March 5

No Face Embroidery Hoop

I was taking an animation class just for fun at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design when Spirited Away came to the USA.  That was more than a decade ago, but I remember hearing about the movie, pining to see the moving, and begging some friends to come along and watch it with me. We saw it at the beautiful Landmark Oriental Theater and I can’t remember a time before or since that I was so riveted by a movie.  If you haven’t seen it, I implore you: Stop what you are doing right now and go see it.

It is certainly difficult to pick a favorite character from the movie, but one of the most memorable is surely No Face. A strange, silent spirit overcome by greed. Unable to verbally communicate on his own, we’re left to ponder his intentions and motivation.

Love & a Sandwich (aka Chelsea Bloxsom) captures this unusual character in an embroidery hoop: the distinct mask paired with an amorphous body, among spa tokens and cold coins. Absolutely perfect.

Selecting a project from Love and a Sandwich was rough, by the way. She’s got a million projects (OK, maybe a few dozen) on her Flickr that made me FREAK OUT, but No Face takes the cake.

March 5

Cosplay Pics from Naka-kon 2012

My husband and daughter recently returned from their annual sojourn to a local anime convention, so I thought it might be nice to introduce you to it as well. Dubbed Naka-kon, this convention is held annually in Overland Park, Kansas, to “celebrate Japanese animation and the influence anime has in the Midwest and around the globe by educating people from all walks of life in many diverse facets of popular and traditional Japanese culture.”

No matter whether promoting Japanese anime, video games, or the otaku lifestyle in general, these Kon-goers love to cosplay! The following are but a few examples that my husband took over the weekend.

Montage of photos from NakaKon 2012

I spy cosplayers as No Face from Spirited Away (or what I call “that freaky ghosty thing”), Mojo JoJo from Powerpuff Girls, a Stormtrooper, Mario & Princess Peach, and GLaDOS from Portal, but I don’t recognize the others. Do you?

February 28

Tutorial Tuesday: Animatronic Kitty Ears!

Via Geekologie

Have you ever found that your face just isn’t expressive enough?

Ever looked at your cat and thought “wow, you’re really onto something there!”… well get yourself out of that litterbox and hop over to Instructables for Abetusk‘s tutorial on how to make these stunning Animatronic Cat Ears!

 

February 14

Totoro Felt Plushie

Totoro Felt PlushieI realize I already did a Totoro week, but that was so last year. This plushie is just too amazing not to mention. It may very well be the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life. I just want to hug it.

This plushie by yael360 on Etsy is absolutely amazing, just crazy amazing. Did I mention it is amazing? Seeing this made me look through the rest of their shop, but there are so many cute and geeky things there that my head exploded and I am writing this with my last breath. Happy Valentines Day.

Category: Anime, Craft, Geek, Toys | Comments Off on Totoro Felt Plushie
January 31

Pokeball Duct Tape Flower

Pokeball Duct Tape FlowerWhen I saw this, I did a double take.  I was browsing through Etsy when I saw this Pokeball Duct Tape Flower by DuctTapeRose.  I have always been a fan of Duct Tape creations, from my own clumsy attempts at making duct tape wallets to other peoples much better attempts.

If you have the same love of Duct Tape as me, I know you are amazed at the level of detail here, but you haven’t seen anything yet.  Visit DuctTapeRose on Etsy to see some duct tape creations that will absolutely blow your mind.

I think I’m in love.

Check out the Pokeball Flower!

Visit DuctTapeRose on Etsy!

More Pokemon on Geekcrafts!

Category: Anime, Craft, Geek, Video Games | Comments Off on Pokeball Duct Tape Flower