Social Sunday Week 2

This past weekend has been not so great. I am in the middle of a taking a zpack and the side effects are coming out! Last night I had the most insane pounding head ache and I woke up to a sore throat...awesome way to spend your two days off. 

Ok I will stop complaining now. Here is another edition of social sunday run by Ashely's Carnival Ride and Neely from a Complete Waste of Make-up. This weeks questions are all about childhood: 

1. What do you miss most about being a kid? 

I had an ok childhood, but I was a weird kid (and a tom boy) and apparently a lot of kids my age felt that was reason enough to alienate me. So I stayed in my room a lot and drew like crazy. I guess I miss having the time to be creative and doodle. I don't have much of that these days. 

2. Did you have a nickname growing up? 

Sini. Legend has it that when I was born, the name Sarina was to hard from my brother Charlie to pronounce, he was 5 at the time. He went to say it and it came out Sini. I don't hear my family call me Sini all that much these days. However, my family did tell Tim about the nickname and he calls me Sini all the time.

3. What was your favorite thing to do at recess?

At my elementary school there was this thing on the playground everyone called the upside down U. Not sure why we just didn't call it a lowercase n. But it was big wooden arch that I always ran to first. 

4. What did you want to do when you grew up? 

This was the golden age of Nicktoons, we're talking Ren & Stimpy, Doug and Rugrats. I ate all of those shows up! I wanted to work for Nickelodean. 

5. What was your favorite toy?

As mentioned earlier, I loved to draw and loved art. I always got random art kits and supplies for my birthdays and Christmas. Anything Crayola was my jam. I also loved the occasional Lisa Frank stickers. (who didn't?)

6. What is the funniest thing you did as a kid that your parents still remind you about?

My Dad tells me this all of the time and its his favorite Sarina baby story. One day I went missing (we had a ridiculously huge house) They found me walking around outside in a diaper and I had taken a burnt out florresent light bulb out of the trash and I was walking around like a trapeeze artist. My Dad said they such followed me with a camera and thought it was the most adorable thing. 

Pay it Forward

I saw this on from Geek Can be Chic and thought it sounded like fun!

Here is the deal:

• The first three people to comment will get some sort of handmade (by me) awesomeness. However this is contingent on you following the rest of the rules! 
• My goal is to have your hand made gift sent out before the end of the year
• The Catch: In order to be eligible for a gift, you need to spread the love on your own blog, and (you guessed it) Pay it Forward! You yourself have to make something special for the first three people to comment on your pay it forward post. 
• The first three commenters have 72 hours to post on their blog
• If the first three comments are made, still comment (you never know what can happen!) 
• Commenters: please leave your email address and your blog URL

So if you want something from moi, and you think you can handle making something for three of your blog readers, then leave a comment below!

Good luck !


Sarina

Hello world? How ya been? Here is what I have been up to this past week. 

Despite not feeling so great this past week I had managed to get some stuff done! Whoo hoo! I was able to finish up some bags and list those bad boys in my Etsy shop. My biggest hurdle with listing an item is the picture. I have taken photography 1 and 2 in high school and study film so I have at least have a grasp on a few concepts like composition. Other than that, I am not the greatest of photographers. Also its hard to take photos of stuff when you are just one person! Luckily Timbo is more handy with a camera than I. He took these shots, and I gotta say they came out great, better than any of my other listing pictures. In the past I just took pictures of bags lying down on a stark white background, not the most appealing. So hopefully these work.

I also posted some bow-tie pins! I have some cuff bracelets as well but I am still honing my technique with those, so they aren't listed just yet. 

For a limited time I am offering a free shipping discount! So take advantage and browse my shop! Use  the coupon code: YAYNEWITEMS 

Speaking of Etsy shops, friend Michele (Short Girl, Long Island) started one! Stop by and check it out! I myself ordered some headbands and there are also come custom made coasters! 

Aside from the Etsy shop I have recently been exploring a few more craftacular techniques. I recently got some shrink plastic and testing it out. Depending on how old you are, did you ever have shrinky dinks? I loved them and thought they were the coolest things! They came in all sorts of designs like ALF and Scooby Doo, you colored them in and stuck them in the toaster oven and they shrank down to a hard plastic. Well now they are back and perhaps just as cool. This time around they come in blank sheets so you can do whatever on them. There are even printer friendly sheets, that work with any ink jet printer. I opted for the blank sheets and have been conjuring up some design ideas. The designs are staying in the realm of all that is nerdy, and is for something big I am doing at the end of October. (I can't tell you about it yet, but I will in do time) Here is my first adventure in shrink plastic, and of course its a TARDIS. I plan on gluing a pinback to it to make a brooch. 

In other news, there are still plenty of spots open in my digital book discussion, Read & Rant. We are going to read and discuss the Graveyard Book. So check it out and sign up! 

- Sarina

Marvelous Monday link party

Today I participated in a link party at Marvelous Mondays, hosted by Brittany from the Sapphire Bee. Go check out some of the other posts!

Here are some of my favorites of the link up:

• Dollar Store Skeletons
• Countdown to Halloween Sign
• Shrink plastic bracelet

I myself posted the Owl T-shirt (made with the freezer paper stencil)

Adventure Time Remixes (Meme for Monday)

Hello again and it's Monday :( The start to another boring ass week. Now that summer is officially behind us and Fall is here, our days just got a little bit colder. I know its really bummer but to cheer you up here are some catchy little jingles from the adorable Jake and Finn of Adventure Time remixed by Ryden Ridge (Youtube Channel). Enjoy!


Bacon Pancakes

Punch Your Buns

There are plenty of spots left in the Read & Rant! 

Social Sunday week 1

After seeing this on a few other blogs I figured that I would give it a try. It's run by Ashley's Carnival Ride. Basically what you do is answer the 5 questions on Ashley's blog. You also check out the answers to the other bloggers that have participated. Its a great what to meet other people and get introduced to some great blogs. 

1. What is something you have wanted to do but are afraid of?

     I would love to live abroad or in another part of the country (drastically different than Long Island) Just curious about what's out there. However I am afraid of things like finding a job (Tim finding a job) and family being far away. Also not looking forward to getting lost all of the time in a new place.

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

     Despite the fact that I frequently ranted about how I am not having kids anytime soon and that I'll have them when I am ready. Well with in 5 years is most likely when I will have them kids. I hope to be a great Mom and do ridiciolously silly things with them. 

3. What are you looking forward to before the end of 2012?

     This year we are going to host our first Thanksgiving in the new house! Yay! But what I am most excited about this is that my Dad, Louisa (his girlfriend) and Billy are going to be here for it! 

4. What are your hopes for your blog?

     I love doing this stuff and it is so much fun! I hope to do more interesting things and reach more people that are into similar wacky things. For example right now I am taking sign ups for a digital book discussion I am calling: Read & Rant. (there are still spots if you want to sign up!) 

5. Do you always see yourself living in your current town/city?

     With a mortgage I see myself here for a good while. Not sure where the future will take us but hey I am along for the ride. 

6. What is your morning routine?

• Kiss the husband
• Feed the pooch 
• Be lazy and play on my ipad while drinking a cup of coffee 
• Then get ready for work
• Three days out of the week involve a trip to the gym

Friday Night Sew In (More Halloween Crafts)

Last night was another night of crafting fun. I participated in another Friday Night Sew In but I brought some friends along. Not only did my partner in craft, Michele join me but my friend Marlene also came along for some crafting adventures!



Marlene is a great friend that I met when we went to Stony Brook. While working on stuff we were reminiscing about wacky professors and other kids in the cinema studies program. I hadn't seen her in a while so it was great to show her the house and catch up!  Soon after Michele joined us and the crafting was on!

Marlene and I at our Graduation in 2009

Michele and I are both throwing Halloween shindigs this year so we have been doing Halloween themed crafts the past few weeks. Last week we made some luminaries out of tin cans (an almost dangerous endeavor)

Last night we made some paper decorations: rosetes and streamers. Both easy projects that end up looking great! Store bought decorations can be ridiculously expensive but these decorations look cute and make the decorations more personal. What's also great about these crafts, even though we are using them for Halloween, the colors can be switched out and can be used for any occasion! For example a friend of mine is planning a baby shower, picture these rosetes in a cute powder blue or light pink. You can even glue baby themed clip art to the front of the rosettes, use your imagination go nuts!

The paper streamers were also ridiculously easy! I cut strips of paper in Halloween-ish colors and I just ran them through my sewing machine. Simple as that. They came out looking great!



At it turned out its also a great project for sewing newbies! Both Michele and Marlene had never used a sewing machine so I guided them through it. It's also a no pressure kind of project because if it gets messed up its just paper, no big deal, however that was something we didn't have to worry about because they both did a great job. Here is how they came out!

Be sure to look out for detailed instructions and tutorials on these and more Halloween fun crafts through out the month of October.

Read & Rant

Thank you to everyone that participated in the Doctor Who Giveaway! It was the first participatory event that I hosted on the blog! I think it went pretty well. 

I am planning another event for October, a book discussion of the digital age which I am calling, Read & Rant! 

We all know what October means, Halloween! And it's no secret that it is one of my all time favorite holidays. To celebrate, Nerd Craft Librarian is going to host a book discussion on Neil Gaiman's the Graveyard Book. 

The Book Discussion will take place on Sunday, October 28 at 7:00 pm (Eastern Standard Time). The book discussion will take place through a Google + hangout. We are limited on space because at this point Google hangouts can only accomodate a certain number of participants per hangout. You will receive an email confirmation to let you know that you are successfully signed up! Here are the requirements to sign up:

• Be a member of google + 
• Have a web chat enabled device 
• Get a copy of the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 

Pop Culture Homework - Sgt Pepper's

Since I gave Michele an 'assignment' (look here for an explanation) I insisted that she give me one as well. Since Michele is an uber Beatles fan (such as myself) she suggested that I listen to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, with headphones and without any distractions. Just sit and listen. I can't tell you how unbelievably hard it is for me to just sit and listen to music, it's always on in the background and I have to constantly be doing something. In fact I put it on and ended up working on some stuff. When a A Day in the Life came on, my favorite song, I stopped I felt really guilty that I hadn't done the 'assignment' properly. (Fail # 1)

I dropped everything I was doing and went to give it another go, and this time as Michele had intended!  I figured that I would even go one step further and listen to in on vinyl. I grabbed it from the record collection then noticed that Tim's turntable is still not set up. (Fail #2)

I looked outside and noticed that it was really beautiful out, so I grabbed my iPod and went outside to listen. Success!

As a child growing up I was in my own little world. When I was in 4th or 5th grade, the Beatles became the soundtrack to that world. My Dad was a big fan and always played it around us. Years later he said he always secretly planned for us to become Beatle fans (he's a weird guy like that). For me it clicked after seeing the Beatles Anthology documentary on TV. It began a long love affair with not only the Beatles but with music.

So I hit play while lounging in the backyard. The crowd gathered and the band began to play. One major thing I noticed on the title track, was that when four lads began singing, they sounded slightly different than their previous albums. For example Paul McCartney sounded like he was trying to be more raspy as apposed to his more sweet melodic voice. The concept of the album was to create a fictitious band and they took on alter egos not just the psychedelic marching band outfits they sported in the album art but was apparent in the music right down to the slightest detail. At least thats how it is in the first few songs as well as the Sgt. Peppers reprise towards the end of the album. In between is a nice chunk of Beatle songs that were so dramatically different than anything they had put out before on topics ranging from teen runaways, how life will be at age 64 and a trapeze artist known as Mr. Kite.

As I mentioned earlier, A Day in the Life is my favorite song. I'm not sure why I always identified with it. Has a kid listening to it really had no grasp on the concepts John Lennon was singing about. As an adult I look at it in an entirely new way. One thing I found very striking in it was the contrast between John Lennon's part and Paul McCartney's, which comes out of no where. I almost felt like he was interrupting the song. Luckily it transitions back and builds up to a great big end with the strike of the piano. An ending that it so epic I always felt it in my heart.

For a while I had been meaning to rediscover the Beatles and I am glad this pop-culture homework gave me an excuse to. If you have never listened to Sgt. Pepper's in its entirety I highly recommend it.

Cat in Famous Paintings - Meme for Monday

Well its another mundane Monday. Hopefully this feline re-imagining of classical art will cheer you up.

I am not much of a cat person but I came across these little gems and couldn't stop laughing. If you want to see more check out the post on Know Your Meme.

Doctor Who Giveaway - Winner!

I would like to thank everyone who participating in this giveaway! It has been the first of what I hope will be many fun things to come! I am already planning something really special for October, so If you like to read Neil Gaiman stay tuned! 

Now let's get down to business!

The 10th comment was from Ingrid! Congrats! E-mail me in order to claim your prize!

Thank you to everyone that entered! I'm glad to have met some cool new people! If you did not win and are super bummed, don't worry because all of these items will be available on my etsy shop soon!

I also want to know, what do you Whovian's think of the new season thus far?

I am loving it and I must say that, although I will always have a special place in my heart for David Tennent, Matt Smith is my Doctor! He's just so naturally goofy that I don't actually think thank he's acting, I love the quirk and whimsy he brings to the character. I will be very sad to transition into the 12th Doctor.

I hope you all enjoy tonight's episode! Let me know what you think!

Bow-ties and Black Dynamite

I am in the middle of the most suckiest things ever, working 12 days in a row. I am trying my hardest to keep up with everything and I am doing ok. I am working on some bow-tie bracelet cuffs. I also came across some pin backs so there will also be some bow-tie pins!

I also finally got to break out the serger! It was a graduation present from my pops. I haven't been able to use it because of our move. With my making space up in order I have some room for it. When I first got it out I was scared because this thing is super intimidating! However, after I got it threaded (which is quite the ordeal) it was pretty simple. I used it to take care of the raw edges on my bowties and it looks great. After I am caught up with everything I plan on taking a Craftsy class on how to use this bad boy.

I have been planning some Halloween decorations, and my partner in craft, Michele and I will have some fun tutorials through out the season. We are just working out some of the kinks now. They involve MJ masks and fabulous safety glasses, yeah thats how we do!

total hotness

On our last craft night, Tim was around and he mentioned Black Dynamite. One of the funniest films of the last 10 years. She said she hasn't seen it. So I told her she had homework, she had to watch it! If you haven't seen it, and you appreciate ridiculous comedy go check it out! Despite it looking super fly and being filmed in cinema phonic, it was actually made in 2009.

Since I gave Michele 'homework' I insisted that she give me an assignment. She told me to re-listen to Srgt. Pepper's with no interruptions. This experience deserves its own separate post.

Burlap Bunting

I made this bunting during a Friday Night Sew In. I created a tutorial to go along with it. Even though I used this to create some Halloween decor this project is versatile and can be used for other holidays or even weddings. Here is how to make your own burlap bunting!

Materials & Tools

Freezer paper
Exacto Knife
Ruler
Burlap fabric
Iron
Paint
Foam brush
Bias tape

Instructions

• First pick a font and make a font sheet with all of the letters that you will need for your bunting. Print out a sheet (save for later to trace)
• Size up your flags. My flags measured in as 7 x 9 inches. I cut out a bunch from the freezer paper
• Once all of your freezer paper flags are cut, trace out all of your letters. (shiny side down!)

• Break out your exacto knife and carve out all of your letters. For letters such as A (pictured below) be sure to save the little bits inside of the letter. I also recommend that you cut out the small bits first.(those will be used to iron on to the burlap)

• Iron all of your letters to some burlap, then cut out each flag on the burlap

• Once all of your flags are cut out, it's time to break out the paint! 
• Grab a spounce brush and dip it in some paint and paint over the letters

• Once the paint is dry, go a head and peel off the freezer paper and toss it
• Iron the flags in order to heat set the paint

• Now its time to string those letters, so grab that biased tape! 
• Pin one side of the biased tape to each letter. Make sure you are going in the right order depending on what you saying is. 

• Once the one side is stitched, fold over and pin the biased tape and sew again

• Hang it up and TA-DA! 
• Congrats you made something lovely 

Modern Freaks (Meme for Monday)

I'm sorry it's mundane Monday, here is a little silly comic from the interwebs that hopefully will help you start your day off with a laugh. 

It is from the creative mind of Shannon Wheeler featuring the character Too Much Coffee Man. Check out Shannon's website for more silly.

Catching up ....

To everyone who has entered the Doctor Who Giveaway, THANK YOU ! 

If you are interested there is still plenty of time to enter! Click here for more info.

Speaking of the Doctor, what did you Whovians think of the season premiere? That Steven Moffat sure knows how to tell a story. I am looking forward to next weeks episode featuring dinosaurs! I am also looking forward to watching it and enjoying some coffee in my new travel TARDIS!

In non Doctor Who related news, the house has been coming along great. Of course I have been spending most of my time in the basement in my craftin' space, I like to call it my craft dungeon. I have had time to go through that big ol' pile of scraps and I am making a dent! I have been cutting up scraps into pieces that will become a few regular items, such as coin purses, zipper pouches and pockets for my bags! (i know you are all very excited over pockets)

Here are some things that I have been working on lately.... 

 

 I originally made this for my friend Kim's birthday, about almost a year ago. I used a different technique, a reverse applique. However it got ripped up! So I painted on the deer and it turned out well.

I have a whole bunch of 3 inch zippers I bought from Zip it... the essential place for all of your zipper needs. They also have a great selection of supplies!  I figured they would be good to make little coin purses. Thoughts?

If you really like any of these items and wondering where you can get your hands on them, be sure to check back they will be posted on my Etsy shop soon!

Meme for Monday

I am starting a new little segment here at Nerd Craft Librarian. It's called a Meme for Monday and will feature a wonderful nugget of silly from the internet (also known as a meme). The goal is to help you start your week a with a little laugh, because Monday's aren't usually the most favorite day of the week.

I stumbled across this meme and thought it would be perfect. Not only is it funny but it features crafting a paper doll Bill Murray! (and seriously who doesn't love Bill Murray?)



I also wanted to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who has commented on the Doctor Who Giveaway! There is still plenty of time if anyone else wants to go for it! The winner will be announced on Saturday, September 15th!

Owl T-Shirt (Freezer Paper Stencil)

The moment has finally arrived the freezer paper stencil tutorial! A freezer paper stencil is a handy little technique for quick easy projects. It involves cutting out a design from freezer paper, ironing to the fabric then painting. This is also the same technique I showed Michele (Short Girl, Long Island).

When my brother was up here we were looking up ideas for t-shirts. That's when I came across this book on the interwebs. I first came across Russian Criminal Tattoos when I was in High School. I was always fascinated by them perhaps it was how tattoos ranged from the quirky to the extremely bizarre. I had completely forgotten about them until we came across this cool looking owl.

So after coming across this picture I was a bit inspired and after a bit of doodling I came up with my own version of this neato russian owl. Here is what I came up with:

To make the final design of the shirt work, I had to scale back a few of the details. Even so I think the final product came out great.

Here is how you can make your own t-shirt using a freezer paper stencil

Materials & Tools:

• Freezer Paper 
• Pencil
• Design*
• Exacto Knife
• Iron
• T-Shirt 
• Paint
• Foam Brush
• Piece of cardboard

* Creating the design can be one of the most challenger steps! Browse around get an idea but make sure it is something that isn't too complicated.

Instructions: 

• Map out your design. It is important to think in terms of negative space, a concept that is hard to grasp. So if you are a beginner at this I recommend silhouettes.

• Once you have your design figured out, trace it out on a piece of freezer paper. Make sure you trace SHINY SIDE DOWN! That is the side that sticks to the fabric

• After your design is cut out, I colored in all of the areas that were not going to be used. (You will noticed that some areas, like the eyes and bow-tie, are not colored in)

• Take your exacto knife and start cutting out your owl! I recommend starting with the small pieces that you need to save. Its both easier to cutting on these first and it also gives you the chance to put them aside in a safe place.

• When you pieces are all cut out, iron them to the shirt. (shiny side down!)

• Prepare your shirt and iron it out. Then place a piece of card board in the shirt. (so the paint won't bleed through the other side)

• Next is the fun messy part, painting! Grab your foam spounce brush and start painting over the stencil. Be careful with some of your smaller pieces. Paint those areas first incase the stencils come off, like my owl eyes. 

• When the paint is dry, peel the paper off of the shirt. 

• Heat set the paint and go over the design with an iron

• Be proud you made something awesome! 

Go ahead and make your own freezer paper stencil designs, I would love to see them when they are done! 

-Sarina