The Domestic Scientist

If you guys remember, last year I made a Weeping Angel Christmas Tree Topper. This year, I made a second one for this video we made for Disasterpiece Theatre:

After I got a few messages about how people wanted to buy them or make one for themselves, I decided to give them both away! Also, that attacking angel really freaks me out and I kinda want it out of the house. I know, I know, I’m the one that made it, but still. *shudder*

Anyhoo! Here’s a video with details on how to win your very own Weeping Angel Tree Topper! Bonus, you get to see why I’m never on camera. I’m a complete spaz and Alex had some fun with editing. At least he cut out the cuss words streaks I had when I had yet another flub.

I have a couple of very clever friends, Jen Yates, Sharyn Hamilton, and Alex White. Do you know what happens when you get a bunch of pun-loving, clever foodies together on Twitter?

Shenanigans! Punny, food-related, shenanigans.  More after the jump…. Continue reading →

Felicia Day, or as some of us call her, the Queen of the Geeks, is one of my favorite celebrities (besides Jen Yates, of course). I started watching her when she created The Guild, and have followed her ever since. I love her new YouTube show, The Flog, on her channel Geek & Sundry, which has other awesome shows like Table Top and Written By a Kid. Super fun stuff!

When I saw her logo for The Flog, I thought it would be wonderful to see it as an actual cameo. And since I’d always wanted an excuse to play with resin and silicon molds, I made one!

It took me at least 5 tries to get this thing right. Turns out, making cameos is really freaking hard! Sooo tiny. But ya know what? The look on Felicia’s face when she saw it made it all worth while. She was so excited! So excited, in fact, that she made me stay after getting her autograph so she could get her camera and producer and interview me. Wanna see what I look like when I’m having to fight back a complete fangirl squee attack? Check out this week’s Flog:

You should watch all of it for all the Dragon*Con awesomeness, but my bit starts at 2:50. I’m so proud of myself! You can’t tell just how hard my heart was pounding! And that bad lighting totally hides the fact that I had just been standing outside in the Atlanta heat waiting for her panel and all my makeup had melted off. Woot!

I have to say, this was the best Dragon*Con I have ever had. I got to meet (AND HUG!) two women that have inspired me and made my world a brighter place through their blogs and videos. I know I told them in person, but I want to say it again: thank you, Jen and Felicia. I’m glad you enjoyed the tiny things I made for you, but know that those trinkets don’t even come close to conveying how much I appreciate and love what you do. Stay awesome, ladies.

If you know me in real life, you know how much I adore Jen Yates. She is the creator of CakeWrecks.com and Epbot.com, two of my favorite websites on the entire world wide web. She’s hilarious, creative, sweet, talented, humble, and a huge geek. If you don’t read either of her sites, click those links and read them. Now. It’s okay, I’ll wait.

………

So did you go to her sites? Aren’t they awesome!? Now we can continue.

Anyway! As a crafter, one way I like to show my favorite celebrities love is by making stuff for them. So this year, I finally worked up the courage to make something for Jen. Her logo from Epbot is an adorable little robot, and I thought it would be perfect for a plushie. So here he is!

I forgot to take a picture of him before I gave him to her, so she let me use the one she took when she got home. My fangirl heart exploded a little bit seeing it on her penny desk.

I have to tell you, Jen is quite possibly one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. If you ever get to track her down at Dragon*Con, you should do so. She is one of those rare people that is just as nice in person as she is online. Even nicer, I think. And her husband, John? Just as awesome. Man, I miss them already. *sad face* I need to start saving money now for a trip to Orlando. I don’t think I could go another full year without seeing them again.

Would you like to know who else is awesome? Garret Wang from Star Trek: Voyager. He was in our hotel room doing an interview with Alex and Stephen for Disasterpiece Theatre. Our schedules were all wonky that day, and Jen couldn’t make it in time to meet Garrett in person. So I asked him to pose with the plushie, which he did cheerfully and added his own note for her:

I can’t tell who’s more adorable, Garrett or the plushie.

I have already received a couple of requests for a pattern, but I have to say, I have NO idea what I was doing. I was just going around in circles, then ripping out stitches and starting over until it looked right. But I am going to redo it and write down what I did this time. It’ll take me a couple of weeks, at least, but when it’s done, I’ll be sure to post it here. And also send it to Jen so all of her fans can have little Epbots of their own. Now I have to figure out how to actually write patterns…. All that 2sc 1dc code hurts my brain!

Sooo I totally forgot to post this when the guys uploaded it. Myyy bad!

Having trouble with the ladies? Check out this video on how you, too, can pick up chicks like the masters. Jedi masters, that is.

Go check out more funny at Disasterpiece Theatre.

I’ve been inspired by Wil Wheaton’s recent tweets he makes when he wants to be snarky. He usually talks about unicorns frolicking over rainbows, and occasionally kittens. Also, his “Don’t Be a Dick” anthem is so true and applies to everyone. I wanted to make him something for his birthday in celebration of his awesomeness. So here it is:

Now I just need to find someone who knows how to use Illustrator to clean this mess up! Any takers? It’ll be like a coloring contest! The winner gets 1,000 internets! If you want the original size, you can find it here.

And remember, Don’t Be A Dick!!

Here is our latest video inspired by the Hunger Games:

This was the most fun I’ve had with a video. Got to dress up Stephen in the most ridiculous way, and created ways to kill all my friends! I think the fake log was my favorite to make. Thanks to all of our friends that helped with this! We couldn’t have done it without you!

Most of my crafting time has been going to stranger and stranger new skills. Recently I learned how to do zombie makeup! You can see the results in our latest Disasterpiece Theatre skit, Zombiscuits:

And soon we’ll have a second skit! Alex is editing it down now

…. for MINIATURE Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness.

For my birthday I was originally going to make a Pinkie Pie cake, but after watching the MMMMystery on the Friendship Express episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness just sounded so delicious, I had to make it. And let me tell you, Mr. and Mrs. Cake are geniuses! While I had to make some guesses as to the flavors used, all that pink and yellow said strawberry and lemon to me. This was one of my favorites cakes so far. Tart lemon frosting, slightly crunchy and silky meringue layers, marzipan with it’s definitely unique flavor, all mellowed out by the strawberry cake. *nom*

Here’s a pic of the inside:

And for those of you that haven’t seen the episode, here’s a reference pic:

You can now see where the Miniature part comes in. As much as I love celebrating my own birthday, I didn’t think I needed a 6 foot tall monstrosity!

Wanna make one for yourself? Awesome! Here’s how I made mine.

Cake: Just box strawberry cake. (Sorry, cake elitists!)

Meringue layers between the cake: I used this recipe. The only change was the size of the meringue. I marked the size of the cake layers on parchment paper and filled the circles in with the meringue and then baked them. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Frosting: Lemon Mascarpone Icing
2 8 oz. packages of Mascarpone Cheese
About 6 cups Confectioner’s Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Extract
a smidge of yellow food coloring

Put the mascarpone in a mixer and beat until smooth. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar until the frosting is the thickness you like. Add the lemon extract and food coloring and mix until even.

Marzipan Fruits and flowers: Store bought marzipan and food coloring. I used this tutorial: How to Make Marzipan Fruits Candy.

The rest is easy! Bake the cake in layers, then put a really thin layer of frosting on one layer, put the baked meringue on top of that, a little more frosting, then another layer of cake, and so on and so forth until you have the entire thing together. Frost, decorate, and you have your very own Mascarpone Marzipan Meringue Madness! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go Pinkie Pie the rest of that cake. As in eat it ALL. Nom nom nom.

In case you didn’t know, my other half has a podcast with two of our close friends, Brooke Fox and Stephen Granade, called Disasterpiece Theatre in which they try to come up with movies that are so bad they become hilarious. Hilariously horrible. They’ve even had a couple of celebrities on there like Colin Ferguson, Misha Collins, and Nicole de Boer. Stephen and Alex play the roles of Hollywood executives and Brooke tries to keep them in line. Hilarity ensues.

And if that wasn’t cool enough, we have started making videos for your entertainment pleasure! Here is the first one we have done so far:

So excited! We have a few more in the works, so be prepared for movie inspired hilarity!