DIY Life

Leave it to Better Homes and Gardens. Somehow, they're able to inspire me without making me feel like a second-rate Martha Stewart wanna-be.

Since we joined our CSA farm last year, it's been a pleasure to have new fresh flowers in the house every week. BHG has created a gallery of flower arrangements that can be done in five minutes, and that look positively stunning. Some of their winning combinations:

• poppies surrounded by hosta leaves
• geranium leaves, roses, and trailing vines
• lavender stems and geranium leaves
• hydrangeas with bachelor buttons
• mounded zinneas with bleeding heart foliage

What I really love about BHG's arrangements is that most of the blooms could be found in your own garden, or even in a wild flower field. That makes these arrangements economical, too.

I've been combining wild yarrow with daylilies and daisies for a pretty display on my kitchen's center island. What's you favorite quick and easy flower arrangement?

I saw some very nice trinket boxes at the thrift store the other day, but I let them go without a second thought. Too bad I did, because I now want to make over one for my daughter for a Christmas present, and maybe a few as gifts for other special people.

Using cleaned and broken white egg shells, decoupage and white paint, Jane Lake over on All Free Crafts, made over a plain trinket box. Jane put the eggshells into a plastic bag and used a rolling pin to crush them into fairly fine pieces. After removing the hardware, she then decoupaged the box lid, sans where the holes for the hardware were.

Jane alternated the decoupage and the broken egg shells, then allowed the box to dry overnight. After the box was dry, she used two layers of shimmery white paint, allowing one coat to dry before she applied another. She says you can apply pearl beads to the bottom of the box. Apply the hardware, and call the makeover finished!

Here's a noteworthy story I just spotted on the Reuters website, titled "Man blows up apartment spraying for bugs?" The New York Daily News originally reported the story about a New Jersey man who, while spraying insects in his apartment, somehow let the contents of the spray can ignite. (Spraying near a lit gas burner, perhaps?)

The mishap caused an immense blast that blew the windows out of the unfortunate man's kitchen. The explosion then started a fire that destroyed eighty percent of his apartment. The man, Isias Videl Maceda, was unhurt.

I guess the question mark in the title of the article indicates the incident is still under investigation, but I think it's fairly safe to say that whatever this gentleman was doing, he was doing it all wrong! The episode is a good reminder for all of us that chemicals -- especially those contained in aerosol cans -- must be kept away from heat sources.

[via Reuters.]

Step aside, Hannah Montana! There's a way cooler backpack in town...

As a parent, it's hard buying "branded" merchandise, isn't it? I don't want my son walking around advertising the latest Spiderman movie, and I sure wouldn't want Hannah Montana's face plastered all over my hypothetical daughter's backpack.

In the interest of promoting individuality and all things unique, why not send your child to school with a duct tape backpack... handmade by you, with some kid help, of course!

You know it will be strong -- it's duct tape, after all -- and you can customize the outside colors by using any colored duct tape you can find.

You'll need cardboard, gray and colored duct tape, and some string, shoelace-style. Before you know it, your child will be starting his or her own new trend... you may need a lot of duct tape very soon!

Duct tape has to be among the handiest fix-it tools around. That big, fat roll of tape sure is bulky, though. Consider stowing just a small amount in your pocket, bag, or glove compartment. That way you'll always have some tape on hand, and there'll be no more riffling through the garage searching for the main roll of tape.

Here's how Lifehacker's Brad Isaac made his own pocket-sized duct tape dispenser from a drinking straw. You will need a roll of duct tape, a drinking straw, and a pair of scissors. Carefully wind a length of duct tape around and around the straw, then cut the excess straw on either side. Voila! You have a decent amount of duct tape that slips into your pocket for those unexpected little repair jobs around the house, car, at work, or camping out.

[via Lifehacker]

Having previously used wallpaper to cover my kitchen cabinets, I'm ready to change them for a new look. Since I get bored fairly easily with my decor, I like to spruce things up about every six months, and I am so itching for newly decorated cabinets.

Thanks to help from Tipnut, I found the perfect kitchen cabinet makeover project over on Tres Chic Veronique. Using pretty fabric covered in bees and honeycombs, Veronique cut the fabric an extra inch on each side, then hammered in thumbtacks to secure the fabric to the cabinet door.

I read in the comment section of Veronique's post that Scotchgaurd was used to help eliminate grease and stains when the fabric is wiped down. If you, like me, are unsure of whether or not you want to use regular fabric on your cabinets, then maybe the best alternative would be to use oilcloth, since that can be wiped down easily.

I caught a re-run of Shear Genius last week, and the topic was timely for me. During the show, hair stylists cut and styled women's hair. But the twist was that for judging, the women needed to replicate the style on their own.

I know I've been in that type of predicament with my hair before. I'll sit in a stylist's chair and love, love, love what they did. But the next day I discover that I'm completely incapable of recreating the style on my own. Unless you're lucky enough to have the funds to pay for a personal stylist, what good is a hair cut if you can't style it yourself?

Last Friday I got a pretty drastic hair cut. I sat there watching inches of my hair fall to the floor and worried that I wouldn't be able to style it myself. Then I remembered the episode of Shear Genius, and I decided to take a few tips from the show. I'll share some ideas after the break.

I am in desperate need of a kitchen apron. I have been cooking since I was 8 years old, and I have always absentmindedly wiped my hands on my clothing, even though there is always a dish towel nearby. Yup, I need an apron.

DIY Maven on Curbly has written a fabulous tutorial, complete with awesome pictures, teaching us how to turn large cloth napkins into a kitchen apron using a sewing machine. You'll need several yards of ribbon for tie strings and for the apron collar, and of course, some basic sewing skills.

This apron is perfect, not just for the kitchen, but also for gardening. The pockets in the apron could hold your kitchen gadgets, or your gardening tools. Of course, I always absentmindedly wipe my dirty hands on my clothes when I am gardening too.

Check your local thrift stores for some awesome napkins. Mine always seem to have the prettiest sets of fabric napkins on hand, and for the price they sell at (6 for $1.00), there are plenty available to make as gifts for my gardening and cooking friends.