2015 Buffyfest Ornament Swap: Third & Fourth Ornaments Received.

Kat sent this amazing dress ornament!  Buffy's dress from "Prophesy Girl." 

Sharon sent this hilarious snowman, quoting Captain Hammer's famous line.  

Should I call him Captain Frozen Hammer? Ouch for him!

2015 Buffyfest Ornament Swap: Second Ornament Received

Danielle asked us all to list 4 or 5 favorite Whedonverse things; couples, scenes, props, whatever we liked.

I emailed her my likes and she chose 4 of them:

Mal & Inara

Giles as he busts in on Evil Willow and says "I'd like to test that theory." (I still go "WOOOOOO!" when it happens.)

Fred & Wesley

Jaynestown.


Thanks Danielle!

2015 Buffyfest Ornament Swap

YEAR 8! My year 7 of participating!

If you want to see previous entries, click here: Buffyfest Ornament Swap

I couldn't think of anything original, I'd done cross-stitch before, so I did the cross stitch and added them to ornaments.

I asked the people in my group to choose from one of 6 characters (I have patterns for 6 Buffy characters) & then I stitched their choice and added it to an ornament that was their first name initial.

Two people chose Buffy. 

Buffy

Willow

Giles

Spike (or SPOIK)

These have been mailed out. So let the waiting begin!  I can't wait to see what I get.

Fifth & Final Ornament: 2014 Buffyfest Ornament Swap

The final ornament comes from Jennifer in New Hampshire.  The awesomeness of this ornament cannot be contained.

We've got Xander, we've got his Snoopy Dance, we've got his eye-patch, we've got YELLOW CRAYONS.

"The first day of kindergarten, you cried because you broke the yellow crayon and you were too afraid to tell anyone. You've come pretty far; ending the world, not a terrifc notion, but the thing is, yeah. I love you. I loved crayon-breaky Willow, and I love scary, veiny Willow. So if I'm going out, it's here. You wanna kill the world, well then start with me. I've earned that."

Behold!

Thanks Jennifer!

And that concludes another successful year! I can't even get all of the ornaments I have received in two shots.

Fourth Ornament: 2014 Buffyfest Ornament Swap

These came from Lea in Wisconsin and the box smelled so good upon opening.

The Browncoat badge made from something I want to eat but was warned against, and a Buffy Snowman cookie cutter.

Thanks Lea!

Third Ornament: 2014 Buffyfest Ornament Swap

Sarah in IL sent me these home-made clay (?) ornaments; Mr. Pointy, Buffy's stake, and the Orb of Thesulah.  

Thanks Sarah!

Second Ornament: 2014 Buffyfest Ornament Swap

Heidi sent this ornament she made from pages of a Buffy comic book.

Very nice.  Still trying to figure out how she did this.  Thanks, Heidi.

First Ornament: 2014 Buffyfest Ornament Swap

Here's my first ornament from Alissa in Pennsylvania.

Oh Wash!  How I love you!

I also REALLY like that the "wall paper" is the music to the Firefly theme!!

Thanks Alissa!

2014 Buffyfest Ornament Swap!

It's that time again!  The 7th Annual Buffyfest Ornament Swap!  I've taken part in 6 of the 7 years; missed year one.

Every year, you make an ornaments based on the Whedonverse and get put into a group where you exchange them.  The ornaments can be from Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Cabin in the Woods, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, The Avengers, Much Ado About Nothing...pretty much anything that Joss has touched.

If you want to see my past posts showing what I have done and received, click here.

This year, I went with fuse beads (like the Perler brand.)  Isabel is constantly having me iron her fuse bead creations and I thought, "Oooh, can I find patterns online?"

Yes, yes, I could.  I went with characters from "The Avengers."

Loki, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Hulk.

These were randomly sent to the other 5 participants in my group.  Can't wait to see what I get and to see how they like mine.

Lazy

Sorry.  I just have not felt like posting. I am in a posting funk, I suppose.   The beginning of the year kind of threw me sideways with a throat-punch, and I am afraid I am still recovering.  Nothing exciting to post about, I suppose.

What's new, what's new.....

Really, I can't think. My reading has been DOWN. I've not had the heart to read.   I think I've read 4 books so far.

We did not renew our annual passes to Universal in an effort to save money, so that stinks.

Isabel made this awesome Puma diorama.

She was chosen again this year as one of two Young Authors in her class and we got to see her get her award.

And she won a library drawing.

Jacob finished his sophomore year and is working over the summer to make more money for the fall semester.  No pictures, because he hides from me, the vampire.  

That is all for now.

Fifth Ornament of the 2013 Buffyfest Whedonverse Ornament Swap

Number five hails from Canada.  It's the Angel Investigations logo from Joss' "Angel."

Fourth Ornament of the 2013 Buffyfest Whedonverse Ornament Swap

Heh heh heh!  Thanks Spy Kitten!

Third Ornament of the 2013 Buffyfest Whedonverse Ornament Swap Received

Rain from California sent me an envelope that was just a gift that kept on giving.  The envelope itself was made from some kind of paper with Angel on it.  

There was a post card with "The Scooby Gang" on it, with her wishes for me for a Merry Whedon.  She included two trading cards, a drawing of the firefly Serenity, a Buffy iron-on patch, AND my very own browncoat!!

Fantastic!

Second Ornament of the 2013 Buffyfest Whedonverse Ornament Swap Received

This beauty came from Jennifer in New York.  When I opened the box, I laughed so hard!

 Don't get it? FOR SHAME!  I mean....here, let me explain.

In the very last episode ever of Buffy, "Chosen" Season 7, (SPOILER ALERT), the gang's in a school bus racing like mad out of Sunnydale.  Sunnydale implodes into a crater; goodbye Sunnydale.  

The gang stops to stare out at their lost city.

What an AWESOME ornament, Jennifer!

P.S. TODAY, Epbot posted my ornaments on their blog.  Cool!  See the post here.

First Ornament of the 2013 Buffyfest Whedonverse Swap Received

My first ornament came from Sarah in Illinois.

Dr. Horrible wearing his goggles!  YAY!!

Thanks Sarah!

2013 Buffyfest Whedonverse Ornament Swap!

It's that time again!  The 6th annual Buffyfest Whedonverse Ornament Swap!

Click the Buffyfest Ornament Swap link on the right side bar or in the tags below this post to see some of the cool ornaments I have received and created to give in the 5 years I have taken part in the swap.

This year, as usual, I did the "What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?" dance of panic.  I searched on the internet for crafts made with paper because I had a few duplicate copies of Buffy season 8 comics and I wanted to incorporate the pages into my ornaments.  I came across this very simple tutorial.  Simple, but a bit time-consuming, so I did them while watching "Castle."

These ornaments were sent off to California, Illinois, and even Canada.  Six of us in the group, so I had to create five ornaments for the other participants.  Can't wait to see what I get!

Dr. Who Cross-Stitch

It seems like a fitting time to post about my gift for my nephew Jonathan, as we've just heard today who the new Doctor will be.  Congratulations to Peter Capaldi!  I for one am pleased about it.  I really liked him in the Dr. Who spin-off "Torchwood's" season 3, and yes, he was a character on a Dr. Who episode about the fall of Pompeii.  All the whiney "he's too old, he's not hot" people need to seriously brush up on their Dr. Who.

So, my nephew.  Jonathan's my eldest nephew.  My older sister Brenda's son.  Like me, he is Nerdtastic.  And he loves to spoil people.  He has definitely spoiled us on many occasions.  Like the time he got me this picture, signed.  Or the time he got me awesome Buffy books and Harry Potter game.   Then there was the time he COMPLETELY overloaded me with books or bought me the comics on Blu-Ray.  He took me to see "Wicked" for the very first time.  He bought David and I awesome pictures for our loft.  We are constantly texting each other random bits of geek trivia, discussing movies, actors, YouTube videos, etc. etc.

For his birthday at the end of July, I decided to make him something.  In January I purchased a Dr. Who pattern.  We both love Dr. Who (well, except for our mutual hate of the "Amy Pond" character) and I wanted to make him something by hand.

Now, I started in January.  I finished it two weeks before his July 30th birthday, with just enough time to frame and mail it to arrive on his actual birthday.

Teeeeeeeny tiny, eye-splitting stiching

Ta Da!

He totally loved it.

Love his 10th Doctor Tee, too.

Interested in the pattern?  Check out XStitchMyHeart on Etsy.  I bought 3 patterns; this one, an Avengers one and a Buffy one.  :)

I'll Be In My Bunk

BLAM!

My 26-year-old nephew was in Miami at Florida Supercon and sends me this picture! 

Squeeeeee!

He met Mr. Baldwin, who was confused by the two A's in my name.  My nephew told Adam that my mom (his grandma) was probably drunk when she named me, hence the extra A.  That got a laugh.  

 I can't wait to get it and frame it!  The text read "Happy Very Early Birthday!"  (It's in September.)

More Fun Stuff

Hello!  This summer is in full swing and I am TIRED.  Sorry for the failure in posts.

We went to an "I Hate Milk" party.

Isabel's "milk" mustache.

We've hit Universal Orlando (Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure) several times.

I was sent another person (this time from Houston) to train.  I'm waiting for her to email me pictures; she took a ton.  She also tuned me in to an AMAZING on-line eyeglass place.  As long as you have your prescription, including your P.D. measurement (pupilary distance), you can order glasses for CHEAP!!!!  WARNING: TOTALLY ADDICTING.

$29 TOTAL, including shipping.  YES, prescription lenses.

$24 TOTAL, prescription glasses, with shipping and tint too. (tint not pictured.)

Zenni Optical.  Go check them out.

David and I went for the first time in our 20 years here to The Enzian Theatre.  WHY did we wait so long to go??  We went to see Joss' "Much Ado About Nothing" in this amazing place where you can sit and have a meal at a table, on a couch, in a chair.  Just an awesome venue.  The movie was SO GOOD.  Shakespeare has to be seen to be understood and it has to be done right.  This was done right and was so much fun. I love Joss Whedon.  The audience really appreciated it, laughed at all the right moments; it was a good date night. 

That's me in the front center in pink.  There are more couches and tables below me,
and more behind where David was taking the picture.

David checking out the menu.

The appetizer was good.  David was not too thrilled with his meal (crab cake sandwiches.)  Mine was pretty good (the bun was a little crunchy on my chicken salad sandwich).  

Jacob's been working his TAIL off this summer, saving money for the fall.  This fall semester, he's $2,000 short from last semester, which was already about $2000short after all the scholarships he got.  That's $$ he either gets from new scholarships (he's lazy in the "searching" front) or from work.  He steadily paid off $2300 to me for the Spring semester and  another $700 for a car bump he had with a co-worker that we settled AWAY from insurance.   Now, he's working to pay the $4,000 he has to come up with for the fall semester.  He won't get it all done this summer, but he's giving me cash every week that I save up and track on a spreadsheet.  Private college ain't cheap, and we (David and I) ain't a bank.  He'll work part-time during the fall semester too, to help with the $800 a-month payment that gets sucked out of my bank account.   

Isabel started Jazz dance class at a local dance studio and is LOVING IT.  She also wants to join Tae Kwan Do.  KYEAAAA! That's happening this coming week, as well as another trip to Charlotte in 2 weeks to train a new manager.  They're sending me, rather than a manager, to train a new manager.  Uh huh. Yeap.  *shaking head*

And that's what's new these past 2 weeks.