bonniegrrl | Entries tagged with crafts

There comes a point in every girl's life when she looks in her closet and wants to set fire to everything she owns. And that day for me is on the average, every other Wednesday. So when I was looking for geeky craft ideas on Craftster.org, I couldn't help but be completely entralled by the fashions worn by these dolls:
Super Pullip clothing explosion!

Seriously, these dolls have more fashion sense than I do and they know how to flaunt it. I may have to make some Bonnie-sized versions of these threads.

So for those of you crafty kids looking for a new book to add to your collection, I have to say I'm really impressed with the new book Jeaneology: Crafty Ways to Reinvent Your Old Blues by Nancy Flynn. You might recognize Nancy's name from her column on GetCrafty.com, plus she's done sewing demos at Maker Faire. She has a blog here too: Belleepoquewhimsy.

When I picked up her new book, I was happy to see that she has all kinds of sewing projects in the book and not just really advanced stuff -- especially since I don't sew that much.

Her book has around 25 cool sewing projects that help you find uses for old jeans you'll never fit into again, or were ruined, or you bought and never wore. For the projects jeans are reinvented as other clothes, bags, wallets, jewelry, coasters and pillows. And there's some pretty cool projects that guys can do to like wrist cuffs -- which is nice to have a book that isn't just for the crafty ladies.

You can find the book here on Amazon.

And the book is on Myspace with blog updates in case you want to see what Nancy is working on lately -- she often links to DIY projects both in the book and new stuff:
Jeaneology book on Myspace

I have to say it was a blast to meet Nancy at the Maker Faire. In fact, because of her really fun sewing demos, she made me want to start shopping around for a real sewing machine again. I usually sew everything by hand, which can take forever.

So if any of you get the book, let me know what projects you're making from it. I've made a few so far and I'd love to see how other people customized their projects too!

I'll be making my fun Yoda Felt Doll!
Weeeeeeeee! Come by and say hi!

Where/When:
Maker Faire -- San Mateo County Expo Center
Craft Demo Area 2, May 19, Saturday 12:45 PM
Craft Demo Area 1, May 20, Sunday 12:45 PM

What:
A Jedi crafter must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. Serious fans of all ages come craft cute but simple Yoda dolls!
Web site: http://www.starwars.com/kids/activity/crafts/

About the Maker:
Bonnie Burton is author of the new book You Can Draw: Star Wars and articles in Star Wars Insider, Lucasfilm, Star Wars, Geek Monthly, BUST, Wired and Organic Gardening. She is creator of Grrl.com and of fun stuff on Lucasfilm's official site Starwars.com.

More info on the demo here:
http://makerfaire.com/pub/e/225

More info on Maker Faire here: http://makerfaire.com

A Jedi crafter must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.
Serious fans of all ages come craft cute but simple Yoda dolls!

Web site: http://www.starwars.com/kids/activity/crafts/

Type: Demonstration Workshop

Topic(s): Crafts

Tags: star+wars crafts

About the Maker(s)
Bonnie Burton is author of the new book You Can Draw: Star and articles in Star Wars Insider, Lucasfilm, Star Wars, Geek Monthly, BUST, Wired and Organic Gardening. She is creator of Grrl.com and of fun stuff on Lucasfilm's official site Starwars.com.

MORE INFO HERE ON MAKER FAIRE.

Ever since I was a kid I have been addicted to getting mail. I blame it all on the book High Weirdness by Mail by Rev. Ivan Stang -- the Subgenius fellow. I remember when I first got that book, all I wanted to do was write a letter to every single address and ask for the free stuff. I didn't care what it was. Sometimes I'd end up with bizarre Christian comics or Coca-Cola stickers in all different languages. I was in postal heaven.

Then in high school I started decorating envelopes and postcards with rubberstamps and sent them off to folks who did the same stuff I did. I didn't realize I was doing mail art, I just wanted loads of envelopes waiting for me in the mailbox when I got home from school.

Not long ago, I was knee-deep in mail art projects I was really into a site called Nervousness.org -- a messageboard site entirely dedicated to people who wanted to swap mail art or start altered book projects. You could sign up to receive journals, minibooks called decos, altered books, craft projects and more. Or create your own project and watch people sign up to participate in a flash. Some projects I've signed up for in the past included a John Waters Tribute book, a hairstyles zine, a 3 am journal and a condiments tribute book!

But I actually had a lot more fun creating the projects and then seeing what people added to them. My favorite LMAOs (land mail art objects) that I started included a scary clown memories journal, white trash cookbook, guerilla gardening project, Bettie Page tribute, roadside attractions book, craft ideas book, Alice in Wonderland altered book and the absurd collections journal.

Unfortunately, as cool as it sounds, some people (I assumed they were bitchy 13-year-old girls or unstable soccer moms from their emails to me) would take my projects and never send them on to the next person on the list. This is one of the reasons I stopped being such an active member on the site. I got tired of people hijacking my art projects.

But then I saw a new project I couldn't resist -- 1000 Journals Project. Working very much like Nervousness.org -- you signed up for a blank journal, or one that was already started and you'd get it in the mail ready to add your artistic impression to it whether it be original art, mixed media, rubber stamps or words. I signed up for 2 -- the journals #666 (about youknowwho) and #646.

If I recall correctly, got #646 first when I was living in Boulder Creek, CA and I proceeded to write about the day in the life of me living in the woods, complete with retro girl graphics as you can see here. And then I sent it on its merrry way.

The second journal #666 arrived on March 1, 2002 from its previous artist -- Heidi from Finland and I was so excited to do something different. So in my entry, I wrote in a couple of protection spells from evil, as well as rubberstamp art, and info on how some folks are convinced the number of the beast (666) is encoded in all UPC symbols and everything you buy! You can check out my entry here.

And on March 4 I sent it on to a previously skipped person on the list named Ally in Oregon, WI. Sadly either Ally snagged it, or the mailman lost it, or Satan grabbed it himself. Either way, it never made it's way back to the 1000 Journals Project creator, which is truly sad.

After that, I'm not sure if I got on the "whatever you do don't send another journal to Bonnie" list, or what. But I never received another journal after that. And I gave up trying and forgot about the site.

Fastforward years later and it looks like entries from the project are now available in a handy book from Chronicle -- The 1000 Journals Project Book. It's described as "212 pages of the best journal entries from around the world, all packed into a hard-bound book that strangely resembles... a journal."

I have no idea if my entries are in there, but I'm adding it to my Amazon wishlist as a fun book for my collection of mail art books. So if you're into that sorta thing, check it out here.

This is a wonderful optical illusion. This little dragon is made out of paper - you simply cut it out and stick it together, and stand it on a table or window ledge. But when you move around, the dragon's head seems to follow you around the room. Have a look at the video, to see what I mean. The effect is really uncanny.

http://www.grand-illusions.com/opticalillusions/dragon_illusion/

HOW TO - Giant robot costume

HOW TO - Build a Rubiks Cube costume

MIB (Men in Black) Halloween costume

While you're at it, Build a Haunted House:
Solid-state Halloween controller and HOW-TO build a Haunted House

More Halloween DIY projects here

I'm a sucker for robots and rockets, so I knew I HAD to head over to the Maker Faire on Sunday in San Mateo with my geek pals. I witnessed everything from a gigantic electronic giraffe to the fiery fun of The Crucible. As I ate corn dogs and popcorn, I watched kids battle each other with robots. I saw hippies wiz by on their Segways (I still think there should be Segway jousting). And I had fun running into old pals like Grant Imahara (from "Mythbusters"). I got to show off my LED throwies skillz at the Graffiti Research Lab: Geek Mural. Plus I couldn't help but stand in complete awe at the expansive LEGO train exhibit from the Bay Area LEGO Users' Group and Train Club.

It reminded me a lot of how I wish those county fairs in my homestate of Kansas were. I was a 4-H crafting geek. I wasn't into raising cattle or training dogs for the blind, I was all about making bead dolls and tissue box cozies. Of course, if there had been ANY robotics course I would have dropped everything to take that! After all, the two best pals I could ever want would have been R2-D2 and K-9. But alas, there weren't any robots for me in the dusty midwest.

Thanks to Maker Faire, I could at least pretend I was a kid again. As I snapped photos of little kids dissecting mechanical frogs, standing in front of rockets 10 times their size and giggling as they crashed battle bots into each other via remote control, I couldn't help but smile. It's obvious that a fair like this helps ignite the imaginations of the next generation of geeks. And that's pretty cool in my book.

Be sure to check out this video of the highlights from my geek pal