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12 Days of Fandom Ornaments: #3

My Christmas tree is a mix of ornaments from my childhood and ones from later on in my life. Many of them are related to my favorite fandoms, naturally. I thought I would showcase one every other day in December in a 12 Days of Fandom Ornaments series.

Day 3: Gandalf the Grey

Ornament03

Another Hallmark Ornament, this one from 2005, shows one of my favorite characters in the Lord of the Rings. How excited am I about the new Hobbit movie? So excited that Gandalf is near the top of my tree, wisely looking over it. heehee I bought this one for myself.

Craft: Harry Potter Pin Fail

Far more people RSVPed for the annual DADA (Harry Potter Meetup) Yule Party this year, which means I am scrambling to fill Christmas crackers (which, I hope, I’ll feel up to assembling tomorrow after my trip to the hospital for another test). Which meant that I once again attempted to make pins. There was more desperation in this attempt, so I kept working until I got some right. I found a fantastic tutorial. However, I ruined a whole lot of supplies in the process, which was painful but a good lesson for me to learn. I’m used to trying something, getting it right, and moving on. I’m not used to having such a high learning curve and wasting money and time in the process.

Buttons
Me: 6
Badge-a-Minit: 14

Fail! Luckily, I found a few from last year, so I will definitely have enough for all the crackers now. What a relief!

Category: crafts, fail, merch  Tags: , , ,  2 Comments

12 Days of Fandom Ornaments: #2

My Christmas tree is a mix of ornaments from my childhood and ones from later on in my life. Many of them are related to my favorite fandoms, naturally. I thought I would showcase one every other day in December in a 12 Days of Fandom Ornaments series.

Day 2: Jayne Hat

Ornament02

Girl hangs a hat like this on her tree and you know she’s not afraid of anything. Pretty cunning, don’t you think?

I bought this mini Jayne Cobb hat from the TV show Firefly so long ago that I cannot remember where I purchased it. It was certainly in the days before Etsy. I know where I purchased my actual Jayne Hat (Wear with Style) and I’ve purchased one for a swap (Cutiehats). But this particular one? I can’t remember. It’s great quality and super shiny đŸ™‚

12 Days of Fandom Ornaments: #1

My Christmas tree is a mix of ornaments from my childhood and ones from later on in my life. Many of them are related to my favorite fandoms, naturally. I thought I would showcase one every other day in December in a 12 Days of Fandom Ornaments series.

Day 1: Christmas Eeyore

Ornament01

As Eeyore, from Winnie-the-Pooh, is my personal mascot, I thought I should start the series off with him. This is a 2013 Hallmark ornament, though I didn’t buy it at a Hallmark store. I feel like this every time I attempt to put lights up on my tree–but I’m too indecisive to buy a pre-lit Christmas tree (I want to be able to change the lights from year to year).

Happy Geeky Holidays!

GeekyChristmasI happen to love the holiday season. Everyone is a little more generous, and everything is a little more magical. Maybe I wouldn’t appreciate twinkling light displays if I saw them every day, but I’d be willing to take that chance.

Today, I put up my 8-bit video game Christmas wreath. I’m scared to turn it on at night because I suspect I will forget to turn it off again and drain the batteries. I’m forgetful like that. But I know it’s going to make me smile every time I come home.

One of my favorite things about the holidays is decorating my Christmas tree. My tree and its ornaments are full of memories and fun things that make me smile. I thought that it would be fun to do a series on my blog, showing some of my fandom-related ornaments. Look for that here in December!

Ouch? A Discussion of Wands

I own some wands. Seven of them, in fact. My first (and primary) is my special Willow wand, as willow is my spirit wood. It is always at the center of my wand display. Flanking it are two Warner Brothers Studios wands, one for Remus and one for Sirius. They are significantly heavier. I don’t use these wands, merely keep them for display, but I love looking at the intricate designs and personality in them, because they suit my two favorite characters so well. I have three wands that were handcrafted–one from an extremely artistic friend (it’s green and has leaves on it; perfect for a Herbology-loving Hufflepuff) and the other two from swaps (one is small enough to fit in a whimsy jar).  And I have a Harry Potter light-up wand that glows red; that’s my Wizard Rock wand because it’s perfect for occasions where you must cast lumos and dance at a concert.

“It’s dance time.
C”mon wizards and witches,
Get your wands up!”

~The Ministry of Magic, Dance Time

My wand collection

My wand collection

WeasleyWandsI got an email from Warner Brothers a few days ago that partially featured a sale on Fred & George Weasley’s wands. The wands come together in a lovely W&W stand. I’d seen their wands before, but I’d never taken a serious look at them, as I honestly think I’m all set as far as wands go. I remember thinking how nice it was that Fred’s wand and George’s wand look so different. To me, the twins are a great pair, but they’re not interchangeable. So it was neat that their wands are definitely not as identical as they are physically. And the display stand is quite beautiful, especially with the little Ws at the top of the columns.

George’s wand looks a little bit like a broom, but with crisscrossing, intricate designs. It’s got a pleasing look to it and it seems like it would be satisfying to hold. On the other hand, there’s Fred’s wand. It looks lovely in the display stand picture, perhaps with rows of designs. But when you look at it close-up, it’s more like a pine cone. Ouch! How does he even grip this thing, let alone do magic with it?

FredsWand

The only thing I can figure is that, knowing Fred, it must be a joke. Given canon, it’s thought his wand might be better for transfiguration work. Perhaps it’s the wand itself that is transfigured. “You thought that was my wand? Ha! That’s not my wand. This rubber chicken here, that’s my real wand!” Almost as bad as a glass of water that thinks it’s an oak tree? You be the judge. All I know is that this wand has got to be a bit uncomfortable. I wouldn’t want to be gripping this tight for hours while doing spellwork or during an intense battle unless I had on some pretty nice gloves.