12 Days: Snow Queen Vodka

I was searching for drinks on a fairy tale theme and found this lovely looking bottle called Snow Queen Vodka. Apparently it's a multi-award winning 'distill' (I think that's the right word) and people are raving about how smooth and fine it is. It's also, so I'm reading, not marketed in any normal sort of fashion - the company relies on word of mouth, which keeps it from being well known and ultra commercial- exactly what the company wants (apparently). Although it's classed as a luxury vodka it's not priced like one (you can find 750ml bottles for around $30), which is very nice.Here's a little story I found to go with it:

Once upon a time there was a vodka called Snow Queen. She was born in the far-away land of Kazakhstan. Her father was the finest organic wheat and her mother was the purest water that flowed through the snow-capped mountains. Soon, Snow Queen became known as the smoothest, most beautiful vodka of them all. (FTNH edit: 'she' actually won the Gold Medal last year at the Vodka Masters.) Experts came from far and wide and were amazed that such a perfect drink existed. They showered her with prizes. Gold Medals. Awards and Diplomas. But what is the secret of her beauty? It was quite simple. Unlike any other vodkas, Snow Queen had been distilled not once, twice, thrice, not even four times. She had been distilled five times. That's what gave her such a unique, smooth, velvety taste.

(FTNH edit: here comes my favorite part) But, of course, as happens so often in fairy tales, her beauty carried a terrible curse. For whoever put Snow Queen to his lips was condemned to fall in love with her for the rest of his life.

Love it. I'm a sucker for products that have a story developed to go with them, I'm afraid - especially if they're fairy tale themed.The official website is HERE (aim the target at your country for your language) but you can buy bottle online all over the place, all over the world.

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)


Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close IN ONE WEEK on December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
(A preview of the prize is coming in the next couple of days too.)

Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

12 Days: Frog Prince Cuff Links

These aren't cheap but I wouldn't expect sterling silver frogs with 18k gold crowns to be found at a bargain-basement price. Good timing for the release of "The Princess and the Frog" movie, some very nice Frog Prince cuff links from Red Envelope, found HERE. These would made a lovely wedding gift too.NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)

Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

12 Days: Snow Queen Mahjong (Computer Game)

I haven't tried this but I like the idea of a puzzle game based on The Snow Queen. The storyline is pretty similar to the fairy tale, though Kai is Gerda's brother, not her childhood sweetheart.

From the blurb:

Enter a quaint, whimsical snow village with Greta as she searches for her missing brother. Kidnapped by the evil Snow Queen, you must match tile sets and melt the ice to free him. Move along the map towards the Queens castle and witness six stunning lands. Snow Queen Mahjong is packed full of classic gameplay, three difficulty levels, and exciting new twists.

My understanding of mahjong is that's it's mainly a strategy game with a little luck thrown in. I haven't trialed this myself so suggest you download the free version and check it out if you're thinking of gifting it. You can download a free version to trial it and the full version is under $10.
You can find the game HERE and HERE, with the second site having a preview of the screens and a demo video.

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)

Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

12 Days: Nesting Dolls Measuring Cups

This makes complete sense and is sweet and fairy tale-ish too: nesting dolls that are actually measuring cups.

The cups measure 1 cup, 3/4 cup, 2/3 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup. The only drawback is they're plastic and not ceramic or porcelain as I initially thought when I first saw them.You can find them HERE (but be sure to shop around as I don't think the is the only place offering them).

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)

Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

12 Days: Nebulous Kingdom iPod & Laptop Skins

Here are s0me different and lovely 'skins' for your various electronic items. From iPods to laptops, Anne-Julie Aubrey, who creates fairy tale themed paintings under the banner "Nebulous Kingdom", has made a few of her designs available as 'skins' to put on your portable electronics. You can find the pieces and see a preview of them on various items HERE. (Amounts are in Euros but you can also pay through PayPal.)There's also an Etsy shop with a large and lovely range of fairy tale-type prints (I've included just a few in this post), cards, notebooks and more HERE.Just a note: Ms. Aubrey is closing the shop for a vacation from December 17th through to the first week of January, so if you're ordering for Christmas be sure to do it soon.NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)

Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

12 Days: Stone Soup Kit

This is a delightful idea - gardening - then cooking - on a fairy tale theme. The kit is based on the story "Stone Soup".

The Stone Soup Kit includes seeds for beans, cabbage, peas, carrots, tomatoes and onions. It comes in a little burlap bag with instructions for each type of seed, the Stone Soup recipe and, most importantly, the all important stone. ;) Here are the seed details:

• Organic Red Acre Cabbage Seeds
• Organic Little Fingers Carrot Seeds
• Organic Mammoth Melting Pea Seeds
• Organic Evergreen Bunching Onion Seeds
• Organic Roma Tomato Seeds
• Organic Blue Lake Pole Bean Seeds

This product appears to have been discontinued, though there are still a few kits floating around in different places such as HERE, HERE and HERE (I suggest you shop around a bit - I've noticed the prices vary and change.)

By the way - Wikipedia has some very interesting notes on this story. It's the first time I've seen all these references in one place. Worth a peek HERE.

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)

Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

12 Days: Classic Storytime Felt Character Patterns

The 12 Days of [Gifts Before] Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yule/Holiday continues...

In contrast to yesterday's expensive item, today I bring you something very affordable and perfect for crafty people on either the giving or receiving end.

Buggabug's Etsy shop sells lovely little patterns and instructions for a variety of things, including some storytime sets.I love the Billy Goats Gruff set in particular, even though it doesn't fold up for self-contained storage like many of the others. Each set is only $6 and you have the choice of buying the patterns and instructions (and perhaps the supplies) to give to someone, or if you're crafty yourself, you can make these sets for a handmade gift.For the “There Was An Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly…” pattern:

The animals are designed to easily slip into the old woman’s mouth as the story is told. When story time is over, the animals stay stored inside the tummy of the old woman for safe and organized storage.

Cute!

You can see all the sets available HERE.

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)

Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close December 20th, so be sure to mails me before then.
Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

12 Days: Bento Boxes

Continuing the 12 Days of [Gifts Before] Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yule fairy tale themed things for gifting with something far more affordable this time!

Sweet, cute and original designs of Snow White and Alice in Wonderland for two-tiered bento boxes.

Available HERE for $34.95 each from Monkeytail & Wellington.

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)

Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

12 Days: East o' the Sun West O' the Moon Weathervane

I never thought of a weathervane inspired by East O' the Sun, West O' the Moon before, but it makes perfect sense - of course! This piece is out of the range of most of our wallets but perhaps it can help inspire some other gift ideas along the same line.

Forged brass and bronze, this one is very pricey but oh so lovely I had to share. You can find it (and other weathervanes) HERE.

[Please note: as per my fine print in the sidebar, I am not affiliated with any company or product mentioned or linked to in this blog. I do not receive any benefit from any purchase or visit to any site. If you wish to support people working with fairy tales, however, I would like to suggest Heidi Anne Heiner's SurLaLune SITE and BLOG. Any purchase made through her links helps support the awesome work she has done - and continues to do - in providing us all with one of the best fairy tale resources on the web.]

Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close December 20th, so be sure to mails me before then.
Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

12 Days of [Gifts Before] Christmas & "The Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway

Although the 12 Days of Christmas really starts on December 25th (or in some places the 26th) I thought I'd do something a little different.

Today is the 6th and in exactly one month it's Epiphany (the traditional time when the Wise Men were thought to have brought their kingly gifts to the Baby Jesus). We tend to concentrate on giving gifts on Christmas Day so I thought I'd sort of combine the two. During the next 12 days I'll be showing you a very different range of gifts with very specific people in mind - fairy tale enthusiasts. And there's something special for you too.

Thanks to the generosity of the lovely people at London Particulars, I'm also having a giveaway!
In order to participate you need to know about Professor Aubrey Aubrey Thistlequick and his pursuit of Happiness:

Professor Aubrey Thistlequick was so excited with the fruits of his new experiment (concerning moonlight, earwigs and ale), that he quite forget to keep an eye on Happiness, his beloved cat (who for mutual convenience accompanied him on his journeys securely tied to balloons) and a sudden gust of wind took her up and off and away; floating over Primrose Hill.

In hot pursuit, the Professor sprung up a nearby ladder and was on the rooftops in a trice, but his nimbleness and quick thinking wasn’t enough to secure dear Happiness, who mewed angrily as she sailed across London town.

With his lightning-quick mind, a ball of string and a handful of seeds (which he kept about his person at all times), Professor Thistlequick took to the skies, in pursuit of Happiness, in a race through the clouds that was to last for much longer than he should have hoped…

Had Professor Aubrey Thistlequick known that morning that he would be in such close proximity to the moon, he might have dressed in more suitable clothes and he certainly would have bought along four knitted gloves and a small coat for Happiness...

What happened next? Where did they go?
That's what you need to find out!
WHAT TO DO:

1) Go visit London Particulars (the website is HERE) for more of the story and to see where the Professor and Happiness have been sighted so far.
2) Email me directly at fairytalenews AT gmail DOT com and tell me one of the locations they were seen (in the body of the email) - country and landmark's name please. Make sure you put "Happiness" in the subject of the email so it gets counted.
3) Email me with your answer (1 entry per person) before midnight on December 20th, PST USA - which is when the contest closes.

THEN WHAT HAPPENS IS:

3) Correct entries (on which I will check with the Professor to be certain they are accurate) will be given a number then entered into an independent number generator, which will choose a winner at random.
4) I will contact the winner (before December 25th) and ask them for shipping details and for their choice of a lovely poster or a print collection of the Professor in his pursuit of Happiness.
5) I'll announce the winner on the blog AND link to their blog or website too (if they wish).

EASY, ISN'T IT?

There's lots to see and many wonderful gift ideas at London Particulars (some of which I'm showing in this entry) so be sure to have a browse while you're there. I recommend checking out the particulars of the 1888 Fair poster (that may, or may not have happened).

PSST!
Anyone who also tells me exactly what Professor Thistlequick's invention was
that he displayed at the fair, gets an additional entry in the contest!
(Hint: a portion of the poster that has the details is shown in this post,
but you'll have to visit the website for the answer...)

London Particulars can be found on Facebook HERE and you can get all the latest updates on Twitter HERE and at their blog HERE.

I look forward to your mails. Happy gift hunting!

Giveaway Coming! + Folktale-ish T-Shirts

"Prevailing Dragon Winds"

I have exciting news: Once Upon A Blog will be having a giveaway for the first time ever! Thanks to the generosity of the lovely folk at London Particulars (who have wonderful steampunk and fantasy themed jewelry and prints) I'll be holding a contest starting on the 6th of December during my "12 Days of (Gifts Before) Christmas" post series, so watch this space!

I've been collecting t-shirts with fairy tale themes for a while now and will be showing you a bunch of them during the "12 Days" posts but these few don't quite fit. They are, however, very reminiscient of folktales so I thought I'd show them to you today as Threadless - the creative and fun t-shirt company - is currently having a sale with all t-shirt $12 and free shipping for any purchase over $50 (US - $75 minimum for International).

This one is called "The Cloud Menagerie"...

... and this one is called "Autumn Chameleons".

You can find more information on these design and the designers HERE and HERE. ("Prevailing Dragon Winds" at the head of the post is also by these designers.)

This lovely chameleon one is called "The Midnight Forest"...

... and you can find more information on the design and a link to the designer HERE. This particular designer has a lot of nature-themed tees with a fantastical slant to them so you may enjoy browsing his extensive design gallery too.