Category: Books

Spruce Up with a Hobbit Door Wreath

Hobbit Door Wreath from Set to Stunning

Now that nicer weather is more predictably ensconced, you might be in spring cleaning mode. Or maybe you’re past that, into “this place needs some sprucing up” mode. How about a nice new door wreath…with a touch of geek? Scruffy over at Set to Stunning has just the project tutorial for you – a Hobbit door wreath!

I like that she “added oomf” to her acorns with glitter and Mod Podge, and that this wreath was originally intended as holiday decor, but now is a year-round essential.

I also love that by creating the wreath, you’ll “be the envy of those you don’t know half as well as you would like, and those you like half as well as they deserve.”

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Did you ever read the Bunnicula books?

bunnicula

Just this weekend my younger brother tagged me on FB with an article about the children’s book series Bunnicula, including the news that a new cartoon is coming out.  Since the Bunnicula series was one of my favorite books as a kid, I wondered if there were any crafters out there that had shared their love of the vegetable sucking vampire bunny. I found this cute little plushie by username road_baby on Craftgrrl – Where Crafters Unite! Adorable.

There’s no tutorial that goes along with this photo, but on Urban Threads I did find a bunny plushie pattern that could be adapted (or made as is, it’s delightfully cute and evil) to more resemble Bunnicula.

Urban Threads has a cute, free printable plushie pattern for a vampire bunny.

VampireBunny

 

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Make Your Own Harry Potter Kindle Cover

DIY-Harry-Potter-Kindle-Covers

Thanks to the crazy Black Friday sales this past November, I got an uber cheap Kindle Fire for the holidays.  So, I’ve been on the hunt for some kind of cover or sleeve to make for my new toy, and I found this great tutorial.  It’s a DIY Harry Potter Kindle Covers tutorial by Jess at Practically Functional. The tutorial has lots of great pictures and takes you step-by-step through the entire process of making these cute Kindle Covers.  You’ll need to come up with your own pattern pieces, but everything’s made from felt which is a pretty easy medium to work with.  Plus, you can size this DIY to fit whatever e-reader (or tablet, or phone, etc . . . ) you want. What’s more, if you’re feeling adventurous, you could adapt the pattern for a character from another House too.

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One Party to Rule Them All

Lord OfThe Rings Sauron pinata from Blossomingjoy

Isn’t this pinata stunning? It’s almost like Sauron is right in the room <shudder>. It literally made my jaw drop when I saw it, so I knew I had to share it here.

When Melody at Blossomingjoy.com hosted a Lord of the Rings themed party for her son, she pulled out all the stops. Party-goers attended in costume, there was a mega-brownie Mount Doom, the jaw-dropping Eye of Sauron pinata, handmade party favors, rice krispie lembas bread, and a Hobbit version of a Toastmasters 60-second speech exercise. Whew! What a party! And lucky for us, she wrote up all sorts of great details and how-to’s in her blog post.

Have you been to any geek-themed parties? What’s your favorite theme, or one you want to host in the near future? Sound off in the comments below!

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Harry Potter craft: Magical textbook skirt

Harry Potter textbook skirt by Marissa Fischer

I don’t know about you, but this time of year makes me want to pull on snuggly socks, bury myself beneath a cozy blanket (hand-crocheted, of course!), and dive into a good book. Or perhaps dive into a sewing project inspired by a good book – Harry Potter, to be specific.

Marissa over at Raegun Ramblings has posted a tutorial for just such a project: the Hogwarts Textbook Skirt. Her write-up includes a 20-minute a-line knit skirt tutorial (including “super-easy hemming knits trick”), which you can then embellish with your choice of Hogwarts-required reading. I love her furry Monster Book of Monsters with googly eyes! I also love that you could easily add textbook embellishments to a ready-made skirt for an even quicker project.

What textbooks would include on your skirt? Let us know in the comments below!

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Make Your Own Zombiebot Amigurumi!

zombiebot

I’m not exactly sure what a zombiebot is, but it sure is cute. Check out this free crochet pattern available on CraftFoxes.com, sourced from a super cute book (Crobots: 20 Amigurumi Robots to Make, by Nelly Pailloux).

I like this kind of pattern.  It offers up instructions for you to make the zombiebot as is, or if you’re feeling daring, you can mix things up with different colors, “injuries”, stitches, and embellishments.  Just think, you can crochet your own army of crobots as you plan world domination!

Plus, read the Geek Crafts review of Nelly Pailloux’s Crobots book!

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