DIY Life

Think you're handy with a knife? Fiercely competitive? Sounds like you'd fit right in with this crowd of entrants in the Salon of Culinary Art, an annual fruit and vegetable carving competition held in New York. It's sort of like the Olympics...but with lots of produce and sharp cutting implements. And less exposure of gleaming, muscular flesh.

Saxton Freymann's books, especially Play with your Food, helped popularize this hobby/art-form. Freymann is known particularly for his fetching broccoli poodles and Brussels sprouts pigs. That's the kind of cutesie stuff that even I could probably master.

Leaders in the field, however, don't play around with such whimsies. Check out this New York Times slideshow to view the most intricately carved entries in this year's competition. Golden beet butterflies and rearing taro root stallions, anyone?

In this day and age, we are all thinking about ways to be more environmentally friendly. Our household tries to find ways to reuse things rather than throw them out. Cardboard paper towel tubes can become a fun rain stick craft, for example.

It seems there is nothing more bountiful than used paper. From junk mail to gift wrap, stationery to greeting cards, we are inundated with it daily. Don't let it leave you wondering what to do with all that post-tree fodder any longer.

Fish Lips Paper Designs has a fun and useful list of ways to reuse paper. From framing patterned paper as art, to making book covers, to lining your sock drawer, they're sure to have a tip that will breathe new life into your scrap paper. You can even shred it to use as packaging.

Me? I'm going to reuse some colorful gift wrap as mats for black and white photographs. What will you do with your reusable paper?

This paint swatch weaving project is attractive, simple, and best of all, super thrifty. Head down to your local paint store and pick up a bunch of paint swatches. If you're like me, and have a hard time envisioning how things will look when they come together, take a tip from the pros, and follow their suggested color themes. Choose something that complements or contrasts with the current color palette in your room.

Basically, all you have to do is cut the swatches into strips, lay your base, weave it, and glue the back with rubber cement. Add some bold focal points, maybe with a color drawn from the accessories in your room or your focal wall. Framing the woven swatches can take on a variety of forms, depending on the look you're going for. A bold wooden frame would add dramatic impact, where a thin basic frame gives an understated impression.

This would also make a great project for children. You might want to ask the paint store if they have leftover swatches from discontinued colors.

The cool thing about creating paint swatch art projects is that you get the exact colors you're looking for, instead of settling for something that doesn't quite match your current decor. Have you created any other projects with paint swatches?

Is all of this spring rain getting to you? If you have a three-year-old, you are probably outside in it everyday like I am, enjoying projects like making a rain gauge ruler and a rain book. But if your older, slightly more rational children prefer to stay indoors on torrential days, you might like making a rain stick with them.

What is a rain stick, you ask? It is simply a long tube filled with various noisemakers that make the tube sound like a rainstorm when tipped end over end. It has been used in different cultures -- invented in Chile -- to attempt to make the rains come.

This is an easy project that leaves the creativity window wide open, so every rain stick really comes out a unique expression of each creator. You'll need a mailing tube, some dried rice and peas, plastic drinking cups to cover the ends of the tube, aluminum foil and the odds and ends of art supplies, staplers, etc.

After this past week here in New England, I can't imagine talk of a drought. The creek that runs through our backyard is a raging river and I don't remember what the sun looks like.

Yet the rain inspires me to write about some fun rain projects you can do around your yard and with your kids to pass the time on rainy days.

Since we have gotten so much rain, I thought it would be fun to measure the amount of rainfall that has graced us. It is so easy to make a rain gauge ruler, from an old olive or peanut butter jar and this printable rain ruler. You can graph the daily rainfall with your kids -- or your science-minded husband! -- and make it something to look forward to on rainy days.

Flowers are a wonderful gift, if only they would last longer. With these flower gifts that you can make with your kids, they will last perhaps longer than the recipient would like them to! Or the flowerpots are perfect for presenting real flowers or plants.

Make this photo flower bouquet from paper, using photos as the center of the flower. Glue onto a chenille stem and present as a bouquet or in a vase. I like the idea of using patterned paper; handmade paper would look stunning, as would scrapbooking paper.

It is so easy to paint this clay flowerpot. All you need are some acrylic paints and your creativity. You can plan a pattern with your kids beforehand, use some stencils or let them go, Jackson Pollock style. You know they will come up with something spectacular, and uniquely "them."

There is something about the hand print gift. Maybe it is because it is so overdone that it has become kitschy, like every mom must own one. Probably it is because the size of your child's hand is frozen in time, a special keepsake of your growing child at the given age of the hand print.

If you find the hand print gifts charming, I've gathered a sampling of hand print projects that are slightly more unique, and dare I say upscale, than the typical hand print wreath. You know you've got one.

This easy hand print hand towel is made using towels you buy at the store and fabric paint. You can add the child's name, date and other embellishments and you've got a real keepsake here, and a usable one at that.

The weather is finally right for your budding artist to let loose on the driveway. After you've made Bethany's homemade sidewalk chalk, print out some of these stencils to help your child create a masterpiece.

I wouldn't be a former teacher and art student if I didn't say that freehand is best to encourage creativity, but that there is also something to be said for the skill of staying in the lines. The best way to use the stencils would be to incorporate them into a freehand design, so I'll suggest ways to do that for each stencil design.

Since you'll be using these stencils outside, use cardstock to print them. They will be much sturdier and possibly even reusable. Then, just cut out the designs using pointed scissors or an exacto knife. Join me after the break for some fun ways to decorate your driveway, kid style.

DIY Life has lots of great tutorials for jewelry-making if you are an adult and want to play. From crackle glass earrings to designer knock-offs, we've got a project you'll like.

If you are looking for jewelry you can make with your children, something that would make a great Mother's Day gift, then these are the projects that might appeal to you.

These easy bottle cap brooches are made from bottle caps you have flattened out with needle nose pliers, a pin backing available at any craft store, a photo of your child and whatever you want to use to decorate -- ribbon, glitter, glue, nail polish. What stylish mom wouldn't want to wear a piece of jewelry with their child's photo on it?

Spring has finally sprung and I couldn't be happier. I just came inside from cleaning out my flower beds and was so happy to see the many sprouts of green that will become my perennials.

I also found some -- yep, you guessed it -- weeds. Personally, I really love most weeds, especially those tiny purple flowers in the violet family. Instead of pulling them up this year, I think I will let them grow. They will be the perfect flower to use to make pressed flower notecards.

This tutorial makes it sound so easy. After you dry the flowers in-between absorbent paper for about two weeks, you simply use tweezers and white glue to affix the flowers and leaves to the notecards. Protect the notecard with some clear contact paper and you've got a blooming fun way to welcome in spring, and also a great Mother's Day gift.

Photo transparencies are fun to use in scrapbooking and collage art, but transparency film can be a bit costly. Creating photo transparencies out of packing tape is not only easy, it's also a lot more cost efficient than buying the film to print on.

First, you'll need to choose the photo you'd like to use to create a transparency. Take the photo to your local print shop, and have either a black and white or color toner copy made from it. It is very important that you have a toner based copy, or this technique won't work.

Next, choose your packing tape. Make sure it is clear, so the image will peek through. Also, be aware of the size of your image; your finished photo transparency can only be as wide as the packing tape you choose.

Tattoos are fun and a beautiful artistic way to express yourself. I believe it gives other people an image of who we really are as individuals. While I dearly love my two tattoos, I didn't appreciate the pain that I had to endure to be marked for life.

If you love tattoos and want to forgo the pain of the needle, you can make your own temporary tattoos and print them out on your inkjet printer. Crafty Computer Paper has step by step instructions for you to follow, or you can download their instruction sheets. Their temporary tattoos are water based and non toxic, making them friendly for all skin types.

The company recommends that you try a very small practice tattoo on kids before applying a larger one to make sure that their skin doesn't negatively react to the ink. To remove the temporary tattoos ,just scrub the tattooed area with hot soapy water, or if you want to strut your stuff, the tattoos can be left on your skin for up to a week.

Every time I wrap a gift and grab the ribbon, I first have to untangle the jumbled mess that the ribbon has become. I always put the ribbon back in the box thinking that I will take care of the mess later, but I always end up forgetting about it until the next time I go to wrap a present.

Thanks to an instructable by donovanbeeson, we can all have success the next time we go to wrap a present. We won't have to worry about jumbled ribbon anymore. Donovanbeeson shows us step by step how to create a hinged top ribbon box that is designed to neatly dispense spool ribbon.

Crafters should already have all the materials on hand and be able to whip up this awesome box in short order. The ribbon dispenser box makes a great gift for those who love to craft, and can be used for other dispensable items too.

I've been into genealogy for quite some time now, and have been wanting to use what I've learned thus far in creating some sort of family tree to show off. I thought about doing a scrapbook, but I wanted something bigger, something I could show off in a big way.

I've finally found the perfect project! Andrea Steed from Scrapjazz recently posted a tutorial on how to create a stretched canvas family tree.

I am not exactly the best painter in the world, but this looks easy enough. I really love the way she uses punched out leaves for each member of her family, and affixes them to the branches.

Most of the items it takes to make this project, like acrylic paint, foam paint brushes, mod podge, brads, cardstock, chalk, and cotton swabs, crafters will probably already have laying around their craft space.

The detail to this project are adorable, and it's definitely something I will be proud to hang on my wall!

Along with Spring comes the flurry of kids' birthday parties, concerts in the park, and festivals of every sort. Face painting is part of so many of these festivities. If you think you might get dragged into face painting this spring or summer, you'd better get prepared. Knowing what you're doing will make the difference between a kid who runs to the bathroom in embarrassment, scrubbing his poorly-painted face, and one who doesn't wash their face for a week.

The two most important elements (along with a steady hand and a comfy seat) are the paints and the designs. After the break, I'll tell you what you need to know about each.