Wordstock

Here in the Pacific Northwest we writerly folks have a local tradition, it's called: Wordstock. It's a writer's workshop/festival filled with fun information for readers and writers.

One of the things I love about Wordstock is the price. It is so affordable that there is no reason not to go. Here is a list of the 2012 prices: 1 day-$7, 2 days-$10, groups of 10 or more: $5,  kids ages 0-13-free (but a ticket is still required).

That's the reason I always try to volunteer. And, it's a wonderful way to get to know other writers/readers and people with like-minded interests.

I've volunteered a couple of years and highly encourage others to do the same. Plus, there are all sorts of events associated with the festival that take place ahead of the BIG event, one example is a poetry slam.

And there are so many wonderful, friendly people to get to know. Like Kelsey. She volunteers a ton of her time to the cause.

She sat with me at the Registration Table but she was doing way more than me because she was a black shirt - I was a red shirt. Shirt colors are the way to quickly distinguish the worker bees from the real honey bees (or the ones who really know what's going on behind the scenes.)

And Kelsey bought a couple of the cutest books ever, at the festival: Baby Mouse by Matt Holm and illustrated by Jennifer Holm.

So, if your budget is tight but you want to get into the wonderful writerly world, take note! Write this one word down: WORDSTOCK.  And put it on your calendar for next year. You won't want to miss it! Guaranteed.

DIVERSE ENERGIES

I even love the name of this book and two of the authors were at the book signing panel, which took place Sunday, October 14th at Powell's Books in Beaverton: Malinda Lo and Cindy Pon.
But the full panel included: Mette Ivie Harrison, Cindy Pon, Janni Lee Simner, Sarah Rees Brennan and Malinda Lo. And all of these women write about strong female characters!!! and if that's not cool, I don't know what is. Plus, Sarah Rees Brennan kept me laughing while she talked about her new book Unspoken. So, now I have another book on my TBR list.

This great panel of speakers had just come from the Sirens Conference, which now I want to go to next year and was sorry I missed it this year because these speakers were funtabulous. Between skits and humorous anctedotes all of these women told powerful stories about writing, their characters and they even shared part of there lives, like the fact that Mette Harrison is an Iron Man Athlete! Crazy strong female character herself. They also talked about speculative fiction and writing in that field: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and/or Horror.

I bought a copy of Diverse Energies because Cindy Pon is one of the authors and after Silver Phoenix and Fury of the Phoenix, you have to have something else of hers to read...right? It also didn't hurt that Malinda Lo has one of her stories in the book. Plus I think anthologies are always fun and diverse... ;D because you have different authors with different stories to tell from different perspectives.And Cindy and Malinda both signed the copy for me :D

Pretty in Pink

We had to dress up our little Husky for the party so we put a pretty pink bow around her neck...I'm not sure if she's playing dead or just having fun...

But, like a kid just try to get a good picture. Impossible.

Embellishing Inexpensive Gifts...Gloves

I was making birthday gifts all weekend long. And, with such a big family, I have to watch my budget. So I took some inexpensive gloves and sewed some seasonal buttons on them to make them festive, fun and fall-ready.

Take a peek.

Then I taped on a pretty Goblin Glog sticker to a brown paper bag and a bottle of wine and WAH-LAH instant gift ready to go.

Costume Part II - The Riddler

So this is Part II of the DIY Riddler Costume.

We needed to paint question marks on the Riddler costume. So, we needed to make a template: a question mark template or stencil.

We drew the question mark on a piece of paper then transferred it to black crafting foam (you can purchase this at any craft store) so the paint wouldn't soak through - like it would if we used paper as the stencil. Then we put a piece of wood inside the tank top - so the paint wouldn't soak into the fabric and leave black blotches all over the back of the shirt (you could also use aluminum foil or wax paper). We took some black fabric paint and sprayed away.

Here's the process in a pictorial history:

 Next we need to make the mask but that will have to be another blog post. There's only so much we can do in one evening :(

How to Make a Tank Top

We have the Run Like Hell Halloween Theme Run coming up. It's a benefit for ALS and we've been working on putting our costumes together. This year it's a Super Hero Theme and we're planning on Batman as our theme.

My hubby is going as the Riddler, I'm thinking of Poison Ivy and my sis is going to be either Catwoman or Robin.

Anyway, when you're wearing a costume for a run you have to remember not to over dress or you'll get too warm. So, my husband asked me if I could make the tee-shirt we were using for his Riddler attire into a tank top.

I thought, "How hard could it be?"

So I took one his favorite, old, worn out tank tops and used it as the pattern.

I used a sharpie to sketch the patten onto the tank top and cut it out (remember to allow for a seam allowance--I forgot).

Then I stitched up the raw edges. Soon we'll stencil the question marks on the shirt but this was the first step in the process.

Here's a pictorial history of how I did it.

I'll post the next step this week.

October Bday Cupcakes

There were three family birthday parties this weekend. And, so, of course I had to bake. I had to make . . . cupcakes.

Okay they're kind of silly but I had fun.

And they didn't scare anyone away :D

I think it's fun to bake/make cupcake(s).

And The Old Spaghetti Factory even let me bring them into the restaurant! So, we had cake and ice cream for dessert.