Tag Archives: Kristel Whitaker

This wicked witch has her heart in the right place

Was Maleficent a misunderstood defender of the magical world or an unabashedly wicked always up to something bad? Kristel Whitaker shows that the iconic Disney villain is not that girl as the gravity-defying witch is taking part in LEGO’s Build to Give initiative by assembling a heart out of bricks. (Or maybe it’s just a ploy to be popular?) Even as Maleficent builds a heart, Kristel’s clever display is itself heart-shaped. Call me a sentimental man, but I find it charming.

Maleficent's Heart

Kristel built similar vignettes for fellow goth icons Wednesday and Noctura. It’s not too late to build and share your own heart as part of the Build to Give initiative. For every heart shared by December 31, LEGO will give a set to a child in need.

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LEGO lettering: a blessing and a cursive

LEGO builder Kristel Whitaker is an absolute rebel! She’s not going to let something like a grid of studs keep her from crafting a spot-on remake of the LEGO Scala logo. With so many curved tiles, modified plates, and stud offsets, Kristel is able to trace out S-C-A-L-A in only two layers of red. It certainly pulled its weight for the Scala Murder Mystery Mansion at Brickworld Chicago a few weekends ago.

Scala Sign

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New year, new LEGO blocks

So, how’s everyone feeling about 2024 so far? We’re still writing threes instead of fours by mistake – not helped by all the 2023 recapping we’re doing. But while we’re deciding our Creations of the Year or looking back at our most popular articles, Kristel Whitaker has seen in the new year in a big way! She’s built some big LEGO blocks out of, er, smaller LEGO blocks. We could use some of these in TBB Towers to remind us what year it actually is. Although it won’t help us work out how much longer before we stop saying “Happy New Year” to everyone. New year, same problems!

Happy New Year!

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Celebrate Japanese culture with the Plum Blossom

In a LEGO world of castles, spaceships, and battle mechs it’s sometimes nice to enjoy something a little different. Kristel Whitaker presents us with a stunning piece of art inspired by Japanese art. She tells us that the plum blossoms in Japanese culture represent hope, renewal and vitality, being the first to flower in spring (before the more famous cherry blossoms).The background is based on shoji, the paper sliding doors and windows common in Japanese homes. With the bold red sun against the white background, this piece almost looks like the Japanese flag, a notion that was surely not lost on a talented artist such as Kristel. This wouldn’t be the first time we were totally delighted by her LEGO creations. Please click the little blue link to peruse our Kristel Whitaker archives to discover more.

Plum Blossom

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Honey, I supersized the minifigs

I really like the “maxi-fig” concept that has been doing the rounds lately. It can be as simple as LEGO’s own 40649 Up-Scaled LEGO Minifigure set, or you can use it as a template to let your creativity run wild. Kristel Whitaker has done just that with this dandy pair of Day-of-the-Dead themed figs. They’re named Catrina and Skellie, and don’t they just look brilliant! I love the repeated use of yellow flowers and dark pink leaves on Catrina’s dress especially. It looks just like the intricate embroidery typical of this style of outfit. Skellie’s, er, skeleton is also nicely done with a mixture of SNOT (studs not on top) and tiled building.

Catrina and Skellie

Hopefully this format will blow up in a big way! Speaking of big – why not see what else the talented LEGO community has up-scaled?

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This LEGO townhouse is move-in ready

I didn’t expect to find such a great real estate listing on Flickr, but Kristel Whitaker’s Midi-scale Modular LEGO build looks cozy as can be at eight studs wide. As Kristel has shown us with her previous builds, she is a master of color usage, and this model is no exception. I love the choice of dark blue for the door in contrast to the white trim. And the way the foliage pops against the cobbled walls of tans and browns is just terrific! I’d love to see more modular-style buildings in this scale.

Midi Modular

And like with any good real estate listing, there’s always multiple pictures of the property. Check out this shot of the backdoor. The garbage bins are a nice touch.

Midi Modular

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Still good, even if the gingerbread is a little stale

Christmas has passed but that doesn’t stop us from still drinking egg nog and nibbling on gingerbread cookies. Calories be damned! Am I right? With that in mind, we couldn’t resist featuring this festive LEGO gingerbread stagecoach built by Kristel Whitaker. It has everything you could love in a Christmas-y creation; candy canes, pastries, cute ponies, and a lovely frosted stagecoach and gingerbread driver. There are even some carrots for those who couldn’t be bothered with holiday sweets. I don’t know about you, but I’m smitten. While I sip a spiked egg nog, you can check out all the other times we were smitten by the stuff Kristel has built.

Gingerbread Stagecoach

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The houses of blues

This is a street that makes me feel the opposite of the blues! Kristel Whitaker built a collection of identical townhouses inspired by the colours of the world’s oceans – and also LEGO’s many blue colours. Titled “Ocean Drive”, this build is not only the modular houses but an immersive scene of its residents. The children – currently on summer holiday – are playing outside with the cats while their grandma sits on the front steps. The others come and go, both for work and leisure, and the resident flamingo watches the neighbourhood amongst the flowers. Life is good in the big city.

Ocean Drive

I love how this is reminiscent of London’s famous Portobello Road, which features similar Victorian-terrace houses. Each of LEGO’s common blue colour looks good – especially teal! This scene radiates a certain warmth, both because of the inclusion of light aqua and medium azure, and also the flowers in each garden. I also like the architectural detail of white flowers in the crest that separates the first and second floors. It’s definitely a street that I would love to live in!

Check out more of Kristel’s lovely builds here!

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Every dinosaur is awesome!

Ever since the new Everyone is Awesome LEGO set celebrating Pride was revealed, there have been a number of LEGO creations hitting the internet inspired by this very colorful set. As a fan of BrickHeadz and the Jurassic World set featuring the aptly named “blue”, I had to jump on this rainbow of velociraptors by Kristel, a wonderful line-up that celebrates dinosaurs everywhere in all their colors.

Everydino IS awesome!

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Tigger’s treehouse

I love it when an official LEGO set or theme inspires fans to build their own creation within the theme. But sometimes the inspiration is not a theme or a set but just a single minifigure. According to Kristel, it was the Tigger minifigure from 21326 Winnie the Pooh that inspired her to build this creation. She set her mind to making the minifigure bounce, just like the character does in the movies. In order to make this happen, she built Tigger’s treehouse to hide the jumping mechanism.

Tigger's Treehouse

This build is awesome for a couple of reasons. Although I love Winnie the Pooh, it has been quite some time since I watched a Pooh movie, so my memories about the show have faded a bit. I had to look Tigger’s treehouse up, and I have to say this is an almost exact match for the source material. Secondly, it blends in perfectly with the official LEGO set because Kristel used the same technique on the roof and a similar technique on the foliage. And last but not least, this creation actually allows Tigger to move and jump.

Curious for more Winnie the Pooh articles? Check them out here!

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Stacked terraced garden habitats

Are you aware of the phenomenon called Minifig Habitats? It’s essentially an 8x8x8 diagonal vignette that can be stacked and interlocked to form a pyramid display. However, there is a more popular habitat style that isn’t diagonal and has less open space. These habitats first appeared on Flickr in 2016 and were popularised by LEGO fan sites in the last few years. Since then, they became a nice way for people to show off LEGO Collectible Minifigures in a small dynamic display. Kristel Whitaker takes it to the next level by reimagining minifig habitats into a diorama of a pergola, a balcony, and a potting shed.

Spring Habitat Stack

The white structures provide a bright canvas for plants to grow on and make the diorama clean and minimalist. In addition, the nougat flooring brings a lovely warm contrast to the blue backdrop of Kristel’s photo. There’s plenty of other colours as well, from the yellows and pinks of the flowers to the blues and reds of the potting shed in the lower right habitat. All of these come together in a concise diorama that are clearly different parts of the same house.

Want to build your own minifig habitats? Here is the template.

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A guardian angel to help you through rough times

Things can look pretty bleak, sometimes. So with that in mind, here is a LEGO guardian angel built by Kristel Whitaker to help you through some tough times. I like the golden staff, flowing wings and her serene expression has such a calming effect. Whatever it is you’re going through right now, allow this angel to see you through it to better times. Remember, this too shall pass.

Guardian and Warrior Angels

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