November 15

Geek Girl Brunch + Comic Book Ornaments

Geek Girl Brunch

I don’t think I’ve yet shared the awesomeness that is Geek Girl Brunch. I discovered it via the Female Geek Bloggers G+ Community, and was immediately intrigued. Ladies getting together to share brunch, drinks, and geek-talk? Sign me up!

The group started in New York City, with its own meetups. They had so much fun together that they decided to roll out chapters, not only across the U.S but worldwide! Sensing I had found my geek tribe, I signed up to be notified about news of the Kansas City chapter. I got an email a few months later notifying me that chapters were forming, and would I like to be an officer to help launch the KC chapter? Because I love my hometown and want to nurture its geek culture, I said yes!

We had our first brunch in July – an informal meetup at the Cheesecake Factory, followed by Star Wars Day at Barnes & Noble. In September we gathered at the Renaissance Festival and strolled the grounds together. Other chapters have enjoyed a wide variety of themes, from a Zombie Crawl to a Xena-themed yoga session to a Pixel Perfect ode to video games.

Next week is KC’s third event, with a “Let’s Get Crafty” theme. My co-leader, another brunchette, and I are each leading a geek-craft. My craft is comic book ornaments, as seen in the examples below. I figured it was an easy introduction to decoupage, but infinitely customizable to whatever comic brunchettes might favor, along with whatever ornament base they might choose.

Comic Book Ornaments by Angie Pedersen

Basic instructions:

  1. Select ornaments in shapes that will showcase an identifiable amount of comic art, in shapes that should be easy to cut out.
  2. Page through your comics for images that will fit your ornament. TIP: If the image you want is too big, you can scan it and resize to fit your ornament. That’s what I did for the Dr. Horrible cube above.
  3. Place the ornament on top of the comic page and trace around it. Cut out with scissors.
  4. Brush Mod Podge (I used matte, but glossy would also work) on the ornament and position the comic cut out on top. Smooth out any wrinkles (a brayer helps here).
  5. Brush a coat of Mod Podge over the surface of the comic image to seal.
  6. Optional: embellish the edges of the ornament with decorative washi tape (see Buffy example above) or acrylic paint (see TARDIS example above). For the Dr. Horrible cube, I colored the top of it with a bronze metallic Sharpie (top not shown).

I hope you will check out Geek Girl Brunch and join in on the fun! If you’re in the KC area, stop by and say hi!

Links of Interest:

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May 9

Fandom Cats

Fandom Cats

Again and again, I saw adorable, little drawings of fandom characters as cats.  There were Supernatural cats, Sherlock cats, and Avengers cats.  It didn’t take long for all those cats to go to my head.  I couldn’t help but try to recreate some of their cute cattiness myself.  Castiel Cat and Dr. Horrible Cat are the results.

I drew their plushie patterns myself and made them with fleece and felt.  I tried to use fabric glue to attach Cas’s coat.  That was a mistake.  I ended up sewing most of their pieces together, but I was able to hot glue their eyes, hair, and noses.  I’m happy with the results.  They’re the cute, cuddly, and (slightly) silly looking representations of all those adorable, Internet kitties I had prancing around in my head.

 

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January 11

Desserts, Moustaches, Geekery

The tagline for Betty Turbo’s Etsy shop is: dessert, moustaches & muscles. Naturally, I approve. And that sort of sums up the content of her shop—her prints feature things like cupcakes and Parks & Rec’s furry-lipped Ron Swanson, and a variety of wrestlers. What this description omits, however, is the geekitude. (See, we got to the relevant part eventually.) Because, in addition to the aforementioned desserts, moustaches, and muscles, the shop contains awesomely geeky prints of Dr. Horrible quotes. And a Rupert Giles birthday card. And a Star Trek/Twin Peaks crossover. And the majorly spoiler-y Dammit Joss Whedon print, a visual compendium of major characters who died in Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and Dr. Horrible. (Don’t click if you don’t already know!)

Oh, and just because some of us (I’m not saying who) love him so very much, here’s a bonus card featuring everyone’s favorite undead Brit, Spike. I feel like this print would make a good inspirational message to tack up next to your mirror. Yes, Spike, go ahead and call me gorgeous every time I look in the mirror. I could deal with that…. Sorry, fantasy has taken over again.

December 18

What a crazy random happenstance!

If you have these on your wall, what does it say to people who walk into your house?

“I have a PHD in horribleness.”
“You’re driving a spork into your leg.”
“I don’t go to the gym, I’m just naturally like this.”

somekindofrobot on Etsy has made these beautiful canvas paintings of your favorite Dr. Horrible characters. They’re definitely unique and will certainly liven up the place when Dr. Horrible gives you the keys to a shiny new Australia. 

Also in her shop you’ll find a Boba Fett canvas painting, Ghostbusters painting, and even a GLaDOS painting.

Category: Comics, Craft, Geek, TV | Comments Off on What a crazy random happenstance!
December 15

Wednesday Wolf’s Wonderful Watercolors


These paintings by Wednesday Wolf are amazing—dark and evocative and deceptively simple. They also really run the gamut of geekery, encompassing everything from Sackboy, the Ninja Turtles’ Michaelangelo, and Gir to Powerpuff Girls villain Him, Voldemort, and even Trogdor. And I’ve never seen such a menacing Pokedex or such a tragic depiction of Dr. Horrible. It’s hard to choose, but I think my personal favorite is the Alot. (You know the story of the Alot, right?)

I’m running out of wall space, but I may need one or more of these prints.