Chompapotamus Hoodie

Ladies and gentlemen, a fearsome beast of legend! Behold, from the mists of antiquity and beyond the furthest shores of foreign lands, a creature so dangerous that until now no specimen has been brought before you. Do not listen to fakers and frauds who claim that such a beast has never walked the earth, for the comfort of their so-called "facts" will permit not the quaking terror that would assail them were they to admit the truth. What truth, ladies and gentlemen? Before you now, on this very website, proof of the Terrible Chompapotamus!

Do you have a small terror that needs an upgrade to prehistoric status? Then why don't you equip them with this fine reptilian garment.  NOTE: With Our Powers Combined is not responsible for dinosaur noises, dragon bites, or crocodilean death-rolls that may result from giving this to your or someone else's child.

You'll Need:

• Small hoodie, the size of your target or perhaps a size larger so they grow to full size (ours was green, 4T)
• Felt, 1/2 yard (yellow)
• Sewing machine, matching thread, scissors or rotary cutter
• Cardstock for spike template

Lifehack Printables

For anyone who spends at least a little time on Pinterest (and really, who only spends a little time) you're probably familiar with the term "printables."  Printables are pre-created files that can be printed and used for any number of purposes.  I've seen pre-packaged files for birthday invitations, teaching tools, kitchen labels...you name it, there's probably a printable for it.  The sad thing about most printables, however, is that they are "disposable."  As wonderful as most to-do lists and meal planners are, you have to print one for each day or week or month, etc.  Not to mention, they're not often tailored to what you really need.  Well, J and I have some specific household needs, primarily centered on the fact that we're rarely home at the same time.  Thus, we've created some specific, non-disposable, printables.

Hometown Triptych

Personalized gifts are one of the perks of being a crafter.  They're also one of the challenges.  When you have the ability to make something from scratch, there's rarely a good excuse for it to be boring or uninspired.  Over the years I've learned that personalized gifts are always the perfect thing for someone who "has everything."  If you can make it memorable or heartwarming, sometimes it doesn't have to be useful.  With that in mind, I set out to make something special for my parents, who "have everything" and love to travel.  This year's perfect personalized gift:  a triptych of papercrafting projects personalized for parents! Each piece includes a map of a city where our immediate family lives.  This project can be altered easily to include maps of where you've traveled or where you met your partner, etc.  Lovely and very personal!  To put them together you will need:

• 12x12 frames (I used "t-shirt" frames, but they'd look great in shadowbox frames as well)
• 12x12 scrapbook paper
• maps of your choice
• coordinating cardstock
• gel pen - color of choice
• double stick tape (or Scotch glue)
• double stick foam tape (if desired)
• deckle edge scissors or rotary cutter

Cloth Continued

This week I'm blogging about a blogger and her blog.  Yeah, I think I got that sentence right.  My aunt has begun a new blog about her passion for the crafting lifestyle and how it should be shared as a legacy for generations.  I invite you to take a peek at her first couple posts to get a better sense than I can give you secondhand.

"Cheesecake" Dessert Plates

Some holiday traditions include hiding a surprise in your dessert. Why not a dessert plate that hides additional "cheesecake" under the slice you're already eating? (Womp womp) Inspired by a significantly less sexy project from the Big-Ass Book of Crafts, we elected to build this one for our burlesque-performer sister-in-law. Building this exact piece is an ordeal in finding the right materials, but the concepts contained in this post can be readily applied to almost anything you can fit into a pair of fishnet stockings, which years of attending the Rocky Horror Show have taught me is damn near anything.

You'll Need:

• 6 clear dessert plates with a flat bottom (as that's the last flat bottom you'll see in this article. Zing!)
• Valspar spray paints (we used red, black, and gloss clear. The finish of the colors is unimportant)
• Mythical deck of burlesque playing cards (see below)
• Fishnet stockings (cheap is fine)
• Spray adhesive
• Rubber bands or clothespins

Review: Sticking Together

J & A here. This is the first post in a line of review posts about specific materials we use for our projects. This week, a big topic: Adhesives. Unless you only use Lego, at some point you need to stick things together. We're here to talk about our favorite adhesives and why you see some names come up over and over on here.

First up: the common adhesives.

The Pick of Destiny

 

J here. A few years ago, I decided I was gonna make my own Pick of Destiny. My brother is a musician and turned me on to Tenacious D during my college years, and I knew that building him the Pick as it appears in Master Exploder (as a magic necklace) was the way to go. If you don't know Tenacious D or the Pick of Destiny, be warned that any links or research you follow about them will be NSFW (Not Safe For Work). That's the last warning.

So, short of chipping the tooth of the Devil and fashioning that scrap into a musical implement, how do we go about this? I'm so glad you asked.

New Year's Resolutions & 2013 Shared Build

[If you are finding your way here from a Facebook status update or other social media thing, why don't you head over to our Facebook page and Like us? It's the best way to keep up with the DIY nerdcraft of With Our Powers Combined.]

Good year, everybody. We got a lot done, didn't we? But there's always more to do. To that end, we've got some New Year's Promises we're going to make. And we'll offer some Resolutions for you to play along at home. Accept if you like, sneer if you must, but we're just trying to help. In the end, we made this blog to keep ourselves working and to help you make the stuff you want in your lives. Together, we're crafting a lifestyle.

So, let's get to the fun stuff.