Supernatural Devil's Trap Rug

When it comes to demons, you have a number of options: you could line your doors with salt (but that's easy to disturb), you can ring the house with iron railroad ties (which your home owner's association would love), or you can tattoo every member of your family with anti-possession charms (which still leaves them vulnerable to getting all their parts broken). No, what you need is a good, old-fashioned devil's trap. Get one of those black-eyed buggers stuck in one of those and you have all kinds of time to figure out what to do next.

I should specify that I mean in Supernatural, right? Maybe I should have started with that. In any case, a devil's trap at your front door tells the world that you are a fan and tells demons that they aren't welcome. (Disclaimer: May not do anything about hellhounds. Shoulda thought about that before you sold your soul.)

You'll Need:

• A door mat (Ours is double-sided for extra trickiness)
• Posterboard
• Spray paint
• Acrylic paint
• Fabric medium for paint
• Brushes, cutters, drawing stuff, etc.

Social Crafting

A here.  Although I’ve been absent from the blog for a while, making and creating has never been far from my mind.  I’ve been working on commissioned projects for friends and family and planning some bigger things for our new house.  One of the major perks to having our own place has been the ability we’ve had to expand our studio and share our space with others.  One of my first goals once in the new place was to host a craft day for the women of my family.  I set a date and promised myself that the new house would be presentable in time.  Deadlines are always a good motivator!

Resuming Transmission

Preferred brand over Do-It-Acceptably.

Since last time, we've undertaken two completely new projects. One is completing our relocation from the desert of the American Southwest to the verdant meadows of the Midwest (West, as always, being very relative to how much you consider East). That move made the spray booth project necessary, as there were abruptly seasons and precipitation and humidity, oh my. That move has ultimately resolved itself into our first permanent base of operations, a converted bedroom in our new (to us) house. We have some posts lined up on a fun paint treatment...

And some marvelous themed wedding attire...

And a surprise appearance of some Supernatural iconography that will help visitors to our home feel very welcome!


We also attended the local Maker Faire recently and have started a conversation with a nearby maker space which will help offer classes, open up fabrication options for us, and possibly lead to WoPC classes being taught in our neck of the woods! We'll let you know if that becomes a thing.


We should also note that in addition to some fun household projects for breaking in our new place (and maybe brightening up yours!) there will be some projects in the coming months, and likely the years beyond, on a collaboration that A and I have been working on for a little while. We'll have more news in the future but the project is assumed finished sometime in mid-January.

We won't be providing a step-by-step tutorial on this one. Lots of sites cover this one in, uh, detail.

Sorry for the delay, but we will be getting things back on track from here on out. We even have "Blog Post" as one of the weekly items on our new refrigerator printable. You know we'll get to it now that it's on a list!

DIY Cardboard Spray Booth

One of the biggest shocks of moving from the desert to the Midwest is a sudden change in everything outside your home: The air changes temperature, everything gets wet, it gets so not-warm that sometimes you have to dress differently... It's exhausting keeping up with this changing weather. We used to leave the cardboard box we spray-painted things on outside for weeks at a time and the worst that would happen is a small dust storm would move it a few feet. Now, we've been snowed in on the weekends and it simply isn't conducive to spray paint when everything is frozen under a few inches of what I am assured is water that fell from the sky. The sky! We needed something to let us spray paint more-or-less indoors. Maybe you do, too.


You'll Need:

• A box fan
• Furnace filters similar in size to your fan
• A cardboard box at least as big as the fan/filters
• Duct tape
• Empty gift cards or other sheet plastic
• Zip ties
• Under-cabinet light source
• Lazy Susan
• Flexible dryer hose, plus some hardware (hose clamp, some kind of flange for vents)
• Tools: Cutting tools, straightedge, measuring things, marker

Creative Mending

As artists, J and I are both creative and inevitably broke.  This means we do most of our shopping at thrift stores, and I spend a lot of time mending clothing to make it last past its use-by date.  During this process, I often get bored of stitching things up and trying to make them look "like new."  What if I could make them better than new?  More interesting or unique?  Cue this week's post, a story about what happens when A gets bored and won't let go of her prized gray sweatshirts.

Supernatural Hunter's Kit

If I'm being honest with myself, this post really began about nine months ago when J finally convinced me to watch a few episodes of Supernatural with the sales pitch, "It's a show about two attractive brothers who cry and punch each other.  Oh yeah, and they hunt monsters."  So, J was out of town and I thought I'd give it a chance.  A few days and seasons later, I was obviously incurably hooked.  Although I arrived about 8 years late, Sam, Dean, Bobby and Castiel kept me company all summer and I was caught up before season 9 began.  It's my guilty pleasure, and for those of you out there who understand my recent obsession, WOPC presents our homage to the Winchesters!

Painting Boardgame Miniatures

As game pieces come out of the box, sometimes they don't fit the story in your head. They're too boring or too badly painted. Sometimes you get confused because the red guy and the orange gal look too similar and the wrong piece gets moved for a few turns. For whatever reason, sometimes your board game bits need some classing up.

We're here to fix that.

You'll need:

• Acrylic paint. I use the craft acrylic tubes from various sources (Delta, Ceramcoat, FolkArt... Whatever's on special, essentially)
• Small brushes. Like, impractically small. My largest common brush is an acrylic size 0. It goes down from there. I suggest a 0 for blocking out colors and a 10/0 or 20/0 for details.
• Future Floor "Wax", now called Pledge Premium Finish with Future Shine. Clear acrylic for use on floors, thin like water, mildly fragranced. Does not taste good.
• Paper towels.
• Clean water.
• OPTIONAL: Xacto knife for cleaning mold lines/details.
• OPTIONAL: Palette for mixing. If you want to make your own, buy a picture frame at a dollar store and some duct tape. Instructions below.

WoPC in Review

We're back!  It's been a long hiatus...too long, really.  Due to moving, job changes, and the holidays we've been unable to devote the time and attention we want on WoPC lately, but all that is about to change.  Before we jump ahead into a new year of crafting, gaming, sharing and celebrating we want to take a quick look at some of the things that have made this venture successful and fun.  Why do we keep blogging?  Here are a couple reasons:

Tetris Rag Quilt

We've been working harder than ever at WOPC to bring together our two fan bases: nerds and crafters.  With that in mind, we set out to create a handmade nerd quilt just for that particular demographic.  We've also realized that many nerd crafters are of the generation who are currently having children, settling down, starting families, etc.  Thus, the crib-sized Tetris Rag Quilt was born!  Made in much the same way as our ever so popular Rag Quilt, this Tetris quilt is simple and soft enough for use in a nursery....as long as that nursery is full of bright colors!

 To make this puzzling quilt you'll need:

• 2 1/4 yd. Black Flannel
• 1 1/2 yd. Gray Cotton
• 1/2 yd. Turquoise Cotton
• 1/4 yd. Orange, Purple, Red, Yellow, Green and Dark Blue Cotton
• 36"x54" of quilt batting (or a little less)
• Black Thread

From Concept to Completion: Bottlecapped Sidebar, Part 2

It seems like just yesterday that we were discussing the woodworking for our minibar-- Wait, Part 1 was put out in July? Before the long darkness where we just wasted your time on budget costumes? Huh.

Well, we finished it a few weeks back but we were on a roll for Halloween, so you'll have to forgive us if it took a while to show you. We haven't gotten any messages about woodworkers sitting with an unassembled bar in the living rooms waiting on us, but that doesn't mean we don't owe you any closure. So here we go: staining, bottle caps, and resin. Let's build this thing.

Two-Face Costume

We've talked a little bit about cheap options for robots and superheroes, but what if you want to go a little further? This year I was interested in a costume that involved some sewing and a decent makeup project, on a somewhat more limited budget than most years. From there, I started brainstorming a concept and made my way over to Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop or Two-Face from Batman's rogues gallery. I decided the choice would be made based on finding a light colored suit vs. a blue jumpsuit. One light gray suit later, there we have it. That's practically a coin toss, right?

You'll Need (for the Suit):

• Light colored or white suit, natural fiber (wool, cotton, linen)
• Two dress shirts, contrasting colors. Both should fit you.
• 2 bottles of Rit Die for color of choice (in this case, Scarlett)
• Thread and buttons for matching the new suit color
• Sewing machine, scissors, usual sewing stuff
• (Optional) Serger

...and for the Makeup:

• Liquid Latex
• Facial Tissue or other thin paper
• Makeup in your skin tone, plus highlight and shadow a few shades up and down from there
• Baby powder (not makeup powder, you'll need lots)
• Hairspray
• (Optional) Hair color, spray or bottled

Antique Mirror: Mirror Spray and Crackle Paint

Sometimes you need a nice antique mirror to finish off your mantelpiece or over your bed. For us, it's haunted parties. Whatever. With one specialized product (and a bunch of common household items) you can make your own tarnished silver antique mirror with a crackle-paint frame. Clear your afternoon, we're making antiques!

You'll Need:

• Picture frame with glass
• Krylon Looking Glass Mirror-Like Spray
• Spray Bottle
• White Vinegar
• Paper Towels
• Acrylic Paint
• White Glue
• Brushes, water, palette, etc.

ANNIVERSARY!

One year today! About this time last year, A and I were in The Container Store discussing baskets or something. I laughed and said I had come up with the name for a blog and she said we had to do it. A day or so later, she'd gotten everything registered and we haven't looked back. Until today, when we look back on what this year has been for us.

Lighting (Your Pumpkin) wth Arduino

Earlier this week, we showed you how to make your own eternal jack-o-lantern. You could toss some LED candles in there or you could jack that thing up to 11...

This will be the first of (hopefully) multiple posts on using the Arduino logic control platform for various home uses. I'm not a brilliant programmer, and that's kind of the point: I'm learning the system by looking at the world, deciding what I need to happen, and figure out how to get there. As I go along, I'll discuss my thought process in here. Feel free to jump in if there's something glaringly obvious that I'm missing.

What You'll Need:

• Arduino board (I use an Uno)
• LEDs, preferably high intensity
• Assorted resistors
• Wires, soldering iron, electronics tools, etc.

Papier Mache Pumpkin

We're all about saving a buck on home décor, especially seasonal stuff where you only have it out for all of October and part of September. Or, uh, a week or two for other holidays.

But one thing you don't want to skimp on is jack-o-lanterns. These are a Halloween decorating classic, but it can get frustrating to find just the right pumpkins every year and painstakingly craft a new spooky face or pop culture reference. So why not make a permanent one? Yes, you could go nab one of those foam carver's pumpkins at a hobby store, but what if I told you that you can get awesome permanent pumpkins for almost nothing? It takes a little creativity, a little time, and a lot of getting your hands messy. Let's get started.

You'll Need:

• Empty plastic bags (lots of them)
• Masking tape
• A permanent marker
• Flour
• White glue
• Liquid starch
• Newspaper
• Thin cardboard
• Hot glue gun
• (Optional) Cellulose fiber insulation
• (Optional) Drywall joint compound, pre-mixed
• (Optional) Dedicated craft blender

Side Table Graveyard

Halloween season, folks. Some will say that there's only a month until Halloween, but purists know that it's 13 months until next Halloween, so plan early. If you aren't on the "But next year..." schedule like we are, now's as good a time as any to get started. For the next month, we'll be providing photos of projects, décor ideas, and DIY costume inspiration.

First up is a bit about upgrading dollar store finds to make a classy centerpiece or end table display, the Side Table Graveyard. Making use of those little novelty grave stones so popular in craft stores and dollar joints this time of year, why not have a group of them be something spookier than the sum of its parts? It might even make a good companion to some full-size gravestones in your collection.

You'll Need:

• Little gravestones. Cheap and ugly is fine.
• Acrylic paint. The tubes at a craft store will work great.
• Some brushes, particularly one biggish one you don't like.
• String of lights (blue or purple are ideal)
• Bag of fake spider webs

Game Day Mango Salsa

Last Saturday was game day for the WOPC household, and by game day I mean board game day!  We are lucky enough to have met some folks with a love of board games that nearly equals our own and host a potluck-style brunch whenever we get the chance.  In addition to treating ourselves to several hours of gaming therapy, it also gives us a chance to try out new recipes on daring guinea pig guests.  This month, it was J's favorite: Mango Salsa.

To make my version of this deliciousness you'll need:

• 8 oz. canned Dole Tropical Fruit, drained
• 1/2 tsp. dried cilantro
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 3 tsp. lime juice
• 1 chipotle pepper
• 1/4 medium red onion
• 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

Making a Board Game, Part II

In our previous installment, I discussed material choices and card printing. I discussed some assembly of parts as well. This time, we're going to discuss a subject a little closer to restoration than original production. Today, we're replacing pieces.

You'll Need:

• A game in need of new parts
• A graphic manipulation program. (I use GIMP)
• Source images
• Printer, cardstock, spray adhesive, cutters, etc.

NOTE: With Our Powers Combined does not condone using the following methods to re-produce someone else's material for the purposes of getting things "for free." Creators deserve to be paid for their work. The techniques are offered to create new components or replace existing ones of a game you already own.

Rustic Rag Quilt

As I've expressed before, I am continually inspired by my crafty family.  Everything I know about the art of making, I learned from those I love.  This week's post is no different.  Earlier this summer, at a family baby shower, I fell in love with a baby quilt crafted by my mother.  It was soft, bright, and looked like home.  As my cousins and I oooh'd and aaaah'd over the thing, my mom and my aunt were quick to mention how easy it was to make rag quilts.  So easy, in fact, that all three of us cousins took notes that very day.  Three months later (because of procrastination and lack of planning) I have my very own soft, homey quilt!  Cat loves it, J loves it, and it keeps my toes warm while we watch Supernatural!

To make your own quilt you will need:

• Various amounts of cotton quilting fabrics (math comes in handy on this one)
• An expanse of flannel equal to the total amount of square footage of cotton fabric you intend to use
• Quilt batting (I used "Nature's Touch Cotton Batting" 1/4" loft)
• Lots of thread, I suggest buying a new spool of your chosen color
• Cutting implements (mat, rotary cutter, quilting square or sturdy straight edge)
• Sewing implements (machine, scissors, pins, bobbin, etc.)

Meowlnir, the Hammer of Thor

Object may not be actual size.

It's time for us to pull the curtain back a little. Our stripey little friend who has been so helpful through many of our projects (Computer Wrist Rests, Paper Holiday Wreath) is named Thor. Apparently he was an energetic little cuss who was "as fast as lightning" at the shelter and was affectionately nicknamed before we took custody of him. We liked him, kept the name, and Thor became a member of the family. (As an aside, a member of my gaming group/regular reader of the site adopted a Loki the same week. Total coincidence.) He enjoys throwing his toys, and it occurred to me: I have a Thor who hurls objects down the hallway. Get this cat a hammer of the gods! Meowlnir would be forged here in Midgard!

You'll Need:

• Felt. I used a heather gray and a brown.
• Pipe cleaners. Mine are brown, but technically any color works.
• Polyfill stuffing
• Needle and thread. I used a light silvery gray.
• Fabric glue
• Graph paper
• Marking and cutting implements