Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31, 2007 by meghan

Hello all you guys and ghouls, it’s Halloween night and its time to break out your plastic pumpkins, dig out your skeleton flashlights, string on your glow sticks and go a-candy beggin’. But, if you waited till the last minute to get into the spirit, then here are some resources for you (slackers).

Life Hack: Make Your Own Zombie

Extreme Pumpkins

Thread Banger: Halloweeny Wednesdays: Slacker Edition

Scary Guys: Halloween How-To For Everyone

MAKE: Blog: Dress up as a You Tube Clip

Monster List of Halloween DIY Projects

Instructables Halloween DIY 2007(the image below comes from Instructables)

Become a Drawer

Posted on October 30, 2007 by meghan

Or, in real English, become an artist with Drawspace. I just came across this site today, so I don’t have ton of information, just a basic overview. But I do have to say, just from giving it the old once over that Drawspace is looking good. It appears to be serise of free classes in drawing. Some of the lessons are available to anybody, some it looks like you need to register for a free account to view. The lessons run from beginner level to advanced and cover such topics as “Learning to see positve and negative spaces,” and “Drawing on the Masters: Nose Study (Leonardo Davinci).” There are a whoooooole bunch of lessons (my quick estimate is 156) and after reviewing a few of the open access lessons (available online or in a pdf), head drawing goddess Brenda Hoddinott seems to really know her shiznit. But don’t take my word for it, check it out yourself.

Living the Good Life

Posted on October 29, 2007 by meghan

Check out Pack Rat Magazine, Issue #1!

Isn’t it disappointing when you google D.I.Y. and you come up with all these lame country crafts, or nothing but home improvement sites? Where is the variety? Where is the creativity, the diversity? It’s all over at D.I.Y. Life. This collective blog is part of the Weblogs Inc. universe and features everything D.I.Y. in life, from the obligatory crafts and hobbies and home improvement, to Home & Family, and Tech stuff. They even have blogs about recalled items. Many of the projects include handy price guides (just like Pack Rat, only their projects aren’t quite as affordable :0D). But one of my favorite things about them are the little tricks and tips they have, like how to open your combination lock if you lose the combination, and how to chill a bottle of wine in under 10 minutes. Plus, they totally won me over with their Halloween article, “Jawa Jive: Build Your Own Star Wars Jawa. Wootine!” The Wootine had me giggling all morning, I’m just that big of a Star Wars nerd.

Get Graphic

Posted on October 26, 2007 by meghan

Check out Pack Rat Magazine, Issue #1!

It’s my personal opinion that you can’t spend your money on anything better than a graphic novel. They have it all! Great story telling, amazing art, and like a movie they have immediacy as well as the clarity of vision. But, like a book, they leave so much open to your own imagination. They are, in a word, brilliant. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Graphic novel sales have skyrocketed in the past ten years. I remember having to drive an hour away when I was a teenager, just to get a look at the good stuff. These days they are in every major chain bookstore. But maybe you haven’t caught the fever yet. Maybe you’re trying to avoid superhero comic book cliches. Well I found a helpful article from Time magazine, published about a year ago, called “5 Gripping Graphic Novels for Grownups.” The titles they recommend are a good place to get your feet wet. And after that I guarantee you’re going to be going back for more.

Fun Fonts

Posted on October 25, 2007 by meghan

Looking for more crafting goodness? Check out Pack Rat Magazine, Issue #1!

All of you who work in publishing crafts (you know, books, ‘zines, etc.) get ready to get excited. I found some wicked awesome free fonts at TypeNow. They are based on movie logos and I LOOOOOVE them. My favorites are Apocalypse Now, Bewitched, Dark Crystal (natch), Mars Attacks, Ren & Stimpy, The Simpsons (obviously), Star Wars (of course), Spongebob Square Pants, and 28 Days Later. Plus they have fonts from band logos and video game logos, and really all the awesome, pop culture fonts you could ever possibly want. Be sure to bookmark this site.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

The Basics of Hand Sewing

Posted on October 25, 2007 by meghan

Looking for more crafting goodness? Check out Pack Rat Magazine, Issue #1!

For those of us who can’t afford sewing machines, or who are intimidated by them, or who just like the purity of hand stitching, here are a few links to different sites with directions on most of the basic hand stitches:

http://www.sewing.org/enthusiast/html/el_handstittch.html

http://inaminuteago.com/stitchindex.html

http://www.hutchal.clara.net/curtains/sewguide.htm

http://www.alternative-windows.com/stitches.htm

http://www.needlenthread.com/2006/10/video-library-of-hand-embroidery.html

Crochet the Day Away

Posted on October 25, 2007 by meghan

Looking for more crafting goodness? Check out Pack Rat Magazine, Issue #1!

If you’re needle is itching for a new project, especially with the colder months ahead of us, and you need a little inspiration, check out Crochet Me, an online community that proclaims itself as being dedicated to “pushing crochet to be all that it can be.” What does that mean? I’m not entirely sure, but it results in some pretty amazing patterns. Check out a few of my faves below and then shoot on over to the site for hundreds more, as well as tips and tricks, and a blog all pimped out in crochet goodness

P.S. This is an add on to yesterday’s blog, where I highlighted the Mommy Blanket featured on Crochet Me.

Getting Ready For Baby

Posted on October 24, 2007 by meghan

Have a loved one getting ready to have a baby? Do something sweet for the mommy to be. Check out these directions for the Mommy Blanket.

Moral Dilemma?

Posted on October 24, 2007 by meghan

Okay guys. I found a site that might potentially save you some money, but I don’t know how ethical it is. However, I am a firm believer in people making informed decisions for themselves, so I’ll tell you about it and you can make up your own mind. It’s called Fat Fingers and the idea behind it is that other people’s typos on eBay can result in deals for you. Apparently, sellers misspell things in their eBay listings all the time. Because buyers don’t search for the misspellings, these products go unbid on. The idea is that Fat Fingers will find these hidden listings for you and you can end up winning the auction by having the minimum bid. It seems fairly legit in terms of the service offered is the service provided. And it’s free. But it just seems wrong some how to profit off of someone else’s mistakes. I don’t know. On a scale of 1-10 of ethically objectionable, I suppose it’s only like a 3. Well, whatever. I leave it in your capable hands.

The Buzz on Purl Bee

Posted on October 23, 2007 by meghan

Check out Issue #1 of Pack Rat Magazine!

An offshoot of a store named Purl, The Purl Bee is a lovely little web 2.0 community of people discussing knitting, crocheting, embroidery and all other facets of crafting. Their online journal is full of useful tutorials about the nuts and bolts of these traditional crafts, and some non-traditional ideas on how to use them. They also link to a bunch of other helpful sites and have an online shop to compliment their physical, real world one. And these lovely ladies are based in the Big Apple, which means that they combine old school values like attention to detail with some sleek, sophisticated aesthetic. Check it out below.
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