You don’t need turtle power to make your own classic ninja turtles scarf. Check out this free crochet pattern from the Inspiration Station! This thing is too cute, and the pattern is actually fairly simple. If you do try it, be sure to share pictures!
A Monster to Love is this great online shop where, for every cute little monster doll you buy, Sam, Ben, and their dad Ray, donate a monster doll to a kid in need. They partner up with children’s hospitals and even the World Relief Refugee program out of Atlanta.
I ran across their awesome work about a year ago on Craftsy, including a pattern to make your own monsters to donate to local kids in need, or send off to Ray and his boys in Colorado so they can donate the cuddly little monsters to kids in need.
Interested? Here’s the A Monster to Love PDF Pattern and Instructions. Ray and his boys take donations year round, and you can send them one monster, or one hundred. It’s up to you!
I try to organize a Monster Making Party at least once or twice a year–they’re fun, and pretty easy to do. Here’s how:
1. I buy a couple yards of fun colored fleece fabric when it’s on sale (usually in the summer). You can get quite a lot of monsters out of a yard of fleece, or even half a yard. Just be sure to shop when it’s on sale! Along with fabric, I’ll pick up a box of stuffing when it’s on sale too (or with a coupon). One box can last a long while and stuff a lot of monsters (probably around 30). I’ll also purchase Safety Eyes for the dolls, which can be attached before sewing, and don’t require any sewing knowledge to install. I purchased my Safety Eyes here, but there are tons of vendors and craft stores out there that sell them. The 18mm sized ones are what I used, and I liked to mix and match colors too. 15 pairs of eyes cost about $15. You can also use buttons for the eyes, but make sure they are SEWN on really well. If the eyes are not sewn on securely, Ray and his boys can’t use them. Do not glue on eyes. Ray and his boys can’t use the monster dolls if the eyes have only been glued on (hello choking hazards!).
All in all, I spent about $40 on supplies for making the monsters, but I did it over the course of a couple of months.
2. I set up a FB event and ask folks to bring their own sewing machines if they’ve got them, but I also tell folks that there’s plenty of other ways to help too: attaching eyes, stuffing, cuddle testing, and hand stitching are great ways to get even the most novice of crafters involved in a Monster Making Party. Along with the fabric, stuffing, and safety eyes, I also bring along thread, scissors, and hand sewing needles for people to use. If you’re worried about materials cost, you can always ask people to pitch in a couple bucks to help out.
3. I cut out at least some monsters before the party so there are dolls ready to be sewn. I also set up stations for people to work at installing eyes, stuffing the monsters, and hand sewing the monsters closed after stuffing, and even cutting out more monsters if necessary.
4. We have music playing, and I ask folks to help out with some food (like chips and dip, cupcakes, and frosty beverages). And I invite folks to come when they can and stay as long as they’d like to. It’s a fun way to spend an afternoon or evening.
5. I’ve found three hours to be a great length of time for a Monster Making Party. You can get a lot done, have time to chat, and still steal a cupcake too. Once the party’s over, you’ll want to box up your magnificent creations and mail them off to A Monster to Love! Their address is on the last page of the PDF.
If you have your own Monster Making Party, be sure to take pictures and share!!!
More Links of Interest
I love finding free pattern downloads, and this one is especially cute with it’s little Darth Vader. Username Avozika has this design as well as a few others (including a rather pithy Chuck Norris design) for download on her Instructables page.
More Links of Interest
With Easter almost upon us, it’s time for creating eggs that show off your own natural geekiness!
For the steampunk fans out there, Jen from Epbot has once again created some beautiful metal-looking eggs with charms added as a great extra bit of cuteness. She used papercraft eggs as the base, and then modified metal tape to put over it.
Next, the wonderful crafters over at Our Nerd Home posted a quick and easy DIY to make your own Yoshi eggs! Using large plastic eggs from Michaels, they spray painted a layer of white, and then added large colored dots to create eggs that Super Mario would be proud of.
Hopefully that will help you geek-ify your Easter basket this year, and here’s wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!
I spent the past weekend at Planet Comicon in Kansas City, and even though I spent the weekend working my booth (The Costume Wrangler’s Closet), I did get to see some pretty awesome cosplay. Above are some of the amazing folks from the Iron Brothers of Topeka (IBOTS).
This little Rainbow Dalek exterminates with cuteness according to her mom!
I had to run this boy down to get his picture for a friend who’s obsessed with Sharknado. I particularly love the faux gore on all the sharks. How creative is this kid?!
I snuck a snapshot of this cosplayed in a seriously cool Groot costume.
Technically this isn’t cosplay, but the Kansas City R2 Builders Club have got some pretty amazing R2s, like this R2-Q5, an evil R2 whose allegiance belonged to the Empire!
This chainmaille She-Ra was a volunteer from Amanda Lynn Chainmaille Creations.
More Links of Interest
This week on Spoonflower, the contest involves original designs for mythical creature plushies, and when I saw Gila’s UniPug design I knew I had to share it on Geek Crafts. You can purchase your own DIY UniPug Plushy Pattern on a variety of fabrics (I recommend Spoonflower’s new Minky fabric for this one because it’s super soft and cuddly, like the ever elusive UniPug himself) in Cross The Lime’s Spoonflower shop. The design fits on a fat quarter and costs about $17 with shipping.
If you’re more of a cat person, you might enjoy making your very own Grumpy Cat with this Instructable by username elewis03, complete with step-by-step instructions and pictures, as well as a rudimentary pattern you can download for free. This little guy would make an excellent cubicle pal at the office, don’t you think?
If grumpy kitties and mythical unipugs aren’t your thing, how about a Frog Prince named Ferdinand from Abby Glassenberg’s blog While She Snaps? This DIY has a free downloadable pattern along with excellent pictures and instructions. While you’re there, you should check out the other free plushy patterns on Abby Glassenberg’s site–super cute!
