Monster Storage Book of Monsters

Greetings fans! Welcome to 

the Fangirl Crafter's school of WitchCRAFT and WizarDIY!

Today's lesson:

The Monster Book Of Monsters

Written by Edwardus Lima, the book provides a lot of helpful information, but also has a nasty bite if you don't take the necessary precautions first.

It made its first appearance in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban during which Hagrid thought it would be a useful textbook for his Care of Magical Creatures class.

Its scary appearance and mean reputation for biting ankles is what makes this book a great way to store your most precious possessions. Not even a Dark Lord would dare to mess with its contents!

What you will need:

-A storage box in the shape of a book, or pieces of cardboard
-Enough craft fur to cover the box and make tentacles
-A hot glue gun and LOTS of spare hot glue sticks
-Plastic safety eyes or clear glass gems from the floral section with eyes drawn on
-Red, brown, and white polymer clay
-Chalk pastels or acrylic paint
-Brown felt and gold paint or a printable text
-A small amount of stuffing
-(Optional) a belt (for protection)


Continue reading to begin the lesson

Lightsaber Scarves For the Crafty Jedi

Hey fellow fans! Happy Star Wars Day part II! 

I've kept these a secret for over two months, and I figured May the 4th would be the best day to finally share! (I know it's almost over, shhhh)

Lightsaber scarves! 

I am so very proud of these! I crocheted them completely without a pattern using my lightsaber hilts and various internet photos for reference.

I tried to include as many details as possible to make it look semi-screen-accurate.

As I said in my last post, I grew up with Star Wars. It was a huge part of my childhood. It never mattered that the hero was a boy, I knew from the beginning that I was a Jedi just like Luke Skywalker. The green lightsaber was (and still is) my favorite.

Then The Force Awakens came along, and here's Rey being everything I've always wanted in a hero, completely solidifying my choice.

When I saw the blue lightsaber in her hands, I knew had to make it too!

The crocheting student has become the master!

I have a New Hope for the Star Wars franchise. (Oh yes, I went there.) I can't wait to watch Rogue One and Episode VIII!!! GIVE ME ALL THE STAR WARS

Now if they would just put more Rey merch on the shelves! Amiright?!


What other lightsaber would you like to see crochetified?
I've got some other ideas marinating in my noggin'. I'll get around to them eventually. ;)

FYI: if I ever do make these to sell or on request, they will not be cheap. If you're absolutely serious I will consider making another one. Send me an e-mail and we'll chat!

May the force be with you, fans!

Thanks to my mom for putting up with all my geeky photo requests. You're a trooper ;)

Yub Nub! Knitted Ewok Hood

It's May the 4th and you know what that means!

It's Star Wars Day!

One of my favorite geeky holidays! And boy do I have some awesomeness to show you! (Considering you like Star Wars and/or knitted/crocheted things.) Keep an eye out for new posts today and/or tomorrow for Revenge of the 5th!

Star Wars is my ultimate favorite fandom. It was the first one I really became a part of, and has stuck with me for over 18 years. This past winter, I finally decided to add a really cute Star Wars inspired hood to my collection:

The Ewok hood!

This idea has been marinating in my mind for the past 8 years or so. I was never able to find a pattern that was exactly what I wanted. That is until the day that I decided to design my own!

The results are really satisfying and super cute! I even wore it to the theater when I went to see The Force Awakens. Once people figured out what it was, they loved it!

While I will not be releasing a pattern in the near future, (mostly because I'm rubbish at it,) I will give you an idea of how it came to be! If you are more advanced with knitting, you may be able to work out a pattern that suits you!

The piece was knit flat long enough to go around my neck and more. Then I bound off 15 or so stitches from the end and continued upwards with the hood. At a certain point, I began decreases in the center to add a curved shape to the back of the hood. (I HATE pointy hoods! Unless they're elf hoods...) When the length was right, I kitchener stitched the top sides together.

If you make a hood based on this, please tag me in it on Instagram or Twitter and use #fangirlcrafter!

For the ears I used a pattern from Stitch Geek that I found on Ravelry. Adjusting the pattern according to my needs, I knit the pieces together using two types of yarn for my desired look. I used (my favorite) Caron Simply Soft solids in brown for the plain front and Jo-Ann Sensations Beautiful for the fuzzy back.

It's so comfy and so much fun to wear!

Have you ever made an Ewok hood or something Star Wars related? Let me know in the comments!
Also, feel free to add me on Ravelry. Even if I'm not on that often, it's fun seeing what friends are making and connecting with other yarncrafters!

I hope you have a FANtastic day, and May the 4th be with you, always. 

Eat Your Heart Out

My love with Jane Austen is undying, just like zombies. That's why I think they make such a great combination. "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" comes out in theaters today and I am so excited to see it on the big screen! Elizabeth Bennet has been a hero of mine for years, and when they turned her into a katana-wielding zombie-slayer I couldn't help but love her even more. She kicks butt!

To celebrate the movie's release, I decided to share my zombiefied porcelain figure that was inspired by the artist Jessica Harrison. Check out her amazing creations! She was also the one who tattooed the porcelain figures.

I loved the idea of zombie porcelain figures, but hadn't found the right one to gore up. Then one day when I was thrifting I found this lovely lady with her hand already amputated for about $1.50. Score! My skills are not even close to the level in my inspiration, but I am happy with the results.

I know zombies eat mostly brains and other... bits... but the position of her hand made me want to stick a heart in there. I have an awesome shirt that has a zombie eating a heat that says "Eat Your heart out" which also helped inspire my decision.

I like to think she was a woman who had just been scorned, and after she was turned into a zombie all she could think about was ripping the heart out of that man's chest (with maybe a few brains for dessert).

She's GOREgeous, don't you think?

Check out that teeny, tiny heart! (Apologies for grainy phone photo!)

I used this tutorial from PuddingFishCakes to make the heart as anatomically correct as possible:


I had to work with both acrylic and enamel paints to decorate my zombie'd figure. The acrylic was used for the clay heart because the enamel paints started to eat away at it! It was getting sticky and gross really fast, so I had to clean that up and start over. I used a blend of red, black and white enamel paints for the rest of the blood and gore. I left it alone to cure and it stays pretty well as long as nothing scrapes it off. Here are photos of the process:

Have you read PPZ? Will you go to see it in theaters? 
I'm curious to see Matt Smith as Mr. Collins! Which is as curious about Mr. Collins as I'll ever be, lol.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” ― Seth Grahame-Smith, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

This month seems to be made of awesome... and zombies! Deadpool and The Walking Dead's return is next week too, and I'm really excited for both of them. Bloody hearts all around!