Nerd Alert!

Look what came in the mail yesterday! Dinosaurs, birdies and more dinosaurs! Oh my!

Or actually...dinosaurs, dinosaurs and more dinosaurs! Oh my!


how to make colored staples

A thought occurred to me the other night; could I get staples in other colors besides boring ol' silver? One quick Google search later, and I had discovered that I could indeed. After reading a few bad reviews though, I decided to hold off on buying any. The complaint is the same for a few different brands; the color is just painted on and tends to flake off.

I came across a suggestion to use Sharpies to color the staples yourself, so I searched for info on that. Not much came up though, no tips, how tos, pros or cons. It sounded like a good idea, plus I have loads of staples and dozens of different colored Sharpies, so I tried it out for myself. Here's my experiment, complete with unprofessional pictures!

how to make colored staples

In this picture you can see how a few different colors look; blue, purple, green, orange, red, teal, magenta, and black. I got all fancy and drew black stripes on the the last one. I've just colored the tops of the staples here, but you could color the sides as well. I guess it depends what part of the staple you'll see on your finished product. Also, some colors show up better than others on the staples.

how to make colored staples

Color quickly, trying not to go over the same place two many times. Coloring over the semi-dry ink seems to cause it to sort of "gum up" and wipe off. This picture is of the worst looking ones I did. Once they are dry though, the ink doesn't wipe off with normal handling.

how to make colored staples

The ink can scratch off, but not easily. My fingernail didn't make much of a dent, so I tried it with the sharp pokey end of a chunk of staples. That certainly did the trick.

how to make colored staples

Victory is mine! I think I like the stripey ones the best.

Got any hints? Got a better idea? Done a similar tutorial? I'd love to hear about it, so bring it on!

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walk the dinosaur

Here's a perfect example of why I hate being an adult. We have to stand against the wall being all "mature" while the kids have all the fun. Except for the guy in the suit, I suppose. Ok, I volunteer to be in the suit!


stats n' cats

Have you ever looked at the stats for your Flickr photos? You can see which photos were viewed and how people ended up there, like through a search engine or a link from a website (as long as someone clicks on that link). It's pretty cool! Google Analytics is loads of geeky fun too. I've been using it for ages now, just 'cause I can. It tells me all kinds of wonderful things, like what cities my visitors are from, and the most popular posts.

And guess what? Right now if you Google "catstache", my Flickr photo is the first link that comes up! This amuses me greatly, but then again, it usually doesn't take much.

Behold, the mighty Catstache!

This is hand embroidery on a postcard, and I done did it. :)


Just a regular Monday

This morning was chock full of "the usual". There are things that must be done in the mornings, things that most people probably do before their day really gets going. My routine generally goes like this; get up, brew coffee, drink coffee, read emails/web comics/blogs, get shower, get dressed, eat breakfast. Sometimes I switch things up a bit and eat before I shower. I think I should be doing it in that order from now on though, because I just found a corn flake stuck to my forehead.

Yup, I'm just that awesome.

In other news, it's Monday, but I'm not really feeling the groovy macramé vibe today. I'm not really feeling any kind of vibe. There are a few half finished posts in my drafts folder that I really want to clean up and post, but the words just haven't been flowing.

Perhaps the rogue corn flake was just the catalyst I needed.


Macramé Monday!

Just a quickie today, folks! I'm gonna send you on over to Macramé Owl, an "organization dedicated to saving, rehabilitating and reviving the macramé owl." It's great for a chuckle!*

EDIT: *I should have said "It's a hoot!". Why, oh why, didn't I think of that last week?