Tag Archives: doctor who

Our Tardis Bathroom

12 Jul

When we moved last year, the bathroom was hideous with tiles that must have been installed sometime during the 60s.  I was excited to think that I would have a chance to make my ultimate geeky bathroom.  Despite its small size, I wanted the bathroom to scream Doctor Who when you stepped inside.  I exhausted my search for Tardis bathroom items and settled on making them myself.  Before I could started, some odd twist of fate occurred.  ThinkGeek sent out a notice about a new Tardis shower curtain.  Within a matter of weeks, I had my shower curtain, bath mat, toothbrush holder, and soap dispenser.

I supplemented all of this with solid blue items that I picked up at discount stores and even a spare piece of wood that came in my sister’s wine rack box.

 

Bathroom 1 Bathroom 2 Bathroom 3 Bathroom 4

You can buy these accessories by clicking their pictures below:

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The TARDIS Trunk

13 Apr

Tardis Trunk
Trunk Before 1It all started so innocently.  I have always wanted an old-fashioned trunk.   Towards the end of the summer, I passed a garage sale on my way home from work and came across a very beaten up trunk.   They were actually selling the stuffed animals inside of it and you got the trunk for free.  For $5, I bought my trunk and donated the stuffed animals to charity.  The new trunk had seen better days.   Someone had painted the outside bright green and then used green and pink shelf paper to line the inside.Trunk Before 2

I got to work scraping and cleaning the trunk as best I could.  I peeled away all of the shelf paper.  Using sandpaper, a paint scraper, and buffer, I cleaned, peeled, smoothed and scraped away the inside until it was clean enough to look slightly presentable.  While cleaning a plan had formulated.  I was going to turn this trunk into a TARDIS.
Trunk Before 3 Trunk Before 4

To start changing this trunk into the TARDIS I needed some materials from both a hardware store and the craft store.

The Trunk Base

Supplies:

  • Several cans of Blue spray paint
  • 1 large plastic tarp
  • Several rolls of Blue duct tape
  1. In a well ventilated area, place your plastic tarp on the ground and slide the trunk on top.
  2. Spray the entire outside of the trunk Blue.  (This may take several coats and turns.)
  3. Cover the entire inside of the trunk with the Blue Duct Tape. (I did try painting it at first but it didn’t work so well on this texture.  I also tried contact paper which would not stick to the wood.)

Now that we have a base, the hard part starts.  I was going to paint each bit but then I got a better idea.

At work,  I used Rowmark LaserMark Blue/White to laser cut out the door panels.  The windows and door signs are designed by me and laser cut from Rowmark Flexicolor White/Black with 3M backing.  The Police Box sign was also designed by me and laser cut from Rowmark Flexicolor Black/White with 3M backing.   Once I put it all together, it looked FANTASTIC.

Tardis Trunk Top

Tardis Trunk Inside

I tried to think about what inspirred the idea of making the trunk into the TARDIS and I think it was a Neatorama article about a TARDIS Bookshelf.  I remember thinking how cool it would be to turn my own furniture into Doctor Who-themed items.

 

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NY ComicCon Part 2 – Heroes and Such

13 Apr

ComicCon GroupOur journey to NY ComicCon 2013 was almost complete.  We just needed a good costume for T.  He was going to go as the 10th Doctor but after reading about how hot it gets walking around.  I decided rather than spending the day hearing him complain about how hot he was and carrying the suit all over the place that we needed a more comfortable costume for hot areas.

Rory TristanRory Williams costume
We were able to put together a Rory costume from Day of the Moon (6.2). We already had the polo shirt, shorts, and sneakers so it was only a matter of tally marks and the sharpie around Rory’s neck.

The tally marks: I used waterproof black eyeliner to draw on the tally marks all over the place. I figured they would be easy to remove when we got home but hold up to any sweating that may occur.

The sharpie on a string: I took a dried out sharpie and glued it to a piece of twine to be worn around the neck.

Rory costume is complete.

Now Off to NY ComicCon.

Kidditch1 Kidditch2The kids started off their day at the “Kidditch” (aka Kids Quidditch) which was presented by the International Quidditch Association in the Family Room. At once point, my son turned to me and told me he had found “his” sport. They both had a blast as they each took turns in the groups for lessons in tossing the quaffle, throwing the bludgers, and chasing the snitch.

Afterwards we headed tot he autograph room to get in line for John Barrowman. As we go in line, I discovered that sometime at Quidditch, T put down the bag he was holding for me while I took pictures of Suuki having their turn. This bag contained my cellphone, $120 cash, 2 credit cards, my driver’s license, T’s Epi-Pen, Suuki’s Lactaid, both childrens’ insurance cards, and the ticket to the parking garage where we parked the van. Basically, without this bag, our adventure was coming to a screeching halt.

A female crew member stayed with my children in the John Barrowman autograph line while I ran back to the Family Room in the hopeless search for the missing bag. The Quidditch people were gone so I began to randomly ask the next group that was setting up. One girl asked me my name. She then pointed me to one of the authors sitting in the Family Room. She said he had found a bag.

Children’s author and comic book writer, Alex Simmons became a REAL ComicCon hero. He found the missing bag and kept is safe for me. He turned our first experience at ComicCon from disastrous to miraculous. Our special trip together was falling apart by Mr. Simmons was there save the day.

Barrowman1Now came the LONG wait in the autograph line for John Barrowman. From 11:22 AM until 2:03 PM, my two ADHD kids, one with Asperger’s, managed to stay in line to meet one of their heroes. Of course, breaking out the DS stash at 12:30 PM helped. I had told them at the beginning that they would have to share a picture of “Jack” because of the amoBArrowman2unt of money we allotted for the day. The kids were so cute and got all tongue-tied when the got to meet him. As he began to sign his autograph, he noticed that the two of them had only 1 picture. He turned to Suuki and asked them to pick what picture they thought was the best. Suuki pointed to a different picture than the one we paid for. He grab that one off the table, autographed that one, and gave it to them. They each has an autographed picture and giant grins but John Barrowman was finished making everyone’s day. He then told them “Do you know why you have a great mom? *pause* Because she took you to ComicCon. Thank you, John Barrowman, because you made this mom very happy. (I didn’t know my camera was dying at the time so the pictures we took were fuzzy.)

I felt really bad for Gareth David-Lloyd. He was very sweet but this day was for the kids and, well, Torchwood, does not have a kid audience so they did not know Ianto Jones.

We took a quick bit of lunch which I had packed in the backpack and we were off to the vendor floor. Once up there, we did not come up for air until ComicCon closed. The kids had a great time and enjoyed every second. Suuki felt like a movie star when people started asking them if they could take their picture.

Here are a few of the people we took pictures of on our visit:

CC People 2 CC People 3 CC People 4 CC People 5 CC People 6 CC People 7 CC People 8 CC People 9 CC People 10 CC People 11 CC People 12 CC People 13 CC People 14

Check out NY ComicCon Part 1 – Sailor Moon Costume Revisited.

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Pinewood Derby – The Tardis Car

3 Mar

This past weekend was my son’s final Pinewood Derby before crossing over to Boy Scouts.  For his final car, he wanted something spectacular.  He had me make him “stickers” at work to go on his car to make it look professional.  When I say “stickers”, I mean pieces of plastic with 3M backing engraved into the design pieces he wanted.

Revell makes official BSA wheels in more than just black that comes with the kit you receive from the Cub Scout.  He opted for the Blue but you could also buy red and yellow.  Seeing how his mom can craft but not really whittle wood, we also bought the Funny Car body.  The paints were on sale for 88¢ at A.C. Moore.  We used Folk Art Metallic Blue Sapphire and Folk Art Metallic Silver Anniversary.  He won a medal from Most Futuristic Car and earned the 3rd place trophy for his Den.

Tardis Car

The Tardis Car

Most Futuristic Car

Of course, his sibling made their own car as well because threy felt it wasn’t fair that the Girl Scouts didn’t have a derby too.  They layered their paints.  the bottom 2 coats were Folk Art Pearl Aqua Moire and then it was topped with Folk Art Extreme Glitter  Aqua.  They glued seed beads that we had to make snowflakes.  The window was done using their brother’s paint.

Frozen Car

The Frozen Car

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2nd Grader Finds Gallifrey

23 Feb

The schools are drilling the kids hard with the Common Core(aka Common Crud). One of the many things that are drilled into the 2nd graders this year is restating the question in their answer. They do drills on this often. My kid saved this one to show me. I was so proud when I read their answers. I love my little Whovian.

Restating Gallifrey

For those who need a little help with 2nd grade handwriting:

3.  If you could travel to space, who would you take with you and what would you find there?
If I could travel though space and take a friend I would take Karen and what I would find there is Gallafrey. (Not a bad attempt for an 8 year old on spelling Gallifrey)

4.  What did you dress up as for Halloween?  Describe your costume.
I dressed up for Halloween as Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon has long, long hair and a blue, small skirt.

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Happy 50th Birthday, Doctor Who!

23 Nov

50TH CAKEy50th picChalk Big

In honor of the big day, I am reposting how to make Dalek cake toppers.  Who doesn’t want an edible Dalek?

IMG_0258 IMG_0256 IMG_0257

Dalek Cake Topper

Ingredients:

  • 6 flat bottomed ice-cream cones
  • 1 Wilton White Rolled Fondant 1.5lb
  • 1 Black Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Brown Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Golden Yellow Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Black Pearlized Sugar Pearl Sprinkles 5oz
  • 10 pieces of black taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 4 pieces of white taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 1 pieces of blue taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 1 small package of thin pretzel sticks
  • 1 small package of powdered sugar (This is used to keep the fondant from sticking to table, rolling pin and pretty much anything.)

Directions:

It is a good idea to wear gloves on your hands for steps 2 – 9 to prevent turning your hands blackish brown.

  1. Stack 2 flat bottomed ice-cream cones into each other and turn upside down on a plate.
  2. Separate the fondant into 1 lb and 1/2 lb balls.
  3. Add black icing color to 1/2 lb ball of fondant and knead to desired grey color. (Note: You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  4. Add brown icing color and just a touch of golden yellow icing color to the 1 lb ball of fondant and knead to desired golden color. (Note: You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  5. Make 3 balls of golden fondant the diameter of a quarter and place to the side.
  6. Separate golden fondant into 3 even balls and then roll out the golden fondant with a rolling pin. (Note: You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  7. Place the golden fondant ball in top of the bottom of each ice cream cone and then carefully cover the whole thing with the golden fondant. you can tuck extra fondant under and into the cone to secure it. (Note: Have a small cup of water handy to use to seal the ends by rubbing it with water.)
  8. Roll out the grey fondant ball with a rolling pin. (Note: You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  9. Cut 3 – 1/2 inch strips of grey fondant. Wet the golden fondant on fattest part of the cone and wrap the grey fondant strip around it to form the Dalek base.
  10. Pour the black pearl sprinkles into a bowl. (Good time to remove gloves.)
  11. Do these next steps one cone at a time: Using your fingers, moisten the bottom of your Dalek just above the grey base to the dent where the cone tapers in.
  12. Carefully place the pearls onto the cone in 4 rows creating columns of “Dalek bumps” on your Dalek.
  13. Unwrap 2 pieces of white taffy and knead them until they are soft.
  14. Roll the taffy and cut into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then form the lights on the top of the Dalek’s head. Moisten the area you wish to place the lights and the bottom of the lights. Press into place.
  15. Do the stripes one at a time. For each, unwrap 2 piece of black taffy and knead until soft.
  16. Roll the taffy into a thin string and cut it into 3rds. Wrap each piece around the base of your Dalek’s head.
  17. Unwrap a black piece and a white piece of taffy. You will need to pull them together over and over to create a grey piece of taffy.
  18. Break 3 pretzel sticks in half. Wrap one end of each with the grey taffy and shape into a eggbeater. Stick the other end, downward into the left side of the Dalek above the “Dalek bumps”. (The Dalek’s left but your right.)
  19. Unwrap the remaining black taffy and knead until soft. Mold the taffy to make 6 suction cups, 3 slight larger than the other 3.
  20. Stick a pretzel stick into the back of each suction cup and mold the taffy onto the pretzel.
  21. The larger suction cups are inserted on the opposite side from the grey beater shaped pretzels. These make up the Dalek arms.
  22. Unwrap and knead the blue piece of taffy. Form 3 small balls and place them instead the 3 remaining suction cups to be lights.
  23. Unwrap the knead the last piece of white taffy. Roll very thin, almost string like, and wrap around the middle of each suction cup pretzel remaining.
  24. Insert the last suction cup pretzels into the Dalek’s head, dead center.

stackedconesfondantcoveredconedalekbaseDalekbumpsheadlightdalekstripesDalektrio

 

Here is to 50 more years!!!!

Chalk Sky

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The Weeping Angel Halloween Decoration

24 Oct

WeepingAngel1Who has the scariest door in the entire town?   We do and it only cost $1 to make.

You will need:WeepingAngel2

  • 1 Black Foam Sign ($1 at the Dollar Tree)
  • 1 Silver SharpieWeepingAngel3
  1. Write the words “Don’t Blink!” on the back of your Foam Sign with the Silver Sharpie.  Write the letters in a scary looking font.
  2. You can download and save this one or you can do a Google search for Weeping Angel Face.WeepingAngelMask
  3. Select your the scariest.  Print out either mine or the one you selected.
  4. Color the eyes in with the Silver Sharpie for a creepier effect.  Cut out your Weeping Angel Face.
  5. Hang both on your door to scare the neighbors.

Bonus:  You can also print mine or the one you selected out.  Glue it to cardboard.  Cut the shape and the eyes out.  Now you have a Weeping Angel Mask.  Eek!

“Don’t blink. Don’t even blink. Blink and you’re dead. Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away. And don’t blink.”
-The 10th Doctor, Blink(3:10)

WeepingAngel4

Related Weeping Angel scariness:
1. Weeping Angel Cookies (Discovered at:  Topless Robot)
2.  Weeping Angel Mask (Discovered at:  The Mary Sue via Fasionably Geek)
3.  Weeping Angel Family Car Stickers
4. Don’t Blink Flip Up Tradtional T-Shirt or Don’t Blink Flip UpWomen’s Tee

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Summer Reading – Chalk Kick Off

27 Jun

Chalk-Full Picture w artisitSo tonight we had our local library’s summer reading annual chalk kick-off.  This event invites the kids to come and decorate a rectangle or square of concrete in front of the library with chalk.  My picky 7-year-old artist wanted these new Crayola sidewalk chalk set that boasts to have crayon like colors.  Wow, did they ever!  My little Whovian had a blast and created, what the local new website called:  a Doctor Who poster.

The chalk was truly amazing.  The colors were vivid and with 48 of them, they had plenty to work with to create her masterpiece.  They just really wished there was more black to do the outlines.

Chalk-Full PictureArtist studies her subjectChalk-AdiposeTardisChalk-Artist slecting her colors

After the event we had an appointment and my 10-year-old had fun trying to figure out how this thing worked:

Phone

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Sonic Screwdriver Picture Gets 4th Grader Reprimanded

18 Jun

doctortristanMy 10 year old is finishing 4th grade and moving up to the junior high next year.  For their graduation ceremony the kids were sent home with a long strip of paper with instructions to trace themselves and decorate their outline any way they want as long as they did not use REAL clothes.  Being a HUGE Doctor Who fan my son decided he was The Doctor running into his TARDIS with his sonic screwdriver in hand to get away from a swarm of Dalek.  It came out fantastic.  He even glued on different shades of brown thread to make the hair on his head.  Sounds pretty innocent, right?

Wrong!

He was reprimanded by his school principal for having an outline with a weapon on it.  A screwdriver can be used as a weapon and it looks like he is breaking into that blue telephone booth with the screwdriver.   Wah?  Huh?  She went further to say that he should have made his face on his outline instead of him running into the TARDIS, back to the observer.  She tried to make him draw a face on the back of his head but he refused.  She offered him buttons to make the back of his suit look like the front.  Umm?  No where in the instructions was there anything that said make sure your face is in the picture.  The instructions were pretty clear that you can do whatever you want as long as you didn’t use real clothes.

He was proud of the end result of his projects so I fought to make sure it stayed as it was.  He had to write a paper on what his outline meant.  No other child in the entire grade had to do so.    I told him to write it as if someone has never seen Doctor Who because clearly the principal had not.  This is what he wrote:

My outline is of me playing The Doctor on Doctor Who.  I am running to my TARDIS which is stuck looking like a London police call box from the 1960s.  The TARDIS is short for Time and Relative Dimension in Space.  It is a time machine and a spaceship.
I am holding my Sonic Screwdriver.  I can use it to repair alien technology, do medical scans, track alien life forms and occasionally open the TARDIS door when I forget my key.  The Doctor often uses his sonic screwdriver to save the universe.
 I am running into my TARDIS with my sonic screwdriver to get away from a swarm of Dalek.  I will use my sonic screwdriver to repair the controls of my TARDIS and save the planet from the bad guys by disabling their weapons.  I do not like weapons.

The thing that makes me most exasperated with this is that back in December he had a class assignment that required him to make a WORKABLE bow and 2 USABLE arrows out of materials found in nature.  So having 9 and 10 year old children make WORKABLE/USABLE weaponry is allowed but drawing a Science Fiction-based tool is not.

8cff_doctor_who_sonic_screwdriverallowedThis same school district suspended several seniors for 5 days on the charge of “assault with a deadly weapon” and one of them was not even at school at the time but suspended all the same. What weapon did these seniors dare bring into the halls of the high school? Water Balloons.

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NY Post Accidentally Confirms the Existence of The Doctor

4 Jun

While waiting for the school bus to come this morning, I was reading my father’s copy of the NY Post when I came across startling proof of the existence of The Doctor. There hidden in a small editorial by Andrea Peyser were facts from a 2013 report about HPV disease. Wow! The Doctor is real. My kids swear they heard the Tardis.

NY Post accidentally confirms the existence of The Doctor.

Some words were removed from the image so that my children could look at it.

Meanwhile, I am working on a document area to share all the documents I have created to make my son’s Boy Scout achievements, belt loops, and pins easier to understand and complete. I want to share the resources with everyone so that is coming soon.

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