Stephanie Bryant (she)

Two skimmer pool robots that have been disassembled and are now stacked on top of each other. Honestly, it's basically a pile of mechanical and electronic junk jumbled together and not working anymore.

For date night, my husband and I went to the maker space to try and fix our robot pool skimmer.

We were unsuccessful in fixing it, but successful in spending a fun evening together.

R. I. P., pool bot!

#datenight #marriedlifehacks

A stack of hardcover books with the spines facing away, some fiber arts tools like knitting needles, scissors, and pins, 3 hanks of yarn in white, black, and red, and what appears to be a printout of a knitting chart.

Thinking about this as I crochet a (badly edited) pattern for a trademarked character that has in the pattern notes (but not the purchase page) that the purchaser may not sell what they make from it.

I mean, yeah, they can't sell it because it's trademarked, not […]

[Original post on dice.camp]

A set of polyhedral dice in translucent blue resin, with Braille markings for the numbers. The dice set includes an oblong style 4-sided die, 2 six-sided dice, an 8-sided die, 10-sided die, 12-sided die, and 20-sided die. A set of 4 Fudge or Fate dice completes the set. The braille dice have a small ridge to indicate the lower edge of each dice face.

I 3d printed some Braille dice to donate to my local game café today! I wish I could make a braille instruction card to go with them....

#accessibility #ttrpg

Two crocheted black and white sandwich cookies that look like oreos, perched on a sofa armrest. One of the cookies is propped up on the other. They look delicious, if "full of fiber."

Crocheted cookies-- I'm sending a batch of these to my dad in a few weeks! #crochet #fiberarts

Yeah, that's right. I just got my browser tabs down to two tabs each on desktop and mobile!
#winning

A talented young game designer I know has a campaign for their first game up right now! In Extra Ordinary, you play teenagers with supernatural powers, on the run from danger and finding found family and connection in the process.

Please show them some love! Back it, or at least share it to […]

BookWyrm Social Reading and Reviewing

I read 37 books in 2025, 7 more than my goal of 30. Goal for 2026: 40 books. Currently reading: Boneshaker, Words of Radiance, The Box, and When Women Were Dragons.

https://bookwyrm.social/user/mortaine/2025-in-the-books?key=f2e2ad58cb734cb98ca05c4d2d628a1e

I'm almost 4 months post surgery on my thigh, where surgeons removed a benign mass in September. I did pt when I was ready, and used completing my pt as an excuse to keep the momentum going and start exercising again in earnest. I started a couch to 5k program 4 weeks ago. I should probably […]

* Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest * Reddit * Weibo * WhatsApp * Flipboard * Email * 843shares _**How to make $1 beautiful paper Christmas star tree topper. Easy DIY decoration tutorial & crafts idea for modern, boho, farmhouse home decor.**_ There’s something undeniably magical about stars. They’ve been guiding travelers, inspiring dreamers, and brightening our skies since forever. But come Christmas time, they take on an even more special role, becoming a symbol of hope, joy, and festive celebration. Ready to sprinkle some handmade magic onto your festive season? Imagine strolling into a room and seeing this stunning Christmas tree. Your eyes immediately dart to the top – and there it is, a handmade, shiny tree topper that is the perfect finishing touch on your beautifully decorated Christmas tree. Determined to figure out an easy way to make a 3d Christmas star tree topper, I played around with different ideas, and this 8-pointed paper star is one of my favorite. All you need are paper, scissors and a few other basic materials. _***Some resources in article are affiliate links. Full disclosurehere.**_ We also have a really easy silver 3D paper star tutorial here, and a few more Christmas ideas you may love: * 25 beautiful Christmas tree ribbon decor ideas * 48 best Christmas tree decorating ideas * $5 easy DIY elevated Christmas tree box stand Table of Contents * Check out the video tutorial or skip to written tutorial below * Materials and tools to make paper Christmas star tree topper: * Step 1: Fold paper star before cutting * Step 2: Cut and glue paper star points * Step 3: Assemble paper Christmas star tree topper * Step 4: Spray paint the paper Christmas star tree topper ## Check out the video tutorial or skip to written tutorial below ## Materials and tools to make paper Christmas star tree topper: * 2 square sheets of paper or card stock. Regular office paper or lightweight card stock is a breeze to fold, and you can always jazz it up with spray paint later! Or, go bold from the get-go with colored paper or metallic card stock. * Scissors, craft glue or glue sticks, and if you’re using card stock, something sturdy like a ruler for those sharp creases. Hot glue and long bamboo skewer to attach the Christmas tree topper * Spray paint: after using a bunch of gold spray paint, this one is my favorite, not too yellow, just the perfect elegant gold color. Silver is also a great versatile choice. ## Step 1: Fold paper star before cutting Begin by folding your square paper horizontally. Make a neat crease. For card stock, get that ruler out and get the crease super sharp. Go vertical next – another fold, another crease. Now, channel your inner origami lover. Fold diagonally, unfold, and then fold the other diagonal. ## Step 2: Cut and glue paper star points On the horizontal and vertical creases, mark the 1/4 points and make some cuts. Fold those newly freed “wings” towards each other like they’re coming in for a cozy hug. They’ll form a triangle. Stick them together with some glue. **Little insider tip:** Want super pointy star spikes? Overlap those wings more. For a gentler vibe, like I went for, don’t overlap them entirely. Just ensure you keep the overlapping consistent for all spikes to get that star symmetry. ## Step 3: Assemble paper Christmas star tree topper Craft another 4-pointed paper star just like in steps 1 and 2. You can make them the same size, or make the second paper star slightly smaller. I trimmed the paper just a bit smaller than the first sheet to make the second star a bit smaller. Once you’ve got two 4-pointed stars, it’s bonding time! Glue them back-to-back, or front to back, like I did. Put a small dab of glue on each of the four joining point, and carefully set the bigger star on top of the slightly smaller one. Now you have a beautiful 8-pointed paper Christmas star. ## Step 4: Spray paint the paper Christmas star tree topper Spray paint the paper Christmas star tree topper with metallic gold. I have tried several gold spray paints, and this gold spray paint is my favorite. I used hot glue to attach a stick or long bamboo skewer to the back of Christmas star tree topper, then secured it to the top of our Christmas tree with some thin wires. Whether you are decorating your Christmas tree in traditional red and green, or modern pink and gold, this paper Christmas star tree topper with its elegant golden glow will look beautiful and magical in any color scheme. There are many more creative ways to use this paper star. Assemble multiple stars in varying sizes and colors to create a constellation. Hang them from strings to craft a whimsical garland or scatter them around your space for a magical ambiance. Let your imagination run wild—the possibilities are as endless as the cosmos itself! **You may also love:** * 48 best DIY pine cone crafts and decor for Christmas and beyond * 27 beautiful DIY Christmas table decorations and centerpieces * 50+ easy DIY Christmas outdoor decoration ideas Happy decorating! See you soon! * Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest * Reddit * Weibo * WhatsApp * Flipboard * Email * 843shares

Link to the tutorial: https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/paper-christmas-star-tree-topper/

An 8-pointed star made out of silver paper on top of an evergreen tree with some Christmas ornaments hanging from the branches.

We gave away a lot of our Christmas tree decorations last year, anticipating that we wouldn't be in this country at the end of 2025. Well, we are still here, and had to buy a new tree base (we realized after we bought the tree that we'd already destashed the base!) […]

[Original post on dice.camp]

Backerkit's big holiday promotion is backfiring for me as a consumer, because it's basically flooding my inbox with "Back it Now" emails that I'm going to unsubscribe from en masse and never see those creators' projects again.

#ttrpgs #backerkit @backerkit

New blog post: The Rest of the Trip?
Read it here: https://www.mortaine.com/blog/2025/10/18/the-rest-of-the-trip/
The rest of Steph's trip, focusing on the Philippines!
The post The Rest of the Trip? appeared first on Games, Crafts, and Thoughts from Mortaine.

#Alt4Me

The Rest of the Trip? --- We have been home from Asia now for over a month, and I’ve been extremely remiss in updating the blog about our travels. Here’s a short rundown of how the trip went: * From Hua Hin, we returned to Bangkok for a few days and then headed to Cebu, in the Philippines. * Cebu was **also** hot and humid. But we did have one of the most beautiful days island-hopping and snorkeling. We booked with a SCUBA outfit for a snorkel trip, and because they don’t do a lot of snorkel trips, we ended up with the entire boat to ourselves. Definitely a great day. * On almost the last day in Cebu, I slipped on wet asphalt (and mud– I hope it was mud) and banged up my right knee and generally felt crummy. * Our next stop was Bagiao, which is up in the mountains. It’s definitely cooler there than the rest of the Philippines. It’s also on a very narrow windy mountain road, not unlike Highway 9 in Santa Cruz, but narrower and more fraught with danger. More on Bagiao in a minute. * After Bagiao, we headed to Manila, where we stayed in the super-modern Bonifacio Global City (BGC). BGC is essentially a very controlled planned community that sits on the former location of the Bonifacio US military base. It’s small– about a mile across– and has greenways and trees and is about 10-15 degrees cooler than the rest of Manila. * After BGC, we went home. Which has also been an adjustment, because we spent **how much** on healthcare and dinner?!? ## On Bagiao Bagiao is an interesting place. Every day, a couple of times a day, the community-wide alarm (think air raid sirens) goes off. I’m a little bit used to this growing up in Evanston, where we had the air raid siren test every Tuesday at 10:30 AM. But every day? We looked it up. Turns out, at least one of the sirens is the “stop and be mindful” siren. I kid you not. You’re supposed to pause and think about your community and your life and be grateful that you live in a wonderful place like Bagiao. This wonderful event is only less than perfect because: * There is another siren that goes off an hour earlier (I never figured out why). * The siren is loud and annoying. * The siren, like everything else in Bagiao, sets off all the dogs barking (so you are contemplating the wonderful harmony of your life, to a cacophony of feral and non-feral dogs). * It’s every day, so if you live there, you tune it out. When I was growing up, I stopped being able to hear the wind-up clock ticking in my living room. The day after we arrived, John and I walked down to the local park and post office. The park in Bagiao is beautiful, with a small lake and paddle boats, lots of little green spaces and things to do. It also has the “smoking police,” enforcing Bagiao’s public non-smoking laws in the park, which was pretty awesome for us non-smokers! Also while in Bagiao, I sent my last postcards. Unfortunately, I sent these on August 15, and the Philippines stopped shipping all mail to the US on August 18, so I doubt my little post cards (even the hand-painted ones) will arrive! However, as if the fall in Cebu wasn’t enough, I came down with the flu shortly after arriving in Bagiao. I basically had a day to explore the town before I was holed up in a room, semi-isolating and coughing and miserable. I did hand-sew a shirt while I was isolating on my birthday, but it was a pretty crappy way to celebrate my birthday, since I couldn’t go out, felt awful, and didn’t want to get anyone else sick. ## Manila and BGC Manila was a great visit, and I was super happy to hang out with my friend Tobie and his partner, Rocky a couple of times. We did tour the historic sites in Manila in a night tour, which was fascinating, not least because our guide was a trained architect who pointed out many of the architectural features of the sights. BGC was a seriously great place to be for a short period of time, but it is mostly shopping and dining out. I think I’d get bored after a while, because I’m not a “go out to the live band every night” kind of person, and the board game cafe was a “bring your own friend” kind of place (no organized meetup.) That said, it was a model of a walkable urban area. Everything was within walking distance, on well paved and maintained sidewalks. While you could take a car to get from one side to the other, it was faster to walk than drive. Large spans of grass and trees keeps the temperature much better moderated, and it’s a real testament to the impact of asphalt and concrete on local climate that outside of the BGC “bubble,” temperatures were much higher. However, I don’t think most of the people who work there can afford to live there, so it fails the economic test of whether it’s a community– if the person making your coffee can’t afford to live in the area, then you aren’t in a community, you’re in an amusement park. Towards the end of our stay, I had a minor surgery at St. Luke’s hospital, which is one of the best hospitals in Southeast Asia, and is adjacent to (walking distance) the rest of BGC. Top notch medical care, and while I was fine flying home, I am still dealing with some of the after-effects (mostly a nerve that is now very angry at me; not something that would have been avoided if I’d had the surgery elsewhere). It was a relief to go from “Doctor, I have this lump” to “it’s out and you can go home” in less than 2 weeks and for under $3K (USD), including overnight hospital stay in a nice, private room with a kitchen. (The lump was completely benign, in case you’re wondering– I am fine.) Also while I was traveling, I wrote a couple of games, which are now up on Itch, including my first video game, Gideon’s Island. It plays in the browser and is a really dumb little game that made me laugh while I was writing it. Photo dump incoming! Suzanne and Steph make it to Lost Books in Cebu, the narrowest bookstore ever! John in Cebu It rained so much on this day! What a lovely day We finally made it to BGC Playing Mythic Bastionland with Tobie, Rocky, and friends! John and Steph At the O Bar drag show! Suzanne and John having Coffee & Conversations ### Share: * Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon * Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email * More * * Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook * Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X * ### Like this: Like Loading...

The Rest of the Trip?

The rest of Steph's trip, focusing on the Philippines!

https://www.mortaine.com/blog/2025/10/18/the-rest-of-the-trip/

Dice the Demiurge by Sophie Houlden An incremental dice game for one player

Yes! @Sophie finally released Dice the Demiurge! https://sophieh.itch.io/dice-the-demiurge

I've been looking forward to this since she posted about it here on mastodon earlier this year.

Haunted House

I crocheted this cute haunted house this week. I couldn't find a good crochet pattern/tutorial for something like this that wasn't AI garbage, so I freehanded it. I've written it up in a very rough form so others can create their own houses in time for Halloween 2025, but will […]

Every time I watch an episode of the new Quantum Leap, I realize I really need more media with Mason Alexander Park.

I'm 3 weeks post-surgery. Went out last night for a gaymer gathering and found myself completely fatigued about 45 minutes in (mostly standing at arcade games).

Note to self: I can stand and walk for about 30 minutes at a time without getting exhausted. After that, I need a break.

But it was […]

"I brought a book."

Four magical words. The response to this when I say them is either a disinterested "Oh, that's nice," in which case I can tell the person I'm talking to is either very preoccupied, or simply not a reader.

Or I get the "Oh, what are you reading? Have you read XYZ? Do you […]

And now I'm wondering-- I can't confirm this through easy searches, but these costumes look like Bill Whitten's work.

On Friday, I contacted a publisher to see if they'd be willing to give me a contributor copy PDF of something I did 4 years ago for my portfolio. It wasn't in the original contract, so I figured it was a medium to long shot (contrib copies are usually pretty standard, and cost them nothing, but […]

Just watching the September video from Earth, Wind, and Fire. Can we all just appreciate for a moment the wonderfully African and Afro-inspired costuming on display in this music video? Just take some time watching that one and enjoying the absolute celebration of African culture on display […]

Charlie Kirk, Redeemed by Ezra Klein, Gavin Newsom, and the Political Class | Vanity Fair

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/charlie-kirk-ezra-klein-tanehisi-coates

> By ignoring the rhetoric and actions of the Turning Point USA founder, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy.

Oof.

A McSweeney’s list that’s not that funny: How to Tell the Difference...

https://kottke.org/25/09/0047519-a-mcsweeneys-list-thats-n

> A McSweeney’s list that’s not that funny: How to Tell the Difference Between a Lone Wolf and a Coordinated Effort by t

In America today, you can be fired for reposting a meme about a shooting, but not for manufacturing the gun, the bullets, or the outage that led to that shooting.

Are you a moderator on the Fediverse? A server operator?

If so, you should definitely fill out the IFTAS Moderator Needs Assessment:

https://about.iftas.org/moderator-needs-assessment/

Got a nice shout-out from @magathachristie.bsky.social about my entry in last year's Train Game Jam! Super sweet words to read today!

@onlyhavecans

(Not) Time to Abandon the Kindle Ship

https://squirrels.wtf/posts/2025-09-11-not-time-to-abandon-the-kindle-ship/

Just did the kindle-to-DRMfree conversion on my entire kindle library. I hear you about conflicting feelings between ethical consumption and ease of use/enjoyment of […]

I don't like to speak ill of the dead, but Fuck Nazis.

If you are offended by this message, ask yourself who you assumed I was talking about, and why you assumed that.

The US president trafficked & raped underage girls, the evidence is overwhelming, everyone knows it, and this country's elites & institutions are so broken, so insular, so decadent that we can't even bring ourselves to state it clearly, much less do anything about it.

Contemptible & pathetic.

I have set up an rss reader and a self-hosted rss aggregator (freshrss). I'm feeling pretty proud of myself right now-- RSS feed recommendations welcome!

I'm into games, books (mostly fiction), playing bass, and fiber arts. I like jokes and humor. I do not really like watching videos on the […]