DIY Pacman Tile Mosaic Desk

Check out this awesome project by Instructables user pameroth. Click the link above for the full tutorial, including lots and lots of video game themed tile patterns for all your nerdy DIY needs.

Dollar Store Decor: Planters and Clocks

I don’t know about you, but nothing makes me more productive than being sick for the better part of the week. Most of last week was spent in my pajamas, drinking ginger ale, hoping the gremlins in my tummy would end their non-stop party. And as soon as I started to feel better I started tearing around the apartment, tackling as many postponed chores as I could manage.

The first project I wanted to share with you is this easy clock face fix. I’d thought of doing a full tutorial for it, but I think I’ll leave that until I manage something a little more creative with it. For now I just picked a new font in Photoshop and left things pretty traditional.

We’d picked up this clock at Ikea for about $1 shortly after we moved into our first apartment together and I’d been meaning to do something fun with it for awhile, but just never had the time or the inspiration. However, I noticed a couple of months ago that the original clock face was coming away from the back of the clock and had started to crumble. So, a quick fix was called for.

I started by taking the clock off the wall and prying it apart with a flat head screwdriver, being careful not to crack the plastic casings. I took the hands off of the clock motor and pulled off the remaining clock face, which shattered and crumbled into dust as I did so. Then, using Photoshop, I created a circle shape the same circumference as the clock face (using the dust cover as a reference) and set about choosing a font and colour for the new numbers.

I’m sure there’s some sort of complicated mathematical equation for figuring out exactly how and where to position your numbers for a project like this, but I just eyeballed it and I think it turned out just fine. After cutting out my circle and piercing a small hole in the middle for the clock motor and hand mechanism to stick trough I used a little tape to affix the new face to the back of the clock, put everything back together and mounted it back on the wall.

My next little DIY was to create these awesome and easy hanging planters. I used this handy tutorial from fabric designer extraordinaire Skinny Laminx and a $2 spool of green nylon twine. I’ve whipped out two of them so far and I can’t say they took me more than 5 minutes a piece.

The only difference between the two is that I added a third knot for the second one since the pot and the plant I wanted to hang were a little bit bulkier and I wanted to make sure they were as stable as possible. I can’t reiterate how easy they are to make, and with plant pots at the dollar store available for as little as $0.50, you could easily make up some super cute and super cheap mother’s day gifts for less than $5.

This last photo isn’t a DIY project per se, but we finally got around to hanging our wedding fingerprint tree over the bed. Unfortunately, the evening of our wedding was very humid and the paper has started to bend and pull away from the plywood backing, but J-F has promised to fix that for us once he’s completed his Master’s later this summer.

DIY Polymer Clay Pixel Jewelery

While browsing the internet last weekend I came across Delighted Momma’s amazing collection of polymer clay crafts and was instantly inspired. Everyone loves having new jewelry, even better if you can make it yourself and put your own stamp on it. And so, I decided to whip up a couple of distinctly GamerWife necklaces. Here’s how I did it:

DIY Cork Map of Westeros

It’s near. It’s near. It’s nearly, nearly here. That’s right, Game of Thrones Season 2 premieres this weekend and Rick and I could not be more excited. We’ve been reading the whole Song of Ice and Fire series before bed ever since the first season ended and while we’re already on A Storm of Swords, I can’t wait to see how they adapt A Clash of Kings for the small screen. So, to tide myself over I decided to adapt this hipster craft to be a little more Fantasy nerd friendly.

Nerdy Cat Trees

As anyone who has even glanced at this blog has probably guessed, Rick and I are cat people. As you have also probably guessed we are also giant, raging nerds. But, it turns out that we are not alone. In fact, many nerdy cat lovers are also very industrious.

Jenny, of Add To the Heap created this full on Super Mario Brothers themed cat activity center, complete with coin box storage for cat toys and green warp tube on the side.

Not as big as the TARDIS cat house I posted a few months ago, this one also has lots of places for companion cats to perch and jump from. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the creator, so if you know who is responsible for this nerdy awesomeness, please let me know in the comments. via Global Geek News

Imgur user Hobitron submitted not one, but TWO amazing Star Trek themed cat trees of such detail and scope that I feel like a lazy bum just looking at them. via Bit Rebels

Obligatory End of the Month Goal Check-In

Sigh

As you may have guessed by now, my resolution to read more still isn’t going as well as I would have liked. It’s embarrassing, as an English Lit Major, to not be able to name one novel I’ve read myself in the whole last year. I have a list, I have intentions, but damn if I am lacking in the follow-through. So I’ve decided to start scheduling reading times. Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 3pm to 4pm will be time to read.

I’ll let you know how that goes at the end of next month.

On the other hand, I have completed an awesome Moebius scarf. Using that delicious yarn I got in Vancouver and some super-cheap Chinese bamboo knitting needles, my original plan was to use this pattern from Three Little Knitted Frogs, but I just couldn’t seem to wrap my little brain around it and instead I just did some plain knit-stitch until all four skeins were used up. I used this video tutorial to teach myself the Moebius cast-on method, which actually made casting on 300 stitches an absolute breeze (I think it took less than 10 mins total), and the whole thing took me about a week to finish.

What do you think?

I think it looks lovely with the Sapphire blue vintage coat my grandmother gave me for Christmas. And it’s super-warm and comfy.

The other fun thing that’s been eating up all of my time has been learning Photoshop. I’ve mostly been playing around with clipping masks and adjustment layers, hoarding all of the free fonts and textures I can find and constantly forgetting to save things in psd format before merging (grrr…), but it’s been super-duper fun and has re-energized me in terms of blogging and fixing up the AriGateaux website. My biggest issue now is knowing when to stop tweaking…

Japanese Style Mass Effect Poster by Sarah (a.k.a. Backside of the TV)

And last but not least, Rick and I seem to be on track to finish our game of Mass Effect 2 in time for the release of Mass Effect 3! Woo!

Get ready for a whole week of Mass Effect Madness starting March 5th!

The GamerWife Guide to Pinching Pennies: Dime Store Decor

I’ve been working on putting together a “family wall” in the office since we moved in, but a lack of good pictures and appropriate frames have made it rather slow going. I’d printed out some pictures from my sister’s wedding two and a half years ago, but I wanted to display them together in the same frame and could never settle on the right one.

Then, last week I managed to score this awesome triple picture frame at a thrift store for $5, but the openings were 5 x 7 and my pictures were 4 x 6. So, I made a quick trip to the dollar store and picked up some cheap mattes (2 for $1), but they were for an 8 x 10 frame. Enter, a little DIY ingenuity.

After careful measurement (and one scrapped matte) I cut down the mattes so they would fit in the frame and fixed them together with some scotch tape. Then I put the photos into the mattes and fixed them with some tape too. I had to fiddle with them a bit because not all of the mattes were cut 100% evenly (I tried!), but eventually everything got straightened out.

My last bit of craftiness we in creating a way to hang the frame vertically, since the attached hanger was only oriented for horizontal hanging. A couple of tiny screws, some nylon thread and a little clear nail polish to glue the knots together and it was ready to hang.

What do you think?

Photoshop Fun: Blog Archives

 

One of the most popular posts on GamerWife these days happens to be my recipe for Vegan Butternut Squash Ravioli, but I’ve always been super self-conscious about the very amateur photo that accompanies the recipe. So, being that I’m trying to up my photoshop skills I decided to try my hand at making the photo a little more appetizing. I fiddled with the levels and the brightness, then added some caption text and a watermark. Take a look at the recipe post and let me know what you think.

Photoshop Fun: Final

Here’s the final graphic I ended up using on the AriGateaux website. Now to work on redoing the photo album…

Photoshop Fun: Day 5

Alright, I had a little time this afternoon to put some of your suggestions to work on my menu graphic. This version uses two different typewriter fonts & less textured washi-tape tags to make the text more legible. I also played around with the bottom photo a bit to make it a little more appetizing (it was looking sort of cold and blue) and lessened the drop shadows on the pictures. What do you think? Am I on the right track?