Category: Boredom Busters

Frankenstein Friday

Frankenstein Friday

Posted on by Lauren Spear

My dad (retired FX artist Robert Tharp) wrote a massive article for my horror website, HororFam.com, for Frankenstein Friday! You can read it here: https://horrorfam.com/frankenstein

For the featured image, I made mash-ups of some of the movie monster portrayals he mentioned…

Frankenstein Friday Robert Tharp history

…but I really wanted to do a cartoon-y version of the monster’s I’D “Frankenstein’d” together… so here it is! 😀

Can you recognize the pieces of Frankenstein’s monsters each of mine are made from? Guess in the comments! HAPPY FRANKENSTEIN FRIDAY!!

What Happens When You Give Coal to Your Secret Santa in Stardew Valley?

What Happens When You Give Coal to Your Secret Santa in Stardew Valley?

Posted on by Lauren Spear

I’m replaying Stardew Valley again (Beach Farm + Krobus as my roommate this time) and my husband, Frank, asked me what would happen if I gave my assigned Feast of the Winter Star villager coal as their Secret Santa gift…

I had no idea! I’d been given coal as a gift FROM a villagers before but I’d never even considered GIVING coal TO someone!!

Here are the results!

Let’s Paint Comic Book Nails!

Let’s Paint Comic Book Nails!

Posted on by Lauren Spear

I got to the whole “comic book” nails trend pretty late (let’s face it – by the time something shows up on Instagram, it’s already “over” lol); however, I still think they’re pretty darn neat and I’ve been wearing the style off and on this summer.

Anyway, I’ve been wearing fake nails since 1999, and I paint a fresh set every Monday, but I’ve never recorded myself painting my nails… Until now!

I thought since this style was so fun — and since I’ve gotten a few questions from folks on how I achieved the look — that it would be nice to share my painting process.

Continue reading “Let’s Paint Comic Book Nails!” →
I Finally Achieved Stardew Valley Perfection!

I Finally Achieved Stardew Valley Perfection!

Posted on by Lauren Spear

I challenged myself to achieve “Perfection” in Stardew Valley (AKA do everything on Mr. Qi’s tracker) and I finally did it today, July 4, 2023. Note: The video above has Stardew Valley spoilers.

I was playing as Tina (our cat… with her cat named Lauren lol) of KoolKatz Farm. She’s married to Sam (they have similar interests – Tina loves music, eating, and plants) and they have a baby named Flex (Tina’s real-life kitten). My farm was looking a little shabbier than usual because I achieved Perfection right at the start of Fall and all of my Summer crops were shriveled up and gross on the grounds, but I was too excited to bother fixing it up lol. Oh, and I planted Amaranth because it was the last crop I needed to ship to get the “Ship 15 of Every Crop” in-game achievement. (I’d even painstakingly managed to ship 15 Sweet Gem Berry – oof! – but somehow I’d forgotten Amaranth was even a thing!!).

Anyway, I’m very excited and wanted to share. Next up… My Joja/Corporate run!

Big thanks to ConcernedApe for making one of my favorite video games of all time ♥

–Lauren*

Class of 2003

Class of 2003

Posted on by Lauren Spear

I briefly considered writing a post about how I was the Class of 2003 and my 20th high school reunion would’ve been this year. I figured I’d share the most important things I’ve learned over the past 20 years or what I’ve been up to since I got my high school diploma…

Instead, I rewatched 28 Days Later with my husband. It was a good time. Here’s some fan art I drew of it:

Like this illustration? Watch me draw it!

I also wrote an entire post about 28 Days Later — and how well it holds up 20 YEARS later — over on my horror website. Check it out!

–Lauren*

5 Movie Quotes I Think About More Than I Should

5 Movie Quotes I Think About More Than I Should

Posted on by Lauren Spear

I’m well-aware that placing text over stock photos is one of the most Basic modern artforms there is, but I enjoy it. I engage in it myself sometimes (as you may have seen in at least one of my previous posts), usually focusing on a movie quote or song lyric I particularly connected with.

This post is going to be five of those “Deep”/Inspirational Text Over Vaguely-Related Stock Photos that I made showcasing some of my favorite movie quotes. Feel free to grab ’em to share them on your own social media accounts (but I’d appreciate it if you credited/tagged me @LittleZotzWrite if you do, please ♥).

I’m also going to share what each of these quotes means to me… Feel free to tell me in the comments what they mean to you, if you like ’em too! 😀

Continue reading “5 Movie Quotes I Think About More Than I Should” →
Nancy Drew: Mystery at Magnolia Gardens (Hunt a Killer Game Review)

Nancy Drew: Mystery at Magnolia Gardens (Hunt a Killer Game Review)

Posted on by Lauren Spear

I was contacted by Hunt a Killer and sent three of their murder mystery games to play and review. I wasn’t paid in any other way and I was encouraged to be honest with my thoughts. I am not an affiliate and I won’t receive any kickback for telling you about their games (if you want to support my writing, please do so via my Kofi page).

I’ll be reviewing the other two games I was sent in a separate post. For now, here are my thoughts on Nancy Drew: Mystery at Magnolia Gardens!

What Is Hunt a Killer?

If you’ve spent any time online, you’ve probably seen at least one ad for Hunt a Killer’s games. They’ve been around since 2017 and started out with a subscription box-style model where you’d pay each month to have a mystery in a box (or a chunk of/clues for a mystery in a box) sent to you.

Hunt a Killer still offers these mystery “loot boxes” where the loot is quite literally A MYSTERY (lol) for folks who want FULL IMMERSION and a slow drip-feed of clues coming in the mail to solve a massive case. However, they now offer OTHER styles of mysteries as well!

If you’re not a subscription box lover and/or like a faster-paced night of fun, they have one-off smaller cases that can be done in a couple of hours as well as Premium Cases that may take a couple of days. And they’re even offering previous subscription boxes after their campaigns are over so you can apply the “binge watching” mentality we all have now for streaming TV shows to your mystery gaming! (ie. you can sit down and solve six months/six boxes of mystery at once!).

The Hunt a Killer mysteries I recieved were all from the Premium Games & Small Cases collections. Meaning, my parents, my husband, and I were able to tackle them each in a night. And HOW are these mysteries tackled, exactly? Good question!

Continue reading “Nancy Drew: Mystery at Magnolia Gardens (Hunt a Killer Game Review)” →
My Dolls Enjoy My Friend SandpaperDaisy’s Art

My Dolls Enjoy My Friend SandpaperDaisy’s Art

Posted on by Lauren Spear

Made a stop motion animation of two of my dolls enjoying a romantic date at an art gallery featuring all work by my wonderful friend Heather Landry AKA SandpaperDaisy 🥰 Go check out her stuff!! She’s very talented and her newest romance-themed cards & stickers make fantastic Valentine’s! 😯❤️

Heather = https://sandpaperdaisy.com

Music = “Happy Boy Theme” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/