Go Old School With This Halloween DIY

diy-cloche

If you’re into the classic, Victorian, and vintage style Halloween decorations, then you’re going to love this tutorial from DIY Home Sweet Home where you can make your own Halloween themed cloche using the simplest of materials. The tutorial only covers making the cloche itself, so filling it will be up to you and your imagination.  If you need ideas, then try looking at these terrariums to start! Use your homemade cloche to display Halloween scenes, vintage inspired ephemera, miniatures, and anything else you can think of.

More Links of Interest

Star Wars Terrarium at Powell’s Books for Cooks and Gardeners

Imagine my happiness when I was buying some books at my favorite Powell’s for Cooks and Gardeners (in SE Portland) on Tuesday, and saw this huge, super amazing Yoda-with-a-leashed-dinosaur terrarium in the shop window! Megan Walsh and her Powell’s co-workers made this Star Wars-meets-Land of the Lost world inside a large antiqued glass box with ferns and lots of other plants. It’s beautiful in person and they will even open the hinged doors so you can see the scene more closely!

I also got word that Megan has been working on a Star Trek: TNG terrarium (starring Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of course) and I’m sure hoping to see that one too… stay tuned.

Geek-Friendly Air Plants

Air plant in beakerWhen it comes to plants, I have a total black thumb. Okay, maybe it’s more greyish than pitch black, but still. Any plant that isn’t a succulent or a spider plant has a very short life expectancy in my household.

That’s why I’m excited about these adorable little air plants. They’re super easy to take care of, and can be kept in almost any type of container.

You can see what I mean by looking at the selection available at Tortoise Loves Donkey. Housed in simple glass containers ranging from itty bitty terrariums to geek-chic beakers, these air plants are perfect for livening up spaces of any size.

Perhaps they’ll help me change my thumb to more of a greyish-green color…yeah, no. Gross.

World of Geekcraft

Today is an exciting day at Geek Crafts! Our own Susan Beal, who blogs here every Wednesday, has a new book being released this week. The fittingly titled  World of Geekcraft is making its debut appearances for the Official Blog Tour both here at Geek Crafts and over at  Craft!

World of Geekcraft by Susan Beal

In addition to doing an incredible job with coordinating and designing this amazing book, Susan also was able to contribute several of her own projects. Of her contributions, my favorite is the Star Wars Terrariums. I believe when Susan told me she was making these I replied with a hearty, “Hell, yeah, I can’t wait to see those!” Here they are for you to see:

World of Geekcraft - Star Wars Terrariums by Susan Beal

Our Renee contributed an awesome essay called The Resurgence of Atari and Nintendo.

World of Geekcraft - The Resurgence of Atari and Nintendo by Renee Pickup

Here’s an excerpt:

A big part of the renewed popularity of Atari and NES games lies within the breakthrough idea that it’s actually cool to be geeky. The word “geek” has transitioned from describing someone wearing a pocket protector to someone who is hip, in the know, and totally capable of keeping up with technology. With new video game consoles, cell phones, and computers coming out faster than most people can keep up with, being a geek has its advantages. As loads of average Joes jump on the geek-chic bandwagon, it seems the hardcore geeks feel the need to separate themselves; perhaps wearing an old Atari logo is a way of saying, “Yeah, I was here first.”

And I was lucky enough to contribute a fuse bead portrait of Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Doing these portraits is a long process and I like to do them row by row. Here you can witness Buffy gradually showing her face:

World of Geek Craft - Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Shayne Rioux

Over 10,000 beads later, I had a complete portrait:

World of Geekcraft - Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Shayne Rioux

I know 10,000 beads seems like a lot of work – and it is! – but it’s totally worth it to see the finished product.

Krys and I headed out today and spotted World of Geekcraft in its natural habitat, Barnes & Noble:

World of Geekcraft in the Wild

If your local bookstore doesn’t have World of Geekcraft yet, you can buy it online at:

After poring through the whole book, I’ve decided my absolute favorite project is Garth Johnson’s Planet Commemorative Plates. I’m totally going to make these for my husband’s computer lab.

World of Geekcraft - Planet Commemorative Plates by Garth Johnson

Continue following The Blog Book as it makes tracks to the following websites:

Also visit the official site for the book – worldofgeekcraft.com.

And last but not least, we have a copy of World of Geekcraft to give away to one lucky reader!

Leave a comment telling us your favorite geeky thing by midnight, Friday, May 6th, and we’ll pick a winner at random.

Glass Jar Terrarium

Glass Jar TerrariumWinter blues are starting to set in, and the snow just keeps on coming!!  My solution for seasonal depression is to craft and just pretend it’s already spring.  I need some green in my life, so since I’ve been obsessed with terrariums for awhile, and have an overload of mason jars from the holidays and canning…. I present to you, Jenny Ryan’s tutorial to make your own tiny terrarium in a jar!

If you make one of these, please let me know.  I’ll be posting mine as soon as I finish collecting supplies!  And better yet, have more ideas for my overflow of various sized mason jars?  Send me ideas for those too :)

Glass Jar Terrarium

[via Craft:]