So, I made a quick & cheap Jack O’ Lantern Halloween decoration. OK, I made 8 of them. The pumpkins are $1.97 at Walmart, although the teal one was from CVS and $4.49 because not wanting to kill kids with peanuts or chocolate is definitely something that should be cost prohibitive.
I grabbed some acrylic makers from the craft section, but had to get the green one online. I got orange, black, white, & yellow in a few different tip sizes. I kept it simple, and sort of like those paper Halloween decorations that were shiny on one site and matte on the other that were everywhere from the 50s to the 90s.
I’m probably gonna hit them with a clearcoat spray so they can survive a bit outside.
You should try ’em out and make your own!
Which one’s your favorite? Hit me with some of your creations in the comments!
I uploaded a photo a while back with the intent to blog, and sort of forgot about it. I have been a fan of LEGO ever since I can remember, and in the past decade or so, got back into it. I like the big epic sets, but sometimes these little ones are fun.
It can be a hit to the pocketbook and shelf space. I have checked out lots of off-brand LEGO sets. I remember having some TYCO sets as a kid, and I know I bought my son some He-Man Megabloks/Mega-Construx sets when he was little. I have a few AliExpress sets like the Eagle 5 from Spaceballs.
These were all fun, & of varying quality, and I have amassed them over time. Each was as expected for price paid, and fun to assemble.
LEGO | Arcade Machine 40805 – I typically order from the LEGO website any more, as I have had at least 2 sets tampered with from Walmart, and I have seen the pasta replacement insanity online. Obviously, LEGO is the standard and this set is awesome. It even opens up to a little gamer apartment that has basement vibes, and honestly looks like it was meant to be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ lair. The minifigure and details inside are incredible as usual, and the lean on the screen is a neat build technique. I wish LEGO would come with less stickers. The coin slots are super cool, and this is the biggest scale-wise even though they’re all similar. Funny they have Pac Man, Donkey Kong, and Mario sets… but this a generic unlicensed game.
JAKI | Arcade Gaming Cabinet AK063 – This came from AliExpress with no brand listed, but JAKI was on the book & box. The quality was pretty good, better than what I expected from AliExpress anyway. This one is super cool because there’s a gear on the back that move bricks inside the clear screen (even if just a little bit) to create some action. I absolutely hate the stickers that cross over brick connections. It’s like nails-on-chalkboard level nope for me. It was cool that this came with an instruction booklet and a box. I have absolutely gotten AliExpress sets with a card to scan for a *.pdf and one that was a link to a YouTube video. That Bricksewer site seems shadier than AliExpress for real though.
Brickcraft | Atari Arcade Classics 72776 – I have noticed an aggressive uptick in Brickcraft advertising. Good for them, as their quality is getting better. I’d say they’re right alongside the Zuru Max bricks and whatever Mega Bloks/Mega Construx are called this week in quality. The best part of this was all the printed bricks! Brickcraft should lean into that and eschew stickers totally. The instructions were clear. The price is approaching actual LEGO, which is bold, but they lean into pop-culture licensing and again the printed bricks are awesome, so maybe that’s a fair trade-off. These sets are cool because you can get the coin out of the back. The ornaments up fun are cool too. Neat to see Asteroids, Pong, & Centipede still getting love.
Snap & Switch | Skee-Ball Construction Set – I got this from Five Below on a whim. It was not nearly $20 like it is listen on this website. The bricks feel… fragile? The quality of the plastic is just not quite right. Again, with the stickers that hit multiple bricks. Why? Who does this? I am not gluing these sets together. No Kragle! At any rate, Snap & Switch is a Well Played Toys brand, and they were awesome when I wrote about a missing piece, and they sent a replacement for free. Also, this is totally playable. It comes with little skee-balls. How fun is that?
You should really buy my maze book. It has mazes like this, only in black & white. It has all the solutions, too.
Of course, you can just enjoy these here for free too, just like all the other ones on my blog. I really like it when people share their solutions in the comments or by tagging me on social media.
You can use my maze book like an adult coloring book too. Some people color in all the dead ends until the path is revealed. I fully support maze solution anarchy.
Maybe print these out & try them while you’re waiting for Easter dinner to cook, passing time before your seder meal for Passover, fasting for Ramadan, or you’re contemplating what to plant in your vegetable garden.
If you do celebrate Passover, Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Beltane, Ostara, Imbolc, Chaitra Navratri, Ram Navami, Vishu, Ugadi, Vaisakhi, Baisakhi, Hanamatsuri, Qingming, Walpirgis, just Spring Equinox… or some other holiday… Would you like a maze themed for that? I try to approach everything with a mix of reverence & levity. I like to learn about other people’s holidays and the meaning & traditions behind them.
I may have to do a guinea pig themed maze soon…
Oh yeah, you can get the vegetable garden one on a T-shirt or a bunch of other stuff at TeePublic or RedBubble if you’d like to wear it while you garden or hang it on your wall.
I feel like it’s been a while since I posted a maze. Here’s 3, with black and white and color options for each. I have posted them on social media, but they’ll probably be slightly better quality here. Who hasn’t felt this winter to their core? Snow removal struggles and anger at poor Punxsutawney Phil have been all over social media.
I post this as I contemplate selling mazes on Etsy. Think there’s a market? I see other artists selling small *.pdf packs of printable mazes, coloring pages, or other hand-drawn puzzles or activity pages. A lot of the stuff you can find free online via Pinterest, or places like here on my blog or r/mazes. Are there people looking for paid downloads? They would of course probably be exclusive or only elsewhere available in my books. It’s certainly way more about art & expression than money, but it is cool to see my mazes on stuff, even if I’m my own biggest customer.
Oh, can’t forget a small bonus maze first since it’s Valentine’s Day!
You have to respect the chair. You can get an official one, or up your game and put out a walker, a table or even a statue of Jesus. Don’t park there if you didn’t shovel! Luckily now we don’t have to worry as much about it, but we lived in Dormont for years where no one really owned the spot in front of their place. The anger is real when someone ganks your spot after you labored for sometimes hours to clear it.
🌨️🪑🌨️🚗🌨️
The Snow-Shoveling Maze.
A lot of people are over it. We got hot with an amount of snow in our area what we haven’t seen since 2010, and it stayed cold for quite some time. Removal was difficult unless you kept up with it through the storm… and even then some folks had their sidewalks piled upon by the snow-plow trucks. Here you can do some scrawling instead of shoveling. This might work as a coloring page too? You can work back from the dead ends and the solution will be left.
❄️❄️🚪❄️
The Groundhog Day Maze.
Who doesn’t love Punxsutawney Phil? I guess a lot of people when he predicts 6 more weeks of winter. We can’t balk at tradition now, can we? If you get stuck in this maze, you might feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.
There once was a groundhog from Punxy. Instead of consorting with skunks, he Sat with turkeys to gobble On that famous knob hill While all the bystanders got drunk, see?
❄️🌸🪻⛄
So there you have a winter maze drop. As always, if you take the time to complete one, please share it & tag me on social media. If you dig these free mazes, I have lots more. I urge you to also maybe buy a book or a T-shirt or hoodie. Also, let me know what you think about selling *.pdf downloads on Etsy. Is it worth it?
I love Thanksgiving. It’s coming soon. This is some Turkey Day attire that you can relax in. Wear it under a nice cozy flannel. It appears to be on sale at both my TeePublic and RedBubble shops currently. You should take advantage of that if you’re so inclined.
You can get this design on an apron, a coffee mug, a tote bag, a hoodie, a blanket, a pillow… or all kinds of stuff really. You can change the clothing color with a bunch of options & styles at each site too. Poke around & see if you can find something you like!
Also, you can print this out & try to solve it for free. Or do it on your phone/tablet/whatever. You can post it on social media & tag me@AiXeLsyD13.
Of course, I have a buch of other Thanksgiving themed mazes too:
Hey, this pumpkin maze works for Halloween and Thanksgiving if you ask me. And, you can get two versions of it on all kinds of stuff too:
You can get the full color orange one on stuff at TeePublic and at RedBubble. You can also get the black & white one on stuff at TeePublic. I thought that might look cool on an orange T-shit.
I felt like drawing another Halloween sort of maze. I will probably do some more. I wanted to give this a bit of color too. As always, I’d love it if you solved the maze on paper or on a screen, posted it so social media, & tagged me.
Have fun with this. Print it for your Halloween parties, to pass out with candy, or just for fun. Free to use, just don’t steal & sell it.
I really used to be super creeped out by spiders. Perhaps I should make a series of different kinds of spider mazes. The fly is kind of a blob here. I may do a cleaner version at some point. Still working out if I want the next book to have a theme or just be chaos (again).
You can get the black & white version on all kinds of stuff like stickers, T-shirts, mugs, & wall art at TeePublic & Redbubble.
You can also get the orange version on all kinds of stuff like stickers, T-shirts, hoodies, & aprons at TeePublic & Redbubble.
Have you noticed that I like Halloween? I made some more Halloween-themed mazes. I felt like doing a haunted house and a graveyard. My drawing skills have waned, I need more practice. Third book? Maybe. I have sold 10’s of copies of the others so far. If you try these mazes out, be sure to post your solution on your social media of choice, and tag me. I’m @AiXeLsyD13 just about everywhere. You can even listen to one of my Halloween playlists while you do it… or the monster playlists, or the newest one: Halloween | Certified Bangers 💀🦇🕸️🕷️
I try to not plug my books or T-shirts too often. You know the art (one guy even tried to steal the art). You know the links to Amazon, RedBubble, & TeePublic & the links up top here. There’s even the Linktree. It’s a fun creative outlet for me, and I would appreciate a few more sales, just like I appreciate all that you have purchased!
TeePublic is having a sale, you can get these shirts & more for $16 thos weekend! Should I upload some more Halloween themed mazes? May be time to draw some new ones! You can get stickers, hats, pins, & other cool stuff there too. #TeePubic @TeePublic #TShitts#Mazes#Guitar#Food 🤘🏻 https://tee.pub/lic/AiXeLsyD13
Well then, it’s finally here. I finished maze book number two! This one is better than the last one, I promise. The first was sort of a test run just to see how Amazon KDP works. I wholeheartedly appreciate everyone that bought that book, but this one just objectively looks better and much more time was put into its creation. It ought to be much more challenging and enjoyable, IMHO.
This book a collection of a bunch more larger mazes, and a few small ones that I have been drawing since late 2023. There’s no common theme other than most of the mazes have a silly vibe. A few have no vibe at all. There’s aliens, rodents, yard work, holiday stuff, rock n’ roll, a treasure map, food, retail aversion, gross stuff, & more.
You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes (Front Cover)
I hope you consider picking up a copy for yourself, & maybe even one for a friend? If not, just sharing the link to someone who you think may enjoy it, or just sharing it in general would be awesome.
The link is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9Y7SFXS and I’d love if you could share it, review it, favorite it or save it to a list… anything to help even if you’re not interested in a purchase. You could give me a good (or terrible) review or add it to your list on GoodReads too, if that’s your thing.
I had fun making a collage with punk ‘zine vibes for the cover. I busted out the mixed media, printed on weird paper, got two cutting, ripping, & coffee staining… and unearthed the leopard & cheetah print tape.
All of the mazes were hand-drawn, scanned in, edited (& “solved”) in paint.NET, & put together with Open Office. I haven’t stepped into the world of digital drawing yet, and I like my free programs. Someday, I’ll probably dive into GIMP a little more.
I love drawing the mazes, and it’s a great creative outlet like blogging or making music or playing out live. I’m sitting on a pile of old ones that I can convert into a book… but I need to make sure they’re all solvable and do the solutions.
Some are too big to fit on my scanner, and scanning with my phone has less than desirable results… so I’m gonna have to go somewhere like a FedEx Office store and hope they can help before they all disappear. I have a problem picking up any notebook that catches my eye and is the right price, regardless of size & paper type. I like the feel & the calming of pen on paper.
Because I have been excited about this, and I made a small collage with leftover bits, I popped up some new merch designs in my TeePublic & RedBubble stores with that new collage & the book cover images. I do have some older designs there with a few of the mazes that are featured in this book too. If you have an account & follow me on either of those sites, it may help my stuff get seen a bit more. I’d appreciate any form of liking/sharing/tagging if you’re so inclined!
In fact, check out all these designs from or inspired by the book, you can get them on all kinds of merch at each store! (I ordered a sticker, a magnet, a coffee cup, & a hoodie so I’m already in the hole.)
