Sunday, February 28, 2016

Mailbag Show & Tell: A Stunning Steampunk Wedding & DIY Disney Pin Display

I've been letting my favorite Facebook submissions pile up again, so prepare for a full frontal assault of reader awesomeness.

 First, Siobhan took my Christmas light jewelry tutorial to steamy new heights, and it is soooo pretty:


LOVE that copper wire! And check out the tiny beads!


More Christmasy stuff, since I can't wait another 10 months to show you Erin's incredible Harry Potter tree:
 





 You should check out Erin's blog for the full tree run-down, but for now here's a peek at my favorite part: her hand-drawn Marauder's Map tree skirt:


 hnnnnnnnng. So good.


Amber used my book corner framing tutorial to decorate a whole wall:

 
 Aw yeah, lookin' good, Amber! 
(And I spy our favorite Toothless!)


 Jordan shared one of the prettiest pin displays I've seen:

That scrapbook paper is PERFECT, am I right? It looks tailor made for displaying pins! And I like that Jordan left some frames empty, so it doesn't feel too cluttered.


Oooh, you guys, my obsession with steampunk helped inspire another wedding theme! And I am SO PROUD:



Now hold on to your hat and goggles, folks, because LOOK AT THE SKIRT RICHA MADE:



I... I just want to hug it. Is that weird?

Here's Richa with her dapper new hubby:
 

 And I like their favor bottles so much I want to make some just for fun:

 That metallic name plate! Where/how, Richa? I MUST KNOW.

Head over to this slideshow for lots of Richa's dress process photos and more stunning wedding pics.



And finally, for those in the mood for a long read, here's an interesting article Susan shared:


 Susan made the mistake of asking for my thoughts on the matter [:D], and since you guys KNOW how passionate I am about conventions, she got the long-winded version of them:



I almost didn't include this, but I think it's a great discussion to open up - and I'll take any opportunity to encourage fellow geeks to go to a convention. If I sound a bit harsh in my thoughts up there, it's only because I don't want anything scaring off convention newbies from trying one. There's just too much to be gained from going and seeing for yourself.

Hey look, I'm getting long-winded again. SHOCKER. ;)

Ok, let's announce this month's art winners, shall we?
 
******

The winner of "Fairy Den" is the Katy with this profile pic:

The winner of "Allo Is Close Enough" is Emma Johnston

And my wildcard winner is....  Vraptor130!

Congrats, you three, and please e-mail me your mailing addresses!



21 comments:

  1. JEEZUM CROW! It's Breathtaking Skirts Day on Epbot! Such an amazing tree skirt, Erin, and such a beautiful wedding skirt, Richa! Awesome work, both of you!

    Very cool way to display your Disney pins, Jordan. I'll have to suggest this to my pin-collecting friend.

    KW

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  2. That wedding looked beautiful! And the scrapbook paper was perfect! Thank you for your comments too about attending a convention. I'm about to attend my first one this summer and I've been working on my outfit, but it's so faaaar out of my comfort zone!

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  3. That dress is beautiful. Even using a machine I'm guessing it took a long time (I've always done alterations by hand so something like that would be months), so hopefully it was worth it. Still gorgeous either way.

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  4. Thanks for linking to that post about custom frames--just yesterday, my hubby and I were trying to figure out how to frame 3 pieces of art we bought at a convention last year to finally get it hung up...

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  5. I just have to say, I went to my first con with my daughter (12) this weekend, and it was worth all the lost sleep making a costume and all the hassle trying to park, to spend a day watching her world unfold. We geeked out, she enjoyed compliments on her costume, she got to see all the other costumes and realize how huge the community of "geeks" is, beyond her 3 friends at school. Due to some confusion we waited for almost 1 1/2 hours to see Matt Smith at the end of the day...and it was, as she said over and over again in the car on the way home "SOOOOOOO worth it!". We went to panels on women in comics and tv, talked to other fangirls, and the girl who was so shy her teachers could barely hear her two years ago ran up to a crowd of strangely dressed strangers and stood in line all by herself for a chance to get at a microphone and ask questions. I can't say enough good things about the experience. Sure, I had fun, I got to dress up, but watching her discover her tribe was amazing.

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    1. That's really fantastic! It's lovely to hear about kids finding their own 'tribe' and realising that being a geek is one of the most interesting ways to be x

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  6. Love this post and all its goodness. Never ceases to amaze me how talented people can be. And with the internet we can now share that without getting out of our sweat pants and slippers.
    I especially wanted to thank you, also, for posting that link to the JPL posters. L-O-V-E them! I printed a few to put on the wall at work, and it has inspired me to embroider the planets of the solar system. I love doing my flowers but wanted to do something to reflect my love of space and scifi. If it turns out ok I may share it, but it won't be until later this year because I have other projects ahead of it. And I have to decide how it will look and how big and all those details. Thanks for the inspiration.
    Maureen S

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  7. Wowie, everyone is so talented and cool! I love it all!

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  8. Thank you so much for the encouraging words about attending cons! I just bought tickets a couple days ago to my first ever con. Yikes! I'm going specifically to photograph people in costumes. I'm a photographer, and I LOVE costumes! I'm an introvert, so this all seems overwhelming, but I'm a gonna try.

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  9. Thanks for sharing all of these posts... they're all amazing! And did anyone else notice that Richa's cats name was Schrödinger?? I love it! I'm not a cat person but now I want to get a cat so I can name it Schrödinger. =P

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  10. The steampunk wedding...LOVE! The bride and groom's outfits are just spectacular. Also, that handmade Marauder Map treeskirt is just amazing!

    I agree with you on cons as well. I attended my first con last year, and as someone who is very shy and socially anxious, I was so pleasantly surprised at the experience. Everyone was friendly, and I had some great chats with people as well!

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  11. I am always astounded at people's creativity. What beautiful work!

    Are you and John attending Dragon Con this year?

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    1. Of course! See you there?

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    2. Ooh, you bet! Have been wanting to meet you for years!

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  12. Question about Disney pins. Do you collect them? Thinking about taking my son to WDW, and I heard you can get pins on Amazon and Ebay for trading in lots of 25 or 50, but that they're mostly seconds. Some people claim they're still valid for trading but other people accuse them of being counterfeit. Any experience with this?

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    1. I'm not a big pin collector, but every now and then I'll collect a set. A few years back I bought a small lot of pins off ebay to trade with, and never had any issue. I've never seen a CM inspect or object to pins offered for trade, so I think you'd be ok - but if a lot seems suspiciously cheap or has lots of the same design, I'd definitely steer clear.

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  13. Thanks so much for sharing our wedding pics Jen! You were absolutely the inspiration with all the things you steampunk, and I think your post on the steampunk prom dress in 2012 was the beginning of our idea!
    And can I say thankyou to all your readers! I've learnt over the years 'don't read the comments' but your blog is one of the rare gems out there. Everyone here is so lovely and amazing and supportive. Thanks Epbotters!

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  14. Thank you so much for the share Jen! And a big thank you to you and John who inspired it all :)

    I am absolutely amazed by the talent I find through your blog and Facebook; what a great way for us to share projects and ideas.

    And thanks to anyone in the comments who has left kind words about my tree skirt - you guys make me blush :)

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  15. Love these! Does anyone know where I can find the scrapbooking paper Jordan used for her pin shadowbox? I have been looking all over in stores and online, but can't find it anywhere!

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    1. Caitlin, I was going to ask the same question! Anyone know of a source for the awesome scrapbooking paper?

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