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Have fun with HOT GLUE and LEDs and make a novel USB powered desk or monitor ornament.
Glow Globs (a.k.a.The Mood Lump) will sit near your computer and endlessly cycle through colour patterns. (The animations show a sudden change - In reality the change is gradual.) You could make a couple to brighten up your workspace or give them as presents. The appeal is such that they're appreciated by anyone - not just computer geeks. Glow Globs use very few parts and can be made in a couple of hours, although a lot of that time is waiting for hot glue to cool.
There are only a few solder joints to make and these have to be done carefully but the project should be fine for a soldering novice as long as sufficient care is taken.
(I.E. seems to have trouble showing all frames of the animated GIFs, but they work fine with FireFox.)
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Signing UpStep 1Parts and Tools
To make a Glow Glob you will need a USB lead - A dead (computer) mouse is an ideal donor as it has a long, thin and flexible lead. Anything else with a working USB lead will do though.
You will need a 47R resistor - That's a yellow - violet - black one. Quarter watt or half watt is ideal and 1%, 2%, 5% or 10% tolerance is OK.
You need three 5mm slow colour change RGB LEDs. These look like a normal LED but will cycle slowly through a range of colours when you connect them to a voltage. These seem quite hard to find from the main suppliers, but there's many for sale via eBay. Use the search terms "rgb led slow" on your country's eBay site. Many of these suppliers are based in the far east but I've had no problems ordering items (to the UK) in the past.
You will also need a hot glue gun and normal glue sticks - the ones which are normally translucent, go clear when melted, then go translucent again when cool.
Soldering iron and solder are a must and also a 'helping hands' type tool to hold things whilst soldering. If your eyesight is anything like mine you will also need your strongest pair of reading glasses.
Finally you need a small area of smooth metal surface and just the tiniest smear of oil or grease - cooking oil is fine.
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http://www.instructables.com/id/Remote-Controlled-Arduino-Car/
and
http://www.instructables.com/id/Star-Wars-X-Wing-2/
And vote for them if you like them in the microcontroller contest and the LED contest accordingly
here is an ebay seller that sells 3 superlux (basically the same, just different package) plus resistors, so, when ordering give a comment that you want resistors for 5V, and you should be OK.
one thing though, the OP instructed to use only 1 resistor for all 3 LED's, but its better to use a single resistor per LED, since they burn down fast if you use them like that.
just solder a resistor to each LED, and then connect the side of the resistors that isnt connected to the LED's.
if you have any questions, feel free to contact me ;)
The self colour changing LEDs I use have an IC fabricated inside them to do the fading. That's why I can get away with a single resistor for all 3.