red_satin_doll

Thank you very much

starry_night for making these gorgeous banners, and thank you Lenore for the brilliant suggestion of the memorial banner #2 honoring Megan's participation in Round 5 of

btvsats20in20. Megan's original post on

pickamix journal with the entire set can be seen here.

pickamixround5btvsats20in20bystarry_night

pickamixparticipationbannerround5btvsats20in20_bystarry_night

01-02)

I think Megan would have been well and truly pleased with these banners. She took very meticulous care with her work and this set in particular, although she could be astonishingly modest. She would have approved of the care that's been taken with these banners to set off her icons, by the richness of color, by the mysterious and sensual quality of the patterns in the Best of banner.

Read the rest over at ficamix.......

ETA: I'd just hit the post button on this when I roamed around and found this SUPER wallpaper "I Feel Lost" (Buffy, Normal Again) by

spikesredqueen dedicated to me! We'd had some conversations about the ep because that's my claim for this round of

btvsats20in20, and how marvelous Sarah is in it, and this wallpaper captures that marvelously. The warm rose tones and softness on the right side create a feeling of comfort purposefully undermined by the cool and almost sickly blues and purples, and the deep shadows that envelope asylum!Buffy, very different to the harsh white light of the clinic in the episode. I particularly love that small section of trees and lightening emerging from the shadows, because it connects nicely to an image that's been on my mind a lot, Buffy - and Willow, and Tara, and all the girls in the Buffyverse - as the "little girl, lost in the woods" from my favorite song by the band Morphine. (Marie and I hadn't discussed that, so it's a lovely bit of serendipity.)

I'm really just ever so honored by this gift, thank you Marie! You do Buffy right! (I got a prezzie from spikesredqueen! *flails*) She's been missed the last few months due to real life obligations but she's really hit the ground running on her re-entry to fandom. Go check it out, and check out her other recent artworks while you're at her journal - so many pretties to admire.

***********************

bangel_4e very graciously extended the deadline for Round 4 of

btvsats20in20 to Monday Sept 29 midnight at your timezone. Because I begged, of course - but this time, I begged three days in advance instead of at the very very last hour. Yay progress!

This also means that the deadline for sign-ups is also extended to that time. So if you are ~~on a meth/magic high with energy to so much energy to burn someone needs to peel you off the ceiling~~ effficent, well-organized, and have some time to spare this weekend, you can still check out the themes and join the fun. Don't forget to check out the great entries that have been posted so far this round, including the latest sets from

debris4spike,

spikesredqueen and

rua1412.

*******

Terror-time confession (I'll always give you one of those. Don't you feel better knowing you're not alone in your anxieties? I know I do.) I'm worried that I won't get this done on time. AGAIN. I'm not worried about the quality of my entries; if anything I'm really pleased with what I've made because I can see that I'm getting better each time. I was initially worried that I'd be repeating the Normal Again icons I did for

otherworldlyric back in March - but no. "Back in March" already feels like ten years ago, emotionally, and the difference in my icons is pretty enormous, if I may say.

I'm anxious and terrified that I won't get my entries done in time. NOT because I don't have enough. Because I have too many alts, including several using the same screencap (a no-no) albeit with different crops. I get my paws on a particular image, I always want to go deep and keep trying new things. Or because of my ADD-ishness, my brain finds it easier to focus on just a few caps rather than 20 different ones. I have icons made that could be used for 2-5 different themes, that I could shuffle around like playing cards. And yet, there's still holes and gaps, themes I haven't filled yet.

This is reason #1 why I suspect I'm not cut out for the 20in20 format in general. Remember my old statistic, that I tended to do 5-9 times more than I needed for an OWL, Hush or Slayerstillness challenge? Jack that up a few times and you get the idea. And I'm not even counting the larger buttons, posters and banners.

Then I compare what I'm doing now to my earlier icons, and reason #1 why I don't want to give it up is staring me in the face.

Thank you again, everyone, for voting my "Boho Gypsy-Chic" Buffy icon 1st place at

btvs_hush Challenge 283! And thank you

dragonydreams for all your hard work, your patience, the lovely prize banners, and for running such a splendid community. Three of my entries starting with the winner; the fourth, a blood-spattered stake, is after the cut:

01-03

Miss Boho Gypsy Chic (#1) wasn't my favorite of my entries; #2 was. (Except when #3 was.) But she was something very new for me; I learned a few tricks making this batch and I've become fonder of her since I made her. She's like the beadwork necklaces I used to make, intricate latticework and all I could see was the flaws and the knotted thread; until the day came when I stopped seeing the flaws because I couldn't remember where they were anymore. But none of these was my favorite of all the entries I made for this round. These pretty ladies were:

04-06

4 or 5 was meant to have been my fifth entry except I forgot to enter one of them. *headdesk* I probably would have gone with #4 as my last entry because it has some lovely light effects but is somewhat more more "realistic" than #5, which is more stylized and very much to my taste but perhaps no one else's? The photo collage effect is the same one I used in my Comics icon from Round 1 of

btvsats20in20 (The Chain). It's very tricky and best used sparingly but when it works, it works. Either way, I was thrilled with how they came out.

I'll always wonder, would I have still won first place that round with one of those three, or not?

More icons and some banners after the cut, including my fourth entry in this round. Warnings For: Blood spatter imagery. Vague Disclaimers: All snaggable. Wanna play with any, add text, make the banners better? Just let me know, give me a look-see and proper credit. Outright plagarism and theft however are beneath you and rude besides, so don't do it.

07-09

10-12

~~If you're wondering what I was thinking with 3 and 10-11? I don't know you tell me~~ Having just done some icons for

slayerstillness Challenge 30 from this Greg Gorham photo I was trying to do something different with it from before. Ended up playing with a default light texture in ipiccy, a plume of light or smoke that somewhat resembled a wing when I canted it a certain way made Sarah resemble an angel in a Dutch or Flemish painting circa 1500 - 1700, Full disclosure: I respect the Italians but I've always personally preferred the Northern masters. I was delighted by the image of Buffy Angel of Death/Angel of Mercy/Angel of God, albeit a reluctant and singular one.

So ok, that icon is one of those "I'm the only one who's gonna get the joke but I amused myself at the time" type of things. Yes, I know Joss is an atheist. So am I as it happens. And....?

#12 was VERY nearly an entry, because I knew no one else would have entered anything like it, and I love architectural details, don't you?

13-16

My fourth entry (#13) with three variations; 13 is simply 15 flipped with added bloodsplash layer.These ended up resembling "comic book art" rather than photographs, so perhaps I was stil too unnerved to deal with it. If I gave it two seconds thought, a blood drenched stake doesn't make a lick of sense in the 'verse, unless it's human blood we're talking about. (Allen Finch in Bad Girls, Buffy herself in FFL.)

pickamix was the partial and indirect inspiration for the use of blood spatters or "blood play" in this set and my foray into some darker imagery of late, which I have yet to share with anyone. Because the other inspiration was one of the first formative events of my life; cue the anxiety...but never mind that now.

Amazingly enough, it didn't occur to me until after

dragonydreams had posted the entries that perhaps I shouldn't have used anything with blood spatters because it might be triggery for someone. I hope not but I apologize if it upset any one. I never would have guessed that you could google "blood spatter" and find all sorts of textures, some of which are pretty realistic-looking. Nor that I would have a folder of my favorite go-to blood spatter patterns. LIke this one:

17

When I'm splashing blood on an image at the last minute to cover flaws, it's time to back away from the computer. This was mostly an exercise in trying to cut around an object (the stake) and apply it as a layer to mask the seam and my mistakes down the middle. Successful? Gosh no. (Really, SisterRed? A glowy stake - or is that a citronella candle?) But I kind of like it anyway. Sue me.

18-21

22-24

The "fresco series" I love the contrast of Sarah's "baby face" with the surface textures and colors. I was going for the effect of an ancient fresco l and I think I got what I wanted. Her face was a delight to work with, contemporary and timeless. I came up with the crop for 22-23 ~~after the challenge deadline~~ about five minutes ago. I wish I'd thought of it sooner, I might have entered that instead of #2.

25-27

How the heck did a Hindu temple and a winged demi-god(dess) get into this image? Buffy is the guardian warrior priestess of a pagan cult? Who knew?

And finally - the big honkin' failure. I did some interesting (to me) stuff on this and learned a lot but what WAS I thinking when I turned Sarah into a Barbie doll? When I did the Tara set for round 3 I did a bunch that similarly oversmoothed her face until she looked like a Disney princess. Wisely I deleted all of them. Think I would've learned from that? Apparently not.

29

Profit from the errors of my ways, Gentle Friends!

** Pirate Bride

snogged returns to the world of fanart after an extended hiatus with this: "Mr Gunn Will See You Now" ("Fifty Shades of Gunn") a Gunn/Willow banner that is incredibly erotic. To call it "yummy" almost sounds dismissive; "perfectly scrumptious" works better. And yet, it's pretty much worksafe. (Unless a pretty lady in lingerie and a bare leg is a no-no in your office. Or implied interracial shipping. Or looking at fanart or anything not related to work and really, is this the kind of workplace you want to be in?) I've never considered that pairing but looking at her banner it suddenly seems perfectly right. Where's the faction for this ship? And, tell me again why m'lady has been away from fanart and denied us these lovelies for so long?

** Working in the Key of Light: Happy birthday to

pickamix, who started things off by giving all of us a gift: "Light Willow". A total turnaround aesthetically from a Mistress of the Dark Art(works): astonishing, unexpected and gorgeous. I'm kind of beyond words here because everything about it could have been, in lesser, hands, cliche - the butterfly wing texture; in her sure hands, nothing here is cliche, all of it is absolutely, meltingly lovely. It was the second thing to greet my eyes Sunday morning, after a proper cup of tea, and I began to tear up. Then I simply sat with it, studied it, took it all in - the way Willow emerges from the light, the way the texures wrap around her, embrace her. I could go on all day about it.

****

What unites these two artworks in my mind is their shared elegance: visually clean, uncluttered, nothing out of place. Simplicity of composition that belies the work that surely went into making both of these. Both of these have room to breathe and yet the composition in each one directs your eye exactly where the artists want it to be. You can roam around, you can go deeper (I can study these for quite some time to suss out the subtle, almost hidden layers), but your eye is not likely to fall off the canvas. That takes a sureness of touch that comes with talent, yes, but also intellegence and conscious practice of the craft. There's no way around it.

The presence of negative space in both goes a long way towards achieving that elegance; and this is a quality I need to study and learn from. My sweetie once described my writing as "too much velvet" for her taste. Too many adjectives, too much description, too much verbiage in general. And I find myself doing the same thing with artwork, especially now that I'm discovering layers and textures and oh boy is it easy to fill up the spaces and just because I can doesn't mean I should. Knowwhatimean?

****

Yesterday I thought to myself that if I were a fic author and received either of these artworks as a banner to go with a story I'd die of happiness, aka jump up and down and grin and hug myself uncontrollably. Silently, in my chair, so only I would know. (Ok, the grinning and hugging would actually happen. The jumping would be entirely mental but it would be intense.)THEN I'd show them off and say "Look what I got, y'all!"

But of course, I'm not not a fiction author, and not much of a writer at all, currently....

And then LOOK WHAT I GOT, Y'ALL!

"....yellow is the color of intellectual energy, positivity, but also jealousy and illness and in the yellow shirt there are birds flying (freedom) except that you go on and see the shape of the knife buried in the flesh and all the blood spilling. It's broken freedom and innocence lost...."

kikimay not only snagged my "There Once was a Girl" icon for her default icon, which is an honor all by itself; she wrote an analysis/interpretation of it! MY ARTWORK HAS BEEN META'D! And of course her commentary is as intelligent, concise and elegant as her prose. I always imagined I'd be writing the meta about someone else's work, never the other way around. Eventually I decided I wanted to provide the pictures to compliment for other people's words, instead of asking other people to provide them for me. (And at that point I knew

velvetwhip would be the ~~first~~ second recipient. it had to be her. ETA: clockwork_hart1 was actually the first person I made a banner for. Mind like a sieve over here.)

Now Kiki has provided the words to compliment my picture and so it goes. And this is addition to the honor of a Mod's Choice Award at

slayerstillness. The little icon that could.

I died of happiness....

...but then I came right away back because I've got to finish my set for Round 4 of

btvsats20in20, which is due Sept 27th. Have you seen the awesome entries so far by

spikesredqueen,

sweet_lyri,

pickamix, snowpuppies,

teragramm,

killing_kurare, and

oh_cheezit? Plus I needed to cast my vote on the current challenge of

slayerstillness, which I missed the boat on entering; therefore, doubly important that I participate as voter.

It's nice when we the artists vote for one another but there ARE MORE THAN 15 PEOPLE IN THIS FANDOM. I know there are. And if you can't or don't want to make icons, by all means vote. Your opinions count and don't let "Well I don't know anything about art" nonsense (because of some stupid thing your parents or your fifth grade teacher told you as a child) hold you back. YES YOU DO KNOW ABOUT ART. Of course you do! You're surrounded with it, you've taken it in your entire life. It's no different to voting in the Sunnydale Memorial Fanfiction Awards even if you haven't written any works of fiction yourself.

My sweetie has a classmate in art college ten years ago who was a wonderful artist (pastel was her preferred medium and she could make a pastel painting look like it was done in oils), and just the sweetest person imaginable. One of their professors told her in class, in front of everyone, that she "lacked artistic intelligence". Need I describe my feelings towards this arrogant jackass in minute detail or can you just pick up the vibe of my loathing?

We all have "artistic intelligence". We just need safe space to practice it and express it, as artists and appreciators. (Without people to appreciate, there is no point!) I can say without hesitation that participating in icontests, and thanks to the wonderful community of folks here, I've been pushed farther and faster just the last six months than I could have imagined possible. And I haven't even begun to skim the surface of what's possible.

But I've gone on long enough, Gentle Reader: goest thou and vote, create, offer feedback and share the love - do your part to keep this fandom alive and lively. What medium of expression have you not explored, or are just beginning to? What holds you back? What ideas do you have for bringing new excitement to this fandom and what about it continues to excite you and keeps you interested?

Banner by

dragonydreams

ss30banners07

Banners by

tempertemper

btvs_hush Challenge 283: Thank you to everyone who voted my early-seasons Buffy icon First Place! I call this one "Gypsy Girl Boho Chic".
Hush is the first icontest community I ever entered, a year ago August, And this is the last round to be moderated by the amazing

dragonydreams, who is looking to hand over the reins of the community to someone else, while she focuses on her other fandom projects including

otherworldlyric. (PM her if you're interested.) So this feels very much like the "closing of an era" , and it pleases me to have been a part of it much less to win first prize (and only my second first place win for an icon). This was a beautiful round, so many gorgeous entries; Elisabeth ends her tenure on a very graceful and elegant note.

slayerstillness Challenge 30:Thank you to everyone who voted my icon"Most Creative" and to

starry_night for selecting "There Once was a Girl (Faith, Buffy, This Year's Girl) as one of her Mod's Choice icons that round! That was my favorites of my own set. In either case it was still a treat because SUCH a fabulous round of entries, so many gorgeous things to choose from. Check out the rest of her banners for this round here.

Speaking of Slayerstillness and banners, the ones I made for Round 31 are here; check out the fabulous winners. It was a lot of fun but also a real challenge to use the feather fans from the Lorne cap and try to work out an "old Hollywood/art deco look without falling into cliche. I hope I succeeded.

And finally:

THANK YOU to: the talented and thoughtful

pickamix for her gift to me of a Buffy/Sarah poster in TWO variants, featuring an image from my favorite Greg Gorman S5 photoshoot! They're lovely, warm and autumnal, a graceful blend of elegance and grunge that I adore. These are an example of graphics that don't look right downsized by LJ because the fine soft "killer-diller" details are lost - the way the velvet chair looks worn and soft to the touch; the background wall that glow with an inner light and suggest falling leaves, aging wall murals, and calligraphy brushstrokes all at once. Gorgeous.

1) Remember that post many moons ago when I asked if anyone knew of a genuine "Giles as a Big Bad" fic that sparked some great conversation and gave dragonyphoenix the inspiration to write such a one? THE PROLOGUE IS POSTED, with a banner by the talented pickamix (Giles looking sexy, shrewd and more than a bit dangerous) and oh my stars was it worth the wait! If this is the prologue, I can't imagine what the rest will bring - and can hardly wait to read more. Rated PG, with Giles/Ethan shippines.

2) More Voting goodness: slayerstillness challenge 30 voting ends tomorrow; there are 24 truly fabulous entries to choose from! And only 9 entries to choose from at otherworldlyric Challenge 181 but oh my, some eyepoppers in the bunch, so don't miss them.

3) Thank you VERY MUCH to the thoughtful person who nominated my "Becoming" icon for the 11th Round of the Wicked Awards! This round has been an embarrassment of riches for me and such a surprise. I've mentioned before how I never expected to be nominated for fanart and in competition with people whose work I admire. I was going to be a meta writer, remember? That was the plan and I WARN Y'ALL I COULD STiLL GO META ON YOU WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT 'CAUSE I STILL HAVE THE NOTES I SAVED FROM THE HOUSEFIRE. (Albeit slightly worse for wear.)

Which is to say, the nomination period ends TODAY, August 25th.

(01) buffy2

But wait, there's more icons and more talky after the cut!

So what do you do when someone nominates you? If you're me, you nominate other people in kind and encourage other people to do so because:

1) You don't feel worthy of being nominated yourself, therefore nominate someone you think is better (even though you know that you are subtly downgrading the opinion of the persons who nomm'd you to begin with and you don't mean to do that but it's just so hard for you to really believe even though you do so love the kudos); or

2) You know that these awards are less about winning than about sharing the love - recognizing good work, and making it possible for other people to find it who might not have otherwise; or

3) You notice a shortage of nominations in your category, which means the category will be held over until next round and GOSH DARN IT but ow, you want to compete, win or lose, nothing selfless about it; or

4) A COMBINATION OF ALL OF THE ABOVE, pretty much.

I was going to write a post to report that the art categories were woefully underfilled. angelus2hot told me that usually the art cats fill up before the fic cats but it's been the reverse this year. Then I was going to scold and plead and pout if need be to make sure those categories got the sufficient number of entries to run. But I'm happy to say that they're filling up nicely and it all looks a go, but more art nominations are welcome (says the gal who doesn't have to plow through the noms or judge them - aka, do the actual work). Something seemed not quite right, especially with regard to best icons - there have been so many beautiful ones just the past 12 months, there's no reason that category shouldn't be overflowing.

More to the point, it felt weird to see my name on that list, and the categories so empty, when I know there are really great artists and really great art out there not getting its due. Especially in terms of icons because I'm well aware of my failings in this area. Now when I look at the categories everything feels better to me - there's art in a range of styles, covering every character and pairing, some by folks I'm familiar with but quite a lot of names and pieces that are entirely new to me.

***

4) Now while you're here, let's talk icons.

I never posted the Becoming icon here before, although I fell in love with it almost immediately and snagged it for my own userpics. It's essentially #2 oe #9 below with some cool effects added: crop, adjust and frame in Photobucket, add a text texture and a light leak texture in ipiccy, then bring back to PB for a "Bronze" color filter. It was intended it for my second try at btvs_hush Challenge 273 (the deserving winners were rua1412 and debris4spike) and of course I couldn't enter it because of the text texture. I actually asked dragonydreams if I could get away with it. Um, no. *Note to self: READ THE RULZ, dumbass.*

Idiot me, if I'd known grunge textures enough to replace the text with scratches, plain noise filters or even just hit the sharpen button enough times, I could have gotten a similar effect and still been within the rules. But I liked what I got so much I didn't care, and I knew my icons weren't going to be winners anyway; I was just learning and having fun at that point.

This was the second time I used that text texture from ipiccy and was so delighted by the result I had to play with it. It was another "I can do that? Look ma, I can do that!" moment. There's something about this icon that makes me think of fragments of ancient texts and classical marble portrait sculptures half-buried in desert sands; of things both time-worn and timeless. The way I've cropped the image it's almost hard to tell anymore that it's Buffy, but I fell in love with the way the strange beauty, the severity of the shape of her nose, seemed carved of marble. I think that suits a moment that seems utterly classic and timeless:

"Take all that away, and what's left?" / "Me."

Was it as instantly iconic to those of you who watched back in the day as it was to me two years ago?

(02-08)

My actual entries for the challenge:

(09-11)

The Willow icons I made for that round...I'm tempted to say The less said the better but I'm fascinated by the huge difference in quality in just a few months time between these and my VampWillow icons just a few months later. That moment in the episode was the first time, watching the series, that chills ran up and down my spine and I had to rewind and watch again. At the time I made these I did at least like the focus on Willow's eye and how that really stood out, but I otherwise don't know where I was going with the pseudo-psychedelic pop art effect in this one.

And I deleted most of the ones I made which were far worse, including the one in which the Orb of Thessulah looked like a glowing radioactive orange scoop of ice cream melting on the velvet pillow. You can thank me later (or just slip the cash under the door on your way out).

Apparently I did - my bad. This round is a free-for-all - with a few limitations. Check out the rules and enter by Tuesday the 19th, 8pm EST.

(What are the chances that I'll be able to enter something by then? Zilch. On the upside - my mom cooked the salmon to perfection last night, I made the veggies and my sweetie stayed out of our way outside with her tablesaw. And we all got along and had a lovely evening, woo-hoo!)

My mom is here for a week long visit (so far everyone is getting along, yay!) and so I cannot stay but a moment:

1) HAPPY BIRTHDAY to

spikesredqueen! I hope life lets her come back again and stop by soon, I've missed the amazing artwork but more so the conversations, advice, support and friendship. I confess to being too "arted out" for a birthday card, so here's a better idea: check out her classic, timeless videos, icons, fanfics and art and let her know how much you enjoyed them.

2) Vote now at

btvs_hush, Challenge 280 "Angel" - and many thanks to

pickamix for the heads up! Deadline to vote is Sunday but why wait around and forget? That said - I confess I still haven't voted because I simply cannot decide between them. (Do I have to?) The fact that I am gazing at a batch of Angel icons (hell, at a batch of icons featuring any male character) and thinking, Oh, how lovely, and look at the creamy alabaster quality of his skin...may be a sign that the Apocalypse is coming and the End is Near because I just - don't swing that way, knowwhatimean?

Vague disclaimer: I did not submit entries to the challenges pimped below, ergo I feel free to pimp and promote with impunity.

1)

dragonydreams has reposted the entries for

otherworldlyric Challenge 180 , because three entries "disappeared", unitl two of my personal favorites. (If I've told ya once, I've told ya a thousand times, kids - don't leave the screen door open!) All fixed now, so if you already voted, please vote again; and if you haven't voted yet, well, what are you waiting for?

I'll wait until after the winners are announced to state which are my faves this time. Let's just say I have my suspicions as to who made #3. Perfect, witty pairing of image and lyric that makes me laugh out loud? I have a short list of suspects. What? Don't look at me that way. Let's get real, that's almost half the fun of voting in these things for me now, as I become more familiar with individual styles - and with the how-tos of techniques.

Entries for Challenge 181, "Eye of the Tiger" are due Friday August 15th. (I remember that song when I was growing up. The '80's - power ballads, Tom Cruise and Ahnold, big overmuscled manly action stars, the Reagans, the Iron Lady, shoulder pads, hair frizzed to the 9th circle of Hell, high school, and my second ex-step-father...I DO NOT MISS THAT DECADE. Yeesh.)

2) Vote in

slayerstillness Challenge 29 "The Freshman" - 10 lovely icons to choose from (and this time? I'll be honest, I can't tell who the heck did what. They're just all terrifically pretty.) Because of the small field, there are fewer placements - vote for your top TWO icons plus Best Color and Best Crop.

I remarked to

starry_night not long ago that the fields of any given icontest challenge often have an "all of a piece" aesthetic quality to them, as if all the artists were on the same wavelength. That was certainly true in the "Hair Porn" and "Whiter Shade of Pale" Challenges and is very true this time as well. The focus is entire on Buffy and Willow and where Hair Porn entries tended to be neutral or earth-toned, this group is quite delicate in it's coloring- pastels balanced by saturated jewel tones and brights.

Challenge 30 is another "free for all" round, and the entries are due August 22. (My mom is going back home on the 20th, so I think I little icon-makeage will be just what the fangirl ordered.)

3) Check out xlittledreams's entries for Round 3 of

btvsats20in20, "Buffy Summers." So, so lovely, very bold and graphic, rich colors and strikingly clean and "modern". I can't choose a favorite, although AC1 is damned nifty. How is it possible to achieve such gorgeous image quality and clarity?

That leaves just one person who has yet to post their entries: moi. For the THIRD TIME IN A ROW. This is beyond comedy and well into pathetic. Deadline is tomorrow midnight and I'd damn well best get them done and posted, because I'm not going to have time to make icons once my mom comes to town. So what the hell am I wasting time for? Excuse me, Lady Tara awaits.

Thank you to everyone who voted my WIllow/Aly Hannigan icon 2nd place in round 279 of

btvs_hush! I really was not expecting this at all. It's my very first award in

btvs_hush (on my third try in this comm) and my first second place award in any icontest. Congratulations to the other winners

teragramm and

pickamix - two artists who inspire me. I'm really honored. I would be lying to you if I didn't admit that seeing my name alongside their's didn't thrill me - and it's an especially sweet surprise coming at the end of what's been an emotionally turbulent weekend for me.**

And thank you

dragonydreams for the gorgeous banner - a masterclass in understated elegance and simplicity.

I swore I wouldn't have time to enter this contest, and furthermore how could I enhance such a beautiful photo of Aly Hannigan to any degree of justice? But it was so pretty, and such a high quality image, I couldn't resist. I took a similar approach to it that I did to the S5 photo of Sarah by Greg Gorham, pushing the soft "glamour" effects to gild the lily. This time I used a pre-existing clouds "texture" in ipiccy and altering the coloring for a soft rose tonality. I worried that I was being a wee bit cliche, to be honest (maybe it's time for me to retire cloud imagery for a while before y'all get sick of seeing it?)

But I was having fun and I wanted to make something pleasing for my Willow/Aly Posse, most especially

velvetwhip and

snogged, who I had in mind while making it. I can definitely see the flaws in my entry, all the things I wish I had done differently (I wish I'd been bolder with the rose coloring around the border, and gone for sharper definition) but overall I surprised myself and succeeded in what I set out to do.

Here are my entries, including my first ever Angel/DB icon! *yawn* (Sorry, but the dudes just don't excite me the same way the ladies do.) All snaggable with proper credit. (And frankly, if you can make 2 or 3 better, have at.) With the Sarah icon I was apparently trying for an antique or "Renaissance" era look.

01-03

So what did we learn this time? PAY ATTENTION TO THE DARN RULES. Ok, I already knew that one but apparently I am extremely dense and require sledge-hammer treatment. I was ready to submit two icons each of the Aly and Sarah images. Including some with text. Yes, that's right. I spent a good bit of time getting the text right on some icons and was ready to submit them until I remembered..its called btvs_hush. For a reason. Oops. (That's actually the second time I've done that.)

04-05

#4 is probably my favorite icon of this entire set. I very nearly submitted it and spent a lot of time trying to get the text right on it. I like the subtle overlay barely-there effect of the dark lettering; #5 has the same font but the lighter text isn't as effective. The inspiration for the phrase here was twofold: Willow's "We changed the world" was mashed up with Coldplay's "Carry Your World" from the Buffy fanmix

eilowyn made me were swirling together in my head. "Your world" felt more personal and intimate than "the world", and it felt right with this image of her looking into the skies, looking forward into the future. And ever since

pickamix advised me on the use of elegant, slender fonts re: my Etymology poster, I've pushed myself to achieve results I hope she'd approve of in that regard, even as I've becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the narrow range of fonts in both ipiccy and PB.

06-07

I didn't have time to show these to

wickedbish for beta advice because I made all of these at half past the last minute but thank goddess I didn't submit 6 or 7. It's the same cloud texture but more "literal" and wandering dangerously into cliche/camp territory.

08-11

I almost submitted one of these instead of #3 above. I made the choice to go with #3 after looking at past btvs_hush winners and seeing that they've tended to downplay "special effects" or heavy textures. I'm not sure if making my selections based on that is a good idea, though.

It amuses me that I get my hands on a high quality image of Sarah for a challenge and my first impulse is to break it down, grunge it up; try to make it look like a drawing or painting. I used a texture from Encompass-Rose for #8 for an effect that reminds me of an aged fresco painting; the icon is terribly flawed and the definition is not good but I don't hate it. Sue me. I used ipiccy's pencil drawing filter in 8-16. And yes, 12-13 made were before I remembered that text isn't allowed. It's ridiculous to think of the time I put into trying to get those two right - and not succeeding. But, hey, practice and lessons learned.

12-16

17

Angel alt, a little more saturated. *shrug* Instead of the pencil drawing filter I used one of the light textures on the Angel icons that provided the "brushstrokes".

Want? Take, have - but give proper credit! If you wish to alter, add your own text, etc, please just check with me beforehand.

**Long story short: Dark thoughts and despair, not worth discussing, except I did voice them to my sweetheart who gave me the thing I needed most: she held me, and that was enough to remind me why I love her and why we've been together for 17 years, however difficult our relationship is - and it is, very. You'll never find us on the inside of a Hallmark card.

1) Congratulations to the winners of

otherworldlyric icontest Challenge 179 :

dragonydreams,

chic_c and

pickamix (she made an Oz icon! Let's hear it for neglected Buffyverse characters!)

Deadline for Challenge 180 is tonight August 8 at midnight.Like, an hour from now. As of two days ago there were no entries so hopefully....?

2) Tonight is also the deadline for

slayerstillness Challenge 29, "The Freshman". You're welcome. Speaking of, I never did thank

tempertemper for the lovely banner to go with my Mod's Choice award for

slayerstillness Challenge #27. I love the how the warm burgundy-red-brown tones compliment colors of Dawn's hair and Buffy's mouth, which I had barely noticed until I saw it framed this way - indeed, how well it compliments all the other winning icons in that round. The translucent quality reminds me of very fine, handmade marbelized art paper. And the simple red border around the icon emphasizes the intimate nature of the crop but also emphasizes the emotional "claustrophobia" of the situation for both the Summers sisters.

Here's all of my entries that round;the only ones I'm really pleased with are the Buffy&Dawn and the Beer Bad icons. I particularly liked crop on the Beer Bad icon. It and the Anne icon I entered were meant to be deliberately anti-hairporn, in terms of "pretty hair". I had just got done with the Vamp Willow project and wanted to play with some unglamorous imagery for fun. (And of course, a return to Buffy was pure playtime for me.)

My special shout-out to an icon that didn't win is

rua1412's Angel icon #8, which is so, so pretty I had to snag it. Yes, I snagged an Angel icon - and the world did not end. Wonders. Speaking of Angel,

3)

dragonydreams has posted

btvs_hush Challenge 280, "Angel" (the character, btvs imagery only). Y'all know I'm not so much into the wood but I gotta admit, the third image for challenge B is kind of dynamic and I can see doing something fun with that, if I had the time. (Or I could catch my breath from laughing because - image #1. The tai chi in dress trousers. I'm just sayin'.)

Although now that you mention it, the eyeliner...?

DO NOT look at me on any of these, I am not pulling anything out of the trapdoor for this one or or anything else until I get my Tara set finished for

btvsats20in20. Okay? (I'm hoping to finish by Monday BUT...I've been riding waves of "hey, I have a neat idea!" alternating with "I suck. Tara, sweetie I'm so sorry. And my new bifocals hurt my eyes until I can't see a damn thing, my neck aches and dear god WHY did I think this was a clever idea why will no one stop me? I have got to get a job do I have enough money to pay the September rent? And why oh WHY did I think having my mother come to visit for a week was going to be a good idea? Me her and my sweetie in the same house together for a week? JFC on a cheese cracker when will I get a lick of sense?" And various sundry items and pretty little bits and bobs of self-loathing of that sort. Fun.)

4) Speaking of

btvsats20in20, check out

tempertemper's wonderful Cordelia Chase entries for Round 3! (And don't forget to check out the other entries this round- stop by to say hi, and share the love with your friends!)

starry_night has very kindly extended the deadline at my request to the 12th. I hope not to need it but...I've said that one a time or two before haven't i?

And now off the 'puter and onto bed - these bifocals are killing my eyes, for realsies.

Vote in

btvs_hush HERE

I may have entered an icon - made when I should have been making more Tara icons but really needed a break because I was in the doldrums creatively. Mention of this fact should not be construed as encouragement to vote for my icons because1) you don't know which are mine and 2) we all know what happens when friends vote for friends soley on the basis of friendship, don't we?

That's right - everytime someone votes on a pure friendship basis a FAIRY IS TORTURED TO DEATH. Screaming horrible death, wings slowly torn off - don't let another fairy needlessly suffer! Vote on the basis of aesthetic quality and STOP THE MADNESS!

Anyhoodle...

I can say that my favorite icon in this round is definitely not mine - a very very pretty one that's far and away my favorite. But I can't say which ones I voted for either, so you'll just have to suffer the agony of suspense, m'dears.

************

Three new sets of entries have been posted for Round 3 of

btvsats20in20:

bangel_4e's Buffy icons,

debris4spike's gen-centric Season 3 icons and

sweet_lyri's IWRY set. Each one raisin' the bar a little higher and a little higher for those who come after. I particularly love how each participant in this round has found a different way to interpret the Category "Magnifying Glass". Go see the pretties!

* Congratulations to the winners of

btvs_hush Challenge 278

rua1412,

xclaire_delunex, and (a new name to me)

stepinsidelove! Entries for Challenge 279 are due TOMORROW August 5 and according to

dragonydreams there will NOT be an extension this round. (Many thanks to

pickamix for the heads-up on that fact.) So there's still one day to come up with something if you're quick and clever (and decidedly not me).

*

bangel_4e has posted her entries for Round 3 of

btvsats20in20, "Buffy Summers". I knew she'd come up with something to do Buffy proud and oh my did she ever. *This is me quietly resisting throwing in the towel...for the love of Tara I plod onward and I am really really overthinking this*

*

scribesds is looking for new members and feedback on the future of

writers_toybox, a comm for fanwriters looking for beta help, prompts, wanting to talk about writing etc. The comm has been primarily but not soley B/A-oriented up until now. Should it stop being a B/A community? Open up to other fandoms? Become a general writing forum? WHAT SAY YOU?

* A very happy birthday/week/month/year to - lots of people on my f'list (in no particular order):

ruuger,

clawofcat,

st_salieri,

darkgoddessgege,

zanthinegirl,

kerkevik_2014 (Ray),

blackfrancine,

sweetiepebbles,

ozma914 (Mark ~~Fields~~ Hunter),

bradcpu, and who am I missing? I apologize for the wishes en masse but people just keep gettin' born! I hope it was filled with something much nicer than heartache, misery, a boyfriend's soul going kablooey and an animated arm in a box. Unless any of that's your cup of tea.

1) btvs_hush: Vote NOW for your three favorite entries in Challenge 278 "Chosen". "Now" as in, deadline 8pm tonight EST. Then grumble at me for not being more prompt with the pimpage. (I'm a big girl, I can take it.)

Then enter Challenge 279 which uses PR photos rather than screencaps, including what I think is probably the loveliest photo of Aly Hannigan ever taken - it is to her what Greg Gorman's S5 promo photos are to Sarah: celebrity/PR portraiture as art. Challenge deadline August 5th; ~~dollars to donuts that gets extended~~
ETA: Nope, this challenge WILL NOT be extended; thanks to pickamix for the heads up!

2) Vote NOW for your three faves at otherworldlyric Challenge 179! Some really deceptively delicate-but-strong and "oh gosh how did they do that text effect I LOVE that" entries this round. (And a certain manpire's cheekbones that are a special effect all by themselves YES I SAID IT.) Congratulate recent winners dragonydreams, xclaire_delunex and pickamix! (Ok, Challenge 176 is not immediately recent but whatever. Yay for new names and mixing it up!)

Then enter Challenge 180, "Where Does My Heart Beat Now?" by the one and only Celine Dion *snerk* Actually, she was sort of cute then with the '80's overprocessed hair and The Eyebrows. When a female celeb starts to make it big, The Eyebrows are always the first thing to go. Deadline on this Challenge is Friday August 8th.

3) Speaking of August 8th, the deadline for slayerstillness Challenge 29 "The Freshman" has been extended another week due to lack of entries. *cue big sighs of relief*

1) But first, the usual mandatory and gratutious pimpage:

dragonydreams has extended the deadline for

btvs_hush Challenge #278, "Chosen" to Tuesday July 29th at 8pm EST. There are only two challenges this time, all based on caps from the episode. Many of the images are much used and well-loved, some more unusual, so the real challenge - and fun - will be to see how artists reinterpret them in a fresh way.

2) And now to the banners for Round 2 of

btvsats20in20, away!:

teragramm and

iconsoleander were the only winners to request banners, although I'm including the "spec banner" I made for

starry_night's Hairporn winner. I also made banners for my own winning entries for fun but also to continue to improve and practice techniques. (And not just because I am a shameless awards banner hussy.*ahem*)

Many congratulations again to the winning artists - spending time working with these icons, noticing the wealth of details that had escaped me previously, was a singular pleasure. If you notice anything amiss, please let me know.

final signed for icons oleander round2 plus one

Hairporn Rd 2 banner final version signed

This was my first time making awards banners so many thanks to the wonderous

bangel_4e for trusting me with the assignment. (And if

rua1412,

federica74,

starry_night or

sweet_lyri would still like banners made, please place your request here.)

1) Due to a paucity* of entries

dragonydreams has extended the deadline for Challenge 276 to 8pm on Tuesday, July 1st. The episode in focus this challenge is "The Gift", and the theme challenge is "Dawn".

*Yes, I absolutely have been waiting years for the opportunity to use that word and prove that my college education wasn't a complete waste.

2) And due to several requests,

bangel_4e has extended the deadline for Round 2 of

btvsats20in20 to Wednesday July 9th, midnight your respective time zones. To which I say THANK YE GODS and, Who was reading my mind today?

dragonydreams had to repost the voting for

btvs_hush challenge 273 because an entrant's icon disappeared. (Because icons will do that to ya sometimes. They're trouble that way. ~~No one ever tells you this stuff until after you become obsessed and addicted and have to be dragged from your computer and forcibly fed~~....Not that I'd know anything about that *ahem*)

The good news is it's all fixed now at the new post, so if you already voted at the original post, you get to do so again; and if you haven't yet, why not do so now? It only takes a minute. (You're reading this post, you clearly haven't anything better to do. Or you're taking a break from catching up on your fanfic must-read backlist.)

Sunnydale's favorite evil, soulless, murderous and yet fiendishly charming manpires approve of this plan.

What it says on the tin: voting is up now for 10 terrific entries in the latest

btvs_hush challenge 273 (Becoming). The deadline for voting is Sunday the 25th, 8pm EST (North America); but if you're reading this right post you might as well go ahead and take another minute to vote right now because if you're anything like me you'll tell yourself you'll do it later, get totally distracted with ten different ~~fanfics (shiny!)~~ work projects and the deadline will slip right by before you know it.

Unless you're organized and have a terrific memory ergo, not like me in any way whatsoever. Lucky you.

While I'm here I might as well take the opportunity to trot out the icons I made for

btvs_hush challenge # 257 last August. My timing was spectacularly horrible. True story: I entered three icons for Challenge C, "blades" on August 14th because it seemed like a really fun idea; who doesn't love the Buffyverse women cracking out weapons of destruction? (Or maybe that's just me.)

Then August 19th my sweetie's bedroom went up in flames. Neither one of us died (the good news).

WInners were announced on September 1st: delicately beautiful icons by

xclaire_delunex and

rua1412 of horrible moments in Tough Love.

I wasn't really disappointed. Just tired, stressed out, living for two weeks in a tent in our front yard (that I pitched myself I will have you know), bandaging my sweetie's burned hand and foot, trying hard not to have flashbacks or at least not be too upset by them, and dealing with incredible back and leg pain because I retraumatized an injury that had not yet healed from the prior November and totally wasting that epidural I had in March which hurt like hell all by itself....

Add to all that the embarrasment of trying to answer (or dodge) everyone's queries about the fire, and the knowledge that I nearly killed my ladylove. She nearly died because of me, because of a stupid freak spark that turned the mattress into a firebomb. That knowledge is something I will live with for the rest of my life. She was frightened, hysterical, trying to fight an unbeatable fire when the sensible thing to do would be run away; I was begging her to leave the bedroom and had to drag her out with an assist from my landlord just as the firetrucks arrived. She nearly died and I did that. I'm sorry about the property damage, Mr Landlord, I truly am; but your walls and floorboards pale in comparison to her life. To anyone's life. That's on me.

I DO NOT MISS THE YEAR 2013 A.D.

But enough of that....Now I look at these entries and think, meh, I wouldn't have voted for me either. Especially now that I'm trying to improve my icon and image making skilz and can barely stand to look at some things I did even a few months ago. Or even a week ago. Now that I've had a chance to use the sharpening tool in http://ipiccy.com I'm embarrassed by the fuzziness and lack of clarity of #1 & 3.

I still kind of fancy #2 though; I'd seen icons of Willow with her "bag of knives" in Glory's apartment many times, but I wanted to focus just on the knives themselves, and increased brightness and saturation to give it an incongruously bright and cheerful Technicolor or cartoon effect. Some alternate efforts I didn't enter, including images from Spiral, which I think I love more than fandom does generally, the hokiness of the Knights Who Say Key notwithstanding; Anne icons and my first effort at Joyce in School Hard which is pretty horrible. But, hey, shiny red ax! Bright blue window!

I wasn't thinkng at the time about the parallels/echoes between Joyce protecting Buffy in School Hard, and Buffy protecting Dawn in Spiral; it's just one of those things that's there, whether I'm conscious of it or not, and lies at the base of why I love those Summers women. Fighting, protecting, to the point death and beyond - I get that.

*As always - want? Take, have - with proper credit please! And also, letting me know is not necessary but totally cool*

1) The beat that my heart skipped: Congratulations to the winners of

btvs_hush challenge #2 72:

dragonydreams,

rua1412 and

debris4spike for their superb entries. I looked at those entries the other day when I was voting and was so excited I almost forgot to breathe for a second. No, I'm not kidding. (Yes, I do need to get a life but never mind that right now.) They were all so much of a piece with one another; delicately atmospheric and melancholy, aesthetically pleasing and intellectually engaging. I wanted to know who made each of them and HOW, for goodness sakes; what were the artists thinking at the time, and how closely if at all do my perceptions match what they hoped to achieve.

Deadline for challenge 273 is Tuesday May 20th.

I never guessed that the Willow icon was Deborah's. She's a wonderful artist (see the Servalan icon I snagged for confirmation); but I thought I "knew" her style in general. This icon is on another level entirely. It suggests feminine mysteries revealed, from within a cave, the womb or a strange ansd rare flower. Becoming, but tenatively so. Rua's icon is a bit more subtle visually and I almost overlooked it at first; but there really aren't many nice Xander icons out there that I've seen, and I slowly fell in love with it. Which is a big deal because I'm not easily drawn to images of men, and Xander is an interesting character but hardly my favorite. This icon makes me want to cry; good lord, the expression on his face. He's so terribly young to be so old. He seems middle-aged already (is that what happens to children growing up in a war zone?) The effect at the corner reminds me both of a watercolor painting and the corner of a newspaper tossed on the curb. Old-tea coloring.

And likewise Dragony's Giles icon - so, so old, so melancholy; autumnal, fading, isolated. A reluctant parental-figure who was himself poorly-parented but is somehow expected to guide these children; a Watcher whose emotions and intellect are at constant war with one another, neither side quite winning out in the end; a man who wants love, who wants to connect but has no idea how, and who thrusts family and love away each time it comes to him because it's all he knows to do.

You may be shocked to read that #5 in that challenge was my alternate choice; I have no idea who made that one. Yes, I came within a hairsbreath of voting for a Bangel icon - of the EoD/Chosen kiss, no less. It's a simple crop - no distractions, the golden background gentle pushed back from the figures; the visual platonic idea of a "kiss" in our culture. You needn't even know the characters, the fandom or the context to get that far. A good icon starts with a good image. But again, this is muted, slightly hazy; the autumnal coloring suggests a relationshipp that exists somewhere between the lands of "perhaps someday" and "never will again".

2) I feel much the same sense of excitement looking at the entries for

slayerstillness challenge # 24 :the pleasure of trying to decode the icons, sift through the layers of meaning and intent - so much to unpack here. Voting deadline is Tuesday May 20 so do vote now, if you can bear making a decision. Again, very much an "all of a piece" feeling to the entries, which is all the more astonishing given the fact that the prompt was a "free for all". The artists could submit anything they liked, so I'd expect, well, a free-for-all in the literal visual sense - and yet a sense of (inter)connection is very much apparent here. Muted colors, subtle textures, the importance of line. Certain characters and themes are much in evidence: Willow and Giles, Bangel and Spuffy are all present and accounted for. I have a few favorites but I'll reserve gushing until after the winners are announced.

3) Sign ups for round 1 of btvsats20in20 icontest are now open - the deadline is June 4th, and themes can be found here. The comm is still open to anyone wishing to be a co-mod or banner maker. Thank you to

debris4spike for making sure this was on my radar, and to

bangel_4e for going above and beyond in answering all my questions and offering support, advice and feedback.

oh_cheezit has posted her S7 Spike, Spufffy and Beneath You icons for this first round: SO LOVELY.

I don't know yet if I'll sign up for this round; I'm still taking my time learning about these 20in20 challenges; they seem daunting to me, but so did slayerstillness, otherworldlyric and btvs_hush at first. icontests have definitely pushed me to improve my own work both by doing and by the example of other artists.

4) Due to lack of entries dragonydreams extended Otherworldlyrics challenge 172 extended one more week - and you know what that means: I will be nibbling my fingers anxiously until May 23rd second-guessing the entries I sent in the other day and wondering "Should I switch one? I should totally switch one. No, I shouldn't. Yes, I should dear god the freakin' agony (was that supposed to be a secret? Um....) We all have one more week to get in our entries inspired by the Cure's "Watching Me Fall".

I had to read the lyrics of that song a couple of times before it sunk what was going on in it: a guy describing himself pick up a prostitute in Tokyo as is he's having an out of body experience. (Hey, I've never hired a sex worker, so what would I know?) She's described as if she were a stereotypical movie hooker, a doll, a siren or seductress rather than a human being - and he's the one "falling". Ok, so this guy has an itch to scratch and the money to buy himself an hour with a sex worker who is totally dehumanized in the song and he's complaining? Waa-waa, poor little me with my male priviledge and superior economic status and yet I'm morally helpless...oh give me an effing break. This is stuff is straight out of Genesis. Hey, dude, here's an idea if you're feeling dehumanized by the experience: start by treating the sex worker you hired for the hour as another human being. Knowwhatimean?

Honestly, that song is just begging to be deconstructed. Possibly with ~~a sledgehammer shovel~~ a few well-made icons.

Am I allowed to pimp my entries in an icon challenge? Spank me with a feather if I'm being a bad fangirl. I recently entered some icons for the first time in the btvs_hush Challenge # 257 , theme "Blades" (Knives, etc) because oh boy, you know me and my women of the Buffyverse wielding implements of destruction fetish. (And then I made one with no women in it. I'm funny that way.)

Anyhoo go vote for whichever icons you think best and maybe one of them will be mine?

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Page Summary

Megan's Banners for btvsats20in20 Round 5 by starry_night
Deadline extended to Monday for btvsats20in20 (whew!) AND LOOK WHAT SPIKESREDQUEEN MADE ME!
My entries, alts and extras for btvs_hush Challenge 283
Showing the Ladies Off (and pushing our comfort zones)...
BRINGING THE LADY HOME....
Miss Psycho Pep Squad, the Monday edition!
Did I forget to mention btvs_hush challenge 281 is accepting entries now?
Quick like a bunny: Happy birthday to Spikesredqueen! Plus, various sundry oddments and endments
I Procrastinate, Therefore I Pimp: Otherworldlyrics, Slayerstillness, and Other Good Stuff
Oh my goodness I won second place in btvs_hush! THANK YOU!
If you think I sound fakey-cheerful you'd be right. Now on with the pimpage!
Vote for your 3 fave icons in btvs_hush challenge 279! And new entries for 20in20 (not by me!)
The Monday edition! All the squee that's fit to post (that I recall off the top of my head)
Icon challenge pimpage, the Sunday and It's Two Days Late Edition!
Here be banners for btvsats20in20 Round 2!
DEADLINES FOR BTVS_HUSH & btvsats20in20 CHALLENGES EXTENDED!
New voting post for btvs_hush challenge 273 - we all get a second chance
Vote now at btvs_hush challenge #273 - and oh, nostalgia, I can live without ya
Behold the icontest pimpage and icons most excellent
Please vote for me in the btvs_hush icon challenge! (if you want to, that is.)

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Style Credit

Style: Ivory Alcea for Mobility by branchandroot
Resources: Mitsuba Aoi

Page generated May. 25th, 2025 12:30 am

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Entries tagged with comm: btvs_hush

Megan's Banners for btvsats20in20 Round 5 by starry_night

Deadline extended to Monday for btvsats20in20 (whew!) AND LOOK WHAT SPIKESREDQUEEN MADE ME!

My entries, alts and extras for btvs_hush Challenge 283

Showing the Ladies Off (and pushing our comfort zones)...

BRINGING THE LADY HOME....

Miss Psycho Pep Squad, the Monday edition!

Did I forget to mention btvs_hush challenge 281 is accepting entries now?

Quick like a bunny: Happy birthday to Spikesredqueen! Plus, various sundry oddments and endments

I Procrastinate, Therefore I Pimp: Otherworldlyrics, Slayerstillness, and Other Good Stuff

Oh my goodness I won second place in btvs_hush! THANK YOU!

If you think I sound fakey-cheerful you'd be right. Now on with the pimpage!

Vote for your 3 fave icons in btvs_hush challenge 279! And new entries for 20in20 (not by me!)

The Monday edition! All the squee that's fit to post (that I recall off the top of my head)

Icon challenge pimpage, the Sunday and It's Two Days Late Edition!

Here be banners for btvsats20in20 Round 2!

DEADLINES FOR BTVS_HUSH & btvsats20in20 CHALLENGES EXTENDED!

New voting post for btvs_hush challenge 273 - we all get a second chance

Vote now at btvs_hush challenge #273 - and oh, nostalgia, I can live without ya

Behold the icontest pimpage and icons most excellent

Please vote for me in the btvs_hush icon challenge! (if you want to, that is.)