Search Results for: tutorials

February 25

Hand-Made Wiz-War Board Game

Wiz War boardI’ve long admired folks with the skill and patience to make their own scenery for table-top games, though I’ve never had the chance to play with someone with the space or time to go the whole nine yards.

I first saw this incredible Wiz-War board game a few years ago. Don’t be fooled by the professional look of the scenery; it wasn’t manufactured in a factory. This is a hand-made labor of love constructed by Hirst Arts Fantasy Architecture, a mom-and-pop operation run by Bruce and Joanne Hirst.

Not only do they create and sell molds for crafty gamers to make their own scenery, they have detailed tutorials (including videos) on how to use their molds to make impressive sets. It’s like Legos, taken to the next level!

The Wiz-War board stood out to me because the original game, as packaged, is all cardboard tiles and pieces. To see it blown up in beautiful 3-D detail is amazing, and makes me wish I had the space in my wee apartment to house such an impressive board.

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January 4

Epic Mario Quilt!!

There is no other no other word for this mario quilt than EPIC!… and as someone who works with teenage children I use that word sparingly!

cheerupem0kidx0x started the Mario theme room thread on craftster back in July 2010! and since then has been keeping us updated, as she created the bob-omb lamp, pipe waste paper bin, NES cartridge clock, papier mache fire flower, papier mache boo… just seriously… there’s no way I can list everything this amazing geek crafter has made just go look at the thread.

Since there was lots of work in progress included on this thread, it’s a treasure trove of how-to’s, tutorials and fabulous crafting ideas (you will NOT BELIEVE how easy it is to make .a bob-omb lamp!)

I think we can all agree, her son is a very lucky guy!

The stuff she made is great, but the quilt is just AMAZING (and I’m not one for quilting…. at all… if I’m going to sit at a sewing machine for hours there’d better be a dress at the end of it!) It’s a result of 5 months work and it’s paid off big style!

Category: Craft, Geek, Video Games | 5 Comments on Epic Mario Quilt!!
October 22

Jabba the Hutt Costume in Action

Star Wars blogger and book author extraordinaire Bonnie Burton recently had a chance to try out the new inflatable Jabba the Hutt costume when it arrived in the Star Wars Shop! She wrote about her field trip around the LucasFilm campus and the closest Starbucks, and even tried out some dance moves inside the giant suit (there’s a video to prove it!).

costume photos by Matt Martin

Bonnie says:

The cool thing about this costume is that it literally keeps you cool while you wear it thanks to an internal, battery-operated fan inside that inflates it so you actually look like the Hutt himself. The head of Jabba isn’t attached to the body of the costume, which makes it a fun thing to wear just on its own.

You can find the costume here, read about her adventures here, and see tons more photos here. Don’t miss Bonnie’s fantastic Star Wars Kids Crafts archive, either — she offers tons of project tutorials to try, including this super cute Yoda doll. After seeing her demo at Maker Faire, my nephew and I made one together — one of my favorite craft projects ever!

Category: Craft, Geek, Movies | 6 Comments on Jabba the Hutt Costume in Action
September 24

Spooky Halloween Crafts

Designer Blair Stocker (who you might know from her fun and colorful blog, Wise Craft) has just posted a fantastic series of free craft project tutorials for Value Village — yes, that Value Village. Her projects take regular old thrift-store finds and upcycle them into striking, spooky Halloween decorations for your house, or for throwing a party!

Blair says: I wanted to use items that could be found any time of year at Value Village or other thrift store, not just during the Halloween season, so I resisted buying Halloween things, that just seemed too easy. The other thing I really wanted to do was to create projects that were “low sew” or even “no sew”, the idea being that anybody should be able to jump in and do these projects with materials they find for very little money.

The most effortlessly geeky project of the whole collection has to be these Dolls of the Living Dead. I’ve seen so many neglected Barbies at thrift stores and yard sales and this is a brilliant — and super-easy — zombie makeover to the rescue!

Blair mentioned that her personal favorite was the Sinister Ceramics — tchotkes painted black with sparkly rhinestone eyes glowing red. I love the grouping as a table centerpiece, very Edgar Allen Poe!

There are a dozen more projects to download from the site, from Peculiar Picture Frames (goth-inspired silhouettes) to Perfect Pumpkin Ornaments (which have a charming Nightmare Before Christmas feel to me). And of course you could put a very geeky spin on any of Blair’s ideas!

What are you thinking of making for Halloween parties this year?

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September 10

Lego Halloween Costume

Two years ago, CRAFT: did a fun round-up of quick and easy Halloween costumes to make for kids, and Diana Eng made a fantastic Lego costume out of a cardboard box!

You could easily adapt this to an adult size, or make a whole flock of them in different colors for you and your friends — and how cute would a toddler be Lego-ized?

For more Halloween costume ideas for kids, check out CRAFT:’s other tutorials for pirate, bee, sushi, and monkey costumes. I made the monkey one with my nephew in mind, and it’s one of my favorite projects ever!

Category: Craft, Games, Geek | 1 Comment on Lego Halloween Costume