Projects 19, 20, and 21: Silly stuff for work and fun stuff for Samhain!

Project 19: I made my work desk pretty with magnets. A while back a friend of mine sent me this awesome magnetized pony scene book with magnet ponies in it. I took the book to work intending to open it up and leave it on my desk with the ponies going about their business, but then I realized that I could have the magnets out all the time if I just stuck them on my desk. See now I can make scenes come to life on my drawers or on the other metal part of my desk near the monitor. 

What did I learn during this project? I learned that this generation of ponies is pretty darn cute even if it's not as cute as the original generation and the most recent generation. Also I learned that I'm in my own little corner of the office and no one sees anything I do and so if I'm going to decorate it will truly be for my eyes only so I might as well do something I like! And did I complete it? Yes - though I would venture to say it's a work in progress since right now all the ponies are waiting to be played with on the faces of my desk drawers.

Project 20: I wrote out Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky poem on my break schedule. I felt that the paper was way too plain to go up on my cubicle wall without some color on it and by color I mean a spiraling pink, purple, and blue handwritten poem. So I chose Jabberwocky. What did I learn? I learned that I had forgotten a few words of the poem. I memorized it back in high school when I was on the Speech and Debate team and did poetic interpretation. I used to do this poem and the Yarn of the Nancy Bell. I think there was more one in there, maybe The Raven by Poe. But yeah I liked macabre and nonsensical poems. Still do! And did I finish this project? You betcha!

Project 21: With mom and Hannah's help, I gathered up all the items to be included in the Elements Basket for the Samhain raffle table. The basket included: pillar candles, mirror candle stands, a set of candle holders, an earth candle, ocean potpourri, a small bottle of Shinto Shrine water, three packs of incense, a barbecue lighter, shell shaped bathtub fizzers, a bottle of sparkling water for drinking, and a wind-chime made of polished stones. 

This is a picture taken by the basket winner. You can see all
of the various pieces of the Elements basket as well as a  few
pieces of the altar kit basket that our High Priestess made.

What I learned is that baskets, while sometimes being stressful to make, are always fun! And I learned that putting that extra effort into something really pays off. All the baskets up for raffle were very beautiful and a lot of people really wanted to win the Elements Basket (mainly because that wind-chime was so stinking neat!) so that encouraged more people to buy tickets. We broke a record yesterday for the IEPG: we made over $100 in a single evening in donations via general donation and raffle ticket purchases. This is amazing. The IEPG doesn't need all that much money to keep running smoothly, but we do need some. The money goes to supplies for the guild as well as paying the rental insurance on our venue we use all year long for Esbats and Sabbats. And we survive on donations from members. Usually we make between $0 and $20 dollars at an event. So this was monumental. Did I complete the project: yes, with help from my mom and my Hannah.