I'm back home for the summer, and I'm working on Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe full time!

Between summer classes, volunteering, and wanting to put in a lot of time into jewelry design and artwork this summer, I wasn't looking forward to going back to my previous summer job. After talking to my parents about plans for my Shoppe and figuring how much it could hurt (or hopefully help!) me financially, I decided to jump into this thing headfirst. This is my summer of risk; this is my summer of spending my time getting to do the things I love.




Speaking of working on my Shoppe full time, my dad built me a workroom!!! THIS IS THE BEST GIFT EVER! Well, okay, not literally ever, as my parents have given me many wonderful gifts over the years, including, you know, being a part of this family ... but... this is so exciting you don't even understand. We partitioned off a corner of the separate garage, and I have a workbench and cabinet and shelves and office space and I AM SO EXCITED. This is especially nice to have my own space to work in, with natural light-- my sister and I are in a smaller bedroom now and the "back room" in the basement is awfully musty. I've barely left my workroom since we finished building it, guys!




Please visit my new Etsy page, where all my items will be sold from now on.

Why am I leaving Artfire? Mostly because the monthly price is going up compared to the deal I had before. Artfire had a lot of things going for it-- they don't micromanage the way Etsy does-- but Etsy is far more well-known as an artisan marketplace and my stats have been much better there.




Hello again, blog! Yes, I finally plan to start blogging for real this time. Now that I don't have classes, homework, meetings, and events for approximately twelve hours every day, I have enough time to breathe. It's a little disheartening to see how much I've let my blog rust recently.




So.... Dad bought a 3D printer.

DAD BOUGHT A 3D PRINTER.

He's wanted one of these for years. My entire family is fascinated by the technology. We're going to have so much fun with this-- just as soon as we get it fully set up! Hopefully my siblings and I can all learn 3D modeling really, really quickly so we can start printing our own pieces. This technology is beyond amazing!





I can barely believe that my freshman year of college is over. So much has happened, and so much has changed in my life, that it is overwhelming to even think of discussing it without spending hours upon hours doing so. Life is like that; it's so full that no matter what you do, you can't fully share your experiences with anyone. Sometime I'd like to write deep words about this past year, but right now my life is so full of new things to do, and old friends to get back in touch with, that I won't butcher it by attempting to.

One thing that is very, very nice about being back home: being back home. I love my family. Being away from home, our local parish, and local groups of family friends is making me realize more and more what a blessing it is to be part of a big, eccentric, sarcastic, loving, geeky family. I also love living out "in the country" (even though we aren't far from town). Cities are great and all, but nothing beats taking a hike or bike ride through honeysuckle-ridden woods any time you want.

7 Quick Takes is a blog meme hosted at Conversion Diary.

Hey everyone! I have so much artwork from my freshman year that I'm going to have to break it up into a couple of posts. I'm pursuing a Graphic Design and Illustration major (it's a tough program to get in to and I won't know if I do until next spring) and freshman year was dedicated to the Foundations. These are the basic art classes that everyone in the art department has to take.

Blue St. Therese Good Deed Beads                                                   Red St. Therese Good Deed Beads

Byzantine Chainmaille Earrings in blue and sterling silver                                      Classic Earrings

Updates, and a tour of my dorm room.

This spring I had the honor of designing some jewelry for Fine Linen Drama's performances of Pippin (an absolutely brilliant show as they performed it!). These pieces were made for Queen Fastrada, a rather magnificent, fabulous, and twisted queen.

The set is available through Fine Linen Drama's raffle-- chances are just $1 and there are many other beautiful costume pieces made by hand by other local artisans.
Seeing some of my jewelry on stage was a huge honor. :)








(If you are interested in pieces like these, check out Fine Linen's raffle, or contact me so I can make and customize one for you!)

Halloween in the dorm room-- this picture was taken by my amazing roomate who not only puts up  with my eccentricism but has become one of my closest friends!

The microwave is humming in the background as I eagerly await a cup of hot herbal tea. I am back at home, and most of my family is asleep already. I've adapted too well to a midnight bedtime.

Today my grandparents visited and told me that I needed to put some sort of "Out For Lunch" post up on my blog so that people wouldn't think I simply abandoned it. That's when I realized that I haven't written a proper post since September! Here it is, February, and I have so much to write about and so many pictures to share that every time the thought of blogging crosses my mind, I shut down the thought so that I don't overwhelm my brain.

To be fair, I am very busy. This entire freshman year I am taking on a nice hefty class load which will only increase over time. This semester I am in class for 24 hours a week, and have homework, the Shoppe, family, friends, church, and activities to keep up with. It's rare that I have even half an hour of the day to simply sit down and read a book or just zone out! It's a big change of pace from my homeschooling days (and I thought I was

I'm really loving college, though! I've made so many wonderful friends and can't even begin to describe how much my life has been changing, and in so many great and wonderful ways!

This is the first weekend in over a month that I have been home, and it is SO NICE. My family and I are really close, I've missed all my siblings, and ohmygosh I completely forgot to ever blog about the birth of my baby sister.

(See what I mean about having so much to write about that I just don't do it at all?)

Here's a picture of Baby "Josie"-- and sometime in the hopefully very-near future you will be subjected to an entire post in which I "ooooh" and "ahhhh" over her!


Well, consider this my "Out For Lunch" post! As I can fit time in between homework and work, I'll start getting this blog back into shape. :) Pip pip toodle-dee-do for now!

P.S. I have a new website! www.shaylynnann.com It's still in the works (and always will be!) but for now it's a nice little hub for all of my online artistic-ness.