Tag Archives: tardis

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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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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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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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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