GeekSugar

Geeky Do-It-Yourself Projects in Honor of National DIY Day

GeekSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:50:30 -0800

What's not to love about a good do-it-yourself project? They're equal parts creative, challenging, and fun, not to mention generally inexpensive. Plus, there's an instant sense of accomplishment as soon as you finish a new project. Today, in honor of National Do-It-Yourself Day, here is a roundup of some of the coolest DIY projects I've featured on the site.

Three Homemade Charging Stations	Cardboard iPhone Dock	Turn Used CDs Into a Disco Ball
Martha Stewart-Inspired Monitor Cozies	Star-Shaped iPod Nano Cover	David Kan Speaker Stands

Website of the Day: More Cloth

GeekSugar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:15:30 -0800

I'm a total DIY freak, and appreciate websites that help me reach my crafting goals. Take my last DIY project: the charging station I made from an Ikea shelving unit. Now if I wanted to take that a step further, I could add some decorative fabric to the back panels and really make the shelf pop. But how do I find the right fabric? I could browse racks of fabric at my local craft store, or I could do it the easy way (without leaving the warmth of my computer) and hit up More Cloth.

This site works seamlessly with Etsy to lead you to your perfect fabric. First it offers up a ton of color schemes to choose from (like in the photo to the right), and then directs you to the exact fabric patterns that contain those colors. Finally, More Cloth shoots you over to the Etsy page where you can add your chosen fabric to your cart, and prep your craft room accordingly - just sit back and wait for your fabric to arrive!

Have an interesting website you want to share? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click "New Post" under the website of the day tab at the top of the page.
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Type "Technology and Gadgets" in the Categories box
Add keyword(s) in the tag field with relevant tags (for example mine for this story was "Website of the Day").
Choose whether you want the post to be private or public.
Click "Create Post" to submit content.

5 Adorable Handmade Nintendo DSi Cases

GeekSugar — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:05:10 -0800

As if covering your cell and iPhone with amazing handmade goods wasn't enough, I went ahead and found five adorable DSi cases on Etsy that are worthy of a look-see, and maybe even a purchase if you don't already have your console protected. That DSi was an investment, no? Might as well keep it free of scratches and dings with one of these!

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DIY Geeky Pac-Man-Carved Pumpkins

GeekSugar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:31:37 -0700

The hardest part about making these adorable 8-bit gourds is finding just the right pumpkins to carve! Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories the creators of this Pac-Man-carved creation, suggest finding a bagful of these decorative gourds at the grocery store - try to find one with a curvy base and a rounded one with a flat base.

And now that you've got the perfect pumpkins, here's how you should carve your pumpkins:

Gourds like these have a hard shell, about 3mm thick, that is rather hard to cut through. We used a loose drill bit (turned by hand) to make the initial cut. From there, a regular hobby knife (e.g., X-acto) works well. Once the soft flesh and seeds are scooped out, the hard shell can dry to make a semipermanent display.

Geek Tip: Age Your Photos Instantly Without Photoshop

GeekSugar — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:30:50 -0700

There are a ton of things you can do with your digital photos and a photo editor besides just adjusting light and focus. You can make them into movie stills, or turn them into Lomo works of art. I happen to like the aged look, and it's always fun to turn them into Polaroids, but if you aren't using Poladroid, this can take forever to make the effect yourself.

But whether you use effects in Photoshop, filters in iPhoto, or mess around with levels in Lightroom, there's no faster way to age your pics than with this website. It's a Japanese site that lets you upload your digital pics, and in seconds spits out a 100-year-old identical. It's fun, fast, and gives you some cool digital pics to show off to your photo-loving pals.

Geek Tip: Learn to Fold Origami With a Little Online Help

GeekSugar — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:25:41 -0700

I'm a big fan of origami (I can't tell you how many of those little birds and shirts I made from my old Netflix flaps), but learning how to fold everything just right was kind of a nightmare. But with some animated step-by-step instructions from this site, you can banish your cramped hands and get it right the first time.

No more folding and unfolding, or wondering which way to flip the paper over, 'cause you have the animated instructions right in front of you! Now you can make thousands of birds to hang around your apartment. Well, you could if you wanted to.

Glitzy Super Mario Bros. Fashion Collection

GeekSugar — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:33:32 -0700

Any articles of Super Mario Bros. apparel I've seen before usually consist of hand-knitted creations like the 1Up Mushroom or the beautiful Princess Peach scarves. Well feast your eyes on this glamorous Super Mario Bros. eveningwear line from Craftster member montyfull. From an actual sequined Mario dress to a bob-omb and mushroom dress, she covered all of the basics and then some.

Why the gamer-themed dresses? She says:

"So I'm a fashion major. Graduated in 2007, and just got around to uploading pics of my stuff! I'm an avid gamer for life. Shooters, RPGs, PC, Nintendo, Xbox . . . I'll play anything if I can afford it. I also don't like to take myself too seriously, so I decided that my senior collection was going to be Mario eveningwear."

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5 Awesome Handmade Cell Cases

GeekSugar — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:30:37 -0700

I've already showed you some stylish yet geeky handmade iPhone (and iPod Touch) cases, and I didn't want to leave out my peeps who don't rock an Apple. These handmade cases will fit anything from your standard flip phone to your trusty Blackberry. Variety is the spice of life, my friends, so click away and check out these awesome creations.

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8 Geeky Handmade iPhone Cases

GeekSugar — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:05:18 -0700

I like to keep my gadgets covered to prevent cuts and scrapes, and most of all, from my own clumsiness! Since my iPhone goes with me everywhere, there's a higher chance that I'll drop it and I certainly don't want to break it. Check out eight awesome handmade iPhone cases I found to keep your iPhone (or iPod Touch) scar-free.

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3 Popular Charging Stations to DIY

GeekSugar — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:05:05 -0700

It's a battle: 'mo gadgets, 'mo problems. Well not so much problems per se, but more cords, and more outlets needed to plug in all those gadgets to charge. Which, then necessitates the organized geek's BFF: the charging station. But when the prettiest charging stations cost upwards of a 100 bucks or so, what better way to solve the problem than to DIY?

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