Monday 31 January 2011

Publication Date of Pratchett's 'Snuff' Announced!

Snuff, the next Discworld book by Pratchett, will be released in the UK on the thirteenth of October, 2011. Two days before my sister's birthday. With luck it comes out in NZ at the same time, and I've got an easy birthday present ;D If not, then poor her, tis all MINE.

But it is confirmed. And the title is still listed officially as 'Snuff'. It's probably too early for overseas dates to be confirmed yet, but I think it's usually the same everywhere.

Amazon Associate End of the Month Fingernail Gnawing

I am so glad that Amazon also operates on Pacific time for the month's endings. I currently have 30 items shipped. 33 is the next tier. 32 orders. Please please please will something ship today? PLEASE DAMMIT. (It may only be $6 but it's the Winning of the Thing that matters).


I don't want to wait up until half one to find out. But I must know. And then I can write the follow-up to my early January post.

-----------
1st Feb Edit: Aaaargh. No new sales. But I forgot that Amazon is a day behind, so I'll have to wait until the NEXT day for the last day's report.

And I wish they had an easier way to find unshipped orders. I had to compare earnings and orders until I found the date at which they stopped matching and narrow it down. Turns out that it's two copies of Tangled - which is not surprising, as it's only just come out, so I can't expect them to miraculously ship soon, and I also hadn't realised I'd sold any of. So, cool.

Oh, also? Pinch punch, first of the month, no returns!

*runs away cackling*


-------
2rd Feb Edit: AAAARGH. It taunts me, it does, my precious... I didn't make it. I had 32 shipped orders and was only one short for the month of January. All I needed was ...one... more... order. Worse? My clicks on the last day of January were 32 in number. THE TAUNTING. WHEN WILL IT STOP?

It was most annoying - my referrals sales almost entirely disappeared in the last week of January, completely ruining my steady increase.

Saturday 29 January 2011

AMAZING OOAK Mother Gothel Doll!

I'm stunned. And delighted. And very, very impressed. I was just contacted by the creator of this amazing Mother Gothel doll, And they used my costume lensAnd I get to put the pretty picture up on my lens! I can't decide which makes me happier ^_^

They customized an existing tonner doll of Bellatrix LeStrange to get this OOAK - 'one of a kind' - marvel. So far, there's only a Rapunzel doll being released officially, so this may be the only one of its kind (apart from other people's OOAKs, of course!) And considering the starting price of the tonner doll is currently $185... this darling is going to be very expensive. Pity. I want her!


From Flutterwing Creations

And I can say that not only do I want her (and I assure you, I am very picky - especially when it comes to anything art-related... I have to watch myself at conventions, because I've got a tendency to over-criticise!), but she's almost perfect.

And this meant that I had to create yet another Mother Gothel lens. Yes. Another one. (Wait - I haven't actually mentioned on here yet, have I? Well, I made one about her song, "Mother Knows Best", earlier today as well. But they let me siphon off a bit more content from the long and busy main Mother Gothel page). And this latest one is, of course, about Mother Gothel Dolls (there's one tiny official one, the amazing OOAK one, a free paper doll, and a Madame Alexander).

Drat. I better actually add a Mother Gothel tag to the blog now!

Burlesque: A Review

Went to see Burlesque on Friday night. It was well worth it - but then, I am a sucker for musicals. A lot like Chicago, and Moulin Rouge except without ever leaving the showbiz side, or involving any murder, death,  or actual crime. It was a predictable, feel-good movie, in which every wins (they even use the words 'win-win' near the end, which made me cringe... but then, I guess I like seeing someone lose in a good vs. bad guy type plot!) that is carried - amazingly - by the characters.

BurlesqueWicked (2003 Original Broadway Cast)

The cover of the soundtrack is interesting - the theme of two faces, as well as Cher's lips, and expecially the curve of black to white reminds me a lot of the cover of Wicked (and I predict much femslash based on that alone).

And the songs. LOVED them. The only one I didn't really enjoy as much was the finale - Jack's amazing 'specially written for Ally' song. There didn't seem to be much actual song, and they just threw all the special effects at it - more than I would have thought could fit into the club! Some of the songs were lip-synced (in order for Ally to come in and be a 'unique singer'), but those were classics, so also enjoyable.

'You Haven't Seen The Last of Me' was a quiet, plot-relevant song from Cher that I really enjoyed - looking it up afterwards, it turned out to be the one that won the Golden Globe 'Best Original Song', and the first that she'd sung in seven years!.



I'm currently listening to "I See the Light" because of all the complaints I saw about it losing to Burlesque and ... geez. Original? That's the "A Whole New World" tune! They even have some of the same words! The bit that really triggered it for me was

But when I'm way up here
It's crystal clear
That now I'm in / a whole new world with you

If she's here it's crystal clear
I'm where I'm meant to go
And at last I see the light

Listening to the chorus lines, it definitely fits (same number of beats and everything, with a tweaked tune)
"A whole new woooorld" = "And at last I see the light"
A new fantastic point of view = And it's like the fog has lifted
 Yeah,  "I See the Light" is slower, sappier and Mandy Moore has a lower voice than whoever sang Jasmine, but they are very similar. I KNEW something was bugging me about it.

Well, THAT completely side-tracked my review!

Hmmph. Anyway. "Welcome To Burlesque" from Cher was fantastic, and "But I am A Good Girl" very funny.  Cher was amazing and I loved her voice - and I really enjoyed the dynamic she had with Sean (not John, this is important to note, even if they sound similar ;D ). Especially the tragicomic "...he bats for the other team" line!   And his comment about his wig in the beginning of this clip...


Show a little more,
Show a little less,
Add a little smoke,
Welcome to Burlesque




Luckily(?) I don't really know much about Christine Aguilera, so I was able to watch without awareness of her as a professional singer intruding. Except for the bits where she sang, which were pretty incredible and very professional sounding!

The happy ending was a bit TOO pat, with them overdoing the 'all's well, family and forgiveness' bits (seriously, taking Nikki back was just stupid. She wasn't just a horrible person, she was a really crappy employee! Obviously there was supposed to be 'depth' and 'history' but that wasn't very believable).

  Lots of eye candy - the majority of the cast being professional burlesque dancers meant that they were all pretty. The relationship with Jack was surprisingly enjoyable - two pretty people hit it off and actually have a normal friendship before inevitably falling into bed with each other.

 And I now have a newfound interest in the art of burlesque dancing (or at least, films about it!). I am also sulking because Amazon won't let me download the online soundtrack from NZ (AAARGH. Why do they care where my money comes from?). But I suspect I'll be buying the DVD of Burlesque when it comes out here.

Sketchblog: Mother Knows Best

"Rapunzel's So Mature Now" 

I miss my tablet. I WANT ARTRAGE BACK.

*sighs*

Here's Mother Gothel, from a moment in the reprise of Mother Knows Best. Head's too big, and the shading isn't quite right, and I wantssss colours, but for a quick sketch off the laptop screen, shaded in charcoal (which was all I had handy as I can't use ArtRage right now). I remembered to resharpen it a lot! So only really mucked up a few bits :D

But at least it looks like her.
I hope >.>

I might actually have to go see Tangled, just for Mother Gothel (otherwise I'd stay far away from the empty headed silliness).

Thursday 27 January 2011

Skin Writing, Lens Writing, Lens of the Day!

I opened up my email to find it flooded with comments this afternoon - turns out that my Dermographism lens received Lens of the Day!


I am now fighting the urge to run over and compulsively start trying to tidy it up.

Grow New Baby Lenses With Page Breaks (Greenhousing)

Tui Bird Feeding on Cherry Blossoms card
Tui Bird Feeding on Cherry Blossoms by Flynn_the_Cat
More Tui Cards
Greenhousing: Use the Page Breaks to grow lenses up until they are big enough to split off!
This is probably my favourite use for the page break module. I've often ended up writing really long lenses, which then grow some more over time - and naturally I now add page breaks.

After a while of that, I can see if I'm still adding more, and if people are actually finding the second page, and can just copy it across to a completely new lens (whether I leave anything behind depends on what I started with).

For example, the Disney Femslash lens used to have a page dedicated to lesbian media recommendations. This got no search traffic and had a LOT of content which kept growing and was good (rare visitors clicked on a lot of items), so I took it out, and created and entirely new lens, with FIVE pagebreaks - Top Lesbian Media. Which stayed happily in second tier (now up in first) and never impacted on the Disney lens' happy first tier ranking at all. This also freed up a page for my rapidly expanding Disney collection (which I am now creating a series of lenses to host, as it is STILL growing!).

A BAD example is the time I split off the How to Make a Tui Feeder topic from the main New Zealand Tui lens. Sure, it deserved it's own niche and both lenses are doing fine now, but I didn't notice that almost all the traffic was FOR the feeders. Which meant that my original Tui lens dropped like a stone for over a year, until it started pulling in traffic in its own right (I also later added a Featured lens module and interlinked them, now I get some of that traffic back and send a lot to the other lens).

The much newer lens on Mother Gothel is another good example - it grew and grew, and then I gave up and added a page break, and then I realised I was getting two separate types of searcher - fans, and would-be cosplayers - so I pulled out all the costume related content and set it up on a new lens about Mother Gothel's costume. And still had two full pages worth on the original lens! (in fact, I need to find a way to break the first page up some more).

I'm following this tactic for several other lenses as well, as they slowly grow over time. Nothing on Squidoo is permanent - make use of this to continually improve your content, and learn to narrow it down as you go, if you're having trouble with getting 'niche' enough! (Write enough, and eventually you'll get chapters out of it!)

Points to consider when breaking up a lens

1. Is a page or section on the page getting ANY search traffic or clicks? If no one is landing on that page, for that information, then it's a waste of space. If the rare people who find it seem to love it, then it needs more attention somehow. DON'T pull out the content that is attracting visitors in the first place. Use Google Analytics to see which pages people are viewing and landing on. (Here's how to add Google Analytics to a lens and here's how to understand the page break hits)

2. Is it a slightly different part of the overall topic - can it be considered a new niche? Niche is GOOD, if you've got enough content to back it up.

3. Have you got enough content to make a lens? If you don't, can you find some? Otherwise, just move it into a page break.

4. Does the current lens have a good ranking/link love? If not, it might be a good idea to wait until it's coasting along nicely. It might NEED that content!

5. When link dropping, do you feel like it isn't a good link to leave, because they'll have trouble loading or finding the bit that is relevant? You definitely need to break it up a bit!

6. Leave a signpost to the new lens. I have links pointing to pages which no longer contain the same content, and by clearly noting that it's moved, and is now 149% more awesome with its own dedicated lens, people click through. And people who weren't even looking, click through (...usually. It is a elated topic, after all!). And leave the headings and images that are pulling in the most traffic, if only to say 'looking for This Awesome Related Thing? Go here!' instead of 'Awesome Related Thing'.

7. If you don't think your lens can stand alone as TWO lenses, but you need to break it up, just add a page break. If you think you're doing twice as well as you need to for lensrank/sales, and half the traffic is 'wasted' on half the lens (i.e. skipping entire sections and only after specific niche content) then split it up.

8. And if you don't dare split your content into completely separate lenses, try adding some fancy banners at the beginning and end, and interlinking the two pages a bit more, and see if that helps people to find the extra pages!

Examples of content you could make a new lens out of
  • A GOOD review of a product on a lens where it only needs a casual mention (e.g. I started reviewing my camera and camera equipment on my Auckland Zoo photos lens, which ended up being long, so I just moved it into a new lens.) This allows you to create a nicely targeted lens, AND to feature it on the original as a resource.
  • Splitting up a series or collection into more targeted lenses (e.g. I am GOING to do this with my Graphic Novels lens, as most people don't find the following pages - plus the Amazon module limits - and there is search traffic for them). Also, my Disney femslash collection (which always puts me in a good mood because I find it so funny - I grin manically whenever I write the words 'Disney femslash') is being organised into specific character lenses.
  • Sections on lenses that end up being large enough to split off, even if they are generally related. 
    • E.g. Characters and their costumes - on most of my character lenses (Holli Would, Mal Reynolds, Illyria), the costume information is only about a third of the lens at the most, the traffic is not big, and most of the traffic is for the costumes. If I take that out, I lose those lenses. Actually, the lens about Illyria is a bit odd, as I DO have enough content for two lenses, and it is page break'd, but until the last month (it's been around for four), all the traffic was image searches on the costume page. But now, I think I can safely split it up.
    •  But on other lenses, such as Mother Gothel (described above) the traffic is huge, and clearly split into 'cosplay' and 'about Mother Gothel'. 
    • Also e.g. - how to use a graphics tablet with ArtRage and which one to buy. Each seriously needs to become its own separate lens (and to be seriously edited... that is one old, old lens! In fact, I think it could easily be a tier two if I bothered to redo it properly. But I am sulking because I still can't find my Bamboo tablet pen and am in ArtRage withdrawal)
  • Some lenses, there is just no point as the only thing keeping them 'up' is the fact that several different pages are pulling in traffic and clicks. 
Basically, look at your traffic. If the searches are mainly on the stuff you're taking OUT, then your current lens will probably die, at least initially. If they're half-half, then it may drop, or may be okay. If most of it's on the current topic, and the stuff you're moving is mainly irrelevant, then your lens may even improve!

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Sketchblog: Narwhals and Advanced Mechanics

A quick sketchdump - the scanner I found is really awful, so half the sketches I scanned are illegible, so there's only these three for now.


 Advanced Mechanics - I'd like to finish this one. I'm drawing some intricately coggy pictures right now (mostly on the train, which is... tricky!)




A random stylised narwhal, and some quick sketches of cats watching (practicing live sketches with my cat, who was trying to get out of my room!)


And here's a better scan of the treefrog

Cat and Birds

Met a really friendly black and white cat on the way home today, on the walkway over the ponds. That's the second (and completely different), really friendly black and white cat I've met there.

Also got this awesome photo of my cat.


Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a clear photo of the tongue? (more photos of my cat over at A Year of the Cat )

And finally uploaded the little twittery Zebra finches video clip from the zoo.

Sunday 23 January 2011

Dear Mother Gothel Cosplayers

I was rather thrilled to discover someone making a Mother Gothel costume on DeviantART and actually linking to my Mother Gothel page as her reference resource page. I was also slightly horrified.

I am NOT a cosplayer, and the last time I sewed was an attempt to make my brother a stuffed unicorn out of old curtains when I was ten.( I found it half-finished, thirteen years later. Last week. When doing a mass clear-out of the last few piles of things in my room, after which my dad knocked down the entire wall (he originally put it up - I had to sleep in the living room for my first month in that house!, and now they're renovating) ... uh, I've long since moved out, to clarify).

Fan art ArtRage Mother GothelMy costume analysis of Mother Gothel mainly comes from when I decided to draw her (in order to have some of my own art on the lens - I have a Thing about that :D ) - and therefore had to actually look at all the details (and decide if I could be bothered drawing the dagger, and how to best mimic the brocade without bothering to draw the actual pattern and if it should be shiny, and what colour her eyes really are, and so on).

This means that this costume description comes from the perspective of an artist, not a costumer. I've attempted to provide ideas and resources to help people get started - and more than enough to throw together a home made Halloween costume, but I do not delude myself into thinking that page is anywhere NEAR detailed enough for a serious cosplayer*

I know a little about dress patterns, wigs, and fabrics, but only what internet research will give you (I research stuff to death when I'm on a roll, but this kind of thing needs actual practical experience). Over time, as people actually create cosplays of Gothel, I'll have more information to draw on, but if you know something about this, then please:




  • Tell me if something is wrong/misleading


  • Feel free to suggest alternatives/ tips/ tutorials/ stuff you've done


  • Let me know about YOUR cosplays! (I always, always, link them back to the original, so give me the link you want it to go to).


  • Comments here, or on the actual lens are both fine.







  • *(... an example which IS, is my friend Bria's Rapunzel analysis - yeah, it's her fault I ever heard of Tangled, but I got her onto Squidoo, so it's probably self-inflicted. I do not like Rapunzel (PINK and airheaded and seriously ditzy - I do like the short-haired version at the end though) which may be partly why I am so fond of Mother Gothel.)

    Saturday 22 January 2011

    Meg Gets Her Own Femslash Page

    I've been struggling with the huge number of videos that are currently on the Disney Femslash page for a while now, and the new ones that keep appearing are getting hard to keep up with. I'm pretty sure I found almost all of them that existed at the time, but there are now at least three times the number that were there when I first created it!

    I'll keep the original giant page, but I might start winnowing down the videos a bit - I'm not sure yet. It's not impossible to load when you visit it (...yet, since I split it up with pagebreaks and moved all the lesbian books and films onto their own page), but editing it is getting very difficult. So I needed move the content off it into other pages. But how?

    Splitting them off by pairing was too messy, and trying to make a 'part one, two, three' would require never-ending juggling or else no actual categorisation. But I think I've figured out a way, and of course, it's blindingly obvious.

    Split them up by character.

    So I started with Meg, and here it is.
    I used my old (and crappy *cringes* ) painting of Meg and Esmeralda for the intro image, and I found an awesome mock-Greek font called Ancient Geek (cause she's Greek).

    I like the result - it's a lot easier to load and read through than the main page. There'll be some repetition (on the other half of the pairing) but I think this is the best way to manage it, and I can use the main page as an index.


    Edit: And because I'm on a roll, I finished one for Pocahontas too.
    DOUBLE EDIT: And because I apparently hate myself and am trying to see how long I can last without sleep, here's Esmeralda's page.

    Aaaaand because this blog post is becoming the index blog anyway, here's all of them so far:
    Ariel
    Belle
    Esmeralda
    Jasmine
    Meg
    Mulan
    Odette
    Pocahontas

    Tuesday 18 January 2011

    Sketchblog: Tree Frogs Saved Me From Twilight

    Some apologies for the quality - I don't have a scanner at home, and the lights are really bad, so the photos were awful. When I find my tablet pen (aaargh) I might rescan and colour, if I remember ;D



    This is why there are no fairies in the jungle. Tree frogs eat them.



    This is why there are no real sparkly vampires. Giant Tree frogs eat them.



    Also, I OFFICIALLY DREW A COMIC. 

    edit: bwahahaha. I coloured it. With a mouse. In Photoshop, which I don't really know how to use.

    ...and NOW I see how I could have made the left hand page work better. Damnit.

    Monday 17 January 2011

    Who Wants To Keep Their Public Library Today?

    I've been paying a fair amount of attention to the idiotic moves to close libraries overseas - mostly in the UK at the moment, but elsewhere as well. This is a round-up of some of the more memorable articles I've read lately.

     "Google can bring back a hundred thousand answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one." 
    @genrelibrarian

    This blog post gives a nice little overview of how Public libraries got started and developed.

    Twitter did its usual crazy trending hastag thing, with #savelibraries which is covered in this Guardian article, and produced some awesome quotes.

    There have been a few awesome community turnouts, with local communities checking out as many books as possible to increase circulation stats and send a message - this library in Stony Stratford actually emptied its shelves completely.

    The blog Public Libraries News is currently dedicated to rounding up details of closures and cuts in the UK. That one's kind of depressing.

    Sketchblog: Narwhals Are AWESOME

    I'm procrastinating on an assignment (about searching, actually - information access stuff) and spent a significant amount of time wandering through Zazzle and selecting Narwhal T-shirts, and carefully mucking around with all the links and code, adding them to one of GreekGeek's templates.

    My wrists hurt :D

    Anyway, I finally finished, manned up and wrote the introduction, and then went 'doh! Intro image!". I hate using other people's images for the introduction - it's hard to credit, and I have this picture that Is Not Mine staring me in the face all the time. Plus, I've just finished a page about this whole topic so I'm really inspired by it right now. I do this all the time - I can point to at least half a dozen pictures that I mainly drew so that I had something to use on Squidoo, and today's sketch is no exception!

    I already complained about not being able to draw digitally this evening - I miss my ArtRage - but all I really needed was a simple sketch, so I whipped out a graphite pencil, found a drawing pad, opened up Google Images and searched 'narwhal' - and voila! Instant Narwhal Picture. I had to muck around in Photoshop a little, cause the lighting where I photographed it is so bad, and because I wrote on it, but I like the result. I'd like it more if I hadn't had to use a nasty mouse to edit, of course...


    pencil narwhal sketch

    Anyway, one caption and some editing later, and my new lens is complete!
    pencil narwhal tee shirt intro image

    I Really Wanted To Finish This Painting

    ....but as I can't find my tablet pen, I can't. This is frustrating me. I've actually started wandering into Dick Smiths and picking up the Bamboo tablet box and pretending to read it.

    This is what I was working on over Christmas. I found an awesome photograph to use as a reference for the girl's pose and decided to not lose her curves and give her a nicely skin-tight outfit. And swords which I'm dying to actually finish  (currently just slashes to indicate where I wanted them to be).



    She was originally a dragon hunter, facing a dragon, but the dragon was boring and I really liked the smoke I added, so I went to town with that instead, and tripled the size of the canvas (which I always seem to end up doing!). So now she's facing a triple-headed smoke goddess, with a lot of hair, who really REALLY need finished faces. I think she's just invoking them, actually, before going off to sexily assassinate something.

    *stares at the overall grayness'
    And now I suddenly want to paint something with LOTS of COLOUR.

    Saturday 15 January 2011

    A Year of the Cat - A new Blog Project

    I've  been wanting to do one of those photoblogs, or 'photo of yourself for every day of the year' projects, but I don't want to take photographs of myself, and I do like taking photos of my cat. And cats are much more photogenic, after all.

    So that is what I will do. Every day possible, I will take one new photo of my cat and post it. It won't be every single day, because we both have to be around at the same time, when I have a camera, but hopefully it will be regularly. I might even throw in pictures of other cats occasionally.

    I think it might be interesting - both for photography practice, and just to see if she changes over the year. It will also be practice for actually keeping a blog that is only about one thing!

    It's over here at A Year of the Cat

    (Actually, my cat forced me to. She decides I'm becoming too internet-famous and it's her turn).

    Friday 14 January 2011

    The Toothless Plushie Has Teeth and It Taunts

    I love this Night Fury plushie and I waannnntssss it, precious. The film was good, and the animation of Toothless was awesome. And it has wings! And is shiny! And I wanna dragon.

    awesome Toothless Night Fury Plush toy></a><br />
<br />
<a href=

    But looking at it too long leads to brain hurt and misery and bad poetry,

    Poetry like this.
    Toothless the awesome plushie
    How did you get so shiny?
    You're a wonderful winged Night Fury,
    I want to OWN you, plushie
    But the shipping cost is scary, 
    Why don't you fly down to me?

    Translation: Shipping anything non-flat to New Zealand = AKAHFKJHDKJFHDSJKFHDKJFKAAAAArraaaaarghhh the paaaaaaaaaaaaaaain.

    Thursday 13 January 2011

    Antoni Gaudi Stained Glass and Mosaic Ornaments

    This is a collection of my favourite Gaudi-themed ornaments on Zazzle. Antoni "Antonio" Gaudi was this amazing, creative Barcelona architect who designed these weird and wonderful organic, unique, Art Nouveau houses and buildings. Buildings such as the tumbling walkway around Parc Guell, with intricate mosaics set into the ceiling and the Sagrada Famila - a cathedral that's being finished today - that has the most incredible stained glass windows. And luckily for you, my mother visited and took many beautiful photographs, and put them up on Zazzle.

    This one's one of the most popular - two different mosaic patterns, in green and ...well, muted rainbow.

    Parc Guell Mosaic Green and Rainbow ornamentParc Guell Mosaic Green and Rainbow ornament
    A two-sided hanging ornament to bring a touch of Antoni Gaudi's warm and wondrous Barcelona to your Christmas tree. Each side shows an intricate mosaic tile from the walkways of the World Heritage site of Parc Guell.





    Orange and Blue Stained Glass ornamentRed and Blue Stained Glass ornament

    Create photo ornaments online



    And they sold. A lot. In fact, people were coming back and ordering more - so I have faith that I am not biased, and that yes, these are damn nice ornaments. What I'd like, if I ever have kids - or if my siblings do - is to start a tradition of buying a special ornament every year. By the time they were old enough to appreciate it, there'd be a full complement!

     Interestingly, I discovered that people prefer buying ornaments with a different picture on each side, rather than a 'balanced' symmetrical one - I guess it's the whole value for money reaction, or not being able to choose!


    Ah, here's another lovely one - photos of the stained glass windows of the glorious (and in progress) Sagrada Familia.

    Orange and Blue Stained Glass ornamentOrange and Blue Stained Glass ornament


    But wait - how big are these ornaments? What are they made from? Well, they're 2.87 inches across, and weight 1.4 ounces - oh, and they're made of ceramic. Obviously the printing is full-colour and double-sided and you can basically add what you want (want to add your name to an ornament? Or 'Happy Christmas'? Then just click the 'Customized' button!)

    Feeling a bit hot and cold about this? Then I have the perfect ornament - this icy, fiery dual stained glass window design!
    Red and Blue Stained Glass ornamentRed and Blue Stained Glass ornament
    A two-sided hanging ornament to bring a touch of Antoni Gaudi's warm and wondrous Barcelona to your Christmas tree. Each side shows a brightly lit stained glass window, in fiery orange and cool blue, from the Sagrada Familia


    How much do they cost? Well, they're $15.85 each - but if you order more than one (and it can be any ornaments from any store on Zazzle, but my mother has the monopoly on Gaudi ornaments right now!) then there are bulk discounts:
    3-9 ornaments gets you a 10% discount
    10-14 means a 15% discount
    and 15 or more? 20% off! (which cancels out the shipping cost)

    But wait - what about shipping? Shipping rates on Zazzle are tiered, which means that they are really steep for one ornament and more reasonable for several. The only real way to find out for sure is to add them to your cart, play with numbers and have a look at the total - this is what I got (but it may be giving me something different for overseas).

    1-3 ornaments $8.99
    4 $9.99
    5-6 $17.99
    7-10 $18.99
    11-14 $35.99 (bulk discount at this point: $26.18-$33.32 )
    15-20 $37.99 but a 20% discount of $47.55-63.40 


    And henceforth, the discount is always more than the shipping
    35 ornaments is $92.99 shipping and discount $110.95 
    And 50 is $97.99 shipping, and a discount of $158.50!


    More Gaudi Ornaments
    (with a different picture on each side)


    Rainbow Sunlight Stained Glass ornamentRainbow Sunlight Stained Glass ornament
    See other ornaments


    Of course, you may actually really like an ornament that's the same on both sides, in which case there are these designs to choose from, so far!
    Parc Guell Mosaic Rainbow ornamentParc Guell Mosaic Green ornamentBlue Stained Glass ornamentRed and Orange Stained Glass ornamentOrange and Blue Stained Glass ornament

    Yeah, yeah, Christmas is over. But stuff sticks around on the internet - and hey, maybe you forgot to buy ornaments for the tree this year and are kicking yourself (or getting kicked by your kids!). Perhaps you should order in advance? 

    Or perhaps you want some giant earrings? Or something pretty to hang on the wall, to look arty and make everyone think you're more cultured than you are! Or even a souvenir of a trip to Barcelona, or a gift to a Gaudi fan? 

    Disclaimer: it's her store and she'll get the sales money, I'll get a referral if you buy through here, but if you don't, I won't. I'd *like* referrals, obviously, but I'd also like to show off her store.