order. I'm a "spatial thinker" or something along those lines, according to my mom.

There are bunches and bunches of other keywords that bring people to my blog. It's really facinating-- to me. I'm sure you could care less about it, so while I got have fun with that, I want you to press the RANDOM BUTTON.

Yes, I have a random button. It's over on the right sidebar, underneath the search bar. Click it to find random posts from my blog. I did, and found some hilarious ones! I'm going to attempt to embed that button in this post, right below this paragraph...

.

CHAPTER TWO

ILLUSTRATED KEYWORDS
IN WHICH SHAYLYNN ATTEMPTS TO REMEMBER SOME OF THE FUNNY SEARCHES THAT GO ALONG WITH THE ONE-MINUTE DRAWINGS SHE MADE BACK IN FEBUARY

Shay Lin Fairi Stor

Lots of keywords are misspellings of my admittedly unspellable name. "Shaylynn's Fairy Store" is the most common among people who know me outside of the blog. Then I get all sorts of strange ways that people remember my olde-fashioned blog name, such as "Shaelyn Fayrie Shop" and "Shaelynnes' Faerie Shoppes." But my favorite has got to be "Shay Lin Fairi Stor."

big stack of books

I recognize that this refers to the Destroyable Books Blog Series, but all I can picture is a stack of evil school books.

DIY herbal slippers

Oh, yesssss, precious, that wonderful post about the Balrog's pink slippers. Lord of the Rings fans, rejoice!!!

apple dress

Do you have to be royalty to be a circlet?

I'm not sure, my dear Googler. I'll let you know next time I morph into a circlet. Maybe I'll also morph into a Princess. That would be cool.


i bought a circlet

That's nice to know. What it one of mine? Because that would make me very happy.


easy abstract art

Um... isn't that the definition of abstract art?
(So sorry to fans of abstract works. I actually do like some kinds of abstract art. But it is so FUN to make abstract art the brunt of all my jokes!)

i'm polymotic

I'm really hoping this isn't a bad word that I just don't know about. But all I could think about is polyatomic.

"Poly" is a Greek prefix "many," and "atomic," of course, means "atom." Therefore, a person who is polymotic is made of many atoms.

It is highly likely that the person who typed in that keyword is made of many atoms, because I doubt that a solitary atom could type that on a keyboard.

(Yes, yes, I know, polyatomic technically refers to a metal molecular ion, but let me be happy with my etymology-based reasoning. Thank you.)

all you need elvish letters of love

You are SO right, dear Googler. I sincerely hope that Mr. Right, wherever he is, is learning Elvish and will write me love letters in that beautiful language. (Kudos to anyone who can read the above drawing.)

This also made the Beatles' All You Need is Love song get stuck in my head?


unicycle        jumprope

OK, so these were two seperate searches, but they should have been together. I can jumprope on the unicycle.

Someday I'll get my brother to go out to the park with me and take pictures. Then you'll have PROOF. Because I can do it, and it's totally awesome.


Virtues and Defects of a Young Girl

This is the name of a really old book that my grandma gave me... but I don't remember posting about it on my blog. *raises eyebrow suspiciously*

(Actually, I can't raise an eyebrow suspiciously. My eyebrows like to move together. So it's more like, *raises forehead up and down suspiciously*)

real vs. fake peackock earrings

I'm concerned about the poor peacocks!


sword juggling
I WANNA LEARN THAT!

abstract painting of love

how to make a fairy

I know this is talking about the flower fairies craft, but sometimes I have a macabre sense of humor.

does Hobby Lobby sell ring mandrel?

I love random people who type their questions into Google. I don't know if Hobby Lobby sells mandrels, but I do know that Micheals does. That's where I bought mine.


toilet art paper

this is the most potty humor I will ever willingly post on my blog

(To alliviate your paint, this keyword will bring people to the toiliet paper roll fake wrought iron thing that I made).

first heels

evenstar necklace meaning

Hmmm. This one is actually pretty hard to explain.

In the Lord of the Rings, the Elf princess Arwen Undomiel is considered one of the loveliest elves ever. This is during the time when the Elves are leaving Middle Earth, so she is called the Evening Star of her people. "Evening Star" got morphed into Evenstar.

In the movies, Arwen's Evenstar necklace symbolized her immortality, and when she gave it to Aragorn it meant she was giving up her immortality in order to be with him.

Soo... yeah. There's way more to it, too. :)

goblet of fireball

I know this goes back to the Hermione Granger drawing... but my dear Googler, you have just invented a new game.

CHAPTER THREE

Whew. This only took me forever and a day. But now it's done. And I no longer look like this:

Click here if you aren't sure what I'm referring to.

I've spent a lot of time redoing this post and hope it's worth it. Let me know if you laughed. :)

THE END

25% Off / Clearence

Sometimes I amaze myself by just how much I do. Over the last several months, I have been so busy (I know, I know, you are tired of hearing that!)-- and I've barely had the time to sit down and draw, much less the time to sit down with pliers, beads, and all my delicious jewelry findings.

I feel like I haven't been able to make jewelry in ages. I certainly haven't been able to try out all the new techniques that are bouncing around in the back of my head as if it were a trampoline. Those noisy little ideas are so annoying when I'm trying to focus on other things... they are almost as bad as my little siblings!

Anyway, a few days ago I was digging through my boxes of jewelry to locate a pair of earrings for a customer, when I realized something. I have made a lot of jewelry. I have three shoeboxes overflowing with jewelry. And those are just the ones that I have online. There is a whole 'nother box full of sweet little trinkets just waiting to be photographed, and a pile of jewelry on my workdesk that hasn't made it into that box.

It's a little ridiculous.

I'm hoping to clean out the older jewelry and make my Shoppe easier to navigate (right now I have 158 items for sale and it must be hard for people to find what they want). And so I'm doing a sale!

25% every item in the SALE category!

Use code: SUMMERCLEARENCESALE42712

Here's a link to the sale category.

Until May 23, 2012.

 

Much of the jewelry in that category is already priced very low (especially the older jewelry that doesn't live up to my current standards and new skills). You'll pretty much be getting them for the price of the materials. And there are lots and lots and lots of jewelry in that sale category.

 

Have fun! :)

 

 

 

P.S. Ooooooh, I just have to squeal about this... I recently mailed out my second international package!!! The package is supposed to be a surprise gift to a relative of the customer, so I won't tell you what country, but I will tell you that it is in this part of the world:

 

image via

That's right. Europe.

 

Something I made is going to Europe.

Something I made is going to Europe.

Something I made is going to Europe.

 

AHHHHHHHHH! *dies happily*

 

For those of you who don't know, I am in complete jealousy of those who live in Europe. There is so much history in each little hill and river. All sorts of great stories originated in Europe. And geez, almost all of my favorite authors are from Europe. And my favorite movies. And my favorite poetry. (The only bad thing about Europe is that homeschooling is illegal in most of those countries.)I've never been outside of the US, but as soon as I grow up and get a job and have enough money, I want to travel there. So, in case you didn't catch it, I LOVE EUROPE.

 

I probably sound like a complete idiot to those blog readers who live in Europe (those lucky, lucky blog readers who live in Europe. Or who have visited there.) Tell me, are people in Europe as fascinated by American accents as we are with European accents?

 

By the way, here is a fascinated tidbit of information: it cost me less postage to send a padded envelope to Europe than it cost me to send a Priority Mail box to Oklahoma, which is only about ten hours away from where I live, as the car drives. (Ok. That doesn't sound as cool as when people like Tolkien say "As the crow flies.")

 

Jewel's Photoshoot {Part Two}

Part 1 HERE

She must be one of the Wood Elves of Mirkwood. Singing to trees?
(Yes, she was singing while I was taking the pictures. I thought it would make her relax and feel more natural in front of a camera, but I have a feeling she just thought I was out of my mind. But then again, aren't I always?)

I love this picture-- Jewel is joyful and this really captures her smile. :) Plus, I just re-read The Hobbit, in which the Elves are far less solemn and sad than in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien describes them as joyful and fond of laughter and songs. It all fits. Jewel laughs a lot, has a stunning singing voice, and looks great in fantasy clothing. I think she's a real Elf in disguise.

(Jewels, I can just imagine your reaction to this. Muahahaha!)

This picture (click to enlarge) unfortunately turned out very blurry. I still think it looks cool and I had fun editing it; which version do you think is best?

This picture is from the first post on Jewel's photoshoot. My online friend Victoria edited it-- she did a great job!

Part 1 HERE

Jewel

Meet Jewel the Elf

Aiya! 

("Hello" in Quenya. In Sindarin, it is "Suilad." Non-geeks: this is Tolkien's Elvish.)

I love photography. :) It's an art that I'm just barely touching the surface of, and it is so much fun! Recently I was asked by a friend, "Jewel," to do her senior photoshoot. (!!!)

I was going to use my dad's work camera, a Nikon, for the real photoshoot. He was out late on a case, though, and while we waited for him, Jewel agreed to be my guniea pig (willingly and happily, too!). I've always wanted to do a Elven photoshoot, and Jewel just happened to fit in my dress! We dressed her up and hiked out to my favorite haunts with my point-and-shoot.

We were gung-ho about it, too. We ran with bare feet and sandals through the marsh by the pond, skirted the baby poison ivy in the field, and the marched through brambles in the woods. It was glorious.

Jewel has kindly given me permission to share her photos! We took a lot-- look for my favorites in about two days. Although, how could I pick favorites when Jewel is naturally so photogenic?

Longtime blog readers will remember this dress and the oh-so-very-very-big blog post about said "Masquerade Dress". (My irl friends will also recognize the dress, because it is all that I ever wear to costume dances, random dress up parties, and on Halloween). The dress has gone through some changes... It was my second real sewing project, done in 2009 (here's proof-- oh my goodness, it has been three years! I haven't done serious sewing since...)

Here are some pictures of moi, and my dress, and then little moi and little my dress.

top: me, on my way to an English Country Dance

bottom: the "Eowyn" vest that I made last year (it does not fit well), and randomly a picture of me in third (fourth?) grade wearing my very first Elf dress. I was Arwen. :) It's the same pattern as my second, current Elven dress, just lots smaller-- and Mom sewed it, not me.

Now the dress has been updated with more fitted upper sleeves, losing the itchy though beautiful embroidered white material, and lower sleeves of a beautiful, sturdy two-sided material. I also created drawstrings for the sleeves. Now, on to Jewel's photoshoot...

Here you can see the updated sleeves. We also used scrap fabric from the sleeves to make a sort of sash for Jewel to wear, since the dress was loose around her waist.

The sky was stunning that day, and the wind was blowing calmly. 

Perfect weather for an Elf to wander out in...

The leaves were long, the grass was green,

The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,

And in the glade a light was seen

Of stars in shadow shimmering...

(Song of Beren and Lúthien, by J.R.R. Tolkien)

In every picture from the back, I kept thinking, wow, she looks so much like me! Must be the dress. :) She borrowed some of my scarves and hats for the regular photoshoot, and I kept thinking the same thing about those pictures.

The light and colors in the picture turned out weird, but I rather like it in black and white. (Good trick to remember for poor pictures in the future).

It was bright out, but this picture turned out gloriously moody.

This is my brother's Aragorn cape. :)

 Hantalë (hannad/thanks), Jewels, for being such a lovely model and going along with my crazy ideas. Hantalë for being crazy yourself. :)

Tenn' enquetielva!

(Until we meet again! Don't forget, I'll share more pictures in the next post!)

Update: The best pics are in Part 2, HERE!