All posts by Beth Lynn.

My Nerdy Workspace

I’ve been pondering posting about this for a long time, and with my home office finally getting cleaned up over the weekend, I figured it might be a good time to show off my nerdy workspace.  (I also sometimes refer to it as the nerdy girl-cave, heheh.)  I will warn you now – my workspace is incredibly cluttered, and ridiculously pony-covered.  Proceed with caution.  🙂

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Here’s the view upon heading into my office.  You can already tell it’s quite an eclectic nerd-splosion, from the Princess Peach backpack and change purse hanging on the doorknob to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash hanging out on the pillows on the bed.

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Beth’s Craft Picks of the Week! – 5/13

Hello all!  I’ve got another fresh batch of awesome craft projects for everyone!  This week I’ll be focusing on cross-stitch projects I’ve found around the internet recently, so hopefully everyone’s got some Aida cloth and an embroidery hoop handy!

Wreck-It Ralph Bad Guy Affirmation

WreckItRalphAffirmation

I featured this pattern a few weeks ago over at Geek Crafts, and figured it was definitely worth a mention here!  I do love Wreck-It Ralph, after all, and I plan on making this pattern myself, framing it, and hanging it in my living room.

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Recovering from the end of the semester

I know, I know, my hiatus has been about double what I thought it would be.  I’ve been working on recovering from the end of the semester, as well as working my way out of a deep depression.  Which is hard, but it happens.  (The most recent post in Hyperbole and a Half describes my past few months perfectly.)  But I’m finally on an upswing, and finally feeling somewhat rested and together enough to get back into posting.

While I spent time recovering from the spring semester…

  • I had a ridiculously pony-themed birthday party.  It was fun, and none of my friends seemed to care that everything was decorated in Pinkie Pie while we all gathered around to play Cards Against Humanity.
  • I cleaned out my crafting closet, and got rid of some things I didn’t need anymore and pared down some stuff that I didn’t have quite enough room for.
  • I took a two week break from crafting altogether, and only recently picked up my Doctor Who scarf.  (I’m two thirds of the way done with it!)
  • I watched a lot of television, and read nowhere near enough books.  This needs to be changed.

And that’s what I’ve been up to.  Expect some more regular posts next week that focus on all the good things – namely, nerdy things and crafty things!  And nerdy crafts!

Short blogging hiatus!

Hello, all you crafty nerds – I just want to let you know that due to end-of semester craziness, The Crafty Nerd won’t be updating this week.  However, next week I’ll be back to posting amazing awesome things!  So stick with me, and if you’re not already following The Crafty Nerd on Facebook, please do!  I will be posting random nerdy/crafty things there.

See you all in May! 😀

The Crafty Nerd Plays Video Games: Street Fighter II Turbo

2013-04-20 17.16.49I finally got around to hooking up the Super Nintendo I bought before Christmas.  I know, I know, I should have hooked it up long before, but I’ve been way too busy lately.  I did some living room rearranging this past weekend, though, and figured, why not hook it up while I’m in the process of hooking everything else up?  Once I got it all hooked up, I popped in Street Fighter II – it’s one of my favorite games, and after watching Wreck-It Ralph so many times, I’d been itching to play for quite some time. So, come sit with me on my living room floor as I play Street Fighter!

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Book review: Anything Goes by John Barrowman

I’m going to preface this review with the following: I need to read more.

I’ve fallen into a sad habit of watching too much television lately.  Sure, there’s lots of wonderful television shows out there!  Doctor Who, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Farscape, Firefly, Archer, 30 Rock, Mad Men… but I used to read so very much!  When we moved to Bloomington, I signed out a giant stack of books and read through them in a week!

So I’m going to challenge myself to read more – and I’m also going to talk about the books I’ve read, too, in hopes people discover new books to read.  And I’m going to start with a favorite of mine.  (A favorite that I should really buy my own copy of.)

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Anything Goes by John Barrowman

This was an incredibly quick read!  And an incredibly enjoyable one.  If you’ve watched Doctor Who or Torchwood, you’re familiar with John Barrowman – he plays the incredibly awesome Captain Jack Harkness in both shows.  (He’s also in Arrow, but I haven’t seen that yet – I don’t have cable, and live off of Hulu and Netflix, and missed out on the start of it, sadly)  This book tells his story – from when he was a kid, to his experiences as a teenager, all the way through to his time on Doctor Who and Torchwood.

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I’m a writer over at Geek Crafts!

This is a short little update for you all – I just want to let everyone know I’m writing over at Geek Crafts!  I’ll be posting a new geeky craft every Sunday afternoon, and today I’ve posted my introduction.  (I go by Beth Lynn over there, since there’s already a Beth there!)  I hope everyone’ll go check it out!  I’ll be sharing links to my Sunday posts over on The Crafty Nerd’s Facebook page – so if you’re not already a fan, go hit the Like button in my Facebook widget over on the right side of the page!

 

The Best and Worst Parts of Being A Nerd

Being a nerd sure seems like a lot of fun.  You get to play lots of games, go to conventions, watch all sorts of awesome movies, and so much other stuff.  However, with great awesomeness comes great responsibility, and occasionally great downfalls.  This was actually one of the most requested topics on a recent poll I posted on The Crafty Nerd’s Facebook page, and I’m going to go into what I feel are the best parts, as well as the worst parts, of being a nerd.

This is what happens when I'm in full-on nerd mode. This picture is ancient, but even now, 13 years later, I still do this when I get fangirly.

This is what happens when I’m in full-on nerd mode. This picture is ancient, but even now, 13 years later, I still do this when I get fangirly.

The Best Parts of Being a Nerd

  • You get to dress up in fun costumes on days besides Halloween!  I’ve dressed as Princess Peach in March, Pinkie Pie in August, and all sorts of other costumes for fun occasions.  Plus, if you’re skilled enough at it, you get to make those costumes, too.  I think the best part is making the costume, and then putting it on and marveling at all your hard work come to life.  
  • Games.  SO MANY GAMES.  Board games, video games, tabletop RPGs.  Fluxx, Cards Against Humanity, Dungeons and Dragons, Final Fantasy, Super Mario Bros., Munchkin, the Ace Attorney series, and those are just the ones I can list off the top of my head.  There’s always something fun to play, something to stimulate your brain with.
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Beth’s Craft Picks of the Week! – 4/15/13

Hello all!  I hope your Monday went well – mine was a bit of a mixed bag.  Ah well.  I’ve got a fresh batch of crafty picks for everyone this week!

Case of the Mondays Cross-Stitch Kit

hatemondaysSpeaking of Mondays… this would be a hilarious addition to anyone’s cubicle, haha.  It’s in a handy dandy kit, put together by Purple Hippo Stitches, and also part of their Tax Day Sale!  I’m half done with my own set, and plan on sticking mine in my cube once it’s done.  It’s really simple, and an easy intro to cross-stitching if you’ve never done it before.

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The Crafty Nerd Plays Video Games: Sailor Moon S Puzzle Game

I love playing video games.  It’s one of the first nerdy things I’ve ever done – play games on my Atari when I was 5 years old.  I especially love retro video games – the older, the better.  After a friend of mine posted about the Sailor Moon games that came out for the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom back in the height of Sailor Moon’s popularity, I figured I might as well see if I could find some of my old favorites to play with.  And I wasn’t disappointed!

lunagame_00000Here we’ve got the Sailor Moon S puzzle game!  I have no idea what the actual official name of it is, as I can’t read Japanese much more than identifying the kanji that stand for Sailor Moon, but this is my favorite of all the puzzle games that were released for the Super Nintendo.

lunagame_00003Most Sailor Moon fans of a certain age on the internet will definitely recognize these sprites – they were on Lycentia’s Sailor Moon Graphics Site!  She’d lovingly pulled all the sprites from all the Sailor Moon Super Nintendo games, and animated some of them too.  This is the character select screen – you can play as pretty much any character in the series up to the S season.  I picked Jupiter, as she’s one of my long time favorites.

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