#nutcracker month 2024

[artsynoova]

The Masquerade is almost here! Thank you @saturnnutcracker for helping me with this lovely image!

You all have 20 days to send your part for the orginally planned deadline. With that said, I wanted to check if you are okay with that date, or if I should moved it to December 20th,so you have 10 extra days

Can´t wait to see what you all make!

[pinkyhaert]

NEW NUTCRACKER OC JUST DROPPED!!!

His name is Jack! i love him :DDD Also he can glow :DDD Funky Reindeer boy for the holidays ehehe He'd probably relate to Koda a lot. Description: ------

The Noble-hearted Hero

Jack may not have been active for very long, but he aims to do his best to better the world around him by helping as many as he can. Unaware of the fate of his species, he has taken great lengths to discover why he was created and who he is meant to truly be.

He tends to be a bit blunt and also quite oblivious to the true intentions of those around him- good or bad. He is very awkward at times due to this. He also isn't quite hip to how figures of speech work either. what do you mean a shrimp fried this rice??

He may be a hard worker and loves to keep himself busy- but often tends to overexert himself to the point of exhaustion. don't be surprised if you see him sleeping in odd positions or even sleeping standing up from time to time.. the boy needs his rest. Even though he's a bit silly at times with his unusual demeanor- if you befriend him he's loyal to a fault and will diligently protect and defend those he cares about.

----

[highflyartist]

Welp! Time for me to show my submission! (Still working on the mini prompts but whatevs)

--

I had fun doing Nutcracker Month this year! (Oh hey look, Snowy's there too!)

--

And now, for #4

Context: Saragona's world is a mixture of the worlds of The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

--

Nutcracker Month/Season by @artsynoova / @noovamulticolors

[hobbies-miscellaneous]

Aaaaaand their designs are doneeeeee!!!!!!

Happy Nutcracker month folks!!!!

[ariflorarts]

Nutcracker season once more! I had to do these two for @artsynoova 2024 nutcracker season masquerade ball!

Had so much fun revisiting my neglected babies, I needed to see them again

Clara always having a problem dressing up and not feeling self conscious, Hans is used to social events but I think he enjoys this one because he’s with her.

[anjiedromeda]

Your honour, let them kiss. quick surprise smooches fluster Riddley, but gallant princely kisses fluster Kronya also, there is indeed a height difference, and so Kronya has to tiptoe on Riddley at times to reach

[misschristineart]

A bit late for Flashback Friday, but better late than never. Here are the art pics that I did from 2024 through this year (2025). They were all from my sketchbook (Maruman Sketchbook). The holiday pics were actually belated, but as I said before - better late then never.

First pic - Kim+Edward, Belle+Adam(Human Beast), and Victor VD+Victoria in Valentine's Day theme with roses.

Second pic - This fanart of two Victors was a tribute to their voice actors, Johnny Depp (Voice of Victor VD) and Charlie Tahan (Voice of Victor F) because their birthdays were on the same month of June.

Third pic - Characters from "Frankenweenie" were amazed when they were all viewing the fireworks in an Independence Day theme.

Fourth pic - Victor VD and Victoria viewing the stars at night in Tanabata theme. They were amazed when they both saw two big, bright stars together - Vega and Altair (Orihime and Hikoboshi).

Fifth and Final pic - The Victors as soldiers, while both Victoria and Elsa as Ballet Dancers. Victor VD as the Steadfast Tin Soldier and Victoria as the Ballet Dancer in an adapted “Steadfast Tin Soldier” segment, “Piano Concerto No. 2” from Disney’s “Fantasia 2000." Victor F as Hans/The Nutcracker and Elsa as Clara in "The Nutcracker Prince" (1990 version).

All done in traditional art tools, and edited in GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP).

[balletomaneblog]

The Top Female Vaganova Graduates of the Past Ten Years: Then and Now (Part I)

2015 - Renata Shakirova (Mariinsky Principal)

This was actually a tough one since 2015 was such an amazing year for graduates, especially considering that both the ninth year and eighth years graduated together. But in the end, Shakirova just seemed to me the most professional and technically strong in 2015! A star then and now!

Role I'd love to see her début: The Sylph

Special Mentions: Anastasia Lukina, Nika Tsvikhtaria, Elena Solomyanko

2015 (Laurencia at Graduation):

2024 (Dulcinea Variation in Don Quixote) :

2016 - Alyona Kovalyova (Bolshoi Principal)

This one was a no-brainer. While Maria Ilyushkina is a rising star now, her technique and strength in her Vaganova days were still developing while Kovalyova was the clear featured star graduate. After being rejected from Mariinsky for being too tall, she was offered a contract with the Bolshoi and quickly rose through the ranks, including spending only one year in the corps de ballet!

Role I'd love to see her début: Anna Karenina

Special Mentions: Maria Ilyushkina, Laura Fernandez-Gromova

2016 (Raymonda in Grand Pas shortly after graduating):

2024 (Nikiya in La Bayadère):

2017 - Eleonora Sevenard (Bolshoi Principal):

Another obvious choice, Sevenard was the clear stand-out. She was accepted into both the Mariinsky and the Bolshoi, before choosing the Bolshoi! She spent two years in the corps but was given soloist and principal opportunities right off the bat, including debuting as Masha in the Nutcracker in her first season. She was promoted to principal in 2023!

Role I'd love to see her début: Aurora

Special Mentions: Vlada Borodulina

2017 (Fairy Doll during graduate year):

2024 (Kitri in Don Quixote):

2018 - Maria Khoreva (Mariinsky First Soloist)

2018 was another year like 2015 with tons of amazing graduates. However, the graduate who garnered the most attention before and after graduation and who finished at the top of the class is Maria Khoreva. At only eighteen her technique was shockingly close to flawless and only two months into her first season she was promoted to first soloist! Khoreva has not be dancing for most of the past two seasons due to injury, but she is finally returning to the Mariinsky stage at the start of this season!

Role I'd love to see her début: Parasha (Bronze Horseman)

Special mentions: Maria Bulanova, Anastasia Nuikina, Daria Ionova, Anastasia Petushkova, Biborka Lendvai, Anita Voroshilova

2018 (Paquita shortly after her graduation):

2023 (Odile in Swan Lake last year):

2019 - Alexandra Khiteyeva (Mariinsky First Soloist)

Alexandra Khiteyeva was by far the strongest graduate of 2019. She had been featured in Vaganova graduation performances since her sixth year. After joining the Mariinsky, her initial progress was slowed due to COVID, but after four years in the Corps she was promoted, first to Second Soloist and just recently to First Soloist!

Role I'd love to see her début: Juliet

Special mentions: Svetlana Savelieva, Yulia Spiridonova

2019 (Paquita at graduation):

2023 (Cristina in Paquita):

[theinquisitxor]

December 2024 Reading Wrap Up

This is it folks! Last wrap up of the year! I read 8 books in December and had 1 dnf. I was able to complete the two series I wanted to before the end of the year, and finished my on-going goals.

1.Seer of Sevenwaters by Juliet Mariller, 4/5 stars. This is the 5th book in the series, and a solid installment. Not my favorite of the series, but not bad. I just didn't love it as much as the other books, and things felt very slow at times.

2.Conrad's Fate (Chrestomanci 5) by Diana Wynne Jones, 4/5 stars. I enjoyed this one more than the previous two I read, and really liked being with Christopher and Millie again on a new adventure.

3.The Pinhoe Egg (Chrestomanci 6) by Diana Wynne Jones, 3.5/5 stars. I finished this series-yay! This was a fun installment, and it was nice to catch up with Cat. I'm glad I was able to read some new DJW this year.

4.The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele. My nonfiction book for the month, and one of my Random TBR picks. I thought this was a good overview of the middle ages, debunking the "dark ages" stereotype around this time period.

5.Midnight In Everwood by Maria Kuzinar, 2/5 stars. This was my other Random TBR pick for the month. I was actually very happy I got this, as it is a christmas-y book and nutcracker retelling. I love the nutcracker fairy tale, so I was interested in this retelling, but this book was so bad. The writing was bad, the plot was bad, the ending was bad 😂

6. Flame of Sevenwaters (Sevenwaters 6) by Juliet Marillier, 4.5/5 stars. This was a good conclusion to this series and the second story arc. I liked Maeve a lot as a character and her journey. This one reminded me a bit of Heir to Sevenwaters. The romance in this book was the only thing that was a little weird to me.

7.The Fur Person by May Sarton, 5/5 stars. This is a novella from the perspective of Sarton's cat. It's one of the best representations of a cat's pov in my opinion, and follows Tom Jones as he goes from being a 'Cat About Town' to a housecat. It was a lovely little read.

8. A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold, 4/5 stars. This is a collection of essays about land conservation from Leopold's farm in Wisconsin. This is a foundational piece of nature writing that I wanted to read.

DNF: At the beginning of December I picked up The Virgin in the Garden by AS Byatt, as I've been wanting to read more Byatt books. I read about 20%, but I could just not get into it. Maybe one day I'll pick it back up.

[elegantballetalk]

The amount of variety in the Bolshoi's schedule over the next couple of months is amazing (and also slightly terrifying).

It's been a long month of nothing but Nutcrackers (I think Ovcharenko said that the company has done more than 40 performances!) but starting from 15th January they have:

Ivan the Terrible x2,

Don Quixote x4,

The Queen of Spades (premiered in 2023) x3,

Spartacus x4,

Anna Karenina x2,

Cipollino x2 (1977 original revived in Dec 2024) x4

Master and Margarita (premiered in 2021) x3

La Sylphide x4

Anyuta (1986 original revived in 2022) x3

Evening of Chopiniana + Paquita Grand Pas x2

Coppelia x4

Evening of Carmen Suite + Dancemania (contemporary work premiered in 2022) x2

Raymonda x3

The Tempest ( premiered in summer 2024) x3

It feels like quite a good mind of classical, neo-classical, and modern as well which is nice. Lots of opportunities for dancers shine, though the workload looks very intense.

I think only a theatre like Bolshoi could handle such a program! It’s so intense, and there is so much work for relatively not many repetitions of the same ballets, only a massive corps could handle something like this. What also impresses me is the organisation which must go behind sets and costumes as well.

Thank you for this list, I’ll keep an eye out for castings!

I’m excited to see Spartacus again, and hopefully a deeper eye into the “newer” ballets.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Read in December 2024

one more amazing reading month to top off the year 😌 I finally got through The Locked Tomb books and I had so much fun with them. I tried Murderbot again with a little less success BUT I discovered Daniel Kraus and I definitely have a new favourite author on my hands <3

other standouts include Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay, Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman and Come Out, Come Out by Natalie C Parker

Series read:

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir

Gideon the Ninth - 5/5 (audio)

Harrow the Ninth - 4/5

Nona the Ninth - 4/5 (audio)

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

All Systems Red - 3/5 (reread)

Artificial Condition - 3/5 - (reread)

Rogue Protocol - 4/5 (audio)

Exit Strategy - 2/5 (audio)

Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

The Thief - 3/5 (audio)

Familiar authors:

Furious by Jamie Pacton & Rebecca Podos - 3/5 (audio)

Where the Heart Should Be by Sarah Crossan - 4/5

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix - 5/5 (audio)

Cujo by Stephen King - 3/5 (audio)

The Pallbearer’s Club by Paul Tremblay - 3/5 (audio)

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay - 2/5

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay - 4/5 (audio)

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward - 3/5 (audio)

Other reads:

The Shape of Water by Guillermo Del Toro & Daniel Kraus - 4/5 (audio)

The Living Dead by Daniel Kraus & George A Romero - 5/5 (audio)

Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong - 3/5 (audio)

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - 4/5 (audio)

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke - 3/5

The Nutcracker by ETA Hoffman - 1/5

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - 2/5

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus - 5/5 (audio)

Bent Heavens by Daniel Kraus - 4/5 (audio)

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman - 5/5 (audio)

Come Out, Come Out by Natalie C Parker - 4/5 (audio)

A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper - 2/5 (audio)

Graveyard Shift by ML Rio - 5/5

The Polar Express by Chris van Allsburg - 5/5

[artsynoova]

Nutcracker Season 2024

And here we are! Thank you so much to all who participated, all of them look wonderful! I'm so happy so many people joined! 

I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

I leave you with all the wonderful artists and characters that participated!

@pinkyhaert -Hollyberry-Nicolas and Tulip-Snowball-Koda

@anjiedromeda -Riddley & Kronya

@inkabelledesigns -Auran & Loraine

@exittotheartscape -Maxi & Marie

@gruvu -Hardt & Clara

@lexi-the-writing-geek -Winter & Claire

@freckleocalypse -Sebastian, Emily & Abel

@highflyartist -Saragona & Marleen

@hobbies-miscellaneous -Alexander & Clara-Hanz & Kaitlyn

@marianorth12 -Hereman & Masha

@ariflorarts -Hans & Clara

@ladyfluffbutt -Garion

@kate66s -Erica

@artsynoova -Ben & Casandra

@falcontheartist -Alessia

@saturnnutcracker -Ivan & Sam

@oilliewaffle -Zek & Samson

@willowb1515 -Nicholas & Willow

@metallicartist -Erick & Karla

@bladefoxfairy -Aiden & Bladie

[pinkyhaert]

an assortment of Jack art i've done for the advent calendar/for friends thus far.

[highflyartist]

Welp.. I was debating about it and I'm gonna join Nutcracker Month one last time before I head off to college! So LETS GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!

--

Day one: Receiving the Invite

Saragona is suspicious about the invite.

[hobbies-miscellaneous]

Sneak peak for this years nutcracker month!

[summonerluna]

WIP Game!

I’ve been tagged in this a bunch and wanted to actually post before the new year, but lmao to think I would actually reach that goal.

Rules: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Tag as many people as you have WIPs. People send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

LoZ:

Zelink Ashes - longfic - y’all know what this one is but I am happy to yap about it!

Gloom sickness - longfic. Post-totk, puppet Zelda horror

Light Dragon/Last Unicorn AU - longfic. Exactly what it sounds like but also this may go so off the rails it’s not an AU and becomes an original work

Zelda Sonia time - one-shot

Champion’s ballad fic idea - one shot

Kass - one shot

Recipe - one shot

Queenbosa letters - one shot

Adult timeline Zelda - one shot (for now but honestly this project is half formed so who honestly knows what it will turn into)

Nutcracker AU designs - inspired by a discord conversation, would be an art project instead of writing

FFVIII:

Small town witch - longfic (this is the Irvine vampire one fyi)

Dissolve* - longfic

Squall is Dead AU* - longfic

Knighting - one shot. Was supposed to be for @ffviiibingo but despite making progress on it the last couple of months of 2024 kicked my ass so sadly it’s still a WIP

Ellone TC - one shot

(*Putting these on here even though both of these projects are all but abandoned, in the hope that maybe if I still consider them WIPs I might one day have the motivation to go back and work on them again)

Original Writing

Ghost Story - novel. Set largely in Northern California and based on actual ghost stories told to me by my parents

Second Face - novel. First draft of this is actually finished. One big metaphor for postpartum depression.

Skysilver - short story

Survivors - short story

Since SO MANY of y’all have already done this, there is no way I can tag someone for every WIP and not have duplicates.

@angelosearch @suleikashideaway @aleheartilly @siobhann @irishais @msstarlight @fan-girls-r-us @raccoonfiend95 @aegon-targaryen @raurusthirdeye @mailrebel @hurricane105

If I didn’t tag you it’s because either you tagged me or I am pretty sure I have seen you post this game already or have seen you already tagged a bunch. If I did tag you and actually interacted with your post already, it’s because I have the attention span of a squirrel on caffeine