Awesome Decorations To Bring The Nerd Cred

Awful Crap. Who Came Up With This? Coal For Everybody.

It's almost Halloween, but you still need an idea for a DIY costume that will be the envy of all fanboys and girls across the galaxy? Lucky for you, Star Wars fans are a crafty bunch and they have plenty of tips for everyone from the most-advanced to the laziest costumer.

For those of you wanting to create a more authentic look to your Boba Fett costume, here's a handy video tutorial on how to weather his cape using a pizza cutter, cardboard and spray paint!

For the younglings in your life, here's a super-easy craft tutorial on how to make an adorkable DIY Kids' Yoda costume by Craft magazine's Susan Beal:

I used an Empire Strikes Back Yoda action figure for inspiration, and carried him around the fabric store to loosely match fabric colors to him and his outfit. The central piece, a simple brown robe, is altered from an adult T-shirt, and the other elements (a hat, snake, belt, and walking stick) are all quick sewing projects using basic templates.

If your Padmé Amidala costume is ready to go but you're not sure how to make your face look less like you've been wrestling with Acklays and more like you're ready to make out with a Skywalker, then this is exactly what was used on Natalie Portman in the films!

Check out these Padmé Make-up Pointers from Revenge of the Sith Make-up Supervisor Nikki Gooley:

Make-up by Nikki Gooley
Foundation: Make-Up Forever Face and Body foundation was applied in shade # 03. Concealer: Gooley used Shu Uemura Mark Concealer with Yves St Laurent Touche Eclat Concealer in # 03 under the eyes.
Powder: Gooley applied Visiora 003 Powder.
Eye shadow: Stila powder shadow in Barefoot Contessa # 33 was applied all over the lids. Then it was worked it up into the socket and blended out with Stila in Moonlight # 38. On the top lids, the lashline was lined with Stila shadow in Java # 8. Gooley then dabbed her browbones with Calvin Klein Eye Gloss.
Brows: Brows were filled in with Stila Convertable Eye Color Liner in Teak.
Mascara: Gooley used a classic favorite, Maybelline Great Lash in Black.
Cheeks: Stila Convertable Cheek Color, a cream blush in Peony, was dabbed on the apples of the cheeks and blended up onto the cheek bone.
Lips: Stila Lipstick in Jo was applied, then blotted. Gooley then used Elizabeth Arden 8-Hour Cream over the top of the lips. Gooley says that although it's usually used as a skin cream, she loves using it on lips because it gives them a nice, natural sheen.

Don't forget to give your dog a chance to show off his Sith or Jedi pride too! Craft magazine Senior Editor Natalie Zee Drieu made these cute Ewok, Darth Vader and Princess Leia dog costumes from felt, cotton fabric, yarn, and ribbon!

The trick about making quick Halloween costumes and especially ones for dogs is that you don't have to be perfect. Time is of essence here and we are all busy crafters. Since most of the costumes will only need to be worn for a few hours at most, cutting corners is definitely okay in my book. If you don't know how to sew or need to get it done in a snap — fabric glue, hemming tape, and sticker Velcro works wonders! Also, I used existing doggie jackets as pattern templates. Using these help me fit the dogs better and I didn't have to worry about doing too many fittings or wasting time creating patterns from scratch.

For the truly last-minute Star Wars costume, you can always print out and wear these vintage and prequel masks right now! Or do a mash-up and be a Sith Luchador!

• Vintage Star Wars masks
• Revenge of the Sith Masks
• Clone Wars Masks
• Star Wars Lucha Libre Masks

While you're in the Halloween crafting spirit, here are some handy templates from Starwars.com to print out to make your own Spooky Sith-O-Lanterns! Or try your hand at sculpting a Halloween Yoda Pumpkin.

Get more inspiration for your own Star Wars costume by checking out the Rebelscum Halloween Costume Contest Gallery!

Once you're finished with your costume, be sure to post them to the io9 Scifi Halloween Costume Show!

Bonnie Burton is a Senior Editor for Starwars.com. She is also the author of the books "Draw Star Wars: The Clone Wars" and "You Can Draw: Star Wars." You can find her 24/7 on Twitter & on Grrl.com.

Attack on the V838 Energy Collectors
Black Eye Galaxy
Cone Nebula
Crab Nebula
Milky Way
Orion Nebula
Phobos
Reflection Nebula
Starburst Galaxy
Butterfly Nebula

The dolls are from the brilliant minds at Camp Blood and Andy Swist. Who promise to put out a new character every week. If there is a god, they will have Eric's tank tops and Jason's toddler t-shirts. Also I would like to point out that they have Pam in a track suit — glory be, it must be Christmas. Great work.

[via CBR]

Cross stitch aficionado and Whedon fan Beefranck assembled this collection of samplers, a few of which came out of a Buffy-themed needlepoint swap. Now I just need more of these to show up on Etsy so I can take care of a few blank spaces on my walls.

[mr x stitch via Whedonesque]

Reavers on the Oregon Trail by SkyyAngel
River to Jayne by Caitlinite
Brand New Day by Beefranck
The Hammer by Beefranck
The Body by Stacia Yeapanis
Rest in Piece and the Game of Life by Zhad Squad
I Love Frozen Yogurt by janelleirene
Lacy, Gently Wafting Curtains by Shaebay
Mutant Enemy by TiLTCreationsCoredelia's Tact by youheartus

I'm sure it's depreciating the value or something, but look how cute they are!

[via 7 Gadgets]

Newport may have been making the gallery rounds for a little while (the batsuit is from 2005), but this is the first I've ever seen of these snuggly superhero uniforms. According to the Greg Kucera Gallery the exhibit

explores different facets of masculine identity and activity. Many of these works come about in response to the question, "How do I know how to be a man?" Some of the pieces examine role models from public arenas (football players, politicians, artists, servicemen, superheroes) while others address more personal ones (husbands, lovers, fathers). Many images are chosen for the activity they depict or the function they serve as either residue of an event or a collectable object. The images of strippers and pin-ups are chosen because they embody a voyeuristic function.

How adorable is this hat? It's even knitted to follow the indents and shape of the robot's head! Seriously, Thea, well done. All of the instructions are on her site, including a pattern and which metallic yarn she used.

Another genre knitting item is popping up all over the internet, Bella's gloves from Twililght. Remember the scene where little Miss B almost gets squashed by a car and the pasty-faced vampire saves her. Well here is the pattern for her gloves from that scene from the site Subliminal Rabbit.

Keep up the amazing craft work, guys — we expect to see cylon hats outnumber the Jayne hats at this year's San Diego Comic Con.

[Lick The Light Switch]

Yes, this is the very same helmet that has been "successfully used by former abductees for nine years." The key innovation with these hats, apparently, is the use of Velostat, an electrical shielding material, instead of tin foil. Inventor Michael Menkin explains the development of the thought-screen helmet:

The first thought screen helmets were made in 1998 and used aluminum foil. They were sent to an investigator in Iowa. The investigator reported that one user tried it for a short time with no results. Afterwards, the investigator could not be reached and the whereabouts of the helmets are unknown.

About 8 thought screens were made in early 1999 using a metalized plastic which is used in static shielding bags. Six users reported success but two users were overcome by telepathic commands from the aliens, removed the helmets and were taken.

From 1999 to 2008 over 100 people abducted by aliens have reported using thought screen helmets and hats made with Velostat. Since 1999 only two abductees were taken when they wore thought screen helmets with Velostat. Most of the other abductees using thought screen helmets reported success. Some abductees could not be reached after they tried their thought screen helmets.

In 2007 several thought screen helmets were made with ten and twelve sheets of Velostat. Although eight sheets of Velostat are adequate telepathic shielding in most cases, some abductees state that they had a headache or felt nauseous with that level of protection. This situation may indicate that the aliens have increased the power of their telepathic transmission, especially when they directly confront their victims, but the signal remains scrambled by the Velostat.

The good news is that this type of thought screen device can fit inside most hats and helmets, and if the alien signals get stronger you can just add another layer of Velostat.

Check out Melkin's how-to on making these caps. He advises that you make the hat quickly, and expect a fight from aliens who don't want you to wear it. So the faster you make it, and the more quickly you put it on, the easier it will be to block their telepathic signals telling you to stop wasting time with Velostat when you should be reading blogs and working.

Stop Abductions' How-To [via Stop Abductions] Thanks, Kyle!

ToyCyte calls our attention to the amazing papercraft design for this gun, which isn't just cool-looking but is apparently functional. It even includes papercraft bullets. Just visit the Way Nifty blog and check out their 14 pages of patterns - you can print them out, cut them out, and start folding your way into supernatural badassery. Perfect for a weekend indoors, hiding from the winter cold.

Samaritan Gun Papercraft [Way Nifty via ToyCyte]

The instructions to constructing your own blaster seem simple enough, if you have the materials and wherewithal to do useful things with your hands - Me, I'm worried that I'd accidentally lose a finger while trying to cut the aluminum foil or something. Admittedly, you may need some experience to be able to understand things like this:

I tried driving both the bright red muzzle flash LEDs and the Laser diode directly from the output pin of the 555 chip, but it didn't seem to work once I added the second effect, so I chained together 3 NPN switching transistors (with diodes to the trigger legs) to use as outputs for the effects. Using the transistors to turn on the effects individually gave much more stable results.

At this point you should set up the LED, laser, and sound module on a breadboard and test to see that they are being triggered properly.

...But at the same time, it's got to be worth the effort to end up with something like this:

Make an LED Blaster [Instructables]