Search Results for: christmas

Warmth for Science Geeks

I know a number of our American readers are unreasonably warm and toasty in some kind of freakish heatwave, but those of us in the Frigid North (and, one presumes, also in some parts of the southern hemisphere) still have over a foot of snow to deal with. So forgive me, oh sufferers of 80+ degree temperatures, for sharing this awesome thing I found! (Consider it a possibility for very early start on making a Christmas list?)

These scarves, made by Becky Stern (homepage, Etsy) display elemental emission spectra. Silicon, uranium, and mercury are currently in stock, but you can also get a custom one of any other element you like, with some delay and possibly a little extra cost. (I found this applet linked from the Wikipedia page, if you want to choose an element that appeals to you. I definitely want Cobalt, no question.)

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March 28

Plants vs. Zombies vs. Santa

I wish I had a tutorial to offer you, but I don’t. Here’s the (awesome) scoop anyway: This dude, Sean, has an apparently crafty and fabulous mother. He told her that he and his girlfriend were into Plants vs. Zombies shortly before Christmas. She made them these delightful stockings. He shared the story on Reddit, and it was subsequently tweeted by PopCap’s Director of Editorial and Social Media, Jeff Green. Who thought they were socks, before being corrected by much of the twitterverse. And now I share it with you. Enjoy.

Category: Computers, Craft, Games, Geek, Horror & Gore, Mobile, Video Games | Comments Off

February 24

Friday Roundup – This 99 Cent App Has Taken Over

Friday Roundup

Just one more… Hmm? What? … Yes, yes, I know it’s almost time for the Friday Roundup. Just wanted to finish this lev… I am not! No way I’m addicted to… What? Just pause it and do the round up? Okay, but I’m not addicted to it!

Sorry, guess I had lost tract of time but never fear, for the Friday Roundup is loaded with some amazing patterns to create some fabulous Angry Birds creations (and I am not addicted).

Emjay Bailey, otherwise known as Nerdigurumi has crochet patterns available for free for both the Angry Red Cardinal and the Green Pig.

Knitter can find patterns for the pair as well as the Angry Yellow Bird at Knitterbee‘s blog.

Crocheters do not dispair because Laura Chua offers us a free download for the Angry Yellow Bird.

Michele Villa offers a pattern for a crocheted Angry Birds Cozy which can be adapted to size.

Crafts by Starlight has a pattern for a crocheted Angry Bird Black Bird Hat. There are also links there for several other Angry Bird hats as well.

Lii Yan seems to have some sympathy for those frustrating Green Pigs and gives us a pattern for a hat.

Not into hats? Then how about an Angry Birds Tissue Box Cover by Donesia Margolis?

Suzy Vitale has created charts for knitting of the Red and Black Angry Birds.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some pigs to destroy… Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Category: Computers, Craft, Games, Geek, Toys | 1 Comment

February 7

A S’Minchin of Miraculous Matilda

Matilda is one of the quintessential geek kid’s books; the story of a nerd girl who uses her brain to bring a pinch of justice to the world is bound to resonate with swots of all ages. A couple of years ago I managed to get myself to Stratford ‘pon Avon to see the RSC’s christmas musical version of the book and was completely blown away by it – one of those performances that remind me why I work in theatre. Anyway, since then the production has transferred to the West End, won a load of awards and caused a considerable dent in my finances from ticket purchasing.

Laura, or LollyPolly as she is known over at the Minchin fan forums (the music for Matilda was written by our very own rock nerd Tim, who of course did a fantastic job with Dahl’s dark comedy), made this brilliant cushion commemorating the show’s opening song – which echoes the prologue to the book in that we get to hear about how miraculous all the children except Matilda are. It’s a fantastic example of how effective even simple embroidery can be if the colours, fabric and design are well chosen. With any luck Laura will now have caught the needlework bug and will go on dazzling us with her work in future.

Matilda the musical official site

Angry (Feet) – Tim Minchin’s fan forum

Category: Books, Craft, Music | Comments Off

January 25

Beautiful Balloons

In case you don’t know, Jen of Cake Wrecks fame has a newish blog, Epbot, which is devoted to a variety of things crafty/steampunk/sci fi/Disney. (Dunno where the woman finds the time to run both blogs, but she does it somehow!)

For Christmas 2011, Jen and her husband, John, opted for a steampunk tree, which was a multi-step process that involved making/customizing ornaments—gears, test tubes, snowflakes, all kinds of things. But my favorites are these fabulous mini hot air balloons, for which Jen has helpfully provided a thorough tutorial. I know the holidays are over, but given that most of us don’t have the apparently boundless energy of Jen and John, I thought it might be a good idea to start crafting now so we’re ready for next year….

Jen’s mini hot air balloon ornament tutorial

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January 5

Ducks!

I may or may not have mentioned this before, but I’m a bit of a bird-nerd. I live with two cockatiels and a parakeet, and my current favorite thing is planning how I will go about raising ducks in my yard. My city recently made it legal to raise small poultry in residential areas, my neighbor used to have chickens, and my husband bought me a book on raising ducks for Christmas—tacit approval of this duck plan!

In celebration—and because I can’t keep my mind off ducks for long—I thought I’d share something awesome I just recently found on Etsy: the duck band as wedding ring.

Here are two examples (and their respective Etsy shops, tinahdee and bddesigns):

I really like the rings that my sweetie and I ended up with, but part of me wishes we’d seen these before the wedding. Such a fun idea, right?

(If you’re not a bird-nerd and want to know why this is funny at all, the US Geological Survey has a pretty great page about bird bands that I would encourage you to check out!)

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