Craft Book Review: The Star Wars Craft Book

The Star Wars Craft Book | project-in-progress

“Dedicated to Geeky Craftsters everywhere. May the glue gun be with you!”

I received The Star Wars Craft Book by Bonnie Burton (Del Rey, 2011, 156 pgs.) as a Christmas gift last year. Galactic ideas here. Clever projects use material you can probably find around your house, and if not, they aren’t too pricey. Like usual, I devoured the book and earmarked some projects, (like this R2-D2 beanie!), but only recently started my first project.

If only I knew how to crochet…

I found the book tone very casual unlike a Martha Stewart craft book – very precise. That’s not a bad or good thing… just an observation. The patterns for all the projects are located at the back of the book and online (if you don’t want to cut up your book, or need to copy and enlarge the patterns).

Jar Jar in-progress

My son asked me for Jar Jar Binks Jedi Mind Trick Doll. Not my first choice. My husband asked him if he might like some other project: the Bith Band puppets, a Bantha… maybe Han Solo in Soaponite. Nope.

“Jar Jar. Because he’s cute.”

One issue with the Jar Jar project material list: red felt is missing. You need it for Jar Jar’s tongue. The directions are easy to follow, but the directions fail to include a step for the arms. They are included in the pattern.

So as of this post, the project is in-progress. Since I didn’t have any felt on hand, I decided to use what I had: cotton and some flannel. I always seem to drift away from patterns (craft apron), directions (t-shirt quilt) and recommended materials. They’re just suggestions, right?

I’ll post the finished project as an update… and, would this book be a welcome addition to the Geek Crafter in your life? Yes, yes it would. It’s fun for the whole family, it’s fun if you’re a Star Wars fan… just plain fun!

Rice Krispie Sushi Recipe Tutorial

These are more like instructions rather than a recipe since you’re not going to cook a thing! We served these at a party where kids and grown-ups gave us great feedback about the rice krispie sushi. This might be something fun to do for a kids (heck, for adults, too) birthday party, a potluck? If you gave up sweets for Lent, this is a sugary way to break your fast.

What You Need

One batch of prepared Rice Krispie treats
Cooking spray (like Pam)
Candy: Swedish Fish, Fruit Roll-ups (fruit leather, preferably dark in color), cake decoration sprinkles

For the Nigiri (hand-rolled) Sushi

Spray or coat your hands lightly with cooking oil. Butter, magarine works okay too. Create an oblong mound of rice krispies in the palm of your hand. Top with a Swedish fish and wrap with a thin strip of cut fruit leather.

For the Maki (rolled) Sushi :: inside-out roll featured in first picture

This one is a little trickier. Make sure your hands are well coated. Using your hands or a rolling pin, you will need to press or roll the rice krispie treats to a thin thickness. 1/4″ – 1/3″ inch should work. Swedish Fish in a row along one end of your prepared rice krispie treat. Roll the end of the rice krispie treat up and over the candy fish until they are covered.

(I have to say, at this point, we forgot to add strips of fruit roll-up for the “seaweed”. Lay down some fruit roll-ups before the Swedish fish. You can see it better in the very first picture of this post.)

Trim away from the remainder of the rice krispie treat. Shake some sprinkles on the roll (like sesame seeds), and using a sharp, buttered knife, cut into circles – like you would cut cookies.

For regular maki

You’re going to follow similar directions as above, but save your strips of fruit leather, and roll it around the rice krispie treat after you’ve cut them into shapes.

If you attempt to make these, I love to hear how it turns out! Share your pics and links! Enjoy…

A Favorite Game: Restaurant City

I’ll admit it. I’m addicted to this game on Facebook. It only makes sense. I like food, building and design, enjoy the multi-tasking and managing. All the fun and none of the risk. You pick the menu, get food as awards, decorate your restaurant and if you manage it well, it grows. At first, my kids were really into it, so naturally, I named our little cafe “Ollie’s”, then “Abby’s” and “Julie’s Cafe”.

It looked like this many, many months ago. And now, the place is “SereniTEA” and has grown by leaps and bounds. I gave it an Asian feel for obvious reasons. The graphics are just so darn cute, from the furnishings to the food. These designers are doing such a nice job with it.

This might make you wonder if all I do is sit around and play video games all day. I can assure you the answer is NO. After a long hiatus from Sim City (another virtual world game that I played years ago.), I found this to be just a fun way to decompress from everything else I do. Anyone else out there play this game?

Unrelated and random thoughts

  • The Chicago Craft Social last Friday was another hit! Lots of first-timers, lots of familiar faces, too. Check out my review on Craft Critique soon!
  • The T-shirt quilt top is so close to being done! I probably have a few more hours on it. Now if I could just stop blogging, playing, doing chores, etc. and finish the darn thing. *grin*
  • I can’t believe Christmas is less than three months away, which means, our cookie exchange is about 2-1/2 months away! Planning will begin soon!
  • There’s a new writing opportunity at my door… more on this soon! *** UPDATE! The online newspaper has launched. My articles (like you need more of me?), mostly on food and cooking, will run every two weeks. Thanks for all the support! ***

Checking out Upcoming Craft Shows

I’m going through some major writer’s cramp lately. Maybe it’s the start of school, maybe it’s me overextending myself, as usual, or maybe it’s Typical-Me expecting to write earth-shattering, life-changing posts all the time. Could be topic overload too. Could be burn-out or fallout from attending the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show. Everywhere I turned, incredible displays were in my face.

Display for Prima Products

Tell you what, I have a backlog including a couple of craft locations and restaurant visits. I just haven’t felt the initial inspirational spark to start writing. Look at that journal I saw from CHA… I’m pretty sure that was a Donna Downey sample. So beautiful. Talk about inspired writing… sheesh.

Before the school year and activities completely swallow me up, and before I get even further behind, I wanted to share these events to anyone interested out there!

  • Coming to Chicago in September Renegade Craft Fair
  • Also in September, Craft Social. While not a craft show per se, it’s a blast of an evening with make-and-take projects, light eats and lots of friendly faces. Check out the social from last spring.
  • Urban Craft Uprising is out in the Pacific Northwest and is taking applications for their Winter show. I visited the Summer show while I was in Seattle.
  • Keep a lookout for Indie Jubilee next year… I missed their inaugural show this past summer while I was away.

Personal DNA

Another one of those weeks where I’m catching up on chores, writing, reading, crafting, mothering… I wanted to take a break and thought to share this personality quiz. I used to take a bunch of these in high school and college. Now that I think about it, why did I keep taking these quizzes? Is that was girls do? My daughter has two quiz books from American Girl… we start so young, don’t we? I’m not sure what I was looking for then. Maybe it was some insight into the person I was versus the person I wanted to be. Maybe, back then, it was to confirm that I was the right girl for my crush-of-the-month.

Well, this quiz assessed me (now) as a Dynamic Inventor. Figures, hehe.

My personalDNA Report

Some Website Clean-up, Fun and Giveaway

Funky Monday soup, right? We’ll get to that in a moment. I’ve been toying around with this site layout. I’m no web programmer by any means, just playing around. Some of the additions are:

  • Along the right hand side of the blog, I’ll post some books and products on cooking, crafting, etc. Some books I own, some I’ve borrowed, read at the library, seen at friend’s homes… I just think they’re cool books, and I think you might like them too. I promise not to clutter up with too much advertising. That was never my intention with this site.
  • Further down the right hand side, there is a “Google Friend Connect” box. I don’t know if there are people other than my family who are following my craziness – well, on a regular basis. I sure do appreciate it if you are, and if you feel so inclined to follow along, feel free to sign-in.

So, around 8:00 PM last night, I realized, “OH, it’s Sunday!” It was one of those, “Gee, I thought it was Saturday” moments, and I have to get my head back into the weekday routines.  But no, I was wandering around cyberspace and found this site: Sign Generator from RedKid.net. So much fun to be had. There are lots of images to choose from – pick one and enter your phrase. That’s how the Monday Soup came about.

How about your own Oscar award? Street sign? Magic 8 ball? I would have to shake the ball again if I got this fortune. We all have those days, don’t we? I feel like making a bunch of goofy ones and sending them off to my friends.

Lastly, go by Craft Critique today to see my review on Donna Downey products (there are 3 articles, mine is number 2 or 3), and sign up for the wonderful giveaways! I’m so excited to be able to bring these fun opportunities to readers! Entries are open until Wed., May 5… Happy Cinco de Mayo!

(My Craft Critique legal disclosure that I have to include so I or others don’t get in trouble!)

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