The latest animated series to get a big screen makeover is Astro Boy, a sort of modern take on the Pinocchio story. The film follows Astro Boy, a robot created to replace the son of a scientist who died in a tragic accident, rejected for his lack of emotions.

The original Japanese Manga TV series of Astro Boy was shown back in 1963, and various versions have been seen across the globe since.

The craft community are clearly fans of the robot boy too, and Etsy seller CraftyisCool has created a pattern to make the Astro Boy Amigurumi ($5) on the right.

You can find more information on the animated movie here.

Fancy giving your progeny a passion for crafting? Have a look at these craft kits for inspiration.

Step-by-step Sewing

This Mini flower and butterfly cushion sewing kit (£6.96 from Baker Ross) on the right will teach your child the basics of sewing, allowing them to create their own flower or butterfly cushion.

The needle is plastic and the shapes are pre-cut, so the set is safe for little hands too.

Crafty creations

This Crafty Apron set on the left (£11.99 from minimakers.com) comes with various bells and whistles to allow your child to create an apron suitable for baking or safely storing scissors, knitting needles and various other crafty supplies. It’s suitable for 7 years and up.

Clever crochet

Perhaps they would prefer a craft where they can make their own Amigurumi?

This Crochet Art kit on the right (Amazon for £9.77) has enough wool and supplies to create a coaster, handbag, place mat or belt, and eventually their own cuddly toy.

The kit is simple enough for a child of 8 years plus to pick up, and there are plenty of tutorial books available too.

Nuts about Knitting

Think they’d prefer to try knitting? They could try out this Knitting for Kids – Starter Gift box on the left.

The set comes with a 99-minute DVD, animated story to help with the learning, three different coloured balls of wool, knitting needles and a tutorial from seven-year-old knitter Ryan Anderson. The gift set is available from Amazon for £12.98.

Potty about Pirates

All a little too girly? I spotted this ‘Create Your Own Pirate Kit’ on the right on littlecraftybugs.com for only £1.99.

The kit comes with everything you’ll need to create a hat, flag, eye patch, moustache, sword and treasure chest.

I break things. A lot.

I have an entire drawer filled with broken bits and pieces that I keep meaning to fix, but never get round to doing. Until now.

The lovely people at Sugru introduced me to their Multi-Hack pack, a selection of their products created to let DIY dunces like me ‘hack’ things back together.

Sugru resembles a bright modelling clay, an adult Play Doh if you like. Self-adhesive, flexible and waterproof, the clay allows you to fix things or adapt them to your own tastes or requirements.

They’ve got plenty of ideas of what you can use it for on the blog. A few favourites include screw covers, an iPhone stand, filling in cracks and a flip flop repair job. Basically, the only limit with what this product can do is your imagination.

To use Sugru, you need to remove it from the wrapper, roll it around a bit to warm it up, and mould it. After 30 minutes it starts to cure, and will fully set in 24 hours.

The product is so popular that they’ve sold out for the moment, but they’ll be back in stock by February. Keep an eye on their Twitter for updates.

It’s definitely a fun product to play with. The only downside is the bright colours, which are a little impractical if you don’t want your DIY to be visible.

What would you use Sugru for?

With Google Android phones set to become the big talking point of 2010, it only seems natural for a crafty geek to have recreated the Android logo in cuddly form.

The creator has even kindly thought to include a pouch to keep your Google phone safe.

Recombu have created the video below to give you a step by step guide to create the Android Doll, which we’ve embedded below for your ease and convenience.

If, like me, you’re extremely disorganised and you’ve left most of your present  shopping to the week before Christmas, you might want to consider getting a little crafty.

I loved the Ewoks in Star Wars, so this crochet Wicket the Ewok Amigurumi really caught my eye when I was reading through Geek Crafts.

It’s by mum and crafter Lucy Ravenscar, and she’s shared the PDF pattern, so you can create him at home.

Have a browse through the rest of her patterns too, they’re all influenced by her children’s requests.

• More free patterns on Dork Adore
• More crochet on Dork Adore

Despite my desperation for a Google Android phone, I still feel that shiver of envy when someone else pulls out their iPhone. I want one.

So, in a moment of unclarity (i.e. before my morning cup of tea) I got a little bit excited about this tutorial on Crafty Crafty on how to make your own iPhone. Sadly, it’s only a paper one, but it’s pretty awesome all the same.

You can check out the video below:

Amazing Paper Craft IPhone! – Funny videos are here

This Christmas, I’m switching a lot of my present shopping from the high street to online marketplaces like Folksy.

Buying from independent designers means you know exactly where your items came from, you get to speak to a real person, and most of the sellers allow you to add your own personal touch to your purchase.

Some of the items are really beautiful, and others are…a little odd. Take the Tech Head Fascinator on the right from Hatastic. Created using USB cables, it’s not exactly the usual head furniture you’d see at a wedding or the races.

Saying that, at least it would be a decent ice-breaker. The designer of the item was so proud of it she’s they’ve shared the step-by-step tutorial, so you can create your own.

Folksy is full of tutorials to give you a little inspiration when you fancy a bit of crafting. Just head to their Making section.

Crafty geekness is nothing new to us at Dork Adore.

We’ve already looked at how you can make Bella’s gloves in Twilight and found some Where the Wild Things Are crochet patterns.

Doctor Who fans take geek crafting to a whole new level, thanks to the hundreds of characters and monsters that make such great DIY projects.

CraftZine have the pattern to make these adorable Adipose Monsters on the right (also known as the Living Fat)

For those with a sweet tooth,  Flickr user alicia rae has created this Dalek cupcakes for the last Doctor Who finale.

Never have I wanted to exterminate a cupcake more.

The demand is so high for Dalek based cake products that they’ve created a Flickr pool for all the monstrous masterpieces.  Have a look at this realistic looking Tardis birthday cake from Dooogewalah.

The wartime Keep Calm and Carry On poster seems to be everywhere at the moment, and there are plenty of variations on the theme.

This Tardis based version is definitely one of my personal favourite alternative versions though, even if they have pushed their luck a little with the length of slogan.

Grab a decent frame and you’ve got the ideal present for a Doctor Who fan.

You can buy it from Etsy seller Tuffin Industries for $10.

Fancy making your very own Doctor Who and Tardis, to go with the Adipose monsters?

This Amigurumi Doctor Who and Tardis is based on the very first Doctor, William Hartnell.

The crafter who created this, piexelatedmushroom, has kindly shared the crochet pattern, which you can find on her website.

She’s included the patterns for several of the doctors on the right hand panel, along with the Tardis.

She’s also currently running a blog giveaway to win a hand crafted plushie from her shop of the most recent Doctor, David Tennent, in his famous  spectacles, tweed jacket and red trainers.

Finally, thinking ahead a few weeks, we’ve got a festive Dalek!

Sporting a festive red hat, the Dalek can hang from your tree and freak out your family.

It’s from Etsy store HeadofHeather for $8.

The store also offers these ghoulish Ood earrings. Nice.

Space Invaders stole a large part of my childhood with its addictive playing properties.  Therefore, it’s only right that I pay tribute to this simple game by wearing the famous icons with pride.

A simple t-shirt just won’t do. A true tribute to this mighty game can only be made through the medium of one particular item of clothing.

Socks.

Knitty has an excellent free pattern to create your own Space Invader socks, complete with game points.

Want to pass the retro gaming theme onto your mini dork?

This cosy little hat will keep your baby’s head warm, and will invite plenty of compliments.

To create the Space Invaders baby hat on the right, head to Instructables, who have a free step-by-step template available to create your very own version for your son or daughter, or even an adult. Simply extend the pattern available to suit the head size.

Have you found any great patterns recently that you think we’d love? Let us know!

More Free Patterns on Dork Adore

More Geek Craft on Dork Adore

Ever since that advert where an enthusiastic Alexei Sayle told me about the wonders of a Dremel 300 Multitool, I’ve wanted one.

Now, I’m well aware that something that claims to be a jack-of-all-trades is most likely master of none, but such is Dremel’s hold over me that when offered the chance to try out their Hobby Stylus (£59.99 from Argos), I grabbed it with both hobby-loving hands.

The Stylus is part of the new Hobby range from Dremel, which includes all manner of gadgets for crafty types, including a Glue Gun, an Engraver, a Versatip (a gas butane torch for embossing, soldering, melting, hot cutting, wood burning and welding) and a mini Project Table.

In true Dremel multi-tasking style, the Stylus is designed to be used for jewellery making, woodworking, glass engraving and similar crafts.

So how did I get on?

Well, using it certainly takes some getting used to and I’m still sitting on the fence with this particular product.

It comes in a large metal box with compartments for 25 accessories so you can keep it all nice and tidy. Of all the gadgets in the range, the Stylus is the tool that is designed to do the most stuff but you’ll have to make the effort to find out what capabilities it has because the instruction booklet supplied really doesn’t offer any advice.

Instead, you’ll need to visit the Stylus product page where you can download a manual and find out exactly what tools have been included in your kit.

While I can see how a gun-shaped tool is useful when it comes to certain tasks, I wished it could be swivelled into a pen shape so that the handle didn’t get in the way when sanding and engraving.

I wanted to use the Stylus to neaten up a carved spoon made from green wood, but while the sanders certainly saved me a lot of time, I think it will take quite a lot more practice before I feel in control.

The same goes for the engraving, which was a pretty fiddly process and made me aware of the tool’s limitations.

With every job I did, I soon discovered that I needed a wider selection of engraving tools. In fact, the photos in the box show people using heads that aren’t supplied with the starter pack (which is pretty sneaky). Sure enough, you’ll find a huge selection of attachments on the website (though finding out where you can actually buy them isn’t all that easy). You’ll probably also want to equip yourself with the Project Table, which is a must-have if you’re working on fiddly projects.

I was very nearly sold by the the Stylus, but I just wish there were a few more heads included with the starter pack. As it stands, without a specialist area sewn up, the Stylus is not quite good enough at sanding, or engraving, cutting or polishing. It really is a jack-of-all-trades and master of none.

But, if you’re prepared to pay for some additional bits (and you can actually find them), you may find yourself getting as excited about this gadget as Alexei Sayle did all those years ago.

Gains points for:

• Taking the strain out of basic tasks like tidying up carved projects
• Nice re-usable packaging
• Idiot-proof out-of-the-box usability

Loses points for:

Not including enough heads

Not supplying enough help in the box

Not offering a swivel head design.

In short:

I really wanted to love this product, and I very nearly did. I’ll definitely use it for wood working projects, but not until I’ve forked out for a Table and more attachments.

Available from Argos

Find out more on the Dremel website.

UPDATE: Dremel got in touch to say that accessories can be bought from www.dremel-direct.com

• More Crafty stuff on Dork Adore