Search Results for: plushie

July 15

Meet Spocktopus: A Highly Logical Octopus

Spocktopus

Often when I can’t fall asleep at night, my thoughts turn to crafts. I solve all sorts of crafty conundrums in that drowsy half-dozing state – the perfect glue to adhere something, the right binding for a sewing project, where I last saw my size “P” crochet hook…

Plagued with menopause-induced insomnia, Karen at SewMuch2Luv lay awake one night and thought of crafts, too. That’s how she came up with the idea to combine an octopus with Star Trek for a friend. The result: Spocktopus.

I love that he has the gold rickrack on his tentacles – nice detail.

What kind of crafty meanderings keep you awake at night? Or what project would you work on if you had insomnia?

Category: Craft, Geek, Toys, TV | 2 Comments on Meet Spocktopus: A Highly Logical Octopus
April 23

Narwhal-made to order

Here are some things you should know about narwhals: 1) Their “tusk” is actually an elongated canine 2) A highly specific diet limits their geographical range makes them vulnerable to climate change 3) They are highly skilled deep-water hunters.

The unicorns of the sea, could there be a classier mammal? Perhaps with a monocle? A top hat maybe? A jazzy silver bow? Check out these super cute narwhal plushies from Ostrich Farm.  I love sparkly tusks. They are made to order in a number of colors, with a variety of stylish accessories.  Also, strictly for the hardcore, there is a narwhal of the month club.

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April 16

Felted Giant Daphnia

Giant Daphnia

So hine’s work is definitely “aspirational crafting” (I just made that term up).  She is certainly a fiber-textile artist, not your mamma’s felter by any means. I’ve been following her work for-evs (not really as she is probably younger than me) but I haven’t been sure when to “pull the trigger” and post one of her items. The truth is I’m in love with all of them, though some are geekier than others.

This week, I have found the thing I cannot resist posting, this magical daphnia. I remember coming across these crustaceans when I was a kid, pouring through an old biology textbook a much older cousin (sadly uninterested in playing with me) had laying around. The grades she was in “FRESH-MAN” “SOPHO-MORE” sounded so magical to me, a lowly first grader, I was dying to know what difficult, bizarre things a “FRESH MAN” learned about in their science classes. Flipping through her book, I learned that a single drop of water contained an invisible ecosystem of strange little critters, including these see-through cousins of crabs and lobsters!

Anyway, I suspect all of you have memories of your first geek thirsts, and the daphnia is mine (no implication of drinking a daphnia by accident intended!) and hine’s plushie captures that beautifully!

This also confirms my suspicion that these are happy little micro-creatures! Thanks hine :-)

 

Category: Craft, Geek, Science | 1 Comment on Felted Giant Daphnia
February 6

Poppet of Power

Lanikins and I are united by tragic stories of loss in our respective childhoods.  She lost her She-Ra to a bratty brother attack and rightfully gives him a hard time about this crime to this very day.

I mourned an entire She-Ra family of action figures (good guys and bad guys!) that was accidentally thrown away. I stored the crew in a plastic bag with their “wedding” regalia.  I “designed” these bridal party gowns using multicolored Kleenex and my grandmother mistook the heaps of colored facial tissue for trash.  The Crystal Castle, once buzzing with activity, stood empty and hollow. My wails of sadness were likely heard all the way in Eternia.

So nearly 30 years later, it warms my heart to see Lani passing along the joys of She-Ra to a new generation of powerful young princesses with the lessons learned: I have no doubt this She-Ra will not fall pray to bratty brothers, nor will she need to suffer the indignities of a Kleenex wedding dress. This particular plushie was made as an exchange with Padfoot, and it was destined for Padfoot’s daughter.  Lani does the cutting and sewing for all of her plushies sans pattern, because she is  a plushie making goddess. Most of her plushies are not for use as children’s toys, but she rose to this particular challenge by making a beautiful doll that is built to last. Just like the good ol’ Princess of Power herself.

As part of her process, she did watch a lot of She-Ra on Netflix, which sounds really fun. She is currently working on some Dr. Who’s (10 & 11) so I’m guessing she’s suffering through those Neflix marathons. What a trooper ;-)

Category: Craft, Geek, Girly, Toys, TV | Comments Off on Poppet of Power
January 23

Soft spot for a troll softie

I spent many, many a year inhabiting the body of Roseblood, a troll mage, my wild World of Warcraft days. Trolls were a terrible choice, game-play wise. They had no compelling “race” bonus and their large feet meant that acquiring new footwear was meaningless, shoe-wise, since my feet were too big for the in-game shoe models. And what kind of fantasy world is that?  One in which you never, ever get to admire your cute new shoes?

Nevertheless, the troll life was for me: birthed among the red rocks of Durotar, swimming to exotic islands to fight the evil voodoo of rival troll tribes, gathering tiger fur, the rebellious tusks, the wild hair. Good times.

That love and dedication to the life of a troll comes across 125% in this troll plushie from twocheeseplease.  He is so sweet I’ll forgive him for being a hunter (my greatest PVP nemesis). Check out his cute little quiver! According to twocheeseplease, his eyes are hand painted and he is sporting yarn hair along with, “very manly tusks, a super soft minky body, and microfleece accessories.”

Manly and minky indeed!  As Roseblood would likely say, “”You’re the type I’d like to sink my teeth into!”See more of twocheeseplease’s amazing work:

Category: Craft, Geek, Myths & Urban Legends, Toys, Video Games | 1 Comment on Soft spot for a troll softie
December 16

ROUNDUP: Big Bang Theory Crafts

We’ve been watching a lot of The Big Bang Theory episodes lately, so I thought a roundup of Big Bang crafts might be fun. The Internets did not disappoint me.

Big Bang Theory amigurumi crochet plushies

Craftyclogs posted this great amigurumi crochet set of Big Bang Theory characters at Craftster – complete with patterns!

Big Bang Theory cross-stitch

Doaflip posted this understated Big Bang Theory cross-stitch project on Craftster – an ode to Sheldon‘s Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock decision-making technique.

Big Bang Theory embroidered Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock flowchart

Another crazy-detailed needlework project – a flowchart of how Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock works. The crafter, mindboggld, took various pictures from the internet and imported them into Visio to create the chart. Clever girl, and extra geek points for using Visio! I would love to just get a poster print of this for my son! Click on the image above for close-ups!

Big Bang Theory Tile Coasters

Also from mindboggld, a set of Big Bang Theory tile coasters, with 3D molecule renderings she found at 3dchem.com. I love that it includes Lactose, since Leonard is lactose-intolerant. These were included in a swap with the above embroidery! I can’t believe she gave them away! Clever AND strong, that one!

Big Bang Theory plushies

A fun & cozy set of Big Bang Theory character plushies by cubosabio on Deviantart. As one of the project commentors said, “these rock more than Care Bears.”

Big Bang Theory Hako Clones

I hadn’t heard the term “hako clones” before seeing this Big Bang Theory paper toys project – I guess I always referred to them in my head as “paper cube heads”. Perhaps hako clones has more (ba)zing(a) to it. Bonus: the artist ditch-scrawls posted the templates in his papercraft gallery. Be sure to link over there, because he has lots of other geeky hako templates, like Luke Skywalker, Superman, Army of Darkness Ash, Highlander, & Dr. Who.

Big Bang Theory Bazinga earrings

While neither my son nor I are particularly crazy about Sheldon’s catch-phrase, I do like the simplicity of these “Bazinga” earrings by Just Duckie Designs on Etsy.

Big Bang Theory Sheldon clock

I’ve seen these photo clocks at Hobby Lobby & Archivers, but never would have thought of putting TV stills in the spaces, like this Sheldon clock by P.S. Francis. You could also intersperse pictures with character quotes. Might be kind of fun to have different clocks in each room, each highlighting a different show or movie. A Firefly clock, anyone?

So, all you BBT fans out there – what are some of your favorite quotes?

Links of Interest:

 

Category: Craft, Geek, TV | Comments Off on ROUNDUP: Big Bang Theory Crafts