Another month, another list of nerdy things I’ve been into! It’s interesting to me how the things I’m interested in change up. This will be a neat series to look back on come December!

Custom Doll Videos

I always seem to stumble onto interesting things on YouTube. I’m not sure how, but I do. This month, I stumbled upon the custom doll community. I’ve only really started watching videos from two folks (both the woman in the video, and the person she did the collab with), but look forward to checking out more folks as I work my way through these two collections. Much like planner videos, there’s something calming about them, and the artistic talent of the creators is also not to be ignored. They’re just good, wholesome, fun videos to watch.

Library Books Galore

This month I’ve taken off on reading. I’ve finished seven books in August alone, which is more books combined than I’ve read in the past seven years. I’ve mentioned a bit before how reading was something that waned out of my life for quite a while. I knew in January that I wanted to start reading again. I set myself a goal to read 10 new-to-me books (or comic volumes, which I count as books), and I think I’ve surpassed that at this point.

What I didn’t know is that I’d get back into the public library as much as I have. Typically, I’d buy myself books and grow my book collection, but after doing some KonMari at the end of 2019 and start of 2020, I noticed that I only kept the books that truly made me happy. And most of them were not books that I purchased just to read because I could afford not to use the library.

I think I’ve realized that it’s not about the cost of being able to use the library or not. For me, it’s more about the shared experience with folks. Being able to borrow well-worn books from others reading them is just as joyful as owning a copy myself, if not more so. Does that mean that I’ve stopped purchasing books? No. I’ve just become more mindful of what I pick up.

Outlander

There’s not much to say about this other than I’m loving this show, but I’m trying to savor it. I’m also trying not to get too far ahead of the books. I currently have the first book (Outlander) in my TBR pile I’ve borrowed from the library, but I’ve halted on the show because they mentioned a Dragonfly in Amber, which is the title of the second book. So it’s just sitting there, waiting for me to watch it, and that’s okay.

And Obviously…

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Planner stickers. August has been the month when a majority of non-alternative sticker shops have started coming out with “Halloween” stickers. I’ve been very interested in picking these up for day-to-day use rather than just for use during October. I’ve also found some more alternative sticker stores during this time, which has been awesome because that means I have more options during the year. As someone who doesn’t particularly care for the winter holidays, I know I’m not going to bend over backwards for a bunch of kits that’ll come out the next few months. So I’m more than happy to spend some money stocking up on the stickers that make me happy.

Every Labor Day Weekend in Atlanta, there’s this thing called DragonCon. It’s a multi-genre convention that covers various geek-related tracks. It’s fun, but it’s no PAX (they really could use some more gaming stuff! ).

Regardless, I’m really excited for it this year. Chaide and I are able to attend for a change (finances have kept us from doing so in the past), and we live close enough to take the train into the city for a change. The train is also supposedly free this year, which will help save costs if it is true (not that taking the train is much more expensive than driving, but any cost cutting is great!).

We will have to drive one day, though, because we want to see Rasputina the night they’re playing, and by the time we get out, the trains will have stopped. But parking for one day versus three/four sounds much better! One of our guildies is also coming into town and staying for about a week, so it’ll be fun hanging out with him!

What I’m most excited for, however, is to see Terry Farrell (and Rene Auberjonois, again)! The fandom nearest and dearest to my heart is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. While folks just a few years older than me grew up with Wesley Crusher, I grew up with Jake Sisko (granted, I still watched TNG, but I was a few years behind). Even though I know what happens in various episodes, the feels still get to me. And sometimes I see something I missed before.

I’m hoping to be able to attend the panel with Farrell and Auberjonois. It’s the one thing I’ll regret missing during the whole con. It’s of a high priority to me.

Something else I’m trying to do (last minute, of course) is put together a costume for Saturday. The group of geek girls I hang out with comes up with a costume theme every year and takes group photos. I wasn’t going to participate this year, but it’s a fairly easy theme to try to pull off last minute–1950s Fandom.

We’re taking 1950s fashion and mashing it up with our favorite fandoms! So, I plan on making a blue poodle skirt with the DS9 communicator on it, and painting Trill spots on my neck. I’m hoping to do a Victory Curls hairstyle, cat eye makeup, and I’ll need to buy a shirt to wear with the skirt, but it should be an easy find–even a regular t-shirt tucked into the skirt will work and I can bring my black cardigan that I use for work (because I always get cold).

I’m actually really pumped to try to pull it off! I just need to figure out when I’m going to hit up the craft store, though. I’ll have to check the hours and the closest fabric store and prep tonight by taking my measurements to make a quick non-pattern skirt. Maybe I’ll even get over my dislike of photos and post one or two on the blog if I manage to pull it off!

I grew up with the Harry Potter books, and as much as I dislike Harry as a character (ugh, stop being so emo!), I really love the other main/supporting characters, and the Wizarding World as a whole.

So I decided that I wanted to celebrate a Hogwarts birthday this weekend.

What does that entail? A lot of prep. I’ve decided to share with you guys all the stuff I’m doing so that maybe one day someone can make use of it! (Bonus? ANOTHER BLOG POST TO CATCH UP WITH BLAUGUST! … *ahem*)

I’ll be sure to take pictures of everything once made, decorated, etc. For now, this is just the list of everything I want to do/make. Y’know, the planning part. Because that’s the hardest part.

Goody Bags

No party is complete without goody bags, am I right? Including myself and Chaide, there are twelve people invited to my party. So we needed twelve goody bags. Because it’s just fun, even if they’re simple.

Chaide found some Candy Cauldrons (No, they’re not made out of candy. They’re plastic), so we’re going to put the following (loose) inside of them:
Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean
Lemon Drops
Chocolate Frogs (made from chocolate melts)

Activities

For activities, we’re mainly going to watch some of the movies that are my favorites. We don’t own all of them, so we’ll end up renting some of them via Amazon, I’m sure. That’s something we actually need to check on prior to this weekend.

We’re also going to create wands, and potions (from corn syrup and fine glitter)! I know, you’d think this was a party for kids, wouldn’t you? Nah. We’re just a bunch of folks that like to get crafty along with our nerdy endeavors.

Food and Drink

And of course, I’d be remiss to list out the entirety of our menu. So, here we go!

• Hogwarts House Salad – All the colors: red (cherry tomatoes), yellow (yellow peppers), green (cucumbers and scallions), blue (blue cheese on the side for those that don’t like it) with various sundry dressings.
• Hogwarts Fruit Salad – I wanted fruit, so we’re making a fruit salad with bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and green grapes with walnuts on the side.
• Turkey Shepherd’s Pie – I’m not big on heavy meats (lamb and beef), and some of our friends lean toward pescatarian, but will eat poultry in a pinch, so it’s a good compromise.
• Brussels Sprouts – Just your typical roasted sprouts with some balsamic vinegar. They’re so tasty that way! One of my favorite recipes, and oh so simple!
• Professor Sprout’s Herbology Plate – Again, I want some extra veggies, so we’re going to use broccoli, tomato, and carrots.
• Professor Snape’s Stuffed Toadstools – Who can resist stuffed mushrooms? And I’m making them vegetarian, because why not?
• Golden Snitches – Cake pops! They’re going to be adorable! I can’t wait to make them! Even if they look ugly, I’m still looking forward to it!
• Butterbeer – Non-alcoholic for friends who don’t want the two alcoholic drinks we’re making. See recipe number 2 for the one we’re using!
• Pureblood & Mudblood – The two cocktails we’re going to serve. Our liqueur cabinet is still accruing new additions, so we had to limit what we’re making.

I apologize for my mini-disappearing act as of late. Life’s been a tad topsy-turvy. But, things are settling down once again.

Now, I want to bring you the topic… World of Warcrafts!

This blog is supposed to cover gaming, general geekery and crafting. Now, while it does cover gaming (mainly World of Warcraft), and some general geekery (Star Trek, Conventions, etc.), I haven’t done much about crafting. And I’d really like to get better about that. So, what better place to start than merging two of my favorite things? WoW and crafts!

Ever since I started playing, I’ve been a huge fan of the WoW Insider column World of Warcrafts. While I haven’t submitted any of my own crafts, or even created any of my own WoW crafts as of yet, some of these crafts are stunning and absolutely amazing. Costumes, sculptures, robotics, t-shirts, food, toys, fanfiction, comics, machinmas, original music, tattoos, even architecture–you name it, it’s more than likely been featured as a post in the column.

One of my ideas, that I have yet to create, is to make little baubles of small-ish in-game items (orbs, potions, warlock crack cookies, etc.) and make them into keychains, earrings, and charm bracelets. I think it’d be a cute niche. Even though I’m sure it’s been done before. And this year, for all of the Elm-ers that have donated to fund our guild website and/or ventrilo, I plan on making Fimo ornaments of our guild crest as a holiday present.

Now, while I don’t personally have any WoW-inspired crafts of my own to share, much as I would love to, I do have a few favorites of different categories I’d love to link to. So, here commences the link love!!

Fanfiction: Feral By Nature; Converging Forces (not WoW-inspired per-se, but a great read from B3 you have to check out!)
Toys: Kitty Plushies, anybody?; Harpies and Zhevras and Night Elves… oh my!; Voidwalkers… hoooooooo!
Pottery: Cross-Faction Goblet
Cosplay/Costumes/Clothing: The Scarlet Crusade at Dragon*Con none-the-less (also some ultra-props to the young woman for strutting her stuff as a larger woman–she’s absolutely gorgeous)!!
Home Improvement: Lightswitch Cover

What about you guys? Do you make crafts? Do you have favorites of others’ crafts? Let’s see ’em!