Favorite Things....

I started out wanting to write a post about scents, abut my favorite 'smelly' things. But after competing in the Rocky Mountain Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival I'm pretty brain dead. So! This post is going to be allllll about my favorite things!

First off? Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. See? I have to start with the scents after all. This is the perfumery that I wear scents from almost every day. Personal favorites? Black Rose, Lust, Come To Me Boy, Samhain, Devil's Night....

Timeless Trends. Most if not all of my corsets come from here. I love the fact that I can get a corset that holds up to the wear and tear I put it through.

Music. Right now my fascinations lie with Abney Park, the Tangled Soundtrack, Sisters of Mercy (still), Kerli, Glee, and Great Big Sea.

THIS Shiny Key. :)

This is all of the shiny bits that I got at the show. Lots and lots of shiny bits! I’m really looking forward to incorporate all of these into pieces, like key pendants, bottles and even my belt! That’s what the bells in the bottom left are for- my new belt.

Yes, I’m making a new belt. I’ve decided that the one I have now is very summer/fall themed so I want something else that I can wear too. Now comes the gathering of even MORE keys, glitter, chains… and now? Crystal! This new belt promises to be very very shiny.

Until then I’m awaiting the arrival of a new skirt, it seems that I can’t find the time to make another one. Mab really should consider giving me a break before Titania takes the throne on the Spring Equinox…. Like that’ll happen!

Today I traveled with two of my very good friends to a gem show here in Colorado. I came home with many shiny things, things that will hopefully become a part of my wardrobe for shows! Lots of crystal, stage glitter that doesn’t rub off on anyone else!

I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the show! From one side of the large building to the other, full of crystal, semi-precious and precious gemstones. My pixie friends would have been jealous of all of the treasures…. and I spent well over 5 hours there, wandering from table to table.

On another note, in the next few weeks Pandora Celtica will not only be performing at AnomalyCon but we are also Regional Finalists for this year’s National Acapella competition!

So very excited!

Magnolias

When I was younger I lived in New Orleans, well Shreveport to be exact. I remember the Magnolia trees, the feel of the summer humidity, the people…. The taste of jambalaya… I was lucky to go back and visit before Katrina hit, I was lucky to wander the streets of the French Quarter, feel the hot breeze on my face and hear the Jazz music pouring from almost every bar. It felt like home. No matter how long I was gone, no matter where I lived otherwise…

By Geauxlouisianna on Flickr

That, is a Magnolia tree! When we went to visit I remember praying that I would see one, just one Magnolia bloom. It was too early in the season for Magnolias and I knew that, but still I hoped.
I remember looking outside of my hotel room window, where a single Magnolia tree stood in the median of Poydras St. And it bloomed the whole time I was there.

I have to say, that was probably the best memory of that city that I will always hold.

Shiny!

Here I am again! The days have been filled with rehearsals (Heavens I missed my companions!) and lots of time making shiny things.

I finished covering my corset in crystals. Any guesses on how many it took to finish?
It’s a lot, I will tell you that!!!! And I am really really looking forward to crystal encrusting a few more corsets in my future. What can I say? It’s like glitter… only it doesn’t rub off on everyone else!!!

Also, the amazing Satyr-Dancing ShadowCat has a blog!!!!
You should go and read it and look at his art, I think you’ll all enjoy it!

Artwork

…Once upon a time there was a Pooka that really liked glass. She loved seeing what it could do, how others used it. So she started learning to work with glass, to manipulate it in flame and turn it into works of art. Months turned to years and before she knew it she was arriving at the two year anniversary of her start date at the torch…..

Yep. February 18 will be three years! I can hardly believe it! It seems like just yesterday that Melissa was sitting me down at her torch to melt glass. My first beads weren’t worth writing home about, but they were MINE!

These were the first ones:

Yep, those were in fact my first beads. Since then I have learned that glass can do amazing things. Two years later the explosion that comes from thrusting a rod of glass into the flame too quickly still scares the heck out of me!

Then came the first beads at my own torch.

Since then my skill has grown, there have been many times where I've been called away to another set of things to do but I've still been enjoying glass. I make all of the beads for the Key Pendants that are at most of our gigs even.

There are some of my newer pieces 

The New Year - 2011

Happy New Year to all of you out there! I really hope that there was lots of glitter, hugging, kissing and celebrating when the clock struck midnight to ring in the new year!

There is SO MUCH going on this year already. So much in fact, that Queen Mab decided that I need a babysitter… But enough of that for now. On to the Pandora Celtica news!

• January 21 & 22 we will be in Colorado Springs at MysticCon! I’m really excited to start the new year with a bang and lots of shiny!
• Also, in March we have been confirmed for AnomalyCon, so look for us all decked out in Steampunk! I’m really excited about this show, I’m also excited for the chance to expand my wardrobe! *glee*
• Then in May? Beltania! Last year was so breathtaking and amazing and wonderful that I am really really excited to go and sing again this year!

   And now on to the topic of babysitters… Well not exactly babysitters… But a Knight that my Queen has seen fit to charge me with? Or rather, she’s charged him with keeping track of me. Se, I have this… trickster streak… It’s completely harmless, I swear! Just, oh you know… glitter in the shoes of some of the Courtiers that I don’t get along with. Or maybe the fact that I manage to always get myself in a… Fix when I’m left to my own devices. So Mab, the oh-so-wise Queen that she is, has given me a Knight.

….I wish she would have wrapped him in a bow… Ahem, I mean… *blush*

Right! So there is lots of shiny to come. I’m not going to let some stuffy Knight of the Crown keep me from my glitter-filled days of awesome and magic. I may just have to be sneakier now….