tutorial – Page 9 – Geek Crafts

Magic Mirror on the Wall

I have one of those long, dark hallways in my house that’s terribly difficult to decorate. There’s just one tiny window on one end, so I’m always looking for ways to lighten it up. This evening I tried putting up three mirrors of different sizes…and it looks excellent! Clearly, if three mirrors looks excellent, five mirrors would look even better (and ten would look incredible)! I can see this quickly becoming a new obsession…

Have you seen this lovely LEGO mirror spotted on OurNerdHome? It’s singularly simple to make (and will be featured prominently in my new mirror hallway by the end of this weekend):

I particularly love the gold spray paint – something we go through a lot of at our house. Have you ever wondered which gold spray paint to use for your projects? Julia at ChrisLovesJulia experimented with several different kinds, and writes about her findings here.

What are your favorite mirror projects? I’d love to see!

Happy Earmuff Day!

Ah, yes…it’s that time again: Earmuff Day! Actually, I’m ashamed to report that somehow this very salient holiday escaped my notice until this evening, when a friend alerted me to its existence. My response was, of course, to make little miniature earmuffs out of all of my leftover pipe cleaners and mini yarn pom pom balls from previous projects and go around the house putting earmuffs on everything from the owl shaped cookie jar in the kitchen to the hurricane lamps in the living room. (My boyfriend will be so impressed when he wakes up tomorrow morning and sees my handiwork! Is there such a thing as the Earmuff Fairy? I think I sense a new tradition…)

In the spirit of Earmuff Day, here are some crafty earmuff ideas from around the web:

These Princess Leia earmuffs made me smile (links to a YouTube video with DIY instructions, thanks to DeviantArt user Taniathepirate):

I want to learn how to crochet just so I can make these Spock ears (spotted on Croshame)!

I was unable to find any instructions for these Pokeball earmuffs found on Etsy.com [via monster.loveitsomuch.com], or these R2D2 earmuffs (spotted on DeviantArt from user Bee-Delicious), but they both look like they could be recreated pretty easily with some faux craft store fur and felt:

Plus, how to create faun earmuffs (thanks to Meri Greenleaf at Elfling Blog):

So, I’m dying to know: What are you up to this Earmuff Day? Any big plans?? Hope you have a good one!

Avengers Book Marks DIY

If you’re stuck indoors with little ones this winter, I found this fun DIY that’s perfect. Amanda Formaro on the blog Crafts by Amanda, has got this simple tutorial on making bookmarks out of popsicle sticks, craft paint, white out, and permanent markers. They’re easier than they look, and you probably already have the supplies. What’s even better is that for the super creative, it’d be really easy to take this project to the next level and create any of your favorite superheroes!

Captain America Tie Dye DIY

I ran across this awesome tutorial on iLoveToCreate, posted there by Alexa. The tutorial is great, and this technique is surprisingly easy. I recommend watching the short, 3 minute video and reading the instructions. It’s a little labor intensive, and messy, but so worth it, don’t you think?

A Very QWERTY Birthday

My boyfriend’s birthday is this weekend, and I’m getting him a new smartphone(!) which has been quite the ordeal. And apparently while I have been transfixed on trying to select and purchase the perfect gift on the sly, my shiftiness has become evident to my boyfriend, who smugly mentioned this afternoon that he “knew” I was throwing him a surprise party this weekend. While this revelation was quite distant from reality, I acted like he’d caught me (to throw him off my smartphone scent)…but now I have to throw him a party, too. So since everything in my life has been smartphone-centric for the past few days, I thought: Why not theme the party around….emojis?!

Fortunately, the decoration portion of my party planning was made incredibly simple when I came across these spot-on DIY Emoji Balloons from Studio DIY, which I’ll definitely be whipping up this weekend:

…and these hilarious Dancing Girls piñatas, also from Studio DIY:

Whew! I’d better be receiving beaucoup smiley, heart, and kissy-filled texts next week for all this. :)

Plushy DIY Roundup!

This week on Spoonflower, the contest involves original designs for mythical creature plushies, and when I saw Gila’s UniPug design I knew I had to share it on Geek Crafts. You can purchase your own DIY UniPug Plushy Pattern on a variety of fabrics (I recommend Spoonflower’s new Minky fabric for this one because it’s super soft and cuddly, like the ever elusive UniPug himself) in Cross The Lime’s Spoonflower shop. The design fits on a fat quarter and costs about $17 with shipping.

If you’re more of a cat person, you might enjoy making your very own Grumpy Cat with this Instructable by username elewis03, complete with step-by-step instructions and pictures, as well as a rudimentary pattern you can download for free. This little guy would make an excellent cubicle pal at the office, don’t you think?

If grumpy kitties and mythical unipugs aren’t your thing, how about a Frog Prince named Ferdinand from Abby Glassenberg’s blog While She Snaps? This DIY has a free downloadable pattern along with excellent pictures and instructions. While you’re there, you should check out the other free plushy patterns on Abby Glassenberg’s site–super cute!