Being Geek Chic is a blog for stylish geeks, sophisticated nerds and people who enjoy the musings of a complete dork. Join us as we dream of driving the TARDIS, cuddle with our eBooks and test out an iPad sleeve. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi and a team of brilliant lady nerds. Meet the team.
One of my favorite summer activities is star gazing at my family’s lake place. The calm of the water and the clarity of the sky never fails to make me happy. This DIY is a celebration of that love. Your LCD screen provides the light for making your favorite constellation come to life.
The best part about this constellation iPad/eReader/tablet case? It costs less than a buck to make. Seriously. If you’ve got the tools and thirty minutes, you’re done.
Here’s how I did it:
1. Cut out two pieces of felt in identical shapes with the width and height of your iPad/eReader/tablet in mind. Allow for a half inch seam allowance around three of the four sides. The felt I used is an eco-friendly blend that is very soft and costs less than $.50 a sheet at JoAnn fabrics.
2. Using a very small hole puncher (I used Fiskars Hand Punch, 1/16-Inch, Circle), punch a hole in three of the four sides. Do this for both pieces of felt.
3. Print out a map of your favorite constellation. I used the big dipper. Now use this as a guide to punch out the constellation in the center of one side of your case. Using a larger hole punch (I used Fiskars Hand Punch, 1/8-Inch, Circle), punch out the major stars in your constellation.
4. Thread the edges with a thick yarn. You can do a straight stitch or do something fancy. Have fun with this.
Put your iPad/eReader/tablet inside and turn off the lights. Then, press any button and watch your constellation light up! Fun, right?!
You need:
Two pieces of felt
Scissors or fabric cutter
Yarn needle
Yarn
Hole punches (two sizes) I used Fiskars 12-23508897 Hand Punch, 1/16-Inch, Circle
30 minutes
Total cost: The felt was .39 a piece, the yarn, needle and hole punches were on hand.
I’m into accessories. It’s why so many of my DIYs are accessory focused. They’re an easy way to pep up an otherwise average outfit and always seem more affordable than the blazers, sweaters, jeans and such.
Oh, plus hair. I love a crazy hairdo. (Even though I’m usually too lazy to do my own hair…)
1. Arrow ring//I wear this all the damn time, so it’s hard to avoid repeating it.//(House of Harlow)
2. This is a Princess Leia 1/2 bun (because I don’t have the other side… get it?) with a Katniss braid wrapped around it.
3. Great Gatsby iPad folio//reviewed it here//seriously, you need an iPad folio at work. It’s the best. (Out of Print Clothing)
4. Wonder Woman flats I DIY’d//still my most popular DIY ever & still popular in my wardrobe//
In case you didn’t notice, Khan Academy is now available as an app on the iPad. Here’s some of the cool features:
- Downloadable videos: take individual videos or entire playlists to watch offline at your own pace
- Subtitles: follow along, skip ahead, or go back by navigating through subtitles
Seriously, love the fact that the videos are available offline too!
A bevy of awesome language learning apps for iPad are free for the next couple days. Regularly priced $9.99, you can now get these languages for free:
Now, go spend the rest of your weekend learning how to say, “I Hate Mondays.” in all these awesome languages!
I’ll admit it: I’m making the eBook conversion. Part of it is practical. Part is due to my library expanding their eBook selection. However, more than anything, it’s been convenience. The last three months, I’ve traveled by plane, car and train. I found myself lugging both hardcover books and my iPad and my shoulder was very, very strained. Finally, I just gave in and left the books at home.
Thus, the eReader is winning. If holiday sales are any indication, I’d say the rest of America is slowly going my way.
However, I couldn’t really let go of my desire for something tactile and when I discovered that Out of Print Clothing also had eReader cases via M-Edge, I was jazzed.
I bought the Great Gatsby cover (pictured above) and I’m sort of digging it.
The Good:
1. The design: It’s pretty self-explanatory, but all the designs are wicked cool. If you are not familiar with Out of Print Clothing, all their designs are based on out of print book covers. Needless to say, there is a great selection of gorgeous covers and they really do give you the feeling of a tactile book.
2. The versatility: I really NEED a pocket with my iPad. I use it at work for so many different things and like to have notes, business cards and other things on me when I’m toting it around.
3. Custom designs: I like that M-Edge also offers the option to upload your own design and apply it to a Nook, iPad or Kindle cover.
The Bad:
1. Models: I’ve got an iPad 2, but they didn’t have an iPad 2 case for most of the Out of Print designs. I took a chance on the iPad 1 version and it does fit! I put a J.Crew back cover on the iPad just to make it a bit more snug and it’s fine.
2. No give back: One of the things I really like about Out of Print Clothing is the fact that when you buy a shirt, they donate a book. I can’t tell if the same applies for the case, but I assumed it doesn’t.
Overall: The free shipping helps to ease the burn of the $35 price tag. I LOVE this case, so 4.5 out of 5 stars.
I was in serious need of a new iPhone background and when I couldn’t find one, I do what I normally do… I made one. And I really liked it, so I decided to make a larger version for my iPad.
The backgrounds are inspired by Katniss Everdeen and The Hunger Games. As any HG lover knows, Katniss is an archer and so the bow and arrow is her weapon of choice. One of the iPhone backgrounds and one of the iPad backgrounds includes an extra version of two of the colors for those that want to see the “Girl on Fire” moniker on your devices.
So here they are for you to download! For totally free!
Teal iPhone background (LEFT) here.
“Girl on fire” maroon iPhone background here.
Maroon iPhone background here.
Cyan iPad background here.
Orange (seen below) iPad background here.
“Girl on fire” orange iPad background here.
Never changed your iPhone background before? It’s relatively easy to do. Simply save the images from Flickr and email them to yourself. Then download from your email on your phone.
Next, save it to your photos. If you are on the iPhone, go to your photos and select the image. Hit the arrow on the top of the screen as set as your Home Screen.
If you are on your iPad, you’ll notice that the images are square, instead of the horizontal shape. This is to account for the fact that the home screen can be viewed in both landscape and portrait mode.
When you go to your photos, find the new background and go ahead and hit the arrow to set it to your home screen. It will ask you to scale and set the image. Leave it as is. Then, hit save. It will look TOO SMALL when you go to set it, but once you hit set, the image will reset and will fill the screen.
To test it, all you have to do is go to your home screen and tilt to landscape mode. You’ll see it works beautifully!
You can see ALL of the versions here.
Did you know BGC has a Katniss Everdeen Pinterest board? Check that out here.
