Need a break?

My health issues slowed me down a bit in April, which meant I had more time to relish in my most guilty of guilty pleasures: Crafting! Or more correctly, watching people craft. (I can’t do anything DIY or crafty worth a hill of beans.)

I found so much cool stuff, that I decided to show you some of my favorite finds! I am aware that as an author it’s a little odd I’m discussing an entirely different entertainment form, but all of these craft makers and creators were so comforting when I was feeling miserable, and I’m hoping they might be able to bring you a bit of joy today, too. (And don’t worry, I’m feeling a lot better now!)

So, let’s look at some of my favorite crafting/creating youtube channels!

To start our list, here’s Sweet Impact!

Sweet Impact is a cake making/decorating channel, in which our intrepid baker shows off his amazing decorating skills in one minute clips! Highly recommend if you’re stuck waiting for an appointment or in line to pick up your kiddo, particularly since his videos are perfectly formatted for cell phone viewing. (Also, Sweet Impact is kid safe!)

Up next we have one of my favorite seamstresses ever, Micarah Tewers!

Micarah serves the incredibly niche market of funny/entertaining sewing tutorials. Seriously, even if you have zero interest in learning how to sew, Micarah is bound to entertain you with her unique and quirky humor. She’s made a slew of Disney Princess dresses that I’m sure my fairy tale Champions will love, but I chose to share this particular tutorial of hers as many of you have shared with me that the Barbie movies are actually quite entertaining! (Micarah is also kid friendly!)

What about if you’re in the mood for something that’s more on the artistic and soothing side of crafting? I’ve got you covered with my next pick, Azukibean Hobbies

Azukibean Hobbies is based in Australia, and she does a lot of adorable and creative crafts, from making tiny books with washi tape, to DIY bookmarks! Her channel has a lot of bright colors and soothing music, with no talking at all–but she does have subtitles so make sure you turn those on! I particularly like this video I selected to share with this post, because the Book Nook kit she makes is available on Etsy! (There’s actually a slew of them, including a forest one with a massive deer that I’ve been eyeing up for months!) So if you’ve ever been interested in a book nook kit, this will give you a pretty good idea of the work that goes into them. (Azukibean is also 100% kid safe!)

For something equally as memorizing, but in a totally different crafting style, I recommend Royalty Soaps!

Royalty Soaps is run by the youtuber Katie–the Duchess of suds! She’s got lots videos with a wide variety soap designs–she’s done everything from Lord of the Rings to Disney Princess designs, more recently she did a cow soap, and she’s also done a series of Studio Ghibli soaps! Royalty Soaps is perfect to have playing in the background if you’re cooking/cleaning, or to watch if you’re just relaxing after a long day of work! (Royalty soaps is fully kid safe!)

Finally, we have one of the most well known DIY-ers/crafters team in the nerd realm, Nerd Forge!

Nerd Forge is a Norwegian couple-team, and they do everything from giant model replicas of castles, to book bindings, book nooks, resin casting, cosplay props, and more. If you want to see amazing crafts that most of us mere mortals couldn’t possibly hope to recreate, this is your channel! Their creations–and the work they do to bring them to life–are amazing! Important: Nerd Forge gets a PG-13 rating for swearing! 

Do you have any crafters/DIY-ers you like to watch–or even projects of your own? Leave a comment down below to share! Until next time, thanks for reading, Champions!

Sheacon 2022

I’ve got some awesome news/updates for Sheacon 2022, Champions!

First of all, a date has been chosen! Mark your calendars for July 29th, 30th, and 31st! For those of you who are new to the community, Sheacon is a weekend of book-dedicated community fun held on a private discord server. We have guest panelists, games–like my favorite, Drawing With A Twist where moderators give piece by piece descriptions of a scene from one of my books and you franticly try to fix your personal drawing to match their description–activities, and more! (This year, RayJay even made us the above icon! The cat with the crown is my favorite part, buwahah!)

As the weekend draws closer we’ll release instructions about joining Sheacon, but you do need to be a member of my Discord server so you can get an invite to Sheacon! Additionally, In June I’ll announce our guest author-speakers and some of the planned activities, so stay tuned for more information.

In other Sheacon news–which some of you might have heard previously–I’ve added another member to the Shea Team as the chief Sheacon planner: Cindy!

Cindy has been helping plan Sheacon since our first year back in 2020. As an official team member, she’ll use her awe-inspiring skills of organization and leadership to map out Sheacon, and is responsible for inviting and scheduling the authors/panelists who speak during the convention, plotting out everything that needs to be done in order to make Sheacon happen, and leads all the other amazing volunteers in everything from vetting games to helping me find artists to commission freebies I give away to you Champions.

This year we’ve got a wonderful pack of volunteers who are helping Cindy take on this task! Without them, Sheacon wouldn’t happen, so a huge thank you to: Anneli, Battatack, Bluefires, Chelsc, Cheybri, Cwang, Dino, Ellarose, Gwen, Kay, Lavalectrix, LouBerry, Miriel, Narel, PumpkinPi, Rachel, wish.I.was.in.a.fairytale, Wertful, and last–but certainly not least–Zooknar.

I’m very aware that having an entire online conference dedicated to…uh…me (which, I feel really sheepish even saying that) is rare and special. I’m so proud of our community, and I’m happy and honored to be a part of it, and there’s a part of me that still thinks this whole thing is a dream. I can’t thank you Champions enough–from those like Cindy and the Sheacon volunteers to everyone who comes to Sheacon to join in the fun. Thank you for making the community so welcoming, inviting, and fun. I can’t wait to see you all at the conference, beginning July 29th!

Magiford Quiz Update

With the Court of Midnight and Deception Sale over, and Fated just days away from launching, I figured we need one last ditch distraction until Friday. So! In honor of Pack of Dawn and Destiny, I updated the Magiford Supernatural City quiz! It now includes a new supernatural race, so if you haven’t taken the quiz yet, now is a great chance to give it a try! Click here to take the quiz.

Are you a fae, a vampire, a wizard, or a werewolf? Or something else entirely? Comment below with the answer you get! (In case you are wondering, yep, I’m still a fae!)

Can you guess what sort of supernatural I added? (Who am I kidding, you Champions are great at guessing these kinds of things so of course you know what it is!)

A big thank you to RayJay who drew yet another great word image for the newly added option. If you haven’t played around with the quiz before you might want to try to get the different answers just so you can see all the beautiful graphics RayJay has made!

Click here to take the Magiford Supernatural City Quiz!

Also, if you need help figuring out how to get all the answers for the quiz check out our Discord server.  The Champions on Discord have worked out all the possible answers so they can definitely help you out. I’m sure within minutes of announcing this update, they’ll have the new supernatural all mapped out. 😉 The blog Champions are also great at sharing info, so don’t be afraid to ask for help in the comments down below, either!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the quiz!