Before I delve into my Sin City experience, I want to announce that from this post forward, I will be having a contest for my readers to win a free piece of jewelry each week! Wait until you hear which piece is up for grabs this week – whoo hoo!

VIVA LAS VEGAS – Whew!  I arrived in Vegas early Wednesday evening.  Wow was it hot.  As my friend Ana Marie said to me via text, “You’re in the desert, baby.”  Um, yeah.  That would be a good reason why I was a tad uncomfortable.  I took her advice to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate and then set up shop in the vendors room.

I was selling both my wares as well as the best t-shirts and beanies you will ever own – incredibly awesome Clifhager gear!

https://www.facebook.com/Clifhangers

Thursday morning was amazing.  Before we opened the vendor’s room, Kat Sloan had a meet and greet with some fans.  Kat Sloan is an author whose book ‘Half Blood’ is a MUST READ. It’s been very well-received and I will be designing jewelry based on this epic saga!

You can reach Kat and grab her novel here at http://www.katsloan.com/ – check it out and you won’t be able to put this book down!

After the meet and greet, Kat and I went to our respective tables.  Now Kat’s table was so amazing and beautiful and I wish I had a pic of it!  Please check her out and see if she posts one – it was like being in a gorgeous Victorian living room!

I thought it would be great fun to have a couple of things going on at my table besides the constant hammering of me making new pieces.  So I decided to give everyone that visited my table a memorable moment.  I bought gummi worms and offered everyone “FREE WORMSTACHES”

It was a huge hit and I got tons of people coming over to do the ‘stache – including a couple of recognizable faces…the Brigade of the Wormstaches will be at the end of this post – if you did a ‘stache for me, come see!

I also thought it would be fun to get the visitors at my table involved in a mock election for their choice for the ruler of Hell.  Should Crowley remain as King?  Or do we need a woman’s touch via a knight to remember – Abaddon?

The way the contest worked was that at the end of the election, I would take a random name from the Crowley voters and a random name from the Abaddon voters.  The Crowley name would receive a King of Hell necklace.  The Abaddon name would receive a Queen of Hell necklace.

Alaina Huffman and Mark Sheppard were fantastically supportive of the fun and I updated them with the statistics via Twitter every evening over the course of the convention.

The results?   In the beginning of the eletion it was looking like quite a slam dunk for Crowley, however, girl power began to resonate and Abaddon started to gain in popularity.

The tally went from 78%/22%, then 80%/20%, then finally, 77%/23%.  Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to overthrow the King, but it did demonstrate that the fans are definitely interested in seeing where Abaddon could take things! Congrats to both Mark and Alaina for being their awesome selves!

And a HUGE congrats to the winners of the King of Hell and Queen of Hell Necklaces!

There were a couple of really REALLY great Abaddon cosplayers:

Free Necklace Op!

I made Mark a King of Hell leather cuff bracelet that I gave him on Sunday.  He seemed, well, very Crowley about it – Mark – if you’re reading this, I’d absolutely love a pic of you wearing the bracelet! If anyone can make that happen I will give you a very special gift:

That’s right.  If anyone has the divine influence to get Mark to snap a pic of himself wearing the King of Hell bracelet I made him – I will GIVE you my smash hit necklace, “The Deception of Crowley” for free.  This necklace was hot as hell at the con (puns always intended).

My entire series of Supernatural-inspired pieces did very well – especially my Castiel’s Grace piece:

The entire series is available at http://www.eldwenne.etsy.com.  For a limited time, I will be selling them at the special Convention price of $35 each along with FREE US SHIPPING!  This will be ending on April 15th or while supplies last, so come get ’em!

From top left across:

Castiel’s Grace (which Osric Chau laughed his rear end over for some reason…)

The Deception of Crowley

The Purification of Sam WinchesterThe Tenacity of Dean Winchester

The Heart of Castiel

Here are some of the lovelies wearing theirs!

I’ve said this before but I have to say it again – there is no bigger compliment than seeing people adorn themselves with my jewelry.

Like this lady you may recognize – the stunning  Kim Rhodes!

I had designed a necklace specifically for Kim.  Kim had sent out a tweet asking if anyone had bubble bath. So I tweeted back, “Kim – I’ll give you a GALLON of bubble bath if you come to the vendors room and pick up the jewelry I made you.”  SHE SHOWED UP!

Kim immediately put the necklace on and kept it on the entire time she was on stage and in her photo ops.  So for those who had a photo op with Kim – the necklace she was wearing was my gift to her – unreal!

Not only did she just run over, grab the necklace and go.  She took the time to talk to me.  Kim was extremely gracious and we talked about education and kids.  She’s extremely dynamic and her energy is infectious, like her beautiful smile!

Thank you for being utterly amazing, Kim! And I think I still owe you a gallon of bubble bath, so for now, please accept this virtual one until the next convention!

Talking about how people wearing my jewelry blows my mind, let’s talk about the lovely Jenna.  Jenna was one of my first customers EVER at a convention back at NJCon, almost a year ago.  She had bought a woven pentagram necklace that she actually had with her in Vegas!  She brought it down and wore it to show me she still appreciates my work – how amazing is that??

And there’s Adina – Adina is one of those souls that you just connect with and it seems like you’ve been friends with forever, you know?  I’m doing a feature on her next week – just watch this space for an amazing post!  She’s a woman of talent, drive, and also has some pretty good taste in jewelry, I must say…

Adina introduced me to her friend Ally – another wonderful human being!  Ally – I’m coming after you for a guest post too, so if you’re reading this – send me your email address!

There are sooooo many people that I’ve met starting with my very first con back in NJ last year to my most current con in Vegas last week.  I have to honestly say that I’ve never met a better bunch of people.  Ever.

They are all a bunch of generous souls.  Here’s an example of random goodness.  I was chowing down on some mints the hotel had left by the water cooler in the vendors room.

A woman, Lynn, was also a vendor there and had stopped by my table.  She asked how I was and I had a mouthful of mint, so I apologized for eating my ‘lunch’ while talking to her.  She couldn’t believe that the mints were my ‘lunch’.

Do you know what Lynn did?  This woman went back to her hotel room and MADE me a sandwich with her own two hands.  AND gave me a cheese stick as well.

Talk about your random acts of kindness – this really epitomized the spirit of the Supernatural fandom.  Lynn – if you’re reading this, I need your contact info so that I can do a feature on you!

There was a very important table right next to me – Legacy X.  Legacy X is about anti-bullying and building yourself up.  I met a bunch of fantastic women, including Brittany.

I met a lot of great women such as Brittany, Luvina (Brittany’s awesome mom), Kim, and other amazing women who worked diligently to collect as many anti-bullying messages as possible.  Hardcore, dedicated women who each have heart-wrenching stories to share.

Kim’s enthusiasm was catchy to say the least and I was really pleased that she asked me to make pieces related to their cause, such as a Legacy X bracelet and a Recycled Percussion bracelet as gifts for others in their amazing organization like Justin Spencer!

I will be doing a feature on the beautiful Brittany very soon!  In the meantime, please check out Legacy X’s site: http://www.legacyx.com/

What Makes Supernatural Fans so Amazing?

I had the honor of being interviewed by Mitch Kosterman for a documentary he is making about the fans of Supernatural.  I was asked what it was about the fans of Supernatural that I thought was different than other fandoms.

Supernatural fans are people who go out of their way to support each other. Even total strangers.  Everyone looks out for each other.  There is such a sense of community, support, and the willingness to do kind things for others without expecting (or wanting) anything in return.  There is no other place I’ve experienced people like this, especially all under one roof.

Some of the strong underlying themes of Supernatural that I get are: doing the best with what you have, putting your loved ones before yourself, helping others, and my personal favorite, ‘family don’t end with blood.’

Every fan I’ve ever spoken to seems to uphold these values to the fullest.

The show has helped me in so many ways it’s unfathomable for me to list them all here – but one thing I will say is that I’ve learned who to surround myself with and who to cut loose. It’s Team Free Will to the fullest, baby!  Make the best of what we have, carve your own destiny, and well, CARRY ON!

I had so many amazing experiences and there will be a LOT of features coming out of this convention.  So watch this space for much more!

And, as promised, the Wormstache Brigade is here!  Look for your ‘stache moment below!!

You know what makes Osric Chau so effing cool?  He did the ‘stache for me!

I bet I’m the only person on the planet who got Executive Producer Jim Michaels to do the ‘stache!

If anyone has pictures of yourselves wearing my jewelry, please feel free to send them along, I’d love to feature them in an upcoming post!!

So don’t forget – if anyone sends me a pic of Mark Sheppard wearing my King of Hell bracelet – you get The Deception of Crowley necklace FREE!

And for a limited time you can get each of my necklace series at the special convention price of $35 each and FREE US SHIPPING!

Watch for next week’s post – a feature on the lovely Adina!!

I leave you with the ONE pic of Elvis I managed to take while in Vegas: