Benjibot has kindly provided the cross stitch pattern for making your own Happy Mac picture.

This penholder by Nevin is a fun way to recycle a metal food can into someting useful!  Lots of possibilities with printouts of your favourite screenshot.

Every tree needs a tree-topper and a Geek’s tree is no different! Presenting the CD and RAM Christmas Star:

How to: CD and RAM Tree-Topper Star

You’ll need:

• thick card (I used the card from the cover of an old ring-binder
• lots of old sticks of RAM
• some old CD’s
• glue
• a wire coathanger

I marked out the shape of my star on the card, and cut out with a craft knife.  I tried to make the points the same size as each stick of RAM, to minimise cutting the RAM sticks.

I think hot-glued the RAM around the borders of the star on both sides, to create a frame.

Then I cut up CD’s using strong scissors and made a mosaic over the surface of the cardboard.

I drilled a few holes though the star and attached a coiled wire coathanger so that the star can be placed ontop of the tree.

Not the easied project in terms of ‘hand hurting’ from cutting the CD’s, but worth it in the end for the sparkly reflective finish!

How to: Keyboard Circuitry Sheet Christmas Ornaments

You’ll need:

• old keyboard
• brads or paper fasteners
• scissors or paper cutter

Take apart an old keyboard and remove the flexible circuitboard sheet from under the keys.

Cut into 2cm strips using a paper cutter or scissors.

For the round ornament, wind one strip into coils until you like the shape, then punch a hole in the top, through all the sheets. Attach a brad through the hole.

For the other one, cut the strips into: 1 short one, 2 medium and 2 long. Arrange from large to small to large and punch a hole through the top and bottom of each. Attach them all together with a brad through the hole.

Tie a loop of ribbon around the brad and hang them on your tree!

The inspiration for these came from Elise’s paper bag ornaments here. Check out how you can use the same method to make all sorts of different shapes, depending on how you vary the lengths of the strips.

[I would have photographed these on a nice tree outdoors like the rest of this series, but it's -30C and way too cold to be playing with a camera and holding my breath for a minute to prevent steamy pics!]

Would you like to see another idea for geeky tree ornaments?

This one is a bit silly, but it’s very easy and you probably have the supplies lying around at home if you’re at all geeky.

How to: RAM Christmas Ornament 

You’ll need:

• old sticks of RAM
• old ribbon

Tie a loop of ribbon through the hole in the RAM and then hang on your tree!

See, told you it was easy!! 

Another project with diskettes!  In part 4 of this Geek Ornaments series I showed you what I did with the diskette boxes, and here’s a project idea for the diskettes themselves.

How to: Diskette Present Christmas Ornament 

You’ll need:

• old diskettes
• old ribbon
• glue
• buttons or any Christmas embellishments 

Pick 2 diskettes that compliment the colourscheme of your tree. I chose red and green, but blue and white would be a nice combination for a more modern tree.  Glue the 2 diskettes together, aligning them so that the holes match up in the corners.   Tie a loop of ribbon through the hole for hanging. Glue ribbon around the centre to create the look of a present.  Glue buttons or other embellishments you have lying around to the ribbon.

Hang and enjoy!  

Got a bit sidetracked with orders and shows this past week! But the GEEK tree ornament series now continues with: Space Bar Icicles!

How to: Space Bar Icicle Christmas Ornament 

You’ll need:

• old space bars  
• old ribbon
• glue
• white Christmas embellishments 
• glitter glue

Glue the ribbon onto the back of the space bar to create a loop for hanging.  Add some reused curling ribbons to the hanging ribbon.  Glue any Christmas embellishments onto the spacebar - I used white snowflakes and snowmen.  To finish it off I also added dots of glitter glue.

This is the easiest craft of all the e-waste recycled christmas ornaments!

How to: CD Christmas Ornament 

You’ll need:

• 2 old CD’s 
• old ribbon
• glue
• Christmas embellishments 

Glue the ribbon onto the back of one CD, to create a loop for hanging.  Glue the backs of the 2 CD’s together, sandwiching the ribbon ends inbetween.  Add some reused curling ribbons to the hanging ribbon. And to finish it off, add some Christmassy themed embellishments to cover the holes in the centre of the CD’s.

You could fancy these up quite easily, or change up the colourschemes.  I stuck with green and white but you could pick any colours to match your tree decorations.

This is the 4th installment showing you how I made the e-waste Christmas ornaments for the Festival Of Trees event.   

How to: Diskette Box Presents

You’ll need:

• old diskette boxes 
• telephone wire
• old ribbon
• sparkly recycled paper

I used diskette boxes because I have lots and have never thought of a way to recycle them before, however, you could use CD cases instead if you have some spare.

I cut up an old silver gift bag into squares the same size as the box and placed 2 pieces inside the box, back-to-back.  Next I separated out the red and white wires that are found inside the mouse cables. You could use telephone wire instead if you have some handy.  I placed a small bundle of the wires inside the box.

Then I tied up each box with some saved ribbon from gifts, and tied it in a bow. Finally I added a loop for hanging the ‘present’ up out of some random gold cord I had lying around.

You could easily adapt the design to suit the colourscheme of your tree, and the materials you have!  They look really effective if you have 10 or more on your tree. 

How to: Ribbon Cable Stars

You’ll need:

• flat ribbon cable (what is this?)
• telephone wire
• hole punch or a pin

Make a star template on card and trace around it on your ribbon cable.  Cut out. Punch a hole in the top of the star (or poke a hole with a pin). Cut a piece of telephone wire for hanging, and thread through the hole. Tie in a knot in the wire to create the loop for hanging.  [I didn't have phone wire, so I cut open the cable from a computer mouse and pulled out the wires inside. Since they are different colours, I chose to use just the green wire for the project].

Hang and enjoy your 3rd geeky tree ornaments creation!

Stay tuned for the next installment …

How to: Santa mice

You’ll need:

• ribbon or cord
• red and white felt
• googly eyes
• hot glue gun
• an old computer mouse

Wash the mouse and leave to dry thoroughly.  Take a good look at the mouse and decide which end would be best for the chin.  Some have cool lines that can be incorporated as moustaches and the scroll wheel can be used as the nose. 

Glue loop of cord onto the hanging end of the mouse.  Cut a semi-circle of red felt and wrap around to form the hat.  Depending on the shape of the mouse, you may need to ‘wing it’ a bit and try a few different ways to wrap it. Once you get a shape that resembles a hat, cut a hole for the cord to go through and then glue the hat to the mouse.  Add a strip of white felt to trim the hat edging and a pom-pom (or felt circle) for the end of the hat .

Cut a cloud-shape for the beard and add a moustach if desired.  Glue on beard and googly eyes. 

Hang and enjoy your 2nd geeky tree ornaments creation!

[I did try making the first one with white fun-fur. I thought it looked cool, but Mr Geekware laughed so hard and thought it was a yetti in a santa hat <sigh> . So we kept that one :)  ]

Stay tuned for the next installment tomorrow….  

Just finished working on 100 electronic-waste-themed Christmas ornaments! 

I has lots of fun coming up with ideas for using old electronics in each design that I thought I’d share them with you over the next month. 

I was commissioned to make these for a client in the waste management industry, and they will be on display on a charity tree at the ‘Festival of Trees’ in Fort McMurray, Alberta.   

How to: Keyboard key word ornaments

You’ll need:

• curling ribbon or fabric ribbon in the colour of your choice (I recycled ribbon in various shades of green).
• card or fabric in a matching colour (I used green felt).
• an old keyboard or two.
• hot glue gun.

Pick off the keyboard keys to make the words of your choice.  I chose NOEL, JOY and HOHOHO, but you could also spell LOVE, PEACE etc. If you only have one keyboard, you may have to get creative with vowels and use the numbers 3 and 0 to represent E and O.

Glue ends of ribbon down a strip of fabric or card, forming a loop at the top. Glue the letters onto the fabric, ontop of the ribbon. Trim fabric around the letters. Add additional ribbons if desired and curl with a knife.

Hang and enjoy your 1st geeky tree ornaments creation!

Stay tuned for the next installment tomorrow….