Just a quickie for no reason than self-pimpage and an excuse to ask a question....

I'm really pleased with how these two participation banners for hermionesparkle and xoheartinohioxo in Round 76 of character20n20 turned out:

 
Banners by me, shown full size. Icons by their respective makers.

Thank you setentpet for the assignment!  These came together surprisingly quickly today but I wasn't sure of the design until I overlaid the music sheet graphic over the Victorian card from The Graphics Fairy. I generally am dissatisfied with how text looks in my designs but I'm pleased with this  - I think the text here looks like it could be original to the card.

If you haven't checked out the winners, btw, you really must because they are stunning.

These were the only two people to ask for banners, which happened last round as well - check out sandy79's glowing, luminous banners for Round 75and how beautifully they compliment the light effects in the icons themselves. I'm always suprised more folks at the comm don't ask for banners but my love of pretty banners is well-documented.  (If I could frame the ones I've received and hang them on the wall I would, trust.)

And I gotta wonder - why don't more people ask for banners? I'm genuinely curious and clueless on this count, so what say you Gentle Reader?

Happy Birthday Aliceinkinkland!

The other day I mentioned aliceinkinkland's "Show You the World" (Buffy and Dawn road trip fic) and you could certainly start there or anywhere among her fics on AO3 and find something sweet, or sad, or funny - maybe a combination of all three at once. And plenty of sexy stories - I love how she actually examines what desire looks like, and feels like, for women, how consent issues could be handled differently in our culture. In fact, Seeing a Different Shade of Red is one of the jewels in her crown because it's a meta-ish fic taht does just that. But so does Somewhere Sharp and Hot and Shimmering, where Tara helps Buffy become comfortable with her own desires.

Also I'm going to say happy birthday to velvetwhip two days early because - my pattern is to say it two days late, if at all, and this is one birthday I don't want to let pass.