November 20

Happy (Belated) Wookiee Life Day!

Wookie Life day family photo

I am a lifelong Star Wars fan – I have a picture of my brother and I sitting on our couch in our sweatshirts with Star Wars iron-ons on them, after seeing the first/fourth movie in the theaters (the aforementioned photo is not the same as the one pictured above, however).  Thirty-something years later, and I have just learned of the existence of Wookiee Life Day. And I just missed it – it’s celebrated every November 17th.

May the Fourth – definitely heard of it. Revenge of the Fifth – yep, know that one too. But somehow Wookie Life Day slipped by my Death Star radar.

Perhaps it had for you, too? Allow me to educate.

According to TheForce.net, “On November 17, 1978 The Star Wars Holiday Special aired for one time only on CBS in the United States. Featuring an odd story about Chewbacca reuniting with his family to celebrate the Wookiee holiday of Life Day, it has gone on to live in infamy among Star Wars fans. The special includes appearances and strange musical performances from the cast of the original Star Wars movie, as well as Bea Arthur, Art Carney, Harvey Korman, Diahann Carroll, and Jefferson Starship. To no one’s surprise The Star Wars Holiday Special is renowned for its overwhelmingly negative reception. Lucasfilm has never released the Holiday Special to the public after its initial broadcast, but it has lived on through video recordings and sharing among friends.”

Yes, it was that spectacularly bad. Those of you with a strong stomach can watch about 7 minutes of it courtesy of YouTube: Star Wars Holiday Special – “Happy Life Day”. Be forewarned – Princess Leia sings.

But what can you make to properly celebrate Life Day, you ask? Also according to TheForce.net, “All you need is a way to watch The Star Wars Holiday Special and some Crimson Snuggies,” but I’d also suggest a nice fresh batch of Wookiee-ookies. Shayne posted about the Star Wars Cookbook previously, but I was able to track down the actual cookie recipe at StarWarsHolidaySpecial.com.

Wookie-ookies

Then you could serve the wookie-ookies to a whole party of WookSQUEEs and SQUEEwoks, if you can handle the cuteness factor.

WookSQUEE and SQUEEwok party

What about you? Did you do (or make) anything fun for Life Day? Had you heard of Life Day before?

LINKS OF INTEREST:

 

Category: Craft, Geek, Movies, Sci-Fi, Toys | Comments Off on Happy (Belated) Wookiee Life Day!
November 18

Friday Roundup: Minecraft!

Today is the day.  I can hardly believe that Minecraft is not a full game yet, but it’s true.  Today Mojang AB, the creators of Minecraft, will be releasing the official Minecraft 1.0 version live at MineCon in Las Vegas.  I wish I could be there.  However, since I can’t be there, lets look at some truly awesome Minecraft inspired crafts.

To start things off, take a look at this Creeper Purse by Blindmoon on Etsy.  Now you can look stylish and still send everyone around you into PTSD induced seizures.

Creeper Purse

*****

Or how about this absolutely adorable Minecraft Chicken made out of Fimo Clay.  StarPhoenixx from Etsy makes tons of cute clay figurines but this chicken made me squeak.

Clay Minecraft Chicken Mob

*****

The cake doesn’t have to be a lie with this Plush Minecraft Cake by EeeBeeDee on Etsy.

Minecraft Cake Plush

*****

We all know how much I love coffee cozies.  I can’t get enough of the things, yet strangely I don’t use them on my actual coffee.  Either way, you have to love this Creeper Coffee Cozy by LilacsLovables on Etsy.  She calls it a “Mug Cozy” but I don’t think you can even USE mugs for anything other than coffee…right?

Creeper Coffee Cozy

*****

How are you supposed to dig around in your mines without the proper tools?  Well, diamonds are expensive, so how about these Perler Bead Diamond Magnets by GumballNinja on Etsy?

Perler Bead Diamond Toolset

*****

Have you ever looked at your tissue paper dispenser and thought to yourself, “What am I doing with my life?”.  Me too.  You can solve that problem by pimping out your dispenser with a cool Minecraft Grass Cube Tissue Box Cover!  But where could you get one?  How about from sockmonkeyfun on Etsy?

Grass Cube Tissue Cover

*****

I bet that, like me, you don’t have any friends.  What?  You do have friends…can you share?  No….right then.  Well, since you have SO MANY FRIENDS, I suppose you must collect them.  Why not add one more to the list, you friend hog.  This Minecraft Pet Wolf Statue, by DandelionBlow on Etsy, won’t ever pick you last for dodge ball…again.

Minecraft Pet Wolf Statue

*****

Since you  have so many friends, why don’t you marry one?  All you need is a diamond ring like this Minecraft Inspired “Diamond” Ring by tinybackpack on Etsy.

Minecraft "Diamond" Ring

*****

Alright.  As usual, I have saved the best for last.  This Minecraft Plush Pig is Adorable.  I love it.  I want to own it.  ClosetMonsterstoys on Etsy make all kinds of awesome pop culture plushies, but this pig is just too awesome for words.

Minecraft Plush Pig

*****

That’s it for this week.  I’m off to patiently refresh the Minecraft page until the full version is released.

Category: Computers, Craft, Games, Geek, Toys, Video Games | 1 Comment on Friday Roundup: Minecraft!
November 16

Space Invaders Quilt Plan

My PMQG guildmate Elizabeth Hartman just posted about her plans for piecing a Space Invaders quilt for her nephew. She used one of the Kyla May video game prints I also loved (found at Cool Cottons here in Portland) as inspiration, and she’s hand-drawn a blueprint for a super-unique pixelated quilt top made with Kona solids and prints…

From her post:

I played around with a couple of different ideas before I determined that I didn’t actually want to use any of the print on the front of the quilt. Instead, I decided to play with the pixelated look of the print and make the quilt top into a super-enlarged version of the fabric.

I can’t wait to see this quilt project unfold!

 

Category: Craft, Geek, Video Games | 1 Comment on Space Invaders Quilt Plan
November 15

Tutorial Tuesday! Angry Birds Ball Game

Via Pinterest.

Homemade Beauties By Heidi brings us this fantastic tutorial for an Angry Birds can toss game.

This is great, kinda like angry birds in real life… means you and the kids can have a happy green-pig-smashing-time even when you’ve lost the charger for your Ipad.

I’d be so tempted to tell one of those parent lies, you know, “this is how we used to play angry birds when I was your age.” That kind of thing.

Category: Craft, Gadgets, Games, Geek, Mobile, Video Games | Comments Off on Tutorial Tuesday! Angry Birds Ball Game