One of the things we're exploring for this season's MAKEcation coverage is good ol' VAcations, but with a MAKE twist. If MAKEcations are about productively spending your summer at home, learning new things, doing some projects by yourself or with the family, a MAKE Vacation is about traveling with learning and DIY in mind. There are science museums to visit, historical science and technology sites to explore, places to learn about a specific technology or craft, hacker- and other DIY spaces and groups in various cities to check out. It'd be fun to plan a family trip around a particular theme, say rocketry or the development of the PC, and then visit a bunch of destinations and plan activities around that theme.

O'Reilly has a popular book, called The Geek Atlas, that's a guide to 128 worthy science and technology destinations. (We'll have more on the Atlas soon.) Now, there's also an iPhone version of the book, with GPS locations/maps for the destinations, Wikipedia links to relevant information related to the destinations and the science and tech found there, and more. The Companion is $2.99 in the App Store.

Geek Atlas Companion app

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The RUB Chopper, made by Orange County Chopper, for RUB in NYC.

We hope our readers in the States are having a wonderful day with family and friends, celebrating Memorial Day (and thinking about all of those who've come before us and made our lives possible through their sacrifices).

If you're doing some chillin' and grillin' today, here's our coverage of grilling and grills on MAKE and CRAFT, if you need a little inspiration.

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Some Peeps, some Rice Krispies treats, and some fruit roll-ups, and you've got delicious "Peepshi." (Okay, I think I'll be sick now...)

How to Make Peepshi = Peeps Sushi

More: Annual Parade o' Peeps

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This year, it seems like everyone is getting in on the Peeps love (and Peeps abuse). There are now overwhelming numbers of Peeps-themed art shows, stop-motion movies, and all manner of grotesque Peeps experimentation. Do a search on YouTube and you could spend your entire day watching Peeps-themed programming. Er... but don't do that. Get out there and enjoy the beautiful day. Happy Easter. Happy Spring.

2009's Peeps round-up intro: Spring has sprung, the grass is green again, the trees are in bloom, the animals are stirring. And to me, that all means one important thing: Peeps are in season! I've had a rather unnatural attraction to Peeps every since I was a child. There's something about this strange, over-the-top-sweet, pillowy confection that makes it simultaneous attractive and repulsive. It's WAY too much of a good thing: too much sweet, too much cute, two much color (this year's colors are vivid to a degree that's downright hallucinatory). And then there's the strange "mouth feel" of gooey, pillow-soft innards and a crunchy crystalline sugar coating. Not to mention the rather disturbing idea of eating a rack of baby chicks, fused to each other at the hip, sold to you at Eastern time by a company called Just Born of Bethlehem, PA. It all adds up to a uniquely American pop-surrealist experience that I revel in each year. And from all of the crazy, educational, and absurd websites and videos I've seen online over the years, so don't a lot of people. Happy Spring, everybody!

Peeps brûlée! Like toasted marshmallows, but awesomer Give the candy critters a crisp, glassy caramel shell. Go ahead, show them a little love. [Thanks, Matt!]

Experimental Burning Peepshow - Flammability Test #1 Jeri Ellsworth experiments with cutting a Peep with a 60w laser.

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10

Egg art from Makers

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Easter "Robbit"

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It's not to late to make your own Valentine's cards! Here's some inspiration from fellow CRAFT readers with Vday cards made with lots of love.

Tamara of Art, Adventures and a Toddler shows you how to make this felt monster Valentine.

Stitchcraft has a tutorial for a Valentine's Day card with attached tissue cozy that's perfect for this cold winter.

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Andrea of CraftyBitch created this lovebird Valentine headband for her daughter, and has shared the pattern for download on her blog. I love the touch of ric rac around the base of the headband. Read this article | Comment on this article

Oh my gawd, this is hysterical. These guys launched their Christmas tree on 32 rocket engines. The launch is glorious.

Christmas Tree Rocketry: The Art and Science of Holiday Recycling

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Instructables user mrfixits writes:

This Tesla Tornado is made using a Subaru blower fan motor, complete with its 3-position speed switch mounted on the base. The blower motor has a flywheel fabricated out of Lexan with 6 neodymium magnets mounted in it. It magnetically couples with 6 magnets in the Tesla Pump disc pack, which is inside the vortex tube. The Tesla pump discs are magnetically driven by the blower motor flywheel magnets, so there is no direct connection. The pump disc pack is self-centering, and there is no rotating shaft, shaft bearings, or seals required.

Because nothing says xmas like the slurp of that water pump! Great walkthrough of the building of this Tesla Tornado.

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Sweet little breadboard Menorah project at Sparkle Labs.

Festive Hanukkah LED Menorah

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Cassie at Bella Dia shows you how to make these adorable cereal box houses. I love that this can be any kind of box (cookies, oatmeal, etc) that can be reused and made into fun toys for the kids, holiday decor, or gift boxes for presents. Read this article | Comment on this article

These ornaments from Corinne of So September have some of my very favorite things: argyle, applique and embroidery hoops! Find out how to make your own over on So September. Read this article | Comment on this article

Until they make Black Friday a goth holiday, where you dress all in black, sit around listening to Bauhaus and Bella Morte, and stare at the floor, Black Friday will scare me. Yes, the running of the shoppers scares me MORE than goth.

As we've pointed out before, this holiday season provides an excellent opportunity to give yourself "permission to play," to make things, either to decorate your house or to give away as gifts. Or both. Last year, I made the above "Gift of Robot Invasion" LED Christmas tree ornaments, for our own tree and to give away as presents. They turned out to be a lot more work than I expected, so I didn't make many. But I still have lots of the parts, so I may start early and make more this year. If I give them as presents, I'll make a box for them as well. My son and I have made ornament presents in the past and created custom, commercial-looking, box art to package them. I love the idea that our recipients will store them away with their holiday decorations and get a little visit from us every time they take out our box and hang our ornament. "Robot invasion" ornaments lend themselves to all sorts of sci-fi silliness for the box copy.

We announced a DIY Friday initiative this morning on our Twitter channel, as an alternative to Black Friday. If you're doing any handmade gifts this holiday, post them here in the comments, or tag them #diyfri on Twitter.

And check out Becky Stern's Gifts You Can Make guide.

I got the plans for making the Robot Invasion ornaments from The Best of Instructables Volume I (the little robot dude is even on the cover). This book has all sorts of great DIY gift ideas.

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Sarah James at Instructables made this expandable stocking!

This is the Christmas stocking you've been waiting for! Make it yourself to reflect how naughty or nice you've been. Hang it in its most compact zipped-up stage to appear modest and humble. Unzip it to lengthen, section by section, until you have the stocking of your dreams! Then make sure to write Santa a very nice letter to let him know you've been good enough this year to fill it to the brim.

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Members of the American Chemical Society show you how a pop-up turkey timer works.

The Chemistry of Thanksgiving

More: Lots more chemistry on MAKE in the Make: Science Room

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Being in Hawaii for the Thanksgiving holiday has given me countless things to be thankful for. The Hawaiian flavors, tropical colors, and generous attitude are truly one of a kind. Even if you are not on the islands, you can reinvent your mainland holiday with a twist! Gather flowers at the florist, and then visit an Asian food market for unusual fruits. You can build this centerpiece in less time than it takes to make the mashed poi! Aloha!

Many thanks to the Hotel Renew, and it's kind and helpful staff. Renew has been my home away from home for this trip, and it's modern design and floral arrangements have been extremely inspiring. Mahalo (thank you) for the use of the lobby for this tutorial! Read this article | Comment on this article

June at PlanetJune as a free pattern to make her punchneedle poinsettia. June writes: This 2.5″ Poinsettia design uses Punchneedle Embroidery for a fast and festive result. It can be made as an applique and attached to almost anything to give it a more Christmassy feel!For more punchneedle lessons and patterns, check out June's eBook, The Punchneedle Handbook that will teach you everything you need to know! Read this article | Comment on this article

We have some special Thanksgiving recipes on CRAFT to make your feast extra delicious. Check 'em all out! Thanksgiving Feast: How-To Brine & Roast a Turkey Thanksgiving Feast: Side Dishes Thanksgiving Feast: Pumpkin Pie with Caramel Pecan Topping Homemade Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream How-To: Bake a Turkey-Shaped Cake

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I love this charming take on the traditional advent calendar from Pickles. It depicts two children trying to jump up to get hanging presents from the sky. Each present is attached by string to a small ring, and can be opened day by day during Advent. Adorable! [via @zakkalife] Read this article | Comment on this article

I'm old (never you mind the hard number). But I'm still a kid at heart and I love toys. And I'm not talking about motorcycles and cars and speed boats, aka "grown-up toys," I'm talking model rockets, radio-controlled anything, little toy soldiers, and board games. TOYS! The cool thing about being an adult, and being into the toys of youth, is that you've got a lot more money in your piggy bank! In this, our first Make: Gift Guide 2009, we'll look at a few top of the line traditional toys, with an emphasis on toys you build, mod, and hack. Please share with us in the comments what sorts of cool toys you'd like to see under the Christmas tree or Hanukkah bush this year.

Initiator Rocketry Starter Kit (Aerotech, MSRP: $299/$172 at Tower Hobbies) Most every grown up geek remembers being a young geekling and building and flying Estes Rockets. If you haven't been paying attention, you may not know that hobby rockets have been growing, in power and size, ever since. And growing, and growing, and growing. Motors are designated in nearly every letter of the alphabet now (and each lettered motor is twice as powerful as the previous-lettered motor) and some rockets require teams to build them (and heft them to the launch tower -- and it's a tower, not a rod). AeroTech is one of the leading manufacturers of hobby rocket motors. Their Initiator Rocketry Starter Kit will launch you into this very grown-up hobby (where your credit card bills may get equally astronomical). The kit includes a launch system and a 3' 9" rocket that can handle motors E thru G. This starter kit usually costs $230 (w/ one motor), but Tower Hobbies has it for $172 (w/ no motors). Motors will cost you about under $20 each.

Novus CP Nano Sized 2.4GHz RTF Helicopter (Heli-Max, $220) R/C cars, planes, and helicopters keep getting more sophisticated and more "real" by the year. Just as hobby rockets keep getting bigger, more powerful, and are closing in on the smaller, cheaper, faster bottom-end of commercial and governmental rocketry, hobby R/C is starting to look not that different from man-portable recon systems used in the military. In fact, that line has already been largely erased. New technologies and economies of scale are also allowing extremely sophisticated R/C vehicles to be offered at really affordable prices, such as with the Novus line of "nano-sized" helicopters.This Novus CP model shown here is actually the top of that line and capable of some pretty amazing aerobatics. Several cheaper models are also available, for as low as $125.

FPV Flying Systems Long Range Ready to Fly FPV System (ReadyMadeRC, $4,500) One of the more amazing things to come out of the R/C flying (and driving) world is FPV (First Person View) systems which use tiny cameras in the cockpits of model planes and wireless transmitters and receivers to send point-of-view video to a video monitor, or even a virtual reality-type head-mounted display, on the ground. This allows you to fly the plane like you're in the cockpit. Some FPV hobbyists have gone so far as to put instrument panels in the cockpits, displaying real-time flight information, so that you feel as if you're really flying the plane. With the VR rigs, when you move your head, the camera's POV moves with you. As you can imagine, this is not a cheap hobby to get into. You're adding wireless color video and virtual reality equipment on top of radio-controlled flying gear. The above $4,500 system, from ReadyMadeRC, includes the plane, the R/C gear, the FPV set-up, and everything else -- it comes ready to fly. FPVPilot is a great place to start exploring the FPV hobby.

Compound Oil Immersion Microscope 163 (Maker Shed, $820) While most of the items in our guide are toys, not tools, we couldn't resist drooling over the new microscopes in the Maker Shed. I had two scopes as a kid, and had the greatest time exploring unseen worlds by peering through their eyepieces. This top-of-the-line microscope is trinocular. It has a third eyepiece so that you can attach a still or video camera to capture what you're seeing through the binocular eyepiece. This is a laboratory-grade microscope, with surprising features and high mechanical and optical qualities, at a hobbyist's price. Note that the other reason we have it in this gift guide is that you need to order the microscopes by December 3 to guarantee Christmas delivery. If you'd like some advice on what scope to choose, check out our "Choosing a Microscope" article in the Make: Science Room.

Gakken Kits When I was a kid, model kits from Japan had an intense allure. They seemed (okay, they generally were) of much higher quality than American kits, and the instructions just looked so dang cool! Age has not diminished this impression and the popularity of the Gakken kits we carry in the Maker Shed prove that lots of people feel the same. These are unique and gorgeous kits that any tech enthusiast and kit-builder on your list will be thrilled to get. Above are the Sterling Engine Kit ($120) and the Vacuum Tube Radio Kit ($100, currently on sale for $86). The Gakken range is wide, from mechanical centipedes to tea-serving robots to retro 4-bit computers. See all the kits here.

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