Category Archive

Do It Yourself

How-tos, photos and topics of DIY discussion.

The lazy crafters’ guide to making a T-shirt rug

This project is quite easy, and it’s also immensely rewarding. It let me keep old (unwearable) clothes without cluttering my drawers. It gave them a new, useful and pretty life. It’s easy and quick enough to get actually finished in a few days. It leaves behind minimal craftermath. And my favorite part — since it seems I’m getting old and lazy — for the most part it can be done while sitting on the sofa, watching reruns of Grey’s Anatomy.

Accio awesome DIY Harry Potter wand display

A while back, I discovered Harter’s Wands on Etsy. You send them the screenshot of your wand from Pottermore, and they will make one to the exact specifications. Only, what do you do with a wand once you have it? You make a wand display plaque, of course!

How to turn Barbies into Doctor Who Weeping Angels

I don’t like Barbies and I pre-apologize to those who do, but I took an inordinate amount of pleasure in hacking up, hot gluing, and morphing Barbies into something that causes horror: the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who! Here’s how you can hack your Barbies into Weeping Angels…

Pop bottles and make some wine cork and bottle cap projects

My favourite souvenirs from travel seem to be booze-related. I have a bunch of corks that I’ve saved from vineyard tours; bottle caps from my favourite beer at a brewery tour; and paper pub coasters from Hofbräuhaus. They’re sentimental and touristy at the same time (not to mention cheap and easy to bring back home) — but right now they’re just packed away. I want a way to display them that’s tasteful or even useful, and I’m inspired by this quote from Suzanne and Tim over on Offbeat Bride

How to glam up my bike

Paint jobs, replacing parts, adding accessories… How do you pimp your bike ride?

This is my bike. It is a good bike that performs all of it’s bikely functions. It was a gift from my in-laws, they got it at a garage sale and I really do love it. I just wish it were more, errr, stylish. Does anyone have any ideas for how I could spruce it up?

4 tips on using an X-Acto knife without it ending in bloodshed

I remember when I took my first class at college, the first thing the professor did was show us how to use an X-Acto properly and how to cut a mat board. She went over every detail, told us to be extra careful because they are sharp little bastards. And what happens? Not five minutes later, a girl cuts open her hand and, as I later found out, had to get stitches and couldn’t work with that hand for a while. So here are a few little tips for other DIYers. I’m mostly just wanted to address common things I’ve seen done that end in injury.

Make your own Mandrake

My fiancé and I finished making our very own Mandrake to use as a centerpiece. I’m pretty stoked on how he turned out, and I thought I’d share with you how we did it.

Unleash your inner six-year-old (or keep one busy) with spool knitting

What the hell is spool knitting you ask? Spool knitting (aka “French knitting”) is basically knitting done in a constant spiral instead of in rows. It’s typically used to make sleeves and socks, but a small spool, like the kind I used as a kid, produces what’s basically a long rope. And here’s how it’s done…