She's Crafty - Captain America sweatshirt

Super awesome floral Captain America shield sweatshirt -- the perfect snow day craft project!



Tehnakki typically spends her days in Boston being an awesome rocket scientist. (OK, technically she's a satellite engineer, but 'rocket scientist' sounds way cooler. And eviler.) When she's not doing science, she's playing games, creating awesome cosplay, and following other awesomely nerdly pursuits.

But folks in Boston and other parts of New England have been effectively snowed in for days now. So, what's a home-bound nerd girl going to do with all that free time? Sew, of course!

I really love florals. I was browsing the Joanns Fabrics website (as you do) looking at what floral fabric was on sale when I came across this wonderfully tacky Hibiscus flower fabric and new I HAD to get some to make a non-compliant sweatshirt. Of course, you can't just purchase 1-yd of fabric off the website (the shipping's ridiculous) so I tried brainstorming other simple shapes I could cut out of floral fabric and my mind immediately went to Captain America's shield since it's relatively simple (4 circles and a star) but very iconic.

I just love these colors together! So spring-like!

It was about 2 hours of work to make. I eye-balled a 5" star on the white n' blue fabric, cut that out, placed it on the blue fabric and cut a circle that inscribed the star, and then cut three more circles of increasing diameter. A half yard of fabric would have been sufficient for the red, and less for the other two fabrics. 

To make sure the edges of the star stayed crisp (because cotton has a habit of fraying when appliqueing) I applied hot bond paper to the tips of all the star points and ironed it to the blue circle before appliqueing. If I had a serger I would have used that for all the edges, but alas I do not so I used the zigzag stitch on a short stitch length and large width.

I ordered a 2 pack of men's Hanes sweatshirts which were comfy but awkwardly large through the sleeves so I cut them done and tailored them to fit me better. Once the sweatshirt fit, I pinned the shield to the front, checked placement in the mirror and the sewed it on using the zigzag stitch. Easy peasy!"

And super cute! I'm sure both Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers would approve! For more info on how she did it, check out her fantastic instructions [PDF].

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She's Crafty - Back to School

It's Back to School time! And to celebrate, here's a collection of awesome crafty items with a school theme!

Back to School time means Autumn is nearly here! What a great way to celebrate both with a Lambswool Pencil Scarf! Actually Sara Carr's shop has lots of really lovely and fun scarves!



Feeling little bite-y about having to go back to school? Or, maybe awesome? Well, here's the perfect pencil case either way! This Shark Pencil Case is both bite-y and awesome! Heck, I'm not even taking classes this year, and I want one!

I found these adorable little Best Friends Charms in La Petite Artist's BlueBumbershoot shop. What a cute idea for a back-to-school themed bracelet or earrings!



What's more perfect than settling into a night of reading (for homework, of course!) with a super comfy blanket? Like this Composition Notebook Coverlet by Snuffykin. Super easy to make, and will certainly keep you inspired to jot down some notes, right?

And while you're snuggled up and reading, wouldn't you love to have a cup of tea this cute Notebook Paper Mug? In fact Sikiu Miller-Perez has a great collection of notebook paper themed ceramic items in her MangoTreeCeramics shop.



These Mathematics Earrings are perfect for anyone who loves math and language! That's two of the 'Three Rs' right there! Louise Annable's shop, Bookity, can be found on both sides of the Atlantic: Folksy and Etsy.

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She's Crafty - Mama's got a new bag

You know what nerds need more than an impressive supply of geeky tees and action figures? A bag to carry all that stuff around in!


Lilia Todd has posted some great photos of this amazing Wonder Woman satchel.



How awesome is this thing? I especially love the blue lining with stars and the little golden lasso of truth on the zipper pull.



Lydia White (The Hallow Oak) has some really great duct tape bags on her deviantART page. I kinda love these custom TARDIS bags she did for kids cosplaying characters from Doctor Who.



And speaking of Doctor Who, how wonderful is this handsewn bag by QuirkieCraft? Actually, she's got a ton of fantastic Doctor Who crafty items on her blog, in addition to a world of other awesome items.



Jaymi Horne has so many realy great geeky bags in her CreoNodo shop! Like this pink and blue Ramona Flowers Star Bag.



Feeling inspired to create your own geeky bag? How about this pattern for a great multi-use bag by Studio Kat Designs? You can wear it on your shoulder, across your chest, or as a backpack. How cool is that? And with the amazing supply of geek-themed fabric out there and your creativity, I'm sure you can come up with something really amazing!



And finally, in a shout out to my friends having fun at PAX and DragonCon this weekend, here's totally meta bag -- a bag made out of bags! Amy and Stephanie of nerdventions have a whole load of great geeky bags made of other bags. Yo. Dude. I heard you liked bags.

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She's Crafty - Feeling Bookish

It's getting to be that time of year again here in the Northern Hemisphere -- time to snuggle up in a warm blanket, pour a cup of hot tea and settle in with a good book. Here are some clever and creative book-related crafts to mark the occasion!

I just love this great book clutch by SeeKateSew! It's perfect for some of lovely old books I see at the thrift stores. So many of them have damaged pages, but the covers are in great shape!

Jodi Harvey-Brown makes wonderfully imaginative sculptures using books. I particularly like this Game of Thrones piece showing Daenerys and her dragons. Just gorgeous!

This book cover bracelet is a great crafty gift idea for the book lover in your life -- even if it's a self-gift item!

I haven't used book covers in a long time, but I've been re-thinking that lately, what with all the really cute covers I've seen. Like this colorful fabric cover by Ana Love.


Nat, over at The Smallest Forest may very well be the craftiest book-lover ever. Her blog is chock full of amazing bookish crafts, as well as so many other wonderful projects. In one post alone, she offers up two completely different book projects -- adorable little book biscuits and a beautifully hand-embroidered journal cover.

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She's Crafty

Here's where I admit that my craft room is a disaster. It's looking more like the catch-all room rather than the beautifully-organized craft room of my dreams. I know why... it's because the last six months have been a mess of school and sick cat and sick me. But still, it's a little disheartening to know that any summer craft project will automatically require several hours of straightening and organizing and cleaning...

Anyway, enough about my non-problems. How about we talk about the awesome stuff I've found over the last couple of weeks of cruising the internet. Like this freakin' awesome hand-embroidered intergalactic thief rat badge from FionaBearClaw.

The fact that it also glows in the dark is just makes it more awesome!

How about this adorable little Megaman Crochet Doll from PixelBlock?

Steel isn't cuddly. That's a fact. And most of the time robot-exploding do-gooder blue androids aren't considered to be especially huggable either - until now.

This hand-painted Pacman shower curtain from CraftNerdy has my creative brain going. We need new curtains in our game room, and now I'm wondering what kind of classic arcade game designs I can come up with!

And this Ms. Pacman throw pillow is a perfect blend of adorable and awesome. I love the sequins and details! This is getting added to the growing game room crafts list!

If you know me, then you probably know that I have an apron addictions. I have lots of retro aprons, holiday aprons. Even a New Orleans Saints apron (thanks Mom!). But I don't have any aprons that are especially geeky, like these really super aprons from Darling Amy!

What are you crafting these days?

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She's Crafty

I'm fascinated by the elegance and creativity of quilled work. I have long loved paper-crafting, so maybe this is just an extension of that. Whatever it is, the work by Michelle of aCoCC is truly inspiring.

Check out this really awesome Star Wars cross stitch piece!

Have you thought about having a painting made of your pet? Starla Michelle is a fantastic artist, who in addition to making lovely works of art will also make beautiful pet portraits:

I cannot imagine the amount of patience needed to piece together this amazing appliqué Skyward Sword heart pillow:

My friend Season Balik is walking in the Komen 3-Day, and raising funds by selling many of the amazing soaps she makes. Like this amazing fresh-cut grass soap:

What are you working on?

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She's crafty!

Last year, when Jill of DapperToad was planning for her summer knitting camp, she was a bit worried that the kids would give up on knitting the first time they got frustrated, and wanted to create a couple whimsical and inspirational pieces to keep them motivated. That's when she dreamed up Sir Reginald Wiggly:

The camp I work at promotes autodidact-ism by allowing the kids choose exactly what they want to do with their time. I keep thinking of kids coming in to learn how to knit, getting frustrated, and abandoning it mid-lesson. One way I've thought to preemptively combat this is to fill my studio with cute stuff that hopefully will spark some interest in knitting and crochet. Enter Sir Reginald Wiggly. He has recently been hired to be my spokesoctopuss. He's self-taught and loves to impress people with his multi-stranded technique and his tiny stitches.

I'm currently enamored with Jade Boylan's website, and find myself just hovering over the image links to see them in color. I couldn't decide which of her items I loved the best, and what to share here. Then I saw them. Bonnie and Sienna, the handmade dolls. They're both so cute in their different outfits. Here's Bonnie playing at being a pirate:

I was cruising around Tumblr and came across Pardalote's Jupiter embroidery. She created it using several images from the Hubble telescope.

I used this sequence of images from NASA as the basis for the work, but I reinterpreted the sequence a little so that I could do the squiggliness I wanted.

I wanted my stitching to demonstrate that the jovian bands are fluid, moving around the planet and swirling it up a storm at region boundaries.

I cannot get enough of this adorable Totoro pot made by h3lloxkimchi:

I love these little crochet hearts from ZoomyYummy. They're sweet and simple, and could be used as favors or Valentines or sachets.

DIY Batman tights? How cool is that? And just think of what else you can do with this technique!

For a fun party celebrating the attendees for the recent ALTSummit, the folks at CreativeBug designed this huge wall of string art:

Courtney wanted to make a BIG splash and design the main art feature in our assigned party room. She came up with a 20′x8′ free standing wall (WALL!) that spelled out the theme “Crush On You” in retro modern string art. The drawings and sketches she came up with did the final piece zero justice. This was a massive undertaking, and one we were very proud to share with everyone who attended.

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She's crafty!

Susi over at Just Crafty Enough, show how to make a stegosaurus hoodie towel. Now I want one. But in rainbow, of course.

I am fascinated by Lisa Nilsson's collection of Quilled Paper Anatomical Cross Sections. Made from the gilded edges of old books and Japanese mulberry paper, they are exquisite -- full of detail and texture.

Quilling was first practiced by Renaissance nuns and monks who are said to have made artistic use of the gilded edges of worn out bibles, and later by 18th century ladies who made artistic use of lots of free time. I find quilling exquisitely satisfying for rendering the densely squished and lovely internal landscape of the human body in cross section.

At Gingerbread Snowflakes, Pam talks about the history of Punched Tin Can Frames and shows us how to make our own.

New Mexican tinsmiths plying their trade in the mid 1800's were the ultimate recyclers! Every scrap of tin that came over the Santa Fe Trail by wagon, or later by rail, was reused to create frames and nichos for prints and statues of religious icons. Sconces, candle holders and candelabra needed in pre-electric New Mexico churches and homes were also fashioned from "recycled" tin cans.

Instructables regular Cinnamontwisties uploaded photos and info about the super awesome BatMobile she made for her toddler.

When it was time for the munchkin to get the typical toy car to drive around in (she's 16 months and LOVES her cousin's car) I couldn't have any old toy laying around clashing with my "theme." And besides... why settle with typical store bought when DIY is sooo much better?!

Klari Reis uses petri dishes and reflective epoxy polymer to capture electron microscopic images of cellular reactions.

I am in love with these sweet greeting cards made from woodcuts from celiahart.

The images on this card are from my woodcut, 'The birds' wedding day' inspired by the mistle thrushes that I see in the ancient yew tree right outside my studio window, are the first birds to start to build their nest, just as the first primroses begin to flower and on sunny days a brimstone butterfly flutters by. Valentine's Day, 14th February, in England is traditionally the birds' wedding day.

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