Llyra-fantasyfae

 Step One

- Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.

- If you wish for real life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.

- Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ, or link to this post (it'll be public) so that the holiday joy will spread.


Step Two

- Surf around your friendslist (or friendsfriends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. 

And now here's the important part:
- If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it.

You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out; it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish and it might come true. Give and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

1. Models, I need models. Have a costume you just want to capture, an idea you want to create, lets collaborate. I really want to stretch my creative muscles this year. Even if its just plotting for future collaborations, like at COCO this year lets do..... I would like to have creative ideas to look forward to. 
2. Give me some ideas to stretch my photo abilities. Hey Amy there is this really cool technique and tutorial on how to do it. Try it out on me/ your cat. Hey Amy I think you could really express this idea..... Don't be offended if I can't get to it right away. My camera is on the down hill slide. 6 month goal before COCO is to get a new camera.
3. Costumed events. I'm working! Which means money, which means I can go places now. Where's all the places I can go? Preferably 6 months or so out so I can work it into a new employee schedule and pay off a few bills first.
4. A sew and bitch session in January. IRL would be awesome but even a skyped in one would be nice. I'm lonely and need costuming inspiration.
5. I adore Christmas cards. Since my military days and mail call, mail makes me stupid happy. Even a card that just says "hi", it makes my day.
Address: 1007 Carolyn Dr.
                        Tehachapi, Ca 93561
6.Nursing things. Bonus points for vintage or historical
7. Polariod films.   I have some creative projects that require lots and lots of it. I have been telling EVERYONE who asks what I want for Christmas that I want film. regular, monochrome, colored backgrounds. ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the film. Link takes to options but it just needs to be fujifilm, Mini, intanx 
8. Here's my Etsy wishlist.  I don't actually expect anything off of there but I figure it doesn't hurt.
9. If anyone knows a  source of cut steel buckles/clasps that aren't to expensive, please share!
10. Do you make any hand made x-mas decoration? I love ornaments, especially ones that have meaning or are handmade.

 I missed posting yesterday. I finished my motif around midnight and crashed for the night. It was a trying day. I got a phone call that woke me up and it was Cal State Bakersfield, the school I was going to do my BSN through. They had more seats open up. I had choose back in March that I couldn’t handle the stress at that time and I’d wait a year and get set in my job. Then they extended the deadline and I felt guilty but the hubby and I had our plan so I was sticking to it. People got there acceptance letters and I felt even worse. Now this and I can’t help but think big guns is saying do the program. I’m torn. Even though hubby said go for it. Leave it to fate, if I’m meant to go I’ll get accepted and the student loan will go through. If not I take the year off. Part of me wants to be selfish. I want a life. I want to sew and not look like a said excuse of a costumer for the 5th year in a row at CoCo. I want to go to Big events like France. I’m tired of being tired all the time. I sick of all the stress. 
But I also know this is a needed step towards Nurse Practioner. It’s more money in the long run. Plus I’ll have the potential to save money if my FAFSA goes off last years vs waiting and starting to work and the FAFSA reflecting 2 full time incomes. And this will get me there quicker if I get in. Also I’ll know some of my classmates, since some of mine already got accepted. I cried because of frustration hereand the hubby talked with me and that’s how we came up with the go for it.  That’s my goal for tomorrow.
When hubby got home we went to dinner with my folks as a late bday thing then went to the rental property. Kid flushed a toothbrush down the toilet ! !??
today was my last day of review for my NCLEX exam and I ran a bunch of errands while I was in town. And I still managed 2. Motifs! So I’m 2 ahead.

 It’s technically tomorrow but I haven’t gone to sleep so I’m counting it as posting for the second day. I didn’t make my goal of getting ahead. It’s my hubby’s bday so we did stuff to celebrate all weekend. Card games Friday and Saturday nights. Dinner and a game tonight. I did finish my 1 motif a day though. So on track but not ahead. My sewing room didn’t get touched either. 😑

Its all Katherine's fault. Well only partially. Its because we are up talking and working on projects that I forget to post right before bed. When we decided to roll up and go to bed I am falling asleep. Not complaining. Its been nice to have someone to talk to. And it has to be helping my anxiety some. I've slept in longer spurts then I have in 3 weeks.
Past two nights I have been working out an embroidery piece. I think I got it to a good place last night to actually start on the real thing. Now for mock ups, which is where I am dragging my feet a little. Just don't want to get into the corset that I know is a tad small. If I can get over this hump, I know the gown should go together pretty quickly. I am super excited about this gown guys. LIKE CRAZY excited. Just have to get mock ups done...... Tonight... goals for tonight.... and maybe with Katherine here she can keep me focused. (Maybe I should let her know the plan.)
I'm also a horrible copy cat of Katherine's. I had been humming and hawing about the lack of proper dress diaries in blogging anymore and if there was a way to still do it. And yes DW is a journal style that you can follow tags, but I don't have that kind of time with school. She mentioned her Instagram dress diary idea, and it was the missing piece to what I had already been thinking about. So I asked her if she minded if I be a total and utter copycat. She said it was fine so...... Here is my new instagram account.
In case you wanted to follow but are not already. My completed costume, pushing my cosplay more, and a little bit of my day to day account is this one
New dress diary account is above, and my photography account is this one. 

I get to go and take some photos of Katherine now. So hopefully next update will have some pretties to show.

Small goal to try and post everyday of January. Can’t say it’ll be interesting but it’s something I want to try and do.
The plague is still lingering. I ventured out to get my husband more medicine, but not much else happened. We watched tv and managed landry finished my First completed UFO, for this month. Went from a vegas show girl back piece that I haven’t worn in years, to 15 20-24” feathers I can use to embellish hats and my hair with. Yay!!!

I had been meaning to post a ton so far over the break but life always catches up with you. All the things that were put off over the semester sort of imploded on me. The holidays always have their own drama and my family had extra stored up still from Thanksgiving. I said I wouldn't be all vague booky about it once it had settled some but I feel weird putting it all out there also. Summed up, my brother has a problem with alcohol, him and his wife are having problems, he's stupid, and ended up in jail for a few weeks. Now its seeing where all the pieces fall and if he's got it in him to put them back together.
Had to do a "Thank you for the house"/Christmas Dinner, with my Father-in-law. That went as well as it could of. He made a few passive aggressive comments, I bit my tongue. And then I got sick. Not just sort of icky but exhausted and napping several times a day sick. I still have sinus pressure, a sore throat, and tire easily. My husband started catching it yesterday and is sick enough today to cancel going down to his Dad's to go on our yearly temple trip. Can't really say I'm disappointed. :)
I finished taking down all the Christmas decorations today and plan to work on my sewing room and study/studio tomorrow. I count it as a win to get ahead on these chores. The state of my sewing room currently:

 There is even a floor. You can see it!!!! My fabric bins are all in the garage though. I don't think even if I down size them like I want to, they will ever make it into the house, without the room becoming to cluttered. I'm excited to get in there and make some progress on stuff. The window near the feathers gets lots of morning sunlight so its warm in there when its not in the rest of the house. And the kitties like it. I think it might be a very happy little place over the break.
I am jumping on bauhausfrau 's UFO completion challenge for January. I have these two bins full of stuff, and a Regency gown I want to complete before I go back to school:

A good place to be to start out the year. No clue how much I'll get done in the year but a positive place to be at the start of it.
I wanted to thank everyone who sent me cards and little gifts. They were a bright spots to me.

Its kind of cool to see everyone posting. I am still not a fan of dreamwidth. I hate having to log onto my computer to get anything done. But if this is where all the cool kids are, then I will have to get use to it. The main problem is if I have to log onto the computer and my life is sucking or I am to busy there is less and less chance of me logging in at all.  And life has been pretty damn sucky. Sad thing is it doesn't have anything to do with my last life is sucky post. Over Thanksgiving I had some serious family drama go down. I can't say more than that yet, Yes I now its vague booking and annoying but until we come to some conclusion, which it hasn't yet, I just can't. Would love any good vibes or prayers you want to put into the universe for my family and myself. For me its more to be able to focus and sleep. I still have 2 test and a final next week that I need to hunker down and study for!

I haven't posted in 3 months. Life just became nuts. One of the big reason is the same one you guys keep hearing. School. 3rd semester is almost complete. Just a few days over 2 weeks left. I am going to have to study my ass off to try and keep this A. Guys, I have an A in Nursing school! In Med/Surg even. But I also have a test and a final left. It could go very very wrong between now and the end of the semester.
I've been meaning to post sooner, or even just read and comment. I came back today because I read Merja's post over on Facebook. I miss you guys. I know I can't help come up with a solution, or even really complain if I'm not willing to try and post more myself. That and I miss people. I also like being able to go back and look at things, my thoughts. I'll try and sum up the past 3 months. Its been a doozy.
In July my husband's father sold a piece of property and got a stupid amount of money for it. Well with stupid amount of money you have to reinvest it or you pay a tax of something like half of it. He bought another piece of property, put a large down payment on hubby's sister's new house and told the hubby to look for property. His catch. It couldn't be in California City, the city we were currently in. Because only meth heads and racist live in my town..... ummm okay.... Mind you this is my hometown (as much as a military brat can have one). I live there. My parents live there, and so does my youngest brother. Small town, yes. Crime has gone up a bit as the city has gotten bigger, but it is not some crime filled place. I grumble a bit, but Tehachapi, a town 45 mins away into the mountains has been in the hubby's and I 10 year plan. This will speed things up. I ask if it can wait for my winter break because I really don't need that kind of stress. Nope... it has to be done within 45 days, or he pays that tax. :(
We go to look at houses and the father in law has to be there. And he keeps making comments. Like at least this house doesn't have bars on the windows. WTF! My current house doesn't have bars on the windows. All of this really upsets me because I don't understand why he is looking down so much on where I live. I know I didn't come from a lot of money. I'm cool with that. I've earned every last thing I have. I'm proud of every last accomplishment I have. And frankly I don't need your handout. You can take your house and shove it. Except I can't say that....
And his dad started giving the hubby different numbers. One set of numbers gives us a very nice house in Tehachapi. The other number would be a smaller house than the one I have in Cal city. Why would I go through the stress of moving for a smaller house. Who cares if its in Tehachapi its a smaller house. Except the fact that we are in crime filled needing bars on the windows crap town..... I have the hubby convinced to walk away from the deal. He goes down to talk to his dad and finally we get the whole story.
He took out a loan to finish paying off the original property. The money he got from the sell could not be reinvested in original property, it all had to be in new property. So he had to reinvest $350k still or be taxed, but he only had $200k He needed us to take out a loan and make up the difference. I still don't want to play. I don't trust the man to want to go into any business deal with him, especially if he's not going to be honest from the start. And there's a new catch. My name can't be on it. I'm a gold digger. I walk around like I'm entitled and arrogant. If his dad could have his way I wouldn't be allowed to move into the house. Every insecurity I have is brought out. He even goes as far as to say if the hubby dies I will be on the street. But hubby sees it as a great opportunity. We go around and around. I have never doubted him or our relationship more, and sadly its not so much him but his dad.
We move forward with buying the house. Hubby tries his best to make me feel safe and secure. I'd be lying if I said I was in anyway 100% there. Buying a house is stressful under the best of situations. Nursing school is stressful under the best of situations. I have no clue how I've managed both. Somehow I managed an A in my Psych rotation and I am currently standing at an A in the 2nd Med/Surg. But I'm not sleeping, and I cry a lot. I keep getting told to be grateful, that I have a beautiful house. I can't explain how much I want to just scream at them to shut up. I get that this house is great. But its unsettling to feel like it can all disappear. That none of its mine. Doesn't matter how great it is, when you never feel like you're at home, or that you belong.
I don't know how to make the feeling go away. I don't know if its just a time thing and it blow over. A hard part in our marriage that we can tell the kids about. Laugh about their racist asshole of a grandfather. I know some of it is my own insecurities, but they stem from somewhere. UGH.....
My goal for December is to set up the new sewing room and an office/studio. Maybe when I finally have my own space in the house I will feel better. I no longer have a space in the living room which is where I use to sew. I would watch TV or the hubby playing video games and sew on the machine. The new house is bigger but the living room is shaped different so no good place to set up my table. (which upset me because I felt like again I wasn't meant to be here.) The new sewing room is also smaller. So it should be interesting to try and cram it all in there. More reason to destash I guess. And I can still handsew in the living room...

SO I am getting it out of my system and listing everything I want to make in the next year. Knowing I won't come anywhere near finishing any of them.... well no... I do have plans on finishing some. Details below.
A 1910s suit. Again I still have the pattern and fabric, and undergarments and shoes. WHY HAVE I NOT MADE IT YET?!?!?! I think I have been holding out on this one because I don't want to have to size it up. Maybe if I lose weight this year it'll actually happen this summer when schools out. The corset was made 30ish lbs ago so it fits but not as good as it should so I really do need to try and lose a bit first.
A silver embroidered Regency gown: I know I am being heavily influenced by koshka_the_cat with her wonderful hand done detail on her most recent gowns. But there is some logic in this choice also. I love this shape. Later Regency makes me feel like a sausage. But I also love the bodice detail. It reminds me of the painted gown jenthompson did. I don't want the all over embroidery that this one has I want it around the hems and on the bodice. I know lots of hand embroidery but I'm complaining about not having time. I have small spurts of time. That would be perfect for getting a bit of a motif done at day vs sitting down and actually sewing things and figuring things out. I quickly get overwhelmed and my brain turns off. If I can talk the hubby into letting me get the supplies I will be starting this one as soon as possible. I want it for the Jane Austen Evening. It may not be a specific royals dress but with silver embroidery I can pretend it is.

Khalessi's dress: If I can find the fabric for a decent price I hope to start this one in January. It'll be my after Jane Austen project. Again a project that I can do in spurts when I have time. And I don't think the actual gown and construction will be overly hard. It'd be awesome to have it done by WonderCon in March but I won't push it. I'll be happy if it is done by SDCC (if we go) or Costume College. And bonus, She's royalty! When did dupioni get so expensive? I keep finding it for $18.00+ I found a close up pic that shows a very lightly slubbed material. If anyone knows of a good deal on fabric happening let me know.

Dark Rey: I am still going to do this one. I just don't know if it is going to be this year. I still need fabric and two of the above have taken away my fabric budget for the year an prod realistically probably all my time too. But its on my CADD list just the same.

NoFlutter's Wonder Woman: Making the bracers now. I potentially have poly fabrics for it and can complete it. If I find myself with extra time, I think this one is going to be high on my list to do. Seriously doubt there will be any way I get it done before WonderCon. But maybe SDCC. Bonus: She's royalty.


What was suppose to be my Gala gown for this year: I have the fabrics... I have shoes... I have new jewelry from Taylor. WOOOOOO!!!! Still a fairly easy project. Might be perfect for a day wear next year.

Are there any group projects in the works?????