Category: Computers

My Geeky Valentine: A Photoshop How-to

With Valentine’s Day mere days away, you may be wracking your brain for ideas for that perfect way to share how you feel with that special person(s) in your life. Well, who can say it better than you? Why not make your own Valentine? And since we’re of the geeky sort, why don’t we dial up some digital goodness in Photoshop, hmmm?

Star Trek Valentine from HowtoGeek.com  Firefly Valentine from HowtoGeek.com

HowtoGeek.com offers a full step-by-step tutorial on how to create your own customized geek valentine in Photoshop. They also have very thoughtfully put together 11 geeky valentine images, all zipped together and ready for you to download.  Pictured above are my two favorites from the set, but other images include references to the video game Portal, Star Wars, multi-sided dice, and Futurama.

Which one do you like best? Or what custom Valentine would you like to make?

Make your own robot. (or as least decorate your own)

Who doesn’t want their own personal robot? Well check out this cute little guy, Wendell.

I love that he comes as a blank slate, so you can decorate him any way you want. He’s also open source, so you can program him to do your bidding.

 

And check him out dressed as Michael Jackson doing the thriller dance.

 

Robotic Christmas Tree

What say “Christmas” better than robots? Nothing, That’s what.

Check out  fjordcarver’s awesome Instructable, and learn how to make your own robotic talking Christmas tree.

I love his little eyes. He looks like Cookie Monster… if Cookie Monster was a Christmas Tree.

A Christmas Stocking to Make You Go “WOW”!

A few years ago I considered myself quite clever for printing a screenshot of World of Warcraft‘s Grandfather Winter on label paper and slapping it on a CD to make a Christmas ornament for my son. Oh, the shame, when I compare that to this amazing stocking project.

World of Warcraft cross-stitch Christmas stocking

Amy Campbell recently shared this stocking project in the Geeks United in Crafts Facebook group, and I had to immediately run over and share it here. Here’s how she described the project on her blog, A Harpy’s Point of View:

It was “a surprise gift for friends we met through World of Warcraft and their delightful little son… I took screenshots from the game World of Warcraft to get Grandfather Winter (aka Santa) and the tree from Orgrimmar. I then got pictures of my friends’ characters off the Armory. I shopped the three images together, including some presents from under the tree. Next, I made a patter using PC Stitch Pro.”

Seriously, as my son described it, legit. He also forgave me for my unimaginative ornament.

Now surely, I can get one of these whipped out by Christmas Eve, right?

Also, don’t forget GeekCraft founder Shayne is looking for Garden gnome projects for her ebook.

Links of Interest:

Visions of Sugarplums (& Electric Sheep)

With the holidays fast approaching, it’s understandable that we might all be getting a little excited, girls and bots alike. (Come on—you can’t tell me Data didn’t want to put Spot in a kitty-sized Santa hat.)

So here’s one for the robots in the crowd—or at least the robot aficionados—who want to deck the halls in a suitably festive fashion for this human holiday known as Christmas.

First up is a binary stocking, appreciated by androids and the technologically inclined alike. Oh, and if you’re multi-talented, you can knit one yourself with n2 Imaginations Design‘s pattern.

Next we’ve got a stocking by AnimationsDesigns that may outshine even Rudolph’s nose. Robots? Check. LEDs? Check. Awesome? Definitely check. And look at all the detail—each little robot is different.

If you want something a bit more understated than an illuminated stocking, My Imaginary Boyfriend has a slightly more traditional, rather rustic design (as rustic as robots get, I suppose).

And finally, I had to include this adorable stocking stuffer robot ornament from Sleepy Robot 13. I know, it’s not a stocking per se, but he’s holding one, so it kinda counts, right?