fantasy (third giveaway)

item no. 1

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

i love books. i love being able to dream. 

i love the concoction of new worlds which i never could have touched before. i love having a new world to enter every time i close my eyes and open the rustling pages of a brand-new portal. 

hogwarts
alagasia

narnia

wonderland

never-never land

mossflower wood 

these are the places of magic. these are the places that have inspired this third giveaway. 

three beautiful shops have volunteered their stunning workmanship to this giveaway out of the sheer goodness of their hearts, and their own love of printed magic. 

this is also the giveaway that will celebrate my twenty-first year of life. twenty-one years of dreaming. of wishing. of imagining. all culminating on the 23rd of september. 

item no. 2

my greatest and most beautiful thanks to anafiassa (Jenny), Bramblewood Fashion (Ashley), and PrettyLittleCharmsUK (Leigh) for their own taste of the printed realms. 

Item No. 1: the Ice-Fruit necklace from anafiassa. 

Item No. 2: "Lucy" -- Narnian-inspired earrings from Bramblewood Fashion.

Item No. 3: Harry Potter Snape & Patronus Charm necklace from PrettyLittleCharmsUK

Item No. 4: Harry Potter snitch locket from PrettyLittleCharmsUK

Here is how to enter to win one of these three beautiful items (leave a separate comment PER ENTRY, please. Also, please include your email or blog link in at least one of the entry comments).


(IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are one of my lovely international readers...i.e. not from the United States...please comment as such in one of your entry comments. This giveaway is certainly open to you, as well, but one of these shops is not an international shipper. Many lovely thanks!)

Entry No. 1 (mandatory): if you could step into the pages of any book, any magical world, any place that dwells not on this plane of existance, where would it be? where does it come from? and why would you chose that place? (+1)

Entry No. 2 (mandatory): follow this blog and put the new and improved button on your sidebar. (+1)

item no. 3

Entry No. 3: blog/tweet/Facebook about the giveaway, and leave a link to your post/tweet/blog post in the comment. (+3, one entry per and one comment per, please)

Entry No. 4: go to Jenny's shop, heart it (if you have an Etsy), and comment with your favourite item from her shop. (+2)

Entry No. 5: go to Ashley's shop, heart it (if you have an Etsy), and comment with your favourite item from her shop. (+2)

Entry No. 6: go to Leigh's shop, heart it (if you have an Etsy), and comment with your favourite item from her shop. (+2)

item no. 4

this world is full of other worlds. foreign and sweet. dangerous and full of adventure. 

places where fauns leap

mice and badgers lead human-esque lives

young wizards find their place under four banners
where riding dragons is a legacy of warriors

and fairy dust leads you home again. 

you're never too old to dream. 

i'm about to turn 21. the age of "growing up." 

i refuse to grow up if it means i have to stop dreaming

if i have stop looking in wardrobes

or cheering for Gryffindor

or tumbling down the rabbit hole.

so when i am old, they will say, "after all this time?"

and i will say

always

This giveaway closes on October 4th at midnight CST. Winners will be drawn that night using Random, and announced the following day. Winners will have 48 hours to claim their gifts, or new names will be drawn. 

Sirius

...know this; the ones that love us never really leave us. And you can always find them in [your heart]. ~Sirius Black, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban 

Everyone has a favourite character...everyone has someone who stands out, inspires them, and tugs at their heart more than the others. 

Tonight, I am contemplating the life of my favorite "good" character, taken from the ink-lined paper world of magic and wizardry. 

Yes, I laugh and weep with the Twins...find my own self in Hermoine's bookish elegance...smile as Luna's oddities line up so well with my own...allow my heart to dwell on how Neville's awkward charm will never cease to make me smile.

Sirius Black.

Beloved friend to James and Lily Potter. 

The dark-furred Padfoot to the charismatic Marauder quartet, along with Moony, Wormtail, and Prongs. 

Animangus. 

Member of the Order of the Phoenix. 

Godfather and legal guardian to Harry Potter. 

Murdered by Bellatrix LaStrange on June 18th, 1996. 

And of them all, he is my the one that captivates me the most. 

Honestly, I believe I am drawn to the underdog...and please forgive my pun in regards to Siruis' canine attributes.

Redeemed from traitor to savior...the one accused, and the one to expose the true betrayal, and set the mouse to running...again, pardon my pun. 

He was also the first of them all to fall.

I still remember the way my heart wailed as the spell left Bellatrix's vile lips...almost as though it was too horrible to be true.

A hero fell. 

But not in vain.

And so, on the day when the world ends and begins again...

...at 12:15am on July 15th, 201...

...I will sit in the theater with the Deathly Hallows drawn on my left hand

and Sirius on my right.

"Sirius was a brave, clever, and energetic man, and such men are not usually content to sit at home in hiding while they believe others to be in danger." ~Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Inspire

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  Art is knowing which ones to keep.  ~Scott Adams


One thing that I get asked more than anything is how I get so much inspiration...how it seems like I have an endless pot of artistry, and it flows from me in a copious amount.


I will be honest...I really have no such thing.


I run out of inspiration on a regular basis. I start posts constantly that never find their way to being published onto the blog. 


I try to write pen-to-paper, or rather, fingers-to-keys...not letting my overly-analytical brain to get in the way of my dreamer's heart.


But, to my own deep regret, I turn my nose up at my own work and allow it to sit without ever seeing the light of day. 


There are so many things that inspire me, though...so many things that move my fingers to dart a new path across the keys. 

• Summer days, complete with lemonade and fresh-picked orchard fruit
• Those people in my life who love me, comfort me, and reassure me...who bless me beyond compare. 
• Rainy afternoons, the chorus of raindrops beating against the windowpane, the percussion of thunder acting as the perfect accompaniment. 
• The melodic streams of Owl City and Imogene Heap flowing out from my rolled-down car window into the humid summertime air. 
• The sweetest scents of vanilla, white jasmine, and lilac...the kiss of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and cinnamony peach cobbler...the natural scents of damp soil and blossoming tea roses. 
• The words from my favorite book...reminders that there is more to life than facts and numbers...parchment letters from Hogwarts, back-of-wardrobe fancies that may just lead me to my long-chased Narnian home, and the floral gardens of Jane Austen romance.

These things are my bliss...rich and sweet, strong and deep

These are my inspiration...full of light, rich with power.  

These are the gifts of my loving King...the soft whisper of my Savior reminding me that He cares for me closely.

This world is hard and strange and can feel, oh, so empty. 

But there are gifts here. 

There is love here. 

There is glory here. 

There is inspiration here. 

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.  ~André Gide

Paths

Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. ~G.K. Chesterton

Everything in life is a path.

Every book we read...

...every story that floods our minds from the time we are children, has an impact on us.

They shape us...

...transforming us into the adults we will one day become.

From the time I was four years old, I found my magic in the pages of a book.

Books were my road, my map, and my compass.

Tucked away in the corner of my bedroom, I received my letter and boarded the train to Hogwarts...

...I slipped through the wardrobe to Narnia and gazed into the eyes of the Lion that would change my life and capture my heart.

...I whispered "I am that is" in my sleep and ran my fingers of the sandstone walls of Redwall Abbey, battling rats and wildcats alongside the mice and badger warriors of Salamandastron.

...I walked the knolls of Middle-Earth and joined the Fellowship in their quest to Mt. Doom.

...I found my first love in the Misters Darcy, Knightly, Bingly, and Brandon, and discovered that Prince Charming dwelled in Darbyshire and Kent.

These lands became part of me.

They sparked the fires of knowledge, and encouraged me to chase my dreams of pen and ink.

It was here I found myself.

Among the pages of a book, I found my footing.

I found my home.

So point me down the nearest path...

...press a book into my hands...

...and let me wander forever.

In memorium of Sir Brian Jacques, who left this world and journeyed to the gates of Dark Forest on February 5th, 2011. May you rest in peace, oh weaver of dreams and changer of souls.