Thursday, July 29, 2010

Crafty Geeks

I'm sure this will come as a shock to you, but I'm kind of a big DIY fan.

Please, please, contain yourselves.

I'm not, however, a DIY just for DIY's sake kind of DIYer. If it's easier, cheaper, and more fun to just buy it, then I'll probably just buy it. That's why I'll never make my own underwear. :)

That said, will I dismantle a too-big guy's Ghostbusters tee and then move the shoulder seams in and sew the whole thing back together so it custom fits me? Of course I will. Why? Because I... [standing proudly, hands on hips]... am a geek. With a serger. Which is used exclusively for re-sizing geek shirts. And I'm proud of that.

Needless to say, just about any geeky craft project gets me get all giggly and snorty while pushing my glasses up and stuff. If you're in the same
boat
shuttlecraft, then I think you might enjoy these, too:

Blogger LauPre shows us how to make adorable flower covers for ear bud headphones, all in the spare time it takes waiting for the laundry to finish:

Poppies are my favorite flowers, so of course I adore these. I also love the combination of geek (wearing headphones) and girly (wearing flowers in your hair..er...ears).

And if your headphone wires are always getting tangled, LauPre has a solution for that, too:

Zip 'em up!

Easy instructions and more pics here. Check out her blog for lots of other fun projects, too.

There's even a whole blog dedicated to geek crafts, appropriately called, er, Geek Crafts. No tutorials here, unfortunately, but it's a great place to see what other geeks are making.

Also check the Geek Craft pool on Flickr for inspiration and eye candy. I'm especially enamored with the "bead sprites" made by user RedHerring1up:

They're made with little round beads! As a sometimes cross-stitcher, I adore this look and now must try it. Any of you do this? Have any tips? How do I get started?

And speaking of cross stitch, check out this adorableness:



No pattern, but this is simple enough that you could sketch it out yourself.

And one more gamer goody:

By Domestic Scientist, who has free patterns for this and alternate game controllers here.


And finally (for now) Amber Burns gets the Awesome Geeky Mom award for making her kids these fun Mario hats:

Amber modified this Mario hat tutorial to make them.
(See, this is the reason I need to learn to sew! You know, properly.)

By the way, I'm loving all your e-mails - keep 'em coming! I'm afraid I can't answer every one, but your links and photos are a little slice of nerd heaven for me. I'll also be featuring more of your projects and collections from time to time, so if you think I'll like it, share it!


So tell me, craft geeks, where do you go to get your craft on? Any favorite sites? Tell me in the comments! (I'll start: for t-shirt & clothing reconstruction, I like What The Craft, Craftster, and I just found Recycled Crafts, which looks awesome.)

59 comments:

  1. I love sprite stitch. They have lots of really cute geek crafts more often than not with patterns and or tutorials, and if not there are always the forums to ask for help. :)

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  2. Oh man, that zipper thing for the earbuds is extra useful because it will keep my kitten from chewing the wires on my earbuds (a $40 pair of earbuds down the tubes 2 months after I bought them because I slept in and he dug around in my purse for the perfect way to vent his frustration)

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  3. I'm a knitter... so I spend an enormous amount of time on www.ravelry.com. You can find an amazing amount of knitted geekery on it. Things like Star Wars golf club covers, Star Trek dishclothes, Star Trek uniforms for babies... and so on! (Only downside is you need a login but once inside, geekery abounds!)

    Currently my blog has a post about a Yoda bat cozy, that I found on the site.

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  4. That oh-so-cute bead sprite was made using Perler beads. You know, those beads you put on the little trays, then fuse together with an iron? You can pick them up at any Walmart, craft store, or toy store and if you look online, you can find plates in all kinds of shapes and sizes! :)

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  5. one of my favorites is instructables www.instructables.com
    always great ideas and how tos

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  6. Super cute! And awesome! I'm in the process (the long long process) of crocheting granny quares for an 8bit Mario afghan for my livingroom. Found the idea/pattern on instructables.com That place is chock full of geeky DIY tutorials. Will share pictures if I ever finish.

    WV: seman- yeah... not even gonna touch this one.

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  7. Google Star Wars or Star Trek knitting/crochet patterns. The Star Wars amigurumi dolls are adorable! And I found a knitted Yoda baby hat that is the cutest thing ever.

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  8. http://www.subversivecrossstitch.com/

    Because Precious Moments and fluffy bunnies just don't do it for me.

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  9. Oh my god, Jen just linked to me. And it wasn't because one of my cakes was bad! Can someone die of an attack of the squee's? Thank you, Jen!

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  10. Is it a sign that I'm too much of a geek that my first thought on the "You Complete Me" tetris cross stitch was: "If the heart is 'completed' it'll disappear completely!"

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  11. I do bead sprites! I highly recommend you check out pixelgasm.com which is full of helpful people and useful information about them. :) (It also has cross stitch, paintings, and lots of other geek pixel arts.) You can indeed get the beads at places like Michael's, but I prefer to buy them through a seller on pixelgasm, as she has more color selection, and the craft store sets tends to be either expensive, useless for sprites (like I want a set of all pink and glitter!) or big unsorted tubs that take all day to sort out into their constituent colors.

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  12. I second the www.ravelry.com suggestion if you knit, crochet or weave or just want to browse the pretties! I spend far too much time there myself.

    Perler or Hama beads make those things, kits are really cheap and a heck of a lot of fun! Just be warned: steady hand essential, it's an absolute annoyance redoing a section because you knocked some over. Tweezers are good.

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  13. I love the www.theanticraft.com
    Some issues are geekier than others.

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  14. The "pearl beads" are also called "fuse beads," in case you're looking for them.

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  15. I never learned to crochet, but I have done some knitting of 8bit squares which I turned into pillows...Mario, Zelda...

    and I definitely just joined ravelry.com for some further inspiration.

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  16. love it! i am a DIY wannabe, and one day, i too will learn to sew! (properly) - for now, i just drool over here: http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/

    she also does classes on how to do stuff :)

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  17. Yes... ravelry is the best for yarn craft. check out the gallery of this year's bobby awards. there is actually a geek award. i got a great pattern for spock earwarmers which i made my mom. currently, i'm working on a super mario bro's blanket for a friend.

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  18. I absolutely LOVE that tetris cross-stitch!!!

    I like to craft things out of recycled items, found things, thrifted things, etc. I currently have a bunch of electronic boards from various household items i dismantled. Hoping to cut them up and turn them into some nerdy jewelry.

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  19. Just visited instructables.com for the first time - oh drool - and I visited the anticraft and found a great idea for business card holders. Awesome holiday gifts!

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  20. Well, my only geeky craft is customizing My Little Ponies, LOL! There's a lot of geeky custom ponies out there, although I think it's kind of geeky in and of itself. ;) Fun post!

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  21. Love these! Definitely see Christmas gift ideas and tons of projects to work on--if I can stop browsing all those sites.

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  22. I love the cross stitch with the game controller!

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  23. If you like yarny crafts, check out Ravelry. Even if you don't, go sign up and have a look - there is a group for nearly everything and geekiness abounds. And we are proud of it.

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  24. Lordy, totally loving these geeky crafts bigtime!

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  25. Have you seen the R2D2 beanie? I need to learn to knit just so I can make one.
    http://carissaknits.blogspot.com/2007/06/r2d2-beanie.html

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  26. would you do a post about resizing shirts?? i'm totally craft-retarded, but would be willing to put in a little effort if it meant i could wear my husband's old flame boy t-shirt. please, please, please????

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  27. I'm not too crafty, but I like to cook, and we've had some great geeky creations up on the blog lately!

    Rosalind
    Girls Are Geeks

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  28. I've made the "Home is Where..." cross-stitch using Domestic Scientist's pattern -- it turned out fabulous!

    My kiddo and I have done the perler bead projects. Fun . . . but I'd rather do cross-stitch - it somehow feels less tedious to me.

    I second the recommendation of Sprite Stitch. There's a board specifically for perler bead projects, and a board specifically for patterns (I have a couple earmarked to cross-stitch for my kiddo).

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  29. Now you're speaking my language! I'm getting back to crafting and I love it. Our place is a mess, but I'm super inspired at the moment. One day....it'll look like a masterpiece!

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  30. Awwww... thanks Jen for posting the hats. :) And if you're a DIY'er, but don't have the time (or a sewing machine), we also sell those Mario hats here:

    http://bellalise.weebly.com/

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  31. seconding the recommendation for sprite stitch, there are some amazing cross-stitch pieces on there and they post other geeky crafts as well. craftster also has some cool things, but there's a lot to go through to find the gems.

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  32. If you know crochet, it's easy to whip up granny squares in any color...that can be turned into any pattern...I made my brother a Tetris afghan for his birthday!

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  33. I second kdstentzel's t-shirt plea. My geek heart can fill an XL shirt but I cannot.

    Also I like to haunt CraftyTardis for cute: http://community.livejournal.com/crafty_tardis/

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  34. uhm, wait a moment, here. I can do something with my serger besides resize t shirts?

    Also, do not mock the unereware makers, for we are the ones who have a concert tshirt re made into dark side of the moon underpants.

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  35. Love the zipper solution but I really, really love the flower covers for the ear buds. What a great way to keep my boys from stealing my ear buds.

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  36. and i "third" the motion to make a t-shirt resizing tutorial! i have a 2 drawers of big t-shirts that i've demoted to pajamas.. but are soon to be my guinea pig projects. i also love the tetris cross stitch.. now all i need is to learn how to freeze time so i can DO all these amazing DIY's.

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  37. Check out www.toocutetuesday.com !
    A craft and a cocktail once a week. :)

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  38. Oh, man. Everything about this post is awesome.

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  39. This is fantastical news!!! This website will have you addicted...
    http://www.oneprettything.com/

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  40. I'm sure you've seen this by now, but wanted to pass it along just in case. Learned about it from the Etsy facebook page. http://www.etsy.com/shop/BYBots?ref=seller_info
    I've really been enjoying Epbot! Keep the awesome posts coming!!

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  41. My mom knit me a Dalek for christmas. She got the pattern from this website.

    http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/who/extermaknit.html

    It is absolutely adorable!

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  42. As always the creativity makes my day. I love EPBOT! I love flower ears, zipper buds and penny jewelry.
    But today I am sad because I am no longer allowed to view cakewrecks. My web securities willn't allow it. *tears streaming* I miss the wrecks but I do love the BOT

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  43. I was at one time a writer for Sprite Stitch, and I'm still a frequent flier there. It's a fantastic site with a great set of forums. Ask a question there, you SHALL receive an answer!

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  44. Polymer clay! Awesome not only for creating geekery from scratch, but also good for customizing action figures. I turned a DareDevil & Elektra set into a Tick & Oedipus.

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  45. Check out UrbanThreads.com for some awesome embroidery patterns. They have every subject imaginable from robots and spacemen to peace signs to old school tattoos to holiday stuff (I love their pinup zombie design) to steampunk! (I used the clockwork raven design on the back of a thrift store vest for a steampunk costume.) They also have a bunch of really nice tutorials.


    The handstitch patterns can be used for all sorts of other crafts, too- I used one to make this enameled necklace:

    http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs188.snc4/37754_1374329314455_1118460226_30928775_5603461_n.jpg

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  46. @MissNay - really? You can't see CW? Ack! You *should* be able to, since it's on Blogger the same as Epbot here. Can you e-mail me the error or screen you're getting? Then I'll sic John on it. :D

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  47. I'm swooning over the zipper buds--if only I had known of these earlier, because I just spent ten minutes picking apart a massive tangle of earbuds that had gotten pushed to the bottom of my purse. I sense a weekend craft project coming up!

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  48. I'd love a tutorial on re-doing awesome t-shirts that are too big! Also, I came across this person's steampunk jewelry on etsy and thought immediately of you!
    http://www.etsy.com/shop/catherinetterings

    It looks pretty nice. My favorite is the watch with the springs and chain.

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  49. I usually just think of something I want to make and Google the crap out of it.

    Or, in the case of the awesomely geeky onesies I just made for a friend (The Tardis, a cute little zombie, and Pac-Man), I just think of how I'd do them myself!

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  50. Such cute stuff...and I thought of you when I was looking at Sephora the other day--they have a poppy compact mirror (http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P254646&categoryId=B70) and makeup bags--on sale!

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  51. those beads can be found anywhere, very easy to use. you could probably just print a picture (to scale) of the thing you want to make and put the beads on top of it in the color/design you want. then iron. voila!

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  52. I want to make the cross stitch that I saw on an early episode of Futurama that Bender has hanging in his apartment. It may not be original to the show as I've seen it elsewhere too but it's:

    10 home
    20 sweet
    30 goto 10

    I mean how freakin geekily cute is that?

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  53. i keep an eye out for craft blogs and if i like the first couple posts, i'll then check out the blogs they like. recently, noodleheads has been keeping me occupied, as has ikea hacker. but thanks for all the great suggestions!

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  54. In full disclosure, I'm a Mac girl now, but for a long time, I was a Linux girl. I received a cross-stitch kit for making a ring of flowers that said "you're special" in the middle. Um… so not me. So I changed the pattern. I later made a larger Tux pattern and used it to make a latch-hook rug as well.

    Also… not so crafty, but very DIY… we have a Tetris floor in our living room.

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  55. Beaded Cross Stitch uses perforated paper, floss and beads.
    YOu stitch on the bead on the first half of your cross stitch, making sure YOU ALWAYS GO INTHE SAME DIRECTION. Work the floss under other stitches, never make a knot. Glue the ends down or place sticky felt on the back and ciut out the shape.

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  56. I am glad to see RedHerrings work up here! Perler Beads/hama beads is what they are called and there is a whole forum devoted to geek pixel art like that called
    www.pixel-gasm.forum.com

    Be sure to check it out for tons of geeky art

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  57. I was moving along so happily until I came to that Tetris pattern. Then I geeked out like the girl I am. I'm going to adapt it and make a present of it for my mom, who loves Tetris.

    Eeee, Tetris!

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  58. So I just found this great shirt design and though you might get a kick out of it. http://www.mysoti.com/mysoti/designer/zomboy/product/832870/zomboy--tshirt--Toast-Busters

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