Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
I have not had much time this year to think about Halloween. In fact, I won’t even get to dress up this year! My lovely stepsister is getting married, which is lovely and nice and a whole different kind of dress up, really. And there’s cake instead of candy, so who can complain?
But what might I do after hours? Well, I’ve worked it out! With a 10 minute Doctor Who costume that I can pluck straight from my current wardrobe. Nothing like a free Halloween, if you ask me.
So if you want to be the Doctor, here’s what to snap from your current wardrobe for a quick costume change:
This is obviously a Matt Smith Doctor, but you can adapt it however you like.
You can see me rocking my very own version of the Doctor in this post from a few years ago. And if you want to make your very own lady like bow-tie you can find that here.
And if you want to rock the classic Amy Pond, here’s what you will need to pull from your dresser to rock the look:
You can see how Emma rocked the look a few years back in this post here.
I hope you feel like a space and time traveling wunderkind in these looks. And that you feel quite smart for saving so much moola to look so sharp on the eve of the Hallow. Happy Halloween, friends!
Our cat Alice is adorable and fun and silly. But she’s also wildly picky. She doesn’t like most traditional cat toys. You have to feed her different food every day or she’ll stop eating. And so when it comes to strolling through the Christmas kitty presents, I know most things won’t meet her high standards.
Like most kitties, she loves catnip, but it’s a mess. Enter my ingenious way to give her catnip without getting it all over the damn house. And while she may not understand the concept of Christmas presents, she does love when something new that she utterly loves shows up in her life.
Happy holidays to you and your furry love balls. Hope you have a wonderful, catnip crazed, season.
So Halloween is upon us and I’ve been sucking down Caramel Apple Pops like I got hired to check out the evenness of the caramel to apple ratio. In fact, I am not being paid. I just have a problem. Or an obsession. Whatever. Point is, you don’t have to go the candy route! You can totally go DIY on your Halloween costume AND your treats.
Here’s some really fun ones:
Make Veronica Mars themed Marshmallow treats! Add some food coloring to make them a little more festive if you like. Or don’t. White is fun too. Recipe here!
Make Star Wars themed Death Star Popcorn Balls! I love me a popcorn ball. And while they were a hot item on the grocery shelves during my trick or treating years, they are much more uncommon now. So, you’ll just have go get the kernels and the butter and the syrup and do it yourself. So worth it. Recipe here!
Cook up Harry Potter’s favorite pumpkin desert! Everyone loves Harry Potter, even the newest readers of the series. I love the pasties because they are so good fresh, but they’re even better cold. Shhh. I know it’s weird. But yum. Recipe here!
Let’s bake some Iron Man Arc Reactor Cookies for all those Marvel themed customed kiddos! I’m expecting to see at least 10 tiny Thors, 6 adorable Hulks and 5 itty bitty Iron Mans on Friday. It only makes sense that I’d delight them with Arc Reactor cookies. Come on now! So cute. Recipe here!
I’ve seen many a variation on the spray painted toy animal or reptile or object over the years, but I’ve never really tried it. This was a mistake. Because it’s the easiest, cutest, most tangibly cute project I’ve done in a long time.
I won’t even insult you with the DIY, because hello, spray paint meet tiny rubber toys. But honestly, these teeny tiny dinos do deserve fun homes, so let’s dream up some hilarious options:
1. The dash on your car (most awesome plastic co-pilot ever)
2. Add a key ring and throw one on your gym bag. Feel like a monster while working out.
3. Place one on top of your oven. Remember that not all dinosaurs were carnivores.
Where would you put your adorable glam dinosaur?
Earlier this year, I fell in love with a cat tipi. But I wasn’t so in love with the price.
I am seriously considering spending $50 on a cat tipi. I know My cat literally won’t care. What’s wrong with me?
— Elizabeth Giorgi (@lizgiorgi)August 16, 2014
And so I did what any crafty person would do, I started thinking about alternative ways to make it for considerably cheaper. I figured if I could make it for less than $30 it would be worth the effort. And surprisingly, the home garden department was the answer to my quest.
With the help of a few garden trellis parts, a yard of fabric and about 30 minutes, I made my kitty love a little house. Full disclosure: she loved it way more while it was just three pieces of wood leaning together and a piece of fabric thrown over it. But I have caught her in there a couple times since. These are cats we are talking about after all. She couldn’t possibly want me to actually see her enjoying anything.
The basic idea is this:
1. Go to your local garden store and look for a 2 foot to 3 foot long garden trellis. They often come in triangular shapes because it’s easier to attach plants in that configuration. Buy 3 of these. Then, tie them together using some leather cording in a triangle.
2. Wrap a large piece of fabric around your tipi and figure out where the opening will be. The opening is going to be on the flat side of one trellis. You will need to either cut out or saw out a triangular opening, depending on the toughness of your trellis.
3. Pin back the corners of the fabric so that the kitty can come and go as she pleases and pin the corners so the fabric doesn’t come off.
I suppose the most important step is to put a treat inside so she’ll be compelled to check it out. Or her favorite blanket… as Miss Alice would demand.
