Category Archive

Do It Yourself

How-tos, photos and topics of DIY discussion.

How do you guarantee a white Christmas?

By building a homemade snow machine. This Instructable has all the info.

How to build a Festivus Pole: 6′ tall, aluminum, unadorned

FESTIVUS IS THIS WEEKEND! It’s my household’s most-anticipated party of the year. We drink mulled wine, air our grievances with each other, perform feats of strength, eat donuts, and then all guests must wrestle my husband before they may leave. It all happens in the cold aura of the Festivus Pole.

This is how you build a pole. The right way. All these supplies are available at your local hardware store — and they’ll be cheaper than Amazon, so use this list for familiarity or the odd bit you can’t find in town.

I installed a fireplace in my apartment

Want a fireplace to bring the warmth, on a budget, in your apartment? It’s totally possible, I promise! See how I installed a fireplace in my apartment for less than $200.

Infuse vodka for delicious, easy-to-handle homemade gifts

My best friend and I have reached a point in our relationship where we pretty much only exchange alcohol — but it’s just as appropriate for someone I barely know. Booze gifts aren’t right for everyone, but they’re appropriate for such a wide range of people as to be super useful in difficult gifting straights. You can make the gift of a good bottle more personal by making it yourself with one of these recipes for infused vodka.

Use your wedding decorations for double-duty Christmas decor

Juniper Zombie started my unusual Christmas tree hunt on the right foot when she pinged us about showing off her mad rad purple and black tree. We’ve got pics of it, more ideas on ways to recycle your wedding stuff.

Make super easy fingerless gloves out of socks

What do you do when you suddenly realize your socks have humongous holes well beyond repair? Do you throw them away? Here’s a seasonal super-duper easy way to recycle them into fingerless gloves.

Print and post street flyers in your neighborhood

All the cool kids are talking about street art. Big-name street artists have been in hugely successful art films (okay, so as successful as art films can get) and have brands. But it’s so exciting because anyone can do it.

There is almost no barrier to entry. You don’t have to buy paints, you don’t have to get in trouble, you don’t have to have an amazing idea, and nobody even needs to know who you are. And it’s really, really, really fun to make something — even if all you did was trace a skull on a sticker and slap in on a fire hydrant. Making things is totally an addictive cycle.

So if you are among the uninitiated, consider me your street art candy man. I will give you three easy starter projects you can just Save As, Print, and post — or grab a magic marker and a sheet of A5 and replicate.

Use stumpy slivers of soap to make MORE soap

I recently ran out of hand soap and decided that rather than buy more, I’d just rinse out the soap bottle and pump and make my own. It’s super easy to make your own soap using the stumpy remnants of bar soap (you know, the little sliver that’s a little too big to throw away but too small to really use) or little hotel bars.