Nintendo Thumb Merit Badge

This is my Nintendo Thumb Merit Badge. I got this badge for my hours upon hours of gaming on the NES. I loved Super Mario Bros. I sucked at Duck Hunt... So, this is my Merit Badge. Mostly I just really wanted it. And it looks cool.

If you want to earn one of your own:
Remember the excitement of your youth. The awesome 8 bit graphics. The days before hi-def digital super computer gaming systems.
Write me a comment and tell me about the game you rocked. And then make one for yourself. (and add it to the flickr group!)

Got Over It Merit Badge

This is my Got Over It Merit Badge. Recently there have been several family issues that are stressing me and Mr. Optimist out. Jake goes with the flow. I hold a grudge. When we were talking about the issue, Jake suggested that if I got over it I could make myself a merit badge. That was enough motivation for me... Ahahahaha!!!

If you want to earn this badge yourself:
Challenge yourself to get over some very painful/anger inciting event that you just can't let go of... Let it go. Listen to Eckhart Tolle. Write me a comment so I can celebrate with you. Make yourself the badge. (I'm proud of you!)

Read the Comic Before the Movie Merit Badge (Watchmen Edition)

This is my Read the Comic Before the Movie Merit Badge (Watchmen Edition), aka The Watchmen Merit Badge.
I earned this badge by reading the comic (several times! - ah, I'm a geek) before the movie came out. Okay, yeeeears before the movie came out, but still, I read it last week too... LOL!!! To me, us comic geeks don't have enough finery to show our awesome coolness to the world, so I neeeeeded this... Plus, I thought it was a cool/geeky comic craft...

If you want to earn your own badge:
Read the Comic! It's totally worth it. When you're done, you can leave me a comment about what you thought about it. That's all it takes to earn this badge. Then you can make your own awesome The Watchmen Merit Badge.

I will post a tutorial this weekend on how to make your own!

Bringing an Idea to Fruition Merit Badge

Here is my first Crafty Merit Badge! It's about an inch or so across (I used the top of a vitamin bottle for the circle) and I love the homemade-ey-ness of it. This is my badge for Bringing an Idea to Fruition. I earned this badge by actually finishing my badge, and posting about it. I plan to make a cover for my laptop, and sew my badges on to it.

If you want to earn your own badge:

Think of something that you loved from your past, and create a version that will support the person that you are now!
Leave me a comment about it, and maybe a picture of your project (if appropriate), or a link to your blog about your project.
I will post a very small tutorial about how to make my badge this weekend, so you can make your own when you've earned it!!

I think I'm also going to start a flickr pool for merit badges so that we can all see your awesome completed badge!

Merit Badges

My littlest cousin is a Brownie.  A very accomplished mini-scout with a vest full of badges to show for it.  Last weekend, at Mimsey's birthday party, she brought along some boxes of cookies, which everyone went crazy for!  I haven't seen a scramble for cash like that since the time that Jake and I got stuck on a toll road and had to scrounge quarters out of the floorboards of the old Sprint (or was it the Geo?).   Sandy and I both marveled over her vest, since we too were once bedecked with the scouting jewels of accomplishment.  The hours of time invested in learning new skills, worth it for the awesome badge of honor we wore proudly.  We were the only ones in our troop with full sashes.  I asked my mom about that recently, because I just thought it was because she was troop leader and wanted her kids to set a good example.  She said nope, she thought it was cool that her girls had the most badges!  I laughed for days about that.

I miss merit badges.  I want something to show off my mad movie quoting skillz, or my advanced pizza making skillz, or my ability to complete sewing, knitting, and crochet projects these days without crying (even once!!!).  How about a badge for throwing a kick-ass party?

I found some awesome Nerd Merit Badges at this site.  There are two so far, but it looks like they have plans for more.  Not my dream badges, but good for my Nerdy-Cool brother-in-law.

I have looked at this book a number of times.  I really want to like it.  I want to find it awesome, and just what I wanted, but it's all of the work of "earning the badge" and aside from the actual skill learned, it's sort of anti-climactic.  And it looks like hard work.  And I don't want to learn those skills... I admire the idea.  But it's not crafty/creative enough for me.

That leaves me with one option.  I will have to create my own.  Perhaps that will be the first merit badge: Seeing an Idea through to Fruition...  Hmmm...  

I will think about this for a while, and let you know what I come up with...

Evil Cookies!

Savor the Thyme and Tangled Noodle are running this awesome contest/roundup  called Eating Your Words, and is a challenge to create words written in food and/or drink...  I just couldn't waste an opportunity to play with cookie dough, so this is my entry into their roundup...

Behold, the Evil Cookies!!!

They are evil because they are so tasty. 

Mimsey and I made them this morning (she watched, ate raw dough, and poked her fingers in the completed letters, and I tried really hard not to nick her with the knife when she reached in front of me... Argh!!!!!), and I frosted them with leftover frosting from her birthday cake.  The elephant just showed up this morning, Mimsey found it in the back of a closet I think, and it was too cute to not include...  

If you would like to enter your own creation, you can find out more here!

Latest Project

One of my back teeth has been bothering me.  I keep getting stuff caught back there when I eat, so I've taken to carrying around floss picks with me.  I know, so gross, way too much information.  I've been carrying them in my first aid kit, but I saw the cutest project bags on a blog that I now can't find, and wanted one soooo bad, so I decided to make a miniature one to carry my floss, a travel toothbrush, and some toothpaste in my purse.  And because I loooove Doodle Embroidery, I had to decorate it...  It's a simple little lined pouch with a stretchy loop and button, but oh, it makes me so happy...