Pack Rat is currently using the Sword of Omens’ Sight Beyond Sight function to suss out how long the lines at Target are

I am in love. I know, I know, you guys must get tired of me swooning every day over a new artist/blog/etc. But I can’t help it! There’s so much good stuff out there to see. Today, via Junk Creation blog (which I also adore), I came across Craftynest and the home stylings of Monica Ewing. Her low cost, recycle-based projects are the bomb diggity. (Remember when people used that phrase? Oh 1999. What were you thinking?) I was especially taken with her very smart, very chic modular bookcase made from salvaged drawers. It seems that I’m always passing dresser drawers in my many roadside scavanges, and this is an excellent idea for how to repurpose them. And she is not only inventive, but helpful–as she has supplied a how-to on her blog for copy cats like me. Take a gander at the before and after below.

photos copyright by Craftynest

Pack Rat is walking on sunshine

Note to readers: Here’s another time-sensitive article that was meant for the magazine but we are releasing it here and now!

Photo copyright McLaughlin

Who says costume makers get to have all the fun during Halloween? Put away your sewing machine and break out your power tools in preparation for October 31, 2008. Follow the gospel according to Tom Nardone, the Extreme Pumpkin carver, to make grotesque, hilarious pumpkin tableaus that resemble the snowmen graveyards from old Calvin and Hobbes comics. Tom’s website is a pumpkin lover’s paradise, with everything from tips on how to pick, clean, gut, paint, and obviously carve your squash. Hardly kids stuff, Tom stabs, maims, and sets his pumpkins ablaze in every effort to get the most intense pumpkin experience. Take his tips from extremepumpkins.com or from his two books, and make your own orange house of horror. If you find yourself mastering the pumpkin canvas, why not go for the gold? You will have until midnight on October 28 to submit an entry of pumpkin carved geekiness into the World of Warcraft’s annual contest. But be prepared for some fierce competition. These nerds know how to wield a carving knife.

Pack Rat asks what would you do for a Klondike Bar?

All right, it’s excuse time again. We’re all a flutter over here (that’s a hint) about our next issue. Set to drop soon, the new issue’s taking me away from my blogging duties, and for that I apologize. But we’re hoping to make this next issue bigger and badder than ever as we celebrate Pack Rat’s first birthday!!

In order to hold you over until then, here’s a quick link for Robert Sabuda’s pop-up art site. Make your own super cute pop-up cards. My personal favorites are all the Star Wars figures. Pop-up R2? Sold!

Photo copyright: Robert Sabuda

Pack Rat believes in the power of the stars

Good thing I checked my Facebook email today, or else I might have missed this awesome opportunity to tell anyone who’s in the Toronto area this weekend to look for the Toronto Church of Craft at the annual Trekzac Festicon, a.k.a. the Toronto Star Trek convention. These crafters are boldly going where no crafters have gone before. They will be using their prowess to construct Tribbles! Shatner toupees! And plush Borg cubes! Oh the humanity! Not Borg cubes! Don’t they know about the collective? Other then helping an alien entity steal our very souls out from under us, the C.O.C. booth should be a good time.

photo copyright: Toronto Church of Craft

Pack Rat has a soft glow

If you have some paraffin wax laying around, then checkout this tutorial from CandleTech.com to make some striking luminaries using a water balloon. Great for outdoor dinning or indoor romance.

photo copyright: candletech.com