Twilight Fan Fiction: The Twilight Twenty-Five (er, Five)

The Twilight Twenty-Five was a challenge/community on Live Journal to write 25 Twilight-themed fan fictions between September 1 and December 1 based on specific prompts. The stories could be either one-shots of at least 1000 words or drabbles of exactly 100 words.

Due to a variety of reasons and circumstances, I really procrastinated on this, and by November 1 I had resigned to not even bothering. For whatever reason, I decided on the last day of the challenge, with only a few hours left, to write as many drabbles as I could.

I only got five done before I burned out. Although I originally intended to write from a variety of character viewpoints, after the first couple, I began falling back to my usual Edward/Bella and they started sounding the same. :-/ But it was good because it broke the writer's block I've been pushing against for a while. It's so freeing to know you only have to write 100 words and not have to have a complete story cycle, but also challenging to get exactly 100 words.

My five drabbles are posted as a story on FF.net. Each drabble is a new chapter:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5550198/1/The_Twilight_25

A new Twilight 25 challenge is starting in January. I haven't decided yet if I will participate or not.

Twilight Fan Fiction: Torn in Two

Another thing I forgot to post on my blog: my latest Fan Fiction story. It's my first attempt at a non-Cullen-centric story.


Banner created by the lovely annamorphos. Thank you!


Summary: Leah Clearwater was working on moving past her heartbreak over Sam. Life was slowly getting better. Then, one day, everything changed.

I finally created an account at Fanfiction.net. Here's the link to the story:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5424822/1/Torn_in_Two. It can also be found on my LiveJournal and Twilighted.net.

I wrote this for Novel Novice Twilight's July-August challenge and took first place!


Although NNT doesn't usually have prizes for their fan fiction challenge, this time they did. Check out this really awesome autographed Twilight cast photo I received! You can imagine how excited I was. Totally worth delving into a little wolf fiction. :-)

2009 Pumpkin Carvings

I can't believe I forgot to update my blog with my 2009 Pumpkin Carvings! Shame on me!

Get ready, there are a lot of them...I discovered the joy carving fake pumpkins (I used the ones from Michael's), which meant trying more intricate designs since I knew they wouldn't rot away in a few days.

Let's start with the real ones. I did two real pumpkins this year and let my son choose the pattern for both. As you can see, he went for a Batman theme.



Pattern from http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/

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Pattern from http://www.spookmasters.com/

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This one is the first fake pumpkin I did, for my husband:



Pattern from http://www.stoneykins.com/

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Another one for my son:


Pattern from: http://www.jamminpumpkins.com/

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And here's one for the whole family:


Pattern from http://www.stoneykins.com/

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And now onto mine...I think you can guess what theme mine will be. :-)



Pattern from http://www.stoneykins.com/

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Pattern from http://www.stoneykins.com/

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Pattern from http://www.stoneykins.com/

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Pattern from http://www.stoneykins.com/

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Pattern from http://www.pumpkinwizard.com/ This one is actually not totally done, I want to touch it up some more. But I did it on Halloween day and by the time I got this far, my hand was so tired!

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This is four patterns on one pumpkin. The Twilight book cover pattern is from http://www.stoneykins.com/ but the other three patterns I created myself.

Twilight Scrapbook: New Moon - Cullens Poster

One of the official posters for New Moon. This one features the Cullens, which automatically makes it better because there's NO JAKE!

I just placed the poster on a brown background and added the smoke with a brush I downloaded here.

I have a pumpkin in progress of this picture of Bella and Edward. Didn't get it done for this Halloween, but I will for 2010!

Twilight Scrapbook: Robert Pattinson. *swoon*

Hard to believe that a year ago, I didn't really care for Robert Pattinson unless he was dressed up as Edward Cullen. Not sure what changed...it may simply have been him cutting his hair off and growing it back out. Or maybe he just aged a little, in a good way.

These photos are from the awesome 2009 Vanity Fair photo shoot. They may have even been all outtakes, I don't remember.

I can't take any credit for this one at all. I found it here: http://thinkingofrob.com/2009/12/02/new-robert-pattinson-wallpapers-2/and it was created by @candykizzes24. All I did was resize it for my scrapbook.

Twilight Fan Fiction: Body and Soul (Outtakes)

I have a few scenes for Body and Soul that ended up on the cutting room floor, so-to-speak. I posted them to my LiveJournal in all their un-beta'ed glory!

See the Outtakes!

Twilight Fan Fiction: TA's September Twibble

Here is my entry for Twilighters Anonymous' September Twibble challenge. (A Twibble is a Twilight-related story, 250 words or less, that includes a specific quote.)

This month's quote: "Practice makes perfect." -Bella


Practice Makes Perfect

UPDATE: Won first place in the Twibble challenge!

Twilight Fan Fiction: Body and Soul

My latest fan fiction, and my longest yet at just under 10,000 words. There are also 1500+ words worth of outtakes which I will post later. UPDATE: Read the outtakes here.

Written for One Shot to Twilight's Freaky Friday Challenge - take two characters and switch them as in the movie Freaky Friday.


Summary: What if Bella Swan and Jessica Stanley switched bodies?

Rated: R for language and some sexual themes (pretty mild)

Posted at LiveJournal and SimplyTwilight. Twilighted and TwilightArchives to come.

Twilight Fan Fiction: Gone Too Soon

The story is available on LiveJournal and Twilighted right now. Twilight Archives and Simply Twilight are soon to come.
Live Journal
Twilighted


Shortly after Michael Jackson's death, hellacullen, a member of the Twilight Fan Fiction community, started a community of stories that are inspired by one of his songs.

I decided to contribute a story for her series. Looking over a list of MJ's songs, Gone Too Soon triggered a lot of memories. I used to follow Ryan White's story and how MJ was involved. In fact, one of the first fictional stories I wrote, back in high school, was inspired by Ryan White. So I felt it fitting that I write a piece of Twilight Fan Fiction inspired by this song that MJ wrote about Ryan White.

It shouldn't come as a surprise, if you read the lyrics, that this is a sad song and thus I wrote a sad story:
Like A Comet
Blazing 'Cross The Evening Sky
Gone Too Soon

Like A Rainbow
Fading In The Twinkling Of An Eye
Gone Too Soon

Shiny And Sparkly
And Splendidly Bright
Here One Day
Gone One Night

Like The Loss Of Sunlight
On A Cloudy Afternoon
Gone Too Soon

Like A Castle
Built Upon A Sandy Beach
Gone Too Soon

Like A Perfect Flower
That Is Just Beyond Your Reach
Gone Too Soon

Born To Amuse, To Inspire, To Delight
Here One Day
Gone One Night

Like A Sunset
Dying With The Rising Of The Moon
Gone Too Soon

Gone Too Soon

Twilight Fan Fiction: Links to My Stories

It's been over a month since I posted any Twilight fan fiction, but I have been hard at work at some new stories.

I've also created a LiveJournal account where I am posting all of my fan fiction, as well as some Twilight fan fiction-specific websites. From now on, when I post my fan fiction, I'll be posting links to these sites instead of posting it directly here.

My LiveJournal is the most up-to-date listing of my fan fiction. As soon as a story is ready for public viewing, I post it here. :-)
http://cspeich.livejournal.com/

Here are the Twilight Fan Fiction sites I post to. Because each of these sites has a validation process each story goes through, they may not have the most recent stories right away.
Twilighted
Twilight Archives
Simply Twilight


If you are a member of any of those sites and read my fiction, please leave me a review and let me know what you think!

Twilight Cake!

I have wanted to make a Twilight cake for so long, so when my son asked for a Twilight party I finally had an excuse! :-)

I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. It's hard to tell in the photo but the white parts of the car (hubcaps, mirrors, etc.) are actually sparkly silver.



Close up:


Original photo:

Cake Decorating: Transformers Cake

I made this cake for my son's 5th birthday party. He chose the pictures of the transformers to use on the cake.

Twilight Fan Fiction: A Single Day of Forever

Here is my most recent Twilight fan fiction. It is my entry for Novel Novice Twilight's May/June Challenge. The challenge was to write about a first anniversary. This story is the extended version of my June Twilighters Anonymous entry ("I did some research on the internet.")

A Single Day of Forever



UPDATE:
A Single Day of Forever received Honorable Mention in Novel Novice Twilight's challenge!

Twilight Fan Fiction: TA's July Twibble

Here is my entry for Twilighter's Anonymous July Twibble challenge. (A Twibble is a Twilight-related story, 250 words or less, that includes a specific quote.)

This month's quote: "Would you like a round of applause?" -Bella

WouldYouLikeARoundOfApplause.pdf

A big THANKS to everyone at Twilighter's Anonymous who voted my June entry as #1!

Graduation Cake

I did this cake for J's pre-school graduation. The tiger is the pre-school's mascot/logo. This was essentially a trial run for his birthday cake, which will have Transfomers. I used the Frozen Buttercream Transfer technique.

It came out OK. Glad I did a trial run before his birthday cake...practice makes perfect!

Twilight Scrapbook: O.M.E. ~ Edward in the Sun

I never use the saying "O.M.E." and I rarely do double page spreads with digital layouts, but I thought these pictures were worthy of both. :-)

Paper from Kathy Goldstein's Cullen Kit. (find link here)

Double Page Spread:


Left Hand Page:


Right Hand Page:

Twilight Scrapbook: Team Taylor

I am not Team Jacob but I do like Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black. I will eventually do a Jacob layout, when there is more footage of him.

Green paper, brown paper, and frame from Ellie Lash's Jacob kit. Team Jacob sparkly title from Kathy Goldstein's The Pack kit. (find links here)

Twilight Scrapbook: Edward & Jasper

Another simple layout from a still from the trailer. I loved how Edward pushed Jasper even if it was different than the book. (Too bad the piano was destroyed, though!)

Not sure if I will add more to this layout.

Twilight Scrapbook: As If I Never Existed

Inspired by one of the high-quality stills from New Moon, from the scene we're all dreading! LOL

Twilight Scrapbook: Vampire Baseball

I have several layouts today, all from wallpapers by Sara from Novel Novice Twilight. These are some older wallpapers she made. I love the way she has combined some of the great quotes from the book with images from the movie.

Two wallpapers.

Twilight Scrapbook: Most Important Thing

I have several layouts today, all from wallpapers by Sara from Novel Novice Twilight. These are some older wallpapers she made. I love the way she has combined some of the great quotes from the book with images from the movie.

Two wallpapers blended together.

Twilight Scrapbook: Stupid Shiny Volvo Owner

I have several layouts today, all from wallpapers by Sara from Novel Novice Twilight. These are some older wallpapers she made. I love the way she has combined some of the great quotes from the book with images from the movie.

Very simple, just her wallpaper on a black background.

Twilight Scrapbook: Twilight of Your Life

I have several layouts today, all from wallpapers by Sara from Novel Novice Twilight. These are some older wallpapers she made. I love the way she has combined some of the great quotes from the book with images from the movie.

Very simple, just two of her wallpapers blended together on a black background.

Twilight Scrapbook: Our Meadow

I have several layouts today, all from wallpapers by Sara from Novel Novice Twilight. These are some older wallpapers she made. I love the way she has combined some of the great quotes from the book with images from the movie.

Paper from Eclipse Kit (find link here)

Twilight Scrapbook: I'm not the most dangerous thing out there

I have several layouts today, all from wallpapers by Sara from Novel Novice Twilight. These are some older wallpapers she made. I love the way she has combined some of the great quotes from the book with images from the movie.

After playing with several backgrounds and blending modes, I ended up keeping this very simple and just re-sized her wallpaper to a square.

Twilight Scrapbook: Bella Races to Save Edward

As you can tell by now I really love the wallpapers that Sara at Novel Novice Twilight makes. These shots of the Volterra scenes go so well with the words.

Paper: I Bit a Pillow kit
Swirls: Kathy Goldstein's Cullen kit
(find links here)

Twilight Scrapbook: Volterra

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Ashley Greene are headed to Italy and start shooting the Volterra scenes tomorrow! The final four days of New Moon shooting!

In tribute to that here is a layout with some photos from the work done to prepare Montepulciano, Italy for filming.

Paper from I Bit A Pillow kit. (find link here)

Twilight Fan Fiction: TA's June Twibble

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I have an entry for Twilighters Anonymous' June Twibble challenge. What is a Twibble? It's a short piece of writing - 250 words or less - that must include a certain quote and relate to the Twilight universe.

The quote this month: "I did some research on the Internet." - Bella Swan, Twilight, Page 187.

Here's my story: http://www.mooberrydreams.com/Blog%20Files/InternetResearch.pdf

Layout: Twilight Poster

Here's the layout for the Twilight poster. Very simple.

Layout: New Moon Poster

Very simple layout with the New Moon poster. Now that I've done this one, I'm going to do one for each of the movies.

The background paper was created using a FREE texture from NinianLif

Layout: New Moon Wallpapers

It feels like ages since I've done a layout for my Twilight album! LOL The first official poster for New Moon has been released so I've got a couple layouts for that. First is another tribute to Sara at Novel Novice Twilight who made some great wallpapers using the new poster. I picked my two favorites for this layout.

The swirls are from Kathy Goldstein's Jacob Black/The Pack kit. (find link here)

Layout: Clark's Elioak Farm

Just to prove that I actually do scrapbook my family, and not just Twilight... :-)

I went to a weekend scrapbooking retreat a few weeks ago and actually worked on some non-Twilight related layouts. I kept things very simple since I didn't bring ALL of my stash with me.


Stripped paper and green paper (letters): My Mind's Eye
Blue paper: Creative Memories
Cricut Cartridge Cutting Up, Cartoon style

Layout: Playhouse Disney Live

Just to prove that I actually do scrapbook my family, and not just Twilight... :-)

I went to a weekend scrapbooking retreat a few weeks ago and actually worked on some non-Twilight related layouts. I kept things very simple since I didn't bring ALL of my stash with me.

Paper is from Creative Memories' Discover Power Palette.

Double page layout:


left page:


right page:

Layout: The Pettits' Wedding

Just to prove that I actually do scrapbook my family, and not just Twilight... :-)

I went to a weekend scrapbooking retreat a few weeks ago and actually worked on some non-Twilight related layouts. I kept things very simple since I didn't bring ALL of my stash with me.

Papers and stickers from Close to My Heart's More to Adore kit. The right-hand page is actually a pre-printed layout that I just added the photos to.

Double page layout:


Left page:


Right page:

Review: scrappingsimply.com

I have been getting my 12x12 layouts printed at Costco's 1 hour printing. A friend recommended Scrapping Simply so I decided to give them a try. I just got my first order. Here's the breakdown:

They charge $1.99 per 12x12 print and shipping is a flat $5. (for the US. They ship international too.) Costco charges $2.99 (plus tax, but no shipping) so as long as you order more than 5 prints, scrappingsimply.com is cheaper.

I uploaded layouts and placed my order on Monday morning. Late Monday afternoon I got the shipping notice. The prints arrived Friday. That's from Utah (I think?) to Maryland. I suspect they didn't actually get to the post office until Tuesday. Not a bad turn around time, all things considered. Obviously 1-hour printing at Costco is faster, but you do have to go pick that up. ;-)

They both print on the same photo paper - Fuji Crystal Archive paper. They both offer glossy or matte (lustre). Costco offers the ability to turn color correction on or off. I find turning it OFF for layouts to be essential. It may be that scrappingsimply.com doesn't do color correction, I don't know.

I'll have to do a more thorough comparison of the print vs. file on my computer but my first impression is that scrappingsimply.com trims less than Costco. It may be an illusion of the layouts I had printed, but I could tell right away that my Costco prints were trimmed. Wasn't as obvious with the scrappingsimply.com ones.

The layouts were shipped in a sealed plastic package inside a cardboard box. No problems with bent corners or wrinkled layouts.

Overall I think the two companies are equal quality-wise and I would recommend either. Obviously if I continue to use scrappingsimply.com I will wait until I have large batches to print to make the most of the $5 shipping. Often I am too impatient to wait until I have more than a few layouts done to print them. :-)

Happy Scrapping!

Twilight Poem

I don't usually write poetry (for good reason probably, LOL) but when Twilighters Anonymous had their "You know you're a Twilighter when..." contest, my thoughts immediately turned to a poem.

Being so left-minded and always needing structure, I didn't even try to write a free form poem. Instead I researched different forms of poetry and then settled on an Italian Sonnet. In an Italian Sonnet, there are 14 lines with a rhyming pattern of abbaabbacdecde and often times each line is 11 syllables. All of the lines in my poem have 11 syllables except the first line (because it was given as part of the contest) and line 11 because it is a direct quote from the book and there's not much I can do about that. ;-)

I didn't win the contest but it was still fun (mostly, LOL). I don't know that I'll be writing much more poetry in the future, it's just not my thing.

Here's the poem:
http://www.mooberrydreams.com/Blog%20Files/poem.pdf

Another Twilight Freebie

Here's another Twilight Freebie I've downloaded!



I Bit a Pillow by Brownie Scraps

Twilight Fan Fiction: NNT's Mar-Apr Challenge

As I promised a few days ago here are my two entries to Novel Novice Twilight's March/April Challenge. I did not win any rankings this time, but from what I have read of the ones that did win, they really deserved to win. The challenge was to write a scene from Edward's perspective but it had to be a scene that wasn't already included in the four books.

My first entry, Charlie's Interference, takes place shortly after Twilight ends, a couple of months before New Moon begins.



My second entry, Impossible, takes place near the end of Twilight, when Edward is flying to Phoenix to take Bella into hiding. About half-way through it joins up with Twilight.



I'm working on several more pieces, but it will depend on if I get it all done in time. One is for a contest at Twilighter's Anonymous due May 15. Another is for Twilighter's Anonymous' next Twibble contest due May 17. And finally, the next Novel Novice Twilight Challenge, which isn't due until June 30, but I have two ideas I want to write for that one.